"In that case."
Having collected his excited emotions, ordering people to bring forward the prepared scarlet crimson ore, the young Ubuyashiki Kagaya spoke to the crowd before him:
"Then congratulations to you all for passing this Final Selection. From this moment forth, you are all official demon slayers.
Next, please each select a piece of scarlet crimson ore. The smiths of the Swordsmith Village will forge these ores into..."
"Little Master."
Suddenly interrupting Ubuyashiki Kagaya's words, Mitsuba stepped forward directly, half-crouching down to look him in the eyes, and said seriously:
"I request that besides myself and Shinjuro, you strike the names of the remaining children from the official demon slayer register."
"...What?"
"Because they do not have the talent to become demon slayers."
"..."
---
For an organization like the Demon Slayer Corps that had existed for over a thousand years with strong feudal island nation atmosphere, there were many aspects within it that needed reform.
First point: that utterly terrible swordsman training method.
My dear demon slayers, we're about to enter the twentieth century. Even the island nation's government has already undergone the Meiji Restoration, embraced Western democracy, and established new-style education.
Yet your Demon Slayer Corps still relies on that extremely traditional and backward "master-apprentice" model to train swordsmen. Where did you feudal remnants come from?
Not asking you to establish a new-style "Demon Slayer Professional Training School."
But you should at least have those trainers gather together annually to exchange their swordsman training insights, share their teaching experiences, right?
Then compile these experiences into a "Demon Slayer Training Guidance Manual" that gets updated every few years. Is this such a difficult thing to do?!
Wouldn't this be much more scientific, rigorous, and professional than your trainers each working behind closed doors, training demon slayers arbitrarily according to their own ideas?
Damn it, being so backward that even this Twelve Kizuki member can't stand to watch anymore!
Then, there's that even more backward and bloody Final Selection!
Please, from ancient times to present, even professional armies wouldn't adopt such extremely bloody survival-of-the-fittest selection, alright?
Even the ancient Roman army famous for its "decimation" law only killed one out of every ten people!
And your Final Selection system has at most one survivor out of every ten people!
What's even more admirable is that even the ancient Roman army wouldn't employ "decimation" unless facing particularly severe situations.
But your Demon Slayer Corps' Final Selection happens every single year!
Admirable, admirable—you're truly more ruthless than the ancient Roman military lords from over a thousand years ago~
For a moment, one truly doesn't know who the real demons are...
Upper Rank One sends admiration.
What kind of brain folds could come up with such an absurd selection mechanism, and persistently maintain it for so many generations?
Speaking of which, in the past millennium, was there really no demon slayer who felt something was wrong and raised objections about this?
These must be changed!
First, the Demon Slayer Corps must establish a strict and professional "Prospective Swordsman Assessment System" composed of all the trainers!
This system aims to utilize the rich experience accumulated by trainers in the past, specifically establishing a first-round formal assessment for those prospective swordsmen about to participate in the Final Selection.
Those whose Breathing Styles are not mastered properly, whose physical conditions are too poor, whose psychological qualities don't pass—either send them back to train for another year, or directly eliminate them and dispatch them to other logistics units to contribute.
This way, you can both fully utilize these trainers who have long since left the front lines, and to a certain degree guarantee prospective swordsmen' basic strength, greatly reducing the mortality rate of the Final Selection.
Secondly, during the Final Selection period, Mount Fujikasane must also establish specialized "Supervision and Rescue Teams."
Similarly, if the Demon Slayer Corps is short on personnel, these team members can also be temporarily filled by trainers.
The purpose of these teams is to supervise all behaviors of prospective swordsmen participating in the selection.
Ensure they are all of good character, not committing despicable acts of deliberately betraying comrades to save their own lives.
At the same time, if they encounter prospective swordsmen whose abilities are truly insufficient to pass the selection, they can also intervene to rescue them, and depending on the situation, strip them of their qualifications for this Final Selection.
Perhaps some would worry: if these prospective swordsmen don't go to their deaths every year, then who will feed the demons in Mount Fujikasane?
Hmm, very good. Congratulations—being able to produce such thoughts means you're already a very qualified Ubuyashiki clan member.
Not to mention how bloody and cruel the idea of feeding your own compatriots to demons to maintain the selection is, the important thing is—
Demons cannot starve to death.
Hunger only causes demons to fall into weakness, extreme weakness.
Moreover, when truly starving unbearably, demons will actually devour each other to restore their strength.
Yes, demons are not unable to devour their own kind—it's just that Lord Muzan normally doesn't allow it.
Otherwise, the Twelve Kizuki wouldn't have the Blood Battle rank exchange mechanism...
With the Final Selection problem resolved, next comes the Demon Slayer Corps' "Nine Hashira" system.
Traditionally, the Demon Slayer Corps has always had an unwritten rule: at any given time, the Demon Slayer Corps can have at most nine Hashira-level swordsmen.
For this rule, the Ubuyashiki clan's explanation is:
Because the Chinese character for "Hashira" (柱) only has nine strokes total, therefore, there can be at most nine Hashira.
(Don't blame me, this is official canon from the original work)
Mitsuba was greatly shocked by this.
No, Mr. Ubuyashiki, do you know that the Demon Slayer Corps exists to fight demons, not to play house with you?
This absurd rule that because the Hashira character only has nine strokes there can only be nine Hashira at most—you can actually say this with a straight face?
With powerful enemies before you and curses behind, your Ubuyashiki clan is already being pushed to desperate straits, yet you still have the mind to engage in such meaningless symbolism?
Just because the Hashira character has at most nine strokes, those other swordsmen qualified to be promoted to Hashira are suppressed below and not allowed to rise?
So when important matters require convening Hashira meetings, they're also excluded and not invited?
In such desperate circumstances, as a qualified leader, shouldn't you be doing everything possible to integrate all forces that can be integrated?
And establish as many role models as possible, to maximally inspire subordinates, stimulate their potential, and urge them to fight desperately and loyally die for the cause?
Not even having this most basic common sense of being a leader—was your Ubuyashiki clan really nobility in the past, not some suddenly emerged nouveau riche family?
Sigh, our Lord God has still protected you all too well...
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This story has ended in chapter 315, you can read on patreon.com/dzeref887 for faster access or wait until August to read on WebNovel until the story ends.