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[concluding chapter 9]
Somebody was out in the rain tonight, even if it wasn’t Hiroki. As he sat by the kitchen fire, searching with only half his mind through the books he’d obtained in the past two days and wondering which of them to give Katsumi next, a servant arrived with a note for him.
“At this hour?” he asked. “It must be the end of the first night-watch by now.”
“Yes, sir,” said the servant, one of the gatekeepers. “Well into the second watch now, sir. The lesser Hour of the Boar.”
“I trust no reply is expected.”
“The messenger didn’t say, sir.”
“Then we’ll take his silence to mean No.” Hiroki took the paper from the servant, who bowed and left. The paper was of good quality, but not of the quality of the letter he’d had from Hosokawa Katsunata last night.
Opening it, he read:
Good Yoshino-sama:
I have been told I will be released from captivity in the morning, though I will still be confined to my Lord Miyoshi’s compound until the affair is settled. I am content with this condition.
I am told I have your persuasive arguments to thank for my release. I am in your debt, a debt I can never repay.
Kanegawa Akihiro
The arms master had decided to free his secretary after all. At least somebody has reason to be pleased with today, Hiroki said to himself.
Next Characters Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6
Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9
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