That afternoon, after Gyomei and Kujo Tachibana finished their sparring match, Ubuyashiki Kagaya left with Gyomei.
He wanted to help Gyomei find it in himself to believe again...
The next day, Kuwajima Jigoro, who had stayed in Dongchang Town for many days, also said goodbye to Kujo Tachibana and returned to Peach Mountain.
Two days later.
By then, Kujo Tachibana had changed into the Demon Slayer Corps uniform. Over it, he wore a gorgeous blue haori, and two long swords that looked almost identical hung at his waist.
In an instant!
His looks, hidden away for so long, had finally returned.
With only two swords and a bag of "mission funds," Kujo Tachibana finally left the Wisteria House where he had imposed on them for so many days.
His personal Kasugai Crow flew overhead, guiding him. Its name was "Zhong Kui"!
(Kujo Tachibana had asked for the name to be changed, but his Kasugai Crow hadn't agreed yet.)
And so he began his first long-term demon-slaying mission away from home!
This was a special mission Ubuyashiki Kagaya had assigned to Tachibana.
Taking advantage of Kujo Tachibana's speed on the road, Ubuyashiki Kagaya had made him a one-man mobile unit for the Demon Slayer Corps, tasked with patrolling all of Japan over the long term.
All Demon Slayer Corps members along his route, as well as the Corps' affiliated businesses and every Wisteria House, would provide him with the greatest possible assistance, without question.
Ubuyashiki Kagaya had placed his trust in him completely.
Counting his money, Kujo Tachibana called up to the Kasugai Crow perched in the treetops:
"Ah, it's great having an organization backing me!"
"If I don't kill an Upper Rank Demon, I'll be too embarrassed to face Master when I get back."
The Kasugai Crow in the sky had no interest in chatting with Tachibana. It simply repeated:
"South-southeast! South-southeast! A demon suspected of eating people has been spotted in Black Mountain Township!"
"Okay, okay, I got it!" Kujo Tachibana put away the cash in his hand and raced toward Black Mountain Township.
His mode of transportation was the eleven-route bus.
There was nothing he could do. That was just how things were in this era.
There were very few horses in Japan to begin with, and the roads were rugged. If he rode a horse, it would be worn out after just a few days on the road.
Otherwise, why wouldn't the wealthy Demon Slayer Corps give every member a horse?
But Kujo Tachibana was incredibly fast now. If he ran at full speed for a whole day, he could cover much more ground than a horse—though it was a little hard on the body...
After running for nearly ten hours straight without sparing himself, Tachibana finally reached the part of Black Mountain Township where the residents lived, just before nightfall.
Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Kujo Tachibana took a couple of deep breaths before getting to work.
Tachibana's Sword Heart Clarity had a range of nearly a hundred meters. In a small place like Black Mountain Township, he could scan the whole area by walking through it once, without much effort.
Of course, that didn't mean he was blind and deaf beyond that distance, unable to sense anything.
It was just that his senses weren't as sharp as they were within a hundred meters, where it was almost like having a radar installed.
The closer something was to Kujo Tachibana, the more clearly he could sense it.
Within a hundred meters, Kujo Tachibana was certain—
No demon could hide from him.
Three minutes and fifty-six seconds after arriving in Black Mountain Township, Tachibana sensed the man-eating demon lurking there.
Its thick, rancid, blood-soaked stench stood out like a beacon in the night.
In Kujo Tachibana's eyes, a man-eating demon holed up in such a small place and making no effort to conceal its scent had to be a minor fish.
Following the "beacon," Kujo Tachibana arrived outside the courtyard wall of a home.
Before he even went inside, the heavy stench of blood came surging over the wall and hit him in the face.
Frowning, Kujo Tachibana felt that he might have to reconsider his earlier judgment that this demon was a "minor fish"!
The blood stink was so strong, and it had lingered for so long!
In Kujo Tachibana's eyes, it was as if fresh red blood were constantly oozing from the cracks in the wall before him.
