Demon Slayer : The Silent Journey

Chapter 127: The Kamado family

[Seiji's POV]

The children were waiting for me on the road leading up to their house. I had sent a letter to Kie Kamado, informing her about how I intended to spend the winter with them.

I even got a reply letter that said I was more than welcome to do so. Winter was unforgiving in the Gifu region where heavy snowfall was to be expected every year, and men were the greatest resource in this age.

So a window like Kie was more than glad to have a male relative to stay with them through the harsh winter.

Which was why she even allowed the children to wait for me like this. It was not strange for a relative to spend the winter with them. Japan was very family-oriented in this manner.

"Seiji-nii!!" Nezuko and the younger children called out to me as I appeared in their field of vision.

"Seiji-san!!" Tanjiro was more formal, however, I could see that he was just as excited if not more than his siblings.

They all came running at me with their small chubby legs. It was incredible how fast children could get attached to someone, I was with them only for a few days last time.

So precious.

"Seiji-san, please let us help you with your luggage," Tanjiro said and took a few bags from the giant load I was carrying.

Nezuko did the same thing and took a few things of her own to ease the load I was carrying. The rest of the kids were still too young to try and offer help so they just stuck close to my legs.

What was in the luggage I was carrying you ask? It was mostly spices for food, warm clothes for everyone and Christmas presents for the children. There were other things too like my own clothes and utensils but those were most of them.

"We meet again, Tanjiro, Nezuko, Takeo, Hanako, Shigeru," I said their name one by one while giving pats on their head or pushing their button nose. They laughed in childish glee.

"And little Rokuta," I said and pinched the two-year-old baby who was held by Takeo. Rokuta gave me a weird baby laugh that was a vibrating inhalation.

With Tanjiro and Nezuko helping me carry my luggage and with the younger children tagging behind us, we went back to the Kamado house.

Kie herself gave me a warm welcome and immediately served me a piping hot tea. I settled down in the living room and everyone eyed my huge luggage curiously.

"Huddle up everyone, your cool cousin brought you gifts from Tokyo!!" I declared while opening the bags.

"Really!!" "Wow!!"

The mere mention of Tokyo got them excited. Well, anything from the city was a huge deal for country kids. Even Tanjiro was excited despite trying to be mature.

Speaking of which, I idly noticed the growth of the protagonist. I saw each new strand of muscles he had gained during my absence including the minor bone fractures and callused hands. I could see that he had been working hard. Good.

I distributed whatever I brought amongst everyone. Even when they were receiving clothes which was not that exciting for kids, the Kamado children showed joyous expressions that made every bit of my effort worth it.

As I took out everything, I realized that I may have gone a little overboard. I couldn't help it, money was not an issue for me so I bought anything that fancied me.

I could see how Kie's expression shifted with each new gift I brought out. The few gifts were polite and expected but as more and more came out, she was naturally a little uncomfortable.

She felt indebted.

Some of the things I bought included toy figures, spinning tops, cards with beautiful illustrations for Nezuko along with paper for origami, a few drawing books and colours, I even bought a few toy swords believing that they'd want to be a cool samurai like me.

I also got them giant warm sweaters which were different from what they had since it was Western fashion.

"You didn't have to buy all of these Seiji-san, it's too much," Kie said nervously while looking at the children who were engrossed in their own gifts.

"Please Kie, let me do this. You don't have to feel uncomfortable at all," I said, soothing her worry.

Still, she couldn't quite ease her expression with all the gifts. Others might even suspect that I was going after the hot lonely milf with all the efforts I put in.

So I made my intention clear, or more like I lied.

"Ever since my mother passed, you and your children are the only family I have left. Things can get quite lonely," I said.

"Doing this makes me happy as much as they are," I said and I allowed her to mull over my words.

"..I understand," she said, "If that is so, please allow me to give you my sincerest gratitude,"

I smiled in return.

"Speaking of which, I did not only bring things for the children. I have stuff for you too," I said and went diving back into my bag to pull out the things I'd bought for her.

It was not a lie when I said that doing this makes me feel good. I feel like Samurai Santa.

And so, my days with the Kamado family started once more. This time, I would stay with them for a month or so.

...

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"What are you doing?" I asked one chilly morning.

It was dawn and the sun had not even risen yet. At this time of the day, the weather was particularly cold. The ground was wet with sparse powder of snow here and there.

Yet on this morning when a normal human would be at least five layers under a blanket, I saw Tanjiro readying himself to head out with a new jacket I gave him and a basket of charcoal on his back.

