Chapter 185: Conditions
"Pearl-san~!"
"How is it you’ve come to Yoshiwara, Shinobu-san?"
"Actually, I wanted to see the place where Marcus-kun and Muzan fought." She paused briefly. "But it looks like it’s already been cleaned up, hasn’t it?"
"That’s right, there’s nothing left to see," Pearl put on an apologetic expression.
"It’s fine, I’m not that curious anymore." Shinobu tilted her head. "What matters to me now is... how is Marcus-kun’s health?"
"The master?" Pearl blinked. "He’s doing great."
"Great?" Shinobu pointed at the desolate stretch of the district, keeping her smile intact. "Then why is he letting his territory end up in this state?"
Pearl immediately caught the misunderstanding and laughed, showing the documents she was holding in her hand.
"It’s precisely because we want to turn this place into our territory that the master wants to buy up the whole area to redevelop it. I’m the one handling the price negotiations."
"Buy up all of it?" Shinobu raised her eyebrows. "Where’s he getting that kind of money?"
"That’s why I’m haggling with them."
Shinobu remembered the furious shout from a moment ago, looked at the ruined street, and connected the situation to the demon that hunted people every night.
Her smile turned subtle.
"So... this whole ghost business is really you people up to your tricks~"
Pearl didn’t deny it. "No wonder the master said you’re the smartest woman he knows, after Tamayo-san."
"My~ that doesn’t exactly sound like a compliment."
Without dwelling on it any further, Shinobu pointed at the establishment behind her. "How much are you planning to buy this place for?"
"Logically speaking, the original price should be around forty thousand," Pearl explained with a glint of cunning. "We’re offering eighty thousand."
"Eighty thousand for a courtesan house that big?"
"He’ll end up selling," Pearl replied, brushing it off. "In Yoshiwara’s current state, he can’t cover the food or his staff’s wages. He loses money every day and nobody else will buy. It hurts these owners more to put money out of their own pockets than to die."
"But the old woman at the tea stall sold her little shop for thirty thousand...," Shinobu remarked.
"Ah, you mean granny Mei." Pearl clarified: "The master said there’s no need to haggle with that kind of shop."
"They already scrape by through hard work and the business is small. Them and the tailor shops, we pay the original price or a little more."
The curve of Shinobu’s lips slowly deepened. "I didn’t imagine Marcus-kun had that side to him."
"The Master is a good person." Hakuji cut in, breaking his silence.
Shinobu looked at him with indifference. "A demon who’s devoured people for centuries praising someone as a good person... that doesn’t sound like a compliment either."
Hakuji didn’t take offense and replied calmly. "Facts are facts."
"Facts?" Shinobu tilted her head. "Hakuji-san, a good person doesn’t disguise himself as a demon to terrorize others."
"We’re not disguising ourselves."
"..."
Shinobu fell silent for a moment. This man’s answers were even more clipped than Giyū’s.
"Anyway...," she decided not to argue with him. "I won’t get involved in your affairs. Is Marcus-kun in Asakusa?"
Pearl nodded. "He’s been at the mansion the whole time."
"I’ll talk with him about a few matters. You all carry on with your business."
"There’s no need—it’s about to get dark and we’re leaving too," Pearl stepped aside with an inviting gesture. "The carriage is right next door, allow us to take you."
Shinobu looked at the sky and nodded. "Thank you for the trouble."
The gates of the Asakusa mansion stood wide open.
Yushiro rested on the windowsill of the gatehouse with a book in his hands.
Hearing the trot of the horses, he looked up to check that the talismans stuck to the frame and on the ground remained intact before getting to his feet.
Seeing Shinobu step down, Yushiro showed no surprise. "Marcus is in the back courtyard."
"Yushiro-kun, you’re still as cold as ever...," Shinobu blinked. "Can’t I have come to look for Tamayo-san?"
Yushiro laughed mockingly and went on tidying up the carriage without answering.
Pearl took Shinobu by the arm to lead her inside, lowering her voice: "Don’t mind him. Ever since the master turned into a vampire, Yushiro’s been sulking. The master said sooner or later he’ll find him a chubby woman to marry him off to!"
Shinobu glanced back and let out a light laugh. Having spent some time at the mansion, she knew all about the squabbles between them.
Crossing the courtyard and approaching the main entrance, Ivy’s soft voice rang out from inside: "Ume-san, please don’t put your feet on the coffee table."
"I’ll put them there anyway! So what? This table isn’t yours!" a petulant voice replied.
"It’s the master’s."
"...Hmph, I’ve got money! I’ll buy ten of them!"
"..."
Pearl played narrator in a low voice: "The former Upper Moon Six, now called Ume, is also one of the master’s employees. But since he recently got her a nice sum of money, she’s been acting a little full of herself."
In the open space of the back courtyard, Marcus stood in the center holding two swords, motionless, his eyes closed and his breathing serene.
Shinobu stopped in the corridor without making a sound while Pearl quietly withdrew.
Shinobu gazed at that profile, identical to their last meeting, with mixed emotions.
Not even a month had passed, and the man who’d smacked her ass so hard wasn’t even human anymore.
"If you keep staring, I’m going to charge you."
Marcus opened his eyes and turned around with the same smile as always.
"...Marcus-kun still has just as loose a tongue."
"That’s called having some spark," Marcus sheathed the swords and walked toward her. "You got here later than I figured."
Shinobu sighed. "You have no idea how much we’ve been arguing back at headquarters these past few days."
Marcus stopped in front of her, looking down at her from above. "I don’t care what the others think. I just want to know your stance, and Kanao’s."
Shinobu held his gaze. "I’ll stay neutral. That’s why I came to negotiate."
"And Kanao?"
"I put her under house arrest."
Marcus raised an eyebrow. "Afraid I’ll steal her away from you?"
Shinobu’s smile didn’t change, but her voice went softer. "The two of you now... no longer belong to the same world."
"A little racist of you. But we can be from the same world."
"This has nothing to do with racism, and it’s still way too soon for that."
"Love can’t be confined."
"I don’t intend to confine it," Shinobu paused briefly. "But at the very least I need to get your stance clear."
After a brief duel of stares, Marcus was the first to smile.
"Let’s go in," he said, stepping aside. "It’s getting cold."
"Mm~"
Shinobu followed him into the mansion, crossing the hallway until they reached the study on the third floor. The room was spare: a desk, two chairs, and a single painting hanging on the wall.
Marcus sat down behind the desk and pointed at the chair across from him. "Have a seat."
Shinobu took the seat, folded her hands over her knees, and kept her posture impeccably straight.
Seeing that stiff attitude, Marcus laughed. "Don’t be like that—it’s like we’re on a blind date."
"Marcus-kun," Shinobu’s smile didn’t change, but her tone turned serious. "I come as a representative of the Master."
"I don’t go on blind dates with Kagaya," Marcus shot back mockingly.
Shinobu’s smile took on a dangerous edge.
"All right, let’s talk business," Marcus set the jokes aside and leaned slightly forward. "Tell me, what does Kagaya have in mind?"
"An alliance."
"What would it look like?"
Shinobu took a deep breath. "The Demon Slayer Corps will continue to recognize your status as the Demon Hashira, providing you with logistical support, financial backing, and political protection."
Marcus tapped his fingers on the table. "And the conditions?"
"First: the vampires must keep the elimination of Muzan as their primary objective and provide support when facing an Upper Moon."
"Second: the Corps will establish a branch in Asakusa with its own personnel to guard it."
At this point Shinobu paused and looked at him with determination:
"Third: we want the medicine to become human again."
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