Chronicles of The Hardships of Komachi in The Sengoku Era Chapter 25

Translator: mans.h.i.+ro    Editor: Arocks141    Proofreader: Arocks141    TLC: Kenar

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If you are reading from a pirate or aggregator site, please read from the translator's site: yado-inn (dot) com. We have to put the link like this or else the bots will remove it, sorry.

Although it was a celebration for almost a hundred people, as a samurai society banquet, the beginning was very formal and strictly reglemented.

To start it off, Zoni1 was served as a matter of course. But as s.h.i.+zuko had expected, it was different from its modern version, containing only ingredients that stimulate the secretion of gastric juice.

And although s.h.i.+zuko was conducting herself with peerless manners, on the inside she was completely perplexed.

Despite being decried by the Honganji Ikko Ikki 2as the Demon King of the Sixth Heaven for his audacious behavior, n.o.bunaga was surprisingly strict regarding formal proceedings.

It was to a level that couldn't be learned overnight, but must have been drilled into him since his infancy, or he wouldn't have been able to acquire this level of sophistication.

s.h.i.+zuko had often heard that during the Edo period, the Tokugawa intentionally painted Oda n.o.bunaga in a bad light to make Tokugawa Ieyasu look like a better Shogun.

And now she understood that this was a fact. Oda n.o.bunaga was by no means an arrogant tyrant only throwing his power around as he pleases, but was capable of the courtesy and manners that were expected of a ruler.

(This is a historical discovery, but… history is written by the victors, so rulers often demonize their predecessors…)

Absentmindedly thinking about this, s.h.i.+zuko drank the sake from her cup.

As this is the Sengoku era, it was closer to unrefined sake rather than refined one, making it sweet enough that even a minor like s.h.i.+zuko could easily drink it.

Normally, it should have the same alcoholic content as refined sake, but they had probably diluted it with water or something to increase the amount of sake.

s.h.i.+zuko wasn't really a big fan of sake and had a low tolerance for alcohol, so she was even grateful that it had been diluted with water.

Nibbling and sipping away at her food and drink, s.h.i.+zuko was glad that n.o.body around her had tried talking to her.

But it was not just the fact that she was unknown to many, that caused n.o.body to call out to her.

To the men around her, her manners, although they looked slightly strange to them, looked as though they adhered to a formal set of rules unknown to them, making it hard for them to catch the opportunity to initiate a conversation with her.

On the other side, s.h.i.+zuko herself only thought of it as needing to "eat with proper manners or I'll get shouted at".

"That is quite a lonely way of drinking you have there, s.h.i.+zuko."

Just as s.h.i.+zuko had finished her third cup of sake, a person sat down in front of her and addressed her.

Lowering the cup to look at the person before her, s.h.i.+zuko almost spewed out her drink.

Sitting before her was the boy she had come to know a short while ago, holding something that looked like a sake bottle.

"(Huh, is this okay…?) I cannot hold my liquor well, so…"

s.h.i.+zuko was worried whether the boy had violated the protocol with his lax manners, but as the surrounding people didn't seem to care, this much must have been fine.

As such, s.h.i.+zuko herself didn't think she should point it out to him.

"It is a celebration, so you shouldn't make such a gloomy face, right?"

"Yes…"

"What a spiritless reply. I know! That we have met here has to be some kind of fate. Is there more of this Sun Tzu you told me about before? If possible, could you write it down for me?"

With the alcohol befuddling her mind, s.h.i.+zuko agreed without thinking about it too deeply.

As though he had prepared for this from the beginning, a glance from the boy was enough for a servant-like person to immediately bring some ink and paper.

Receiving the thin brush from the servant, s.h.i.+zuko started writing without putting too much thought into it.

"Let your rapidity be that of the wind, your gentleness that of the forest. In raiding and plundering be like fire, be immovable like a mountain. Be as hard to know as the shadow, move as fast as lightning. When you plunder a countryside, let the spoils be divided amongst your men. When you capture new territory, cut it up into allotments for the benefit of the soldiery. Ponder and deliberate before you make a move."3

It's a famous pa.s.sage from the seventh chapter of Sun Tzu's The Art of War.

And a writing said to have been written on the Sengoku era Daimyo Takeda s.h.i.+ngen's battle flag.

As for why s.h.i.+zuko had chosen these verses in particular, it was for the simple reason that they were famous (only inside s.h.i.+zuko's mind) and look cool when written in Kanji.

"Here, please."

"Wait. If you just give it to me like this, I can't understand the meaning behind those words. Explain them to me, explain them,"

"Fine, well then. First of all—-"

When s.h.i.+zuko opened her mouth to start her explanation, a voice calling her name reached her ears.

Facing towards the calling voice, n.o.bunaga looked her way with an amused smile on his lips.

She had a vaguely bad feeling about it, but she couldn't just ignore being called.

s.h.i.+zuko gave a small bow to the boy to excuse herself before moving towards n.o.bunaga.

"Is this party fun to you?"

n.o.bunaga asker her this the moment s.h.i.+zuko had sat down.

