Chapter 14: Blueprints of a Future I Never Wanted**
Three months after the tournament, the Tsurugi Domain was no longer a fortress; it was a town. A strange, grim, brutally functional town built around a perpetually burning forge. The clang of hammer on steel was its heartbeat, a sound that began at dawn and ended only when the last smith collapsed from exhaustion. I had learned to sleep through it. It was either that or go mad.
My days had settled into a new, profoundly irritating routine. I would wake, eat whatever Taro put in front of me, and then sit on my favorite rock overlooking the valley. From there, I would watch my domain grow. I never commanded them to follow. I simply didn't stop them. It was more interesting to watch than a volcano.
Taro, however, had become a chancellor of sorts. He had taken a small room in the newly completed barracks and turned it into an administrative office. He had invented paperwork.
