Chapter 45 – Someya Toramasa, Once Called Torakichi, Enters Service

Ōigawa Castle – Isshiki Masataka

1561. Fall.

“Someya Kumakichi-sama and Someya Torakichi-sama are here.”

Kojūrō’s voice echoed from outside. It took them longer than I expected to come here. I guess Kumakichi’s discussion with Mother took a while, huh?

You see, the Imagawa clan had close ties with Kyōtō’s Ashikaga shogunate. In fact, they were relatives, as Imagawa was a branch of the Kira clan, one of the ‘Ashikaga Goikka’.

Ashikaga Goikka itself referred to three clans: Kira, Shibukawa, and Ishibashi. In short, they were branches of Ashikaga who had the right of succession to the shōgun position. That made Imagawa—a branch of Kira—a clan of considerable standing even from Ashikaga shogunate’s perspective.

Not only that, right now, Kira was pretty much the most powerful clan out of the other members of Goikka, and their authorities exceeded even that of a kanrei’s.

With Imagawa being appointed as the governor of Suruga for generations now, one would have thought that no one among the clan would have any lingering feelings for Kyōtō, but that didn’t seem to be the case with Mother.

She had always yearned to see the streets of Kyōtō at least once in her life. In fact, she once tried to tag along with Kureishiya’s group on one of their business trips. Tokimune and the others stopped her, of course, but it was still a matter that troubled Kureishiya a lot.

I got sidetracked, but my point was, because of that, Mother always had a strong interest in all the trade goods we got from Kyōtō. If the members of the Merchant Guild didn’t bring anything from Kyōtō, they wouldn’t need to deal with her, but when they did, she would turn into their VIP, basically.

She probably ordered a bunch of goods from Someya for their next business trip.

“Come in.”

“Understood. Please, this way.”

Following Kojūrō’s words as he opened the sliding door, the Someya Brothers entered the room, looking all tense. Unlike Kureishiya, who usually would come here to ask me to help him deal with Mother, this was the first time these two had come here. 

“Relax. I called you two here to discuss something with you two.”

“Discuss something… with us?”

Torakichi asked with a puzzled look. Whenever Isshiki needed something, we always contacted Kureishiya. This was something that everyone knew. But now, I had specifically asked these two instead. I noticed how Torakichi had turned stiff from the tension, completely contrasted with the valiant look that he showed when he fought bravely at sea.

“Someya Torakichi, your expertise in commanding your troops back at sea impressed me. You are aware that our Isshiki is currently building a naval force, right?”

“Yes, I am aware. Thanks to Hayashi-dono taking good care of me.”

“Then I assume you also know that the naval force is short-staffed. That’s why we’ve attempted to recruit the Okuyama Pirates that we’ve captured the other day.”

“Is that true?”

Kumakichi asked Torakichi next to him, who nodded without saying a word.

“Judging from Okuyama Chikamoto’s reaction, I’m confident that they will respond favorably to our invitation, but even with them, it’s still not enough. We still need more people who are able to take command.”

“…My lord, are you…?”

“I am. Someya Torakichi, I wish to take you as my retainer. Someone who is able to aid me as the commander of our naval force.”

Both of them were surprised. Torakichi, especially, had his mouth hang open in astonishment. On the battlefield, his cold and calm judgment in each of his commands stood out, and on land, he was blunt with his words, giving him the image of being hard to approach. And that was what made this reaction of his—full with emotion—especially delightful to see.

“With all due respect, my lord, you are aware of our Someya’s side business, right?”

“I am. Your escort business must’ve been quite profitable, no?”

“If so…”

“Do not worry. I don’t wish to unnecessarily antagonize a merchant family. Hence my proposal: from now on, you can employ our naval force to escort the merchant ships in exchange for our employment of Torakichi. His absence will worsen Someya’s profit, and I have taken that into my consideration. From now on, Someya can forward the escort requests from the members of the Merchant Guild to our clan. Your side will receive the commission fee in full—we won’t take any cuts—and in the case of accidents, your side will not have to compensate for anything. Our side will do so. In full.”

“In that case, we won’t suffer any loss, huh…?”

Kumakichi nodded as he listened to my words.

As for Torakichi… guess he wasn’t good at this sort of thing. Well, he did say that he became the commander of their escort fleet due to him not having any business sense whatsoever.

