## Chapter 16: The Immortal Contract — "When You Refuse to Die"
Twenty Years Later - 1546
The funeral pyre had finally burned itself out, leaving behind a pile of pale, flaky ash and the lingering scent of sandalwood and grief. Tsurugi watched the last wisp of smoke dissipate into the grey morning sky. He had observed the entire three-day ritual with the detached interest of a man watching a play he had seen a hundred times before.
The weeping, the chanting, the burning of offerings—it was all so terribly human. So predictable. Taro had performed his function for fifty years, a remarkable run for a man so prone to anxiety. Now, he was simply... gone.
"My lord," a quiet voice said from behind him.
Tsurugi turned. Ryo, Taro's son, stood there, holding the same damned ledger his father had always carried. He had the same perpetually worried expression, but his eyes held a sharper edge, the look of a man who had spent his life not just serving, but 'observing' the observer.
