Yes. I updated this. Thank the update vote in my discord if you actually wanted to read this.
If not… well… yeah. This is here anyways.
-SpiritOfErebus
A couple weeks had passed, as Ryoma continued to look for the courtesans that had killed the old schoolmaster.
Every day, the morning sun rose, scaring away the shadows. After coming back from the wilds to try to find frogs and presenting them to Oryou (who was floating above a countertop like the idol of a primitive tribe), Ryoma would then change into more traditional clothes and begin to walk to the newly opened schoolhouse.
The old schoolmaster's wife was still there and owned the property, since for now, the schoolmaster's son was off in World War One. Ryoma, however, still remained to teach. After all, the students still needed an education, and
Walking past a small shrine dedicated to the old schoolmaster, Ryoma gave it a solemn bow, closing his eyes. Though he was a counter guardian servant, and thus, did not need food (and Oryou didn't need food either), he still preferred having a job… because, after all, this was a vacation.
No more dealing with Nobu-themed Holy Grail Wars. No more dealing with that 'pesky' assassin Izou (according to Oryou). And no more dealing with… whatever the miniature Nobus were called.
It was just tranquility and a murder mystery. Just his forte.
Besides, the first person that had trusted him enough to take a job… had been murder. At this point, it was just a matter of pride.
"Oryou-san is here too. Yay. Peace. Peace."
"Stop floating outside the house!" Ryoma hissed, "At least disguise yourself as my shadow or something."
"...Okay." Oryou muttered, slowly sinking down into the ground, before configuring herself into a distinctly feminine shape.
"Properly." Ryoma scolded, holding out a finger in a scolding position.
The shadow writhed and twisted, showing the number of frogs that Ryoma still owed her, before turning into Ryoma's actual shadow.
Satisfied, Ryoma continued to walk to work.
…
This human world was much too boring.
Every day, every day, every day! It was just sitting in the same spots, entertaining those humans with their filthy gazes.
Her human disguise. Her restrictive clothes. Her forced posture, and the puny humans that dared try to present themselves as her servants.
It was all disgusting.
But reluctantly, Daki did need those things that humans called 'money'. Muzan-sama required it for his work, and therefore, she obeyed.
It was just as simple as that.
It was just as simple as the fact that she, as a higher being, deserved to consume these inferior creatures. After all, demons were the most beautiful and powerful beings in this world. There was nothing that could stop them from doing whatever they wanted.
But, well… it did get awfully boring. And it had been a couple decades since she had eaten the last weak and underpowered hashira.
She had tried, but it was of no use. Her blade could tear through her belts, but it was nothing compared to the durability of her body. It was easy enough to stage her disappearance and move to a new location, however, and this stretch of Tokyo wasn't nearly as ugly as the last district she was in.
Now, however, there was a challenge. A new demon in town that was sufficiently dangerous.
Her brother still didn't stir in his long sleep, but that was fine. She didn't need him for this anyways. That idiot… always taking on opponents when they're the slightest bit tough and entertaining.
She hated him.
But this was fine. This demon was clearly encroaching on her area. On her flock of humans. And they must disappear.
After all, it wasn't like one of the upper moons had been replaced. This demon clearly wasn't anything special, if they just left their presence everywhere around the town.
Or maybe… it was their attempt at inviting them out at night… so that they could duel.
She grinned. Now there was something that was worth looking forward to.
…
"I'm just saying." Ryoma said. "Why would I ever want to confront man-eating creatures of the night… at night."
"You're supposed to stop them." Oryou muttered. "Oryou-san will get no entertainment as well. Also, walking in this part of town displeases me greatly. And draws attention to you."
Ryoma was, indeed, walking within this rather questionable district exactly at noon.
"But if we find this person…" Ryoma reasoned, "Then we won't have to actually battle them at the height of their power. It'll be easier to defeat them."
"It doesn't matter to me." Oryou said. "Just find the demon and we'll be done."
…
"That presence… is outside?" Daki muttered. "But that can't be right. No demon is immune to the sunlight. Then… they must be underground."
"Ma'am, wh… what are you muttering about?" a serving girl stammered nervously.
"None of your business, you brat." she said coldly.
"Search, belts." Daki then commanded. From a suspiciously large, yet unnoticed hole in the ground, the belts that were formerly trapping victims were given new purpose. Writing, they snaked out into the soil, before they started to search for other tunnels.
…
Looking at the buildings and adjusting his hat, Ryoma closed his eyes… as various serving girls looked at him and giggled from the windows.
Yes, it was mildly distracting. And he probably was not making his reputation any better. Also…
"Do. Not. Look. At. Her." Oryou muttered threateningly. His shadow bubbled menacingly as Oryou poised herself to emerge and… probably either destroy the entire district, or cover his eyes.
