(Extra chapter)
400 Energy Stones - New extra Chapter
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Kiyokawa Izumi stood at the bow of the boat, his ink-black haori snapping in the cold wind as the three-meter-long wooden skiff cut through the dark green water.
This flat-bottomed boat was made from century-old red pine; perhaps due to its age, the gunwales had been worn down to a muscle-like wood grain.
Two Official Members of the Demon Slayer Corps were rowing vigorously; on the restless lake surface, whirlpools formed and dissipated.
The cliffs on both sides pressed down toward the river channel, with tree branches occasionally seen hanging down from rock crevices, soaking in the water.
"Everyone, be careful. Watch out for anything hidden in the water."
Kiyokawa Izumi suddenly turned around and shouted to the Team Members behind him.
The mission site was a very isolated small village, surrounded by rivers and mountains.
Five Official Members had entered the mountains one after another, but now there was no news at all, making one suspect that something had happened to them.
There was likely an extremely powerful Demon in the mountains, perhaps even one of the Twelve Kizuki.
Because among the members who had lost contact, there were high-Rank swordsmen.
"Yes!"
The Team Members replied in unison.
They had also rushed over from nearby; after the first group went missing, Headquarters had forbidden them from entering the mountains again.
Kiyokawa Izumi, who arrived two days later, naturally became their leader.
Given that the mountain village was too isolated and had almost no communication with the outside world, Headquarters considered that Kiyokawa Izumi was still young and might not be able to handle it alone.
Thus, they ordered nearby swordsmen to assist him in the operation.
The reason he stood at the bow now wasn't to look cool, but to stay alert for potential situations—traveling by wooden skiff was a last resort, and if anything went wrong, the entire squad could be wiped out.
So what if they were swordsmen who mastered a Breathing Technique?
One cannot breathe underwater, let alone find leverage to perform a Sword Technique.
Although the current wasn't rapid, it wasn't calm either.
Knowing there was such a risk, why take the wooden skiff?
The reason was simple: the other mountain path was even more treacherous, and the only wooden bridge had collapsed due to years of neglect. Even if Kiyokawa Izumi's physical fitness far exceeded that of an ordinary person, he couldn't jump twenty or thirty meters.
He had arrived here in the morning, and considering that entering by skiff would only take one to two hours, he decided to take the risk.
Among the four members accompanying Kiyokawa Izumi into the mountains, there were Bing-rank and Ding-rank swordsmen; being of relatively high Rank, their strength was decent.
Their strength was above Murata's; with the four of them working together, there was a great hope of defeating even the Hand Demon.
Headquarters wouldn't send a group of low-Rank swordsmen to hold them back.
Evaluating ordinary members from the perspective of a Hashira, while the overall number wasn't large and many were average, there were still some high-Rank members who were passably competent.
'An isolated village, news can't travel fast, reinforcements can't arrive quickly... Why do I have such a bad feeling?'
Kiyokawa Izumi's preliminary judgment was that the Demon in the mountains might have existed for quite some time, and might even be worshipped as a deity by the ignorant villagers.
This wasn't impossible.
In such an isolated village, with at most a hundred households and an estimated population between three hundred and six hundred—whether due to gender imbalance or women from other villages being unwilling to marry in—the probability of inbreeding would be frighteningly high.
The journey was peaceful. In the distance, a few small fishing boats could be seen, and the general outline of the village appeared. Due to its isolation, there was no electricity yet.
Looking from afar, three-story thatched houses that looked like hands pressed together in prayer appeared, their steep roofs at a sixty-degree angle.
To Kiyokawa Izumi's surprise, most of these dwellings were primarily made of wood and thatch, held together by mortise and tenon joints and rope ties, without even using iron nails.
"Outsiders?"
An old man on a fishing boat looked at them with some doubt, his expression somewhat somber.
Kiyokawa Izumi never thought of hiding his tracks, and in fact, it was impossible—in a small village with so few people, how could a fresh face hide?
The Team Members behind him skillfully began conversing with the old man, not revealing their identity as the Demon Slayer Corps but making up a story to get by.
The old man looked at them pensively, neither saying he believed them nor that he didn't.
Kiyokawa Izumi faintly felt that this man probably knew something; seeing them carrying nichirin blades, he didn't show an overly cautious expression.
Some dwellings even had wisteria flowers hanging outside. Although the quantity wasn't large, the knowledge that the scent of wisteria flowers could repel Demons indicated that they likely knew of the existence of Demons.
It could also be a legend passed down from ancestors—that hanging wisteria flowers could protect a family, or something similar.
'What exactly did the first group of swordsmen encounter? Even the Kasugai Crow lost contact along with them?'
The little fellow who came with Kiyokawa Izumi circled high above, constantly letting out calling cries, but never received a response.
"Not long ago, a group of people dressed similarly to you came... The village is in a very bad state right now; children keep disappearing... Some say they were taken by wild beasts in the mountains, but no traces of beasts can be found at all."
After a brief conversation, the old man led them into the village with reasonable warmth.