Since this was a hidden optional quest, there was no penalty for failure. Do it if you wanted; ignore it if you did not.
But Luke was already planning to hunt the Twelve Kizuki, so this hidden quest was simply extra profit. Naturally, he would do it.
That meant his itinerary would need a slight adjustment. He had to make a trip to that metropolis. If luck was on his side, he might even run into Muzan himself.
"Lord Luke, do you truly not need your injuries treated?"
Hinatsuru asked thoughtfully. In her eyes, after such a bloody battle, Luke had to have sustained serious injuries. His loose clothing was merely concealing them, while he was pretending to be fine.
"Huh?"
Luke came back to himself and looked at Hinatsuru. "Why are you all still here? I’m fine."
Though he had killed eight powerful Demons in one battle, he had not suffered so much as a scratch. His stamina was still plentiful, and his Soul Source remained above ninety percent.
Aside from his own formidable stats and mastery levels, he owed that crushing victory to the power of the Origin Seed. After all, being able to keep full-body Armament Haki active indefinitely with no cost felt a little like cheating, even to Luke...
"Lord Luke..."
Hinatsuru spoke again, but Luke cut her off directly.
"Don’t call me that. Didn’t you hear what I said to that guy just now? I only joined the Demon Slayer Corps yesterday. I’m an Aoi-ranked Corps member, not your superior."
Luke waved dismissively. Strictly speaking, his single day in the world of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba had been an extreme whirlwind tour.
Last night, he had steamrolled Mount Fujikasane. By morning, he had arrived in Yoshiwara, and the moment the sun rose, he had slaughtered Upper Rank Six along with a heap of new Twelve Kizuki.
The speed of his actions was probably beyond what the other side could have anticipated. That was why the forces they had deployed here had been insufficient.
"What!?"
Hinatsuru’s little mouth fell open. "You only joined the Demon Slayer Corps last night!?"
As Tengen Uzui’s wife, she naturally knew all kinds of things about the Demon Slayer Corps. She knew that last night had been the Corps’ annual Final Selection, and the timing Luke gave matched perfectly.
But there were several huge problems here. Wasn’t Final Selection supposed to last seven days? Mount Fujikasane was hundreds of kilometers from Yoshiwara, so how had he made it here overnight? And why was a newcomer who had just joined the Demon Slayer Corps this strong!?
Hinatsuru had countless complaints bottled up inside, but Luke gave her no chance to voice them. After picking up the final chest, he rose and left. "Tell the Kakushi to handle the aftermath. You should hurry and find Tengen Uzui."
"Find Lord Tengen?"
Hinatsuru’s delicate brows furrowed as she watched Luke’s retreating back, utterly puzzled. She could only feel that this powerful man called Luke was incredibly strange.
All the Demons here had already been killed, so there was no more danger. Why did they need to rush off and find their husband?
But Luke gave no further answer. He walked toward the distant light. It seemed the item overhead had also reached its limit; just as Luke stepped across the boundary into dawn, the false night sky shattered, transforming into a clear, cloudless day.
He had told the three women to find the Sound Hashira because he was afraid they would keep lingering around here, only to be captured by Explorers from Muzan’s faction and used to threaten Tengen Uzui.
The Sound Hashira was a respectable fighting force. Luke did not want to see him controlled by others. Besides, just as he had thought before, he did not enjoy watching other people suffer. It did not make him happy.
Once he reached the road, Luke flagged down an ox cart. After giving the driver a small gold nugget, he had the man take him onward while he rested atop the cart’s pile of straw.
The driver tried chatting with Luke a few times. When he saw Luke was not much of a talker, he tactfully fell silent and focused on driving the cart.
Sitting in the back, Luke happily took out a Dead Man’s Chest. He remembered that this one belonged to the female mage. He had long heard that mages were loaded, so he wanted to see what he could pull from it.