"Okay, okay." Ryoma said, laughing disarmingly. "But what if… the demon is one of them?"
"I still don't want you to look." Oryou said disapprovingly.
"Fine, fine." Ryoma said. "You can do the looking."
"Okay." Oryou said.
…
For the next five days, Oryou found nothing.
However, several structural faults were discovered below the roadways of the red light district, with mysterious tunnels reportedly being found leading to the houses of the courtesans.
Policemen warned of potential miscreants of a perverse nature trying to enter the establishments in secret, and urged that better protection of people's privacy was in order.
…
"Here. We. Are." Ryoma said, slamming down papers into their dingy house. The roughly drawn portraits and descriptions on the various missing persons papers looked smudged and faded, with some of the papers showing clear wear due to the elements.
"Too many females." Oryou said disapprovingly. "Is Oryou-san not enough for you anymore?"
"No, no." Ryoma said. "We've been looking at this all wrong. You see, Demons eat humans."
"Yes." Oryou said, a black tentacle lancing out to gently grab a frog, before looking at the amphibian croak in her hands. "Just like Oryou-san requires frogs."
"And where else would these demons get their food, if not from right next to them?" Ryoma said. "Think about it this way. If there were nine rooms of frogs in a square shape, and you were in a center room, and you wanted to eat frogs-"
"They would all be dead within the hour." Oryou said immediately. "Do you have nine rooms of frogs for Oryou-san?"
"...No." Ryoma sighed. "That was an analogy."
"I know you are hiding frogs!" Oryou accused. "Where are you keeping them? I didn't even see you get the pictures of those women! What else are you hiding from Oryou-san?"
"Aren't you being a little too… well…" Ryoma said, "Suspicious? I really am just doing this to hunt down the demons."
"Oryou-san is definitely not trying to leverage this into you getting me more frogs." she said innocently. "Definitely not."
"Well, okay." Ryoma chuckled. "Anyways, we're going to use statistics to hunt down the demons. This may take a while."
Taking a scroll of yellowing paper out of a cloth pouch, Ryoma looked down at the obviously hand drawn map of the red light district's buildings… from twenty years ago.
"Well, first, we have to figure out whether or not this map is accurate."
…
"Did you see that man hovering around Nadeshiko's building?" one of the serving girls muttered.
"He's quite handsome, you know." another said, giggling. "He could be waiting for one of us, you know…"
"But wouldn't he be waiting for somebody more, well…" the serving girl still in her teen years gestured around her chest area, indicating a rather… generous… size.
"I heard that the school teacher that worked at the place where there was a murder a couple of days ago has a wife that's…"
"Where did you even hear that from?"
"You don't know what those drunk guys talk about…" the serving girl muttered. "But anyways, that was relatively interesting compared to their usual discussions."
"Pigs." the two said in unison, before giggling insufferably instead.
"Now, now." Daki said, grinning eerily. "Why aren't you two working?"
The two girls looked up suddenly from their spot in the corner, huddling in with each other. A basket filled with porcelain dishes that was near their feet was jostled as the sudden motion made them twitch, causing a noise that then made the two wince.
If anything was broken, they were so dead.
"It's… It's… Our break, ma'am."
"And why aren't these plates at the wash?" Daki demanded. "You foolish humans can ever do anything right. In fact…"
The girls whimpered.
"Never mind that." Daki sighed, turning around and remembering that it was day and that screams of the people that were still awake could be heard. "Just… get it done. Business is already slow now with those roads under inspection."
"But a man that shows up every day, searching for somebody…" Daki thought. "Somebody that doesn't actually go into the establishment, given the fact that they weren't gossiping about him actually liking a specific person…"
It was painfully obvious. This was a demon slayer… followed by a demon.
An interesting combination.
…
"It's painfully obvious." Ryoma sighed, looking at the dots. They literally all were surrounding one spot on the map. Despite the fact that the map was twenty years old, at night, Oryou was able to stealthily fly up and ascertain that the map was actually still the same, and nothing drastic had happened to change up the orientation of the houses from street to street.
They were literally all centered on one house. There were a couple outliers, but in general, the number of disappearances from that one house was just too high to ignore.
"And thus, we have our target." Ryoma said, crossing his arms and standing up. Oryou floated up to put on his white hat, before adjusting it slightly.
"Now Oryou-san thinks you finally look like a detective. If only you wore your suit too…"
"I mean, aren't we more like vampire hunters?"
"Demon hunters." Oryou said. "These are demons."
"But there are a lot of vampire hunters in fiction, right?"
