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Volume 2 Chapter 3 Part 12

Right now, it seems that even after considering the weight of his situation, Yoshiharu had still decided that helping Hanbei in her moment of trouble is the correct thing to do. So after confirming his righteousness, Hanbei also decided to use her own righteousness to repay Yoshiharu’s kindness, even if she had to bear the crime of betraying her master and conquering the fortress.

Hanbei puffed up her small chest and announced:

「……I can’t accept your help, but I can give you the right of lordship over this fortress. Yoshiharu-san, please accept it, and allow me to go to Sunomata alone. 」

But instead of accepting it, Yoshiharu and Inuchiyo rejected Hanbei’s proposal with smiles on their faces. Yoshiharu even said:

「Until I am going to be fired, I’m going to continue being your retainer, Hanbei-chan. So it’s okay for you to take things easy and not force yourself.]

… as he gently rubbed Hanbei’s small head, and her eyes started to grow bigger and tears formed in their corners. However, this time she was shedding tears not because of fear, but because her heart was overflowing with so much warmth that she did not know what to do with it, but she also felt relieved by it.

Hanbei and her party then proceeded to rendezvous with Goemon and left the Inabayama Castle under the guise of night. Then, they set on the raft prepared by the Kawanami Group and mae haste towards Sunomata along the Nagara river.

In the meantime, Hanbei sent a pigeon carrying a letter to Yoshitatsu, who was supposedly hiding in the town near the foot of the mountain. It seems that Yoshitatsu had been scared stiff by Hanbei’s Shikigami army, and did not have the guts to return to Inabayama Castle.

Yoshiharu readied himself on the raft with his battle ready stance, but then a certain thought has popped into his head.

「That Nobuna, this time she will definitely be fuming with anger. 」

He mumbled to himself.

Just imagining Nobuna being taken away by Nagamasa was enough to cause him terrible agony and heartache, but looking at the small face of Hanbei taking a nap on his lap, he didn’t feel a tinge of regret in his heart.

(This child is the so called 「Current Zhuge Liang」, huh? in the 21st century that I lived in, she’s Japan’s number one genius strategist, the Takenaka Hanbei who’s INT stat in 「The Ambition of Oda Nobunaga」has been set to 98 points. And would you look at that, I’m now trying to convince the Takenaka Hanbei to join Nobuna and fight for her cause. But how could I condemn such a young girl to bear the burden of the fate as tragic as the one of revenge by abandoning her now that Iga Ando has been kidnapped? Yeah, I feel that if I did that, then the spirit of the old man Tokichiro would not leave me alone.)

Using the river currents, the Kawanami Group plus Yoshiharu’s party planned to launch an ambush towards the meeting place in Sunomata….

…. but once they arrived there, they couldn’t find any trace of either Iga Ando or Azai Nagamasa. Everyone opened their eyes as wide as possible and searched for them, but they could not find even a single trace.

「That bastard! We’ve been set up!! 」

Yelled the vice commander leading the Kawanami group, a macho guy named Maeno. He stomped his feet in rage, causing Hanbei to cower in fear as she hid behind Yoshiharu.

「Yoshiharu-san, there are some words written in the soil over here. 」

Inuchiyo pointed at a soil patch without any grass growing nearby and said so.

It seems like you are very uncomfortable about being a traitor to the Mino province, Hanbei-dono. But as long as Sagara Yoshiharu is there with you, returning Inabayama castle to Saito Yoshitatsu is going to be impossible. So according to my plan, I will be the traitor. Now, knowing how much Sagara Yoshiharu hates me, he must have come here with you, Hanbei-dono. If that’s the case, there might be a chance for you to be rid of the name of traitor, but after causing such a big mess earlier, I believe it’s impossible for you to return to Mino, so please come to the Omi province instead. As long as you become my retainer, I promise that Iga Ando will be returned to you safe and sound.
「Damn it! After seeing that it’s impossible to persuade Hanbei to join him, that bastard lured us here just to return Inabayama Castle to Yoshitatsu! That bastard Nagamasa, he really isn’t just a normal gigolo, he’s like… the most despicable gigolo in the entire world! 」

「… Maybe he is that desperate for an alliance with Nobuna-sama? 」

「Maybe, but even if that’s the case, I find it really unbelievable that he would give up Inabayama Castle so easily. 」

「He might be thinking that with Hanbei-dono as his retainer, he can just conquer the fortress again with her Shikigami army. Besides, whether he conquers Inabayama Castle or not, it’s going to be the same result for him when it comes to the marriage with Nobuna-sama. 」

「No matter how I see it, he plans to take the Oda clan and turn it into his personal marionettes with that political marriage with Nobuna. I just don’t understand why he’s being so persistent about her when he doesn’t even love her! 」

「I think it’s common sense for him. Since Nobuna-sama has the same ambition as Nagamasa-sama, he must’ve thought the she’d be the best candidate for a political marriage proposal. 」

Inuchiyo shared her opinion, but Yoshiharu didn’t see it that way. He was certain that the 「world」that Nobuna saw and the 「world」that Azai Nagamasa saw with his eye were tow entirely different things.Though Asai Nagamasa is very energetic and cunning person, he is definitely not the one who holds compassion towards the people of the lands he’s ruling over, and in comparison to the Europeans and their fleets and armies, he wou;dn’t be able to even hold a candle to them, and those honeyed words will definitely be useless against the barbarians from abroad.

Whatever the case with him might be, it is obvious that they won’t gain anything by staying in Sunomata anymore, so Yoshiharu and the gang headed north following the Nagara river, planning to send Hanbei back to her hometown of Bodaisen since no one knew if Yoshitatsu had already sent out troops to kill Hanbei or not.

Looking at the dark and diminishing silhouette of Kinkazan in the distance, Inuchiyo said quietly:
「The army of Owari alone is not going to be enough to conquer that fortress. Nobuna-sama will have no choice but to accept Azai Nagamasa’s marriage proposal. 」

「Not yet, Inuchiyo. I have not given up yet. Though I can’t just go and accept the fortress from Hanbei-chan, I will definitely think of something to conquer Inabayama Castle and give it to Nobuna! 」

「That’s impossible. For one thing, Nobuna-sama excels at guerrilla warfare tactics, and she has no experience at siege warfare. 」

「Yeah, that’s because Nobuna is impulsive, but there must be some other way forher to succeed! There must be! So I will find it, and I will definitely stop Nagamasa’s marriage for all of you to see! 」

Yoshiharu shouted, using all his brain juice to try to think of something while on the boat while Goemon wash catching fish for them to eat in the river.

「It’s impossible, Sagara-sama. 」

This sentence pierced Yoshiharu’s heart like an arrow.

「If you really want to stop the marriage, you should kidnap Hanbei and take her back to the phortress with you. 」

「Goemon, even if that’s true, I will never kidnap girls. That is my, the popular harem warrior Sagara Yoshiharu’s, way of life. 」

「In the end, you will just lose Nobuna-dono. 」

「Maybe, but I’m not going to just throw in the towel! I am someone who won’t give up chasing any of my rabbits, no matter if I end up pursuing two or three of them at once. Besides, it’s a matter of life and death for me, so how can I just leave it like this!? 」
「Ara ara. Sagara-sama, what a lustful person you are. 」

「Goemon, shouldn’t you use the words「good person 」 here?「

「Nope. You’re definitely driven forward by lust. 」

「Well, excuse me for being lustful then. 」

On the other side of the raft, Hanbei sat in the corner and lowered her head because she was so afraid of all the macho men around her and hugged her legs, trying to stay as far away from Goemon and the rest of the Kawanami Group members as possible.