In this crossover anime, many ruthless and powerful figures reside in my territory.

Chapter 52 Winter in Red Maple Territory

Two months have passed since Ban decided to stay permanently in Red Maple Territory.

After the cold north wind crossed the Frosty Winter Mountains, it quickly arrived at Red Maple Territory.

As the cold air swept by, clusters of snowflakes piled up, covering Liszt's castle in a white coat.

Winter is here.

Lister stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling glass window of his office, holding a coffee in his right hand and admiring the snow scene outside.

He could see the rising sun in winter, the faint outline of Red Maple Town, and the guards, including Lena, doing their morning exercises in the castle courtyard, as well as Yahiko and Konan training with them.

They both grew a little taller.

Nothing particularly noteworthy has happened in the past two months, but there are still many things to talk about.

For example, Yuri sent a team of engineers to Red Maple Territory to investigate and drafted the circuit and water system. In the end, they decided to build a base inside the small hill below Red Maple Fortress and first build a biochemical power generation reaction chamber.

The engineering captain, who had been with Red Maple for two months, excitedly told Lister that with a few minor modifications, their biochemical reaction chamber in this world could provide even more power, without even needing to house people inside.

They discovered a large number of unknown microorganisms. The biochemical reaction chamber can extract energy from the biomass of these microorganisms to generate electricity. In the future, they only need to replenish the microorganisms with nutrients periodically.

This is a huge surprise, meaning that Red Maple Territory doesn't need thermal power generation to popularize electricity, and therefore doesn't need to go through the trouble of finding coal; all the coal can be used for steelmaking.

In addition, good news kept coming.

The roots of the plant species have spread throughout the entire Red Maple Territory. All kinds of biological waste thrown into the fertilizer pit can be decomposed into nutrients at the fastest speed, so the grain harvest is bountiful.

With food supplies secured, Lister dared to add more soldiers who were not engaged in production work.

Thus, the Red Maple Territory, which had over six hundred inhabitants, all of whom were young and strong, now had eighty full-time soldiers and twenty ninjas.

Correct!

Lister established another institution, the Red Maple Ninja Village, specifically to train ninjas.

The First Kage was Elsa, one of his maids. She recruited twenty people from the villagers and spent time teaching them how to become ninjas.

The registered ninjas included not only them, but also Cortini, all the maids, as well as Yahiko and Konan.

Lister originally wanted to register all the soldiers under his name, but the system fairy Nicole told him that he couldn't take advantage of the loopholes. Only ninjas who cultivated chakra and conformed to the concept of ninjas in the ninja world could receive the system's blessing.

There's nothing we can do about that; the territory needs legitimate soldiers.

However, there's no need to feel disappointed. He can now routinely unleash his Zanpakuto, and the soldiers empowered by his "King's Army" will train more efficiently and are equally formidable.

Today, the infrastructure development and military training in Red Maple Territory are on track, and all that's needed is to proceed step by step.

This winter, all we need to do is have Cortini focus on education, first increasing the literacy rate in the territory. If education is done well, we'll have more talented people in the future.

Lister silently took a sip of coffee.

Aside from the territory issue, things are going relatively smoothly regarding the recruitment of otherworldly recruits.

Although the implementation of the Parliament of All Worlds seems far off, the situation is developing in a positive direction.

Although Madara doesn't seem to have changed much, through conversations with Yahiko and Konan, it was learned that Madara is no longer taciturn, and he eats every meal. When they suffered a defeat in the battle in the Land of Rain, Madara would also take the initiative to save them.

The two of them commented that Madara could occasionally show more humanity. Unfortunately, because they always stayed with Madara whenever they returned to the ninja world, they never managed to discover Black Zetsu.

However, as long as Madara is still around, Black Zetsu will only be a minor obstacle.

As for Aizen, he has hardly appeared in Red Maple Territory recently.

When Aizen came last month, he said he was conducting an important experiment that required all his strength and energy, so he wouldn't be coming anytime soon. But he indicated that he might have already prepared the items for the trade by the time he came next time.

Lister was very much looking forward to it, and he really wanted to see if he could have the same protagonist treatment as Ichigo.

Moreover, with Aizen not coming, there were fewer conflicts between him and Madara, and the territory enjoyed a period of peace.

Others, such as Yuri, are also conducting experiments. They say they are using the blood Muzan obtained before experimenting on Devil's Island with prisoners and have achieved excellent research results.

Lister was eagerly anticipating that the other party could develop a life-extending elixir that could restore youth.

Finally, there's Muzan.

For the past two months, Muzan has been almost inseparable from him.

They come to Red Maple Territory during the day and return to their own world at night.

Because she tried very hard to think from Liszt's perspective about how to help him, the progress bar for obtaining information on the location of the Blue Spider Lily rose to 5.8% in just two months.

If she hadn't received some of Lister's blood, her growth would probably have been even faster, but this also greatly increased her strength.

