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Volume 2 Chapter 3 Part 4

「Inuchiyo, lend me your spear. I think I should just pierce this bastard to death right here to save us the trouble of dealing with him later! 」

「Yoshiharu-san, please be tolerant here. 」

Just as the three of them were staring at each other and quarreling…

「Nice to meet you all. I am… Takenaka Hanbei Shigetora. 」

(Huh?! Just when did this person appear in front of us?)

Out of nowhere, a pale and tall man was lying motionlessly in the seat in the middle of the room.

「WAAAAAAAAAAh!!! That scared me!!! 」

「Amazing.Even I was unable to detect him… When did he get here without being noticed? 」

「…I was careless. 」

Takenaka Hanbei finally appeared before them.

Truth to be told, his appearance wasn’t that much different from how he was usually depicted in the various Sengoku era strategy games. As for the age, he should be around 30 years old, and his fox-like eyes really were going well together with the whole Onmyouji look he had going on for him as well.

His skin was as white as snow, and a light yellow silk shirt was wrapped around his thin build together with what looked like a while ceremonial shawl, and on his head was a helmet with two kabuto-like horns, which was a trademark helmet worn by Takenaka Hanbei in all sorts of modern media.
Even now, when he was being surrounded by Yoshiharu, Inuchiyo and Nagamasa, Takenaka Hanbei did not look concerned at all and maintained his sleeping position without a care in the world.

「My name is Sagara Yoshiharu. The one with a tiger skin on his head is my younger brother, Inuchiyo. 」

「YOUNGER. SISTER. INUCHIYO. 」

「I am a merchant from the Omi province and the heir to my family, Saruyashamaru. It’s an honor to finally meet you, Hanbei-sama… although I have to say that I’m a little surprised, since my sources told me that you were supposed to be a female. 」

「Mhmm, mhmm, mhmm…. I see. Well, it’s just as you see. I’m just a handsome young man, though I’m not as young as the three of you. Sorry to disappoint your expectations… Azai Nagamasa-dono. 」

「Ohh, I’m exposed from the start, huh? That’s certainly disappointing. 」

Nagamasa gnashed his teeth together in frustration. He must have thought that with his looks, he would be able to charm and deceive Hanbei, which is why he did not hesitate to come to Mino’s Inokuchi personally in the first place.

However, there was another man who was grinding his teeth in anger as well.

「Grrrr! I get it now, Nagamasa! Visiting other clans to seduce their women to expand your own sphere of influence must be your preferred strategy, huh?! Just try saying that it ain’t so!」

「Not Nagamasa, but Saruyasamaru. I did not lie or trick anyone. It’s true that any girl under my embrace is going to feel happy and blissful. Don’t place me in the same category as some dirty monkey who would be beheaded on the spot for even trying to fantasize about embracing Nobuna-dono. 」

「Shut up you bastard! If you dare to hug Nobuna, I’ll be the first to kill you! 」

「And besides, any woman that I kiss will immediately be taken to paradise~~ 」

「Inuchiyo, lend me your spear! If I don’t fight it out with this bastard right now, then I’m not going to be able to look myself in the eye anymore! 」

「Can you people keep your little dispute over Oda Nobuna for somewhere else, or for a later date? 」

Takenaka Hanbei, who was still lying down, asked. Although he looked very dignified when they first saw him when he appeared in the room, the more time had passed, the stronger Yoshiharu was convinced that this person was just plain lazy and devoid of motivation.

「You’re right, Hanbei-sama. But before talking to us, could you get up first? 」

「No, I’ll be ok lying down. Standing up is going to be too much of a hassle, and besides, this position is good for my health. 」

「Why does this guy sound like some pretty faced character from a BL game? 」

Yoshiharu couldn’t help but to mutter it out to himself.

Nagamasa observed the situation in silence and sat down quietly in a corner of the room. It is possible that he was thinking of another way to win Takenaka Hanbei over right now.

「My three guests, thanks for not minding the long distance and venturing all the way here to Inokuchi. Why don’t you relax and have some tea first? 」

Hanbei clapped his hands with difficulty, and then a beautiful villager came into the room, and placed a plate full of dango in front of the three of them. A pair of wolf-like ears could be seen when she turned her head around. 」

「Woah…that wolf-eared girl sure is cute. 」

「… Compared to wolves, dogs are definitely cuter. 」

Inuchiyo said with a hint of anger in her voice.

「That child is my Shikigami , 「Goki」. 」

「Shikigami? You mean like the legendary Shikigami that Abe no Seimei used? 」

「Precisely. To possess the knowledge of the name of the father of Onmyoudo and all Onmyouji, as well as his acheivements… you aree most certainly full of surprises, Sagara-sama. 」

「Haha… It’s just that Abe no Seimei is a very popular figure in my world. 」

Upon closer inspection, the dangos that were served to them by the girl had a thick layer of something smeared on them: it was definitely Hatcho Miso. In addition, the cups were filled with hot simmering tea, which seems delicious just by looking at it.

「This is my favorite snack: Hidan’s special dango. Hidan’s rice doesn’t taste good, so it is turned into dangos instead. It is very popular in Mino as well. 」

Hanbei proudly said that to his three guests.

「And since Inabayama castle is a place where it is hard to get a hold of fresh water, then in order to conserve water during a siege, instead of cooking rice, we use rice by molding it into dangos. It can be said that this is our way of storing food and making sure that it won’t go to waste. 」

「Man…the way you say it makes me real thirsty! Time to dig in then! 」

「Those dangos…look good. I’ll try them as well. 」

The beautiful girl had retreated from the room without uttering as much as a single word, after which Yoshiharu and Inuchiyo became engrossed with the tea and dango not unlike ants that just found a full basket of sweets laying on a picnic blanket. However, as someone who fundamentally despised dishes with miso added to them. Nagamasa mumbled…

「Miso dangos, huh? That seems a bit… excessive. 」

… and started to frown. He just couldn’t understand why do people like to add such bitter tasting thing as miso onto these sweet dangos? It was totally incomprehensible to him.

「Nagamasa, come and eat a few of these too! It’s so tasty… no, simply delicious! This tea too; though it’s a bit hot, the heat is totally fitting to a stomach that was just filled with lunch! It’s almost scary how well these two things compliment one another! 」

「….Yes, what Yoshiharu-san said. Miso-dangos… though they are a little bitter, they’re still tasty. 」

(Though people were calling Takenaka Hanbei a famous weirdo who looked like a fox on first glance, he seemed like a nice fellow. If I just go out and play my hand straight by suggesting that he should join the Oda clan, then who knows, he might just agree to it. )

Yoshiharu and Inuchiyo then nodded at each other with a silly smiling faces.

But…

「Gahahahahahahaha! 」

As Yoshiharu who was shouting 「Tasty, tasty! 」 and kept refilling his cup with more servings of tea, and Inuchiyo who was stuffing her face full of dangos, were looking at each other while
smiling silly, Hanbei broke into an uncontrollable laughing fit.

Suddenly, his face broke into pieces, and his mouth widened like that of a demon. At that moment, the brains of Yoshiharu and Inuchiyo, and even Nagamasa couldn’t keep up what was currently happening in front of them right now.

「Hahahaha, and here I was expecting something more from the Owari warriors who broke through my 「Ambush from all sides」 and 「Stone Sentinel Maze」. In the end, if you fell for such a low level prank, then how dumb can you possibly be?! Hohoho! 」

「Oi, Hanbei’s face completely changed into some kind of fox-demon’s?! Inuchiyo, how scary! 」

While they regained their senses, Hanbei totally changed into a fox.