Yamada Town Mission Report
I. Mission Background
Upon receiving the mission notification, I responded promptly and arrived in Yamada Town the following day, immediately beginning my investigation into the disappearances.
II. Mission Execution
Preliminary Reconnaissance
On the night I arrived in Yamada Town, I began patrolling the town to familiarize myself with the local surroundings and gather relevant clues.
I patrolled for three consecutive days without discovering anything unusual, but maintained a high level of vigilance.
III. Summary and Reflection
During this mission, I responded promptly and committed myself to the work. Through continued effort and investigation, I eventually succeeded in finding the demon's trail and eliminating it. However, the battle also exposed some shortcomings, such as my carelessness during the initial attack. These are all issues I must address and improve upon in my future work.
Looking at what he had written, Teiichi could not help smiling in satisfaction. He nodded lightly, as though giving himself a silent word of praise.
However, when he thought about how this report might be used as an example of what not to do, he could not help sighing again. His satisfaction was instantly replaced by a hint of disappointment.
White Feather, by the window, noticed Teiichi's reaction and knew he had finished his mission report. It flew lightly to his side and craned its head curiously toward the paper on the desk.
A moment later, White Feather could not resist making a quip:
"You struggled like your life depended on it for three days. I thought you were going to write some long-winded masterpiece! And all you came up with was a few hundred characters?"
Its voice held a hint of mockery, as though it thought little of Teiichi's efforts.
Teiichi's face immediately flushed red. Somewhat embarrassed, he retorted:
"What do you know? The best things come in small packages! I didn't just scribble this down. This is the essence of my painstaking work. Future Demon Slayer Corps mission reports could all use this as a template."
He tried to defend his efforts, but his voice betrayed a slight lack of confidence.
"Tch."
White Feather could not help clicking its tongue, its tone full of dismissiveness. "All right, all right. Since you're done, hurry up and roll it up, then tie it to my leg. I'll deliver it for you right away."
Teiichi nodded, rolled the report in his hands into a small scroll, and carefully tied it to White Feather's leg.
White Feather lowered its head to check. Once it confirmed the report was securely tied, it spread its wings and soared away, disappearing into the night sky.
Time turned, spring gave way to autumn, and a year and a half passed in the blink of an eye.
As the years passed, Teiichi had turned fourteen.
It was autumn now, and golden leaves danced in the wind like a scene from a poem or painting.
Because of his poor performance on his first mission, Teiichi's path of advancement in the Demon Slayer Corps had not been smooth. Over the past year and a half, he had received relatively few missions-only eight.
Still, those eight missions had raised Teiichi to Tsuchinoto Rank in the Demon Slayer Corps, the sixth rank for ordinary members.
During these missions, Teiichi encountered demons of varying strength. Although two of them possessed Blood Demon Arts, neither posed much of a threat to him. They were all dispatched with a simple rise and fall of his blade.
For Teiichi, the real challenge of these missions lay not in killing demons, but in accurately locating those lurking in the shadows.
Fortunately, none of these eight missions involved the same setbacks as his first. Whenever the demons emerged to hunt, the smell of blood quickly spread, providing Teiichi with a trail to follow.
Even his longest mission took him fewer than ten days to complete successfully.
As a result, Teiichi had been able to devote more time to training over the past year and a half.
After a year and a half of grueling training, Teiichi could feel the enormous increase in his combat strength. This showed not only in his physical capabilities, but even more in his understanding and application of his Breathing Style and sword forms.
First came his physical capabilities.
His ability to use his Breathing Style to aid digestion had gradually become integrated into his daily life, becoming part of his body.
Furthermore, at fourteen, his body was in a period of rapid adolescent growth. Combined with grueling exercise and ample nutrition, this had brought about a surge in Teiichi's physical capabilities.
The weights he wore now totaled an astonishing 170 jin, with thirty jin on each limb and fifty jin on his torso. Yet these weights did not greatly affect his movements.
His 112-jin Nichirin Blade moved as freely and nimbly in his hands as his own arm. If not for the weights on his hands, he could even have swung the blade all day without feeling tired.
Teiichi was very satisfied with the improvement in his physical capabilities over the past year and a half. However, he also knew very well that the biggest reason for such rapid improvement was that he happened to be in a period of rapid physical growth. Nutrition came second, and exercise only third.
At that thought, Teiichi could not help sinking into contemplation:
I wonder how old this body will be when its growth period ends. If it keeps developing until I'm twenty, wouldn't I be able to wear four or five hundred jin of weights by then? Wouldn't killing demons be as easy as chopping melons and slicing vegetables?
Apart from his improved physical capabilities, Teiichi had also made clear progress in training his Breathing Style and sword forms.
Based on feedback from his body, he had made minor adjustments to his Breathing Style to better suit his physical condition. Although its core rhythm remained that of Wind Breathing, Teiichi could now use it with greater ease.
As for his sword forms, he could freely control how much power he unleashed with each one. Even his casual swings were now only two notches below the power of his sword forms.
By Teiichi's own estimate, his current strength should have placed him in the stronger tier among the Demon Slayer Corps' Hashira, and his physical capabilities should have allowed him to give the Stone Hashira a run for his money.
Thinking back to Muichiro Tokito from the original story, the genius who had become a Hashira after wielding a sword for just one month, Teiichi felt no envy.
He understood that everyone's path of growth was different. Muichiro Tokito's talent was certainly astonishing, but his own hard work and perseverance were equally worthy of pride.
It had taken him five years of training to reach his current strength, but that was not because he progressed too slowly. Rather, it was because he sought a firmer foundation and comprehensive improvement.
Teiichi nodded lightly, as though affirming his own efforts and achievements.
Yes, all that stands between me and becoming a true Hashira is the trial of a Lower Rank Demon.
He lifted his head toward the azure sky, a faint sense of anticipation and longing rising within him.
Several days later.
Far off in the sky.
White Feather was flying toward the mountaintop it had long since come to know.
Every so often, it called out:
"Teiichi, there's a new mission! There's a new mission!"