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Volume 3 Chapter 5 Part 7

「If you give up, all will be over! Don’t give up! … Sagara-senpai! 」

Mitsuhide who was heavily injured cut off the head of the puppet right in front of Yoshiharu, and straight after that, her next few slashes went to the puppet’s hands and body, cutting it to pieces.

「How rude of you to trespass onto my room like this… Come and save me, Inuchiyo! 」

「…Yoshiharu-san, hold the spear properly. 」

「Inuchiyo? Despite my appearance, I’m actually not skillful with the bow, you know? If it’s about soccer, I’m the best there can be, but other than that..oh ~hohoho! 」

Spears and swords had already surrounded Yoshiharu and Inuchiyo as they were pushed back all the way to Imagawa Yoshimoto’s room at the back of the temple along with Mitsuhide. They had no way out.

Everything seemed to be pointing that this was the end of the line for Nobuna and her group.

Matsunaga Hisashide just stood there silently, as if she was one of the puppets that had lost its strings.

(I was too concerned with the 「Incident at Hono-ji」! to think I would let Nobuna make such a big mistake! Now the problem isn’t whether Mitsuhide will betray Nobuna! No matter how big the army is, if the general is dead, then everything is going to fall apart I should have stopped Nobuna from coming over here personally even if she had beaten me senseless for it!)

Yoshiharu was deeply regretting his decision in his heart as he was pushed down to the floor by the overwhelming amount of puppets that kept coming towards them like a flood. The punches and kicks of the puppets were mercilessly raining down on his body, and Mitsuhide beside him was trying her best to rescue him, but no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn’t reach Yoshiharu in time.

At the same time, Mitsuhide was crying and shouting at him not to give up, but in the midst of the confusion, Yoshiharu couldn’t hear what exactly Mitsuhide was shouting.
「Juubei-chan, Nobuna, everyone… I’m sorry… 」

However, it would seem that the heavens did not abandon Nobuna just yet, because the miracle which no one ever expected happened right then.

In the darkness of Kyoto the sound of approaching horses could be heard.

「It’s the reinforcements! 」

Surrounded by puppets on the roof yet still resisting with all her might with her famed sword, 「Kunishige Hasebe」, Nobuna pointed to the west and shouted. The reinforcements were heading towards Kiyomizu-dera at full speed from the direction of Settsu Castle. They must have heard of what happened at Kiyomizu-dera and come to their aid.

But, the Oda troops stationed there should have already retreated to Mino, and the troops left over near Kyoto were too few to be of any help. So the question that naturally arose was:

「Whose troops are these…!? 」

Yoshiharu squinted his eyes and looked in the direction of the incoming reinforcements.

A girl wearing western-styled armor was riding a white European horse at the front of the column of soldiers, but quite strangely, she looked very similar to…

「Frois-chan? 」

Yes, it was the priestess from the Nanban-ji that Yoshiharu saved in Sakai, Frois.

Of course, as a religious priestess, Frois herself has no troops at all, but what she had instead was a lot of devoted companions. From the looks of it, the all looked like those who have converted themselves into Christianity after they heard Frois deliver her sermons in the church.

「Yoshiharu-san! I brought my Christian friends to help you! 」

The men who wore crosses in front of their chests all shouted their names one after another.

「I’m the master of Takatsuki Castle, Takaya Dom Justo! From now on, I will follow Frois-sama and join the ranks of the Oda army! 」

「One of Sakai’s Kaigi Gunshu, Onishi Joachin! I brought all the money and supplies that I could bring with me! 」

「No matter who might get hurt here, I will make sure to save all of them equally, as I am Manase Belchior, a doctor from Kyoto! 」

At the back of the long column of people, there were also many ordinary villagers who were all shouting things like: 「 We must repay Frois-sama for the kindness that she showed to us! 」

Though individually their strength was small, after gathering them all under Frois, they had become a force to be reckoned with.

Dom Justo, or Takayama Ukon, as he was otherwise known, was a warrior too, but he had no strength himself to oppose the likes of Matsunaga Hisashide, so he needed to rely on someone else in the end. If Hisashide was the one who marched on the capital, he would have sided with Matsunaga, but if it was the Oda clan, he would have sided with the Oda clan for the purpose of his own survival. For a weak warrior like him, there was just no other way to go about it.

But even so, no one would have expected that under the call of this barbarian girl, Frois, he would risk his own clan’s survival and march with the others to help the Oda clan.

As a Persian spellcaster, Hisashide hated the western barbarians from the bottom of her heart. Because she disliked both the cross and the so called God, she decided that she would resist Christianity and everything that’s associated with it with all her might.

According to her, Persia is Persia, Japan is Japan, and the western barbarians are the western barbarians, so they should all keep to themselves.

People with different cultures worshipping different gods was something unthinkable for her. If they can’t co-exist peacefully together, there will never be a day when they truly understand each other.

The reason why she was called a witch and was persecuted by others when she was younger was because of her skin color and the blood which was flowing in her veins. Believing this to be normal for the world and hating it for throwing her into such a hopeless life filled with nothing but sorrow, Hisashide was unimaginably shocked that the weak Christian priestess like Frois came to help Oda Nobuna, a warlord from another country whom she should have nothing to do with.

(It’s totally different…)

This girl was totally different from the ones she met before. Even in comparison Nagayoshi and all the elites that had died in this country, this girl was fundamentally different .

「The Venomous Scorpion」 which kept trying to attack and resist Nobuna stopped in its tracks, even though its stinger was ready to deliver the finishing blow.

At this moment, Hisahide acknowledged that she had lost.

* * *

Deep in the night, at Kiyomizu-dera, where half of the walls had already been reduced to nothing but ashes, a warrior was kneeling in front of Oda Nobuna.

「I, Matsunaga Danjo Hisahide, admit my defeat. I’m willing to serve under you, Nobuna-sama. 」

「Dearu ka. 」

At Nobuna’s side, Yoshiharu saw Hisahide’s voluptuous body up close for the first time. After getting a whiff of the perfume from her body, Yoshiharu started to feel lightheaded, and his body started to sway forward and backwards uncontrollably.

「Uwahhh! What a beauty from another country! She’s too sexy…! The breasts…what bouncy breasts…uwahhh This is too much for me to handle! 」

The young and vulnerable Yoshiharu obviously zero defenses against such a mature woman. Annoyed at his behavior, Nobuna punched Yoshiharu square in the face. But putting him aside, Nobuna seemed very interested in Hisahide herself, even though the woman had almost managed to kill her.

At Nobuna’s other side, Akechi Mitsuhide was voicing her vehement objections to what Hisahide just stated.

「This woman is a repeated offender guilty of revolting. She revolted against the ruling authorities in the past, and she will definitely revolt in the future! Please, Nobuna-sama, just execute her to prevent such a thing from happening ahain! 」

But Nobuna did not listen to her at all.

「Hisashide, don’t mind the words from Monkey and Kumquat! You’ve finally surrendered to me, and it seems genuine this time. I like smart warriors like you! 」

「I had hoped for such an ending from the bottom of my heart too. It’s such a good thing to serve under someone stronger than you. So, to prove that I have surrenderd to Nobuna-sama, I will give this Yamato treasure, ‘Tsukumo Nasu, to you. 」

Matsunaga Hisahide passed the jar to Nobuna respectfully.

「Ohhh… lovely lady,, why do you smell so good…? 」

Yoshiharu’s hands started to cover his crotch. In the end, Nobuna decided a punch wasn’t enough for him, and this time around she poked both of his eyes mercilessly.

「Ouuuchhhhhhh!!!! 」

「Don’t you get horny now, you damn ero-monkey! 」