*Asura's POV*

"You huff you monster huff," Zenitsu said trying his best to keep up.

"What's wrong? It's just a walk." I said looking back as I sprinted through the trees at the head of the group.

"We've been running huff for 12 Hours!" Haku said exasperated.

"Oh come on it's walking pace at best," I said shaking my hand.

We were on our way to collect their pay so we could refresh supplies and hopefully get our blades repaired. The place was supposed to be 2 villages away so it was a 16 hour journey by walking and a near 12 hour one by sprinting.

There were.... Other reasons for me to push the group to the limits and not use the Wolves to carry us across.

It wasn't just Zenitsu being whiny even Tanjiro was gasping for breath and the only reason Zenitsu probably could go on was subconscious use of Thunder Breathing and his legs being trained to their peak.

"I think all of us could benefit from a few hours of rest," Tanjiro said as stars peeked through the clouds above.

'Huh? It's night already?'

"We've got less than a few minutes of distance left people let's pick up the pace. We'll need to wait for our blades to be repaired anyway and Horus tells me there's lodging to rest at. I might've also heard of a jewelry shop, but none of us require or appreciate fine jewelry like young maidens, truly a shame." I said directing the last part of the sentence at Zenitsu whose ears perked up.

You could see the energy return to him.

"I'll buy the most expensive Bracelet for Nezuko Chan!" Zenitsu said before passing by my side like a gust of wind.

"I'm gonna eat Jewelry before Monitsu!" Inosuke said gliding through the trees and passing overhead.

"You.... Devious bastard." Haku said huffing and I shrugged.

"I would appreciate if you stopped using my sister as bait," Tanjiro added.

I just shrugged and continued running.

*30 Minutes later*

"Fucking finally," Haku said kissing the ground as we arrived at an opening and saw the village bearing the Corps Mark lit up by torches from all sides.

*Shuu*

"Well, that's one way to welcome guests," I said catching the thrown knife from the air.

"State your business." A voice spoke up as a dozen armed men came out towards us. All of them were donning the standard uniform but all of it was colored black with not a hint of any other color.

From the looks of it, they were guards of some sort for the village though I could see some people shuffling in and out of the same village freely in the background.

"Whoa let's stop right there. I'm the highest-ranked member of this group at Tsuchinoto. We were told we could rest here for a few days and get our equipment fixed and collect our pay." I said offering my arm and flexing the muscles so my rank appeared on it.

" Check it." The supposed 6'2" tall leader said to one of his goons who approached with a torch lighting up our faces.

I noticed the immediate clunk of steel as they noticed my horns and changed my stance so my other arm was dropped down to my side near my waist with one of my Kunai hidden there.

"Don't try anything funny. Check his mark." The leader continued unsurprised.

" But his horn-" the man who was supposed to check my arm was visibly shuddering.

" Doesn't matter. Check." The leader said leaving no room for negotiation.

" If you say so." The man approached with the torch and lit up my arm with light.

He checked once. Then made me turn my arm so the mark disappeared, then asked me to make it appear again. I did as instructed and allowed the man to freely check the mark.

'What kind of Border Police are these?' I thought as the man scrutinized each detail of the mark. Dammit why wasn't the moon out today.

"It checks out Boss." The man said visibly more relaxed.

"Hmm. Get inside the Barracks and don't try anything funny. The rest of your group will get checked inside." The leader said nodding and I looked back at a scared Zenitsu and Tanjiro doing his best to give a tired smile.

Inosuke was on autopilot at this point and Haku was doing his best to keep him restrained.

"The Wolves are with us," I said beforehand, I didn't want a whole fight due to a misunderstanding or some dumb shit like that.

The leader looked at Fenris and Cereberus who had turned normal Wolf sized during the travels and nodded.

'Good decision to not enter on Building sized wolves. Pat yourself on the back.' I said to myself as all of us were led inside the village while being surrounded by the rest of the guards and their leader.

The village or barracks, whatever you would want to call it was an area inside the forest cut clean of Trees and enclosed with walls rising 10 Meter high into the air and from just looking around I noticed 3 watch towers each with 2 people inside wearing the corps uniform, on the lookout for.... well demons I guess.

It looked like a shabby but intimidating fortress with dozens of Corps members entering and going about their business.

Some took the time to look at us or salute the Leader as I intended to call him but most just went about their business.

Some were eating around bonfires, while the sound of whetstone against blade was clear in the background and I could smell a plethora of smells, and surprisingly blood wasn't the most common one.

'So there's also a Medical ward or something of the sort here?' I mused as we approached the towering gates.

This was as much a Fortress as a resting site for Corps members. One thing for sure was that this wasn't some rich house with an old woman waiting to feed us deep-fried food for a month while we nursed ourselves to health.

'Well, this was unexpected.'

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Author's Note: Sorry I've been absent for a while. There's no way in hell I could start explaining the circumstances without making an Author's note that's almost half the size of the chapter (I'm pretty sure that's not allowed).

I've made a post on my Patreön, it's public so no pay barrier. You'll find it in the Author's tag, the most recent one.

Patreon.com/Ashara (Or just click the big Patreon button down below)

Please visit that to understand why I've been absent. 

Hope everyone has a great day and I apologise for being absent for so long without any warning.