The Value of Good Equipment

Hello everyone and welcome to the latest edition of Breath of the Rifleman! We've got a little slower chapter this week, but with luck it'll still prove entertaining with the build up. And as always I'd like to give a shoutout to LoneTaker, groche9655 and Noble Eight for their contributions to this story thus far. Now then, it seems we've got no guest review questions this week so let's get to reading!

Daytime: Forest of the Swordsmith Village

The years spent visiting the Kamado family taught Subaru many things about both himself and how he related to various people. One of the first things he learned after a few visits was that kids were sort of a hit or miss with him. Like anyone, he could tolerate a well-behaved child and even some of their occasional antics should the need arise. But he also learned that he absolutely did not like dealing with noisy kids!

Which was why he was reluctant to get within earshot of the boy currently screaming at the Mist Pillar, Tokitou Muichirou, of all people. "I told you already," said the boy in the clown mask with a white kimono top and dark vest, "I am not giving you the key and I'm definitely not showing you how to use it!" 'Part of, as in most of me, just wants to walk away from this,' thought Subaru as he watched the heated, and relatively one-sided, exchange continue with the boy shouting and the Mist Pillar standing there looking impassive. 'But another part of me wonders why someone would defy a Hashira of all people?'

His wonder was quickly replaced with apprehension as Tokitou suddenly raised his hand and hit the boy on the side of the neck with a quick chop. Most of his apprehension was due to the fact that he knew what was about to happen next in that instant. "HEY!" Yelled Tanjiro as he rushed over, "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!" 'Dammit, here we go,' thought Subaru as he quickly followed behind his friend.

The Hashira had been in the process of hoisting the boy up by the front of his shirt collar when Tanjiro seized his wrist in a way very similar to how he seized Genya's back at Final Selection. "Let go of him," demanded Tanjiro as he tightened his grip. That's when he noted a key difference between right now and back at Final Selection. The Mist Pillar, despite being smaller and thinner than even Tanjiro himself, was surprisingly sturdy, to the point that he wasn't even flinching at the amount of force that was being applied to his wrist.

"Your voice is really annoying," said Tokitou with the same impassive look on his face, "who are you exactly?"

"Now that almost hurts my feelings," said Subaru as he came up behind the Hashira with his Schofield pointed at his head, "I figured we made a better impression at the trial several months ago."

"I wasn't really paying attention to all of that," said Muichirou, "I tend to forget things that aren't that important."

"Well do you at least remember why you're hurting a kid?!" Exclaimed Tanjiro as he tightened his grip as much as he could, with little to no effect, "just let him go already!"

"The two of you, need to back off," said Tokitou before suddenly bending forward at incredible speed, backkicking Subaru with a strength that belied his size before coming back up and elbowing Tanjiro in the gut. The two slayers were just barely able to keep their footing as they grasped their chests in pain. "The two of you aren't very strong, how'd you even get into the Corp-hey, what's in that box on your back? It feels like-."

"Wow you don't even remember that detail," grunted Subaru, "you know damn well Nezuko's in there. It's a bigger mystery how you even make it around your own district with a memory like that."

"As I said," replied Tokitou, "I remember important details."

"Like that vest in your hand," Subaru pointed out. The Mist Pillar realized what he was referring too upon raising his hand and seeing nothing but the boy's dark vest in his grasp. 'He actually managed to snatch him away from me,' noted Muichirou as he looked over to see Tanjiro checking on the boy.

"G-Get off me!" exclaimed the boy as he tried to ward Tanjiro off.

"I was just checking to make sure you're okay," explained Tanjiro, "you've got a few marks here and there, so you really need to try and take better care of yourself."

"Just go away!" Said the Boy irritably, "I'm not giving this key away to anyone, not even under torture! If I do, the doll will break!"

"Do you even know how painful torture actually is," Questioned Tokitou, "even full grown adults break under it, so you're just making yourself look like a dumb kid who doesn't know his place. If the doll breaks, so what, just make another."

