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Volume 4 Chapter 1 Part 3

Even as all 500 of the soldiers were shouting 「Let’s battle it out, Satsuma heroes! 」, 「We will bet our lives on it! 」, Yoshiharu was shaking his head as he ran, when *Bang!* , another shot from the back just missed his ear by mere inches.

「Damn, that was too close for comfort! And besides, how can I just let you guys get killed while I run away! That isn’t the Sagara Yoshiharu way of fighting! Don’t just give up on life so easily! All of us are going to return to Kyoto! I too must fight back with the arquebus! 」

Yoshiharu said, and immediately the expressions on all 500 injured heroes’ faces changed as they cried:

「No, you can’t do it, commander! 」

「The commander taking an arquebus and fighting with us, I’ve never heard of such a thing! 」

「That’s why I said, I can’t agree to a plan that requires you guys get killed like insects for no reason! 」

「What are you talking about!? We were born to protect you! 」

「Please! Our dreams are all entrusted to you now! 」

「We are just insignificant foot soldiers; do not hesitate to order us to sacrifice ourselves for your own ambitions! 」

Yoshiharu’s eyes started to blur with tears before they had even finished crying out against his idea.

「I… will be pained if even one of you guys died! I want to see Nobuna again, but even though I want to… Soldiers or princesses, aren’t they all equal human beings!? Even if your statuses are low, you still have families and friends, right!? There are people waiting for you to come back home, right!? So don’t just say things like that you’ve given upon life when you still have so much to live for! 」

Yoshiharu, who was born in the peaceful 21st century, wasn’t used to all the killing that took place on the battlefield. No, he would likely never get used to it, even if he spend many more years in the Sengoku era.

「I don’t have a family… I did say that, but that’s only because I’m from a completely different era, so I can’t see them even if I wanted to! But you guys are different! So… It will be hard to accomplish… but even so… I must make sure all of us reach Kyoto safely! 」

At these heartfelt words, the fearless soldiers around him were enveloped with an unspeakable feeling welling up deep within their chests.

「What is this, what kind of commander is this…! 」

「This guy isn’t like a samurai at all…! 」

「But why… why our tears won’t stop flowing whenever we’re listening to him?! 」

「Well said, Sagara Yoshiharu! Then, what do we do to the huge army at our backs? 」

Hanzo asked. Zenki, using his powers, chanted an incantation to release mist all around them, but the Asakura clan’s troops had already rushed all the way to the narrow mountain path and would stumble upon Yoshiharu and his force in an instant, no matter if they had a cover or not.

「I will lead the arquebus squad personally. Using the 50 arquebuses that I borrowed from Juubei, we must cover the main part of the Oda clan’s troops as they retreat! Even if it’s kinda forced, we must not simply lose our lives! We must endure all this to the last second of our lives! 」

(Yes. From now on, we must battle on for the sake of Nobuna and our fellow soldiers.)

Yoshiharu, who had been fleeing all the time, turned his horse around and shot at the Asakura clan’s troops.

「Hurry! We need 50 men! In the 500 of us, is there anyone skilled in using an arquebus?! 」

「I’m skilled in using spears! 」

「Katanas for me! 」

「I use kusari-gamas! 」

「Traps! 」

「I just punch people! 」

(…Is there no one who can use an arquebus?!)

In this suicide squad, everyone was confident in their strength, and every single one of them were heroes capable of fighting by themselves with many more enemies. But also because of that, they were a bunch of people not skilled in using an arquebus.

「With this, we can’t establish an arquebus squad at all! Ahhh!!!! Juubei graciously lent me these 50 arquebuses, but was also giving me people who would be skilled enough to use them that much to ask?! 」

「Sagara Yoshiharu! Decide fast, the enemy is right in front of us! 」

「Hmph, though Sagara Yoshiharu is a muddle-headed monkey that loves big breasts, he always has good ideas. Especially that tasteless ‘knowledge from the future’ of his might come in handy now! 」

Zenki said from above, and Yoshiharu, silent at the comment, suddenly had an idea flash through his mind.

(Arquebuses… Oda clan’s troops… Sengoku era strategy games… )

「…I GOT IT! 「The Three-Line Formation! 」

「Three-Line Formation? 」

The soldiers holding the arquebuses were already fighting. Blood was spilled and screams rang out in the mountainside while Yoshiharu proceeded to explain the plan briefly.

「It’s the strategy that the Oda clan’s troops employed in the ‘Battle at Nagashino’, and it’s very simple! The arquebus’s weakness is that it’s very time-consuming to reload after every shot, so it can’t fire rapidly. Before firing the second shot, the enemy will kill the ones using them instantly, because after thar one shot, the enemy foot soldiers will rush you down. That’s why we will split the 50 men into 3 teams, one being in charge of filling the gunpowder in the barrel, one in charge of lighting it up, the last team in charge of firing…. 」

In other words, Oda Nobunaga’s 「Three-Line Formation」 was a strategy to split his marksmen troops to 1000 a team, allowing the riflemen to fire non-stop. But, it’s been said that the 「Three-Line Formation」had another specialty, that is that the time to aim will be shortened as the one who shoots and the one who reload are not the same person.

「… But we don’t have anyone who can finish a job from reloading to firing. 」

Yoshiharu noticed this problem and suddenly thought of a way to deal with it.

「… but we can circumvent it if we will all help to prepare the gun for firing so we can let these 50 arquebus continue firing without stopping. 」

「Commander, with this we can fire at 3 times the speed! 」
「And when we will be shooting at such a speed, the enemy troops will definitely fall into a state of utter chaos! 」

In front of their eyes, the enemy troops had already pushed in and plunged the whole area into disarray. But on such a narrow mountain path, even if there were only 50 arquebuses, the enemy will definitely be confused when they will start unloading into them.

After making the resolve to battle, Yoshiharu’s legs suddenly began shivering.

「Listen, Sagara Yoshiharu. Don’t be scared of firing. Once you are scared, you will be killed by the enemy for sure. 」

Zenki said at his side with a dark expression on his face.

「Ah, yeah! 」

He replied, but the fingers and shoulders that had taken over the arquebus had all started shivering.

Must not get hit by the enemy.

This isn’t a game!

If he had fought on while only thinking about himself, then the spirit of the Sagara Yoshiharu Corps would be lost right here. But just as Yoshiharu’s heart started to waver, a shining image of Nobuna appeared right before his eyes.

(Monkey, is there a need to let your heart suffer so much?)

Hmmm…? This seemed like something not meant for him, but rather for Katsuie.

(Oi Monkey, my eyes have always been looking at the world 10 years, even 100 years in the future. Even if no one understands you, I will believe in you!)

Ahhh, he understood.

(I understand. For me, I always know you are correct. Because of that, even if no one else understands you, I will definitely understand you.)

(So, when your heart is in pain, don’t pray. Just think of the ‘common folks’! Let me alone suffer this pain!)

(Damn it…. Ever since you were born, you have been enveloped in this country’s non-stop war and fighting. Other than you, no one else will bring peace to this world again. No, no one else can do it!)

(This isn’t a pain only you can bear!)

(Nobuna. If it’s to protect you, I’d rather…!)

「Uwahhhh…! 」

Yoshiharu closed his eyes and squeezed the trigger, but the bullet did not hit the enemy. The amateur members of the arquebus squad were all bad with their weapons. Even with such a close range shots, none of them had managed to hit the enemy.