Chapter 49: Swordsmanship Proficiency x Yamato Nadeshiko's Seven Transformations
"That Eiichiro guy, can he hear us talking?"
The ghosts jumped in fright. When they realized Roy was speaking directly to Sakonji Urokodaki, Shinsuke, Fukuda, and the others breathed a sigh of relief. It was a false alarm, but at the same time, they felt a pang of disappointment.
"Mm." Sakonji Urokodaki, his back still to Roy, finished preparing the meal and brought it out.
It was the usual miso soup with a small bowl of rice, but this time it was accompanied by a small plate of leftover wild boar from the previous day, neatly sliced and arranged.
"Eat first," the old man said from behind his tengu mask, plucking a slice of boar meat and popping it into his mouth.
Roy followed suit, taking a sip of miso soup to warm his stomach. After a few simple bites, he accepted the hot tea that Sakonji handed him.
"Briefly, tell me about the fight." As steam curled up from the tea, Sakonji Urokodaki knelt by the heated table, listening intently to Roy's account.
His final conclusion was much the same as Roy's own analysis from the night before.
"Your idea of using the thread from your cuff to wrap around the hilt was clever, but it was still a 'trick'."
"Tricks are a last resort for the weak, a method born from desperation when there are no other options..."
Sakonji thought back to his own clashes with powerful demons in the past. It was a good thing his opponent had been Eiichiro's father. If he had been facing one of the powerful Upper Moons, no amount of trickery would have saved him.
"Therefore, you must train more... Train twice as hard, eat twice as much. When the sun has risen and set enough times, that will be the time to strike."
"That's what I was thinking, too," Roy said with a smile. He drained his tea in one go, and without any further delay, grabbed the training sword hanging on the wall, pushed open the door, and marched into the wind and snow, heading deeper into Sagiri Mountain.
The boy disappeared into the blizzard, his steps deep and shallow in the snow. Sakonji Urokodaki watched him silently from behind for a moment, then picked up a carving knife and a block of wood and began to carve a mask.
"Master is carving a mask for Eiichiro."
"That means Eiichiro has earned his acknowledgment."
Makomo noticed Sakonji's actions and murmured softly. Beside her, Sabito stood silently, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword.
"Twenty-three thousand, one hundred and twenty-eight..."
"Twenty-three thousand, one hundred and twenty-nine..."
Sunday, twenty-four thousand swings. Monday, twenty-six thousand. Tuesday, twenty-eight thousand. On the night before he was to depart to see the doctor...
With a single swing of his blade, Roy unleashed a crescent-shaped slash, successfully completing his third session of 'Ten Thousand Swings'!
Screee~ The slash detached from the training sword, flew three meters, and struck a wooden post, slicing it cleanly in two.
A notification appeared on his panel... [Swordsmanship +18]
[Current Swordsmanship Level: 88/100 (Novice) → 6/1000 (Proficient)]
"Monster!"
"How can he produce an air slash after only training for half a month?" Shinsuke shrieked, floating up from the severed log. Roy's last strike had nearly split him in two.
The "air slash," formed when the blade's wind tears through the air, was the very achievement he had dreamed of accomplishing when he was still alive!
"At this rate, it won't be long before he graduates and splits the boulder," Fukuda observed, watching more closely than Shinsuke. He had seen the slash detach from the blade and fly nearly four meters before dissipating upon impact. That distance was more than enough to pass the 'final test' set by Sakonji Urokodaki.
In the original story, the final test Sakonji had set for Tanjiro was to slice through a spherical boulder with a radius of three meters. Roy's last slash had clearly exceeded that range.
"He won't." Sabito stood on a birch tree branch, his eyes brighter than ever before, his insight deeper and farther-reaching than Fukuda's.
He took a deep breath. "Master won't let Eiichiro leave the mountain this quickly."
"He is not like us. He is nowhere near his own limit."
"His full potential must be completely extracted. To do anything less would be a waste of his extraordinary talent."
You're amazing, Eiichiro. If it's you, you can surely change this wretched world... Sabito thought to himself as Makomo tugged on his sleeve.
The girl looked up at him, her beautiful eyes sparkling. "Hey~ Was Giyu-senpai this amazing back then?"
Giyu Tomioka, the current Water Hashira, was the pride of Sakonji Urokodaki and all his disciples, living and dead. Before meeting Roy, Sabito had firmly believed that Giyu was the most talented student Master ever had.
But now... "Giyu was nowhere near as good as Eiichiro," Sabito said, shaking his head with conviction. "Before he learned a Breathing Style, he couldn't perform an air slash, let alone one that could travel four meters."
"I knew Eiichiro was special..."
"Yes, he is," Sabito said with a soft laugh. "What I'm really curious about now is what Master will use to test him when it's finally time for him to graduate."
A boulder with a ten-meter radius? A waterfall nearly thirty meters high? Or perhaps... an entire hill?
Sabito's eyes burned with intensity as he watched Roy. The boy let out a long breath, took a handkerchief from his robes, and began to wipe down the training sword.
Snow-Walker was a blade, and this training sword was also a blade. Since they weren't people, there was no need for monogamy. Roy wiped the blade with intense focus, silently cultivating a bond with it. Soon, he received the next day's training plan. Unsurprisingly...
"Add another two thousand tomorrow."
Sakonji Urokodaki emerged from the dense woods, speaking as he always did. The snow piled on his shoulders revealed the fact that he had been watching silently for a very long time.
"Okay," Roy replied succinctly.
After cleaning the sword, he turned and followed Sakonji back to the warmth of the small cabin.
Dinner was a few pheasants he had hunted in the forest the day before.
This time, Roy didn't just have a few bites. He devoured three entire birds like a whirlwind, then collapsed onto the bed with a full stomach and fell into a satisfied sleep. At his feet, Makomo stared at him with resentful eyes.
To see but not eat was simply too cruel for a spirit. Makomo desperately wanted to experience the sensation of 'flavor' again. After all... she had been dead for a very, very long time... so long that she had almost forgotten what it felt like.
Hss~ yah~ Soft snores echoed through the room.
Under Makomo's watchful gaze, Roy fell asleep quickly and deeply that night. Perhaps it was because he no longer had to worry about passing Silva's test, or perhaps it was the relaxation that came with an impending journey.
In any case, when he opened his eyes the next day, having left the world of Demon Slayer and returned to Kukuroo Mountain, the familiar sense of exhaustion was significantly reduced. He even spent two fewer minutes lazing in bed.
Dong... The familiar chime of the clock rang out.
His daily run began.
He ran down from the old castle at the peak of the mountain, past the butlers' quarters, and arrived at the foot of the mountain.
Roy's gaze focused. He was surprised to see two familiar faces.
His grandfather, Zeno, and the butler, Tsubone.
"Good morning, Young Master." Zebro was sharp-eyed; he wouldn't have been the gatekeeper for so many years otherwise. He spotted Roy from a distance and tipped his hat in greeting. In response, Zeno and Tsubone turned to look at him at the same time.
Tsubone placed her right hand over her chest in a gesture of respect.
Then her body transformed, turning into a small car.
The car door opened. After a single glance at Roy, Zeno sat inside with a blank expression. With a roar of the engine, the car sped off down the mountain.
'Yamato Nadeshiko's Seven Transformations'... Not bad. That's a pretty useful ability.
Roy stopped to watch it go, deciding that as soon as he got back, he would ask Gotoh to transform into one for him too!