“Not only that, we will also buy your fire arrows. You’re using leftover fabrics for them, right? We will also buy that. On your business venture, if you acquire any kind of fabrics that you can’t sell, you may contact the naval force or the Water Magistrate. We will buy them from you so that we can use them as weapons for the naval force.”

“I believe that this is too excessive…”

“Not at all. Our naval force will grow stronger in the future, so to me, this is just an investment. Once that happens, we’ll be able to let merchant ships go to places they have never reached before. There, they may find rare goods that they can’t find anywhere else, gain more profits, and in turn, give more tributes to our clan. In the long run, your side won’t be the only one who’ll reap the profit from this arrangement, ours too.”

This time, it was Kumakichi who nodded with sparkles in his eyes. Guess it wasn’t just Torakichi, both brothers could be quite expressive in certain ways, huh?

“What says you, Torakichi? Will you put yourself under Isshiki-sama’s service?”

“I… can’t decide yet. To serve under a warrior clan… is something I have never imagined. But, as Isshiki-sama has found worth in my abilities, I wish to live up to his expectations!”

The first half of his words were probably directed toward me, while the second half toward his brother. And he said those words with firm determination in his eyes.

“Us brothers found no objections to the proposal you have presented us, my lord. Please… I beg you to take care of my younger brother!”

“Please, take care of me, my lord!”

“Of course. I will make sure that he will become a man that Someya will be proud of. However, I will not be able to assign him to lead the naval force right away. So, for the time being, he will work under Hayashi Hikogorō and learn the duties of the Water Magistrate.”

Torakichi’s expression changed again; this time, his cheeks twitched slightly. I guess this was another thing that he wasn’t good at, huh? Well, if he wanted to become a great warrior, as well as a great commander, he had to take this step. There was nothing he could do but to just go with it and endure the hardship.

“Then, I’ll be counting on you from now on.”

“Y-yes, my lord!”

Oh, right, I forgot about something pretty important. His name. You see, our Isshiki clan had a special protection policy for merchants. Those who weren’t part of a merchant clan belonging to Ōigawa Merchant Guild were forbidden to use the merchant clan’s name. This was basically a way to prevent identity fraud. Which meant, even though Torakichi was the younger brother of Kumakichi, Someya’s current head, now that he was leaving the merchant clan, he would be forbidden to continue using his current name. 

“I believe you are aware of the rules of Ōigawa Merchant Guild’s?”

“Yes, I am. Since I have decided to leave Someya to serve under Isshiki, from now on, I cannot continue to use my current name.”

Hearing those words, a lonely look appeared in Kumakichi’s face.

“Correct. Hence I will bestow you a new name. But, no need to worry, I will only change the characters of your name, not the pronunciation. Ōigawa Merchant Guild’s members use letters and company seals often, after all, so there won’t be any confusion.”

“Please accept my deep gratitude for your generosity, my lord.”

“Hence, from today onwards.”

I picked up the paper, ink, and brush that I had prepared before all this and wrote down his new name.

“You are Someya Toramasa¹The pronunciation is the same, but the author actually used different kanji here. Originally it was 染屋, now it is 染谷.. The ‘Masa’ in your name is proof of my high expectations of you. From now on, you are to serve me well.”

“I will live up to your expectations, my lord!”

After receiving the paper from me, Torakichi clutched it tightly, looking deeply moved.

“I am aware that you will need to make your own preparations after this, including informing your clan of the news. Hence, I will let you spend your time at Someya Residence for the time being, until I’ll send Hikogorō to come and fetch you at a later date.”

The two men then bowed their heads and left the room.

“You’ve heard everything, Hikogorō.”

“I have.”

Hikogorō emerged from the back of the room. To see the naval force being completed was also something that Hikogorō dreamed of. That was why I always called him here and let him listen in whenever I invited anyone who could help develop the naval force.

“Since you’re the Water Magistrate, I can’t send you out to sail the sea yourself. So, I planned to divide the naval force into three pillars: the people who had hands in establishing the naval force from the beginning, Okuyama Chikamoto, and Someya Toramasa. Prepare accordingly.”

“Understood. But, who will take command of the first pillar?”

“I’m still undecided on that. Let’s wait and see for now.”

“Understood.”

After hearing my words, Hikogorō left the room in high spirits. That conversation with Someya took quite a while, huh?

It was almost time for dinner already—no, before that, I needed to check up on Hisa. I wanted to see the kosode and uchikake she bought from Someya.