He mulled it over for a while, then sleepiness gradually overtook him. When he woke again, dawn had broken.
The first thing Tetsu no Sosuke did that morning was write a letter.
Whatever Tamayo's reason for coming to see him, Ubuyashiki Kagaya had a right to know.
So he reported the matter first.
After breakfast, Tetsu no Sosuke went to the Sword Forging Shed to forge Shinobu Kocho's weapon. This time, he did not let Kanae watch.
He had drawn up the plans earlier. There was no particularly clever concept behind them; the weapon simply needed to bring out the power of her sword style.
Ten days passed in the blink of an eye. Tetsu no Sosuke was sweating heavily in the Sword Forging Shed.
The weather was still cold, but with the furnace blazing, he felt nothing but heat. So much heat!
Once he had finished forging a small component and let it cool, he went to the table and began assembling the pieces.
He still remembered how demanding Shinobu Kocho had been when she first told him what she wanted.
She had wanted mechanisms here, mechanisms there... Back then, he had not been able to make his sister-in-law's wishes come true.
Now, though, Tetsu no Sosuke really had made her some interesting little gadgets.
Besides standard equipment like Sleeve Arrows, he had forged Shinobu Kocho an Armor Vest.
It was lined with soft cowhide and fitted with several Mechanism Compartments.
For now, only two of them worked. Their mechanisms ran along the sleeves to the base of each palm; a slight pull would trigger them, firing seventy-two Cattle Hair Needles from the shoulders.
Every needle had been forged using the Poison Forging Method and was extremely lethal to Demons.
He had not decided what to do with the