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Volume 1 Chapter 3 Part 3

「Oh! Nene, your manners are proper even in such a situation! I’m proud of you! 」

Looking at him with eyes filled with compassion, Inuchiyo asked Yoshiharu in a low voice:

「…….Could you perhaps, really be a monkey after all? 」

He was at his wits end just trying to reply with tears welling up in his eyes, but then he started thinking… could it be that he really has the brain of a monkey?

「Monkey-sama! An idiot like you can’t work as a retainer of Nobuna-sama, because you’ll be turned into monkey soup one day. In order to protect animals, Nene can become your home tutor! 」

「S-Shut up! In which world is a male highschooler taught arithmetic by an equivalent of a 1st year elementary schooler?! 」

「Highschooler? 1st year elementary schooler? Monkey-sama uses such difficult words. Are they something that only a monkey can understand, grandfather? 」

「Yes, it would seem so. Perhaps you’ll be able to learn monkey language from him, Nene. 」

「Ooh, monkey language! That is an untrodden field of study, grandfather! 」

「I don’t know any monkey language! Geez, for me to be called a monkey even by this kid, this is mortifying, way too mortifying! 」

*Tap* *Tap.*

He was lightly tapped on his shoulders by Inuchiyo, who then explained to him:

「Asano-sama was originally a merchant, so Nene is also good at math. Even if you can’t compare in intelligence to her, you don’t need to worry about it too much either. Nobuna-sama promotes people without discriminating between them, so it doesn’t matter if you’re a merchant or a monkey. You just have to work hard, and eventually you’ll succeed. 」

「Like I said, I ain’t a monkey! Wait, I have already gotten tired of hearing the same joke over and over again! 」

While everyone was merrily making noise, they could hear the shouting of a violent samurai which was coming from outside of the door.

「Man what’s wrong? It sure is noisy outside. 」

Since old man Asano’s legs were weak, he stayed in the building while Yoshiharu, Inuchiyo, and Nene went outside to check what exactly was going on out there.

A group of young samurai on horses had Asano’s house surrounded.

「We’re the guards of Oda Kanjuro Nobukatsu-sama! 」

「Nobukatsu? Ah, the younger brother of Nobuna, huh. 」

「Insolent man! We heard the rumors that the foolish princess has recently picked a pet monkey for herself, but apparently these rumors were true. However, who would’ve thought that this monkey will be at this house?! This must be our lucky day, because we came to observe the pitiful monkey being raised by that foolish princess. 」

From their words alone Yoshiharu guessed that these people were probably harassing others by throwing Oda Nobukatsu’s might and reputation around.

「Away with you, idiots! 」

「Young master! Did you hear what this monkey just said to us?! What should we do with this disrespectful foot soldier? 」

While the others were laughing, a boy samurai truly looking like a young nobleman descended from his white horse down to the ground and came closer to Yoshiharu.

「It’s rare for my foolish elder sister to pick up an animal as a pet, so I also felt like taking a look at this rumored monkey directly. 」

He wore clothes which indicated that he far higher in the social hierarchy classed than the other samurai around him. Above that, his skin was pure white, and his face felt like that of a doll’s. Just by looking at his appearance, Yoshiharu immediately understood that he really was Nobuna’s younger brother, Nobukatsu. However, his rebelliously curved mouth and his somewhat dark eyes didn’t resemble the straight Nobuna’s at all, even though they were both quick-tempered according to the games that Yoshiharu played.

「So you’re Nobukatsu, huh? 」

「D-Don’t look down at me as if you are someone above me! I am the eldest son of the
Oda clan, the rulers of the Owari province! Compared to me, who are you supposed to be?! 」

「 I am Sagara Yoshiharu, a foot soldier of Oda Nobuna, starting today. 」

「I see. So you really are the rumored Monkey, huh? You are certainly wearing strange clothes befitting of your name. 」

「His brain is like that of a monkey as well, young master. He doesn’t have any manners! 」

Nobukatsu’s followers gave out a loud laughter.

「That’s right. He’s a monkey befitting of that big sister of mine. 」

「Completely different from the well-mannered young master. It’s ridiculous that it was this foolish princess who became the ruler of Owari instead of you.

「Seriously. 」

「Wait a second! What did you say? Try saying it again! 」

No matter who laughed at him or called him a monkey, he didn’t answer, but somehow, as soon as he realized that Nobukatsu and his followers were ridiculing Nobuna, his heartbeat started going up. However, Nobukatsu didn’t back down either. He must probably hate his older sister for being the one who inherited the rule over the clan instead of him. Or it may be the instigating retainers who don’t like the way Nobuna ran things.

「I am saying that my elder sister is a fool, Monkey-kun. 」

「The important Lord of Owari calls his own elder sister a fool? Aren’t you the one who doesn’t have any manners? 」

「Hahahaha! You really don’t know anything, do you, Monkey-kun? During the funeral of our
father, elder sister appeared without even wearing a Hakama, her hair in a bamboo whisk knot, with a sword on her waist, and suddenly threw the incense burner in front of the Buddha statue. 」

「She’s really a big fool! 」

The young samurai surrounding Nobukatsu started laughing again.

「That idiot, what was she thinking?! 」

Yoshiharu was dumbfounded. It was her one and only father’s funeral. Since she un-cutely tried to act strong in a place where it was fine for her to cry, that’s why she was called a ‘Fool’ even by her ow little brother. That’s probably why people started thinking that no sane person would want to associate themselves with an unruly leader such as Nobuna.

*Tug* *Tug*.

His sleeve was being pulled by Inuchiyo once more

(Nobukatsu-sama has rebelled against Nobuna-sama many times in the past. Argue with him any more and you’ll be beheaded for sure.)

Nene clung to Yoshiharu’s waist in a worried manner as well.

However, Yoshiharu, who had witnessed Nobuna removing her mask at Shotokuji as she talked about her true feelings and saw her talk about her magnificent dreams with her eyes radiating, couldn’t back down even a single step, since he didn’t think that Nobukatsu in front of him had a big dream like Nobuna or the same dazzling zeal she possessed.

His face is like a doll, he may be bright, but that’s about it. In Yoshiharu’s eyes, he just appeared like a spoiled little brother jealous of his capable elder sister’s success.

It may also be that he’s probably being urged on by the young samurai around him. Close brothers and sisters getting on bad terms because of opposing retainers on both sides… that’s actually a very common occurrence in the world of the Sengoku Era.

「Looking at elder sister’s foolish appearance, as expected, I regretted it. No matter how much it is father’s will, if I leave the province to that sister of mine, Owari will be destroyed. It is me who should have succeeded the clan, not her. 」

「Like you’re fit to be the ruler of Owari! Nobukatsu, after you steal Owari from Nobuna, what do you plan on doing with it? What sort of dreams do you hold? Do you even have what it takes to make Owari, no, Japan into your dream country?! If so, then try saying it! 」

「W-What did you say?! 」Nobukatsu’s face color changed. However, he hadn’t even thought of any magnificent ambition. He averted his eyes and mumbled:

「Y-Y-Y-Yeah…..I-I want to propagate Uirou, and I want to make it a national dish… something like that? 」
「Disqualified! At best that is Prefectural Governor level! Since you haven’t thought of anything, don’t talk all high and mighty about inheriting the clan! 」

「Young lord, let us immediately behead this strange guy who’s using monkey language! 」

The angry young samurai started making noise again. However, no matter how he is, Nobukatsu is a warrior as well. He won’t be able to tolerate it just by beheading him after losing in a battle of words.

「Hmm… 」

He thought , and then he got a flash of insight.