Chapter 387

"It's not like we're asking you to be guests." Abe Haruaki glanced at Okita-kun casually, "You can't go deep into the core of this chaotic area as an outsider - but before we start planning the mission... the first thing we need to do is forge the four of you Nichirin swords for killing demons."

"In order to inflict maximum lethality on demons in a short period of time, Mr. Sanyashiki agreed to my proposal - you will be sent to the swordsmith village where the Nichirin sword is forged, and the most skilled swordsmith there will customize the Nichirin sword for you. However, although your mission can be postponed in order to forge the Nichirin sword, the Demon Slayer Corps has no time to relax."

"Mr. Uzumaki and I have also discussed the next changes in the tasks of the pillars--"

"Oh, by the way, since we are going to the swordsmith village next... now is the most appropriate time to return this sword." Ms. Okita took down the Sunrin Sword from her waist and held it in front of Ubuyashiki Takashi, "I have brought this sword back intact! Mr. Ubuyashiki!"

"Let's get rid of them." Abe Haruaki interrupted the suddenly solemn atmosphere in a very cold manner. With the permission of Sangyashiki Yoshiya, he ordered the four guys to move out of Sangyashiki's residence. "We'll discuss the specific plan when you get there... Oh, by the way - don't make any imitations for me!!!"

"We would never do such a thing!!!"

After the four of them arrived at the swordsmith village and decided with the swordsmith what kind of Sunrin sword to order, while the four of them were enjoying dinner, the communication from Chaldea arrived as expected.

"Lord Haruaki told me that you guys should be free right now." A projection of Fujimaru Ritsuka appeared out of nowhere in front of the four people. "So, from now on, Mash and I will follow up on the progress of your mission. The deputy director and Doctor Roman will be in charge of keeping an eye on the situation of the Demon Slayer Corps."

"First of all, since we are all on the same side here, I will start with the process of locating ghosts that was omitted by Lord Seimei."

Compared to the high-sounding method of investigating missing persons that the Demon Slayer Corps talked about, Chaldea actually used the spirit particle calculation device Trismegistus to directly search the area in Japan with the largest number of missing persons in the past hundred years - after all, even if the backgrounds of each world are different, there are some things that will not change.

Just like the Shinsengumi was destined to fall and the Meiji Restoration was destined to succeed - as long as the world continues smoothly, there will be no exception.

"Although there are no ghosts in other worlds, the number of people who go missing for unknown reasons in this world is probably about the same as in our world - it's just that the people who go missing in this world are more likely to be eaten by ghosts." Fujimaru Ritsuka explained to the four people, "Especially now, this time is already a past that is an 'established fact' for us."

"And, you all should have noticed, right? The incongruity of Harumi-sama's spiritual base."

"She has maintained her white fox form for too long," Ms. Okita answered Fujimaru Ritsuka, "Is it to eradicate the curse of Ubuyashiki and protect the Ubuyashiki mansion?"

"Yes." Fujimaru Ritsuka nodded to Ms. Okita. "Although Lady Haruaki always said that she preferred to solve problems in a human way, she would not hesitate when she was required to solve problems in a non-human way. In order to eradicate the curse, Lady Haruaki chose to transform her spirit base into the final stage of the white fox form. After that, in order to maintain the large amount of magic power required for the inherent barrier, she listened to the deputy director's opinion and temporarily merged with the spirit vein node of this world."

"I guess that's it. After all, even when facing Mr. Ashiya, Master Haruaki never showed such a distorted expression. It must be that something that shouldn't have been mixed in here." Ms. Okita looked at Fujimaru Ritsuka calmly, "So, Master, what is the specific situation?"

"The Demon Slayer Corps will have to wait until the Hashira Council is over to find out the results. Let's talk about our situation first." Fujimaru Ritsuka continued with the topic he had started before. "Trismegistus's search result is Yoshiwara Yuukoku. Considering the habit of the demons to go out at night, a place like Yoshiwara is indeed suitable for them to survive."

"But this doesn't make sense - after all, the ghost king is such a timid guy, so other ghosts should naturally learn how to hide their tracks. Yoshiwara at night is a city that never sleeps. There are too many people, which can easily cause commotion and is not suitable for ghosts to hunt. So, what exactly drives the ghosts to stay here?"

"Our reference this time is still the Avenger class." Fujimaru Ritsuka watched the four people eat and described the process of locking on to Kyogakushiya. "'Something you have to do no matter what' is generally called 'obsession'. The population of Yoshiwara changes frequently, so an outside guest is definitely not the identity this ghost would use."

"The range of possible identities of that ghost is much smaller. It can even be said that there is only one answer - who is the most eye-catching person in Yoshiwara?"

