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Volume 4 Chapter 2 Part 1

Chapter 2 : Finely Hidden

At dawn, in Kyoto.

「The Oda clan’s army has retreated back to Kyoto from Echizen in shame. 」

「Sagara Yoshiharu who was leading the troops at the back has not returned with them. 」

「Though Oda Nobuna has abandoned Yoshiharu and escaped towards Kyoto, she was still sniped at Mount Hiei and has suffered a serious injury. 」

Kyoto was in an uproar as a multitude of rumors started circulating around the city.

Nene was still waiting for Yoshiharu’s return at Myoukaku-dera, but no matter how long she waited, Yoshiharu was not coming back, and Hanbei, her trustworthy companion, was still unconscious.

「Despite the injury that she suffered, Nobuna-sama is fine, and is currently recuperating at Honno-ji. 」

Nene, who had heard of the rumors, ran towards Honno-ji without even caring to put on her shoes. The soldiers on patrol found her, and after getting the permission of Niwa Nagahide, she entered the inner areas of Honno-ji.

「Niwa-sama, Onii-sama has not returned yet? 」

「There isn’t any news of it yet, Nene-dono. 」

「But, didn’t the Oda clan’s army retreated safely thanks to Niwa-sama and the rest? Isn’t now the time to save Onii-sama if he’s still in trouble? 」

「Umm…. Because things have become troublesome, the current situation is just 1 point. 」
「Troublesome? 」

「After hearing that the Oda clan’s army is currently in a perilous state, the Miyoshi Three who were supposed to have fled to Shikoku have gathered once more. Also, Rokoku Yoshitaka, who was hiding in Koga has risen again at southern Omi. But what is perhaps the most troubling is the fact that the Azai-Asakura allied forces are nearing Kyoto. 」

「But if that’s the case, Onii-sama won’t be able to see Nobuna-sama, right? But if we plead with Nobuna-sama directly, then maybe she will…」

「That…. I’m afraid it’s impossible, Nene-dono. 」

Nagahide brought Nene to Nobuna’s room,but there wasn’t a highly spirited and energetic Nobuna in the room like always.

The tiger skin, globe and the western telescope had all disappeared. What had replaced all of them was a single mattress.

「Nobuna-sama!? 」

Nobuna was lying on it. Her abdomen had several layers of dressing, but the cloth had already been dyed a dark red with her blood, scaring Nene.

「Uhh….Uhh…. 」

The portions of Nobuna’s body that could be seen were covered in sweat, showing how frail she currently was. She didn’t seem to be conscious either.

At Nobuna’s side was the renowned doctor, Manase Belchior in a white robe.

「Ohh, this is a battlefield, don’t let small children come anywhere near it. 」

「…Ahh…Ahh…so Nobuna-sama…Nobuna-sama was… was really shot….? 」

Nene collapsed onto the tatami, and her voice was already mixed with sounds of crying.

「She received 2 shots to the abdomen. it’s already a miracle that she managed to live through it. In fact, if this were anyone but Nobuna-chan, this amount of blood loss would have killed them. But Nobuna-chan has an extraordinary willpower, and it allowed her to survive. 」

「 2 Shots!? 」

「I have already performed a western style surgery to remove the bullets that were stuck in her body. If the bullets had penetrated the intestines, even I couldn’t have done anything… It was due to this thing that she managed to survive being shot though. 」

Manase Belchior took the now-broken western clock for Nene to see.

「This is… Onii-sama’s….. 」

「Yes. It’s quite a weird looking thing. 」

「….Weird looking….thing… 」

「After stripping off her armor during the retreat, Nobuna-sama still held onto this western clock that Sagara-dono gave apparently gave to her. She seemed to be unable to abandon Sagara-dono’s weird looking clock, but that strange affection actually worked in her favor here. Miraculously, the 2 shots that were fired at her hit this weird looking western clock first, and it’s due to this that the bullets’ impact was greatly diminished and they were unable to penetrate deep inside Nobuna-chan’s body. 」

Nene was originally very angry when she was coming to see Nobuna, and had wanted to scold her for not doing anything she could to bring Yoshiharu back.

