Chapter 243 -245 (Patreon)

Chapter 243: The Name on Inosuke's Pocket

"Lord Founder?"

A soft knock came at the door, accompanied by Kotoha Hashibira's gentle voice.

Doma immediately adjusted his expression.

Whenever Kotoha was around, he always felt a strange, instinctive urge to show her his truest self.

"Ah~ Kotoha? Come in."

After hearing his reply, Kotoha pushed open the door and entered. She was carrying a cup of hot tea, faint white steam rising from it and softening her features.

"Sorry to disturb you~ I noticed you'd been in the study for a long time, so I made you some tea.

"I picked the wild tea leaves from the mountain behind us. I didn't steal them from the garden out back!

"I don't know if it'll suit your taste, though."

Seeing how flustered she looked, a smile appeared on Doma's face.

It was so genuine that even he failed to notice it.

"Just from the aroma, I can already tell it's quite good~"

Doma had no emotions, but he was exceptionally sensitive to the desires of others.

Whenever someone expressed a wish to him, he had an entire polished system of responses ready.

Yet none of those practiced responses ever seemed to work with Kotoha.

Because most of Kotoha's desires were simply wishes for him to be happy.

Doma had heard countless prayers from countless followers. Most of them amounted to complaints about their circumstances, dissatisfaction with their lives, yearning for a better future, or even longing for death.

There were many different kinds.

Yet at their root, all of them were selfish.

Kotoha was different.

Whenever she spoke of her wishes, she herself never appeared in them.

There was only Doma and Inosuke.

She only wanted Doma and Inosuke to be happy.

She did not even ask for happiness for herself.

Doma had no idea how to understand such feelings or thoughts.

Nor could he comprehend how someone could be so selfless and innocent.

All he knew was that every time he looked at Kotoha Hashibira, he felt an irrepressible sense of joy.

She gently placed the tea beside the plate of pastries on his desk.

Her gaze drifted toward the somewhat misshapen snacks. When she noticed that one was clearly missing, a trace of nervous anticipation flashed across her face.

"Um... Lord Founder, did you try the pastries?"

"Mm. I did. They had a very distinctive flavor~"

Doma answered with a smile.

It was the same perfect, mild smile he always wore.

The same standardized expression he used whenever answering the hopes and desires of his followers.

Yet Kotoha seemed to hear something hidden beneath it.

Her emerald eyes blinked, and then she covered her mouth with one hand and giggled.

"Lord Founder, you don't have to force yourself to say they were good.

"I tried them myself. I know I didn't add enough sugar, and the crust is a little too thick. They're barely passable."

There was none of the reverence or humility normally seen in a follower's smile.

Instead, there was something else.

The playful amusement of one friend catching another in a harmless little lie.

Doma savored it.

He savored every one of these little things that made him feel happy.

As though suddenly remembering something, he turned to Kotoha and said softly,

"Kotoha, there's a small hole in Inosuke's trouser pocket. I was thinking of buying him a new pair. Is there a particular color you'd prefer?"

At his offer, Kotoha immediately shook her head so vigorously that she looked like a little drum toy.

"No need, Lord Founder! It's only a tiny little hole. Besides, the weather will be getting warmer soon. Maybe it'll even help Inosuke stay cool~"

Her answer planted a strange idea in Doma's mind.

Even he found it peculiar.

"Kotoha, can you read?"

The abrupt question caught her off guard.

She froze for a moment before answering somewhat sheepishly.

"My family was very poor when I was growing up, so... no, I never learned."

"You can't read..."

Doma repeated softly.

His rainbow-colored eyes shifted slightly before wandering toward the window once more.

Outside, Inosuke was being carried by a kindly elderly follower. As the old man gently bounced the child, the tiny hole in his trousers flickered in and out of sight.

Then a thought rose in Doma's mind with such clarity that even he was surprised by it.

Since Kotoha herself had said there was no need to spend money on new trousers, perhaps the old pair could be handled another way.

He wanted to embroider a name over the hole.

"Inosuke."

Then, once Inosuke grew old enough to understand things, he would immediately be able to recognize his own name.

The thought filled Doma with an almost uncontrollable sense of novelty.

He was a demon who ate humans.

He was the founder of the Eternal Paradise Faith.

And someone like him was considering mending the pocket of a human infant's trousers?

In a way, the very idea was ridiculous.

Absurd, even.

Yet Doma found it fascinating.

So he turned to Kotoha and told her his idea with a soft laugh.

