This Duty, My Duty

Chapter 2. Citadel

The travel from the government's headquarters to the new citadel was swift, almost instant to be exact. The feeling was all too new for Tsubaki to understand as she had rarely used the portal gates back then. With a light step in her footing, Tsubaki stepped off of the citadel's portal, finding herself amazed at how grand and large the citadel truly was. Of course, she knew that this empty wasteland would soon be filled with a plethora of touken danshis (A/N: touken danshi = sword warrior), but she couldn't help but take in the environment as she saw it.

"Aruji-sama, do you still have the checklist that the headmaster gave you?" Konnosuke asked.

"I do, shall we go over it?" Tsubaki replied as she pulled out the checklist from the pockets of her skirt.

Written on the checklist were simple inspections that she had to make to ensure that everything was in top shape before she could summon a touken danshi. The list was lengthy which caused Tsubaki to sigh as her only reaction, "... Well... we better start now..." she said with another sigh as she walked towards the grand entrance in front of them. Following the list closely, Tsubaki would find herself exploring and navigating around the large citadel, familiarizing each area as best as she could. At the front of the citadel was the teleporting machine that the touken danshis would be using in order to go back in time. Of course, the portal gate could be used as an alternative but it would need to be operated by Tsubaki's spiritual abilities, which she felt wasn't necessary, for the swords had the fancy machine after all.

Not too far from the main entrance was a grand viewing room with thin breathable paneling all around. This paneling could be tied up for a more clearer view of the large center area or of the large pond on the other side.

"What a lovely spot to have tea..." Tsubaki said thinking out loud. 

On the other side of the viewing room was the main kitchen area. This area could be reached by walking across the center grassy area or by walking around if getting dirty isn't much of a preference. The kitchen was large and it looked as if it could fit multiple people working inside of it at once. Outside of the kitchen was the dining area, which had a reminiscent feel to it as it was set up just like the one back at the government's headquarters.

In a separate building far out in the distance was the dojo or the training area. It was a large plot of land with an even larger building on it. The interior of the dojo had all the necessary equipment for the swords to use while training such as dummies, wooden swords, and other things. The dojo even had a large dirt patch outside with plenty of trees around to add a change of scenary if so pleased.

The more Tsubaki traversed around, the more markings that the checklist had. Rooms were clean and empty outside of the futons stashed away in the cupboards while stables were tidied and horses fed. The open-aired bath was warm and perfect to the touch for bathing while the laundry area was well... ready for laundry. The empty plots of land out in the back of the citadel were supposed to be used for farming and cultivating as food was a hard resource for the government to constantly supply.

"All that's left to check is the smithing room..." Tsubaki said.

"Aruji-sama, this means...?" Konnosuke replies.

"Yes, it's time to summon a touken danshi," Tsubaki says shortly as the two of them make their way towards the smithing room. The smithing room was a strange room as it only allowed the saniwa and its partner to enter. No touken danshi could enter and touken danshis that we're newly summoned could only leave the room. The smithing room smelt like iron and burning wood, a smell that Tsubaki would have to get used to from now on.

"It looks like everything's in place, Aruji-sama, it is time for you to summon your first touken danshi!" Konnosuke said with joy. He was excited to see the type of power that his strong master had been hiding after all.