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Volume 4 Chapter 2 Part 3

「This is going to be difficult. There aren’t many places to run to near here, but if he wasn’t found until now, then he must have run into the mountains and hide himself. 」

Motoyasu then said:

「From the name, Sugitani Zenjuubo should be a monk, or he should have had some kind of relationship with Mount Hiei’s monks, or we have to consider the possibility that the entire Mount Hiei has already become Kichi-nee-san’s enemy. 」

Mitsuhide was sceptical, and retorted:

「The head of the temple on Mount Hiei, Tendaizasu-sama, is the elder brother of Himiko-sama. Nobuna-sama should be their friend after donating large amounts of money for the Imperial Palace so it shouldn’t be possible for them to be enemies. 」

「But because Tendaizasu-sama isn’t at Mount Hiei himself, the actual leader of Mount Hiei might be against Nobuna-sama. 」

「If that’s the case, the mystery of how Sugitani Zenjuubo suddenly disappeared would be cleared. 」

Inuchiyo said.

「Wh..Wh…Wh…Why!? Why would Mount Hiei be against Nobuna-sama? Even this smart Akechi Juubei Mitsuhide cannot understand this! 」

「….This ancient spiritual mountain is a holy ground for secret sects and practitioners who have for a long time forbidden women from entering holy sites, such as Mount Fuji, Mount Shiro, Mount Koya and Mount Hiei. Maybe, there are monks in Mount Hiei that are displeased with the idea of a female Daimyo like Kichi-nee-san speaking of things such as ruling the world? 」

Mitsuhide snorted with contempt:
「How ignorant of them that would be. This rule in Buddhist teachings forbidding women from entering holy sites, what the hell is that? Why do these stupid monks think that women are impure creatures?! 」

「It’s most likely because they are convinced that the presence of women on the holy sites would negatively affect the ascetic practices of the mountain temples. If there are cute girls in front of them, their vow of abstinence will become that much harder to uphold, especially for those young monks who just started their practice… 」

「…..That, and the practitioners have been passing rumors among themselves that once their vows of abstinence and celibacy will be broken, they are going to lose the favor of the gods and the holy powers they are supposedly bestowing upon them. 」

「What an unreasonable thing to say! It’s those guys’ own fault they’re troubled by just seeing girls! 」

「…..But, maybe Yoshiharu should do some practicing on abstinence. It might do him well. 」

Motoyasu laughed, saying:

「It’s true, that Saruyoshi-sama could definitely be better off after practicing that for a bit. 」

「No,no, no, if you take away his perversion from him, he will definitely shrivel and rot somewhere. The reason why Sagara-senpai has been able to survive till now is because of his extraordinary perversion being his main driving force behind his every action. It’s not too much to say that he lives on solely due to the immense strength of his libido. 」

「You have a point. Because Kichi-nee-san and so many other girls are waiting for him, and he had the promise of ‘If I live, let me kiss you’ with her, so….. 」

「Geez, just how perverted can that damn Gorilla be!? 」
「Saruyoshi-sama is definitely… still alive. 」

「….Yes, he is still alive, no doubt about it. 」

「That idiot will definitely surpass every kind o trial that fate would throw at him to go back to Nobuna-sama’s side! 」

The trio finished their conversation and continued on silently.

After this, they agreed that if Mount Hiei is really going to be sheltering that villain, Sugitani Zenjuubo, they should order them to hand him over to them immediately. But, the opponent was an entire spiritual mountain that prohibited women to enter it, and the monks in Mount Hiei were mostly militarized monks.

Mount Hiei, having the double protection of being a spiritual mountain and a place to practice Buddhist teachings, had become sort of an independent empire near Kyoto. Generations of Ashikaga Shoguns couldn’t do anything about it and had been troubled by this.

Because they prohibit females from entering, the Oda clan, which was comprised mostly of female generals, would have lots of difficulty negotiating with Mount Hiei. But now, the first and foremost matter on hand was to save Sagara Yoshiharu.

