"Isn't this... way too long for a short trip?"

Nik questioned with a dubious expression for the duo had been walking for hours. As if to justify Nik's thoughts, the glaring sun at the peak of its hour kept glaring at the duo, who were the only one walking across the flattened path surrounded by a clear area of grass and a sparse number of trees that sheltered cute rodents.

"We... are close."

Shigure tilted her head upwards and gazed at Nik's chiseled jaws before replying impassively. 

"You said that an hour ago..."

Nik muttered with a sigh while he took out another bag of chips and tore a small opening through his teeth before passing the packet towards Shigure, who instantly took out a small piece of potato chip and narrowed her eyes in delight when the combined taste of spiciness and tanginess intertwined within her mouth.

After another hour of walk, Nik could finally witness a semblance of establishment and he would have been probably thrilled to interact with other people if not for the utterly grotesque smell that could be smelled from a far distance. 

Even Shigure's expression grew somber, somewhat forlorn, in fact, while the strength in her grip grew marginally, just like how the distance between the duo was shortened.

"Shigure, I just want to state for future reference... a destroyed village is not a dating site material..."

He whispered as the duo grew closer to the village before Nik stopped her and embraced her softly, inciting a surprised expression from the otherwise impassive kunoichi.

"You are shivering... I don't know why...

But try to calm down..."

He whispered and indeed, Shigure was shivering even under such intense heat. Hearing Nik's words, a mixture of a pained and relieved sigh escaped Shigure's plump lips.

"You are... too nice, Nik."

She whispered while her quivering arms slithered oast his underarms and latched onto his back tightly.

"He passed away here, right? Your father?"

Nik whispered softly as Shigure nuzzled while nodding.

"He protected the entire village... he died an honor—"

"No." Nik interrupted her and tilted a little back to face Shigure and smiled warmly.

"You can lie to the world... but never should you lie to your own self. He died honorably?

I am sorry, but we both know that there is no honor in dying."

Shigure's expression started turning for the worse while tears, for the first time in forever, threatened to leak from the corner of her eyes while Nik placed his hand over the back of her head and pulled her in.

Shigure's body trembled yet again while soft sobs leaked through the embrace as a damp feeling was transferred to his brain through the fabric over his chest.

"There you go... let it out..."

Nik whispered gently while giving no regard to the two crows who were perched over a thick branch while averting their gazes sideways.

They both didn't step into the destroyed village and kept on embracing each other for more than half-an-hour as the fabric over Nik's upper body was already damp, but he did not care for mere clothing while tending to the beauty that deserved his undivided attention.

"Thank you..."

Moments passed after Shigure calmed down and finally looked up with her usual droopy eyes, yet, the tear stain on her cheeks pictured a different story.

"Why thank me? If I am even unable to share moments of compassion with you, then our relationship is nothing but of plunging and ploughing.

That, I do not wish for.

And instead of speaking words of gratification, you can always show your appreciation through your actions."

Nik smirked and immediately swooped down for a surprise honey kiss, yet, Shigure did not avert and fully accommodated his roguish tongue while her own fleshy tongue intertwined with his, making her forget her sadness, even if it was for a moment.

"See? Now, let's go for an actual vacation."

Nik smiled and licking his lips as Shigure's cheeks were already painted pink. Nik finally took out a handkerchief from his inventory... apparently, he had hustled everything from a supermarket from his homeworld.

"Oi! Are there any actual missions nearby? Like fifteen minutes of distance away?"

Nik spun and waved at the two crows, one belonging to Nik and one belonging to Shigure.

After their mistress, the boss of the Kasugai Crow Communication Faction— Lisa Lisa, brought the duo into her mansion, the two crows have been sending back mock information about the duo and putting off the myriad reports of demon sighting in the villages near Tokyo.

"Caw! Yes, there are many!!!" The middle-aged woman, Shigure's Kasugai Crow, cawed shrilly before flapping her wings and smacking the back of the head of Nik's crow— something, Nik was relieved to see— and flew up.

"Nik! Shigure Kosaka! Elderly of the Village Tamane are vanishing without a cause! Scout the region!

Scout the region!"

Nik grinned and looked at Shigure.

"I know this is not really a type of vacation, but I think you are going to like my moves this time."

He couldn't help himself and softly pinch her somewhat red nose tip and took her hand while moving towards the direction of Tamane Village.

Just like Nik asked, the village was almost twenty minutes away from the already destroyed one and the duo's appearance immediately took the village by surprise.

Not only were they beautiful, but many remaining elderly could also easily identify the duo as demon slayers and immediately walked up to them to willingly explain the whole situation.

Of course, Nik did not process the rumours and immediately walked past them with Shigure in tow and started sampling the limited number of inns in the village while walking around the village and sightseeing whatever attracted their interest.

There were no small amount of stares from young men and women, but honestly, the duo couldn't care less about them.

