The Scarlet Crimson Iron Sand arrived. Sosuke was surprised by the generous amount, especially since he wasn’t even a mber of the Demon Slayer Corps yet.
’Well, if they’re giving it, I’ll take it,’ he thought. ’It would be rude to write a letter asking why.’
He lit the forge and picked up the Heavenly Artisan’s Forge Hamr, exhaling softly.
After nearly a month apart, the hamr felt surprisingly familiar in his hand.
’I guess that month of non-stop forging has ingrained the feel of wielding it into my bones, he mused. Plus, I’ve been practicing Gale Sun with a hamr while honing my swordsmanship.’
So, despite the month-long hiatus, the hamr still felt as natural as ever.
As the forge heated up, the iron gradually transford.
Sosuke watched the upgraded gauge intently. When it reached the designated mark, he imdiately withdrew the tal.
The next mont, the rhythmic clang of hamring echoed through the courtyard once more.
Kanae erged from the courtyard. With Sosuke’s Total Concentration technique nearing completion, she no longer needed to watch over him day and night. She had co this morning to call him for breakfast.
Instead, she found him already hamring iron again.
She imdiately stopped to watch.
Truthfully, there was nothing particularly captivating about blacksmithing. A bare-chested man, sweat glistening on his skin, hamring red-hot tal with a cold forge hamr, the air thick with the tallic tang of sweat.
Normally, won rarely found such scenes appealing.
But Kanae couldn’t explain why she loved watching Sosuke forge with such focused intensity.
She loved seeing him lost in his passion for blacksmithing, loved hearing his unique insights into the craft. Every ti she watched him speak with such fervor and concentration, she couldn’t help but be drawn to the radiant aura that seed to emanate from him.
It reminded her of the first ti they t, back in the Blacksmith Village, when he had explained how swordsn could make all sorts of requests for their Nichirin Blades.
Before she knew it, she would find herself completely absorbed, unable to tear her gaze away.
And as she watched, ti slipped by unnoticed.
Kanae snapped out of her reverie when she heard footsteps approaching. Her face flushed crimson.
Taking a deep breath to steady herself, she turned to see Shinobu tiptoeing toward her.
Noticing her sister’s gaze, Shinobu froze, instinctively sticking out her tongue. "Caught!"
Kanae gave her a gentle glare. "What are you doing?"
"You hadn’t co to dinner for so long, so I figured sothing must have happened. When I ca to check, I found you standing here in a daze, and I heard the sound of hamring from inside. I thought my sister must have had sothing important stolen again... so I ca to call your soul back."
"..."
Kanae’s face alternated between red and pale before she finally chuckled softly, cracking her knuckles with a crisp pop.
"Sister... what are you doing?"
Shinobu retreated two steps, shaking her head. "Sister, you need to calm down!"
Kanae nodded. "I am calm."
As she spoke, she closed in.
"Sister, you can’t bully your own sister over a man!"
Shinobu finished her taunt and bolted.
But she barely took two steps before Kanae, graceful as a falling butterfly, swooped in and pinned her in a hug, her hands tickling Shinobu’s armpits. "Take that for your nonsense!"
A piercing, off-key scream echoed across the sky.
anwhile, Sosuke remained completely oblivious, utterly imrsed in his sea of iron.
He hamred relentlessly with Gale Sun, refining the Yang Fla attribute and purging impurities.
It’s worth noting that the rewards for impurity removal had beco pitifully ager lately...
Undeterred, Sosuke completely purged the iron material of impurities within a re two hours.
This was thanks to his increasingly refined hamring technique, as well as the Heavenly Artisan’s Forge Hamr and Heavenly Artisan’s Iron Anvil, which significantly reduced the ti required for impurity removal.
Moreover, the flas enhanced by the Heavenly Artisan’s Bellows ensured the iron material remained at the optimal temperature for extended periods.
Compared to other thods, this was naturally much faster.
Ah, the Heavenly Artisan’s Bellows... Just hearing the na, you can probably guess it’s one of the rewards for forging weapons. Anything crafted by the Heavenly Artisan is guaranteed to be a masterpiece!
Sosuke showed no signs of stopping. He imdiately adjusted his breathing and began the second stage of forging.
The blade’s form required almost no thought; it was already perfectly clear in Sosuke’s mind.
The shape of the sun of genesis!
The difference was that while the sun of genesis was forged from ordinary iron, this blade... was made from Scarlet Crimson Iron Sand. Once completed, it would bear a different na... the Nichirin Blade!
By the ti the second stage was finished, it wasn’t even noon yet.
After treating the blade’s body, Sosuke placed it into the furnace.
Turning around, he hadn’t even wiped the sweat from his forehead when he saw Kanae and Shinobu standing on either side of him.
Kanae wore her usual gentle smile, while Shinobu, standing beside her, had tears welling in her eyes and was muttering sothing unintelligible.
Shinobu held a tray of food in her hands.
"When did you two get here?" Sosuke grinned.
Kanae took out a handkerchief and wiped the sweat from his face. "Just now."
Sosuke nodded, glanced at the ti, then at the food in Shinobu’s hands. "I lost track of ti again."
"Eat up," Kanae said with a nod. "We’ve already eaten."
"Alright."
Sosuke took the tray from Shinobu’s hands. Only then did he finally hear what she was muttering: "Sister’s a demon... Sister’s a demon..."
He stared at Shinobu in confusion. ’Aren’t you the one who loves your sister the most? Why are you suddenly saying this?’
He glanced at Kanae, whose gentle deanor was almost unnervingly serene. How could she possibly be a demon?
Frowning, he said, "Kids just talk nonsense."
Shinobu’s eyes reddened, and with a wail, she burst into tears and ran off.
Sosuke stared after her, dumbfounded. "What just happened?"
Shinobu had never acted like this before. At first, she had disliked him, but later, after warming up to him, she had always acted like a little adult, her face perpetually stern as if soone owed her money.
’But now... why is she slowly turning into a brat?’
"It’s nothing," Kanae said with a light laugh. "I disciplined her today."
"Oh, oh," Sosuke nodded repeatedly, not asking why. "You did the right thing."
It was fortunate Shinobu wasn’t around; otherwise, she would have cried even harder.
The nonsense about "double the love" was clearly a lie—it was more like double the bullying!
Kanae led Sosuke to sit on the veranda and went inside to pour him a cup of tea.
As they sat facing each other, smiling faintly, Sosuke glanced at the food on the veranda and suddenly lost his appetite.
He sat cross-legged, propping himself up with his arms as he gazed at Kanae.
Kanae’s cheeks flushed. "What are you looking at?"
The tenderness in Sosuke’s eyes lted into honeyed affection. Just as he was about to speak, they heard footsteps. He turned to see...
Shinobu, cheeks puffed out and tears welling in her eyes, had returned.
Sosuke and Kanae both looked at her. The little girl huffed, "Don’t think you can just ditch to go do those wicked things! I won’t give you the chance!"
"...!"
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