Frost Bull intended to visit Kuri, but this matter would require time to prepare. A formal visit between daimyos involved many formalities, and since he was going, he couldn't go empty-handed.
It would also be best to inform the other party in advance with a letter. If it were a private visit between daimyos who knew each other well, it wouldn't be so troublesome.
If he were visiting the Kozuki family in Frost Moon, he might suddenly remember one day, pack his things, and set off.
Preparing a gift for the Kuri daimyo was a great source of annoyance for him. Kuri's economy had recently surged far ahead of places like Ringo and Ushimizu, making it difficult to prepare a gift that would impress the other party.
The key problem was that Ringo seemingly had nothing of note to offer. If he had to name one thing, it would be weapons.
Ringo had a very special location: the Northern Cemetery. The Northern Cemetery was the final resting place for countless samurai after their deaths.
After these samurai died, their bodies would lie dormant in the frozen earth, and the swords they had worn for their entire lives would be left here, the blades seemingly becoming their tombstones. Over time, the Northern Cemetery had become a true mountain of swords.
The quality of these katanas varied greatly, and among them was the finest blade, known as the national treasure of Wano: the Black Blade, Murakumo!
Murakumo was now enshrined in the Sword God Shrine within the Northern Cemetery. That Wanoan swordsman who left behind the legend of slaying dragons—Frost Bull Ryuma—was the very existence revered as the Sword God of this nation.
Naturally, Frost Bull could never part with such a treasure. In truth, the swords in the Northern Cemetery were absolutely not to be moved.
These swords carried the glory and disgrace of their deceased owners for a lifetime, and the spirits of the departed should not be disturbed lightly.
Fortunately, this was not an issue, as forging swords was a common occurrence for him. However, Wano had too many master craftsmen.
Although among those still alive, only Oden Kozuki had successfully forged a Great Grade Sword, there were still two or three people in the country capable of forging a Good Grade Sword. Even if that weren't the case, it wouldn't be difficult to purchase a well-preserved Good Grade Sword from the past.
He had heard that when the Kuri daimyo recently visited the Shogun, the Shogun had presented a Cursed Sword. "An ordinary sword would likely fail to impress the Kuri daimyo," Frost Bull sighed.
A single Good Grade Sword was probably worth several hundred gold pieces, a fortune for an ordinary samurai, but for the now immensely wealthy Kuri, it was a mere trifle. It was quite possible that the Kuri daimyo's mansion already housed a number of Good Grade Swords.
He had heard that when the Kuri daimyo previously visited the Shogun, he brought gifts totaling ten thousand gold pieces. In comparison, the value of the Cursed Sword the Shogun gave away was not even one-tenth of that.
This couldn't entirely be blamed on Oden for being stingy; it was that Ren's side had been so extravagant that Oden simply hadn't had time to prepare a commensurate gift. The value of the Second-generation Onimaru was indeed considerable, but as it was an heirloom passed down through his ancestors, the sword's significance to Oden was greater than its actual monetary value.
Thinking it over, Frost Bull still wanted to try, to see if he, with the strength of Ringo, could forge a true Great Grade Sword. In history, anyone who could forge a Great Grade Sword was worthy of being recorded in the annals.
Frost Bull had forged several Grade Swords in the past and was considered a skilled craftsman. However, his skill was still a far cry from forging a Great Grade Sword.
Moreover, forging a good sword was not something that could be accomplished in a short time. With the initial trial and error, Frost Bull felt that if he could succeed within ten years, it would be quite good.
It was more likely that even until the end of his life, he would never be able to forge a Great Grade Sword.
If a Great Grade Sword could be forged so easily, their numbers wouldn't be so rare in this world. Frost Bull immediately ordered his men to prepare the forging materials.
Unlike the small island nation that Ren had come from in his previous life, which had enjoyed a comfortable existence, Wano's land was not lacking in mineral resources. On the contrary, this country's mineral resources were incredibly abundant.
It not only had rich deposits of Seastone ore, but also various rare metals were widely distributed throughout the country. High-level forging techniques, coupled with the finest raw materials, were why the weapons forged in Wano could become the best weapons in the world of pirates.
Frost Bull began to attempt forging a Great Grade Sword here, but Ren's demand for swords was not particularly urgent. For him, it didn't matter what kind of sword it was; even a simple wooden club could become indestructible as long as the Haki's intensity was sufficient.
This was also why many pirates in the New World wielded ordinary swords that were not famous blades, yet they would not break when clashing with a famous one. Furthermore, with the power of the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi attached to him, swords were not truly necessary for him.
However, a good sword could indeed enhance a swordsman's strength. And the feel of a good sword in one's hand was completely different.
...
"Huuu—"
At night, the snow and wind once again swept through Ringo. Several samurai, bundled in thick clothes, tucked their heads deeper into their clothes, exhaled white puffs of steam, and huddled together as they squeezed into a house.
"Whoosh—" After sliding the shoji door shut, the clamorous wind from outside seemed to be cut off. One of them took off his straw hat and raincoat, shook the snow off his body, and then bent down to light the fire pit.
The room was instantly illuminated, and the flames drove away the chill from outside. The men placed their swords by their feet and then sat down.
The host of the house poured some hot tea.
"You tell me, what on earth is our daimyo thinking? He actually wants us to go farm the fields!"
After warming his stiff body with the tea and the fire, one of them said discontentedly. The group of people gathered here were actually the leaders of the notorious underworld organization of Ringo.
They were yakuza, but at the same time, they were also samurai, and their relationship with the daimyo was very close.
"His brain must be broken," one of them sneered. "The daimyo is high and mighty; we mere samurai probably aren't even in his eyes."
"You can't say that. Lord Gyuumaru is a good man. He used to leave us alone, and we respect his strength. I think the problem lies with the Kuri side. Those samurai over there are simply a disgrace, setting a bad precedent."
"Kuri? What samurai are there in Kuri? They're nothing but the Kuri daimyo's servants," one of them mocked.
In a sense, this statement wasn't wrong. Those people had, to a certain extent, become Ren's servants, a submission from both body and soul.
"We have to let our daimyo see the consequences of this!"
The sinister expressions of these men flickered in the dancing flames.
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