The Tachibana household—no, I should say the Ubuyashiki household—they were extremely wealthy.

  This was natural. I sighed, saying having good ancestors was truly important...

  The family fortune they left was enough for descendants to lie on it, nibble away while finding pleasant people to breed with, living happy as pigs, comfortably passing their days.

  Hearing this, the clansmen who'd already changed surnames turned a bit green. Only Kiyohiro kept smiling politely, pretending not to hear me.

  After handling these miscellaneous matters and assigning everyone tasks, he went to marry Kobayashi.

  After their wedding was completed and Kobayashi quickly became pregnant, Kiyohiro invited me out again.

  Through previous experiments, we'd confirmed demons' weakness was the neck... Once beheaded, recovery speed dropped drastically.

  But demons weren't afraid of fire—only the sun. If we had to guard demons through the long night until dawn, it would undoubtedly increase many risks.

  Kiyohiro wanted to seek tools that could directly kill demons.

  He consulted many ancient texts. Finally, in one old book, he saw a legend. In a location with special terrain, there was a mine perpetually exposed to sunlight.

  Perhaps from absorbing enough sunlight, even after these iron ores were mined, they retained scorching heat. Their uses in daily life weren't widespread.

  Kiyohiro stared at that line about absorbing sunlight for a long time. Combining the book's description, he kept searching the map until he finally found a matching place.

  He wanted to invite me to investigate on-site, to see if weapons made from this mineral truly had miraculous effects.

  Simultaneously, he recruited people willing to fight demons. As long as they had certain talent, Kiyohiro would accept them, teaching them martial arts only warriors could learn.

  Having nothing better to do, I also started learning techniques from his warriors. Had to say, they had real skill.

  After learning these sword techniques, my combat ability skyrocketed. I could take on ten people alone.

  But I had to remind Kiyohiro—demons evolved by eating people much faster than warriors honed their martial arts.

  The sides still had enormous disadvantages.

  As for the demon progenitor they most wanted to kill, I suggested he not even think about confronting him in the short term...

  If that guy massacred them all, this newly born Demon Slayer Corps would be wiped out at the root.

  Kiyohiro was very receptive to advice. He was never arrogant enough to think he was heaven's chosen one. He didn't fantasize about exterminating demons in his generation. His plans all started with centuries as the baseline.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  He told me bluntly in private that within at least three generations, their efforts would be the stepping stone for crossing the river.

  Therefore, his style was both boldly crazy and meticulously cautious.

  He needed to, in the shortest time, before demons realized humans had formed an organized resistance, thoroughly understand the Demon Slayer Corps' shortcomings.

  For this purpose, he could even sacrifice his clansmen, including himself, using bloody lessons to push this newborn force to grow rapidly.

  Kiyohiro didn't bring many people out—just me and two attendants who'd grown up with him. We trekked outside for half a year before finding that mysterious mine.

  Mining ore wasn't easy. After finally getting a piece down, Kiyohiro commissioned a nearby blacksmith to forge a small dagger, then gave it to me to test effectiveness.

  I caught another demon and tried using the dagger to sever its neck.

  Delightfully, the severed neck never regenerated a head. That demon died rapidly in shock.

  No need to wait for sunrise!

  Even someone as steady as Kiyohiro couldn't help showing wild joy in that moment.

  He spent big money to buy this mine, specially arranged personnel to mine ore, and started searching everywhere for blacksmiths.

  Kiyohiro said, "You should have a handy weapon."

  Though he said this, smelting this ore was very difficult. Forging it into weapons wasn't easy either.

  This era's forging technology wasn't mature enough. The best swordsmiths all served under the Minamoto and Taira clans. Where would he find suitable talent?

  Kiyohiro showed a cunning smile, saying he had his ways.

  Not long after, I heard large numbers of craftsmen had fled from the Minamoto and Taira clans. By the time they discovered it, it was too late to recapture them.

  And I watched batch after batch of swordsmiths gradually arrive at Ubuyashiki territory, admiring Kiyohiro completely.

  He was terrifyingly clever. Fortunately, he was single-mindedly focused on fighting demons, with no energy left to use this intelligence for bad deeds.

  After the swordsmiths gained food and security, they threw their enthusiasm into forging.

  They were very interested in this rare ore, quite willing to explore how to craft weapons from it.

  On another front, the newly established Demon Slayer Corps also recruited many people. Almost everyone had family members killed by demons. They came here with determination to die.

  Because the gap between humans and demons was too large, Kiyohiro established a squad-based combat system.

  Each time they pursued demon traces, at least a three-person squad had to apply before being allowed to proceed.

  These Demon Slayer Corps members trained together as squads, eating and sleeping together. The rapport trained through years of living together couldn't be underestimated.

  After about two or three years, the first victory report arrived.

  A five-person squad had slain two man-eating demons.

  Encouraged by this, Demon Slayer Corps members still in training had high morale.

  But Kiyohiro was full of worry.

  Several years had passed in a flash. He'd grown from youth to young man. The curse gradually revealed its true face on him.

  This was my first time witnessing the Ubuyashiki curse. Watching a healthy young man gradually weaken—first going blind, then gradually losing smell and taste, skin slowly crawling with terrible disease marks.

  Kiyohiro was dying from illness, yet his young child wasn't even ten.

  "With... Kobayashi and... you here... I need not... worry..."

  He spoke haltingly, voice suppressing pain but still calm.

  "I'm sorry... for troubling you... and Kobayashi... over me..."

  Kobayashi was quiet as always, just tightly gripping his hand, listening to him speak words like a will.

  Later I heard Kiyohiro told Kobayashi that after the child grew a bit older, he hoped she could return home to live freely, no longer troubled by the Ubuyashiki household.

  "Now I... have only one thing... I can't let go..." Kiyohiro coughed heavily several times but still insisted on finishing. "The Demon Slayer Corps... foundation unstable... if it encounters... unexpected blow... I must... cough... after death... I will surely... go to hell... but... my... the Corps'... descendants... must..."

  I didn't understand his words at the time. But in the last three days before his death, I suddenly understood what cruel decision he'd made.

  ~~~~??~~~~~~~~??~~~~

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