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Volume 1 Chapter 6 Part 9

She was wearing the elegant but totally unsuitable 12 layered kimono and a golden dragon helmet that looks very heavy and uncouth. Also, her 「Ohohohohoho!!! 」 laughter was like a maniac’s, and Yoshiharu’s eardrums couldn’t bear it even from that distance.

「A pretty face just like that of a doll… yeah, she does have the face of a distinguished princess, but she emanates a distasteful aura around her. As someone who holds integrity at
utmost importance, I cannot give the title of Japan’s Number 1 beauty to her….Yes, that sounds like Imagawa Yoshimoto all right. 」

Yoshiharu presented a strict evaluation of Imagawa Yoshimoto.

「Is that true, Monkey-kun? 」

「Yeah, I had met her in the battlefield once. And, I won’t forget the looks of any beauty I have seen. 」

Dawn has creeped up on them before they knew it.

Yoshimoto, who had started moving from Kutsukake just last night, was saying: 「Today is hot too! 」 and with the sun rising, she ordered the army to stop. Her retainers didn’t say anything to her, but since all of them thought of her as the very incarnation of the word arrogance, they all thought to themselves:「If it’s too hot for you, just take off that those damn kimonos! 」, but no one seemed to have the guts to tell her that to the face.

(Just a little bit more and Motoyasu should conquer the military base at Marune, and then I will be able to elegantly conquer Aoshuu castle.)

Yoshimoto had it all perfectly calculated.

* * *

「The numbers of the Oda clan’s army are limited, so Yoshimoto can just conquer the mountain and not be afraid of any ambush. Why must she run all the way to this field which has poor line of sight and pitch camp? Just how dumb is this woman? 」

Hiding in the forest of the mountains and spying at Imagawa Yoshimoto’s army, Yoshiharu
mumbled to himself.

「It seems that whenever she’s getting tired of riding on the back of her horse, she also dismounts it and orders her soldiers to carry her in a sedan, on which she can sit elegantly. 」

The girl who was their guide said.

「Really? But if she sits in it all the time, won’t that be troublesome if they get attacked? 」

「What should we do, Monkey-kun? No matter how careless she might be, there are at least 5000 men between us and her. I think no matter what ambush we do, it’s going to be impossible to pull off with just us here. 」

「Nobusumi, what would you have done? 」

「The same as we had originally planned, rush back to Atsuta Shrine and report to Nobuna nee-sama. 」

「Just that isn’t enough, it isn’t close to enough. 」

Yoshiharu said.

「No matter what, we can’t let the Imagawa move anymore. If we don’t launch our ambush here, we will have no chances of winning. 」

Nobusumi was restless from the feeling of achievement of 「Discovering Yoshimoto’s location」whereas, Yoshiharu seemed to be much more calm and level-headed.

「As expected, the course of history has not gone in a direction that I do not know of. Now, it’s time for us to act! 」

With his confidence restored, Yoshiharu now seemed like a young general in the eyes of Nobusumi and the rest, his body radiating an aura of bravery.

「First, we must report this matter to Nobuna, and at the same time we must stop Yoshimoto. 」

「So, since we want to stall for time, then shouldn’t we call for ninjas? 」

「No, Goemon and her team are too far away from us to reach them in time. 」

「Uhhh…. I see. 」

「Okay Nobusumi, you go rush to Nobuna’s side now. I will lead this cheerleading team into Yoshimoto’s camp and party with them, faking that we are celebrating their arrival in Owari to drag the time as much as possible. 」

「Ah, that’s a brilliant plan. My team has lots of villager girls, so Yoshimoto will surely not be suspicious of anything. 」

「We don’t wanna! 」

「We want to be together with Nobusumi-sama! 」

The cheerleading group pouted and glared at Yoshiharu, and so Yoshiharu had to reluctantly change his plan.

「Then let me return and report to Nobuna. Nobusumi, it’s okay if I leave things to you here? 」

「You can relax and leave such an important mission to me. I just have to lead these girls and mix around with Yoshimoto, right? 」

「Yes, that’s it. 」

「Nobusumi-sama is really good at acting like a rich merchant’s son! 」

The girls cheered him on.

「Because if I just go and fool around I will be scolded by Katsuie~. Besides, looking at how handsome my face is, I could probably become an Oiran without breaking a sweat if I wanted to! 」

「You cross dressing to seduce the warriors of the Imagawa army…. You’d have no problems with that? 」

If this guy was pushed down by those excited Imagawa warriors and then violated… that would be really sad.

「Yes! I even know the songs that Oiran typically sing! 」

「You are really a hardworking idiot, huh? 」

「Maybe, but now it turns out that all of that was actually training for this current moment! Hahaha! 」

(The best candidate to drag time, other than this fellow… yeah, there is no one else.)

Yoshiharu thought to himself.
Yoshiharu threaded the mountain path alone and ran at the direction he came from. In the front, a Kawanami thief was waiting for him with a horse. Now that he had a ride, the time it’ll take to report to Nobuna who is at Atsuta Shrine will be shortened considerably.

Stripping off his armor, Yoshiharu in his villager clothing noticed that he had a seemingly never ending strength in his body right now, and he wondered how can something like that be possible.

This feeling of elation in his chest made him feel so hot and restless. This is a feeling that Yoshiharu had never experienced before. Is it because he knows that his report will affect the fate of the Oda clan and Nobuna herself?

(Ahh, now I really feel like I have come to the real Sengoku era. No matter what, I will do anything in my power to reach my goal!)

He thought.

「Wait for me, Nobuna! 」

And then, Yoshiharu who was running towards Nobuna in full force was met with his greatest foe to date.

While running through the mountain, there was a cold air creeping up around him all of a sudden. This feeling was very similar to being struck from the back during dodgeball practice. Even if it’s someone not in your sight, the determination to「Finish this guy off 」was always hidden within the thrown ball.

This same determination was now transmitted to his nerves through the air. He didn’t understand the logic behind it, but if he concentrates he will definitely feel it. But this feeling was a much colder and sharper than any he had ever experienced before.

「Am I going to be killed? 」

Following his own instincts and hunches, Yoshiharu ducked subconsciously. Narrowly scraping Yoshiharu’s head, a couple of shuriken flew right past him.

「Nin…Ninja? 」

「Hehehe. I didn’t think you’ll be able to dodge that. You’re pretty good. 」

Yoshiharu turned towards the direction where the murderous, low-toned voice was coming from.

There was a man standing there, wearing an all-black attire. From his voice it sounded like he should be young, but from his well-built body covered in ninja garbs and his eyes filled with self-confidence, he seemed to be quite a difficult opponent.

「This is bad. As expected, I should have headed out after meeting up with Goemon. 」

Though Yoshiharu had a tinge of regret, the opponent did not give him any mercy.

「My name is Hattori Hanzo. I can’t let the Oda spy go back to his masters alive, hehehe. 」

「Oi, what’s with that villainous laughter just now?! ! Aren’t you a ninja!? 」

Hattori Hanzo, one of the sixteen generals of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the head of the ninja army. He should be Matsudaira Motoyasu’s, that glasses girl’s, subordinate, but it looks like he is now the ninja of Imagawa’s army.

「Looks like I’ve triggered the enemy’s trap! 」

Yoshiharu noticed.

「To want to attack Imagawa’s Yoshimoto’s main base, that’s some incredible foresight from you, but it doesn’t matter… here I come! 」

「Wait, Wawawawait a minute! 」

「I’m not gonna wait! 」

Hattori Hanzo jumped down from the tree silently. This light movement, it’s as if his body had anti-gravity equipment on.

「Damn! If I remain here I will definitely be dead! 」