"Ah! Seiji-san, sorry I woke you up," Tanjro bowed his head and apologized quickly.

"Stupid. You can't wake me up, I'm deaf," I said.

"Oh...right,"

I was usually awake at this hour to watch the sunrise. I loved the sunrise and sunset, they were one of the most beautiful things in the world. So usually, I wake up at this hour every day to witness it.

Then if I wanted to, I would return to sleep again. I usually never even leave the bed as I could see through the walls andiree the sunrise.

"So? What are you doing?" I asked again.

"I'm setting out to the nearby village to sell the charcoal. It's our family village business," he said.

I hummed, "You shouldn't do that, come back inside,"

"I'm sorry but I can't do that Seiji-san. The winter is when we have the most customers. I have to sell it or else all our hard work during Summer and Autumn will go to waste," he replied to me.

"I'll buy it then," I said with a shrug. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"Huh?" Tanjiro blinked, "No, I can't let you do that. If you want, you can take home as much as you need for free,"

"Not some, I'll buy all of it," I said.

"eh.....EHHH!!!!" Tanjiro gasped, "Really? Are you sure?!"

I smirked, "Yeah, I'm sure. So get back inside, let's use them to make a heater instead," I said and gestured at him to come back in.

"Besides, I have better use of your time than you going around selling some charcoal," I said. I need to train him for the future of this world.

"Thank you so much!!" Tanjrio said and bowed to a right angle but I'd already turned my back so I didn't see him.

And see him I must because he ran inside and did the same thing again but in front of me.

"Enough of that. No need to act like a stranger to me," I said, "Where is your heater? You have hibachi right?"

"Yes, I'll take it out right away,"

...

(Later that day)

"I can't believe you guys have no kotatsu," I said in disbelief while I worked in the middle of the living room where the table was previously placed.

"How do you guys get through the winter before? On hopes and dreams?" I said, more to myself because I couldn't hear whatever they were replying to me as I was busy with my work.

I think you might have seen it in other anime but a kotatsu was a wooden table covered in a blanket. You put a heat source under the table and trap the heat with the blanket.

Families would gather around and sit beside the kotatsu and spend the winter together. But for whatever reason, the Kamados didn't have that. I thought every Japanese family had that.

And now here I was, making a Kotatsu for them. Tanjiro and Kie were on my side, eager to help me as I set it up.

"My husband used to make one for us. But ever since he got sick, he couldn't do such a thing anymore and it was impossible for me to maintain a kotatsu while having all the kids," Kie explained in my dead ears.

I could understand that. A kotatsu needed constant maintenance since unlike the modern machines, this one used charcoal for the heat. You could easily burn something if you were not careful.

It was not too difficult to set up the kotatsu and I finished it with ease. That proved to be quite fruitful later on as the heater was constantly used.

We would sit around the table to play cards, and board games and use the paper I bought to make Origami. All of which I quickly learned I was a master at.

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I came back to the Kamado house after a successful hunt. i had three deers and a pheasant in my hands, this much meat should last a few days at least.

When I came upon the yard, I saw Tanjrio swinging a sword with his upper body bear. His body was smoking from the heat interacting with the frigid air. His body was covered in sweat even in the cold morning.

Tanjiro was not alone as his other siblings hung around him. Nezuko was carrying baby Rokuta on her back while she worked on cleaning up a few vegetables.

The other siblings were running around, playing tag with the new toy store I bought. But all those distractions seemed to not reach Tanjiro as he continued swinging the sword again and again, endlessly.

Tanjiro had a very big potential as the main character of this world. But...

Hmm...how should I put this lightly?

He was awfully ordinary in his talent. Meaning his capacity to learn was high but his rate of learning was extremely sword.

It was to be expected. After all, while Muichrio became a Hashira in the span of two months, Tanjiro took three years to even take the Demon Slayer exam.

I think in that regard, Tanjiro was more similar to me than anyone else. He was the type of person who grew after every challenge overcome, a warrior who improved rapidly but only in high-intensity battles where his life was on the line.

Nevertheless, I did not slack from training him.

"Seiji-san, you're back," Tanjiro greeted with a wide gaping smile. He wiped his sweat with his forearm and he continued swinging his sword after I gestured at him to continue.

I rolled my eyes to the sky above and I clenched my fist.

Anytime now...

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[IMAGE]

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Author : Double Chapter like promised and that will all be for the week. Next week will start with the fighting.