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Chapter 11: Call Me the King of the Hunt X The Kamado's Shock
🕑 Added 2025-10-19 10:21:48 +0000 UTCChapter 11: Call Me the King of the Hunt X The Kamado's Shock
Without a head to command it, Sato Takeichiro's body ceased its struggles. The cold mountain wind swept over the remains, and they disintegrated into dust. For a demon, there is no second death. There is only utter annihilation.
It was a shame. It wasn't every day you stumbled upon a walking experience farm, and now it was gone. Roy's mood wasn't as celebratory as one might expect.
Thankfully, the system notification—[Combat Experience +10]—cheered him up a bit.
"Bro... is it really... dead?" Tanjiro finally dared to emerge from behind the tree.
The kid might have a hard head, but he wasn't stupid. He possessed a keen self-awareness and knew that with his current level of strength, he would have been nothing but a liability in that fight. So he'd stayed put, just as he was told.
Roy processed his gains, immediately allocating the twelve new experience points to Shadow Step. Only then did he spare his brother a glance. "What?" he said, his tone dry. "You wanted to go a few rounds with it?"
Tanjiro flinched and waved his hands frantically. He had seen the creature's power firsthand. If Roy hadn't been there, his fate would have been the same as the poor woodcutter's.
But still...
"I... I want to be able to fight with you, Bro." Tanjiro lowered his head, his gaze fixed on the snow, his voice quiet but filled with a desperate longing.
The raw earnesty in his tone made Roy pause.
Right. In the original story, he was the big brother, the pillar of the family, the one his siblings relied on. He was driven by a need to be strong, to grow his wings so he could shelter his family from the storm. That unyielding spirit, that refusal to be weak—that was the core of who Tanjiro Kamado was.
Roy reached out and ruffled his hair. "You're a different kind of little brother, you know that?"
"Are you talking about the brother from your dream?"
"Yeah."
"What's his name?"
"Illumi."
Tanjiro repeated the name in his head, then said with conviction, "He must really look up to you, Bro."
Roy let out a short, humorless laugh. He'd count himself lucky if Illumi didn't try to stab him in the back. He gave Tanjiro a light flick on the forehead. "Did Mother let you come along just so you could ask a million questions? Shut up and get to work."
"Ow..." Tanjiro clutched his head, but his spirit was undeterred.
He shouldered his basket, picked up the axe, and followed Roy deeper into the forest, towards the open-pit coal mine.
The forest was vast and ancient, a treasure trove for those who knew where to look. In less than half a day, the two brothers had filled both their baskets to the brim with high-quality charcoal.
It was three in the afternoon, with another hour or so until sunset. Roy tossed Tanjiro two of the rice balls and washed his own down with some hot tea from a flask. Then, with a single, powerful leap, he shot up into the branches of a massive pine tree.
He moved with a fluid grace that Tanjiro could only envy. Is Bro... even faster than before? the boy wondered, craning his neck to watch.
Thanks to Sato Takeichiro, Roy's Shadow Step proficiency had indeed increased, making his body feel noticeably lighter. He broke off a sturdy branch, sharpening one end with his thumbnail. He then activated Gyo, flooding his eyes with aura. Peering through the dense woods, his enhanced vision quickly locked onto two small clumps of life energy.
Swish. Swish.
He threw the sharpened branches with blinding speed.
Two sharp squawks echoed through the forest, followed by silence. The two clumps of aura vanished. Tanjiro knew the signal and ran over to investigate. He returned moments later, holding a fat pheasant in each hand.
"Bro, pheasants!" he called out excitedly. "These will be great for Father and Nezuko!"
Roy didn't reply. He leaped from the tree, vanishing into the deeper parts of the forest. When he returned this time, he was carrying a roe deer over his shoulders.
"Whoa..." Tanjiro's jaw dropped. He circled the deer, fascinated. He had never seen a creature like it, not up close. He was so absorbed that he didn't notice Roy toss the deer—its neck cleanly broken—at his feet before disappearing once more.
Ten minutes later, a furious, guttural roar echoed from the woods. Tanjiro flinched, turning towards the sound. Roy emerged again, this time dragging a massive, bristly wild boar by its tusks.
His foolish little brother stared, his eyes wide, blinking several times to make sure he wasn't hallucinating.
It wasn't until Roy clapped him on the shoulder that he snapped out of his trance.
"It's getting late. Pack it up, let's go." Roy kicked the boar, expertly flipping it up onto his shoulder. He then hoisted his basket of charcoal, picked up the roe deer with his free hand, and nodded towards the axe and pheasants. "You get those."
He started walking back the way they came. In this era, with demons and wolves stalking the land, no sane person dared venture out at night. As a result, there were no hunters. The forest was teeming with game, a paradise for someone with his skills.
It's a shame I only have Gyo and not En, Roy thought. With En, hunting would be child's play.
But one step at a time. For now, mastering Sun Breathing and strengthening his body was the priority.
The boy with deep crimson hair walked through the snow-covered world, a smaller version of himself trailing behind. They chased the setting sun, their two sets of footprints marking a trail through the wilderness.
Tanjiro was quiet on the way back. Maybe it was the weight of the gear he was carrying. Or maybe it was the shock of seeing a man eaten by a demon. Whatever the reason, he didn't say a word until the faint wisp of smoke from their cabin was visible in the distance.
He hurried to catch up to Roy, his expression set with a new resolve. "Bro," he said, his voice firm. "I want you to teach me."
"Teach you what?"
"You know... the... hya! and the... whoosh!" Tanjiro demonstrated by swinging the pheasants around like swords.
He nearly got a face full of feathers. Roy rolled his eyes. "Alright, alright, I get it. You're always making things complicated."
"Heh heh..." Tanjiro grinned sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. The pheasant in his hand slipped from his grasp and flopped onto the snow.
His reward was a swift kick to the rear. He limped the rest of the way home, appearing before Kie, Tanjuro, and his younger siblings.
"I'm back!"
"Where's your brother?"
"Right behind me..."
Tanjiro handed the pheasants to his mother and took off his shoes on the veranda. As he moved aside, the rest of the family saw the figure standing behind him.
Roy stamped the snow from his boots and dropped the wild boar onto the ground with a heavy thud. He stood there, a roe deer in one hand, a full basket of charcoal on his back, and the massive boar at his feet.
He smiled. "I'm home."
The entire Kamado family stared, their eyes wide with disbelief.
They now knew exactly how Tanjiro had been feeling for the past hour.