Inwardly, she wanted to return home as soon as possible, but clamped down tightly on that thought so as to not let it leak out even a tiny bit, and bowed.

"Yes, I am honored beyond all measure to have been invited to such a splendid feast."

"Pfft, if you say so. First of all, drink."

To be honest, s.h.i.+zuko wanted to be spared any more sake, but refraining was not an option here, so she obediently received the filled cup.

And without stopping to think about it, she gulped down the whole cup at once. Whether this was or wasn't the right way to drink it, s.h.i.+zuko the minor couldn't judge, but this way she didn't have to worry about the taste and smell.

And even though it was sake, it wasn't refined, and the recipe was probably bad, giving it the flavor of rice bran.

"(I don't really… get the taste of sake.) It was very delicious."

"You drink well. Now, there is a reason I have called you here. The kurosubou(crossbow), did you bring it with you?"

"Ah, yes. I did as ordered and brought it with me."

Her reply made a nihilistic smile rise to n.o.bunaga's face, and after lightly tapping his knee, he said the following.

"Great, then let us have an archery compet.i.tion."

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It was a tempestuous turn of events.

n.o.bunaga didn't seem to have cared for s.h.i.+zuko's opinion in the slightest as he quickly shot off commands at the servant next to him.

s.h.i.+zuko just couldn't keep up with it all. The suddenness of this development had her swept along to the archery range before she could collect herself.

"Show me your best."

"Y-yes….!"

Shouldering her crossbow, s.h.i.+zuko let out a surprised squeal.

It was then, that her mind finally caught up to the situation. But catching up was all it had done, as there was already no longer any chance to get out of her current predicament.

s.h.i.+zuko glanced around to survey her surroundings. Centered around her and n.o.bunaga, the other warriors were seated on chairs.

"s.h.i.+zuko-sama, here are the arrows for you."

"Ah, no thank you, those arrows won't work. I have prepared the arrows I need myself, so you don't need to waste your concern."

She had been handed arrows for a j.a.panese bow, therefore the length was obviously farmuch too long, so she returned them.

Despite its looks, the crossbow is very picky about the length and weight of the arrows. Using unfitting arrows might even lead to damage to the crossbow itself.

When using anything but arrows that have been finely tuned to match the crossbow, it might become dysfunctional immediately.

And since repairing it would take a long time, s.h.i.+zuko wanted to avoid damaging it as much as possible for some party entertainment.

"The rules of the match will be simple. We will each fire 10 shots, and the one with most hits wins."

n.o.bunaga declared while holding his j.a.panese bow in one hand. s.h.i.+zuko on the other hand still had her crossbow shouldered.

Being unable to see her carrying anything resembling a bow, the surrounding retainers started exchanging questions and belittling comments.

"(Yeah… this has turned into a circus show) I understand."

s.h.i.+zuko didn't want to stand out and had zero motivation to give it her best, so she only answered halfheartedly.

The only thing on her mind was the wish for this banquet to be over as soon as possible. She felt that attending this kind of occasion was just way above her current status.

"I will go first."

After saying this, n.o.bunaga shot his bow with a familiar flow of motions. As was to be expected from a man who trains daily, he easily hit the target.

As if to say that it was her turn next, n.o.bunaga turned towards s.h.i.+zuko and smirked slightly.

But rather than lighting the flame of rivalry in her, s.h.i.+zuko's motivation was just doused even further.

(Even though it is an order from the lord, I still don't like standing out…)

s.h.i.+zuko lowered the crossbow from her shoulder, drew it's bow string back, and loaded the bolt. Steadying the crossbow with both hands, s.h.i.+zuko carefully took aim.

Seeing this, a surprised expression appeared on n.o.bunaga's face, as well as on those of his retainers. Ignoring this, s.h.i.+zuko pulled the trigger.

With a sound different to that of a j.a.panese bow, the arrow shot off. It hit the target, and, carried by its momentum, pierced straight through it.

The material of the targets were chosen with the j.a.panese bow in mind, so when the more powerful crossbow bolt hit it, the bolt completely penetrated it.

(Whoops, I shot right through it.)

With a careless thought like that on her mind, s.h.i.+zuko drew her crossbow once again. Watching her do this, with a serious look on his face, was n.o.bunaga.

(…what a weird bow. Despite s.h.i.+zuko being able to pull its string back with her thin arms, its power is considerable. No, accurately speaking, it has high penetrating power. In that regard, it resembles the musket. But the most surprising part is how it can maintain its string in a drawn back position. I thought it was unusable, but something with a less complicated structure might be useful for sieges.)

"Bring me a foot soldier's armor!"

"Huh….?"

"Hurry up!"

"Y-yes!"

Perplexed at his sudden fit of anger, the servants didn't react immediately, but n.o.bunaga just ignored their state of confusion and just reaffirmed his order.

Even then, the servants' faces were still filled with surprise, but n.o.bunaga's angry voice made them shudder, spurring them into quickly fetching the armor for a foot soldier.

