I.
"You're not the type of person to rescue a child, Sonju." Mujika starts as a matter of fact.
The tiny figure of a maskless child demon slept in her arms with no care in the world.
"Well," Sonju frowns, "Think of it as an important reason." He gestures to the bark that was lodged in the child's mouth and tied securely around her head.
They may have been running criminals wanted by the Royal Family themselves but at least they did care.
"...they have a muzzle attached to them." Mujika fingers the thick bark, tugging at the dark pink string. Although the string was thin, it was durable enough to not be cut through.
"Obviously."
Mujika recalls the days where the conflict of Humans and Demons still raged on. Demons ruthlessly hunted humans, while humans strived to fight back.
It was also common in those days for both sides to keep prisoners for information, or slaves to do their biddings.
Humans were sacrificed as pets or offerings to the so-called gods by their worshippers. Young Demon children were kept and raised to be child weapons by the human side, chained and muzzled down.
In the present day, a child as small as the one in her arms that wore no mask would be indifferent. But with a thick piece of bark tied around the child's mouth?
Mujika frowned.
After spending his time staring at the sleeping child, Sonju stands up and walks the opposite way with his spear.
"Sonju? Where are you going?"
"To give whoever dropped them in this infested forest a piece of my mind."
II.
"Emergency! Emergency!"
The Kasugaigarasu repeats urgently, flying in circles above the home of one Urokodaki Sakonji at the earliest of dawn.
It had been four days since the former Pillar had sent his recent student, Kamado Tanjiro, to the Final Selection.
It had been two years since he's trained the boy.
Also, as time passed in the middle of those two years, the young demon girl, Nezuko, had vanished into thin air one night right in front of his eyes.
Urokodaki thought it was an accidental use of a demon technique but her scent was gone. He couldn't even find it. Not around the mountain nor in the depths of the forest.
The crow caws its message obnoxiously, "An international meeting is being held regarding the use of the World Gate! This message is being sent to all Demon Hunters!"
It continued to caw viciously, the sender of the Kasugaigarasu agitated by the situation.
The former Water Pillar felt an upcoming headache.
III.
"Your mission is to kill the mediator that protects the Promise between our two worlds."
"Once they are killed, the promise is broken. The two worlds that had been one will reconnect once again."
For the first time, the six Lower Moons of the Twelve Demon Moons have come together.
"...This is the entrance that the hunters protect?" Lower Moon Four speaks, voice quiet while cocking their head.
It was a Shinto Shrine guarded by a torii gate. Lower Moon Six faintly remembers from his human memories that the gate was there to repel evil spirits and demons.
They weren't ordinary demons.
If the gateway to the Demon's world was protected, then why wasn't there any hunters nearby?
There were no humans, Six deduced, and there were no wisteria trees.
Lower Moon One steps through the gate, smiling whimsically.
"Let the Lower Moons prove that we are useful by doing what the Upper Moons aren't."
Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be playing every route to FE Three Houses for two weeks until I win the game.