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Volume 2 Chapter 3 Part 3

Yoshiharu’s chopsticks fell on the floor.

「How did you know that we are from Owari? 」

「That arquebus and your clothes are both foreign to the Mino province. And since an arquebus is something that Oda Nobuna is known to be fond of, it is obvious that you two are from Owari. 」

「What good eyes you have, old man. I guess the interview is over, and he should abandon all hopes of being chosen then? 」

「No. On the contrary, I’m going to choose both of you. 」

「For real? 」

「Yes. I guess you could say that the way in which you kept spending money got me interested. Physical strength is important for a warrior, but one cannot underestimate the power that money carries with itself either. Dosan-dono had been emphasizing that a life or death of both a single province as well as an entire country can be decided by money. 」

(Even though we had yet to see Hanbei, it seemed like this Ando Iga already decided to employ us. Can we take it as a good sign of things to come?)

「Well then, let me take you to Hanbei. 」

(Oh yes we can!)

Now that they’ve managed to become Takenaka Hanbei’s retainers by some miracle, the two of them were led by Ando Iga towards Hanbei’s room, which seemed to be located deeper inside of the tea shop.

However…

(Hmm, that’s odd. Isn’t this plan going way too smoothly? Could it be that this old man Ando have already figured out that we don’t really want to join Takenaka Hanbei and we’re still working under Nobuna?)

Is it a trap, or does he plan to ally with both the Oda clan and the Saito clan? No matter which is it, at the moment they have nothing to bring to the table at all unless they are able to negotiate with Takenaka Hanbei directly.

Inuchiyo gently pulled Yoshiharu’s sleeve. Her expression showed that she was somewhat worried about this sudden development, and that she also thought that this was weird.

「Nothing ventured, nothing gained, as they say. Let’s go, Inuchiyo. 」

After gently encouraging Inuchiyo by patting her on the back, they proceeded to go after Ando Iga. When they went deeper, they saw that a handsome young man was sitting in a perfect seiza position in the room they entered.

「Hmm, why do I feel like I’ve seen this face before? 」

「What! Azai Nagamasa?! 」

「Nobuna’s damn monkey?! Why are you here!? 」

No one could have predicted that these two monkeys, one from the Owari province and the other from the Omi province would meet each other here of all places.

「Wha…. What… this, this, this is bad! 」

「 Inuchiyo exclaimed while munching on the food that she took along with her. 」

「W-Why am I here, you ask? W-Well, that should be obvious, don’t you think? I…I escaped from the Oda clan and I am ready to serve Hanbei-dono starting today! With this, I will finally be able to say goodbye to the days where that idiotic princess Nobuna would threaten to chop my head off for every little thing or use her sandals to stomp on my face whenever she felt annoyed! Hehe, hehehe~! 」

「Oh, I, I see… By the way, I am not Azai Nagamasa. I’m just an ordinary merchant of the Masuichi clan from the Omi province Saruyasamaru. Our clan makes a living by selling medicine and was able to save up a small fortune because of it, but now my brothers have all left home to find their own way of life, and as the eldest son of the family, I have decided to serve Takenaka-sama. 」

「Liar. You think you’re Mitoki Komon or something? And all that rubbish about selling medicine for a living? Come on, you’re Azai Nagamasa, and you’re not going to fool anyone! 」

「I am not this Azai person you’re talking about. You must be mistaking me with someone else. 」

「Like hell I am! If you’re not Azai, then how could a mere merchant from the Omi province whom I’ve never seen before recognize my face?! 」

「Whatever do you mean? How could I not know who you are? After all, the rumors about a Monkey from a Monkey Kingdom serving under Oda Nobuna of Owari have long since traveled far and wide. I daresay that everyone knows about you! 」

「*Tch*! Go on and spread your lies then! 」

Ando Iga, noticing the situation and quickly pulling Yoshiharu and Nagamasa apart before the two of them were able to jump at each other’s throats and started exchanging blows, and said:

「The wealthy Saruyashamaru-sama and the Extravagant Yoshiharu-dono, a ronin from Owari and Inuchiyo-dono, I had decided to let you three serve under Takenaka Hanbei together. 」

「Now wait just a goddamn minute, old man! You’re definitely picking the candidates just by the criteria of wealth! Come to think of it, all you’ve been talking about from the very start is money and nothing else! 」

「You’re thinking about it way too much. 」

「And that guy over there is not some random merchant, but the Daimyo of the Omi province, Azai Nagamasa! This bastard is full of malicious plans, and God only knows what kind of schemes he’s cooking up in that rotten mind of his even now! How can you possibly hire such a person!? 」

Azai Nagamasa merely laughed at that accusation.

「You’re accusing me of some pretty serious things, but do you have any proof that these accusations are actually true? In fact, aren’t you also lying about running away from the Oda clan? How are you going to prove that you are not actually a spy working under Nobuna’s orders to assassinate Hanbei-sama, Monkey-dono? 」

「*Tsk!*! You scumbag! Nobuna would never use such an underhanded methods like assassination! 」

「Who knows? Hanbei-sama’s tactics seems to be a big source of headaches for Nobuna-dono, so she might feel pushed into a corner by the marriage proposal of the head of the Azai clan and attempt to launch an assassination plot in order to speed up the process of conquering Mino. 」

*FWOOSH!*

Without even noticing that his rage meter has been filled in an instant, Yoshiharu launched his fist towards Nagamasa smiling like a genuine villain, but he easily dodged it, and Yoshiharu’s attack went straight through one of the nearby pillars instead.

「Ahhhh! My fist! MY FISTTTTT!! AHHHHHH! 」

「Yoshiharu-san, please relax. 」

「Now, let me chase away these other poor Ronins. These poor people only know how to eat; there is absolutely no worth in employing them. Just wait for a while, Hanbei will be here soon. 」

It seems like Ando Iga did not really care about the fuss in the house and started to walk towards the corridor as if nothing had happened.

「Oh, and one more thing. If you guys treasure your lives, then I strongly advise you not to anger Hanbei. Because if you do, then I’m afraid that even I won’t be able to guarantee your safety. 」

It’s almost as if he totally didn’t care that Saruyashamaru was actually Azai Nagamasa; in fact, he seemed to welcome such a development.

「I really don’t understand that old man… As if the Oda and Saito clans were not enough, he is even adding the Azai clan into the mix. Don’t tell me he is really planning to sell Hanbei to the highest bidder!? 」

「Maybe so, but our mutual poking of each others intentions ends here, Monkey. 」

Nagamasa whispered to Yoshiharu.

(This bastard! Even though he’s obviously male, how could his body emit out such a nice fragrance? He must have been wearing women’s clothing often and used aromatic oils in the process! I’m sure of it! *Tsk!* I knew that he would be an obstacle to my great Harem Plan, but I didn’t expect he’d be an obstacle of such a caliber!)

Yoshiharu clicked his tongue as he let out a string of malicious thoughts.

「Monkey, our objectives are the same, right? We both want to pull Takenaka Hanbei over to our side… So instead of fighting each other, why don’t we just play our roles as the merchant from the Omi province and a Ronin from the Owari province? 」
「Nagamasa, for someone of your caliber, that’s not a bad idea. I guess I’ll just follow it for now… but know that I will be the one to win Takenaka Hanbei over! Speaking of which, you
have to lower yourself to this level just to conquer Mino before Nobuna? Now that’s rather shallow of you. 」

「For someone like me, when I set my eyes on cities or women, I will definitely conquer them no matter what. Nobuna-dono is no exception from that. Instead of relying on some dirty monkey who can only do stupid things to try to delay the marriage, she can just hide behind me and live a more comfortable life instead. 」