Chapter 18: An Unexpected Traitor and the Fall of the Castle

Outside of Hikuma Castle – Isshiki Masataka

1561. Summer.

Several weeks after I issued that order to Rakudo, I could finally see the fruit of it.

According to the infiltrating shinobi, Hikuma was already divided between those who wished to surrender and those who wished to fight until the end. Naturally, Tsuratatsu led the latter, while the one who led the former was Inoo Tsurayoshi, his heir. From this, I could tell that they didn’t get along well.

“So I assume that there is a good chance that he’ll cooperate with us?”

“Yes. But, it might be best not to trust him too much. I have great suspicion that he has someone behind him…”

“And you couldn’t find out who it was?”

“We were lacking.”

Well, if the Sakae, with all their information gathering capabilities, were unable to find anything, then that was that.

Besides, we didn’t need their whole faction to come to our side. As long as they agreed to open the gate and let us in, it would be enough.

“Also, I have one more thing to report.”

“What is it?”

“Tsurayoshi isn’t the only one who’s lost faith in Tsuratatsu.”

“Tell me more.”

“Yes. It’s—”

Now, that was surprising. To think that person had lost faith in him too. Still, I couldn’t help but feel that there was something amiss about all this.

“Continue to investigate the matter. Keep working to convince Tsurayoshi to side with us. With him by our side, we can pull out most of the shinobi out of Hikuma. Now, go.”

“Understood.”

After that, Rakudo disappeared. Then, a while later a war cry echoed from near the castle gate. It seemed like the gate had been opened. Seeing how quick it had been since I sent Rokudo back in, it was clear that their side had stopped gambling on the possibility that Matsudaira would come and aid them. Well, that would never happen in the first place. Which was why it was baffling that Tsuratatsu started all this nonsense in the first place.

“Shall we charge in too?”

“…No. Stay here and guard the gate. Cut down any enemies that escape through the gate.”

“Understood.”

As expected, even though I was the one who provoked Inoo to start the war, Motonobu-dono left me in charge of guarding the castle gate—a significantly less dangerous task. By the way, his younger brother, Masatsuna-dono, was staying back at Ōigawa with Tokimune and the others.

Anyway, it was great that he assigned me this role. 

Not long after, black smoke rose from various parts of the castle. Seriously, there was no need for all this, Nagamochi-dono. Even after this, Hikuma would still be a key in Tōtōmi’s defenses, it would be a huge problem if we just burned the place down. Our goal was just to change its ruler, remember?

We were even specifically instructed to leave the infrastructure intact, but now he was burning things. Well, at least the main keep was left unscathed, but thanks to this we would be busy with cleaning up after this was done. Anyway, Motonobu-dono would be the one to enter the castle next.

During the Battle of Okehazama, he was the one in charge of Narumi Castle, but he exchanged the castle for Lord Yoshimoto’s head. Also, on his way back to Suruga, he managed to capture and burn Kariya Castle with just a small number of soldiers. Seriously, what a terrifying person.

Bringing back Lord Yoshimito’s head is already a great achievement in itself, add Kariya Castle’s capture on top of it…

If he wanted to, he could mobilize the nearby castle lords; they would happily join in. That was how powerful he had become.

Anyway, Nagamochi-dono’s base was in Suruga, so all this destruction wouldn’t affect him much but man, it would be nice if he were to think about us whose bases were in Tōtōmi.

“My lord, please don’t get distracted, we are still in the middle of a battle…”

“I’m sorry, I let my mind wander. You’re right, I’ll reflect on this.”

Right, focus on this battle for the time being. It wasn’t like we had nothing to do. We still had to cut down all the enemies that walked out of the castle gate, and when the time was right, we would also have to enter the castle as well.

“Still, it doesn’t seem like they’ll need us.”

“Yes. Motonobu-dono has already entered the castle, the others are also going in. Tsuratatsu’s fate is sealed.”

“Yeah. Our soldiers are mostly unharmed, safe for the ones who are affected by the heat.”

“This outcome is more than satisfactory for us. All we need to do is to wait until our side lets out their victory cries.”

After more time passed, the sun began to set, and the long day finally drew to a close. At that moment, victory cries echoed from within the castle.

Finally, it was all over.

Soon after, a messenger from Motonobu-dono arrived at our camp.

“The lord requests your presence at the main camp.”

“Understood, I’ll go there immediately.”

“I’ve received your words.”

After that, the messenger hurried along to make his way to the main camp.

“A rather anticlimactic battle for your first one isn’t it, my lord?”

“It’s not all bad. At least this way, Mother won’t be so worried.”

“Indeed. I missed those days…”

“Those days?”

Sasuke then began to speak while looking at the distance,

“When Masafumi-sama decided to join the Invasion of Owari, he also decided to have your first battle during the invasion. Hearing that, the madam was enraged. She stormed the hall during a clan meeting, ignoring all the officers, servants, even Masafumi-sama’s attempt to dissuade her, and confronted Masafumi-sama about his decision. Thanks to that, our Isshiki clan didn’t lose its heir.”

“Do you think I would’ve died in Okehazama if I were to join the invasion?”

“That’s something we’ll never know. But there was a chance that it would happen.”

Sure, there were a lot of people who died in that battle, but there were also a lot of people who returned safely from that battle, including but not limited to this guy in front of me and Michifusa. Seriously, killing me off in his head like that, it was unwarranted. We just won a battle, all this negativity might bring us bad luck, you know?

Anyway, it seemed like it was thanks to Mother that I was alive and well. I still remembered how nervous I was back then.

I had long made a prediction that my first battle would be the Invasion of Owari. Just the thought made me hole up in a room all anxious.

But then Father came to me the next day and told me that it wouldn’t be the case, and that got me feeling deflated. I didn’t know that he and Mother had a fight about it just the previous day.

“Still, that was the first time I’ve heard that story.”

“The madam told us not to tell you, my lord.”

“But you just told me.”

“So I did.”

Well, if I kept my mouth shut, Mother wouldn’t know that I knew. And there was no reason for me to blabber about it to her anyway.

“Alright, time to go to Okabe’s camp. I need to come up with a congratulatory speech though.”

“Yes.”

And just like that, Hikuma Castle had fallen.