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Volume 2 Chapter 4 Part 9

The both of them whispered to each other and changed sides, leaving Yoshitatsu’s service in order to help Hanbei.

「Inaba Itetsu will fight for Sagara-dono right now! 」

「Ujiie Bokuzen Naomoto, will join Sagara-dono too! 」

With this, the troops from both sides were almost even in numbers now. No, Yoshitatsu, whose troops had lost all morale was now at an immense disadvantage. But even in this situation, Yoshitatsu still shouted 「I’ll take all of you on myself if I have to! 」and the 6 foot 5 inches tall man swung his sword like a demon and beat the incoming soldiers into the ground with it.

Hanbei rode her pony on the battlefield while dodging incoming attacks repeatedly, finally running into the almost completed Sunomata castle. Yoshiharu also swung the spear in his hands while covering Hanbei on her way to the castle.

「E-Everyone! I will now set up the eight triagrams array with this castle in the center of it! 」

「Hanbei-chan, thank you so much! But, but Goemon…! 」

「Yoshiharu-san, all living beings must die one day! Please leave your sadness for later! Now, we must think carefully how to live on, for her sake as well! 」

A slightly pale Hanbei used all of her strength and shouted to Yoshiharu. On her small face, there was a never before seen loneliness.,, but what is the reason behind that expression? Unfortunately, Yoshiharu did not have the time to think about it on the battlefield.

Both armies clashed fiercely in this small battlefield, and soon what was first morning already changed to the afternoon.

「I will definitely not lose! Only I am fit to be the master of Mino! No matter if it’s father or that foolish princess, as long as I have even one breath left in my body, you people will never take Mino away from me! 」

With his huge monster-like body and his fierce determination, Yoshitatsu managed to gather up the confused Mino army’s soldiers and get them into formation again.

“If we let the enemy in front of us escape, we will definitely be swallowed whole by Yoshitatsu「. Such a fear forced the soldiers of the Mino army to launch an offensive against Yoshiharu and Hanbei again and again.

「Yoshitatsu abandoned his human exterior and changed into a monster. He won’t listen to anything we say to him now. 」

Hanbei looked like she had used all her strengthnow. The long duration of the battle had caused a huge burden to her small body, which was evident by the coughing fits she was subjected to while she rested on a stool that was provided for her.

「Are you alright, Hanbei-chan? If you’re tired, you can rest for a while first. 」

「No. We can’t back down anymore. 」

「Though I know it’s like this, don’t force yourself too much, okay? 」

However, no matter how hard Hanbei tried to command, Yoshiharu’s troops at Sunomata were slowly getting pushed back by the Mino army.

Just when the gates of their castle were almost broken through… an ever-so familiar voice reached Yoshiharu’s ears.

「A castle in Sunomata is almost complete! Everyone, charge straight towards the Mino’s army with all you’ve got! 」

Wearing her foreign styled armor, Nobuna rushes over to the castle as the vanguard of her troops.

「This idiot! Why did you come here? Go and attack Inabayama Castle while you still have the chance! What the hell are you doing here!? 」
Yoshiharu shouted at Nobuna when she got closer.

「To recover my reputation for failing to build the Sunomata castle, Shibata Katsuie reports her readiness for battle! Follow after Nobuna-sama and attack with everything you’ve got! 」

「Owari’s most beautiful man, Oda Nobusumi is here! Monkey-kun, leaving me alone was so rude of you, you know? 」

「Looking at the overwhelming stance of the Owari’s army, the Mino army is starting to panic. 93 points. 」

「Bullying Yoshiharu is unforgivable! Let me bully them back tenfold! 」

The full force of Nobuna, army crossed the river in unison and entered Sunomata with style. Unexpectedly, they all seemed unstoppable. All that the soldiers of the Mino province could do against their might was but to tremble in fear.

What can the Mino army do but tremble.

