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Volume 3 Chapter 7 Part 6

「Nobuna. I’m not joking around with you! Hisamasa isn’t the same as your father! He’s much worse! 」

Oda Nobuna was now in the greatest danger of her life. No, it was not just about Nobuna herself anymore. All of the Oda clan’s troops, stuck as they were deep in enemy territory, were now in an unprecedented danger unlike anything they have experienced before.

As a female Daimyo, Nobuna could probably be spared by choosing to surrender and become a nun for the rest of her life, but the problem with that is that in Nobuna’s vocabulary, there is no such word as surrender.

Her dream of Tenka Fubu – uniting the nation by force – would only shatter and end when she finally loses her life. If she did not have such a resolve to go through with it no matter what, she could not possibly tell her troops to 「Leave your life in my hands! 」like she did.

Besides, it was her own carelessness that had plunged all of them into such danger in the first place.

Manchiyo… Takechiyo…. Riku. Juubei. Inuchiyo. Danjo… and Monkey… If this goes on, all of them would become nothing but cold corpses.

「Impossible. You’re bluffing. This all has to be some kind of a sick joke…. 」

「NOBUNA! NOW IS THE TIME TO GIVE THE ORDER TO RETREAT! IF WE ARE GOING TO END UP BEING AMBUSHED ON ALL SIDES, WE WILL ONLY BE MERCILESSLY DECIMATED! 」

Yoshiharu shouted at her.

「Right… yes, you’re right… 」

Nobuna rubbed her eyes sheepishly and stood up from the bench she was sitting on.

「All of you guys go and retreat, and let me delay the enemy… 」

Niwa Nagahide suddenly cut Nobuna’s words short.

「No can do, Nobuna-sama. This retreat won’t succeed unless we face the enemy with the whole army! 」

「But, to me, all of you are irreplaceable. I do not want any of you to die… 」

「No. I will definitely not let such a terrible thing like what we went through at Kiyomizu-dera happen again. And besides, if you end up falling into the enemy’s hands, then it will all be over for us. 」

「Then…surrender… yes, let’s surrender… If this goes on, all of us will just die for nothing…! 」

「That is definitely out of the question as well, Nobuna-sama! Are you planning to give up on the dream of Tenka Fubu now that you are so close to realizing it?! 」

「But…but, if this goes on… Everyone will…will… 」

「Listen to me. Since the Azai clan has done a despicable move like defecting to the enemy’s side, they will definitely be afraid of the repercussions they will be subjected to if you survive, Nobuna-sama. That’s why they will likely place top priority on making sure that you don’t get to live on in this world much longer. In the end, they will most likely ignore the rule of not harming a female Daimyo when she chooses to become a nun and cut off your head on the spot just to be done with you. 0 points. 」

Niwa Nagahide said while shaking her head and Matsunaga Danjo Hisahide smiled and said:

「Correct. Accident, the rampage of a retainer, poisoning… There are just too many ways of letting a female Daimyo ‘disappear’ from this world without causing suspicion that it would honestly be strange if they didn’t try any of them. 」

「Nobuna-sama, the future of the Oda clan, no, the future of this country rests on your shoulders. Please give the last order to your retainers as well as your soldiers… Please… give us the order to die. Since you have decided to walk the path of Tenka Fubu, sacrifices cannot be avoided if you want to turn that dream into reality. Please, now is the time for you to muster your resolve! 」

Nobuna had been forcing her face to remain calm, but her expression had finally twisted.

「…Such an order… How can I possibly give it…! 」

「You must make a choice, Nobuna-sama! 」

「We must not let you live your life in regret! 」

Each of the retainers asked Nobuna to give them the order to guard her back as she would make her retreat. But then, Yoshiharu rushed over to her faster than anyone else while shouting:

「I WILL BE THE ONE TO DO IT! 」

Long before coming here on his rush to Echizen, Yoshiharu had prepared himself for this.

Everyone was silent in an instant. They were all astonished that Sagara Yoshiharu was ready and willing to go so far for Nobuna’s sake.

「As you guys all know, I’m a vagrant from the future. I have no family in this world… Well, I guess there is Nene now… but that is beside the point! What I am getting at is that I am someone who was not supposed to be here in the first place, so there will be no difference with or without me here. 」

Nobuna saw that Yoshiharu’s lips were moving, but she did not hear his words at all. With giant, teary eyes, she was just staring at Yoshiharu’s face.

「Nobuna, if I had not met you, I think I would have died on the battlefield that day, seeing as I am just a simple guy from the future who knew nothing about what the real Sengoku era was like. It’s because of your dream of conquering the world and travelling the seas that I was able to escape from the curse of homesickness and move on with my new life here earnestly. If you are killed here, my life in this Sengoku era will be over too! It’s regrettable that I can’t adjust your western clock for you, but please keep this. 」

Yoshiharu put his belongings on Nobuna’s quivering palm. It was a mobile phone… the one that Yoshiharu kept in his school uniform pocket and kept with him at all times.

It wasn’t a light, thin modeled phone either, but a thick and heavy smartphone.

「The battery is depleted, so it can’t be turned on anymore, but Nobuna, this is the newest clock from the future; it’s much more technologically advanced than Frois’s western clock. To be exact, it’s a ‘phone.’ Not only can you see the time on it, you can even use it for taking photos, writing letters, and this is the outdoor survival version on top of that. No matter if it’s splashed with water or thrown from a high place, it won’t be destroyed. This model was actually intended to be used in construction sites. It was something that my father bought from overseas when he was building houses everywhere. 」

「So in the future, you have a father too…. 」

Nobuna said lightly, her voice barely audible.

「Well, duh. Nobuna. If you don’t put in effort now, our future will be gone. If you die here, this country will definitely become the colony of the western barbarian countries. The only one that can break this worst era and set it on a path leading towards the gates leading to the modern age and the future… is you. 」

*SLAP!!!*

Yoshiharu’s face suddenly lit up with immense pain that was like a fire.

「…Liar. 」

Nobuna had slapped Yoshiharu mercilessly, and her face was already a mess wet with her tears.

「Aren’t you the one that said that you will be with me tuill my wish is granted!? Well It has not been granted yet… YOU BIG LIAR! 」

「Listen to me. If it’s others guarding the back, they will definitely die here. But there is a reason that I definitely will not die here. Old man Tokichiro survived this 「Retreat at Kanegasaki」! If I’m the one summoned to this era to replace old man Tokichiro and help you, then I will definitely not die here! 」

Nobuna’s slaps fell like rain droplets continuously raining down onto Yoshiharu’s face.

「You will definitely die! Is there any point in even questioning that!? Goemon and Hanbei aren’t with you, so how can you possibly survive!? Because all…all of them, the people I… Had always…had always left me…..! 」

Nobuna started wailing without making any sense, oblivious to the presence of the retainers who were still at her side, as if forgetting about this urgent crisis. She simply wailed like a small child.

Her first love, the Namban missionary that her father brought over 10 years ago… he was already dead.

Her father… he was also dead.

Even Old man Hirate, who watched her grow up had already left this world.

「Wait a moment, isn’t Dosan still alive!? That geezer should have died at Nagara river. But he was saved because of me, remember!? 」

「…But, but I… 」