Chapter 027

"West Southwest, West Southwest, children in this town are disappearing one after another. Please go and investigate immediately."

"...East-northeast, everyone in the mountain temple has disappeared. Please investigate immediately."

"A ghost has been spotted in the north. Please go and destroy it immediately."

…

As the rehabilitated demon hunters were diagnosed by doctors as fully recovered and able to continue accepting missions, the crows assigned to them by the Demon Slayer Corps also flew to the clinic one by one with their missions.

Seeing their own crows, the ghost hunters who were sure they could leave the clinic couldn't help but shed tears of joy. Doctor Ueno's treatment skills were good, but at the same time, Doctor Ueno's combat power after learning some skills was also amazing.

Rather than staying in the clinic and being "consumed" by Dr. Ueno, they would rather go out and kill ghosts...

After this experience, these ghost hunters who had hurriedly packed up their things and took the Nichirin Sword and ran away all had an idea in mind: try their best to kill ghosts while trying not to get hurt themselves, so that they would be carried to the clinic by the Anbu personnel less often.

However, it is impossible to avoid getting hurt. Next time, they will still be sent to the clinic by the people from the hidden department to suffer "persecution" from Dr. Ueno.

"What are you looking at?"

Ueno Shin, who was walking in the yard of the clinic, suddenly stopped after temporarily finishing the work at hand.

At this moment, he was at the corner leading to the front and back yards, with his view diagonally facing the front yard and the lush greenery growing next to the bamboo wall.

The hydrangea aisle circled the front yard from the clinic's entrance, but it was not yet the time for them to bloom in full bloom, so among the vast expanses of green there was only an occasional small cluster of flowers with gradient colors, misled by the occasional breeze to bloom early.

And among the flowers that bloomed early, a small figure stopped to watch over one of the clusters of flowers.

Qingxi, who heard the sound, remained squatting on the ground, but raised his arm and pointed his finger at the bottom of the green leaves of a hydrangea.

Ueno Shin looked in the direction of her finger and saw a crow standing quietly among the roots, stems and leaves of a dense hydrangea.

"It's Jiro." Ueno Shin, who recognized the crow at a glance, greeted it naturally.

However, the other party just glanced at Ueno Shin and did not want to respond. It even moved deeper into the green leaves as if it was worried about being disturbed.

Ueno Arata wasn't angry, but instead, he explained Jiro's situation to Kiyoki, who was waiting for him to tell him about Jiro's progress. "Jiro is five years old, a real man. Last year, he retired from the Crow Corps, which was used to deliver ghost news to his partner, the ghost hunter.

It has six partners, but perhaps because of bad luck, every partner it chose was killed by a ghost within a year from the time they passed the trial to becoming a ghost hunter.

Last year, its last partner, the ghost hunter with whom it had been with the longest, was killed by a ghost while on a mission, and it became what you see now.

Although it didn't say it, I think it blamed itself for its partner's unfortunate death.

Because I am a crow that cannot bring luck to my partner, my partner keeps dying. I don't want to see my partner die again, so as long as I am no longer a crow, those misfortunes will no longer be brought to others... That's the idea.

"A crow that has retired from its communication duties would normally follow a member of the Demon Slayer Corps if they were to raise him. However, Jiro's situation is rather special. Furthermore, he doesn't like to spend much time with people, so he's been kept at the Demon Slayer Corps headquarters. Of course, there are also times like Jiro where he gets bored waiting at the headquarters and flies over to the clinic to 'sit'."

As Ueno Arata was talking, he also squatted on the ground like Kiyoki. However, the other party was serious for only half an hour before reaching out his hand to Jiro under the green leaves, poking Jiro as if "he would die if I didn't tease him."

Jiro tried to dodge but couldn't escape the fate of being poked, so he flapped his wings and pecked at the hand in front of him that always wanted to interrupt his peace.

Qingxi looked speechlessly at the middle-aged man who was curled up in a ball and fighting with a crow beside him, and almost blurted out "Are you childish?"

Seeing Jiro about to leave after being poked by him, Ueno Shin decided to quit while he was ahead. He stood up and said to her, "You've been squatting here for so long and Jiro didn't chase you away. It seems like he has a good first impression of you. Next, you can try feeding him something and see if he eats it."

After saying this, Ueno Shin turned around and left, continuing his walk which he had interrupted.

Looking at the man walking further and further away, Qingxi's face puffed up into a puff. She shouted at Ueno Arata's back in dissatisfaction: "Doctor Ueno, don't think that you can distract me by rubbing my head and I will forget about this matter!!!"

However, what responded to her was the other person's jumping steps as he walked.

Qingxi: ...My fists are getting hard again.

Also, why does the head of the Demon Slayer Corps' clinic have such a personality?! It makes her want to overthrow him.

She was complaining like crazy in her heart until she finally felt better. Then she let out a long breath and turned her attention to Jiro again.

Maybe because the annoying person had left, even Jiro, who was nestled alone among the green stems, came out to confirm. After confirming, Qingxi used her backpack of delicious food to guarantee that she had really seen a crow sighing there.

