Chapter 28 - 31 Summary

In Chapter Twenty-eight, we again return to Kikuta Akio and his stepson Hisao as they attempt to remain undercover in the castle-town of Kumamoto, the stronghold of the Arai clan.

Akio is annoyed that his meeting with Arai Zenko has been postponed because Zenko and Hana have been summoned to Maruyama to see Lord Otori, who wants to call them to account. While they wait, Hisao begins work at one of the Kikuta-friendly forges and starts experimenting with firearms and weaponry. One evening, their host Yasu brings a foreigner to their door, a trader who shows them pictures of the rifles, muskets and pistols that his homeland can manufacture. Hisao has an idea that, with the right forge he could construct a pistol — a shortened form of firearm — and use it to assassinate Lord Takeo. Just as he is...