"Kotoha, I want to embroider the name 'Inosuke' over the hole in his pocket myself. That way, not only do we save money, but Inosuke will have a meaningful piece of clothing too. Don't you think?"

Kotoha looked surprised.

But after thinking it over, she realized it really was a wonderful idea.

A radiant smile bloomed across her face.

"Yes! Lord Founder, let's do exactly that! But... do you know how to mend clothes?"

Doma was not particularly surprised by the question.

After all, he was the leader of a religious sect. No one would expect someone in his position to personally mend clothing.

But Doma actually did know how.

He had learned it from Kokushibo simply because he had been bored.

It had happened back during their time in the Infinity Castle.

At the time, everyone had been in a weakened state. Lord Muzan had recovered somewhat, but his body was still only the size of a child's.

And the entire Infinity Castle had been desperately short on money.

Of course, they could have simply gone out and taken whatever they wanted.

But only a few decades had passed since the great battle, and no one knew for certain whether Izumi Kiyokazu was truly dead.

To avoid accidentally running into him, they could not recklessly go outside and seize things by force.

If they really encountered Izumi Kiyokazu, it would all be over.

With no other choice, Muzan had nearly resigned himself to spending the next few decades without proper clothes.

That was when Kokushibo stepped in.

Somehow, he had personally sewn Lord Muzan an entire child's kimono.

Both its design and craftsmanship were first-rate.

Doma, bored beyond belief at the time, had learned the skill from Kokushibo.

Remembering this, Doma simply smiled before answering Kotoha gently.

"Mm, I do. Bring Inosuke in. We can choose the color and design together."

Chapter 244: Doma's Greed—I Want You to Accept All of Me!

That evening, Kotoha brought a sleeping Inosuke, exhausted from playing, into Doma's study.

She lit the lamps as the moon gradually rose outside, its clear silver light streaming through the window and falling across Doma.

The naturally cool moonlight somehow suited his pale face perfectly.

On the desk before him lay a small spool of brightly colored thread that had not been there earlier.

It was a deep blue-black.

The color Kotoha had chosen that day.

Beside it rested a long, slender embroidery needle.

Doma sat at the desk, lightly wetting the end of the thread between his lips before guiding it through the eye of the needle.

He casually took Inosuke's old trousers, which had been changed but not yet washed, without showing the slightest hint of disgust.

The fabric was covered in dust, with even a few dried stains left behind from the infant.

Doma examined the small tear near the lower side of the pocket.

Under the lamplight, it was fairly easy to see.

"Lord Founder, I really can mend it myself. Inosuke's trousers haven't even been washed yet, and they still smell a little..."

"Haha~ It's fine. Things like that don't bother me."

Laughing, Doma began sewing.

He found himself far more focused on the task than he had expected.

As he mended the trousers, he did not think about the followers of his faith.

He did not think about Lord Muzan's commands.

He even forgot, for a while, that he was a demon.

All his attention was fixed on each meeting of needle and cloth.

On the faint friction of every strand of thread passing through the fabric.

And most of all, on the name slowly taking shape beneath his fingers.

Moonlight flowed across the room.

Time itself seemed to slow.

As Doma stitched, he cheerfully asked how Inosuke had been doing lately.

Kotoha smiled and told him that another tooth had come in, and that Inosuke was still a restless sleeper who made a fuss at night.

But whenever she hummed a song to lull him back to sleep, Inosuke would smile at her...

They were nothing more than trivial details of daily life.

Yet they brought Doma a strange and indescribable sense of peace.

Every now and then, images flickered through his mind.

Kotoha's eyes shining whenever she spoke about her child.

Inosuke laughing without a care in the world as he tugged at Doma's hair.

The way Kotoha had looked when she first arrived here...

The repair was completed quickly.

Yet each stitch seemed to reinforce something Doma had never noticed existed before.

This was the first time he had ever done something so close to meaningless.

After all, Inosuke would grow quickly.

Before long, the old trousers would become too small, or another hole would appear somewhere else.

Yet somewhere inside Doma, in a place that had always been empty, he could feel something indescribable slowly beginning to grow.

He did not know what it was.

Perhaps this was what people called emotion.

If that was true, then Doma thought emotions were not so bad.

At the very least, they made this "meaningless" act feel filled with some strange, indescribable meaning.

The repaired trousers now seemed almost like proof.

Proof that the "bright color" that had suddenly entered his blank life was real.

Proof that between himself and that brilliant color existed something he had personally stitched into place.

As Kotoha continued chatting beside him, Doma completed the final stitch.

With the carefully trimmed tip of one finger, he gently traced the raised embroidery.