"If he could do that, do you think he'd be putting up such a fuss," questioned Subaru.

"Why wouldn't he be able to fix it?" Questioned Muichirou, "unlike Pillars, these people have all kinds of time on their hands and making weapons is all they're good for. They can't save lives, and if this kid thought a little bit about it, he'd realize all the time he's costing me mumbling and grumbling has likely cost the lives of several people already."

"Why didn't you secure your district before you left then?" Questioned Subaru as he holstered his revolver and crossed his arms, "that's what Gyomei did before he left for Hokkaido, he set up a detachment of slayers to watch over the place. Or was a detail like that not 'important enough' for you to remember?"

"And you should remember your place," said Tokitou with a mild bit of irritation, "just as this child should have remembered his place before deciding to act like a baby, otherwise I would've been back at my district already without needing others to look after it. Now I'll only ask one more time, key." The Mist Pillar held out his hand, only for it to get quickly slapped away by Tanjiro. "Now what are you going on about?"

"The way you're going about this doesn't sit right with me," said Tanjiro, "I'll admit you're right when you say swordsmiths can't really fight, but their job is still absolutely crucial for us! If they didn't forge swords for us, we wouldn't be able to kill demons! We need each other to function properly because we all fight the same fight, even if we're in different places, so show some consideration all right!"

"Sorry," said Muichirou with a dead pan stare, "I don't have time to talk about dumb stuff." He launched forward then with a quick but powerful chop strike to the side of Tanjiro's neck. The surprised and still recovering slayer didn't have enough time to react as the blow hit him in one of the nerve clusters on his neck, causing his vision to swim as he fell to the ground.

"Shit," said Subaru as he managed to raise his left hand in an open palm block just as the Mist Pillar turned on him with another chop strike. He seized the smaller fighter's hand and attempted to counter with a right knee strike, only for it to be stopped by the Pillar's hand. Subaru attempted a punch with his right hand then but it was caught as well by Tokitou's hand before he grabbed on and leapt up, striking the Matagi in the chest with a painful double kick. The pain was enough to force him to let go as he stumbled back aways, just managing to raise both his arms in time to block a high kick aimed at his head.

The Rifleman reacted quickly and yanked the boy up and around before tossing him with all of his strength towards the nearest tree. It would've been successful against a number of other opponents, but a Hashira like Tokitou had very quick reflexes, enough for him to readjust in midair to kick off the tree and rocket back towards Subaru with another attack.

Subaru reacted fast enough to stop the painful kick with both arms, but he wasn't fast enough to stop the dual chop strike to both sides of his neck nor the finishing blow of one more high kick to his head. The two blows were enough to knock him onto the ground, his vision now swimming as he fought to stay conscious. 'Geez, what a dick,' was Subaru's last thoughts before blacking out completely.

A Short Time Later

'Ouch,' thought Subaru as his eyes fluttered open, 'I knew that was probably gonna end badly, but I went along with it anyway.' Despite the outcome, though, he can't say he necessarily regretted it. After all, backing each other up is what friends do. "Oh hey," said the boy from earlier as the Matagi struggled up to a sitting position, noting that Tanjiro was doing much the same, "try not to get up too fast."

"Oh what happened to the pillar?" Questioned Tanjiro as he rubbed his head.

"He left after I gave him the key," replied the Boy.

"Oh, I guess you didn't have much of a choice," said Tanjiro as he hung his head a bit, "I'm sorry we couldn't be of any help."

"Oh no, I'm actually really happy you both did that," said the Boy, "you stood up for a complete stranger like me, so thank you both." He bowed his head in gratitude as he explained.

"Out of curiosity," said Subaru before Tanjiro started in on apologizing for not being able to help, "why were the both of you making such a big deal about that key in the first place? I heard you mention something about a doll."

"Not just any doll, a mechanical doll," explained the boy, "my ancestors made it back in the Sengoku era. It's very durable and possesses power that surpasses that of regular humans, so it's used as an advanced training dummy."

