Chapter 14: Inoo Tsuratatsu’s Betrayal

Imagawa Residence – Isshiki Masataka

1561. Summer.

It was a few months later, when the season changed from spring to summer, did Inoo Tsuratatsu finally respond to Ujizane-sama’s summon.

For the occasion, I—who was at Ōigawa Castle—was also summoned to Imagawa Residence, so I hurriedly got ready and went.

Last time, I sat in the center of the room because I was the one who sought the audience with Ujizane-sama, but this time, it was Tsuratatsu who sat there, wearing an air of nonchalance. As for me, I sat among the retainers.

My seat was at the end of the row reserved for Imagawa’s inner circle. Directly across from me were the senior retainers who, while not part of the inner circle, had served Imagawa for many years.

By the way, aside from our Isshiki, the members of the inner circle were Sena, Ogasawara, Udono, Mure and a few others. For your information, the reason why Lady Tsukiyama¹Motoyasu’s first wife, if you don’t remember. was called Sena-hime was because her father, Sekiguchi Chikanaga, happened to be the younger brother of Sena Ujitoshi-dono, the head of the Sena clan. This made him the second son of Sena Ujisada-dono, hence his daughter was called Sena-sama.

Whoops, I got distracted. In any case, the reason why my seat was at the end of the row was simply because I was the youngest and the newest member of the inner circle.

“Tsuratatsu, why have you ignored my summons for so long? I do hope you have a good reason for this.”

“Ignored? My lord, you seem to have misunderstood. I would never ignore your command.”

“…What?”

Instantly, the atmosphere turned tense. Had the history not been altered by Isshiki’s influence, Inoo Tsuratatsu would have betrayed us already. Honestly, I was surprised that he even showed up this time. I assumed that he’d have raised Matsudaira’s banner on Hikuma Castle by now.

Had that happened, a punitive force would have been raised, and I would be deployed to my first battle. Moreover, the campaign would definitely cause considerable losses for Imagawa. In hindsight, it was for the better that it didn’t come to that, but I still couldn’t trust this man.

“I rushed here as quickly as possible in response to your sudden summons, my lord.”

“When exactly did I summon you?”

“Let’s see… about two months ago.”

“And why did it take that long? Those gathered here were summoned just days ago, and they all attended without fail.”

That didn’t wipe off Tsuratatsu’s smug expression. Well, obviously. That line of questioning was way too weak. After all, the situation at Hikuma Castle was completely different from ours. If he was a truly loyal retainer, he wouldn’t leave that castle unmanned due to how important it was. He would have to arrange a lot of things before he left.

When Ujizane-sama was irritated at his delayed arrival, word came that he had been gathering troops back at Hikuma Castle. Naturally, the retainers who lived in eastern Tōtōmi and Suruga, unaware of the full situation, would grow anxious by the news. But, even if it was a truly loyal retainer who was stationed there, he definitely would have done the same.

The thing that mattered here was whether they could properly explain that to Ujizane-sama or not.

“You seem not to understand the situation, my lord. Given your inexperience, it’s reasonable. Allow me to enlighten you.”

Those words annoyed one or two people, but Yasutomo-dono’s expression was unchanged. As expected of him, I guess.

“First of all, Hikuma Castle, the castle I am entrusted with, is a place important to Imagawa to maintain control over Tōtōmi. Iinoya Castle, to our north, has declared their stance to wait and see. That means, Hikuma is the only one of the two Tōtōmi Defense Line left. Furthermore, Matsudaira has grown even more active since they formed a marriage alliance with Isshiki.”

He briefly glanced at me as he spoke—as if trying to tell everyone that I was the cause of all this. But anyone could tell that even without the marriage alliance, Matsudaira would still be as active.

After all, they had Oda behind them. While yes, Oda was still struggling to unify Owari, and their conquest of Mino wasn’t going so smoothly either, it was hard for Imagawa to see themselves beating Oda after the tremendous defeat at Okehazama.

“If I were to leave and Matsudaira attacks, what’s going to happen to Hikuma? You people who are in charge of castles in Tōtōmi would have understood me. You too, will choose to strengthen your defenses before you go, won’t you?”

He sneered at the other retainers around him. Their reaction was clear—they wanted to cut him down right now and appoint someone else to Hikuma Castle.

This man was clearly looking down on the Imagawa clan, it was clear in his tone.

“Tsuratatsu-dono, you’re going too far.”

In response to Yatsutomo-dono’s words, he said,

“…My apologies. Know that I had no intention of belittling any of you.”

Contrary to his words, he let a mocking gaze sweep over the other retainers. Even from my seat, I could clearly see that gaze of his. Seriously, what made him so confident that he could act so brazenly here?

“Now, allow me to ask you a question, my lord. Had I followed your order and rushed here, then Matsudaira attacked Hikuma while I’m here, what actions would you take? Or is it your intention to see Imagawa be destroyed?”

“Tsuratatsu-dono, that’s enough! Are you trying to mock our lord?!”

The one who shouted those words was Okabe Motonobu-dono, who was seated across from me, the brother of Masatsuna-dono, who was assigned to monitor me.

“I’m not speaking to you. Shut up.”

“You—!”

“Stop it, you two.”

It was, of course, Yasutomo-dono who stepped in. Tsuratatsu’s attitude remained unchanged, as if he was fully intent on provoking the other retainers. At this, Motonobu-dono’s anger showed no sign of subsiding.

“Motonobu, I am grateful that you’re angry on my behalf, but Tsuratatsu made a good point. Tsuratatsu, I have no intention to see Imagawa destroyed. However, you surely are aware that there are rumors going around about your betrayal. I simply want to know your true intentions.”

“My true intentions? Very well, I’ll be frank. I can no longer serve a faltering clan like this. Hence, I’m going to declare a call of arms when I return to my castle. Now that I’ve said that, what will you do? Will you capture me and execute me here?” 

He boldly stood up, as if he was certain that no one here would step up to capture him. Well, with Ujizane-sama’s kind—or rather, overly lenient—nature, it was very likely to be the case, so I offered a lifeline.

“With all due respect, may I speak?”

“You have my permission, Masataka. What is it?”

“I believe we should let him go, then attack Hikuma Castle and reclaim it for the clan.”

“Why? If we execute him here, we won’t need to go through all that trouble.”

“If we execute him here, it’ll only destabilize Hikuma Castle, and who knows what kind of chaos would happen after that. Moreover, our side also has to return to our castles and make some preparations before we could deploy our forces. No one can predict how much loss the clan will suffer during that time. Besides, I know from my relationship with Matsudaira. Motoyasu will not involve himself in Tōtōmi’s matters for the time being.”

Tsuratatsu was as surprised as the others by my last words. Heh, did that throw him off? Well, too bad for him, Motoyasu was too occupied with his effort in stabilizing Mikawa. The chances of him sending reinforcements to Hikuma were practically zero.

“What do you think, everyone?”

Ujizane-sama asked his retainers. Most of them nodded their heads.

Except for one.

“Nagamochi-dono, I believe it’ll be best if you decide which side you’re going to support as soon as possible.”

“I know that already…”

Udono Nagamochi-dono’s daughter, Tsubaki, was married to Tsuratatsu. He was clearly concerned about what would happen to her if Hikuma Castle fell, which explained his indecision.

While Nagamochi-dono was still contemplating his decision, Tsuratatsu-dono stormed off with an “I’ll excuse myself!” and thumping steps.

With that, my first battle was decided. The key to this battle would be minimizing our losses.