By the time Kurosaki Rei descended the mountain, the Demon Slayer Corps' reinforcements had finally arrived—only, there was no battle left for them to fight. All that remained was figuring out how to deal with the fire.
Given the technological limits of this era, with the wildfire already spreading this far, it was basically impossible to put it out. They could only wait for it to burn itself out.
Kurosaki Rei did know a few Kidō that could spray water, but they consumed far too much soul power. In a dangerous mission world like this, he wasn't about to spend massive amounts of soul power helping the locals put out a forest fire.
"Rei-shixiong~~!"
As he reached the foot of the mountain, a yellow blur lunged toward him. Kurosaki Rei calmly grabbed the attacker by the face—he had plenty of experience dealing with this sort of thing.
"How are your injuries?"
Kurosaki Rei steadied Zenitsu. The question was aimed at Zenitsu, but also at everyone else, including the Sound Hashira.
"I'm fine. Won't die. Since you're already down here, that means it's all settled, right?"
Uzui Tengen spoke weakly.
"Tch…"
Zenitsu ground his teeth in jealousy when he looked at the Sound Hashira. After coming down the mountain, they had run into Uzui's three wives, who had followed the Kasugai Crow's directions to meet up with him. Now Uzui was having his bandages changed under their attentive care.
"No major danger. All the demons on the mountain are dead."
Kurosaki Rei summed it up simply. As he spoke, he scanned the forest, still not seeing Tamayo and Yushiro. Those two were hiding extremely well.
"It's good that everyone's safe… it's just a shame about the Corps members who died up there…"
Tanjiro first felt joy at their survival and Kurosaki Rei's successful slaying of the Twelve Kizuki, but then thought of the Demon Slayers who had fought alongside him and couldn't help feeling sad.
"Lord Rei is really amazing… I heard it was Upper Rank Five and Lower Rank One, and even they weren't your match."
Suma looked at Kurosaki Rei—who still appeared completely uninjured—with admiration, only to get bonked on the head by Makio.
"We truly must thank Lord Rei. If you hadn't arrived in time, we probably wouldn't be seeing Lord Tengen again."
Hinatsuru bowed gracefully to Kurosaki Rei. She was always the calmest and most polite of the three.
Kurosaki Rei waved it off casually. "Killing demons is our duty. I just happened to pass by."
He then looked at Uzui. "That said… are you really okay?"
Uzui had lost huge chunks of flesh to Gyokko's fish demons, and some of the damage even reached his internal organs. If Kurosaki Rei hadn't used Kaidō to stabilize him on the spot, Uzui probably wouldn't have made it down the mountain.
But Kaidō wasn't万能. Gyokko's Blood Demon Art also carried poison. While not as lethal as Gyutaro's, it was still more than enough to kill Uzui in his weakened state.
If Uzui hadn't undergone poison-resistance training since childhood, he might already be dead.
"Lord Tengen has been poisoned. We don't yet know how to cure it. We were planning to take him back to the shinobi village to detoxify him."
Hinatsuru looked worried. Coming from a ninja village, they were well-versed in poisons, but without proper materials here, preparing an antidote was difficult.
"If you don't mind… I could take a look at this Hashira."
A voice suddenly spoke from the forest.
Everyone turned toward the darkness. Two figures gradually emerged, walking out from among the trees.
Hinatsuru and the others instantly tensed—they could sense it clearly. These two were demons. They immediately moved to draw their swords.
"Don't get worked up. They're not evil demons."
Kurosaki Rei stopped them.
"They're people I'm escorting to the Demon Slayer Corps headquarters. The Master has already approved it. You should be receiving the escort notice soon as well."
Kurosaki Rei had received a reply from the Master the night before, expressing trust in his judgment and agreeing to have them guided to the location of the Hashira meeting.
Hinatsuru and the others hesitated. Though suspicious, they felt Kurosaki Rei wouldn't lie, and so they lowered their Nichirin Blades.
Unfortunately, there was still one hothead present.
"There's no such thing as a good demon! I don't buy it!"
A boy wearing a boar's head mask charged forward with twin blades, aiming straight for Tamayo and Yushiro.
He leapt through the air, blades falling toward Tamayo's neck.
Bang—!
Someone moved even faster.
No one saw Kurosaki Rei move, yet he appeared midair in an instant, driving a kick into Inosuke's waist and sending him flying into a tree. The impact knocked his boar mask off, revealing a delicate, handsome face almost feminine in beauty.
Inosuke was dizzy from the kick. Strangely, his waist didn't hurt much at all. He stared at Kurosaki Rei in amazement.
"You're strong! Fight me!"
Tanjiro rushed over to help him up and quickly stopped him. "Inosuke! What are you doing!? Rei-ge is a Hashira—he's the one who saved us!"
Inosuke's not-too-bright brain took a while to process this. From his perspective, he'd followed Tanjiro up the mountain, heard some whispering voice, fallen asleep, and then woken up at the foot of the mountain.
"Hashira? What's that? Is it tasty?"
He voiced his genuine confusion.
"Inosuke, you don't even know what a Hashira is!? How did you even join the Demon Slayer Corps?"
Zenitsu stared at him in disbelief.
"A Hashira is the strongest swordsman in the Corps! Like my shixiong—he's the Sound—no, the Thunder Hashira, the strongest current user of Thunder Breathing!"
Inosuke nodded seriously. "Yeah, he's strong. One kick sent me flying and it didn't even hurt."
"And since Rei-shixiong says these two aren't evil demons, then it should be fine. How could you just rush in without asking anything?"