"Whoa, that's amazing," said Tanjiro, "For something to last over three hundred years, I've never heard of anything like it. Well besides demons that is."

"It does sound amazing," said Subaru, "but it's clearly not in the best condition if what you said about it breaking earlier is true."

"Yes, it's been slowly deteriorating for some time," explained the Boy, "it could honestly break any day now, at least if a Hashira uses it long enough. Come on, if we get there in time you can get a good look at it before he starts training."

"That does sound like something that would be neat to see," said Tanjiro, "and we do have a bit of time right now."

"Well you do," said Subaru, "I should probably-."

"Subaru Genjirou," said Izayoi as he suddenly appeared from seemingly nowhere, startling the boy and to some extent Tanjiro, "Miss Anita Garand has requested your presence. It seems the weapon testing is ready to begin, or at least it will very shortly."

"Guess that's my cue," said Subaru with a shrug before turning to Tanjiro and the boy, "tell me how it goes. As much as I'd like to see the doll, I imagine it was made to train sword wielders."

"You're not wrong," said the Boy, "it actually uses six swords. Oh, before you go, what's your name?"

"Subaru Genjirou," replied the Matagi, "and before you ask, yes, I seem to be one of the very few gunwielding slayers. I can explain to you how that works the next time we meet."

"And I'm Tanjiro Kamado," he said, "if you need help with the doll, just ask."

"It's good to meet you both, I'm Kotetsu," the Boy said in introduction, "come on, it's this way." The ward of the mechanical doll jogged off then as Tanjiro followed close behind.

"I'll see you at lunch or dinner Subaru, good luck!" Tanjiro said as he waved back at his friend.

Newly Created Firing Range

"Ah, there you two are," said Anita as the shinobi and slayer approached the range, "sorry if I had to tear you away from Tanjiro, but the German and Japanese suits got here earlier than expected."

"Guess they wanted to make a better impression after yesterday's scene," said Subaru as he approached the two businessmen.

"Well just so you know, the German is gonna be really insistent," informed Anita, "his home country's going through a massive rough patch since the Great War a few years back, so they're trying for any money they can get. As for the Japanese, well, they'll probably question your loyalty to your own country."

"I'm starting to understand why Father disliked dealing with businessmen directly," commented Subaru as he stopped by a table where the two suits were waiting. Expectedly, the German stepped forward first, introducing himself in his mother tongue which Izayoi quickly translated as the two shook hands.

"He says his name is Johanne Strauser," translated Izayoi, "he's very excited to meet one of the heroes of the Mugen Train Incident and says he has much to offer in ways of aid to the Demon Slayer Corps."

"And I am Eno Torimoto," said the Japanese businessman as they both bowed to each other in greeting, "it is an honor to meet you, Subaru Genjirou. I'd also like to extend my thanks to you and the Demon Slayer Corps for protecting our people throughout the centuries from this previously unknown threat."

"Just doing our jobs," replied Subaru, "so anyway, I've already got some familiarity with the Arisaka rifle you got there. So if you wouldn't mind, I'll be trying the German's weapon first."

"Of course it's understandable you'd be curious about some of the foreign innovations from the mainland," said Torimoto, "and it wouldn't be a comparison if you didn't try the others first." 'Yep, he's definitely confident in his product,' thought Subaru as he went over to the table and picked up a pistol with a long barrel, rectangular body and wooden handle.

"Mr. Strauser says this weapon is known as a C96 Mauser pistol," translated Izayoi as the Rifleman turned it over in his hands to examine, "it loads with a stripper clip from the top half, much like your Winchester." Strauser was all too happy to demonstrate as he used one of the spares and loaded the bullets from the top before pulling back the slide. Subaru imitated the movements easily enough and was shown the safety a couple of times before taking aim and firing. It was lighter than he anticipated and recoiled a bit more than he would've thought, but soon enough he got the hang of it.

