Hantengu trembled even more violently after hearing Muzan's words.
"Your subordinate… your subordinate believes that for the sake of safety, another Upper Moon should be sent, only then can we ensure…"
"Enough."
"Eek! Eek! Eek!"
Hantengu's words were cut short by Muzan, and kneeling on the ground, he was so terrified that he didn't dare to look up, his body shaking like a sieve.
"It's just a village full of Swordsmiths, can't you, an Upper Moon, eliminate all of them?
You are far too timid, Hantengu. A mere Swordsmith Village can scare you like this, and you shamelessly come to tell me this news without having eliminated all those Swordsmiths.
What? Do you want to take credit with this news?"
Muzan stood up, his tone becoming increasingly displeased.
"You even dare to ask me to send another Upper Moon; you are utterly useless.
Listen, eliminate all the Swordsmiths in the Swordsmith Village within this month, otherwise, you can expect to be devoured."
Muzan directly gave Hantengu an ultimatum, and Hantengu, kneeling on the ground, was scared half to death upon hearing this, quickly shouting, "Yes! My Master, I will definitely kill all those Swordsmiths within a month!"
Muzan ignored Hantengu's assurance, turning to Nakime and saying, "Send him away."
"Yes."
Nakime responded, then strummed her biwa strings, sending Hantengu out of the Infinity Castle.
After Hantengu was sent away, Muzan's mood improved again.
"Swordsmith Village… I'd like to see how you Demon Slayers will contend with me without anyone to forge your Nichirin Swords!"
Moreover, without these Swordsmiths, even if that brat who uses Sun Breathing breaks his Nichirin Sword and can't get a new one, he won't pose much of a threat to me.
Muzan envisioned a beautiful future, and his mood grew better and better.
Despite this, he never considered personally dealing with the Swordsmith Village or sending the top three Upper Moon. In his opinion, Musashi was the most threatening person, so ensuring his own safety was currently the most important thing. What if he happened to run into that brat at the Swordsmith Village? What if the top three Upper Moon stopped constantly creating demons, and that brat found time to come after him?
Muzan felt he should prioritize stability; victory would be achieved simply by outlasting Musashi.
…
One day two weeks later, Musashi left Tamayo's underground laboratory. This time, he handed over two demons to Tamayo; one possessed a space-type Blood Demon Art, and the other could control blood. Musashi felt that the Blood Demon Arts of these two demons could be effective against Muzan.
At the same time, the Blood Demon Art of the previous white-haired demon had been successfully extracted, but its effect was significantly reduced compared to the original, and with its current effect, it couldn't track over long distances. Tamayo still needed to make improvements.
"Continue…"
Muttering to himself, Musashi left.
During this time, he still hadn't found any trace of Muzan. He seemed to have evaporated, leaving no clues, which made Musashi believe Tamayo's conjecture even more.
Although he hadn't found Muzan's trace, Musashi had collected some clues regarding the drastic increase in demons during this period.
Through the information obtained during this time, Musashi felt that it wasn't Muzan who was creating demons during this period, because Muzan alone couldn't create so many demons across such a wide distribution.
Musashi believed that it might not be one individual creating demons. He initially speculated that it was very likely the remaining Upper Moon were helping Muzan create demons in various places to increase the workload of the Demon Slayer Corps, leaving them no time to worry about Muzan.
At the same time, at the place where he had previously slain a demon, he heard that locals had recently discovered a man dressed in Sengoku period samurai attire passing through their area at night. Since then, people in their area frequently went missing at night, meaning they were killed by demons.
From this news, Musashi was even more convinced of his own speculation, believing that the man dressed in Sengoku period samurai attire mentioned by the locals was one of the Upper Moon. Of course, it could also have been Muzan in disguise, but Musashi thought this was unlikely.
He then asked the locals where the man dressed in samurai attire had gone and finally learned a vague direction.
Because he had to hand over the captured demons to Tamayo, Musashi didn't immediately pursue in that direction. Now, after handing over the two demons to Tamayo, Musashi planned to go look for that Upper Moon.
"Caw! Caw! A letter! A letter! A letter for Master Musashi!"
As he was walking, a Kasugai Crow flew towards Musashi, shouted twice, and then landed on his outstretched hand.
Indeed, there was a letter tied to the Kasugai Crow's leg. Musashi looked at it but didn't recognize whose Kasugai Crow it was. His own Kasugai Crow didn't dare to get too close to him now and was following from the side.
"All right, thank you."
Taking the letter, Musashi said to the Kasugai Crow.
Unfolding the letter, Musashi knew who sent it; the letter was from Genya, and this Kasugai Crow should also be Genya's.
There wasn't much written in the letter, only one paragraph.
"Sorry, Musashi, I really can't do what you asked me to… Tetsuimaru is a girl… I really don't know how to say it… In the end, I could only write the general meaning on a piece of paper and slip it into her room…"
After arriving at the Swordsmith Village, Genya had always remembered what Musashi asked him to do, but he was still not entirely at ease, so he asked other Swordsmiths in the Swordsmith Village and found out that Tetsuimaru was one of the few female Swordsmiths in their village.
Knowing this, Genya, who already knew Tetsuimaru's residence, hadn't gone to convey Musashi's greetings until the day before yesterday. Only then did he make up his mind, hesitated at Tetsuimaru's doorstep for half a day, and then chose to write Musashi's message on a note and throw it into the house.
However… when Tetsuimaru found the note, she picked it up and immediately threw it into the furnace, continuing to focus on forging her blade.
Genya didn't know any of this; he ran away after throwing the note.
Looking at the contents of the letter, Musashi froze in place.
Huh?! Huh? Huh!!!
From confusion to shock, Musashi didn't know what to say.
He had been mistaken about her gender all this time, and had called her "sir" for so long…
However, on second thought, Musashi felt that it didn't seem to matter much; she herself hadn't cared and had never corrected him.
When he met Tetsuimaru again… he should apologize to her… He also didn't know what Genya had actually written on the note…
"Tell Genya not to worry about these things, and just rest well."
Putting away the letter, Musashi said to Genya's Kasugai Crow.
This matter was indeed caused by him giving Genya incorrect information, and he couldn't be blamed. After all, everyone has things they aren't good at dealing with, for example, he wasn't good at finding demons.
After hearing Musashi's words, the Kasugai Crow flapped its wings and flew away…