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Volume 2 Chapter 3 Part 11

「And what do you think will happen next? 」

「After Ando-sama is murdered, Hanbei will definitely swear upon her name to take revenge for him. Since she is unable to rely on Saito Yoshitatsu now, the only one left is going to be you, Sagara-sama. When that happens, not only Inabayama Castle, but also the entire Mino province is going to be up for Nobuna-dono to claim as her own. I you present her the Mino province in such a way, then you should complete your obshektive of achieving a great military shuccessh, and with Takenaka Hanbei on her side, Nobuna-dono should realize that theresh no need for her to be marrying Azai Nagamasa anymore, meaning that the marriage between them will automatically be null and void. Thish ish the rough outline of my plan, but what do you think about it sho far, Shagara-shama? 」

Finishing talking after she almost ended up biting her tongue off, Goemon sighed with relief. It was a miracle that she managed to keep talking for so long despite being so naturally inept at it.

However, Yoshiharu was not even the least bit moved by Goemon’s plan. On the contrary…

「Don’t ever suggest such a plan ever again, Goemon. 」

Perhaps it was due to his anger, but Yoshiharu’s shoulders had started to tremble as he lectured Goemon.

「I am aman who succeeded Kinoshita Tokichiro’s will, so I will forever stand on the side of Japan’s cute girls! If I chose to go along with your plan, then it would leave Hanbei-chan traumatized, and that is something that I will absolutely not allow! If saving old man Ando means that I will have to abandon Inabayama Castle, then I will go ahead and do it! 」

After being lectured so harshly, Goemon answered in a tone that sounded like purr of a cat.

「I understand… It’s just like I’ve expected of you, Sagara-sama. Hehe~~ 」

「Don’t say it as if you really knew what I was going to say! Anyway, it seems that I’ll have to ask you and your Kawanami Group to lend me your strength once again. 」

「Leave it to me, Sagara-sama… but if that’s the plan we’re going with, then what do you plan to do with Nobuna-dono and Azai-shamash’s marriage? 」

「Uhm… w-well, you know… where there’s will, there’s bound to be a way! 」

「So can you do something about it or not? 」

「I definitely can, but Nobuna’s marriage is an issue between her, Azai Nagamasa and myself. There’s no way that I’m going to drag Hanbei-chan into it as well! That bastard Nagamasa, I swear that I’ll beat him toa pulp the first chance I get! 」

「My oh my, it’s a bit shameless to want to have everything the way that you do, Sagara-sama. You know that there will definitely come a day when you will have to abandon someone without having any other choice? 」

After saying that, Goemon lowered her head back beneath the floorboards and disappeared.

「Don’t lump me together with that bastard Nagamasa! 」

Yoshiharu shouted at the disappeared Goemon, but had no idea if she heard him or not.

(No matter what happens, Nobuna will never marry someone like me.)

After thinking this, Yoshiharu felt as if his heart was being pierced by a thousand needles. Just then, Hanbei and Inuchiyo gathered at Yoshiharu’s sides.

「Uhm… who were you talking to just now, Yoshiharu-sama? 」

「Ah, Hanbei-chan. That girl just now was a ninja called Goemon. Rather than being a friend, I’d say she is more like a family member to me. 」
「A ninja, you say? You… You mean those people who kill others silently in the darkness with one blow? So….So scary! *SOBSOB!* 」

「The same goes for you! Personally, I think that an Onmyouji who can summon an army of Shikigamis to her side whenever she feels like it is much scarier than any ninja out there! 」

「Yoshiharu-san, have you decided on what are you going to do? 」

「Yes Inuchiyo, I did. First thing’s first, Hanbei-chan should send a letter to Yoshitatsu to explain that she only summoned her Shikigami army to punish Saito Hidanmori for his rudeness towards her, and that she didn’t have any intentions to rebel against him. Then, we should move out from Inabayama Castle to resolve the misunderstanding. That’s the plan, I think. After that, the three of us will go save old man Ando! 」

While saying that, Yoshiharu raised his fist in a fit of inspiration, while Inuchiyo mumbled:

「Yoshiharu-san, you always treat cute girls like your own belongings. 」

… and raised her hand and rested it on Yoshiharu’s fist while giving an exasperated sigh. Hanbei also approached him and stretched her trembling hand out and said:

「…..Th…Th…Thanks you, Yoshiharu-san! I… I will never forget what you did for me today, and I will always be grateful to you for it! 」

With her eyes shining brightly with a hint of tears in them, Hanbei placed her other hand onto both of their hands, but then she looked as if she just remembered something and addressed the duo.

「……Ah! But isn’t Inabayama Castle something that Oda Nobuna-dono needs in order to conquer Mino? And if she won’t be able to capture Mino on her own, she won’t have any other choice but to marry Azai-dono… 」

Even though she looked like a little kid who’d do nothing but cry a lot at even the smallest of things, TakenakaHanbei was not stupid by any measure. While having only the limited amount of the snippets of information, she was already able to vaguely understand the situation between Yoshiharu, Nagamasa and Nobuna, and then Inuchiyo filled her in on the rest, starting from Azai Nagamasa’s proposal to the inside affairs of the Oda clan without hiding anything from her.

As much of a snotty brat that Hanbei might look like, there’s no denying that she has a true sense of courage and her own ideology and moral code tucked away deep inside her heart. It can be said that this is her own chivalrous righteousness.

Though Hanbei has extraordinary wits and commanding ability, she is not an ambitious type, and all that she wants is to live a peaceful, secluded life is her hometown of Bodaisen. She served under Yoshitatsu mostly to substitute for her uncle as she tried her best to bring honor and fame to the clan, and she was doing that to repay Iga Ando for raising her in place of her father, but truth to be told, that was just an excuse, because she as really doing that because her sense of righteousness was telling her that this was the right thing to do.

Hanbei’s constitution was poor from birth and it continued all throughout her childhood and into her teenage years, and even now as she was getting in high spirits along with Yoshiharu and Inuchiyo, she could feel that her body was gradually getting hotter and hotter. If her health continues to be this poor, then she’s going to disappear from the world before she’ll be able to leave a permanent mark of her own existence in it.

When she was still very small, Hanbei have already realized her own body’s limit, and so she resigned herself to despair, and because she had never been interested in worldly affairs, she had become devoid of personal desires, and her attitude towards the world was the one of: 「It doesn’t matter whether I am alive or dead, because the world is going to stay the same」. And since Hanbei had no desires of her own, she decided that the thing which is going to guide her forward is going to be her righteousness instead.

That same Hanbei now sensed a different kind of righteousness from Yoshiharu, who was only supposed to care about capturing Inabayama Castle for his master, Oda Nobuna. Though Yoshiharu himself did not say anything, Hanbei could clearly feel it: the admiration that he held admiration he held toward his own master Nobuna. No, his feelings were far stronger then the word admiration could ever hope to describe. For Hanbei who has never experienced the feeling of love before in her life, that feeling was unbelievably strong.

But now that Yoshiharu had decided that he wanted to help Hanbei and give up the Inabayama Castle for it, it might mean that he would give up his most important Nobuna.

In fact, all he needs to do is kill the defenseless Hanbei who had already lost the ability to summon her Shikigamis, and his mission will be completed.
But no matter if it’s Yoshiharu, or Inuchiyo who is by his side, neither of them thought of just killing Hanbei and grabbing Inabayama Castle for themselves. Moreover, Yoshiharu didn’t even consider it as a legitimate choice in the first place.