The next day, Li Mo woke up early. He hadn't slept well in an unfamiliar place, but his body had mostly recovered, so he opened his eyes.
Then, he saw the child standing beside him.
"Good morning, Uncle."
"Good morning, Tanjiro. And is this little lady next to you Nezuko?"
Li Mo's attention shifted to the little girl beside Tanjiro. She looked about four years old, incredibly cute, and had clearly inherited her mother's beauty.
She must be Kamado Nezuko.
"Hello, Uncle. I'm Nezuko."
"Good morning, Nezuko."
After that, Li Mo got up from the futon. Soon, the two children led him to the bath area, where even a change of clothes had been prepared.
Through their chatter, Li Mo roughly understood what had happened. The children's actions had been arranged by Kamado Kie. Kie had accompanied Tanjuro out early in the morning, apparently to deal with the giant bear's carcass. The black bear's body could fetch a decent amount of money.
"Uncle, Uncle, Dad said you know the story about the sun earrings, right?" Kamado Tanjiro asked.
Now, the group—one adult and three children—sat under the eaves. The youngest, Takeo, who was only about one or two years old, was cradled in Li Mo's arms. Tanjiro and Nezuko sat beside him.
After bathing, Li Mo began telling stories to the children.
He started with the story of Snow White. At first, he had forgotten most of it, but the main plot was about the queen trying to kill the princess, right? As he told the story, it became clearer.
—Though it was a bit simplified.
"The story of the sun earrings... That takes us back to the Warring States period. In that era, man-eating demons roamed the land, and humans were nothing but food to them. To combat these monsters, the strongest swordsman in history was born into this world."
...
The story of the sun earrings was the tale of a swordsman named Yoriichi Tsugikuni.
From his birth, to starting a family, to forcing the Demon King to flee, to meeting his brother, who had turned into a demon, on the brink of death—Li Mo recounted these events slowly. Nezuko and Tanjiro listened intently, especially Tanjiro, whose breathing slowed, his expression serious, as if afraid to miss a single word.
Tanjiro's emotions fluctuated with the story. He was happy when the nameless swordsman started a family, sad when the swordsman's family was destroyed, and joyful when the swordsman created the twelve forms of the Sun Breathing technique and defeated the Demon King. But when the Demon King self-destructed and escaped, and the swordsman mourned his failure, Tanjiro's mood sank again.
Then, when the swordsman, in his twilight years, failed to kill his demonized brother and died of old age, Tanjiro was visibly upset. Even Nezuko looked visibly unhappy.
"Uncle, I don't like this story."
"Why not?"
"That swordsman... he died with sadness in his heart. I don't think that's good."
"Maybe so. But Tanjiro, the swordsman's life ended, but the story of the sun earrings didn't. It continued after the Demon King escaped, when the swordsman was still young."
Li Mo began telling the children about the bond between Yoriichi Tsugikuni and the Kamado family. By this point, the youngest, Takeo, had already fallen asleep in Li Mo's arms.
The warmth in this part of the story made the two children smile.
Li Mo had saved this part for last to give the story a good ending. If he had told it in chronological order, the story would have ended with Yoriichi's death, which would have been too sad.
After finishing the story, Li Mo seemed to remember something and warned the children, "Tanjiro, Nezuko. You must keep this story in your hearts and never tell anyone, okay?"
"Why, Uncle?" Tanjiro asked in a soft voice, having already moved on from the story's emotions.
Li Mo patted Takeo's little head as he slept and said, "How should I put it? About this story..."
After some effort, Li Mo managed to get Tanjiro and Nezuko to promise to keep the story a secret.
While telling the story earlier, Li Mo hadn't thought much about his own situation. He had come here because of that broken system. Thinking in terms of gaming logic, the leveling and stat system was already in place. There must be a dungeon for grinding experience. Since this was a dungeon, meeting certain conditions would allow him to leave.
As he pondered, Li Mo suddenly remembered that Muzan Kibutsuji was still alive. Given his personality, what would he do if he found out about this story? He would probably kill everyone involved. He had been hiding from Yoriichi until the swordsman's death, and after Yoriichi died, he had killed almost everyone related to the Sun Breathing technique.
He was, after all, a coward.
"Tanjiro, Nezuko, let's make a pinky promise."
"Okay~!"
"Pinky promise, a hundred years, no changing."
Following Li Mo's lead, the two children chanted in their innocent voices, "Pinky promise, a hundred years, no changing!"
Why only two children? Because Takeo had fallen asleep before the Snow White story even ended.
...
Kamado Tanjuro and Kamado Kie had left early to deal with the black bear's carcass. The winter temperatures were low, so the bear's body wouldn't rot quickly, but it was still better to handle it sooner rather than later.
"Finally done. Li-kun should be up by now. And the three kids... I'm a bit worried."
"Tanjiro will take care of them."
"I know, Tanjuro. I'm just a little concerned."
After finishing with the bear's carcass, the two carried the processed parts back home. When they arrived, they saw the following scene.
In the Kamado family's yard, an adult had the youngest child riding on his shoulders. The child held a fan with bells in one hand and a rattle-drum in the other. The other two children were trying to chase them.
Laughter filled the yard.
"Tanjiro, Nezuko, and even Takeo look so happy!" Kamado Kie smiled.
"Yeah," Tanjuro also smiled faintly, sharing his wife's sentiment.
The scene was truly heartwarming.
Kie said, "Tanjuro, I think we can agree to that matter. That person... he's not a bad person."
Someone who could play so happily with children couldn't be a bad person.
After finishing with the items they had brought back, Tanjuro and Kie prepared to go out again, as they hadn't finished moving the bear's carcass. Li Mo volunteered, "Please let Mrs. Kamado take care of the children. I'll go with you."
Kamado Kie agreed to this arrangement.