"It's the Oiran!" the four answered in unison.

"Yes, so Lord Seimei used the present vision to find all the shops with oiran in Yoshiwara Yukaku, and used the connections of the Umayashiki family to collect portraits of all the oiran in Yoshiwara over the past hundred years." Fujimaru Ritsuka chuckled, "Lord Seimei even made two different ranges of confirmation to lock in the existence of the ghost."

"You already know the result of one of the categories. It is Kyogakuya, which I selected from the stores that Lord Seimei circled. As for the result of the other category, it is the many oiran with the character '姬' in their stage names that the deputy director has identified through his past observations from the oiran portraits that he collected from the Umayashiki family."

"Among the current Yoshiwara Yukaku, the only oiran who uses the character 'Ji' in her stage name is none other than Kyogokuya's Warabihime."

"Is this our next mission target?" Yamato Moriyasu directed Fujimaru Ritsuka to confirm.

"Yeah, that's right." Fujimaru Ritsuka encouraged the four people, imitating the posture of the few people who had done pre-war mobilization in the control room in the past. "Although I don't know what kind of power that demon has, it is definitely not as strong as Muzan Muzan - as long as you make sufficient preparations in advance, it will be easy for you to kill that guy."

“…Although we are not planning to use the power of your Demon Slayer Corps in the next operation, this is only for strength considerations.” Abe Haruaki, who was fully showing the posture of a white fox, put his hands in his sleeves and told the Demon Slayer Corps the truth, “However, this does not mean that you do not need to fight - after all, there are too many demons.”

"Although I argued with Mr. Uzumaki many times about the specific battle arrangements, he finally compromised with us."

"Since we are preparing for a war, let me explain the rest. You go back and maintain the inherent barrier." Lansermero's projection appeared beside Abe Haruaki. "Although I know that many people will be dissatisfied with this arrangement, you are not qualified to protest."

"We, Phoenix Chaldea, will be responsible for all operations to destroy the headless demon king, Muzan Kibutsuji Muzan, and the top demon-killing forces - according to your classification of demons, there are seven demons in total that we will destroy. And the mission of you, the Demon Slayer Corps, is to destroy the other demons and save as many people as possible."

"However, if we want to prepare for a war, we must make sufficient preparations in advance. The number of demons is far greater than our number, so special training for the Demon Slayer Corps is necessary." Lancer Mello sighed and complained to the Demon Slayer Corps, "After all, my children don't like to see people they know die, nor do they like to see people they have never met die."

"So, although this may not be pleasant to hear, I still want to say it - we don't ask you to kill a lot of ghosts, but you must at least ensure your own survival rate. After all, if you die, you won't be able to save people, and the people you originally saved will be killed by ghosts when they find a chance."

"So no matter what, you must do everything you can to ensure that you can survive this war."

"Wait a minute." Youzhu interrupted Lancermello's mechanical explanation and said, "You mean upper string?"

"Ah, Yoshiwara Yuugaku's demon is an upper-rank——"

"How do you know for sure?"

"Although it can be seen from the number of missing people...but I'll still explain it to you in a simple and serious manner." Lansermello crossed his arms and pulled out two level pyramid tables. "Just like the members of your Demon Slayer Corps are divided into levels, we also have a level system here."

"In the Demon Slayer Corps, the rank of the Pillar means that this swordsman can kill at least one Lower String on his own - in a sense, there is a very clear lower limit, but you also have a very clear upper limit."

"That means you have at least a 70% chance of losing to an Upper Rank, and more often than not, it's 100%."

"But it's different here - Abe and I are both at the highest level, but the criteria for our category are very simple, so the lower limit may be much lower than yours at some point, but when it comes to the upper limit..."

"Although I don't want to admit it, this guy is one of the three perverted students at the top of our Grand Caster group. The upper limit of what she can do is much higher than mine." Abe Haruaki, who had already returned to the center of the inherent barrier, popped up again, "And one of the reasons why the lower limit of guys at our level is so low is..."

"If there is no special adjustment, our detection ability will directly ignore the guys with low strength, so that we will occasionally be ambushed by these guys..."

"So the guy who caught our attention must not be too weak." Lansemello blinked, turned his head to look at Abe Haruaki and made a conclusion, "After all, the strength of that demon king was evaluated by Okita and others as completely unworthy of being a demon king - if he was an ordinary enemy, he could be considered strong, but as a demon king..."

"Muzan Muzan is far from being that strong for us."

"So we adjusted the accuracy of the search based on the power of Muzan Kibutsuji mentioned in Okita's report, and then locked on Yoshiwara Yukaku - this is the place where the presence of the demon is most obvious."