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Volume 1 Chapter 4 Part 6

「Sorry for failing. Now, do it. 」

「……Do you have any last words, Monkey? 」

「No, since I am going to die anyways. In the end, I didn’t manage to achieve much, but I’ll at least teach you the method to make money I learned from the Sengoku era games. 」

Nobuna, who was standing behind Yoshiharu let out a sharp cry.

「That sort of thing doesn’t matter! Isn’t there anything else that you want to say? Like 「I don’t wanting to die」, or 「Don’t kill me please! 」? 」

「Are you seriously a fool? If I plead for my life, you’ll suffer later. In reality you’re bad
at these sort of things, right? 」

「S-Shut up! There’s no worth in letting an idiot retainer who lost all the 3000 kan of war funds live! That’s right, it’s obvious for your head to fly here! I am just cutting you down since you said to cut you! You will pay for your mistakes! Idiot! 」

Nobuna’s characteristic high pitched voice was gradually becoming a fine nasal voice.

(Huh……..could I have been saved if I begged for my life?)

This girl isn’t straight-forward so she doesn’t say it clearly, but could it be that she was… intending to save him?

(Damn it, I acted way too rash!)

Yoshiharu tried to raise his voice, but Nobuna had already gripped her sword tightly and brought it down. What sort of face she was making, Yoshiharu couldn’t see.

However, luck seemed to be on Yoshiharu’s side today.
With a clang, the sword fell from Nobuna’s hands onto the floor, because from the direction of the balcony someone has thrown a shuriken that caused Nobuna to let go of her weapon.

The back of his neck was cut by just 3 mm, but other than that, Yoshiharu’s neck was still connected to his body properly.

「Ah, it hurts….. w-who was that?! Show yourself, you sneaky bastard! 」

「… I’m sorry for being late, but it looks like I got here just in the nick of time. 」

「Inuchiyo? 」
Inuchiyo entered the roomclad in a samurai attire dirtied with blood.

「Yoshiharu-san……I bought the rice…… 」

「Oooh, Inuchiyo~! You really did it! 」

(The one who threw the shuriken at Nobuna must’ve been Goemon then),

Yoshiharu realized.

(If you guys had come one second earlier, there wouldn’t have been just a bit of blood flowing from the back of my neck.)

「However, Inuchiyo. The bags of rice are…? 」

「That’s right. Where are they? 」

「Right now, they’re being carried in from the castle gates. 」

Nobuna and Yoshiharu looked from the window, where an outrageous amount of rice bags was being carried into the castle one after another.

「Oh, it’s an achievement of Monkey-dono! 」

「It’s a big harvest! Let’s take one bag back to the tenement as well! 」

Old man Asano and Nene were playing a flute and a drum and encouraging the samurai who were carrying the bags.

「It’s a really huge number! How many did you buy? 」

「……..75000 bags.「

「1 koku is 2.5 bags so……30000 koku? No way? Really? 」

(Dammit, that Nobuna’s calculations are fast!)

Yoshiharu murmured to himself.

The request was for 8000 koku, so the rice she procured was in reality around 4 times of that. It was a huge achievement.

「Rejoice, Monkey! 」

「Oh? Will you give me a reward after all? 」

「Since you got delayed after the time limit, there’s no reward! However, I’ll let you keep your neck intact! Be grateful to Inuchiyo’s effort and my leniency! 」

「What’s with that? You’re stingy! If you give a reward in times like this, your subordinates will be happy! If you cannot do that to make your retainers stay in ‘Five Leaf Aralia tenements’, then what sort of miser of a manager are you? 」

Nobuna stayed silent and simply delivered a spinning kick to Yoshiharu’s side while smiling.

「Don’t attack me while smiling, I just barely dodged it! 」

「Shut up! Since I am letting you live, cry and be deeply moved by my generosity! Prostrate yourself at my feet and say this while crying and begging: 「Nobuna-samaaaa, this Monkey will follow you loyally for the rest of its lifeee!!! 」. This is what you want to say, right? 」

「Huh? You too should be moved by my achievement and blush while saying :「Yoshiharu, I am useless without you~ 」! Is that pretty face of yours just a decoration? Show some of your cute side too, you ferocious woman! 」

「Ugh! What’s with you?! No, really, what’s wrong with you?! just because you got a bit of a lot of rice, you’re acting all high and mighty! It’s gross! Don’t delude yourself! I am going to kill you after all! 」

The two of them once again had their foreheads together while bickering furiously, until Inuchiyo tugged at Nobuna’s sleeve.

