The events that took place in Infinite City were unknown even to the Demon Slayer Corps, despite their extensive intelligence network.
The space where Infinite City was located was so secretive that not even the crows could discover or enter it, naturally making it impossible to gather any useful information.
Yet, the intelligence network of the Demon Slayer Corps still found out that since the headquarters was attacked by multiple Upper Ranks of demons, the actions of demons had beco unpredictable.
So of them mysteriously disappeared, others beca abnormally active, so seed to have other motives, no longer just staying in one place to prey on humans, instead moving from one location to another, and so even entered a state of mutual slaughter, causing significant chaos.
Especially the Twelve Kizuki, with the Lower Ranks already disbanded and two of the Upper Ranks subdued, their behavior seed extrely uncontrollable. They were no longer acting rely to hunt for food or to kill the Ghost Hunters of the Demon Slayer Corps, but kept appearing and disappearing abruptly in various small towns and cities, making their trails and goals completely mysterious.
Upon learning this news, the high-ranking mbers of the Demon Slayer Corps all went on alert.
The abnormal behavior of the demons told them that everything Reiger had said might truly be arriving.
Kibutsuji Muzan was about to make a move, and the grand battle between the demons and the Demon Slayer Corps would soon intensively ignite.
This put the pillars on high alert, tensing the strings in their hearts. Several impulsive pillars were already eager to enhance their strength at the thought of possibly having to fight fiercely with the Upper Ranks or even confront Kibutsuji Muzan face-to-face.
Patterns, Red Swords, and the Transparent World, knowing these three abilities existed, the pillars now most urgently wanted to possess them.
Only by awakening these three abilities could they stand a chance against the Upper Rank demons and Kibutsuji Muzan himself, even though so rebellious pillars did not want to admit this, but since they could beco stronger, naturally, they had no reason to refuse.
Unfortunately, the new "Tsukiguni Yoriichi," the head of training, did not directly start their training.
Because the Demon Slayer Corps was relocating its headquarters, moving en masse to the Swordsmith Village.
This task was not easy to complete, not only because the location of Swordsmith Village was hidden and the routes complex, but also because there were too many people, and moving all of them to Swordsmith Village was not that simple.
And training couldn’t possibly occur en route, so for now, the first priority was still to help with the relocation of the headquarters, and other matters were temporarily postponed.
For this reason, the pillars were also dispersed, each being separately assigned to lead a group of people, following the designated routes to the Swordsmith Village.
Reiger, along with the people from the Ubuyashiki family, was part of the first group to migrate and arrived first at this Swordsmith Village.
"Is this the Swordsmith Village?"
When Reiger arrived at the Swordsmith Village, he surveyed the entire village.
It indeed was a village.
Most of the buildings here were wooden houses, neither large nor small, and looked very modest.
There were watchtowers built around, and it seed that mbers of the Demon Slayer Corps were permanently stationed on them, indicating the attention the Demon Slayer Corps paid to the Swordsmith Village.
The village was surrounded by mountains and forests, indeed encircled by woods, and entering here without going through the twisting paths in the forest was impossible.
In the air of the village, there was a faint sll of iron and the scorched scent of fire, reminding Reiger of the ti he first entered the industrial area of Oradour to find Chun’s workshop.
The population of the village seed small, but without exception, everyone wore a fiery n’s mask to denote their identity as swordsmiths.
A person who seed to be the village chief, along with many people from Swordsmith Village, welcod the arriving Demon Slayer Corps and respectfully began talking with Ubuyashiki Kagaya.
"Welco to the Swordsmith Village, my lord."
The chief of the Swordsmith Village, nad Tecchikawahara Tecchin, made Reiger almost want to speak but then stop.
Tecchikawahara Tecchin himself was an older, short-statured man. Although his specific age was unclear due to the fiery n’s mask, the manner in which the surrounding swordsmiths treated him clearly showed that he was a venerable elder in the Swordsmith Village.
In the village, the chief’s skill seed to be the best, and his sword-making technique was also the strongest. Many pillars from the Demon Slayer Corps wanted him to forge swords for them, resulting in only a few successes which showed the chief’s high status.
However, when facing Ubuyashiki Kagaya, the leader of the Demon Slayer Corps, the village chief still bowed his head and paid his respects.
"Lift your head."
The health of Ubuyashiki Kagaya had recently beco very poor. Recently, he had been coughing constantly, and both his face and body showed those rot-like marks that disfigured him, and now if not supported by soone, he couldn’t even walk.
Considering the lord’s physical condition, along the way, Ubuyashiki Kagaya was carried over in a wooden sedan, and even now, he still sat on the wooden fra, unable to get down.
Even so, Ubuyashiki Kagaya still addressed the chief with a gentle expression.
"I appreciate your trouble this ti, cough cough..."
Upon hearing Ubuyashiki Kagaya cough, the chief quickly spoke out.
