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'Well, that's my time.'

I closed my journal and excitedly got up as we were going to be selling all the charcoal that we have been stockpiling for a while. It would be nice to finally be able to sell it to all the people that are in need of it since winter is definitely approaching and it's coming fast.

"Oh no you're not. You know you can't walk fast like Tanjiro and Rimuru."

I walked outside the door to see the two absolutely adorable people that I have become very close with. Hanako and Shigeru.

"Mom!" Shigeru begged.

"You may not." As she said that, people seemed to notice your presence in the conversation.

"Oh, good morning Rimuru. I'm sorry but, unfortunately today, you won't be able to use that cart so you won't be able to give these two a ride when they're tired."

I just nodded along with her words.

I walked up to Tanjiro seeing the coal that he was carrying on his back.

"Going to be a busy today, right?" I asked him with an affectionate gaze.

He chuckled. "Yeah, but the sooner we can get this coal to everybody in need, we can spend more time together."

"Big Bro! Rimuru!"

The adorable one that I have come to know as Shigeru suddenly had his arms wrapped around both me and Tanjiro.

Hanko slowly approached as well. "I want to go with you guys. I promise I'll help you!"

Tanjiro raised his hand and started to pat her head. "Thank you, Hanako."

Her eyes filled with hope.

"But you're staying home today." Tanjiro added immediately afterward.

Her once hopeful eyes immediately turned into a pout. Tears threatening to come out of the corner of her eyes.

"Maybe you guys could come next time when the cart is fixed." I said giving them an affectionate smile. "Or, you could grow big and strong and then you would be able to come with us all the time."

"Yeah. We'll also both make sure that we get you both tons of goodies, alright?" Tanjiro said while standing up.

"Really?" Shigeru said, his eyes full of light.

"Yeah." Me and Tanjiro both said in sync.

We looked at each other at the strange coincidence and let out a chuckle.

"Oh, Hanako, when we get back, we'll make sure to read you tons of stories of stories as well." I said with my hands outstretched to the side to exaggerate.

"Ok!" She said, happiness apparent on her face.

"Good." I said as changed my gaze from Hanako to Kie.

"Thank you, Tanjiro, Rimuru." She said with her usual calm smile on her face.

'I'm always weak to that smile.' I thought sweatdropping.

"Okay. We'll be heading out now." Tanjiro said to her as we started our preparations.

"Takeo." Tanjiro called staring at the boy with black hair. "Will you chop as much wood as you can?"

"Sure, I'll do it, but.." He quickly responded. "I was hoping that we could all do it together." He followed with a small pout.

I just let out a chuckle at the small interaction we had. "Takeo." I said while walking towards him. "When we get back, let's chop a lot of wood together. After all, there are definitely going to be people that will still be in need of some charcoal." I said while patting his head.

"What's with that all of a sudden?" He responded quickly backing away from my grasp.

"You're blushing Take!" Shigeo teased.

"Hey, you shut up!" Takeo quickly shot back. Tanjiro smiled at this and proceeded to pat his head in a caring manner. "There, there." He said embracing the young boy.

"I said cut it out!" Takeo quickly added while sweatdropping and backing away from me and Tanjiro.

We all just let out a cheerful laugh.

"Alright then, we'll be heading off now." Tanjiro said while we both finished out preparations. "We'll be back soon, everybody behave, alright?" I quickly added while we started to walk down the path leading to the small village.

"Hurry back, okay?" The Kamado family said while waving us off. "Be safe, okay?" Shigeo added while he continued waving.

We simply waved back as we continued to walk down the path. At each other's sides.

"Hopefully we can sell out entire stock today." I mumbled. "Yeah, but if we don't, there's always tomorrow." He said.

Suddenly, we heard the crunching sound of footsteps on snow.

"Big brother! Rimuru!"

"Hey, Nezuko." Tanjiro said while walking towards her.

I was putting Rokuta down for a nap, or he'd make a scene when you leave." She said with a smile on her face. "He misses Dad a lot of ever since he passed away." She added while assessing Rokuta's condition, making sure he was comfortable on her back.

Tanjiro raised a head and started rubbing Rokuta's head, effectively soothing him. "And everyone follows you wherever you go." She added in warm voice.

'How calm.' I thought. 'I wonder what Mr. Tanjuro would've been like. I wish I could've met him. It's unfortunate what happened really. If I arrived earlier, I might've been able to help somehow.' I wondered before being knocked out of my train of thought by Nezuko's voice.

"See you later!" She said giving us a warm smile as we began to descend the mountain.

Since it was going to be a while before we reached the village, I decided to have a small conversation with Tanjiro to pass the time.

"So, Tanjiro..." I said giving him a questioning glance. "What is it?" He quickly responded. "I was thinking about what you would want to do in the future. Surely you would want to do something in your life and you would have to choose a career at some point."

Tanjiro wore a thoughtful expression. It was fairly obvious he was pretty conflicted at this question.

"I don't know." He said staring straight ahead. "I know I'll have to figure out at some point in the near future but for now, all I want to do is protect my family and friends. That's my main focus right now."

"Understandable." I said turning away from him.

'I wonder how long I'll be staying with the Kamado family. I'm going to have to leave at some point and I have to continue my search to find any methods or means of transportations to get back to Tempest. I have already asked Raphael several times and all I could get out was 'There is no way.' I refuse to believe that. Maybe overtime, I'll find it.' I thought while adjusting the basket of coal I was carrying on my back.

