Chapter 420: Testing the Blade
The Flame Stones had come from an extinct volcanic crater, and there had been plenty of them.
Over the past few days, Ubuyashiki Kagaya had arranged for people to collect them all in batches. They now sat in a room beside the Sword Forging Shed.
The Water Stone, though, had been found in the Drylands... What had that place been before it dried up? And how many stones might it hold?
Only the next deliveries could answer those questions.
Tetsu no Sosuke kept working at his own pace. His circumstances were unusual, and it had been a long time since he had gone on a mission.
The area around him had been fairly quiet, though.
That was not because Kibutsuji Muzan had gone into hiding. Muichiro had been active nearby lately.
He simply had not found time to return to the Hammer Hut.
The Hammer Pillar's duties had, by now, been handed over entirely to his disciple... Yuichiro still knew nothing about it.
The next day passed in peaceful forging. On the third day, more stones began arriving in batches until another room was packed full. Tetsu no Sosuke spent the entire day searching and did not find a single useful one.
Fortunately, the next batch arrived soon after. This time, Tetsu no Sosuke was lucky: he found a stone marked [Gold].
It had been discovered in a cave. There were traces of human activity, but the place had clearly been abandoned for a long time.
These strange places of discovery puzzled Tetsu no Sosuke. How exactly had these stones with elemental properties come into being?
A letter from Ubuyashiki Kagaya answered his question about the Drylands. It had once been a marsh. Over time, the land changed, the soil washed away, and the residents