The belief
For two years Datenseki research goes nowhere. Shiba believes Kunishige’s eyes are the only way to make the mineral usable. He is right. Six Enchanted Blades enter the Seitei War at one year and five months and reverse the front. Kunishige is still, in the talks, a picky weapons dealer who has not yet looked at the ore.
Shiba is still a Soga guardian. Mashiro is still alive and still opposed to stealing ore for a civilian. Hasumi’s lab is still failing. The friendship is older than the hermit workshop. It is why the smith can be dragged to a kiln.
The fire
Chapters 125 through 129 are smelting as labor. Chapter 129, Ironworks, puts Chiaki in the fire as the reason Kunishige keeps his eyes open. Shiba is already the friend who will not let him quit. After the treaty and the Malediction, Shiba hides with Azami and the smith. The raid is the night that friendship could not prevent.
See Shiba, Kunishige, and smelting.
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