The boy speaks his first words since the duel. A child asks what the stick is for. A headman asks his name — the last time it means nothing. A traveler recognizes him from a story he did not know was already crossing the mountains.
A dusty road. Late afternoon sun. A boy walks home from a duel he was not supposed to win. The road will divide. The earth will speak. The mountain will test him. Chapter 1 — The Boy Who Killed.
Harima Province, 1596. A dusty road. Late afternoon sun. A boy. A wooden sword. The duel is over. The journey begins.
The road home is longer than the road to the fight. The earth speaks. Dawn arrives.
An old woman offers rice and a sentence. A stranger notices. The road divides.
The mountain road. The clearing. The crossing. The world below recedes.
The river teaches adjustment. The fire teaches warmth. The summit teaches perspective.
Chapter 1 enters its public phase. Three pages establish the world. The road. The duel. The silence.
Every page. Every panel. Every silence. The complete architecture of Chapter 1.
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