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Volume 3 Chapter 3 Part 9

「But Takoyaki is my Naya’s speciality. 」

「It’s not really going to be a duplicate of Naya’s Takoyaki, but a new flavor invented by Juubei and I instead. Because of the monopoly of Naya’s Takoyaki, the merchants of Sakai had all been eyeing the selling rights of Takoyaki. That’s why I think that if we can come up with a delicious new flavor of Takoyaki, they will definitely buy it off our hands. With that, Nobuna’s 120k kan will be gathered effortlessly too. 」

It’s a good idea, but this will definitely be a huge blow to old man Sogyu’s business.

「So whether or not the Oda clan can conquer the world, it all depends on whether you can accept this new flavor of Takoyaki or not. 」

「I get it. This was most likely Tsuda Sokyu’s intention from the very beginning. 」

Imai Sogyu said more to himself rather than to Yoshiharu.

A harsh competition in which the judges will abandon their votes if they do not like the presented dishes, in which both sides of the competition are going to be the newcomers. And the competition is to be held tomorrow, so there is no time for them to lose. That is the precarious situation they’ve found themselves in right now.

The only cuisine that the Sakai merchants want is none other than Naya’s Takoyaki, and if they tried to present anything else, their entry would most likely be disqualified from the start, so no matter which one of them tried to think of other ways, they could only come to this conclusion.

「As expected of Tsuda Sogyu, he really had planned this whole thing out from start to finish. 」

「So how is it going to be? Will you agree to condone the new flavor of Takoyaki? 」

「Sagara-dono. I can’t simply agree to something like this without thinking it through… 」

「Listen to me now, old man. Whether the Oda clan can conquer the world, all of it depends on this culinary showdown here at Sakai. And if Nobuna ends up conquering the world for real, she will owe a great debt to you! 」

「So as to say… You want me to use my business to pre-invest in her? And because of that, you want me to give up on my Takoyaki for the sake of this culinary showdown? 」

Imai Sogyu crossed his arms and sank into deep thought.

「That’s basically the situation. So once again: how is it going to be? 」

「If Nbuna-sama fails to conquer the world, all my investments will go down to the drain. 」

「I’m someone who came from the future. My skills with the spear and shooting sucks, and the only weapon I have is my knowledge of the future. That’s why I know that she will definitely succeed. 」

「In other words, you want me to believe in yourwords, even though you have no proof whatsoever to guarantee that what you’re saying is indeed the truth? 」

「I will definitely help Nobuna conquer the world! With the knowledge I have, I will definitely stay by her side and keep her on the right path! It’s the whole reason I came here from the future! 」

…All these were just empty words without any proof, just like Imai Sogyu said. But, he had to admit that from the glittering eyes of this young man, an immense amount of passion was being emitted.

(So this is how the young people are these days…)

Imai Sogyu felt like he had seen something too bright for him to handle, and narrowed his eyes.

「If what you said is all fake, the Imai clan losing the selling rights of the Takoyaki won’t be the only issue; even the Oda clan will be in trouble. 」

Imai Sogyu said as he sipped his tea while laughing without a care in the world.

「But if we think of the opposite, if you are really from the future, the Imai clan might just become the biggest merchant clan in Sakai from now on. 」

「It won’t just be the biggest in Sakai. Nobuna’s target is worldwide trading. That is to say, she wants to add Japan into the big turning point of the world’s history, The Era of Nagigation. She isn’t that short-sighted to want something like just territories on land. What she wants is the sea, and her target lies on the other side of the wide oceans. 」

「Is that true? What you just said, I mean? 」

Yoshiharu nodded his head earnestly.

(Looks like Even I, who has much more experience than this young man, have underestimated Nobuna….)

Imai Sougyu, though in his prime and owning a solid business, was still an outsider in the merchant circles of Sakai, and he lacked any distinguished background too. From being penniless, he had climbed up to his current position using nothing but his own talent and decision-making skills.

But what Imai Sogyu wants isn’t just money. It cannot be denied that when he was young and running around, he had an incomparable desire for money, but once his business had developed to its current state, he couldn’t help but think that money alone would be unable to satisfy him. Money, in the end, is just a currency after all, and currency itself has no worth. Even if one accumulates lots of it, if he did not spend it meaningfully, there would be no point gathering so much of it in the first place. And no matter how rich merchants are, in the end they are just merchants. A lifetime of gathering money would still leave their status below that of those officials in Kyoto.

(If that’s the case, let’s just spend my wealth on the heroes and let everyone in the future forever remember the name Imai Sogyu as the one who enabled them to rise and prove to this world that merchants, and the wealth that merchants have, is the real strength needed to push on to a new era.)

Now that he thought about it, he had always had wild ambitions like this.

「Yes… Seeing Sagara-dono’s fascination over her, maybe it’s not a bad idea to use my whole fortune and bet on Nobuna-sama after all. 」

「Thank you so much! 」

Yoshiharu grabbed Imai Sogyu’s hands and knelt down on the floor.

「Once Nobuna conquers the world, you will be Japan’s no. 1, no, the world’s no. 1 merchant! I can promise you that much, old man! 」

「Sagara-dono is really someone who gets overly excited. But, I, Imai Sogyu don’t particularly dislike your personality. 」

Imai sat up straight and said that.

(If the stakes are that high in this contest, then I guess that I can let the matter of the new flavor of Takoyaki pass. That will affect Naya’s business, but until Nobuna-sama can conquer Japan, I will just bear with it.)

「Thank you so much! With this, no matter if it’s me or Juubei, we can finally earn the title of ‘general’! With this taken care of, all I need to do is to think of the best Takoyaki that can beat Juubei! 」

But, Imai Sougyu shook his head.

「I have said it before… but in this world, competitions are harsh, Sagara-dono. Though I have decided to help the princess of the Oda clan, this also means that I will need greater wealth than before. For the sake of benefits, I can’t say I won’t backstab you. Please do be careful from now on. 」

(Oh, this old man is so strict, no matter if it’s his expression or his tone.)

Yoshiharu thought to himself.