Master Blacksmith in Demon Slayer

Tetsu no Sosuke could only spread his hands in innocence.

He couldn't exactly say, "Well, about last night—she figured it out, and the poor girl was so heartbroken she nearly offed herself on the spot," could he?

After the meal, Kochou Kanae led Tetsu no Sosuke to a room. Before they could even sit down after entering, the door slid open.

Shinobu Kocho entered with a tray bearing a teapot and teacups.

She sat down heavily on the third side, solidifying the current stalemate.

Kochou Kanae glanced at her. Shinobu Kocho closed her eyes, pretending not to see.

With a sigh, she said to Tetsu no Sosuke, "When do you want to start learning swordsmanship?"

"The sooner, the better!"

After saying that, Tetsu no Sosuke frowned and added, "But the Serpent Pillar came by yesterday and asked me to forge a new Nichirin Blade for him. So I probably can't spend the whole day training in swordsmanship."

Kochou Kanae nodded.

What Tetsu no Sosuke didn't know, she knew all too well.

Including the real intent behind Ubuyashiki Kagaya's arrangement. So she nodded and said, "That's fine. You can set the schedule yourself—how much time each day for forging Nichirin Blades and how much for practicing swordsmanship. Whenever I'm not on a mission, you can come find me anytime."

"Not at night!!"

Shinobu Kocho suddenly cut in.

Tetsu no Sosuke was speechless. Are you hinting at something?

Kochou Kanae's face flushed, then darkened. She stood up, grabbed Shinobu Kocho by the scruff of her neck, opened the door, and tossed her out.

After sitting back down, she let out a big sigh and shot Tetsu no Sosuke a glare. "What exactly did you do to her?"

"Hey... that's not on me."

Tetsu no Sosuke said helplessly, "She's been acting like a warrior from a battle-hungry tribe all morning. Said she saw us lying on the roof last night..."

"She saw that?"

Kochou Kanae was momentarily stunned, then let out a deep sigh. "I'll handle explaining that."

Tetsu no Sosuke nodded.

"Don't blame her, either." Kochou Kanae said softly. "She's just... a little protective of me..."

Tetsu no Sosuke nodded vigorously. "I understand. I don't mind."

"...What exactly do you understand?" Kochou Kanae's face reddened a bit. Explaining it felt awkward, and not explaining it felt awkward too.

Tetsu no Sosuke scratched his head with a laugh, then said, "Alright then. If possible, I'd like to start learning swordsmanship from this afternoon. In the mornings, I want to purify the impurities from the materials."

Kochou Kanae nodded, hesitated, and asked, "Can I watch?"

"Of course."

That was exactly what Tetsu no Sosuke wanted.

With matters settled, the two stood up and slid open the door to find Shinobu Kocho curled up in a corner, idly drawing on the floor with her finger.

Kochou Kanae glanced at Tetsu no Sosuke. "You go ahead first."

Tetsu no Sosuke swept a look at Shinobu Kocho drawing circles in the corner and sighed helplessly.

If this keeps up, it's really not going to work. I need to figure out some way to turn my sister-in-law from a hindrance into a help.

Mulling it over, he headed back to his own yard.

Shinobu Kocho pointed at his back and accused, "Sister, look at him! He's definitely plotting something shady—you have to be careful!!!"

Her voice was tragic, every word dripping with blood and tears, like a loyal minister about to dash his head against the palace pillars.

Kochou Kanae: "..."

By the time he returned to his own yard, Tetsu no Sosuke still hadn't come up with a good idea.

But now wasn't the time to dwell on that. He lit the forge, took out the materials, and fed them in.

Then he went to his room, grabbed paper and brush, and set them aside.

Today, he needed to calculate exactly how much Sunblaze attribute he infused into a Nichirin Blade during forging.

With data and comparisons, he could rank them.

And from that, gain experience to forge even better Nichirin Blades.

"If only my cheat ability were more reliable—it could summarize everything for me at a glance, and I'd save so much effort."

The Iron Material heated up. When it reached the preset threshold, he took it out and placed it on the anvil.

He gripped the Heavenly Crafting Hammer, adjusted his breath, and—Gale Sun!

Clang clang clang!

A storm of rapid strikes, a fleeting blur. In an instant, a hum rang in Tetsu no Sosuke's ears, and the sound of attribute increases and decreases flooded in.

Straining to pick through it, Tetsu no Sosuke frowned and wrote a "3" on the paper.

Under one round of Gale Sun, the Sunblaze attribute had increased three times, each time by one point.

However, compared to when he forged the Flower Pillar's Nichirin Blade before, his hand seemed a bit rustier.

Then he readjusted his breathing, and the Heavenly Crafting Hammer brought forth a flurry of afterimages.

Tetsu no Sosuke wrote another 5 on it, but his brows were tightly furrowed as he looked at the Heavenly Crafting Hammer in his hand with some hesitation.

After these two rounds of strikes, he had noticed a problem.

The Heavenly Crafting Hammer could enhance the effect of impurity removal.

Gale Sun was basically a pile of Impurity -1 mixed with a few 'critical hit' attributes.

Yet after these two rounds, he found that the sound of Impurity -1 had decreased significantly, replaced by much more Impurity -2.

If this wasn't the effect brought by the Heavenly Crafting Hammer, it would be hard to explain.