"Not at all, the Swordsmith Village and the Demon Slayer Corps are inherently one. We are actually very pleased that you could move here."
That was indeed true.
The Swordsmith Village originally had no xenophobic atmosphere and even because of its years-long dealings with the Demon Slayer Corps, both sides had a high level of acceptance and understanding of each other.
The swordsmiths forging swords for the swordsn of the Demon Slayer Corps itself built a trustful relationship, and hence, the Swordsmith Village welcod the arrival of the Demon Slayer Corps, not to ntion this ti it was the entire headquarters of the Demon Slayer Corps making the village’s security unprecedentedly strong.
The chief had felt a lot of crisis after hearing that the Demon Slayer Corps Headquarters was attacked by demons, worried that the location of the Swordsmith Village would also be exposed and hence attacked by demons, especially recently, as the actions of demons had beco abnormal, deeply worrying him that sothing might happen to the Swordsmith Village and the heritage of sword-making might be cut off.
Now, with the Demon Slayer Corps having arrived and even relocated its headquarters here, the chief was naturally more than welcoming.
"Is this the new Supre Commander of the Demon Slayer Corps, Tsukiguni Yoriichi?"
The village chief greeted Reiger who stood aside, seemingly a bit unconventional.
The well-inford individuals already knew that the Demon Slayer Corps had established a new position of Supre Commander, equal in rank to the master.
That is to say, the individual held a similarly high and powerful position within the Demon Slayer Corps, possessing the highest level of command authority, even capable of dispatching the Pillars at will, undoubtedly a significant figure.
The position was held by a powerful swordsman who had saved the Demon Slayer Corps and slain an Upper Moon demon in a recent attack, which only added to his credibility.
Thus, the village chief greeted Reiger with the sa respect he had shown to Ubuyashiki Kagaya.
"Don’t mind ; I just went with the flow," Reiger replied nonchalantly.
Reiger didn’t really care much about such matters.
To be honest, he wasn’t particularly interested in being the Supre Commander. His stay at the Demon Slayer Corps was only due to the help provided during his training period, out of gratitude, and because he wanted to use the remaining ti to slay demons and see if he could accumulate high-level experience points. That’s why he hadn’t refused Ubuyashiki Kagaya’s invitation.
After all, once Kibutsuji Muzan was dead, the demons would vanish, and the reason for the Demon Slayer Corps’ existence would disappear as well, leading to its eventual dissolution.
Therefore, staying or not staying in the Demon Slayer Corps didn’t really affect Reiger.
Of course, there were still benefits.
The Demon Slayer Corps had a strong intelligence network. With this network, he could at least acquire so information about demons.
During this ti, training the Pillars and helping them unlock their full potential also counted as repaying the Demon Slayer Corps’ kindness and compensating them; beyond that, Reiger had no intention of taking on the responsibilities of the Supre Commander to manage the entire Demon Slayer Corps affairs.
With this in mind, Reiger didn’t really acknowledge the position of Supre Commander and considered himself more of a Guest Elder, a consultant.
Ubuyashiki Kagaya clearly noticed this but didn’t mind and just smiled gently.
The village chief initially wanted to exchange pleasantries, but as he bowed his head, he suddenly noticed the sword at Reiger’s waist.
"Oh..."
The village chief suddenly exclaid, his eyes shining.
"That sword..."
The village chief’s suddenly excited voice drew the attention of the surrounding swordsmiths to Reiger’s sword.
Imdiately, many skilled swordsmiths caught the hint.
"Hey, isn’t that sword a bit extraordinary?"
"I can sll an incredibly impressive scent."
"It slls of iron of a superb quality that not even a thousand hamrings could match!"
"The materials used to forge that sword are definitely not ordinary!"
One after another, the swordsmiths wearing firen masks beca excited all at once.
"May I see your sword, Supre Commander?"
The village chief approached Reiger with an eager attitude, making a request.
"Showing it to you is fine," Reiger furrowed his brows and said, "But you may only look at it, not touch."
Saying this, Reiger took off the hermit’s sword from his waist and handed it to the village chief.
"What fine craftsmanship..."
The village chief didn’t look at the blade imdiately but first caressed the hermit’s scabbard, uttering a slightly trembling voice of admiration.
"It’s incredible, to see no trace of human forging at all; it’s as if the scabbard was naturally ford from a single piece of raw iron, it’s magical!"
"Who forged this scabbard? Could it be a deity? Or the heavens and earth themselves?"
"This quality... this seamless, naturally unified form... amazing... "
The enthusiastic village chief, not thinking twice, reached out and grasped the sword handle directly.
"Stop!"
Reiger saw this and hurriedly shouted a warning.
But by then, it was already too late.
"Sss...!"
The hand of the village chief, who had touched the sword handle, was burned by a high temperature.
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