"Western fiction." Oryou argued. "Our fiction is filled with the tales of Kintoki fighting the oni. And a lot of bears. We are demon hunters."
"...Fair enough." Ryoma shrugged. "Now, should we fight during the day or at night?"
"Night." Oryou said immediately. "This human body restricts me. I have not truly stretched in several days, and I wish for a slightly less boring battle than a bug burning in the sun."
"...I agree." Ryoma sighed. "There would theoretically be less damage because it is indeed night and there would be less people, but the red light district happens to be the most populated at night, and without a proper reason, there would be literally no reason to keep most people out to stop information getting out about literal demons prowling the streets."
"Oryou-san doesn't think this is a big concern." Oryou said. "We can just cause more road closures. The demon will not leave that house because they are arrogant. Normal people will be afraid and flee."
"I don't think that's how it would work."
"How would you act if you were in a building that was said to be structurally unstable?"
"...I would evacuate."
"And Oryou-san would stay because she is indestructible." Oryou declared proudly. "Therefore, the demon will think the same way."
"I guess you have a point." Ryoma muttered. "Also, if we cause the closures during the day, the demon literally cannot exit the building. We can then strike at dawn, but we'll have to really do a number on the red light district to get enough people out."
"Oryou-san is good at doing damage."
"I am certainly not doubting that." Ryoma laughed helplessly. Standing up, he stepped over a huge gorge in the floor and brushed his hands over a stump that was formerly a support beam for the house.
"I am not doubting that."
It turns out that several rapid transformations during fits of jealousy were not good for the average wooden Japanese home.
…
It was completely dark underground. Which wasn't surprising at all, honestly.
"And you're absolutely sure you're following the roadways?" Ryoma whispered as he rode on Oryou's scales within the very cramped tunnel. Using her natural strength, Oryou was digging through the ground with much more efficiency than Ryoma ever could. Occasionally, dirt would spray onto Ryoma's hat, but Oryou would somehow notice it, wipe it off, adjust the hat back into a position she deemed stylish, and then continue digging. Perhaps being a serpent had its perks when it came to night vision.
"This wall is hollow." Oryou said suddenly. "Oryou-san wants to see this large basement."
"...Fine…" Ryoma muttered. "You can go see the large basement. But just for five minutes. We're on a schedule here. The roads have to collapse before dusk."
"Yes, yes." Oryou said. "It smells weird here, though. It smells like demons."
"Wait, wait, wait." Ryoma said. "It smells like demons? Are you sure?"
"Like Shuten, but a lot fainter." Oryou confirmed. "Almost nonexistent to Oryou-san's' senses, really."
"Is this why you found nothing for five days?"
"Oryou-san will neither confirm nor deny. I will go into the large basement."
"But the demon-"
"Too late."
Oryou tumbled into what looked like… a very, very large pit. There were some cloth belts hanging around, but really nothing much else was there.
Except for holes. There were a lot of holes in the walls.
"Maybe these are the structural faults." Ryoma said. "Was the demon looking for us, as well?"
"They probably sensed the danger that is Oryou-san." Oryou confirmed, nodding proudly.
"Anyways… collapse the roads." Ryoma sighed. "This is going to use up a lot of our reserves if you want to do it simultaneously."
"Alaya will provide." Oryou retorted. "Oryou-san wants to assume the form of a dragon once more.
"But then again, why are we capped on mana?" Ryoma wondered. "Honestly, I don't even think that Gaia can be stronger in a world, right?"
"Oryou-san doesn't care. Nothing can hurt me in this world."
Ryoma sighed.
"Just… get on with it."
Abruptly, Oryou began to sink into the ground. As a puddle of black slowly expanded, scaly tendrils emerged and began to travel down each tunnel. Besides looking vaguely eldritch, Ryoma was sad to say that he was used to this kind of imagery.
"Make sure you aren't under any houses!" Ryoma shouted. "We don't want to trap any civilians!"
…
"Miya-san?"
One serving girl whispered into the fading dusk. The room was dark and dim, for the establishment did not deem them important enough for
"Miya-san, where are you?"
She approached the sliding door. There was something… rustling. Something that didn't feel human.
But that was stupid, right? Nothing would happen to her. She was even let off the hook for slacking earlier by the person they were supposed to serve. But a courtesan was a courtesan. She couldn't do anything to her or Miya, right?
Right?
She opened the sliding door.
"I didn't expect you to come out so late. Were you taking a nap?" Daki said from the other room. It seemed like the shadows were receding in that room, where the lanterns were dim and the candles were flickering.
The rustling had stopped.
