Master Blacksmith in Demon Slayer

Tetsu no Sosuke nodded. "I'm fine. Overall, I'm in decent shape. This blade should be ready to hand over to the Serpent Pillar soon. When it is, I'll have to ask him to share his thoughts on using it."

"About its ability to suppress demons?"

Kochou Kanae asked.

Tetsu no Sosuke nodded. "Since the Serpent Pillar didn't specify any weight requirements, I made some notes this time—more of a feeling, really. Whether these things are real or illusory, I'll need his feedback to form a more solid hypothesis."

Kochou Kanae nodded, then glanced at her own new blade. "What about me?"

"You don't need it." Tetsu no Sosuke smiled. "When you faced Upper Moon Two, didn't you already make that clear?"

But the real reason was that he hadn't recorded any data on Sunblaze back then, so even with other feedback, it wouldn't have helped much.

Still, considering that the Sunblaze attribute gained from the Heavenly Crafting Hammer could basically match what an ordinary hammer would produce...

Kanae's blade should have a Sunblaze attribute hovering between 85 and 90...

But there was no evidence left to prove that now.

Kochou Kanae nodded, accepting his explanation.

After lunch, Tetsu no Sosuke got some rest.

Then, in the afternoon, he headed to Kochou Kanae's courtyard.

Today, he would officially begin learning swordsmanship. When he arrived, he saw that Kochou Kanae had already prepared a blade.

Looking closer, it seemed familiar... Wasn't this the Sun?

Author's note:

"Striving to Become the Lucky Sovereign Starting from Demon Slayer"

After death, chosen by a supremely righteous main god, accumulating luck to improve his fate by completing tasks.

Participating in main storylines to defeat villains or fulfilling the original host's wishes.

While others work hard to become lucky, the protagonist just wants to be a shut-in.

Death from overwork is out of the question—absolutely not.

But there's a permanent way to stay a shut-in: just beat the final boss until it's scared.

Chapter 34: New Reward

"This blade was with you all along!"

Seeing the Sun, Tetsu no Sosuke felt like he was reuniting with family.

After all, it was the first blade he'd ever forged.

Not a Nichirin Blade, but still meaningful. He remembered asking the Village Chief about it before, and the Chief said if the Flower Pillar was satisfied with the repaired Nichirin Blade, the Sun could be returned to him.

But after meeting the Flower Pillar, he'd completely forgotten about the Sun.

Then he got busy forging new Nichirin Blades, delivering them, encountering demons, running into Doma, recovering from injuries, meeting Ubuyashiki Kagaya...

All that chaos, and if he hadn't seen it today, he would've forgotten the blade entirely.

Kochou Kanae smiled softly. "I thought it was a nice blade, so I asked the Village Chief for it. Since you're just starting to learn swordsmanship, use this for now."

"Alright."

Tetsu no Sosuke was a bit excited. "So, what do we do next?"

Starting from scratch, everything felt fresh.

But Kochou Kanae told him, "To learn swordsmanship, you have to start from the basics. You have no foundation at all right now, so we'll begin with how to grip the sword and how to swing it. I'll demonstrate and correct your mistakes. Once you can swing smoothly, I'll teach you the next steps."

Tetsu no Sosuke nodded obediently and began his training journey.

It was far more tedious than he'd imagined!

Gripping and swinging a sword—the technique wasn't complicated, but easy to learn and hard to master.

It required daily practice and accumulation to truly grasp the essence.

His advantage over others was his physical strength!

Forging weapons constantly improved his basic stats like strength and speed, letting him skip ordinary training methods—forging was the best training.

But physical ability was only the foundation of swordsmanship. To advance, he had to put more effort into the technique itself.

Otherwise, with just brute force, he could only handle ordinary demons in a fight. Truly powerful demons were impossible to defeat alone.

That encounter with Doma was pure luck.

Doma had been careless and misjudged, thinking Tetsu no Sosuke couldn't move, which let him seize a critical moment, destroy Doma's weapon, and turn the tide.

But that was only because Kochou Kanae was there.

Without her, even if he'd had the chance to destroy Doma's weapon, he'd still have ended up dead.

So, what he needed to learn next was the real priority.

Tedious as it was, having Kochou Kanae by his side—every move, every word, every glance—softened the monotony.

Time flew, and three days passed in the blink of an eye.

These three days, Tetsu no Sosuke helped the Serpent Pillar forge a sword in the mornings, and followed Kochou Kanae to learn sword techniques in the afternoons. Life was full to bursting.

Today, the Serpent Pillar's sword was finally completed. The Sunblaze attribute remained unchanged, still at 91 points.

Worth mentioning were the toughness, hardness, abrasion resistance, impact resistance, and other basic weapon attributes—all had made considerable progress.

The hilt and Sword Guard were installed, and the blade was sheathed.

Tetsu no Sosuke let out a soft breath.

A notification sounded in his ear.

Forging weapon successful!

Current Weapon Sharpness Level 3