The Bat Demon speculated that the likelihood of Lord Hantengu being injured was small, while the possibility of him having defected was quite high.
He began to hesitate: should they go in and look for Lord Hantengu?
It never even crossed the minds of these two demons that Hantengu might have been captured alive.
And it made sense. From the birth of demons until now, thousands of years had passed. In all those millennia, there had never been a precedent of an Upper Rank being captured alive. Let alone an Upper Rank—even the Lower Ranks had likely never suffered such a fate.
Because such a thing had never happened, these two demons simply did not consider the possibility.
After hesitating for a while, the Bat Demon finally made a decision.
Let's go in and take a look first.
Their mission was to find Lord Hantengu.
As for Lord Hantengu's current condition or circumstances, that was not within their jurisdiction. All they needed to do was lay eyes on Hantengu himself, and then return to report to Lord Muzan. That would be enough.
The Bat Demon spoke to the Black Dog Demon.
"Old Dog, let's sneak in quietly. Don't alarm the people inside. Let's see if we can find Lord Hantengu within."
The Black Dog Demon didn't overthink it and simply nodded.
The two demons transformed back into their human forms, easily vaulted over the courtyard wall of the inn, and silently infiltrated the building.
However, considering these two demons had come this close, would Horitake and Shinobu, who were staying in the inn, really remain oblivious?
Of course, they reacted. They were Hashira, after all. The moment the two demons approached the inn, Horitake and Shinobu detected them.
Just to clarify—although Horitake and Shinobu were staying in the same inn tonight, they were not staying in the same room.
When they first booked the rooms, Horitake had tentatively suggested to Shinobu, "Should we share a room?"
The result... naturally, was a gentle yet firm refusal from Shinobu.
And so, within this inn, Shinobu and Horitake occupied two separate rooms, though they were adjacent to one another.
In truth, Shinobu was still cutting Horitake some slack.
Although they were in separate rooms, the barrier between them wasn't a solid wall, but rather a set of sliding wooden fusuma doors covered in paper. As long as those doors were opened, the two rooms would connect to form one large suite.
Because of this, Horitake had been feeling quite conflicted tonight.
He and Shinobu were separated only by a few thin doors. Although the doors were locked from the other side, a forceful tug would be enough to tear them open.
Should I be a beast? Or should I be something worse than a beast?
Horitake wavered between being a "beast" (making a move) and being "worse than a beast" (doing nothing).
After wavering for a while, he decided to be "worse than a beast" for now.
Why?
It was simple.
If Shinobu truly intended to let him be a "beast," she wouldn't have insisted on booking two rooms, and the connecting doors wouldn't be locked from her side.
To put it bluntly, she didn't trust him yet.
If he really tried to force his way over, nine times out of ten, he would be sent flying by Shinobu.
Better not to be reckless. I'll endure it for now. If I'm worse than a beast, then so be it!
Having made this decision, Horitake planned to banish those chaotic thoughts from his mind, place the box containing Hantengu by his side, and get some sleep to restore his energy.
But just before he could settle down to sleep, he sensed the aura of demons.
Demons, without a doubt. Two of them.
Their strength was decent—not ordinary small-fry demons, but not reaching the level of the Twelve Kizuki either.
Since he had sensed them, Horitake couldn't treat the matter lightly. He sat up in his room and activated his Spirit Vision. Peering through the obstacles with his translucent sight, he observed the situation outside and spotted the two intruders.
A large black dog and a large bat. What an interesting combination for demons. It reminded Horitake of a werewolf and a vampire teaming up—two creatures that usually never got along were actually cooperating?
At that moment, Shinobu in the next room seemed to have detected the demons as well, making some noise.
Click.
The lock on the sliding fusuma doors was undone. Shinobu slid the doors open from her side, connecting the two rooms into one large space.
Horitake turned to look. Shinobu was wearing home-style sleepwear that made her look deceptively delicate. Her hand was gripping her Nichirin Sword, and she was sitting there, exchanging a meaningful glance with Horitake.
Shinobu's look was easy to interpret; she was signaling to Horitake that demons were approaching.
Horitake nodded and placed a single index finger against his lips. This gesture meant: Don't make any rash moves, leave everything to me.
Shinobu nodded, remaining seated quietly without any further action.
Horitake continued to use his Spirit Vision to monitor the two demons outside the inn.
They seemed to be searching for something in the vicinity.
Hmm? They're coming over!
Could their target be me?
No! It's not me!
Horitake wasn't entirely sure what the large bat's Blood Demon Art was, but he could easily guess the nature of the black dog.
What are dogs best at?
Smell, of course.
Although the concept of military or police dogs didn't quite exist in this era, using a dog's superior sense of smell for tracking was perfectly normal.
Tracking what?
Tracking Hantengu, naturally!
Horitake couldn't help but glance at the box next to him where Hantengu was imprisoned.
Hantengu inside the box remained motionless; injured as he was, he couldn't make any noise even if he wanted to.
Horitake looked outside the inn again. He became increasingly certain that the target these two demons were tracking was Hantengu!
Sure enough, the large black dog and the large bat had assumed their human forms and were infiltrating the inn.
It seemed they had tracked the scent all the way here.
In that case, let's lie in wait, close the door to beat the dog, and invite the gentlemen into the trap!
Horitake quietly made several hand gestures to Shinobu, instructing her not to make a sound and to leave the rest to him.
Shinobu nodded and made a gesture to confirm she understood.
The two of them sat there in silence, waiting for the demons to come knocking.
Meanwhile, the two demons, having infiltrated the inn, moved with utter stealth to avoid creating a scene they couldn't handle. They didn't disturb anyone other than Horitake and Shinobu.
The Black Dog Demon took point, with the Bat Demon following behind. The two demons looked at the numerous rooms in the inn and began checking them one by one.
This so-called "searching" relied entirely on the Black Dog Demon's nose.
The Black Dog Demon sniffed at the door of every room, while the Bat Demon waited leisurely behind him.
They finished sniffing all the rooms on the first floor. The Black Dog Demon concluded that Lord Hantengu was not on the ground floor of the inn.
The pair then ascended to the second floor, sniffing each guest room in turn.
When the Black Dog Demon sniffed at the door of Shinobu's room, he frowned, hesitating slightly.
He moved on to sniff the door of the next room—Horitake's room.
After sniffing, the Black Dog Demon frowned again.
The scent of Lord Hantengu was very strong in both rooms. The Black Dog Demon was having trouble pinpointing the exact source.
He sniffed several more times, distinguishing the scents carefully. Finally, the Black Dog Demon decided that Lord Hantengu's scent was strongest in this room!
This is the place!
The Black Dog Demon pointed at Horitake's room and nodded to the Bat Demon.
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