The dark blue thread gleamed faintly beneath the moonlight.

The name "Inosuke" was clearly legible.

Not only did the embroidery cover the hole, it gave the trousers an inexplicable touch of elegance.

Even the originally rough and ugly little pocket now seemed special because of Doma's meticulous stitching.

Looking at the embroidered name, Doma suddenly felt something foreign.

A tiny but unmistakable sense of satisfaction.

How could he describe it?

It was like dropping a pebble into a heart that had always been as still and smooth as a mirror.

Ripples spread outward, refusing to fade.

It was entirely different from the feeling of fullness after consuming one of his female followers.

This was a satisfaction that transcended the body.

A pleasure belonging solely to the mind.

Doma set down the trousers, needle, and thread.

Looking at his handiwork, he smiled and handed the trousers to Kotoha.

"Have a look. How did I do? This is actually the first time I've mended clothes. If you don't like the stitching, you can undo it. They're not anything valuable to begin with."

Kotoha's eyes widened as she stared at him.

There was an indescribable seriousness in her gaze.

"That's not true at all, Lord Founder!

"These trousers themselves might not have been worth much, but the moment you mended them for Inosuke, their value stopped being about the trousers themselves.

"They carry your kindness toward this child.

"That makes them priceless!

"And the craftsmanship is flawless. Every stitch is so delicate that I can't find a single thing wrong with it!

"I'll make sure this child keeps these trousers safe for the rest of his life!"

At her words, Doma felt as if a string hidden inside his heart, one that had never vibrated before, had finally been plucked.

He looked at the mother and child before him.

He wanted to say something.

But before he could, the voice of an elderly follower came from the corridor.

"Lord Founder, it is time for tonight's sermon on the Final Doctrine. Please come as soon as possible."

Doma's expression shifted slightly.

He stood with a smile, swallowing the words he had been about to say to Kotoha.

"There's no need to praise me that much. If I get the chance, I can mend some of his other clothes too. I need to attend to something now. You should get some rest as well."

As he spoke, Doma headed toward another part of the compound.

The "Final Doctrine" the old follower had mentioned referred to devouring those people.

Doma did not want Kotoha anywhere near that side of things.

So he walked a little faster than usual.

At the end of the corridor was a room containing the seat reserved for the Founder.

Another young female follower was kneeling before him.

Her eyes glistened with tears filled with both devotion and warped expectation.

Her soul radiated despair toward every aspect of her current life.

Her heart overflowed with longing for "paradise."

To Doma, followers like her were the most ordinary kind of "food."

The process should have been the same as it had been for centuries.

He would wear his compassionate smile and gently comfort the follower before him.

Then, coldly, he would consume her.

But this time, just as Doma lifted his fan and icy mist began to spread, an image suddenly flashed through his mind.

Kotoha, carefully placing a small purple flower still damp with dew into his hair.

Then covering her mouth as she tried to hide her laughter.

His movement stopped for an instant.

And then, for the first time in his life, a scorching, twisted greed surged into Doma's heart like a venomous serpent.

A hunger as hot as Izumi Kiyokazu's blade.

It wasn't enough.

Chapter 245: Even If It Could Last Just One Moment Longer

It wasn't nearly enough!

Even now, the self he showed that woman was still false.

Still unreal.

He wanted Kotoha to accept him completely.

He wanted her to see everything he had hidden away!

The warm, bright feeling Kotoha gave him.

Her unconditional trust and concern.

That strange sensation that made him want to mend clothes, instinctively remember her preferences, and even greedily treasure every moment he spent together with her and her child...

All of it was infinitely more enticing than the sense of "salvation" he felt from rescuing those followers.

Wouldn't it be even more interesting if he could spend every day and every night together with them from now on?

What if...

What if Kotoha could accept all of this too?

If she learned that he was a demon...

If she knew that he fed on humans...

And yet still looked at him with those warm emerald eyes...

Still made tea for him...

Still tucked a little flower into his hair...

How wonderful would that be?

And when the child slowly grew up, learned his first words, learned to speak to him, and eventually learned to argue with him...

Wouldn't that be something to look forward to as well?

Once the thought appeared, Doma could no longer uproot it.

It spread through his heart like climbing vines, growing farther and farther with every passing second.

He wanted Kotoha to see all of him.

And he wanted to see all of Kotoha.

Only when two people accepted every part of each other's true selves could they live together comfortably.

He desperately wanted Kotoha to remain beside him even after learning everything about him.

To stay with him.