But it was not only them who were unable to comprehend n.o.bunaga's train of thought. s.h.i.+zuko and the other retainers were just as confused.

They had no clue what kind of objective or goal had been behind n.o.bunaga's command.

After a short while, two suits of armor had been prepared. They were set up slightly closer than where the target had been positioned before.

When the armors had been arranged as if a person was wearing them, everyone understood that they would be the next target.

(Oh shucks, at least I think most foot soldier armors were made from cloth or bamboo…)

While musing about this, s.h.i.+zuko tuned her crossbow.

Yet, this was a scenario where she wouldn't know how it would end. In the first place, she had made this crossbow with hunting in mind, so it was somewhat obvious that she didn't know how it would fare against armor.

At least the fact that it wouldn't cause any damage to her crossbow, with only the bolt suffering from it at worst, was comforting to know.

Afterwards, n.o.bunaga shot his bow without uttering a single word.

His silent pressure caused s.h.i.+zuko's stomach to be a.s.saulted by a p.r.i.c.kling pain. Bearing this, s.h.i.+zuko also shot her crossbow wordlessly.

This continued on until the last of the ten arrows had been shot. As even his retainers could pick up on n.o.bunaga's strange behavior; their expression filled with tension.

"…s.h.i.+zuko, try drawing this bow."

The moment their match had finished, n.o.bunaga thrust the bow he had just used towards s.h.i.+zuko.

Not understanding what he wanted to achieve with this, s.h.i.+zuko simply did as she was told and pulled the bowstring.

"Hmn, nghhhhh…..!"

The bow string was pulled extremely taut, and s.h.i.+zuko was unable to draw it back in the slightest.

But this was the obvious result. The j.a.panese bow is drawn using all muscles of the human body, making the proper procedure to drawing it absolutely necessary.

Furthermore, as the j.a.panese bows of the Sengoku period were tools of war, their bow strings had much more draw weight than their modern versions.

"Huf…..Ha–, Ha–, Ha– …."

In the end, even with her full strength at work, s.h.i.+zuko could only draw the bow the tiniest bit.

Yet the look on n.o.bunaga's face wasn't one of ridicule or mockery, as he observed s.h.i.+zuko with slightly narrowed eyes.

(It is as though she can't use a bow at all.)

Even though s.h.i.+zuko was trying to draw the bow, she was just applying brute force without the slightest hint of any proper technique.

Yet s.h.i.+zuko had interpreted his order to "draw the bow" as "pull back the string".

(I see. Even though she has a vast wealth of knowledge, she only uses as much as needed in any given situation. In short, to draw information out of her, all I have to do is to put s.h.i.+zuko into a "situation where she is forced to draw on her knowledge.")

By now, n.o.bunaga valued s.h.i.+zuko's knowledge to be worth more than a single country.

On top of that, she didn't like to stand out, so she wouldn't let her ego grow over her head and say more than necessary.

n.o.bunaga couldn't think of a piece that was this easy to handle yet useful at the same time.

"We both hit 10 times. I am interested in this kurosubou of yours. I will borrow it for a few days."

"Wha! Ah, yes…"

With her surprised voice threatening to spill out, s.h.i.+zuko handed over the crossbow to n.o.bunaga.

n.o.bunaga received it with a mystified look on his face.

After the compet.i.tion, the banquet ended without any further entertainment or problems.

s.h.i.+zuko grouped up with Aya who had been waiting somewhere in the area, and both of them returned to s.h.i.+zuko's estate before sunset.

But there were a couple of people who didn't immediately return from the banquet.

n.o.bunaga's direct subordinates, Takigawa Kazumasu, Mori Yos.h.i.+nari, Niwa Nagahide, as well as his heir, Kimyoumaru.

"The inventions of that girl are as weird as always."

Mumbled Takigawa while fiddling around with the crossbow.

Despite his derisive words, he held considerable interest in s.h.i.+zuko's tools.

"Constructing things purely to be an exotic plaything is one thing… but when it is this intricate and refined, it gets a terrifying quality."

"But, although this Namban bow looks easy to use, its structure is too strange and complex. It might be usable without much training, but getting a larger number of them will be a challenge."

As his retainers were debating over the pros and cons, n.o.bunaga held out his hand to silence them.

"We will use thirty of them in the next siege."

That was n.o.bunaga's decree.

In the first place, he hadn't called them here to argue with him about the crossbow, but just to give each of them their respective tasks.

"Yos.h.i.+nari, use Aya to tell s.h.i.+zuko to produce the kurosubous."

"Understood."

"Takigawa, gather 30 soldiers who are inexperienced with the j.a.panese bow."

"….as you wish."

"Niwa. Kimyoumaru. Draw more of Ming's stratagems out of s.h.i.+zuko. Have all which she tells you written down."

"Understood."

"Yes, Father."

Their answers made n.o.bunaga smile contentedly. Nodding once to himself, he looked over the four of them and said the following.

"No matter what, I will get her knowledge about military matters."