The oddest thing was having more than six rounds to fire from a handheld firearm, given that he'd spent his entire life using revolvers up to this point. Izayoi had to remind him at least a couple times that it was still loaded when he was about to lay it back down. As far as sidearms went, it shot pretty well and the ten round capacity definitely had its upsides, but Subaru wasn't sure how comfortable carrying it would be in comparison to the Webley. But he kept that to himself as he went to try the rifle brought over by the German, a Mauser Selbstlader M1916.

Much like his Winchester, it was a long rifle that could fit a bayonet on the end. Unlike his Winchester, though, it was loaded by inserting a springloaded box of rounds known as a 'magazine' into the bottom before cocking the action on top. It was easy enough to get the hang of putting the magazines in and the rifle seemed like it would shoot forever in comparison to his Winchester given that each magazine held a total of twenty rounds. As for the recoil, it hurt a bit, but nowhere near some of the things he'd endured in training.

All in all, it wasn't a bad rifle and Strauser naturally sang the weapon's praises. Though he wasn't so fond of what Subaru did next as the Matagi attached a bayonet to the weapon and leapt onto the range, twirling it in every complex form he could think of while also using the bayonet to slice through some of the other targets. That's when he encountered a minor problem, the magazine's length. He could still spin the rifle to a pretty fair degree, but the magazine got in the way of his hands on more than one occasion, nearly causing him to drop the weapon in the middle of his breath form.

By the time he was done, Strauser was a little more on the speechless side as the Matagi returned and laid the weapon back on the table. "Tell him it's rate of fire and capacity are impressive, but I'll need a smaller magazine if I'm going to use it in close combat to it's fullest potential." Izayoi did just that while Subaru moved onto the next weapons, a pair of Arisaka rifles. The first, as explained by Torimoto, was the type 38 Arisaka which Subaru had some familiarity with due to it being the successor to the Murata rifle, which his own people had adopted after the Japanese began producing them.

Unlike the Selbstlader rifle, the Arisaka was a more traditional bolt-action rifle with a five round internal magazine that loaded in a similar fashion to his Winchester. In a way it felt natural to be using a bolt action again after so long, at least when he reminded himself that he had more than one shot. And unsurprisingly he could twirl it around without much in the way of trouble, though as his Father pointed out a long time ago, firing a bolt action from the hip was a bit tricky. This, however, didn't deter the hunter from trying the other Arisaka, a Type 44.

Unlike other rifles, this one was shortened by several inches and was thus dubbed a 'carbine' rifle. It reminded Subaru of when he'd used the mare's leg back at the Tsuzumi Demon's mansion, except it also used a bolt action. The most interesting feature, to the Matagi anyway, was the attached bayonet that could actually fold out, cutting some of the time it would usually take for him to attach a regular bayonet. It's drawback, not counting the usual bolt action drawbacks, was that it gave him a little shorter range when twirling it around which made him question some of its defensive capabilities.

"And they told me the factories torture-tested guns," commented Anita as Subaru placed the rifle back down on the table, "but I doubt they even considered some of the stuff you do."

"My style of fighting is unique among both hunters and slayers," said Subaru, "a mix of Matagi firearms knowledge and the breath style created by the demon slayers. If not for my Father and Genya, I'd more or less be one of a kind in the way I fight."

"Well let's see if that can work with some of the other weapons," said Anita as she pointed out that the other businessmen had shown up during his testing of the weapons. The Village Chief had apparently been keeping them busy so that they'd arrive at different times. A smart strategy given that Subaru had a fair bit to process with just the Japanese and German weapons. Which is why he chose to go with the more familiar British SMLE or Lee Enfield rifle as he'd used a scoped version of it on two occasions already.

And as expected, it was accurate and did allow for the use of a bayonet. Even better, the action was smooth enough that he could actually put several rounds down range in a matter of seconds, nearly as fast as when he used rapid fire with his Winchester's lever action. Then came the American's guns which were produced by a company called 'Browning'. Subaru had a little trouble working with the Browning Auto-5 given that it was a shotgun and worked better for close range engagements.

