"I will provide the army and lead it myself."

His eyes turned cold.

"And I will rid you of that pathetic Daimyo, Norihiro."

Sadamasa did not look impressed.

"Do not grow overconfident," he said.

Urakami let out a short laugh, as if the warning amused him more than it concerned him.

"And why should I not?"

"Because I know Norihiro," Sadamasa replied calmly. "He is clever, patient, and dangerous. If he truly intended to strike the North and even the capital, then he must have believed he had a real chance of succeeding. A man like that is not someone you dismiss lightly."

Urakami laughed again, louder this time.

"A provincial Daimyo dreaming of seizing Kastoria? Of taking the capital?" He shook his head with open mockery. "That sounds less like ambition and more like a tale he spread among his own people to make himself appear greater than he truly is. Men do that all the time. They invent grand futures so others will trust them."

Sadamasa’s gaze hardened slightly.

"You think Norihiro would lie about something like that?"

"I think men in power lie whenever it benefits them."

Sadamasa folded one hand over the arm of his seat and answered without raising his voice.

"I have been supplying weapons to him for a long time. Not a few crates. Not a small reserve for local defense. A great number of weapons, enough to arm many men. That is not some meaningless coincidence."

Urakami’s expression shifted only slightly, though the disdain remained.

"If he is lying, then he is a schemer. If he is telling the truth, then he is a fool. Either way, he will fail." His voice cooled further. "He would never take Kastoria’s capital, much less the North. The capital stands under Kaguya sama’s protection, and beyond that, we samurai are there. Do not mistake the reach of a Daimyo for the strength of our clans. Men like him are nothing before us."

It was a reckless thing to say while standing in another Daimyo’s hall, and several of Sadamasa’s men visibly stiffened at the insult. Yet Sadamasa remained composed. His face gave away nothing.

"I am not praising him," he said. "I am telling you not to underestimate him. Norihiro is dangerous, and he has gathered many loyal men around him."

Urakami gave a dismissive chuckle.

"I brought ten thousand soldiers under my command. If I wished, I could crush Minami Kyoto in little time."

Sadamasa looked at him steadily.

"They are not here with you, Urakami-dono."

"Of course they are not," Urakami replied at once. "Do you take me for an amateur? If ten thousand men began moving openly, Norihiro would hear of it before the first line had crossed half the road. No, I will summon them only when the time comes. They are close enough already. Once I send the order, they should reach Minami Kyoto in no more than two days."

Sadamasa gave a slow nod.

"I see."

Urakami took a few steps through the center of the throne room, his red armored men standing silent behind him like a wall of iron.

"But before any of that, your part of this arrangement must be honored," he said. "You will provide my men with your weapons. I have heard enough of the forge of Kajiya Hara to know its reputation. My soldiers will test the quality first. Only after that will we fully confirm this alliance."

Sadamasa’s eyes narrowed a fraction.

"I already sent word to Homura-sama."

"I know," Urakami said, cutting him off with a careless wave of the hand. "We all know. Homura-sama is the head of the great Akamine Samurai Clan. But surely you did not expect a man like him to answer every letter personally, or to come down here himself to settle some southern conflict."

"Of course not," Sadamasa replied. "Homura-sama made it clear that I could place my trust in Urakami-dono."

At that, Urakami smiled faintly, pleased.

He was a clan chief, but not one of the three great samurai houses. Even so, the Urakami Clan was no minor name. It held respectable strength, plenty of soldiers, and more than enough standing to act with authority in matters like this. More importantly, Urakami operated under the influence and favor of the Akamine Clan, one of the three great powers among the samurai.

It was through Homura’s will that this arrangement had been made.

Sadamasa would provide ten thousand weapons to the samurai. In exchange, Urakami would lead the force that would eliminate Norihiro and break his hold over the South.

For the samurai, it was too useful an opportunity to ignore.

Norihiro had already become a threat simply by the scale of his ambitions. Even before any war began, a man like that was dangerous to leave unchecked. And now another Daimyo had stepped forward offering what no military power ever refused lightly, vast numbers of weapons and armor.

The benefits were obvious.

They could remove Norihiro before his ambitions fully bloomed. They could strengthen their own military with Kajiya Hara steel. And if things unfolded well enough, they could gain influence over the South in the process.

Three gains from a single move.

And behind all of it stood a larger truth, one that remained unspoken in the hall but alive in the thoughts of ambitious men. Every victory won by the samurai, every territory brought under their influence, every threat removed before it reached the capital, would ultimately strengthen Prince Takehiko, the man they supported for the throne.

The weapons Sadamasa forged might one day serve in a war far greater than this one.

A war not only for land.

But for Kastoria itself.

For a while, the throne room remained silent.

Sadamasa looked at Urakami and understood the sort of man standing before him. Proud, arrogant, and far too certain of his own strength. Yet that arrogance did not make him useless. Men like Urakami were dangerous precisely because their pride often rode beside real power.

"As you should," Urakami said with a satisfied smile. "I will deal with Norihiro soon enough. And I heard the other two Daimyos are already dead."

"They are," Sadamasa replied with a calm nod.

Urakami’s smile sharpened into a smirk.

"Then fortune favors us. Once Norihiro falls, you will swear loyalty to the Akamine Clan, and together we will take control of the South."

Sadamasa gave him another nod.

That obedient silence only seemed to please Urakami further. He looked almost amused by how little resistance he had met in this hall, as though he had already begun to think of the domain as something half won.

"Good," he said. "Very good. Then have the weapons delivered to the agreed location. Within a week, I will place Norihiro’s head before you."

With that, he turned his back as if the matter were already settled.

Sadamasa remained where he was and watched him leave the throne room with the same swagger he had carried from the moment he arrived, as though he were the master of the castle rather than a guest standing under another lord’s roof.

The heavy doors began to close behind Urakami and his men.

Only then did the tension inside the room fully show itself.

Several of Sadamasa’s retainers were visibly furious. Some of the knights had tightened their jaws so hard it seemed a wonder they had not spoken out. Others still had their hands resting near their weapons, insulted not only by Urakami’s arrogance, but by the ease with which he had spoken of conquest in their lord’s own hall.

Even Yasumasa stood rigidly still, his face dark with restrained humiliation and anger.

Urakami had mocked their land, their castle, their lord, and even him personally, and yet Sadamasa had endured it all with barely a reaction.

To anyone watching, it was strange.

To some, it might even have looked weak.

But only Sadamasa knew the truth behind all of that.

The letter that had been sent to seek the support of a great samurai clan had not truly been his idea. The words had gone out under his authority, yes, but the thought behind them had not been born in his mind. The request, the timing, the path it had opened, all of it had come from someone else.

Someone who had seen far beyond the simple matter of killing Norihiro...