To become that brilliant splash of color in his otherwise blank existence.

A surge of anticipation exploded through him.

It was a mixture of overwhelming excitement and something bordering on a distorted possessiveness.

Doma turned toward the elderly follower guarding the doorway and spoke softly.

"Leave my clothes outside the door, then go."

The old follower instantly understood what Doma intended to do.

He hesitated.

His mouth opened as though he wanted to say something.

But in the end, all he did was sigh.

Lowering his head, he placed Doma's clothes outside the doorway and slowly walked away.

The old follower had despaired of this miserable world, but that did not make him a fool.

He knew what his Founder intended.

More importantly, he knew why.

But...

Some things simply could not be revealed to others.

Some secrets were better left to rot inside one's stomach.

Better to let the dark things decay there.

Better to leave that poisonous darkness buried deep in the heart.

Once spoken aloud, the stench of that corruption would only frighten people away.

The old follower could tell that Kotoha Hashibira was a woman of almost unbelievable purity.

There was no possibility that she would accept all of this.

That, in itself, might not have mattered.

If Kotoha were a coward, she could simply pretend she had never seen anything and continue staying here beside their Founder.

But unfortunately...

Truly, terribly unfortunately...

Kotoha Hashibira was the bravest woman the old follower had ever met in his entire life.

She had taken her child, fought her way past her husband and mother-in-law in the middle of the night, and fled here seeking salvation.

How could a woman like that ever choose to smile and pretend nothing was wrong?

She would question the Founder in anger.

And the fragile happiness they had finally found would shatter in an instant.

The old follower wanted to stop him.

But he knew that once the Founder decided something, no one could make him change his mind.

Perhaps beautiful things in this world were simply never meant to last.

He sighed and slowly walked away.

He understood the Eternal Paradise Faith better than anyone.

It was, fundamentally, a place that preached all sorts of strange doctrines.

Yet setting those things aside, the Eternal Paradise Faith had saved more than two hundred followers living here.

It also maintained twenty-seven branches across the country, sheltering somewhere between three and four thousand people.

The Founder ate only a few dozen people each year.

Compared to the number of people he supported and protected, it seemed almost insignificant.

And where did the faith obtain its funds?

The Founder used supernatural means to conduct very "friendly negotiations" with wealthy merchants.

He also took wealth from bandits through various methods.

In a world like this, the Eternal Paradise Faith, on the whole, did far more good than harm.

As for exactly what its doctrines preached, the old follower did not care in the slightest.

When he passed Kotoha Hashibira's room, he deliberately softened his footsteps.

He did not want her to wake.

Even if the Founder would inevitably do something like this again another time, then at least for tonight...

Let this hard-won happiness remain a little longer.

Just a little longer...

Unfortunately, Kotoha noticed anyway.

She had always been a light sleeper.

Back in her old home, if she ever allowed herself to sleep too deeply, if she were even slightly too slow to wake when called, what awaited her was another beating.

She peeked out of her room and saw the old follower walking down the corridor.

Instinctively, she glanced toward the direction he had come from.

There, she saw Doma's clothes carelessly discarded on the floor.

"Um..."

She called out without thinking.

The old follower stopped for only an instant.

After letting out a sigh so faint it could barely be heard, he continued on his way.

Kotoha stared at Doma's clothes scattered across the floor.

An inexplicable unease filled her heart.

She hesitated for a moment.

Then she quietly stepped out.

If his clothes were left there overnight, they would be dirty by morning.

She began walking toward the room where Doma was.

But the farther she went, the colder the air became.

There was also a faint fragrance drifting through the corridor.

Sweet, yet strangely cold.

When she carefully bent down to pick up the clothes, she happened to glance through the door that had been left slightly ajar.

By the dim yellow glow of the oil lamp, a sight entered her eyes that nearly shattered everything she believed about the world.

Below the Founder's seat lay the mutilated remains of a female follower.

Kotoha knew her.

On Kotoha's very first day here, that woman had been the one to hand her a cup of hot water.

Now, almost nothing remained of her.

Only her head was still recognizable among the remnants.

A strange, dreamlike smile still lingered on her face.

The sickly sweet scent filling the air was almost nauseating.

It came from incense Doma had deliberately burned to conceal the smell of blood.

Doma stood in the center of the room.

A few traces of blood still clung to the ends of his hair.

In the dim light, his rainbow-colored eyes no longer held their usual compassion.

Only something eerie and utterly inhuman remained.

Blood and scattered remains stained the floor around his feet.

For a moment, time itself seemed to stop.