「In the end, you still abandoned Onii-sama, even though you cherished him so much, Nobuna-sama! This… this is too heartless! 」

But now that she has seen the sorry state that Nobuna herself ended up in, such feelings of hatred towards her have all but disappeared from her heart.

Now she knew that Nobuna did not abandon Yoshiharu heartlessly just so she could escape, but she did that precisely because she understood Yoshiharu’s intentions.

「….Nobuna-sama… Uhh…Uwahhhhhh. 」

Niwa Nagahide held on to Nene’s back gently while she grabbed onto Nobuna’s hand. While weeping, she said:

「Nobuna-sama is currently facing the most dangerous crisis of her life. The initial danger has passed safely due to Manase-sama’s surgery, but, due to the blood loss, she can’t recover her strength as fast as we all would’ve wanted right now… 」

「….Uhh..Uhh…Niwa-sama, does that… does that mean that there is no way to send reinforcements to save Onii-sama? 」

「It can’t be done. I’m afraid it is most critical that Nobuna-sama should rest these next two days. Also, it’s still unknown if Nobusumi-sama at Odani castle managed to escape the pursuit of the Azai clan. He is currently treated as missing in action, as far as we know. Because of that… the Oda clan is currently facing the risk of total annihilation. 」

「But, But, if this goes on, Onii-sama will…..! 」

「I know how you must feel right now, Nene-dono, but we can’t do such a thing right now. The Azai-Asakura allied forces are moving towards Kyoto through the western Omi streets at Lake Biwa with tremendous speed. If we give up on guarding Kyoto right now, Sagara-sama’s sacrifice to let us retreat from Kanegasaki Castle will become meaningless, and that will be 0 points. 」

Nagahide lowered her head.

Manase also shook his head and said:

「Though Nobuna-chan has extraordinary willpower, it seems that her heart’s wounds are even greater than her body’s. After the surgery, her condition became even worse all of a sudeden, even though that shouldn’t be the case. If this goes on…. 」

「You mean… Nobuna-sama might not survive this?! 」

「The only thing that can really save her now is her own will to ‘live on’, Nagahide-sama. We doctors aren’t magicians. There is a limit to what medical knowledge can do. What we can do is to give the strength to live to those who want to keep on living. But somehow, Nobuna-chan is slowly losing the desire to live… If this goes on, she will just become weaker and weaker, until she will finally die. To think that the spirited Nobuna-chan could become like this; how unbelievable. 」

Nagahide found herself at a loss for words.

(Just where have things gone wrong? If this continues on, Sagara-sama’s sacrifice… No, we can’t yet say that Sagara-sama has sacrificed himself for us, though he is most likely dead. But… but won’t his death become meaningless if Nobuna-sama ends up losing her life as well?)

Holding onto Nene’s shaking back, Nagahide wiped the sweat from Nobuna’s forehead. And then…

「… Nene-dono, Manase-sama, look! Nobuna-sama seems to be mumbling something! 」

Nagahide’s ears edged closer to Nobuna’s pale lips to hear what she was trying to say.

「….Run…. Mon… key…Hurry up and run…. 」

Just what kind of nightmare was Nobuna having right now if she was mumbling such a thing repeatedly…

「Yoshi… haru…I’m sorry… 」

A streak of tears was making its way down Nobuna’s anguished face.

「I see, Nobuna-sama must be trapped in a nightmare where Yoshiharu-dono is dying on the battlefield, and because she is seeing that over and over again, it saps away her will to live. 」

「Manase-sama, what can we do to help her? I… Just what can I do? Is there even anything we can do for her right now? 」

「From now on, this is no longer about what I can do with my medical skills. Nagahide-sama, have you decided on what you are going to do? 」

「For me, reversing such an overwhelmingly disadvantageous situation is just too much…. It’s at such a critical period that we need the smarts and cunning of Hanbei-sama , but unfortunately she is still unconscious… 」

「Calm down, Nagahide-sama. If even you give up now , then all will be finished. 」

Niwa Nagahide was always calm and composed no matter the situation she found herself in. If her master needed advice, then without doubt she was the first person anyone would think of, a pillar of support that the Oda clan couldn’t do anything without, but she wasn’t remarkable in terms of strategies or planning.