The trio followed Nagahide’s instructions and rode along the retreat path that she had built for him. Hidden along the path were horses and supplies, and though they were meant for Yoshiharu and his troops, by using some of them the trio was able to move forward faster than expected. On the way, they did encounter some small squads hunting for escaped warriors, but the trio’s priority was to save Yoshiharu, so they chose to hide from them.

But there wasn’t any sight of Yoshiharu anywhere they looked.

The ensnared Kuchiki Shinano reported to them that no one other than them tried to pass by the Kuchiki Valley. While Shinano laughed weirdly, 「The back troops might be near the edge of Wakasa, near Mizusaka ridge, Ahahaha! 」, he even lent a precise map of the area to the trio.

(What a weird man he is…)
Mitsuhide and the other two had a strange feeling about him, but there wasn’t any time to dig deeper into the matter, so they simply decided to drop it. Though his actions are weird, Kuchiki Shinano was undoubtedly loyal to the Oda clan.

They continued on, and at last they reached the top of Mizusaka ridge.

In the valley of Wakasa, Yoshiharu’s seriously injured and scattered back troops were having a fierce battle with Asakura clan’s ally, Tsuchimikado Hisanaga.

「There! Everyone is fighting! Oh heavens, why are they not using the arquebuses?! 」

「Probably because their opponents are these hideous Shikigamis flying in the air. 」

「Now! Sagara-senpai is attacked by some strange enemy! He is really as disgusting as before, that Sagara-senpai! Ahahahaha! 」

At the last moment, Mitsuhide and the other two had reached him.

Yoshiharu had miraculously managed to stay alive despite the odds being stuck overwhelmingly against him.

Just as Yoshiharu’s life was about to run out like the embers of a dying candle flame, Mitsuhide and the rest had reached him.

In the battle, the enemy’s Shikigami army held an overwhelming advantage. The trio suddenly saw Hattori Hanzo appear and release a smokescreen. Mitsuhide grasped her arquebus shouted:

「I heard Shikigamis are terrified of the sound of the shooting arquebus! Let’s rush into the valley now! 」

「Bring Saruyoshi-sama to the retreat path that we had prepared and run~ 」

「…..Inuchiyo, moving out! 」

At this time, the trio was truly glad that they believed that Yoshiharu and Nobuna can be saved and that they didn’t give up on them.

But at that instant that they felt lucky, the odds turned on them once more.

At the short amount of time the trio needed to rush down to the valley, fate had revealed her cruel smile to the three of them.

「It seems like it’s over. 」

A young Onmyouji’s silhouette appeared in the narrow valley, and he waved the fan in his hand lightly. In an instant, the smokescreen that Hanzo had created disappeared like it never existed in the first place.

Mitsuhide and the others saw it.

Every living soldier in the back troops had been pinned to the ground by the Shikigamis. The blood-soaked Hattori Hanzo. And, with a seemingly frozen expression and a dagger held up to his neck, Sagara Yoshiharu. Zenki, who was asked by Hanbei to 「Protect Yoshiharu-sama」 had also disappeared. Maybe he had been defeated by the shikigami army and vanished, but they couldn’t be sure of that right now.

An arrogant smile slowly spouted on the young Onmyouji’s face, as he proclaimed:

「Seems like I’m the victor here. As long as I have the head of this monkey, I don’t care about these dirty soldiers. Since it’s too troublesome, let them escape. 」

Then, Hanzo said,

「Understood, let us use our last bomb to send Sagara Yoshiharu on his way! 」

After doing a hand sign, Hanzo disappeared into a bunch of falling leaves as Yoshiharu shouted:

「Bastard, I’ve said it! I will use my life in exchange for all the lives here! But, it’s too shameful for my head to be removed and displayed to others! I will definitely not give you my head! The way I die, I will choose it myself! 」

After that, all the Shikigamis rushed towards Yoshiharu.

And suddenly… there was a big explosion.

Sagara Yoshiharu had exploded into a million pieces.

Spreading out, Yoshiharu, or Yoshiharu’s pieces, were falling like rain droplets onto the ground.

After seeing such a gruesome scene play out right before her eyes

「….Uwahh….UWAHHHHHHHH…..!? 」

Mitsuhide screamed.