Chapter 80
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 80
Chapter Title: Even Entering the Tiger's Den, Keep Your Wits About You (1)
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―Rumble rumble boom!
A not-insubstantial noise accompanied the opening of Suemori Castle's gates. At the same time, a line of samurai who gazed at him with eyes tinged in fear emerged outside with somewhat hesitant steps.
There was fear, to be sure, but not a single soul dared harbor any hostility. It was only natural. No one wanted to end up like that ronin he'd just cut down, after all.
And so, Il-yeong sheathed the sword he'd drawn and spoke to Akechi Mitsuhide, who stood behind him.
"Help Lady Shibata down."
"Yes, sir."
He'd deliberately chosen Akechi Mitsuhide over Itsuki. It was a courtesy to Shibata Katsuie. After all, having a man assist a bound woman down from a horse would inevitably involve some unavoidable physical contact.
―Nngh.
―...Is she heavy?
―N-No!
He faintly overheard the exchange between the two women but paid it no mind. Soon enough, Shibata Katsuie set foot on solid ground with her own two legs and approached behind Il-yeong while still bound.
Naturally, all eyes turned to Il-yeong and Shibata Katsuie.
If the two generals had been standing under the same banner, one might have quipped about an oni and a yaksha joining forces. But this was a clear case of victor and vanquished.
And soon, murmurs rose from the samurai who had emerged from Suemori Castle.
―They called her an oni, an oni, and now...
―I heard she lost in a duel...
Soldiers and samurai who had fled from Ino had already spread the situation to Suemori Castle in full. As such, plenty among them looked upon Shibata Katsuie unfavorably.
One could lose a duel.
She was human, after all. How could she win every time?
But surrendering on that pretext was something no one could easily accept. Of course, the situation itself wasn't quite that cut-and-dried.
In the end, Shibata Katsuie's image among Nobuyuki's faction had plummeted from renowned general to inexplicable traitor in an instant.
Naturally, Shibata Katsuie couldn't fail to read the shifted atmosphere. Without realizing it, she bowed her head.
'No matter what, defeat is defeat.'
She couldn't reveal that she'd shown her face—which she'd hidden so desperately—or claim that her forces had been absorbed while she was unconscious. That would sound even more absurd.
Besides, by her own reckoning, their words weren't wrong in the slightest.
And so, from within her newly acquired mask, she merely bit down hard on her lip. At the same time, she steeled her resolve for one final act of honor.
'If it's a life I must discard anyway.'
She didn't care how posterity would record it. Having already spoken with Il-yeong, her once-foggy path—like mist clinging to a riverbank after rain—had come into clear focus.
'I have no certainty that Lady Nobunaga would make a fine daimyo.'
But the Hikage—no, Il-yeong—she'd witnessed could temper any excesses. And if Lady Nobuyuki joined them, all the better.
To that end, she was fully prepared to commit seppuku. With such resolve, what calumny couldn't she endure?
But it was then.
"Itsuki. A moment."
"Yes? Oh, right."
Her mask and bowed head already narrowed her field of vision. As she stared at the ground lost in thought, the sound of Il-yeong receiving something from Itsuki reached her ears. Out of instinctive curiosity, she lifted her head to see what it was.
―Slice.
An utterly unexpected sound brushed past her ear. At the same time, the ropes binding her body fell to the ground, bringing a sense of release. Looking down, she saw the ropes that had bound her rolling on the dirt.
She couldn't make sense of the situation at all.
And so, she stared at Il-yeong with blank eyes for a moment.
"First, let me make one thing clear."
Il-yeong returned the sash dagger in his hand—Itsuki's—to its owner, then lightly patted the back of the still-bowed Shibata Katsuie.
With a pat pat sound, he swept his gaze over the dumbfounded samurai of Suemori Castle and smiled lightly.
"I have no intention of forcing Lady Shibata to commit seppuku, nor of letting these fools disrespect her."
Bringing her bound like that was simply to announce his victory and compel the gates to open. If he'd truly meant to humiliate her, it would have been better to tie her hands, hang her from the horse, and drag her along—exposing those scars she so desperately hid, no less.
Of course, Il-yeong had no thought whatsoever of killing or humiliating a fierce general like Shibata Katsuie in such a foolish manner.
That was why he'd seated her before him and afforded her the utmost courtesy.
"I've already achieved all my objectives."