The Rifleman was quick to point out that Genya would probably like to try it if they could find the guy, but as for him the lack of a bayonet mount and the more limited range made it more or less a hard pass. Browning quickly redeemed themselves, however, with something the Matagi had never used before, a light machine gun known as the Browning Automatic Rifle or BAR for short. Thanks to his training as a slayer its weight wasn't a problem and it's ammo capacity was incredible, at least when he fired one bullet at a time. When he first used what was known as full auto, the ammo ran out in mere seconds.

It would've been a very handy gun for him to have against all those demon hordes he seemed to have a habit of running into, though it did have the drawback of being larger and harder to hide while also not having a bayonet mount. And then came the last ones of the day, the Italian company known as Beretta. They too were rather confident in their own firearms, to the point where they brought seven copies of the same gun which was known as a Beretta M1918, a strange-looking rifle that actually required putting the magazine in the top of the gun instead of the bottom. It took a moment for Subaru to get used to aiming along the side sights instead of right down the barrel of the gun like he did with regular iron sights.

Once he did, he found that the weapon came with a switch for not only semiautomatic fire but also fully automatic fire. It was also a more compact size, being a newer type of gun apparently known as a 'submachine gun' or SMG for short. It proved relatively accurate despite being shorter and the magazine's location was slightly less troubling than the Selbstlader had been, though it was still a little annoying. And topping it all off, the weapon came with its own flipout bayonet.

'I can see why they were so confident about it,' thought Subaru as he finished twirling the gun and emptied the remaining rounds into a nearby target, 'the quality is pretty good for something so unusual.' "Alright, that seems to be all of the samples brought over for now," said Anita as she clapped her hands, "got any immediate picks Subaru?" The Matagi put a hand to his chin in thought for a moment before picking up a weapon the others had thought overlooked, the British Webley revolver.

"Just a little something to carry for now," explained Subaru as he tucked the Schofield in another part of his belt, "hard to beat an old friend. Though that doesn't mean I've completely made up my mind on the primary I wish to carry. Tell me, do any of you have access to shorter magazines for either the Beretta or the Selbstlader?"

"Well we do have one or two smaller capacity magazines," explained the Italian representative, Roberto Bianchi, who was being translated by Izayoi, "but we'll need time to dig through the inventory to find them."

"It is also the same situation for Mr. Strauser," explained Izayoi, "for now, it might be best if you listed all of your requests and let these gentlemen handle the rest."

"Well it would be best to run these weapons through as many scenarios as possible," said Subaru as he accepted a brush and paper from Anita, "but I'll need you to translate this stuff for me. I only know how to write Japanese."

"That won't be too difficult," said Izayoi as Subaru handed him the list of requests, "we've been brushing up on our international languages quite a bit as of late."

"I hope that means you've also been keeping in contact with the Catholic slayers," said Subaru, "they'd benefit from this too."

"We've been kept rather busy relaying messages between the Corps, the Japanese government and most recently weapons suppliers," explained Izayoi, "so worry not, they have not been forgotten."

"Now if we could just convince some of these guys to share," said Anita with a sigh as they began walking away from the range while Izayoi went off to translate Subaru's requests, "but all of them want to be the sole seller to the Demon Slayer Corps and that is really straining the negotiations."

"If they can't reach a compromise, it won't be the end of the world," Subaru pointed out, "the Corps survived for centuries using nothing but well-made swords and the skill of its slayers. And while modernizing like the rest of Japan has would be incredibly beneficial, it won't do much if it winds up putting us at each other's throats."

"I guess it is your business they need and not the other way around," admitted Anita as she put her hands behind her head, "I just didn't anticipate this much competition for a niche job like demon slaying."

"Or the currently very niche market for slayers that actually use guns," added Subaru before they stopped at a curve in the pathway, "anyway, it's been a bit so I'm gonna go check on Tanjiro. Hopefully he hasn't gotten himself beat up again."

"Just quit pissing off Hashira and it'll stop happening," Anita called to him.