Thanks to Muzan's actions, Lister and those around him have greatly improved their training efficiency.

Not only are they all etched with blood runes that increase their carrying capacity, but they also enjoy Muzan's body conditioning services.

Lister genuinely believed that making a deal with Muzan was a wise decision.

The other party took care of him in every way.

He has been very happy lately when he plays role-playing games with his butler, maids, and guards at night.

Modern clothing is the best!

"Lister, do you plan to continue training today or spar with me?"

Inside the office, Muzan sat on the sofa in the corner, his long legs covered in black stockings crossed.

She was wearing a beautiful Western-style short skirt and holding a cup of warm, bright red liquid.

That was artificial blood made by the blood-drinking mechanism invented by the engineers of Epsilon at Lister's request, specifically for Muzan, who hated human food.

Although the demons in the Demon Slayer world can eat human food as well as animal meat, in their eyes, those are all spoiled dishes, far less delicious than human flesh.

This is a genetic problem that Muzan cannot solve.

To keep Muzan from getting too bored while he ate, Lister came up with the idea of ​​artificial blood, which was successfully implemented by the engineers of Epsilon.

To be honest, Muzan thought the taste and texture were quite good. Although it was far inferior to Lister's blood, it was still a decent pastime when he was bored and could effectively suppress the demon's murderous impulses.

Lister looked at Muzan, who was dressed like a lady, and shrugged.

Two months have passed, and there's still no sign of any favorability reward. No wonder he's so ruthless.

"Let's wait a bit longer, I have other things to take care of."

"Winter is coming, and the gnolls often attack the borders of the United States at this time. They gather in groups of thousands and pose a great threat to the villages along the borders of the United States."

"They might attack Red Maple Territory again, so I've sent Prie to investigate. We'll decide when to train today after she returns."

Muzan nodded and then fell silent.

She actually hoped something would happen so she could help and speed up the progress bar.

Just then, a person suddenly appeared on the circular diagram drawn in the center of the office.

It was Prii, a cat-eared maid dressed as a ninja.

She returned via the Flying Thunder God teleportation technique of the Lister Research Society.

"Master! We've discovered footprints of an unknown creature deep within the mountains, and we've also found a large number of gnoll corpses!"

"Why don't you come and take a look?"

Chapter 53 The Changes to Come

Footprints of an unknown creature?

Lister became interested.

The Red Maple Basin is surrounded by the Frosty Winter Mountains, and for the safety of his territory, he naturally needs to understand the creatures that live in the surrounding area.

It's good to go and see for yourself; you can always use Flying Thunder God to return instantly.

Almost simultaneously, Lister and Muzan appeared beside Priy, each placing a hand on her shoulder.

The next second, Priscilla used the Flying Thunder God Technique to bring the two of them deep into the Frost Mountain Range.

Lister began to survey his surroundings; they were now in the middle of the canyon.

Despite it being winter, the temperature here is unusually warm, and there's not even any snow.

A faint smell of sulfur reached Liszt's nose, and he instantly guessed that there was a natural hot spring nearby.

"Master, the gnolls' dwelling is a little further inside."

Prie pulled the Flying Thunder God kunai from the ground and pointed it at the cave ahead.

Gnolls do not engage in production; they only know simple handicrafts, and even their weapons are sticks made from the crudest ore.

However, thanks to their strong bodies, thick fur, and wild instincts, they managed to survive quite well in this cold mountain range that was rich in resources.

As soon as Lister and his two companions entered the cave, they smelled a strong stench of blood.

The cave is very large, with many openings of varying sizes in the ceiling that allow sunlight to shine in, making the interior bright and allowing for clear views.

Many gnoll corpses lay on the ground, blood splattered everywhere; most had died from having their heads crushed by heavy objects.

Lister activated his Mystic Eyes of Replication, taking in the surrounding environment and observing it carefully, while Muzan smeared the jackal's blood with his finger and tasted it.

Pooh!

It's not worthy of her attention at all; it's not even as good as a drink made by a blood-drinking machine.

Muzan, who frequently drank Lister's blood, no longer cared for such mundane things.

"Prilly, have you found anything?"

When Prie saw the smile on Lister's face, she knew that her master was testing her.

She stuck out her tongue, and the cat's tail behind her swayed from side to side.

"Master, let's take a look at the footprints here first."

Prie walked over to a corpse, where there was a large, clear footprint in the pool of blood.

“I didn’t find similar footprints on the snowfield, so they may have deliberately erased them, but traces were left here.”

"Judging from the size of the footprints, they should be the same orc race as the gnolls, with a height of 2.5 to 3 meters. The fact that they could easily crush the gnolls' skulls with blunt weapons shows that they have amazing strength."

"Moreover, the ores and metal weapons inside the cave have all disappeared."

"That must be their main purpose in killing the gnolls."