Just how many people had the demon here eaten?
After looking at the tall courtyard wall built from bluestone, Kujo Tachibana didn't waste time knocking on the door.
With a light leap, he cleared the tall wall surrounding the house.
The moment he entered the courtyard, Kujo Tachibana sensed something strange!
There was far too much blood in the air here!
And what was even more terrifying was that the ones giving off that bloody stench seemed to be humans!
After a moment's thought, Kujo Tachibana didn't hesitate any longer.
He headed straight toward the attic near the shadows on the southern side of the courtyard, where the smell of blood was strongest.
"Heh, so this is a wealthy household." Kujo Tachibana sneered as he examined the buildings and decorations in the courtyard.
The Kujo family had once been well-off, too.
By Tachibana's generation, they didn't have much money left, but he still knew far more than an ordinary person.
Walking through the cold, foul-smelling attic, Kujo Tachibana gently drew the Nichirin Sword at his waist, becoming the butcher of demons in the night!
He slowly made his way toward the room with the strongest stench of blood.
Tajima An obsessively licked the female human thigh bone in his hand, now polished smooth and white, unwilling to waste even the tiniest bit of "food."
Only after he had sucked the bone dry of every last scrap of flavor did Tajima An reluctantly toss it aside.
He casually picked up another complete female human thigh that had already been cut off and laid nearby.
Then he began tearing into it and chewing voraciously.
This was a vice Tajima An had developed back when he was human.
After he became a demon, he hadn't abandoned the habit. Instead, it had grown all the more intense.
The vice was his obsession with women's feet and legs—
Especially those of young girls, followed by young wives.
Whenever he tasted the flesh of those body parts, it seemed to satisfy the desire deep inside him completely!
It made him feel as if he were in the throes of ecstasy...
That was also one of the reasons he hadn't wiped out the Tajima Clan after becoming a demon.
In his eyes, men and old women were the very embodiment of stench.
He would rather starve than eat their flesh!
After Tajima An had purged the family, the surviving members of the Tajima Clan had become his loyal followers.
They were his greatest accomplices in staying hidden for so long and avoiding the Demon Slayer Corps.
After witnessing his power and peculiar nature, those surviving relatives also began to yearn to become "demons" themselves!
They could gain unparalleled strength and enjoy a long life.
All it cost was a minor change to their "diet" and a habit of staying up at night.
For the Tajima family, the ruling nobles of Black Mountain Township, it was a very worthwhile bargain!
Unfortunately, they didn't know that Tajima An was just a minor demon, with no ability to turn any of them into demons.
Even if Muzan agreed, Tajima An wouldn't be willing to share the precious Demon King's blood inside him with his "relatives"!
These monsters, who had long since lost their conscience and humanity, were simply living in a delusional dream!
In all the years since Tajima An had become a demon, the Tajima Clan had spent a great deal of money each year to bring in large numbers of young women from elsewhere under various pretenses.
They tricked and abducted them to serve as food for Tajima An.
That was also why the Demon Slayer Corps had failed to discover Tajima An's whereabouts for so long.
What was even more terrifying was that, after years of exposure to this, the devils in the Tajima Clan had begun to "eat people," too!
They foolishly believed that Tajima An had changed because he had "eaten people"!
Tajima An was more than happy to let them think so. After all, they only ate his "leftovers"!
And in return, they became even more eager to help him find food.
All he had to do was enjoy the results.
But no matter how many evil deeds you committed, eventually you'd slip up!
A large number of young women's remains had been discovered in the forests outside Black Mountain Township. That was what had drawn the Demon Slayer Corps' attention!
The moment he opened the door, Kujo Tachibana's hands began to tremble slightly, despite the fact that he'd already prepared himself for what he might see.
The next second, Kujo Tachibana slowly slid the Nichirin Sword back into its sheath at his waist.
Then he drew the long sword his father had left him!
Today, he wouldn't just slay demons!
He would also slay evil!
Before you continue