"We would if some of them didn't act like complete pricks," Subaru yelled back before heading into the forest once again. He could almost feel Anita playfully rolling her eyes at his statement, smirking for a moment at the thought as he trekked to where they'd originally run into Kotetsu. From there, it was just a matter of picking up where their footprints were headed towards as well as some of the broken foliage which indicated they'd passed through there a little while ago. In almost no time at all, Subaru heard the sound of a blade clashing against wood as well as the sound of somewhat panicked breathing as he entered a small clearing. "Hey Tanjiro how's-WHOA!"

The Hunter quickly set his left foot back as a Tanjiro-shaped missile came flying into him with enough force to make him slide back a few feet. "Ow, ow, ow," said Tanjiro before noticing his friend's arrival, "oh hey Subaru, did your weapon testing go alright?"

"It went a lot better than whatever you're doing right now," said Subaru as he looked up to see a wooden mannequin which resembled a swordsman in traditional samurai robes, save for the fact that it had six arms with wooden training paddles in each hand. It was actually pretty life-like, right down to the eyes and the dark hair tied in a large ponytail. "I take it this is the mechanical doll you were talking about earlier?"

"It sure is," said Kotetsu proudly, "a construction from the era of the greatest swordmakers. It's so sturdy none of us have been able to replicate it with what we know today."

"Gonna have to be to survive three hundred years," remarked Subaru, "though with the six arms, I'd thought it'd look more like a demon."

"Oh the doll was modeled after a real life swordsman," explained Kotetsu, "but his movements were so fast and complex that my ancestors had to give it six arms just to imitate them."

"Any chance he knew Breath of the Sun," asked Subaru as he noticed the earrings on the doll which resembled Tanjiro, "because I think I recognize those souvenirs there."

"I don't know the details myself," said Kotetsu, "all I know is this mechanical doll was designed for training some of the highest level of swordsmen."

"It's adjustable I hope," said Subaru as he noticed some of the bruises on his friend, "I think Tanjiro here nearly died just now."

"I'll be alright in a second," said Tanjiro, "I just need a moment. I haven't had anything to eat or drink all day." Subaru looked at Kotetsu with a raised eyebrow.

"What, it's a motivator," said Kotetsu with a shrug, "he needs to get stronger as quickly as possible so that he can tell off that jerk, Tokitou, from earlier."

"Well that's not exactly the main reason I need to get-," Tanjiro started to say before Kotetsu cut him off.

"GET STRONGER!" Exclaimed Kotetsu, "now break times over, so get back to it or you won't get any food or water at all today!"

"Uh right," said Tanjiro with a quick 'help me' look towards Subaru before getting back to his training. If one could call it that, it looked more like he was fighting for his life against a six-armed monster. The Matagi simply sighed before whistling for Shika. The Falcon landed on his shoulder a moment later. Subaru whispered a couple of instructions to her before she took off again.

"Alright, so I'll let you get better at not getting paddled," said Subaru as he turned to leave, "there's something else I need to work on while I'm out here."

"The paddles are only temporary," said Kotetsu, "in another day or two he'll be going up against real swords!"

"I'll whaaaaaaat?!" Exclaimed Tanjiro before narrowly dodging another strike. That was about the last of the training Subaru saw before retreating further into the woods himself. 'Alright,' he thought before taking a seat, 'I guess this is as good a place as any. So let's get started.' He closed his eyes then and began to concentrate, focusing on what was becoming a familiar place.

"It's been a little bit," said Azakeru as Subaru opened his eyes to see her sitting in the snowy woods, "so, what's the plan for the evening?"

"I thought we'd start with this demon mark trick first," said Subaru, "Tanjiro ain't the only one who needs to get stronger after all." Azakeru smirked at this.

"I think I might know a thing or two about that," she said, "so let's get started."

And so, the training commences once again! Also, Tokitou's kind of a prick when he's impatient it seems. But what do you all think? Feel free to let me know in a comment or review as well as what you liked/disliked or if you've got any neat ideas for future chapters. Be sure to stop in next time as Subaru puts some of his new abilities, and weapons, to the test. 'Til then!