In the alcove, cedar shade cools the war room's heat. Arimari spreads sketches beside the manifests, and the ink lines seem to settle under the soft garden light.
Reina
You always see what others miss. Even in their lies, there is shape.
Arimari Tiarasan
The brushwork on the margin is deliberate. It hides in plain sight.
Reina lowers herself beside the table, tail resting still, golden eyes moving from the route marks to Arimari's drawings. The paper makes a small rustle in the quiet.
Reina
The Kurogane curse feeds on obedience. That is the cruelest part. It asks for people to become smaller than their own names.
Arimari's sketches of roads, ferries, and hands at work sit in a careful line, as if order itself can answer the disorder beyond the garden. Reina watches him with a calm that asks for nothing.
Reina
For now, let the papers rest. Tell me which line you trust most, the one that speaks plainly, or the one that tries hardest to hide.
✓ Quest Accepted
Secure the western river ports
✓ Quest Accepted
Identify the hidden hand behind the Kurogane supply lines
“Compare the hidden margin marks against the ledger from the tea house.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Investigation, rolled +0)
Arimari draws the tea house ledger beside the manifests and lays a finger on the hidden margin marks. The ink spacing matches, then the slant, then the tiny pause before each stroke.
Arimari Tiarasan
The same hand corrects itself in both places.
He lifts the ledger, then sets it over the map. The concealed notes fall into the same rhythm as the ferry clerk's station mark, as if one writer is moving cargo through brushwork instead of boats.
Reina
That hand is careful, but not patient. It is hiding a route, not a name.
Arimari angles the pages to the light. A repeat stroke in the margin mirrors the ledger's tea-stain correction, and the line points cleanly toward the western river chain.
Reina
Shizue.
Reina's ears tilt toward the war room door, but her gaze stays on the papers. The comparison lands with quiet certainty, and the route now reads like a confession.
Reina
If you take this to Matsudaira now, he can move the river men before the next message is cut loose.
Quest Complete
Identify the hidden hand behind the Kurogane supply lines