While commanding the Mino army, Saito Yoshitatsu, was stunned by the scenery in front of him. He was mumbling to himself:

「How can this be? Supporting Sunomata with her whole army? Isn’t she going to attack Inabayama castle!? 」

The cunning Yoshitatsu had left quite a number of troops in Inabayama castle just in case something like that happened. Though Nobuna is skilled in regular frontline battles, she is weak in besieging castles because her troops are obviously small in number, so even if he separated troops to attack Sunomata and guard Inabayama castle at the same time, he was confident of defeating his enemies on both fronts. That’s what Yoshitatsu had originally planned.

But if this goes on, he himself as the general might just fall in Sunomata. If that’s the case, the troops at Inabayama castle will only be able to do one thing: surrender.

「I-I-I-I-Is this the so called, being done in by my own hubris?! 」

In such a situation, the only thing that was left to do was only to abandon the battle and retreat.

「Give up on Sunomata and guard Inabayama Castle! 」

Saito Yoshitatsu gave the order and hurriedly retreated from the battlefield himself.

(Building a castle in one night is just too crazy! It’s just pure nonsense! Did Oda use magic? Or could it be an idea by her godfather, Dosan?)

Yoshitatsu gashed his teeth in anger even harder.

「The intelligence of Viper and that foolish Oda girl… don’t tell me they can really win against me if they band together?! 」

Towards his godfather who had always belittled him due to his height and size, Yoshitatsu has always felt nothing but hatred and wanted to prove that he is a much better successor to Mino than Oda clan’s Fool of Owari.

Since the people of Mino had always been unable to accept outsiders, Dosan used, Yoshitatsu who is the proper descendant of the Toki clan, in order to make it easier to be accepted by the people. After taking Mino over, Yoshitatsu has scrapped away all of Dosan’s reformations, and the people had more or less accepted him as their rightful Daimyo.

As for commanding troops, he learned all of the strategies that Dosan ever came up with. But even with all these, is it really that he can’t win against that foolish girl from Owari? Was Dosan’s evaluation of her actually spot on? And if that’s really the case, then why was he even being nurtured to be the successor of the Saito clan?

A nightmarish reality then stroke Yoshitatsu hard.

* * *

After the battle was over「Sagara Yoshiharu’s Sunomata’s One Night Castle 」quickly became a main subject of talks among the soldiers. The whole fortress was alive with cheers due to this victory.

With blood splattered all around him, Yoshiharu knelt in front of Nobuna and paid his respects to her while still carrying Goemon’s body in his arms. Hanbei let out a big sigh of relief due to the sudden victory, but then she realized what would come next and shouted

「N-N-N-Nobuna-sama is so scary… I don’t wanna see her… Ahhh….!!! 」

And she proceeded to hide herself in the watchtower. Looks like that weak character of hers won’t be cured that easily. But it’s true that when she was commanding the troops and leading Inaba Itetsu and Ujiie Bokuzen to Yoshiharu’s side, Hanbei had tried her best.

But even so, Yoshiharu looked onto Nobuna with dead eyes.

「Why are you here, Nobuna?! Didn’t I tell you to attack Inabayama Castle!? You really want to marry that sissy Nagamasa that badly, huh? 」

「Hmph! Though I do wanted to abandon you to your fate, I suddenly changed my mind. You have good luck, Monkey. 」

「But… 」

「I…I am the same greedy person you are. No matter if it’s Sunomata or Inabayama Castle, I want both of them. I am just the sort of person who keeps a ‘no giving up on anything’ policy. That being said, Yoshitatsu must have left quite a number of troops in the castle, since the Mino army was much smaller than I expected it to be. 」

Thanks to Nobuna’s arrival, Yoshiharu’s life was saved. But it doesn’t change the fact that Goemon, who was in Yoshiharu’s arms was dead.

「Anyway, I’ve build a castle in Sunomata for you, exactly like I promised. 」

「Dearu ka. That ninja… it seems like the battle has been too hard on her. I’m very sorry for your loss. Ahh, war… people die in it, ae expected.. What a horrible thing it is. That’s why I guarantee you that I will pacify this messed up world and change it to a one that will never have wars in it again. 」