"I-I'm sorry, ma'am." the serving girl stuttered, bowing repeatedly. "It was just… I was so tired… and…"
"It's fine, it's fine." Daki said. The courtesan was being more gentle than normal. "Just come in here, and sit for a while. The day's almost over, after all."
It was almost suspicious…
But she wouldn't leave any opportunity to slack off alone. She had her standards. The serving girl bowed once more, and prepared to sit down at one of the side tables…
Her foot touched something. Something cold. And wet.
It was a human foot.
"Aaa-"
A belt clasped over her mouth.
"Well, you would have noticed anyways." Daki said, her form slowly morphing. Fangs slowly began to emerge and the courtesan's skin grew even paler. Her hair began to grow out and slowly shift colors, becoming whiter by the second. More and more belts emerged out of the courtesan's back and began to unfurl in midair, snaking towards the serving girl.
"It's time for you annoying brats to-"
The floor abruptly collapsed. Daki stumbled and the belt was loosened from her mouth. Screaming, she began to run out of the room, but another belt circled around her ankle, dragging her back into the room that was falling… falling… and…
The lanterns shattered. Everything went dark.
"Ugh…" a male voice muttered. "I thought you had avoided the buildings!"
"The large basement was under a building." another female voice said, "You only specified that-"
"Damn it…" the male voice muttered. "Well, let's just get these people out of here and keep looking for the demon.
The serving girl was, once again, completely entangled. She felt like she was getting strangled. Her hands stretched out to grip the shattered floorboards, but they were pulled along with her. The shifting structural integrity caused another roof beam to slowly descend on her head, and at this point, she welcomed that death over what fate awaited her at the gnashing jaw of Daki.
However, the beam didn't fall. Instead, the sound of footsteps and a sword being drawn met her ears.
Opening her eyes, she saw a man in a white suit and hat, his hair fluttering handsomely in the underground breese. Behind him, the split beam lay away from the serving girl's very not-crushed form.
"Ma'am, are you okay?" he said, reaching out a gloved hand. "Wait, why are you tangled up in belts? What's going on here?"
"Damn you demon slayers…" a disgruntled female voice said. "Damn you… I was just about to finish up my meal…"
"Oryou-san senses danger." another female voice said, sounding whimsical and old-fashioned. Apparently, they also spoke in third person.
Quickly, the belts were severed, and the serving girl was helped to her feet. Gasping for air, she clutched at the man's arm fearfully while another woman approached, looking at her like a snake looked at a frog.
"Wait a minute…" the man said, unfurling a yellowing map. "Isn't this 'large basement' under that building?"
"Yes." Oryou said.
"We weren't supposed to startle the demon this early!" the man said, exasperated. "Now, there isn't even time to evacuate the civilians!"
"Night has fallen too." Oryou observed, looking up from the gigantic pit that they were in. "The demon can go on a rampage."
"And go on a rampage I shall, foolish demon slayer." the woman's voice chuckled.
The wreckage of the building was thrown upwards as a flurry of belts emerged, stabbing towards Ryoma. In front of him, an array of spikes roes up to pierce the belts, rendering their attacks flimsy and ineffective.
At last, the demon was revealed. With white skin, yellow eyes, and white hair, the demon looked almost like a person that had fallen into a barrel of white paint. It was honestly mildly painful to look at.
And the outfit was really just an abomination, rivaling some of the worst dressed servants in Chaldea.
Feeling a burning gaze in the back of his head, he sighed.
"Yes, yes. You are more beautiful than-"
"Skank." Oryou said immediately.
"Little weakling." the demon spat back. "Why don't you crawl back into the shadows of your pet demon slayer?"
"Oryou, go rescue the civilians." Ryoma said urgently. "I'll hold her off."
"...Fine." Oryou said reluctantly. "But don't think about sneaking in more alone time with two women."
As Ryoma sighed once more, the demon leapt forwards. Shoving the serving girl back, Ryoma righted his footing on the rubble and prepared to face the courtesan demon.
Hopefully, this would be over soon. Maybe eventually, Ryoma could return to his average vacation in perfectly normal historical Japan.
But for now? He had a scantily clad enemy to stab to death.
…
Alright, alright. I know what will happen next chapter. There will be fate wankers saying that "the fight should have ended in 50 words! servants can't be harmed by demons!" and stuff like that. While Oryou literally stomps everything in the verse, actually killing the demons is more difficult than you think because the two together have no demon killing things other than Oryou eating them, which requires NP activation, which requires mana, which is limited via lore/story reasons that will be revealed later.
Please don't crucify me.
(This is why I honestly don't want to write fate anymore because the powerscalers will doxx me and kill me one day.)
Discord server: discord . gg / 9t9MK3jHmV
-SpiritOfErebus