Finally, the sun decided to set in due time and created a buffer period for the demons to finally emerge in myriad locations within the state. Of course, Nik's target emerged from one of the more isolated houses that were already inspected by his life vision.

And as expected, Nik and Shigure were already present outside the hut to welcome the pale-skinned woman with short green hair and a body bulkier than men with sharp canines reaching outwards.

"Extermination..."

Shigure whispered and raised her hand to grab the hilt of her blade only for Nik to stop her as he looked at the demonic female with a warm smile.

"Hello, there."

"Demon Slayers? I hate your scent! Go away! The elders... I have to respect them!

Respect the elders!"

She roared and instantly, her blood flowed through the hollow tube-like structure embedded in the inner portion of her wrists that quickly formed into two bloody whips!

'Alright... let's try it.'

Nik unsheathed his Nichirin Blade and instantly, utilised his [Pheromone Illusion] to form a string of carnal Pheromones that immediately twisted around the demon's body. Without any breaks, Nik unleashed [Mind Control] to twist the demon's already weak will to form thoughts about her past life and then used [Illusion] to twist those thoughts into an endless barrage of emotions while each of his countless Pheromones was infused with a tiny bit of Hamon.

This was the fruit of his training. During two days of training with Lisa Lisa, Nik understood that his situation was fortunate and unfortunate at the same time.

He had multiple affinities that could be trained in this world aside from the art of bending, but it would require a tremendous amount of time and effort and a part of him felt that even if he completed this world's adventure, he would still be unable to complete his goals.

But that did not dampen his spirits for he kept on with his usual training and started to find alternatives before settling on his [Pheromone Illusion].

Not only did this skill allow Nik to become a mobile source of aphrodisiac, but Nik could also very well control the mind of his opponents in ways that they cannot even imagine. But simply controlling wouldn't work, for he had roguishly tried his hand on Lisa Lisa and she would always snap out of his control within a few seconds.

This led Nik to a realisation that [Mind Control] itself required a lot of factors to be successful, and many of these conditions still eluded him.

To tackle this situation, Nik started to operate [Illusion] in tandem and sometimes even [Carnal Desires] whenever he gave Lisa Lisa a toe-curling mental ride which would induce her to hastily retreat into her room.

The use of [Illusion] would delude the minds of his opponent and allow Nik's control take a deeper root within their consciousness, meanwhile, with his Hamon infused with the physical Pheromones that allowed him to use the skill, Nik could slowly send the poison into the bodies of his opponent and go for the final kill.

"Respect your elders?"

Nik mused while the demon's consciousness produced suicidal thoughts that only grew firmer with Nik's illusion showing the images of her father and mother whispering into her ears to forfeit her life and pay them an ultimate show of respect.

Meanwhile, Shigure couldn't help but frown when the demon immediately lashed her whip to bind her own neck while she muttered with tears streaming down her eyes.

"I was a good girl! I AM a good girl! I always respect the elderly... even putting them out of their misery!!!

Why??!!"

She wept and chuckled at the same time, painting a soul shivering form of terror that Nik was definitely getting amused with and with a snap of his fingers, the demon's whip tightened and bloody spikes emerged from its surface, shredding the neck with a pull of her own hand.

At this moment, Nik used his somewhat developing control over Hamon and made his pheromones enter the demon's body, bringing waves of carnal pleasure to the grotesque demon while the pain of the poisonous Hamon wreaked her body.

But even after her headless body knelt in utter defeat with continuous spasms, the demon, in fact, was still alive, once again opening Nik's eyes to the terrible truth that demons didn't truly excel in physical strength or myriad demon blood arts... it was their tenacity to live.

Shiing

Before Nik could commit more research, a Hamon infused Kunai pierced the demon's head rolled far away from the body and instantly, the silently shrieking demon's misery came to an end.

"It was gross..."

Shigure commented slightly while Nik shrugged.

"I am not particularly proficient... and it's still a work in progress."

Shigure nodded in affirmation but spun her body and left with an audible snort within Nik's mind, pointing put her distaste in this particular method as Nik sighed in dismay.

"Almost a week of practice... all gone just because of the terrifying image... couldn't the demons be more.... hmmm, appealing to the eyes?"

Nik wondered out loud and looked back at the disappearing corpse and mobilised his Water Hamon infused Kunai, promptly throwing it at the target just for the confirmation's sake and left with Shigure, thus, ending the reign of a girl's show of respect towards the elderly.

"At least, we can report truthfully this time..."

The middle-aged crow muttered with a dark expression as a wing yet again smacked the back of his head and his senior, Shigure's Kasugai Crow, spoke rather coldly.

"Newbie! Mistress Lisa Lisa's words are the truth! If she says that demons do not eat humans, that is our truth!

Never forget that!"

"Yea, yea!"

Smack

"Enough with the sass!"

She cawed coldly once again.