「Nobuna-sama, if you want to behead someone, .behead Inuchiyo. 」

「Eh? What are you saying, the one who will be beheaded is this Monkey, you
know? 」

「But Inuchiyo cut down one of Nobukatsu’s servants a while back. I broke the law. 」

Now that she said it, there was fresh blood on Inuchiyo’s clothes.
「That’s why if you don’t behead Inuchiyo, then you’ll have trouble with Nobukatsu-sama. 」

「What are you saying? T-There’s no way I can do that! 」

「……For Owari’s sake. 」

Yoshiharu grabbed both of Inuchiyo’s shoulders and asked in a loud voice.

「Inuchiyo. While trying to carry the rice bags into the castle, were you once again hindered by Nobukatsu and his company? That’s it, right? 」

She nodded hesitantly.

「……There was no time to lose. If I didn’t cut him down, I wouldn’t have been able to make it in time… I wouldn’t have taken his life otherwise. 」

「You heard her, Nobuna. The one who is in the wrong is Nobukatsu! Don’t behead Inuchiyo! 」

「I know it! However….however…. 」

Inuchiyo seemed to be an existence like a little sister for Nobuna. There’s no way she can behead her. However, if she overlooks this, then Nobukatsu side won’t stay quiet, and once more the confrontation of elder sister and younger brother would flare up

That being said, from Yoshiharu’s perspective, there’s no way that naive Nobukatsu could win against Nobuna. Even in the past, he rebelled countless times, and has lost every single time. In other words, if Nobukatsu’s side takes offense with the incident with Inuchiyo and once again tries to disobey Nobuna, she will have to kill her younger brother.

(Behead Inuchiyo, or behead Nobukatsu, she has to choose between one of them.)

There’s no way she could choose.
Nobuna was at a loss for words, and grabbed the handrail of her chair and started shaking. Yoshiharu couldn’t just keep watching, and wanted to raise his voice.
However, he shouted different words.

「Inuchiyo! Abscond!「

「……Abscond? 」

「Run away from Kiyosu! We’ll make it that you were cut down by Nobuna, and that should be enough to appease Nobukatsu! And someday, when Nobukatsu and Nobuna reconcile with one another, come back. 」

「… But… 」

「Ah, geez! It’s pathetic for me to say this to you who worked hard for me but, there’s no other way than that right now to avoid either you or Nobukatsu being beheaded by Nobuna! 」

Inuchiyo nodded without hesitation. She turned to Nobuna and bowed deeply.

「Farewell, Nobuna-sama. 」

「Inuchiyo…. 」

It seemed like a line of tears had fallen from Nobuna’s cheeks. However, that must’ve been Yoshiharu’s delusion.

Indeed, she was crying in her heart. However, she didn’t show it on her face, bearing it bravely. The line that looked like a tear was blood. Her lip was cut.

As if trying to stop herself from letting out complaints like a normal girl, she bit her own lips inadvertently and stopped herself from speaking.

(Don’t leave me behind, don’t let me be alone, isn’t it fine to say at least that much?)

However, even without Nobuna having to say it with words, it was conveyed to Inuchiyo properly.

Inuchiyo showed a really gentle smile while staring at Nobuna.

「……I will definitely return. And also, Yoshiharu-san… 」

Inuchiyo turned abruptly to stare at Yoshiharu, who was still admiring her smile.

「It’s a promise, Inuchiyo! Definitely come back to us! 」

「And you remember your promise to me. 」

「Okay. Remind me, what was it again? 」

「That you’re going to buy me beautiful silk garments. 」

「Sure. When you return, I’ll buy you as many of them as you want with my awesome money making technique! 」

Yoshiharu grabbed Inuchiyo’s hands and shook them firmly.