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Volume 2 Chapter 3 Part 10

Hanbei let out a voice of concern and collapsed onto the tatami mat below her. Just as the
rumors were saying, her constitution must’ve been really weak, and she looked as if she had a fever now.

「Achoo! S-So cold… 」

「I am going to take Hanbei to have a bath. Do not even think of peeking at her, Yoshiharu-san. 」

「I…I would never do such a thing! 」

「Even though you’ve been seen peeking at Katsuie while she’s taking baths? 」

「I said that I won’t be peeking… although when it comes to Katsuie, it would be a lie to say that I’m not interested in those enormous breasts of hers… 」

Yoshiharu was then swiftly struck on the head by the spear of the angry Inuchiyo, and he collapsed onto the ground, unconscious.

* * *

「Ugh… what happened? When did I faint? Is it already night? 」

After he regained consciousness later, the first thing that the newly-awakened Yoshiharu had done was to rush to the courtyard of the Inabayama Castle, but once he got there he noticed that the sun had already gone down, and there was nothing but pitch-black darkness before him.

In such a dark and windy night, Inuchiyo and Hanbei’s small faces suddenly appeared in front of him without making a sound, causing Yoshiharu to involuntarily scream.

「WAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!! 」

「Yoshiharu-san, it’s still too early to be reacting like that. We haven’t even reported anything to you yet. 」

「*SOBSOBSOB!* W-When I collapsed due to fever, Ando-ojii-san, he… he… 」

「He was kidnapped by Azai Nagamasa. 」

「WHAT!? 」

Inuchiyo then handed Yoshiharu a letter which contained Nagamasa’s handwriting. It was overly long and elaborate, but in summation it went more or less like this:

Hanbei-dono, because of the interference of a certain monkey from Owari, I wasn’t able to properly convey my love for you, so I hope you can forgive me for my disrespectful actions. I have taken Iga Ando with me, and if you want him to be safely returned to your side, then meet me alone, without that monkey following you. The time limit is tonight at 4:30, in the middle of the Nagara river in Sunomata. If you comply with my demands and meet me by yourself as requested, then I promise that Iga Ando will be returned to you unharmed.

The language that has been used to write this letter might’ve suggested that it was an invitation, but it was quite obvious that it was nothing more than a ransom letter.

「Nagamasa! What a despicable bastard! He couldn’t get his hands on Hanbei-chan right away, so now he’s finally showing his true colors! Hanbei-chan, please, no matter what you decide to do, you cannot go to the meeting with him alone! If you do, then she’s just going to capture you next, just like he did with Iga Ando! Allow us to take care of this! We will go to Sunomata and deal with Nagamasa for you! 」

Now that Yoshiharu has been informed about the situation, Inuchiyo brought up another issue:

「While I am all for dealing with Azai Nagamasa to help Hanbei-dono, it would be dangerous if we were to walk right into his ambush in the middle of the night. 」

Yoshiharu was concerned about that as well, but then he smacked his thighs with his palms as he remembered a very important thing.
「Ah, yes, that’s right! Hanbei-chan, you have your Shikigami army at your disposal! Just sic them on Nagamasa and this whole thing is going to be over in no time! 」

「*SOBSOB!* I wish I could… but it’s impossible now! 」

Hanbei lamented while shaking her small head.

「Eh? Why is it impossible? 」

Yoshiharu was also stunned by that revelation.

「Onmyouji need to set up formations with when summoning their Shikigamis or summoning something as big and complex as the 「Stone Sentinel Maze」. Since I’m an Onmyouji, of course I had a fair amount of talismans stocked up, but… 」

「Hanbei-chan, don’t tell me that you… 」

「Yes, because of what happened earlier this morning, I ended up using up all of them even though I didn’t mean to! 」

「W-Well, if that’s the case, then how about sending just Zenki? 」

「That won’t work either. Once the talismans wear off, all the Shikigamis will disappear, and without another talisman, it is impossible to resummon them. 」

「Like I said, going with just the two of us is going to be too dangerous. 」

Inuchiyo repeated her earlier words.