He'd opened Suemori Castle's gates, and though unintended, a scapegoat to assuage doubts over her defeat had walked out on its own two legs and met its end. There was no further reason to keep her bound.
"So, please lift your head, Lady Shibata."
Il-yeong deliberately raised his voice, speaking as if for the benefit of the approaching samurai and the retainers within the castle.
"Surely no one would berate a warrior who staked her life in battle simply for losing, without even offering words of thanks for her efforts."
At the same time, his gaze turned icy cold—unlike when it fell on Shibata Katsuie. A sneer curled his lips as he swept his eyes over the samurai standing before Suemori Castle's gates.
"Watch yourselves. Before I unleash ninjas and wipe out your entire clans down to the ninth degree."
It was a truly chilling yet utterly preposterous warning. Wiping out nine generations was tantamount to annihilating an entire domain.
―Gulp.
But the rumors had already swollen beyond measure: Il-yeong had slain hundreds of Mino samurai and mutilated the families of traitors.
Even if the tales were exaggerated, the speaker's authority lent them weight. And so, they said nothing, merely lowering their eyes in silence.
Itsuki, watching Il-yeong, felt an inexplicable pang and licked his lips. The Il-yeong he knew hadn't been like this.
'People change as they live, sure.'
But wasn't the degree of change too extreme? As that thought crossed his mind, he glanced sidelong at Akechi Mitsuhide beside him.
―Gulp.
Sure enough, Akechi Mitsuhide's distinctive silver-and-pink eyes trembled. She seemed almost to delusionally imagine herself as the target of Il-yeong's words had things gone just a little differently.
It was then.
"Well then, shall we go?"
Il-yeong said this to Shibata Katsuie, who stared at him blankly at his side, at a loss for what to do. He stepped forward first, as if demonstrating.
Shibata Katsuie followed soon after, with Itsuki and a small escort of bodyguards bringing up the rear.
"...I can't tell if he's got guts of steel or if he's just arrogant."
Niwa Nagahide watched the scene from horseback, letting out a laugh that seemed somehow amused as she hid her mouth with her fan.
And shortly after.
A group of ashigaru emerged from the still-open Suemori Castle and cleared away the head of the nameless ronin that had been rolling on the ground.
*
Suemori Castle wasn't particularly large to begin with, built on the premise that it might be invaded. Or rather, Japanese castles in general were designed for prolonged sieges.
Thanks to that, the civilian quarters ended quickly, and Il-yeong soon reached an area built not of wood but stone walls.
And soon, the doors opened, revealing a woman.
Black, long straight hair.
Golden eyes and a figure that, by modern standards, was extremely slender.
Oda Nobuyuki.
Though Il-yeong had seen her face just days ago, he bowed politely and greeted her.
"It's been a while, my lady."
"...Yes. It has."
Even Suemori Castle's retainers had only heard that a ninja had infiltrated recently—they didn't know it was Il-yeong.
"I'd like to see Lady Dota Gozen."
There was no need for lengthy talk since he'd come as a messenger. He'd cut straight to the point that both the retainers and she had already intuited, and Nobuyuki's lips twitched for a moment before she finally spoke.
"Impossible."
She wasn't oblivious to why Il-yeong had raised the white flag and entered the heart of the enemy with just twenty guards. But he'd gone and done something utterly reckless.
'If Mother knew, she'd sooner have you confined.'
Leaving Shibata Katsuie behind might have been one thing. But bringing her along was Il-yeong's mistake.
In truth, the retainers were even now urging to cut him down and entrust forces to Shibata Katsuie to strike Kiyosu.
...The very same men who hadn't uttered a word when he'd slain the ronin.
And so, Nobuyuki opened her mouth.
She planned to let him in first, then send him packing after a suitable excuse.
But it was then.
"Hirate Hikage."
A familiar noblewoman's voice rang in the ears of everyone present. Nobuyuki doubted her ears and turned her head.
...How?
I didn't tell anyone on purpose.
How on earth?
But regardless of her fluster, the noblewoman's voice continued.
"I hear you're the adopted son of Hirate Masahide."
A woman with black hair and black eyes, her beauty undimmed despite the wrinkles, appeared in impeccably neat attire.
"You wished to see me."
None other than
the wife of Oda Nobuhide,
mother to Oda Nobunaga and Nobuyuki—
Dota Gozen.