Zenitsu finally got a chance to lecture Inosuke on common sense. Earlier, he'd been beaten black and blue for protecting Nezuko. Because he'd met Nezuko, he was willing to believe that there were still good demons in this world.
Besides… this lady demon was really quite mature and beautiful.
"Yushiro, please go to the cart and bring the medical kit."
Tamayo paid no attention to the children's bickering. Once Inosuke had settled down, she walked over to Uzui and examined him.
"The injuries are severe. He needs a blood transfusion. Does anyone here have the same blood type as him?"
"Blood type?"
Everyone except Kurosaki Rei looked confused.
Tamayo had no choice but to explain briefly. "You can think of people with the same blood type as having blood with the same characteristics. Only matching blood types can safely transfuse blood."
Yushiro returned quickly with the medical kit.
Tamayo took out several reagents. "Since you don't know your blood types, we'll have to test them on site. Hopefully we find a match."
Kurosaki Rei couldn't help but marvel—Tamayo truly lived up to her reputation as a medical genius.
Blood types were first discovered historically in 1900 by an Austrian pathologist. This knowledge shouldn't even exist in Japan yet, but Tamayo already understood it thoroughly.
That meant that over her centuries of practicing medicine, she had long been at the forefront of blood research.
Soon, Tamayo tested everyone's blood type. One of Uzui's three wives turned out to be a match. With practiced efficiency, Tamayo began the transfusion.
During the process, she also took a blood sample from Uzui to analyze the poison and began formulating an antidote. In less than five minutes, she reached a conclusion. After injecting the prepared medicine into Uzui's vein, his complexion gradually improved.
After witnessing all this, Tamayo's medical skill and gentle demeanor won over Hinatsuru and the others. Even Uzui—who had earlier been glaring stubbornly—now looked much softer.
"Auntie, you're amazing! You healed that half-dead tall guy in no time!"
Inosuke stared at Tamayo in fascination, circling Uzui and trying to understand how people's blood could be swapped around.
Yushiro instantly exploded. "Hey! You brat! Don't call Lady Tamayo 'auntie'! Lady Tamayo is clearly still young and beautiful, not even over six—"
"Yushiro."
Tamayo's calm voice cut him off. She smiled gently, yet Yushiro shuddered for no apparent reason and immediately shut up.
For a brief moment, everyone near Tamayo felt an inexplicable chill. Tanjiro and Zenitsu were completely baffled.
"Idiot. You never discuss a woman's age so casually."
Uzui spoke up, feeling much better now, and looked at Tamayo.
"Thank you, madam. I trust the judgment of the Thunder Hashira and the Master. Once we reach the Demon Slayer Corps, let's have a truly flashy showdown."
After that little episode, the atmosphere grew much warmer.
Just then, Kurosaki Rei walked over to a box that had been set on the ground. "There's a demon aura coming from inside this box."
His words instantly put Tanjiro on edge. He dashed over and stood in front of the box.
"Rei-ge, please let me explain!"
Zenitsu was close behind him. "Shixiong, don't jump to conclusions—hear us out!"
"Rei-kun, don't act yet. You probably saw earlier—this demon girl fought alongside us."
Uzui also spoke up in Nezuko's defense. At first, when he'd seen her, he'd wanted to kill her too. But there had been too many demons then, and he'd barely been able to handle Upper Rank Five himself.
Later, seeing Nezuko protecting Demon Slayers and fighting demons, he had come to accept her.
Kurosaki Rei looked at the nervous Tanjiro and Zenitsu and found it amusing. He stopped teasing them.
"I'm not the kind of man who chops down demons without asking questions. Why are you so tense?"
Everyone except Tanjiro and Zenitsu silently complained inwardly: You really don't look unlike that kind of man…
At that moment, the box shook. The lid opened, and a petite girl with a bamboo muzzle crawled out—mini-sized Nezuko.
She looked drowsily at Kurosaki Rei and tilted her head, seemingly not understanding what was going on, nor why her brother and Zenitsu were so nervous.
Her instincts told her that this man meant her no harm.
"Rei-ge, this is my sister. She became a demon, but she's never eaten a human. She fights alongside me. She's not a bad demon—please don't hurt her."
Tanjiro explained earnestly. Ever since meeting Kurosaki Rei on that night at Mount Fujikasane, he had greatly admired this powerful peer.
When he and Zenitsu heard the next day that Kurosaki Rei had been promoted to Hashira, they'd been happy for him for a long time.
Instinctively, Tanjiro believed Kurosaki Rei was a good person—someone who would understand.
"Relax. I'm not blind—I saw her fighting with you."
Kurosaki Rei said calmly. "Don't worry. When it comes time for the Hashira meeting, I'll speak for you."
Tanjiro was overwhelmed with gratitude and bowed deeply. "Thank you, Rei-ge!"
He knew that once the matter of traveling with a demon sister was exposed, it would cause a huge stir within the Corps. The Kasugai Crow had already mentioned bringing them back alive—proof that the higher-ups were paying attention.
At least now, both the Sound Hashira and the Thunder Hashira were on his side. Maybe things wouldn't be too bad.
"So there really are demons like this…"
Tamayo looked at Nezuko with great interest. She could sense that this girl was not under Muzan's control.
"Could you tell me more about your situation?"
Hearing Tamayo's words, Tanjiro's eyes lit up.
He suddenly realized—Tamayo was a demon doctor.
Perhaps… she might know a way to turn his sister back into a human.
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