「How do we get those…. no, that’s not it. How do we obtain those talismans? 」

「The pentagram seal only needs to be drawn onto the talisman itself, but to successfully summon a Shikigami, you need to go to Abe no Seimei’s shrine to infuse the talisman with actual spiritual power. 」

「Abe no Seimei’s shrine… wait, isn’t that in Kyoto?! 」

「*SOB!* It’s true that the main shrine is located in Kyoto, but there are actually several smaller shrines spread out all across Japan for easier access. And all the different shrines aren’t just for worshiping Abe no Seimei either; they are actually places where the young Onmyouji can train, infuse their talismans with spiritual power and exchange information between one another.

「Hmmm. So what you’re trying to say is that for you Onmyouji’s, Abe no Seimei shrines are kinda like refuelling stations, and there are different kinds of them all around the country…. 」

「Hanbei-dono, please ignore Yoshiharu-san’s ramblings from the Monkey Kingdom. 」

Inuchiyo whispered to Hanbei.

「Mino province’s Abe no Seimei shrine is located at Ogaki, which is near Bodaisen, my hometown. 」

「Ogaki? Wait, why do I feel like I’ve heard about this place before? 」

「Ogaki, Ogaki… if memory serves me right, then in one of the most famous Sengoku era strategy games, 「The Ambition of Oda Nobunaga」, there should be something called Ogaki castle located in the western part of the Mino province. 」

Yoshiharu resorted to his knowledge of the Sengoku era games once more.

Though Ogaki is in Mino’s territory and is near Sekigahara, it’s actually closer to the Omi province, and it was not a place that they could reach in just a couple of hours. That, and the meeting place designated by Nagamasa, Sunomata, is actually close to the foot of the mountain.

「Hanbei-chan, am I right to say we do not have time to go to Ogaki’s Abe no Seimei shrine to recharge your talismans? 」

「Yes. Taking Nagamasa-dono’s deadline into consideration, we simply won’t have enough time to go to Abe no Seimei’s shrine and come back here. 」

「I see. However, even if the situation is like this, I just cannot let you go meet with Nagamasa alone. If the worst case scenario comes to fruition, then we’ll simply have to try rescue Iga Ando with just the three of us. 」

「Yoshiharu-san, but if we do that, won’t we be leaving this entire fortress unguarded? If Saito Yoshitatsu catches wind of this, there’s no way that he won’t send his troops here in order to take the castle back for himself. Are we really okay with such a turn of events? 」

Inuchiyo asked with a worried expression.

「Sagara-sama… Sagara-sama… 」

At that moment, a voice that was all too familiar to Yoshiharu started coming from beneath the floorboards of the room. Yoshiharu and Hanbei both took a few steps back, and then a small head emerged from beneath the floorboards.

「Oh, It’s you, Goemon. If you were here this entire time, then couldn’t you have done something to prevent old man Ando from being kidnapped by Nagamasa? 」

「I… I am ashamed to report that I couldn’t have done anything to prevent it, because I was chased by an army of Shikikhamis, and I had to hide myshelf in the mountainsh for a very long time to finally shake them off of me. 」

「A ninja getting chased away by a Shikigami… that must’ve been a truly extraordinary scene. 」

「Sagara-sama. If you want my personal opinion, then even though it might sound cruel, we should abandon Iga-sama and hurry back to Owari. 」

「Wha…What did you just say? 」

「If we do that, then Hanbei-dono will definitely harbor hatred towards Azai Nagamasha and become Shagara-shama’s ally to get rid of him, as a result of whish, Inyabayama Cashtle will belong to you, Shagara-shama. 」

「So you want me to abandon Hanbei, even though I just promised that I will save Iga Ando for her? 」

「Yes, and in order to avoid her making a scene, heresh what I have in mind: I will shtart a fire secretly outside the room, which will make her unable to leave the room. After that, I will either ushe drugsh or hypnosish to make her fall into a deep slumber. A little onmyouji brat who can’t shummon her Shikigamis wont poshe a challenge for me at all. 」