Chapter 19: The Rebels’ Subjugation, the Approaching Footsteps of Ruins

Imagawa’s Main Camp, Outside of Hikuma Castle – Isshiki Masataka

1561. Summer

“I’ve heard from everyone. You’ve done an exemplary job.”

“No, no, my contribution is insignificant. Everyone planned to wait until their side starved and gave up, but you, Masataka-dono, did that maneuver and brought the matter to this swift end.”

In front of the main camp, I met Udono Nagamochi-dono by chance and greeted him. I still didn’t know how the battle went in detail, but seeing his confident demeanor, it wasn’t hard to tell that he had achieved quite a feat.

“Motonobu-dono is waiting for you two inside.”

A general came out of the camp and told us that.

“Alright, shall we go, then?”

“Yes.”

Inside, all the armies’ key figures were there. 

Motonobu-dono’s seat was at the head, directly facing the entrance. There were two seats that were empty inside, near Motonobu-dono—signifying that it was the seat of someone with high rank—and near the entrance—signifying the opposite. The latter was my seat while the former was Nagamochi-dono’s.

After ensuring that we both were seated, Motonobu-dono began to speak,

“Everyone did admirably. Nagamochi-dono undoubtedly had the greatest achievement, but even Masataka-dono also did a great job, even though this was his first battle. Well done.”

“Thank you.”

“Thank you.”

We both bowed our heads in gratitude. Then, the topic of the discussion shifted to the aftermath of the battle.

“Our troops have captured Inoo Tsuratatsu, and we are making arrangements to bring him to the Imagawa Residence. Nagamochi-dono, what happened to the others?”

“Yes. First, let me say my apology to Masataka-dono. Inoo Tsurayoshi, the man responsible for opening the castle gate through your scheme has unfortunately been slain during the melee. It seemed one of my subordinates didn’t know better and mistook him for an enemy. For that, I will once again ask for your forgiveness. Of course, I will make sure that subordinate of mine will be punished at a later date.”

“Haa…”

Honestly, it really didn’t matter much to me; I had no intention of bringing him to my side in the first place anyway. But Nagamochi-dono didn’t know that. Say that I actually wanted to recruit him, then the thing he should do here would be to hand over that subordinate of his to me so that I could punish him myself, but he didn’t do that for some reason.

While the melee must have been quite chaotic, so it was only natural that it was hard for them to distinguish between friends and foe, still…

Whatever. This meant I wouldn’t need to get my hands dirty punishing anyone.

“As for my daughter, Tsubaki. She turned her blade against me, so I had no choice but to cut her down as well.”

“I see.”

Motonobu-dono muttered in regret. Nagamochi-dono had refused to betray Imagawa in order to save his daughter; even led the vanguard when the castle gate was opened.

And yet his daughter turned against him, choosing to die with Tsuratatsu in the castle.

After that, came the reports and talks about the effort to deal with the aftermath. Then came the talk about rewards and other minor things, and only after that was I completely free.

When I stepped out of the camp, it was already dark outside. They had torches set up inside so I didn’t notice that the sun had fully set.

I stretched my body to cast the stiffness away; my bones made cracking sounds as I did. Man, the chairs of this era were just uncomfortable. They really didn’t make those chairs to be sat on for a long period of time. The meeting only lasted for a few minutes, yet my body already hurt all over.

While I was doing that, someone came from behind me. I noticed their shadow looming over me and they tapped me on the shoulder.

“Let me say this again. You did well.”

“Thank you very much. But it does feel rather unsatisfactory still. I didn’t get the chance to join the fight.”

“Don’t say such a reckless thing. Also, it was an order from the lord.”

Motonobu-dono stroked his chin with a troubled face.

I see. It was Ujizane-sama’s decision, huh? And here I thought it was Mother’s—wait, she was Ujizane-sama’s aunt, so there was a chance that she actually made him do this. It seemed like I needed to have a proper talk with her later.

“Then, may I ask what really happened inside the castle?”

“If you really are that interested, yes. Come to my camp.”

Along the way, we talked about a lot of things—like how he had been in Narumi Castle after Lord Yoshimoto’s death, and about his brother, Masatsuna-dono.

There was a considerable difference between our ages, but we seemed to get along fairly well. Also, getting along with a senior retainer of Imagawa would only help me going forward.

“So, what do you want to know?”

“Yes, I only wish to know the details on how Nagamochi-dono fought inside the castle.”

“Nagamochi-dono, huh? By the time my forces went in, Tsuratatsu was already cornered. Since the lord’s order was to strictly capture him, and not, under any circumstance, kill him, when he expressed his willingness to surrender, my men stopped Nagamochi-dono from trying to kill him. It was the first time I’ve seen him in such a hot-blooded state. He even went ahead and cut his own daughter down. To do such a thing to his own flesh and blood, I can only imagine the pain that he suffered through.”

That was Motonobu-dono’s impression after seeing Nagamochi-dono in action. Just as he said, Nagamochi-dono seemed to have changed as a person, huh?

It made his wishy-washy demeanor the other day—when Tsuratatsu raised the flag of rebellion and declared war on us—seem like a lie.

“I can’t lose to him; I have to strive harder myself. Even Ujizane-sama has been working hard to fill the void left by Lord Yoshimoto’s death; I can’t let him down.”

“You’ve known the lord for a long time, Masataka-dono, Does it really seem that way to you? I can’t see it in the same way as you.”

Motonobu-dono said in a repressed tone, as if holding himself back from saying something as he saw me off from the entrance of his camp.

Even he had noticed, huh? How Ujizane-sama had been looking thinner by the day. If this were to continue, he’d pass away before we could rebuild Imagawa. Something had to be done about this.