Chapter 61
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 61
Chapter Title: The Final Lesson for My Foolish Daughter
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People often referred to the old man known as Saito Dosan in this way.
—As the very model of a usurper.
From monk to oil merchant, he had swallowed up an entire province known as a "one country." No better term could describe him.
Yet Dosan called himself the "Killing Warrior," and soon the Killing Warrior of Mino became the era's overlord.
It was an age of usurpation.
An age where one could seize everything through sheer ability alone.
That was why he harbored no resentment toward his daughter.
He simply couldn't help but smile at the sight of the forces gathered before him.
"How many did you say?"
"...L-Lord."
One of the loyal retainers who had followed the Killing Warrior to the end could no longer hold back his tears and bowed his head. But unlike him, the samurai at his side bowed and replied in a flat voice.
"A total of 2,700."
2,700 men.
They were the entirety of the forces assembled under Dosan's command.
Saito Dosan scanned these men who had come to follow him to the bitter end, despite their meager numbers.
Their gazes were filled with unease.
And so Dosan smiled. He smiled as he gazed up at the slowly brightening sky.
The indigo sky was turning red.
Like the rising sun, would another sun rise over this land as well?
'What a twisted fate.'
Saito Yoshitatsu. That child had killed her two younger brothers and seized Inabayama Castle, their stronghold, plotting rebellion.
He left the temporary quarters where he had been staying. He released his cherished Akechi Mitsuhide, gathered his weary old body, and summoned his retainers to head to the battlefield.
"My daughter has 20,000 troops gathered to her."
"...Yes. That is correct."
Some 3,000 against 20,000.
An overwhelming difference in numbers that made fighting pointless. Yet Saito Dosan was glad for it.
As one ages, much is lost.
It could be the support of retainers.
One's own sharp mind.
Or sometimes, one's judgment.
"Prepare to march at any moment."
Thus, he intended to confirm it himself.
Whether his judgment had truly dulled, and whether this newly rising sun was truly worthy of the name.
—Yes! My lord!
At his words, the few remaining loyal retainers knelt as one and bowed their heads. Hearing their response, Saito Dosan flicked his sleeves and turned away.
The quarters at Sagiyama Castle, which he had fled to, were utterly shabby. Perhaps because those who had already sensed his defeat had left, he entered a room filled with a profoundly lonely air and unrolled the paper on the table.
He took up the brush and ground the ink.
Soon, black ink welled up. He dipped the tip lightly and slowly wrote the characters.
「。」
In translation— entrusting Mino to you.
Just six characters. Yet they held the weight of history that would endure for generations.
Saito Dosan murmured softly into the empty air.
"Send this to Kiyosu, and place yourself under Koka there as well."
There was no reply.
"...Doesn't Kicho need someone to watch over her?"
But as Saito Dosan silently sipped from the sake cup on the table and moved his lips, a ninja dropped silently from the ceiling and bowed his head in silence.
The ninja's bearing was unflinching.
Yet his shoulders trembled.
He was leaving the lord he had served his entire life.
It was disloyalty, a grudge unto itself. With shaking hands, the ninja took the neatly written letter from Dosan and tucked it into his bosom.
By rights, that should have been the end, and he should have left. But he could not rise from his spot. After agonizing for a long while, he finally donned his sedge hat and spoke in a cracked voice.
"...Please, win this."
"Hah."
The ninja fled the room after those words, and Saito Dosan let out a chuckle. Was it the sake, or the faint loyalty he still felt?
The room, filled with chill and bitterness, strangely warmed.
—Swish.
Dosan rose from his seat and gazed at the ridgeline where the sun was slowly rising. The landscape swelling like waves against the black backdrop was far from welcome.
Yet it evoked in his heart the memory of a bold heroine he had once seen.
'Oda Nobunaga.'
He had heard she still hadn't fully secured Owari, but she had gained a most reliable retainer.
'Hirate found a fine adopted son in the end.'
The news brought by the remaining ninjas pleased him from time to time. Especially since it was that one who had saved Kicho...
"If I had straightened things out, I might have sent a marriage proposal. Hah."
As death approached, thoughts of his particularly foolish daughter flooded his mind. For a moment, he escaped the harsh reality and silently reminisced on the past.
And then, precisely half a month later.
A scout who had gone out returned to the silently waiting Saito Dosan and shouted.
