Volume 2 Chapter 4 Part 11
Yoshiharu, who was in the middle of praising himself was suddenly hit in the back of his head. After looking back carefully, he saw that the object that whacked him was the gourd that was always hanging on Nobuna’s waist. It was a gourd which Nobuna was using as her personal water container that never left her side, and it even had her full name carved into it.
「That hurt! What the hell are you doing!? 」
「Hmph! There isn’t any water source in Kinkazan, so if you ever feel like getting thirsty during your infiltration, just drink from this gourd. 」
「Thanks! And don’t forget that once I’m done with this, you have to fulfill the promise of the reward for me without weaseling your way out of it! 」
「Yeah. But only if you come back alive. 」
Nobuna smiled with a hint of arrogance behind her words, and Yoshiharu smiled with her.
「Ahhh, is it just me, or did that damn Monkey and Nobuna-sama were passing glances at each other just now? What kind of weird atmosphere is that!? What are we even watching here?! Damn you, Monkey. If you dare touch that gourd with your filthy lips, you are dead, you hear me?! I will kill you myself! 」
The fuming Katsuie shouted out loud while crying.
While moving towards Inabayama castle, Yoshiharu remembered back to a moment when he asked Hanbei if there were any secret tunnels dug beneath Inabayama Castle.
「There are heavy defenses guarding the southern and western sides of the castle. But if you climb the cliff from the northern side near the Nagara river, you will be able to get inside. The cliffs themselves are hard to get to, and not even the beasts dare to go near them. Knowing all that, are you still willing to go? I used up all my talismans in Sunomata, so now I’m
just a useless kid who won’t be able to help you in any way. Yoshiharu-san, if you still want to go, you will most likely lose your life. But…. 」
「But I must still go regardless of that. You told me about where the entrance to the secret tunnel is because you knew this, right? Thanks. 」
Yoshiharu patted Hanbei’s head lightly and went to join the meeting of Nobuna with her retainers. And now when he was left just by himself, Yoshiharu started the journey towards the secret tunnel leading to Inabayama Castle.
To be as discreet as possible, only Goemon herself followed him. After all, what he wanted to do now was nothing but a gamble, so there is no need for anyone but himself to be risking their lives.
「Sorry about this, Goemon. I’m having you to accompany me every time whenever the going gets tough. 」
「You don’t need to apologize, Sagara-sama. I also don’t want to shee you depreshed after sheeing Nobuna-dono getting shnatched away by Azai Nagamasa. 」
I-I don’t care about Nobuna! I just can’t see eye to eye with that sissy Azai Nagamasa, and I want nothing more than to teach him a lesson! 」
「Hehe. Let’s go then. 」
Yoshiharu and Goemon started on the first cliff, relying on each other to check their surroundings and make sure that they haven’t been discovered just yet. Though the security in this part of the castle’s vicinity was relatively light, occasionally there were some patrols spread here and there. However, these patrols were soon shaken by a certain sound that started echoing around the forest.
「*ROAR! ROOOOOOAAAAAARRRRR!* 」
「「「Uwahhh, t-tigers! There are tigers on this mountain! 」 」 」
「She really does sound like a tiger, huh? 」
「To be precise, it’s not a tiger, but a tigress, Sagara-sama. 」
Even though Inuchiyo couldn’t come with them, she made a few tiger-like roars from the bottom of the mountain in order to divert the soldier’s attention away from them., after which she pouted and threw a short tantrum. Looks like in her heart, she still wanted to go go climb the mountain together with Yoshiharu after all.
* * *
It was almost time to the deadline.
「Ugh, why hasn’t Monkey given the signal yet?! 」
While looking up at Kinkazan, Nobuna was shaking her leg in desperation. Though her heart was anxious about Yoshiharu’s safety, her mouth was still saying:「What a useless monkey he is! 」.
Katsuie was following closely to Nobuna.
「Nobuna-sama! Look! That’s your gourd! 」
At the peak of the mountain, there was a flash of light, which, as it turned out, was caused by the gourd that Nobuna had lent to Yoshiharu. He must have tied the gourd on his spear and left it there swinging it around, knowing that Nobuna will definitely know that this was a signal from him.
Nobuna stood up from the bench she was currently sitting at, raised her fist high into the air and shouted:
「Monkey’s done it, Riku! It’s our victory! Now, signal everyone to prepare for an all-out assault! 」
「Ugh!!!! You damn, shitty monkey! Why is this gourd so shiny that it can be seen all the way from here?! *GASP!* I know! It must be because that damn perverted monkey wanted to slowly savor the taste of Nobuna-sama’s precious saliva, and so he used his own dirty tongue to lick the gourd that she so graciously given to him all over! Yes, that must be it, there is no doubt about it in my mind! Now I will have no choice but to kill him for what he did! 」
「You know what, Riku? I have made a decision! From this day forward, that gourd is going to be known as Monkey’s flag, and the symbol of his troops! 」
「Ehhhh? Nobuna-sama, you want to do something like that? B-But… but is that gourd not one of your precious treasures?! O-Or… or could it be that you treasure that stupid monkey to such an extent?! No… say that it is not like that, Nobuna-samaaaaa!!!!!! 」
As soon as she heard Nobuna giving the order for an all-out assault, Niwa Nagahide, whose childhood name is Manchiyo, had prepared a formation of soldiers to wait on standby at the foot of Kinkazan. While her own troops have surrounded all of the different gates leading to Inabayama Castle, Nagahide herself stood by her men and watched as Nobuna herself launched an attacks on the castle.
「At this rate, it won’t be long before Nobuna-sama’s dream of conquering both Inabayama Castle and the Mino province will finally come true! !00 points! Perfect score! 」
However, Nagahide’s joy was short-lived, because an unknown army has approached her forces while appearing seemingly out of nowhere. She strained her eyes to look at the banners that these mysterious soldiers were carrying, and she soon saw that they were carrying the crests of the Azai clan on them, and upon closer inspection, she saw that the young warrior who was leading all the others at the very front of his troops was Azai Nagamasa himself.
「I, Azai Nagamasa, the heir to the Azai Clan and Oda Nobuna’s husband have come here with my soldiers in order to lend Nobuna my aid in the conquest of the Mino province. Once the siege is over, we shall hold our wedding ceremony here in Inabayama Castle. 」
He was saying that he has come here to lend Nobuna his aid, but one look at the troops he brought with himself was enough for Nagahide to guess what his real intentions truly were. Nagamasa himself has dropped the festive, merry guise that he adorned himself with when he came to visit Nobuna before, and his people were small in numbers and did not have any proper equipment on them, save for the items that would be absolutely necessary in order to carry out a wedding ceremony. In all likelihood, while he was heading to Owari for his marriage with Nobuna, he must have heard that she moved out attack Mino and lay a siege to Inabayama Castle, one once he figured out that if he allows the things to continue the way they were going then the whole marriage proposal thing is going to be null and void, he hurriedly rushed toward Mino himself with the handful of people that were with him at the moment.
A move truly befitting of a man like him, someone who is of the sort that wants to take all the benefits of a given situation for himself without actually lifting a finger to do anything.
Of course, Nagamasa had one more secret motive for coming to Mino: he didn’t want to allow the secret of him helping Saito Yoshitatsu to retake Inabayama Castleto ever see the light of day. He knew that if he does not dispose of Saito Yoshitatsu with his own hands, his involvement in all of this will be eventually leaked over to Nobuna, and he will have to kiss the marriage with her goodbye.
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