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Volume 3 Chapter 2 Part 5

But Yoshiharu was still kicked by Nobuna and flew a considerable distance, and then she stepped down hard on the back of his head.

「I don’t believe it! How can you do such a despicable thing to Juubei after she had admired you as her senpai!? You idiot! Pervert! Frivolous bastard monkey! 」

「No… No… I am just… Ahhh, even if I explain it to you, you won’t believe it, won’t you! And the amount of trust you have for Juubei and me is like a distance between heaven and earth! Fuck! If I knew that this is how things would have went , I would’ve made sure to do ore thing that would have increased my creditability in your eyes! 」

「Juubei, I know it won’t be enough to make it up to you, but here, I will give you this fried squid! 」

「Thank you! .. Ahh, an indirect kiss with Nobuna-sama… hehehehe~~! 」

Akechi smiled in a sinister way.

「Now, about this perverted monkey of mine… what do you think we should do with him? 」

「Sagara-senpai is the enemy of all young girls! Please execute him without delay! 」

「Wait! Nobuna, Juubei is lying! That girl says totally different things in front of you to suck up to you, and becomes terrifying when she talks with me! I have not touched Juubei’s breasts in any way! Even if I had to bet my life on it, I would rather touch Katsuie’s, okay!? 」

「What did you say!? 」

Yoshiharu’s head was kicked like a ball.

「Damn, I accidentally said it out loud! But what I said is the truth, please believe me! 」
「Unbelievable… To have said such lies… Sagara-senpai is really such a jerk, uwahhhhhh!! 」

「Hmm…though I don’t doubt Juubei’s words, the howls of Saru preferring to touch Riku’s cow-like breasts sound very persuasive too. 」

Nobuna put a finger on her chin and started thinking.

「Nobuna, listen to me! What Juubei says is a totally fabricated lie! In my world, lots of people’s lives were destroyed by the accusations of false crimes perpetrated by the cunning office ladies… but that’s not important right now! What’s important here is that she has no proof to support her claims! You aren’t the kind of person who would punish people without any proof now, are you? 」

「Uwahhh, to let me suffer such ridicule, yet to still say I’m the liar here! I can no longer work for the Odaclan. *Sob!* *Weep!* I don’t want to be in the same place as Sagara-senpai anymore! 」

Nobuna’s face fell into an even deeper state of thinking.

「… As much as I want to punish Saru for being an erotic monkey, what he says is true. Without proof, there is no way to find out which one of you is saying the truth no matter how much we would talk about it… besides, if I kill him, people will say I just did that out of my personal hatred for him, or that I was manipulated by you to kill him, Juubei, and that will just be a heavy blow to my reputation, and I don’t want that. 」

Looks like she had come to a conclusion.

「Though we could decide this with a physical fight, if we go along with it, Saru’s head will definitely fly. Therefore, in order to ensure the fairness of the competition, let’s decide things by using work as the criterium. 」

「 「Using work to decide who’s telling the truth? 」 」

(Ahhh, god damn it. Somewhere in this city is Nobuna’s first love, and Juubei-chan has revealed her dark personality, and, as if the things weren’t already shitty enough, Nobuna must really be thinking that I’ve tried to force myself on Juubei because I am so starved for a woman’s touch! I thought things might be a little different in comparison to my own time, but it isn’t much better at all… ahh, now I really wish I could go back to the present as soon as possible!)

Yoshiharu’s tears were all over his face.

At that moment, a tall man appeared in front of the three of them.

「Oh, I thought I recognized this pretty smiling face from somewhere! Don’t tell me, you are the daughter of Oda Nobuhide-dono? 」

The man in front of them looked like he was still in his prime. Though his hair had started fading, his build and muscles did not show a trace of old age. His big face looked as if it was carved from stone, and would make most people think of the word 「Stubborn」as its best descriptor. He wore a single-lens glasses imported from the west too. He was tall, with wide shoulders and tough body, but there was not a tinge of fat in any of his features.

(Rather than Japanese, he looks more like a German general rather than anything else.)

Yoshiharu couldn’t stop himself from thinking that.

「Yes, that is correct. And you are…? 」

The merchant standing in front of Nobuna suddenly showed her a bright smile .

「There’s no helping it if you don’t remember me, but that’s okay. 10 years ago, when Nobuhide-dono came to Sakai for the first time, I was still just a brat trying to carve out a career path for myself. I am one of Sakai’s Kaigi Gunshū, Imai Soukyu. 」

「Imai Soukyu? Ahh, the master of the shop I always order arquebuses from! 」

「Ahhh, I remembered too! He’s the secret recruitable character in 「The Ambition of Oda Nobunaga」! It’s the old man who will sell tea sets toDdaimyos at every changing of the seasons! 」

「Oi, what’s up with you ‘remembering’ things now, Monkey? Again with that 「Sengoku era strategy games」nonsense of yours? 」

Nobuna chastised Yoshiharu, but Imai Soukyu laughed out loud.

「Ahahahaha! Kid, it looks like you are a really interesting person. 」

「Uwahh. And you have a really loud laugh, old man. 」

「So I heard. Also, what you said about me was correct: while I mainly do trading, I also have an interest in tea ceremonies. Well, my skills with tea-making might not be the best under the sun, but they are just to the level where I can smoothly finish the deals that I want to push through. 」

「Imai Sokyu-dono. We have met before during tea ceremonies. 」

Akechi Mitsuhide bowed to Imai Sokyu politely.

In the past, when the Kaigi Gunshū organized tea ceremonies, Mitsuhide seemed to have attended them a few times.

「Yes. But you girls can’t keep staying here. While you are staying in Sakai, why not stay in my humble abode? 」

「Since Juubei has also offered to help us, there shouldn’t be any problems. 」

Nobuna nodded.
「We three of us came here for the purpose of a very important job. Soukyu-dono, would you be willing to help us as well? 」

「Hmm… Since it’s you who decided to push Imagawa-dono to be the next Shogun, I’m guessing that this job of yours must be related to some kinda big trade, or something along those lines? 」

「Yes. To keep things short, I need to earn 120,000 kan before the end of the month. 」

「120,000 kan? Now that’s an astronomical number if I’ve ever seen one. 」

「Yes. Also, for the sake of this endeavor, I am not Oda Nobuna, but the daughter of Owari’s Uiroumochi shop-owner, Kichi, coming here for a visit. Now then. Saru, Juubei, listen well: I will leave this job to you, and whoever ends up losing is going to have to go back to Gifu Castle and manage the kitchens from now on! 」

「「W-What…? 」 」 Yoshiharu and Juubei looked at each other.

「You heard me. Who is right and who is wrong, let’s decide it with this match. Thanks to this, no matter who ends up winning or losing, it’s all going to be fair, so there should be no more bad blood between you when it will all be over., hehehe. 」

After deciding to stay at Imai Soukyu’s house for the moment, Nobuna and gang, were soon shown to the guest room.

「Welcome to my residence. Please, make yourselves at home. 」

「Dearu ka. Matsunaga Danjo had surrendered and brought her troops back to Yamato, and he Miyoshi Three had escaped back to Shikoku along with the remnants of their forces. Now, I feel like I have to ask this one more time: Soukyu-dono, you are on my side, right? 」

「Of course I am, and that much should be obvious. After all, the Oda clan has been the biggest customer for the products offered by my clan since my father’s lifetime. 」