Shinobu Kocho chuckled. "I just want to see him look like he's dying to beat me to death but can't do a thing about it."
Achoo!
Tetsu no Sosuke sneezed so hard he nearly tore open his unhealed wounds.
"What was that about?"
He rubbed his nose. He couldn't have caught a chill, could he?
He had been traveling, but he'd taken care to keep warm.
With injuries this severe, catching a chill would only make things worse.
He shook his head. When no second sneeze came, he went inside.
He took off his Haori, went to his desk, and unrolled the drawings stacked beside it, examining them one by one.
They were ideas Tetsu no Sosuke had come up with during his earlier stretch of free time.
Every one of them concerned Nichirin Blades.
If he was going to return to forging before long, he needed something to make.
After studying them for a while, he seemed to settle on an idea. He found paper and a pen and began writing letters.
The first was to Ubuyashiki Kagaya. He had forgotten to mention it earlier, so he wrote to ask Kagaya not to assign him any missions for the time being. Once his injuries healed, he intended to devote himself to forging for a while.
He also told Ubuyashiki Kagaya that if any Demon Hunter in the Corps performed exceptionally well, Kagaya could send that person to Hammer Hut. Sosuke would personally design and forge a Nichirin Blade for them.
Until now, the Nichirin Blades Tetsu no Sosuke forged had been reserved for Pillars.
That had raised their prestige, but in another sense, he felt it had narrowed his horizons.
Different people, different blades, different approaches—they might spark entirely new ideas.
He couldn't forge all the time.