MTLNOVEL Chapter 20: Chapter 20: The Road I Choose
Echigo Province – Kasugayama Castle, Year 9 of Tenbun (1540 AD)
The letter felt heavier than it should have.
Takeda Harunobu's words were not a request.
They were a command.
"Return before I am forced to retrieve you."
It was not a threat.
It was a promise.
A blade does not abandon its master.
And if it does—
The master will reclaim it by force.
"What will you do?"
Uesugi Kenshin's voice was calm, but firm.
He was not urging him to stay.
He was not demanding an answer.
He was simply asking.
Because the choice belonged to him alone.
For the first time in his life—
He was not being ordered.
He was being given the right to decide his own fate.
And that—
That was more terrifying than any battlefield.
The Path of the Sword
The boy—no, the person he had chosen to be—closed his eyes.
If he returned to Kai—
He would once again become a weapon.
A blade to be wielded by the Tiger of Kai.
If he stayed in Echigo—
He would stand in the shadow of a different kind of warlord.
A ruler who fought not for conquest, but for protection.
A warrior who believed in something beyond himself.
The two paths lay before him.
But only one was truly his.
His fingers loosened.
The letter fell to the floor.
"I will not return."
His voice was steady.
"Not as a sword."
"Not as a tool."
"Not as something that belongs to Takeda Harunobu."
"I have chosen my own name."
"And I will carve my own path."
The words rang through the chamber.
Soft.
Yet unshakable.
Uesugi Kenshin watched him carefully.
And then—
He smiled.
"Then carve it well."
"The Tiger will not let you go so easily."
"Be ready for what comes next."
The messenger from Kai bowed stiffly.
"I will deliver your answer to my lord."
His voice was carefully controlled.
But in his eyes—
There was something else.
Pity.
Resignation.
Because he knew—
That this was not the end.
Takeda Harunobu would not simply accept this rejection.
The Tiger of Kai always reclaimed what was his.
And soon—
He would come for him.
Whether as a lost soldier—
Or as an enemy.
[Fated Death: Progressing.]You have rejected Takeda Harunobu's summons.You have chosen your own path.The Tiger of Kai will not wait forever.
And soon, the war will come to you.