"Being a swordsmith is enough! Stop daydreaming about joining the Demon Slayer Corps! Remember, providing the Demon Slayer Corps with flawless Nichirin Blades is a battle in itself!"
"Our forging techniques are crucial in this era. They allow swordsmen to unleash their true potential, delivering fatal blows to demons and securing victory in battle, ultimately saving countless ordinary people!"
"I know you hit your head when you went to the back mountains to gather materials. But that kind of injury is nothing compared to what swordsmen endure!"
"So, use that not-so-bright brain of yours and think carefully about what you should really be doing, Tetsu no Sosuke!!!"
In Swordsmith Village, Tetsu no Sosuke kicked stones along the path as he walked, tachikawahara Tecchin's words echoing in his mind.
He looked up at the sky, his eyes behind the Fireman Mask fixed on the drifting clouds above. "Thinking about it, becoming a swordsmith doesn't seem so bad. No need to go to the front lines, no fighting demons, no risking my life to hone my swordsmanship, no need to learn those Breathing Techniques... It actually seems pretty safe."
"But Swordsmith Village still gets attacked! Gyokko, Hantengu... Sure, they were defeated in the manga, but before that, they killed a lot of swordsmiths! Who knows if I'll be unlucky enough to get killed right away?"
Even with these thoughts, he still couldn't shake his gloom.
What truly baffled him was this: having already transmigrated, why on earth had he ended up in the world of Demon Slayer?
'Well, I've read about other unlucky souls transmigrating to Demon Slayer in novels before.'
'But here's the thing: those guys always had systems, cheat devices, or something similar. They'd rise through the ranks of the Demon Slayer Corps, become Pillars, and ultimately become the ultimate winners in life!'
So why was he stuck as a mere swordsmith in the Swordsmith Village?
Even if he'd just become an ordinary person, he might never have encountered a demon...
"Forget it, forget it!!!"
He scratched his head, his fingers still feeling a faint throbbing at the back of his skull.
Tecchin didn't realize this wasn't just a minor injury. It was a potentially fatal wound—otherwise, it wouldn't have created an opening for a soul from another world to slip through.
"A swordsmith it is! If no one teaches me sword techniques, I'll just learn them on the sly. After all, swordsmen always come to Swordsmith Village to train. Sneaking a peek during their practice shouldn't anger them enough to kill me, right? Then... hmm, then I'll forge my own Nichirin Blade! With sword techniques and a Nichirin Blade, what about a Breathing Technique? No matter what, there has to be a way! Since I've come to this world, even as a swordsmith, I'll become one that everyone looks up to!"
Tetsu no Sosuke pumped himself up and sprinted home.
The house was empty. Tetsu no Sosuke had no parents. His father, also a swordsmith, had been killed by a demon while delivering forged Nichirin Blades to members of the Demon Slayer Corps. His mother, upon hearing the news, fell ill and passed away within months.
Now, he was truly alone, with no ties to hold him back.
Beyond these memories, the bulk of his knowledge consisted of various forging techniques.
He had honed his skills since childhood, yet never managed to break through to the next level. According to the Swordsmith Village's standards, his forging level remained at the apprentice stage.
This was far from sufficient to forge Nichirin Blades for the Demon Slayer Corps. The finest materials were essentially wasted in his hands.
Tetsu no Sosuke refused to accept this. "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Even if I'm still just an apprentice, the memories in my mind tell me what to do! I'll start with that first step and forge myself the strongest, most ruthless Nichirin Blade someday!"
He lit the forge.
Flames roared to life as Tetsu no Sosuke retrieved an iron ingot.
The village distributed iron ingots to each apprentice swordsmith every month, allowing them to hone their forging skills.
As he placed the ingot into the furnace and watched it instantly engulfed by flames, a sudden roar erupted in Tetsu no Sosuke's mind!
Buzzing...
"Hmm?"
Tetsu no Sosuke instinctively shook his head, sensing something strange was happening to him.
But upon closer examination, the sensation vanished like a hallucination.
"What was that? Too tired? A lingering effect from the head injury?"
He dismissed it as nothing serious and looked back at the iron ingot in the furnace. His pupils constricted sharply.
"What the hell?"
Beside the ingot, a peculiar symbol had appeared.
The symbol was composed of a gradient of colors, transitioning from blue on the left to red on the right. The entire symbol represented this gradual shift from blue to red.
Simultaneously, a pointer was precisely aligned with the blue end of the spectrum.
"What is this?"
He waved his hand in front of his eyes, confirming it wasn't a retinal projection. The symbol only appeared when he focused on the iron ingot in the furnace.
This discovery left him bewildered. As time passed, the pointer began to move slowly, inching toward the red end of the spectrum.
"Wait... could this be indicating the temperature of the iron ingot?"
According to the forging techniques Tetsu no Sosuke had learned from his memories, the process involved visually observing the ingot's temperature before removing it for hammering.
But what was this indicator?
"Could it be a tool that replaces visual observation, using clearer gradations to measure the ingot's temperature?"
The realization struck Tetsu no Sosuke like a hammer blow, tears streaming down his face. "So even the heavens believe I should become a blacksmith? Otherwise, why would all my golden fingers be related to forging?"
Such bitter resentment!
"But even resentment won't help, will it? After all, you can't exactly return a golden finger, can you?"
Helpless, he stared at the pointer's trajectory, then at the ingot's burning intensity. When he finally judged the temperature was right, the pointer had stopped at roughly two-thirds of the scale, just shy of the red zone.
Using iron tongs, he pulled the red-hot iron ingot from the forge and placed it on the anvil.
The smithing hammer lay nearby. Gripping the glowing ingot with the tongs, he picked up the hammer, a strange sense of familiarity stirring within him.
"This is the first weapon I, Tetsu no Sosuke, the newly reborn, will forge! Now, let's begin!"
After uttering this melodramatic declaration, he brought the hammer down with a clang.
[Ding!]
[Impurities -1]
"Huh?"