While we were walking down the mountain, I couldn't help but enjoy the sight. No matter how many times I walk through the mountains. There's always something new to see. Even though it might all look the same at a single glance, if you try to look behind that you'll always find something new. The squirrels would be dashing along the snow and up the trees causing twigs to break. Birds were chirping and almost at times, forming a melody. It reminded me of my time in Jura Forest and filled me with nostalgia.

After a long walk, finally, the village appeared in the distance.

The sound of bustling streets and people being active was always something I liked to hear. It meant that people were healthy and were alive and well. My fondness for these sounds probably manifested at one point while I was busy running Tempest.

We had just finished descending the mountain and entered the streets. Of course, a lot of people noticed our presence.

"Well now, Tanjiro, Rimuru." A woman holding a broom said while shifting her focus from sweeping to us. "I can't believe you both came down from the mountain on a day like this." She calmly said. "You're such hard workers! You might catch a cold, you know?" She added in a worried voice.

"This is nothing really." Tanjiro said with a smile. "Do you have enough charcoal?" I quickly added because that was the main reason we came descended.

"Hey Tanjiro!" A man's voice was heard.

"Can I have some charcoal?" The man asked. "Also, thanks for fixing my sliding doors the other day." He added.

"I'll have some charcoal too." A woman added.

Suddenly, the doors behind us burst open. A man in a striped yellow haori was seen with blood dripping from his mouth and nose. "Tanjiro!" He called.

The man broke out of his parent's grasp and ran towards us. "Oh man, perfect timing!" He said while stopping in front of us.

He kneeled down and uncovered a shattered plate in a purple cloth. "I've been accused of breaking this plate!" He said in a pleading voice. "Help me out, will you?"

"Sniff it." He said while shoving the plate in Tanjiro's face.

At the same time Raphael answered, Tanjiro had finished identifying the smell on the plate.

"I smell a cat."

The man's face wore an elated expression. "You see?" He said while turning to his parents.

"Oh my, so it was a cat." His mother said with a thoughtful expression. "I told you it wasn't me!" He said, a tick mark very apparent on the side of his forehead.

Then a man carrying a lot of luggage noticed us.

"Hey, Tanjiro, Rimuru." He said while waving at us. "Can you give me a hand with this luggage.

'This was going to be a long day.'

"Huh, what a day."

The sun had already set and it was already dark. By the time we would reach the Kamado household, it would already be time for dinner. We could even hear the crickets chirping as we were walking home.

"Jeez, it's late already." Tanjiro said while observing our surroundings. "I'm glad that we managed to sell all of our charcoal though." He added.

"Hey, Tanjiro, Rimuru."

We heard a man's voice calling for us from a small house.

"Are you gonna go back to the mountain. You better not. It's too dangerous." The man said.

Tanjiro responded. "I've got a great sense of smell, so we'll be fine." He said while going over our abilities. "Rimuru also has a good sense of things so we should be able to make it back safely." He added.

"I'll put you both up for the night." He said not giving a second thought. "Come on. Get back here." He said in a almost demanding tone.

"But..." Tanjiro said not wanting to trouble anybody. "Don't argue, come on!" The man said this time in a very obvious demanding voice.

'What's this guy's problem?' I thought. All we were doing was just trying to make our way back to the Kamado household but then, the man said something that I wasn't going to forget for a very long time.

"Before the demons show up." The man said giving us a grave expression.

'Demons...' I thought almost losing my balance. 'There's more? This is bad, if that demon I encountered was one of the weaker demons. I don't think my abilities will be enough to take on stronger ones. But what was that engraving in its eye, was it a status symbol? Upper Moon 3.... What does it mean?'

My train of thought was cut off by Tanjiro resting his hand on my shoulder and shaking me a little bit. "Rimuru, are you okay?" He asked with a worried expression. "Yeah, I was just thinking. Don't worry about me." I responded.

In the end, we both decided that we should stay the night.

~

We were currently seated, food right in front of us provided by the man that I now know as Saburo. The food was truly delicious. Hospitality you wouldn't find back on my old old world unless you were lucky.

We had just both finished our meals but I couldn't enjoy it. I had a lot of questions. I put down the bowl I was holding and thanked him for the meal he provided for us.

Tanjiro was currently sipping the tea that he had just gotten and I thought this was the perfect opportunity.

"Hey, Saburo-san." I said. "What are demons like?" I questioned.

"Man-eating demons have always prowled the land when it gets dark." He answered. "That's why you should never stroll around at night." He said while laying two futons and blankets on the floor. "If you're done eating, go to bed. You can set off for home at first light." He added as he proceeded to make himself comfortable.

Tanjiro himself seemed curious. My suspicions were confirmed once he asked a question for himself.

"These demons wouldn't come inside your house, would they?" He said staring at the flickering light in the lantern on the ceiling. "Yes, they'd come in." He answered.

"They can come in...' I almost shot up out of the futon but thought about it for a second. 'I only encountered one demon during my time in this world. The odds of a demon entering the Kamado household would be very low.' I thought while settling down.

"Then..." Tanjiro said in a fairly calm voice. "Then, everyone would get eaten up by the demons." He said in such a calm manner it wouldn't seem like he was talking about demons.

Saburo was silent for a couple seconds before finally responding.

"That's why the demon slayers protect us by slaying them." He said. "Since way back when..." He suddenly stopped and lowered his cigarette. "Lights out now. Go to sleep." He said while standing up.

I turned around in my futon to face the wall as the lantern went out.

"Mr. Saburo lives here all alone. I wonder what happened. I can't ask or that would be rude. He must be really lonely.' I thought. My mind ended up drifting back to what Mr. Saburo said. "Yes, they'd come in.' My body shuddered at the thought.

'Please be safe.'

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