In the blink of an eye, another year had passed.
Throughout this past year, Mitsuba had devoted most of her time to assisting Ubuyashiki Kagaya in promoting internal reforms within the Demon Slayer Corps.
From the training and assessment rules for Demon Slayers, from Final Selection to the formal mission mechanisms.
Mitsuba remained committed to using scientifically rational systems to improve the overall operational efficiency of the Demon Slayer Corps as much as possible.
Not only that, she also reorganized the various Breathing Style inheritances within the Demon Slayer Corps, improving some of the sword forms that could still be refined.
It was no exaggeration to say that through Mitsuba's efforts this year, although the current Demon Slayer Corps still couldn't compare to those from the Sengoku period, they were stronger than any other period besides that!
Yes, Mitsuba was helping the Demon Slayer Corps become stronger.
In her view, this was something she absolutely had to do at present.
God had already placed His bets.
Nineteen years later, His chess pieces would all make their appearance.
And throughout this past year, just the pieces Mitsuba herself had already discovered numbered six.
Kamado Tanjuro's eldest son, Kamado Tanjiro.
Rengoku Shinjuro's eldest son, Rengoku Kyojuro.
The blind young monk from that mountain temple, Himejima Gyomei.
The delicate young boy who came from the Serpent Demon family with Shinjuro to the Demon Slayer Corps, Iguro Obanai.
And born into the family of Butterfly's descendants, the three-year-old Kocho Kanae, and her younger sister Kocho Shinobu who would be born a year later.
From the past several hundred years until now, Mitsuba had never seen God arrange for so many "chess pieces" to be born into the world at once.
And these were only the ones she had already discovered, not all of them.
Presumably, in other causalities she had yet to notice, there must be more of God's chess pieces hidden.
This was the first time in several hundred years that Mitsuba had witnessed such a situation.
His urgency exposed His weakness.
Therefore, Mitsuba chose to accept the challenge.
She would wait, wait for the timing He had chosen to arrive, wait for all His power to descend.
Then deliver the most fatal backlash to Him once again, just as she had defeated that Child of God back then.
Regardless of whether this was the final desperate gamble of the God above, Mitsuba would strive to make this His final interference with the human world.
And before that, she needed to make the Demon Slayer Corps stronger, or rather... she needed to make the Demon Slayer Corps *feel* that they had become stronger.
She had to give them confidence, had to make them twenty years later feel that they could do it, and thereby completely eliminate any possible "defeatism" that might arise within the Demon Slayer Corps.
When you possess absolutely overwhelming strength, you would never fear your enemy actively launching an attack against you.
On the contrary, if your enemy chose not to fight you to the death but instead turned to flee, this would actually give you a headache.
Because if they fled, you would have to expend more energy pursuing them.
And once you failed to find them, leaving some fish that slipped through the net, they would quietly develop in the shadows where you couldn't see, accumulating strength.
Then quietly wait for some moment of your negligence to suddenly deliver a fatal blow to you.
This wouldn't do at all.
As Demon Slayers, how could you choose to run away?
You must be brave and fearless, must be filled with burning blood, must even when knowing you are no match still sacrifice yourselves without hesitation.
Because only in this way would everyone—whether God or demons, or yourselves... all would be satisfied.
And to achieve all this, besides making the Demon Slayer Corps feel they had become stronger, Mitsuba needed a key driving force.
One that required herself to accomplish.
"..."
"Mitsuba, Young Master, this year's Final Selection results are out!"
At night, at the Demon Slayer Corps headquarters, Shinjuro, who had just returned from outside, ran into the mansion holding the list in his arms.
Inside the mansion, Mitsuba, who had been organizing the Demon Slayer Corps' past archival materials, and Ubuyashiki Kagaya, who was responsible for assisting her, both looked up simultaneously upon hearing this.
The current Ubuyashiki Master of the Demon Slayer Corps was not at this headquarters.
A year had passed, and with the further deepening of the curse's erosion, the current Ubuyashiki Master was already critically ill.
Now he resided in another mansion far from this headquarters, accompanied by only a few physicians and attendants.
He was simply waiting to pass away before passing the position of Master to his seven-year-old son.
By normal reasoning, at this critical juncture, Ubuyashiki Kagaya, who had already been designated as the next Master, should not be allowed to leave his Master's father's side at will.
But perhaps out of a desire to train his abilities, or perhaps wanting to use this opportunity to accumulate some prestige for his child in advance.
In any case, this Master father did not strictly require Ubuyashiki Kagaya to remain by his side, instead allowing him to follow Mitsuba in busily pushing forward the internal reforms of the Demon Slayer Corps.
The father and son's last meeting had already been several months ago...
"Let me see quickly!"
Ubuyashiki Kagaya, dressed in women's clothing, hurriedly stood up upon hearing this, took the list from Shinjuro's hands, and quickly flipped through it.
And beside him, Shinjuro also explained with an excited voice:
"Young Master, according to the intelligence compiled by the Supervision and Rescue Team, there were twenty-seven prospective swordsmen who came to participate in this year's Final Selection.
Among them, five were eliminated during the initial assessment phase due to various substandard reasons.
Of the remaining twenty-two, eight ultimately passed the selection!
This is the largest number in decades, besides the selection that Mitsuba participated in!
Of the remaining fourteen, four were truly unable to overcome their fear of facing demons. According to the new regulations, although the Rescue Team saved them, they were simultaneously stripped of their qualifications to participate in Final Selection.
Subsequently, these people will be assigned to the Kakushi unit, responsible only for logistical work within the Demon Slayer Corps.
As for the final remaining ten, although they failed to pass the selection this time.
According to the Supervision Team's assessment, these people do indeed possess the qualifications to become formal Demon Slayers, so they were still allowed to retain their qualifications to participate in the next Final Selection.
Barring unexpected circumstances, at next year's Final Selection, most of these people should be able to smoothly pass and become formal Demon Slayers!"
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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.