"Yoshitatsu has left Inabayama Castle and is moving her army toward the southern shore of the Nagarakawa!"
At the same time, the old man, who had been sipping tea while gazing out the window, turned his head.
"I see."
He had sorted what needed sorting, protected what was precious as best he could—though not fully, it was some small comfort.
Thus, the old man once more took up the name of Killing Warrior.
—Flutter.
The winter chill shook his robe, and Dosan stepped forward with steady strides, replying.
"Let us go then. I miss my daughter."
*
1556. The final battle to devour Mino was slowly unveiling its curtain.
Yoshitatsu's crest flew on the southern shore of the Nagarakawa. Dosan's flew on the northern shore.
Dosan sat in a chair atop a hill to survey the battlefield and stared directly at the numerical disparity before his eyes.
"...Preparations are complete."
Just then, a retainer in full armor bowed behind him. Dosan nodded and rose from his seat.
"Let us go."
It was a night thick with darkness.
Torches burned, spewing smoke, and soon the enemy camp across the river came into view.
'If she were going to offer her neck so easily, she should have chosen seppuku instead.'
Armor ill-suited to his aged body clanked heavily. Mounting his horse, he led 1,500 pre-aligned troops silently from the camp.
—Clop, clop!
A line of hoofbeats wound long through the invisible night toward the opposite side. Soon they reached the downstream shallows and crossed where the current was weak.
The matchlock units at the rear loaded powder.
Arrows were nocked to bows. As they drew near enough to Yoshitatsu's camp, Dosan drew the sword at his waist and shouted.
—Entire army! Charge!
It was a night raid.
The 1,500 troops charged across the plain at his command, surging to collapse the panicking, wavering enemy camp in one go.
Dosan led at the forefront with his aged body, recalling the conversation with his retainer before departure.
—I'm planning a night raid.
—A night raid...
—Shouldn't I give that foolish child one final lesson on what war truly is?
Clop, clop—.
As the thundering gallop echoed, Dosan pondered.
If he had cleared up the misunderstanding sooner, would that foolish child not have gone astray?
'Toki Yoriaki. Is this the revenge you left me?'
It was no bad curse.
Yes, it had to be this much to qualify as one who had once been worthy of his lordship.
—Night raid!
—Dosan! Dosan himself is leading the army!
Finally, his daughter's retainers who spotted him cried out. He swung his sword himself and roared like the Killing Warrior unleashing murderous intent.
"I have already resolved to die on this battlefield today!"
Behind Dosan, his retainers slashed wildly with swords and spears, clearing a path. Tents in the camp were trampled under hooves, and Dosan beheaded those who had once called him lord.
"Even if I die!"
Slash, thud!
He cleaved the chest of a warrior who had once grinned loosely at him, saying he wanted to become like you.
"Saito Yoshitatsu! My daughter will carry that name and protect Mino!"
Whether she protected it or not didn't matter.
Oda Nobunaga, and my daughter Saito Yoshitatsu.
The sight of those two children roaring their ambitions at the world would be spectacle enough. He said this now only because he finally acknowledged it from his heart.
"I admit it! I underestimated you!"
Before he knew it, the charging hooves had halted.
The soldiers dying helplessly under Yoshitatsu's command belatedly regained their wits, surrounding them. Under the counterattack, the 1,500 detachment led by Saito Dosan began to melt away.
—Gaaah!
—S-Spare... Gahk!
—Aaah!
Blood soaked the earth.
Horses fell with their riders, and the banner of Saito Dosan, who had ruled Mino, crashed to the ground and was trampled.
"Saito Yoshitatsu—!"
Now surrounded on all sides by former subordinates turned current enemies, the Killing Warrior hurled off his helmet, veins bulging in his neck as he bellowed his daughter's name.
At the same moment, the camp thrown into chaos by the raid fell silent.
"Yes, Father."
Finally, a voice laced with true madness rang out from the central tent in the camp.
With a rustle— the flap was pulled aside.
And soon, a woman with silver hair just like Kicho's emerged, wearing a remarkably gentle smile.
Her gaze turned to her father.
"Ah, I suppose I can no longer use that title."
A soft smile played on her lips, but the corner of her mouth twitched. Brushing back the bangs that slightly covered her eyes, she moved her red lips.
"You are not my father. Dosan."
At her words, the old man who had stolen a province laughed hollowly in response.
"You still believe that rumor? How foolish."