So, Dr. Ueno, you must be so unreliable that not even a crow wants to pay attention to you.

Jiro breathed a sigh of relief and prepared to return the same way, but when he turned around, he suddenly remembered that there was a human cub here, so he stopped.

The man and the bird stared at each other for a long time, and finally Qingxi moved.

She grabbed some strawberry rice from her gourmet backpack and slowly placed it in front of it. She asked, "Want to eat?"

Strawberry Rice, available at Capture Level 1 and below, can be cultivated artificially. Each grain is a micron-sized strawberry, offering just the right amount of sourness, like the carefully crafted vinegar rice at a high-end sushi restaurant. As you chew, the sweetness of the strawberry gradually spreads throughout your mouth, making it a delicious rice that's easy to eat even without a side dish. Most importantly, it's affordable, making it a staple food for everyone.

Crows like shiny things; it's the nature of their species. So when Qingxi placed a handful of strawberry rice that sparkled brightly in the sunlight in front of him, Jiro, who was already prepared to avoid glaring at the human cub in front of him... didn't leave.

Jiro: It’s not that I don’t want to walk, but my legs have a mind of their own.

Looking at the black crow standing there motionless, Qingxi thought for a moment and tentatively stretched out the hand filled with strawberry rice and placed it next to its mouth. "Just looking at it won't fill your stomach. Why don't you try it?"

Jiro's brain said no, but his body moved on its own and pecked at it:...Ah, I'm a trained crow, why would I eat the food of this human cub?

Then, after eating a few grains of strawberry rice, Jiro said: Wow~ It smells so good.

The charm of food lies in the fact that it can make a person who is very reserved let go of his or her reserve in an instant, can make a person who always has a serious face smile like a flower, and... can make a crow instantly turn into an emotionless pile driver and peck frantically at the strawberry rice in her palm.

The crow's appetite is larger than that of other birds of its size. After it finished a handful of strawberry rice, Qingxi saw that it looked like it was still enjoying the food, so she bought it some raw roasted pig meat.

Anyway, she feeds it every day and eats meat every meal. It can't eat her whole roasted pig in a year, but she can.

Jiro didn't swallow the small piece of meat that Qingxi fed him this time. Qingxi understood that he was full.

After putting the remaining piece of meat back into the gourmet backpack, Qingxi walked to the well and fetched some water to wash her hands. However, when she came back to look for Jiro, the crow was no longer where it had been.

Qingxi sighed in his heart, "That guy just took everything and left." The scumbag attribute is too serious!

The next day, as the sun slowly rose, the morning dew also disappeared as the temperature in the air gradually increased.

"Duoduoduo, duoduoduoduo, duoduoduoduoduo."

Outside the window of a dormitory on the second floor, a black figure flapped its wings and slowly landed on the windowsill.

The bird's beak tapped regularly on the glass window, making the person who was still fast asleep on the bed inside the room look struggling.

In a debate between a goblin named "Get Up" and a goblin named "Keep Sleeping", the goblin named "Get Up" finally won, and the little man in his sleep struggled to get up.

After sitting on the bed for a long time and then being in a daze for a long time, the girl turned her neck and looked towards the source of the noise that kept her awake...

What? It turns out to be a “scumbag” bah, it’s Jiro.

Qingxi got out of bed and walked to the window and opened it. It was still early and not yet the normal working hours. The Butterfly Sisters who lived in the same room with her were ghost hunters, so following her suggestion that "even if you can't practice now, you can still get up early in the morning and do some proper running as a physical training. This way, when you go to the trainer, you may be able to avoid the initial process of adapting to the training.", the two sisters started running around the clinic in the early morning since the second day after they arrived.

only……

In her opinion, even running needs to be done in moderation, rather than constantly pushing the body to its limits from the beginning, which would hurt the body. However, the two sisters are stubborn. They run five laps every morning as a base, and if there is still time, they will continue running.

After the window was opened, Jiro flew in.

"Well, didn't you fly away yesterday? Why are you here again today?" Sitting on the wooden bench, her fingers gently stroked Jiro's back, just once, and when her fingers wanted to touch it again, it avoided her.

Jiro didn't say anything, just walked back and forth on the small round table she bought, and then looked at her from time to time with his dark green eyes.

Qingxi looked at it quietly for a while, and finally found a small plate, put a handful of smiling peanuts in it and fed it to the dog.

Smiley peanuts, captured at level 1 or below, are artificially bred. They have a smiley face and are often made into "smiling peanut butter" for sale. Spreading it on happy bread slices and eating it together will give people a feeling of double happiness.

After feeding peanuts, it’s time to feed meat.

After feeding it more than a pound of roasted whole pig meat, she thought it would not eat it all today and would just pat its butt and leave.

However, a scumbag is a scumbag, and he doesn't seem to have the slightest desire to repent and reform.

Seeing Jiro about to fly away, Qingxi shouted at him, "Next time you come, I will never feed you again!!!"

Jiro who flies far away:......

Ah, what did you say? It's too far away, I couldn't hear you!!!