The Dead Man’s Chest was heavy and black-gold, covered in intricate patterns with a skull engraved at its center.
It was about the size of an ordinary storage box, except the space inside was equivalent to the Explorer’s original storage space.
Under Endspace’s rules, when an Explorer died, all the equipment on their person would be stored in their storage space. The clothes they had been wearing would retain only their appearance; that was a disguise created by Endspace, and they no longer possessed the functions of their former equipment.
If a Dead Man’s Chest dropped after their death, the items in their storage space would be transferred into that chest, becoming the victor’s spoils.
Every Explorer’s Dead Man’s Chest allowed three draws. The drawing method was rather interesting. Unlike ordinary chests, the looter could reach inside and feel around.
During that search, they could not feel the complete shape of every item. At most, they could make out half of an object, and even that sensation was vague and hazy.
For example, if you felt something whose front half seemed to be curved metal, you might guess it was a one-handed shield—only to pull it out and discover it was a large shovel.
While feeling around, if you found something that seemed like what you wanted, you could try to pull it out.
But take note: that did not mean you could pull out the exact item you touched with a one-hundred-percent success rate. According to the probability listing released by Endspace, there was only a fifty-percent chance of directly drawing that item. There was another forty-percent chance of drawing some amount of the Explorer’s remaining Endspace Coins instead.
The final ten-percent chance would give you some other item from the storage space. In other words, Dead Man’s Chests offered both a degree of choice and an element of randomness.
Yeah, they were a bit like the limited banners in a certain trash company’s game from Luke’s previous life.
Full of anticipation, Luke reached into the chest and began feeling around. He focused, carefully sensing the shapes of the various objects inside.
Hmm, this thing felt soft and springy, with a delicate, silky texture. What could it be? Equipment, perhaps?
Luke pondered it for a moment. Even if it was equipment, it was probably clothing or something similar, nowhere near as valuable as a main weapon. So he continued searching.
After a while, his eyes lit up. He had found a rod.
He carefully gripped the rod. It felt good in his hand, was of moderate thickness, and was easy to hold. Luke thought, This is it. This has to be that mage’s staff!
He pulled hard. The probability check succeeded, and the instant he smoothly extracted the rod, the smile on Luke’s face had not even had time to bloom before Endspace’s notification made it wither.
[You have obtained Pleasure Fairy Wand ×1]
"Fuck!"
Luke rarely cursed, but he immediately hurled away the pink wand. A chill ran through his entire body. It felt worse than taking one of Gyutaro’s Blood Demon Arts head-on.
What the hell was wrong with her, stuffing something like that in there!?
Luke cursed inwardly, but he was no ordinary man. He quickly calmed himself.
Thinking back, this time really had been his own mistake. The female Explorer’s staff had looked glossy, and he had clearly felt a grainy texture just now but had still pulled it out. He should not have done that.
Failure was not frightening. What was frightening was failing without learning from it. Luke had learned his lesson this time. On his next draw, he would be more cautious, lest he feel something even stranger.
Suppressing his physical discomfort, he reached back into the Dead Man’s Chest as though sticking his hand into a trash can, pinching his nose as he did.
After feeling around for a while, Luke’s eyes lit up again. He had found another rod. Having learned from his prior failure, he carefully examined its texture and discovered that this rod had a smooth surface, while its thickness matched the female mage’s staff as he remembered it.
This is the one. Come on, most valuable main weapon—staff!
Brimming with confidence, Luke pulled it out. To his relief, this draw also passed the check. He had not drawn another item or Endspace Coins.
He raised the rod high, about to celebrate his victory in the gacha, when he suddenly realized something was wrong.
[You have obtained Large Red Candle ×1]
Luke flung the candle away.
For fuck’s sake, how wild was she!? Didn’t her storage space have anything normal in it!?
Furious, Luke simply shut his eyes and drew at random.
[You have obtained Endspace-brand Shampoo (37% remaining)]
Luke: ...
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