Chapter 129
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 129
Chapter Title: Fifty Years in the Human World (6)
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Near Nakajima Fortress.
A line of Oda Clan forces bearing their family crest clashed wildly with the Imagawa Clan troops surging in from all sides, their own crests fluttering defiantly.
"Die!"
"Gah!"
And among them, drawing every eye was none other than Maeda Toshiie—a girl with short-cropped red hair and flashing red eyes, clad in fur armor and swinging a long spear taller than herself.
"Hup!"
From her small frame came a breath that felt oddly out of place, and without hesitation, Maeda Toshiie swung the spear in her grip. The shaft traced a swift arc, mercilessly slicing through the enemy before her.
There's a common misconception people have.
The idea that in Owari Province, Mori Yoshinari is the only one skilled with the spear.
"Behold the Spear's Mataza!"
Maeda Toshiie bellowed those words, and just then, a hulking ashigaru emerging from behind the samurai she'd felled gritted his teeth and shouted back.
"You damn brat!"
"What?"
Brat.
Fire sparked in her eyes at the word. She easily dodged the thrusting spear, then leaped from her horse.
—Neigh!
The startled horse, suddenly riderless, reared up on its forelegs with a frantic kick, but she paid it no mind. Maeda Toshiie simply thrust her spear straight at the ashigaru before her, letting out a furious shout laced with rage.
"Calling every Tom, Dick, and Harry a brat, huh?!"
"U-Uwaaagh!"
Though her appearance was still that of a youth not yet fully grown, the ashigaru could only stare blankly and scream at the sight of her spear whipping through the air.
A moment's hesitation.
It was conviction. Resignation.
'Can't dodge it.'
No matter how much that nameless ashigaru called Maeda Toshiie a brat, it was an unchangeable truth.
He blinked.
His vision went black in a single second, and when he opened his eyes again—
"Guhk!"
All that filled his sight was a world drenched in blood.
—Thud!
Maeda Toshiie had sliced clean through the ashigaru's neck and part of his shoulder in one stroke. She spun her spear once before planting it in the ground, spat out the blood that had splattered her lips—ptui—and muttered with a grimace.
"Insignificant pest, always begging for death."
Getting swept away like fallen leaves by someone like her, who hadn't even fully grown yet.
After briefly calming her inner fury, she scanned her surroundings. Sensing the battlefield settling down, she slammed her spear's butt into the blood-soaked earth.
—Thunk!
The sturdy end of the spear embedded itself in the ground. At that moment, a familiar, soft—perhaps sly—voice brushed past her ear from behind.
"Phew, glad you didn't die."
"...Who're you telling?"
She licked the saliva mixed with blood from her lips. In the process, her sharply protruding left canine grazed her tongue.
Maeda Toshiie glanced back, and in her view appeared Niwa Nagahide—indigo long hair, matching eyes, and skin white as fine porcelain—smiling sweetly.
"That was close. We got separated from the main force and ran into their stragglers."
—Swipe.
Of course, she too had cut down samurai and ashigaru blocking her path sword in hand, so she didn't forget to wipe the blood splattered on her cheek. Had barely five minutes passed since they started chatting?
"W-We surrender—!"
"Shut it!"
"Gurk!"
The battle ended in victory for their unit, capped by her swift beheading of a samurai who knelt late, begging for mercy after his reckless assault.
Yet their expressions weren't particularly bright... which was perhaps only natural.
"Worse than we thought?"
"Probably. For Imagawa forces to push this far..."
"Huh? Push this far?"
Maeda Toshiie cocked her head at Niwa Nagahide, who trailed off, but all she got in return was the woman's furrowed brow, lost in thought.
Her slightly drooping eyes narrowed unusually as she pondered.
'Washizu and Marune have fallen? Then where do we...'
The two were en route from their respective castles to join at Kiyosu, but upon hearing Oda Nobunaga had sortied late toward the front after Washizu and Marune were threatened, they'd pressed onward.
But if those castles had fallen?
Where could they find their lord?
'Atsuta Shrine? Or Zenshoji?'
As Niwa Nagahide mulled it over deeply, the ashigaru at the front—fresh from battle, sorting enemy heads and corpses—suddenly grew noisy.
—What?
—Over there...!
The unrest spread quickly to Maeda Toshiie and Niwa Nagahide. Without a word, they spotted a line of cavalry bursting from the woods and moved to order an attack.
Yes, they were about to.
"Hold! That's—!"
If not for the Hirate family crest on their backs. The fluttering Hirate crest conveyed one simple message.
Allies.
—Allies!
—Make way!
—I'll cut down anyone who draws steel!
The samurai, spotting it late, calmed the still blood-pumped ashigaru before any mishap.
—Neigh!
Thanks to Niwa Nagahide's timely orders and the samurai's quick control, no spears thrust toward the allied messengers.
"Hya! Whoa, whoa!"
They reined in their powerfully rearing horses and dismounted before Maeda Toshiie and Niwa Nagahide, dropping to one knee without waiting for questions and booming out.
"Hirate Hikage-sama orders you to Nakajima Fortress at once!"
Hearing the messenger, Maeda Toshiie and Niwa Nagahide turned to each other simultaneously, then mounted up without another word.
'That gigolo-faced kidnapper of our lord, tall as a beanpole for no reason... Still, damn good in a fight.'
'...If it's him.'
How they each viewed Il-yeong didn't matter.
Only one thing did now.
Hirate Hikage—Il-yeong—needed them, and they were ready to answer his call.
Not for that man, of course.
For Oda Nobunaga.
And for Owari.
At least, that's what they sincerely believed.
...What came later was another story.
*
"Good, our forces are gathering steadily."
"We must preserve as many troops as possible. Tell them to watch losses in the forward clashes."
Il-yeong matched pace with the bustling Nobunaga while staring at maps scraped from ninjas and nearby villages, racking his brain furiously.
—Clack.
Oda Clan markers and Imagawa Clan markers clashed relentlessly across the local terrain.
Mass battles.
River-crossing defenses.
Night raids.
Guerrilla strikes at times.
Reviewing every possibility, Il-yeong asked himself.
'Is this gamble really the only answer?'
He'd factored in countless options.
Yet still, he needed conviction right up to the end—did they truly have to take this bet?
After endless deliberation, his conclusion was simple.
'No choice. This is it.'
Il-yeong let out an involuntary smirk.
"Heh."
The Oda Nobunaga of original history was insane.
He at least knew fragments of the right answer, but that Nobunaga had thrown herself into this gamble blind, becoming a pawn on the board and hitting the jackpot in the end.
—Creak.
That was when.
"You look deep in thought, Il-yeong."
Oda Nobunaga, who'd come to check on him amid his sprawl of maps and strategies, saw his wry smile and offered her own bitter one as she asked.
How could she not know?
This battle might be their last. She understood the pressure he felt better than anyone.
"Don't worry. Even if we lose, Imagawa wants the ports at worst..."
So she strode to him to offer comfort. Or tried to.
"Hm?"
If she hadn't read the emotion in his eyes then.
But she did see it.
"What're you...?"
Il-yeong hadn't looked up from the map even as she approached—enough to draw her gaze. Peering at it herself, she spotted where he'd placed the Oda Clan main force marker and muttered like she'd been struck.
And for good reason—the spot for the Oda family's home base was none other than—
"Okehazama?"
Okehazama.