He never intended for things to become like this.
From the bottom of my heart, I believe that my lord never wanted for the things that happened today to happen.
As his loyal servant, I will attest… My lord is a man with a fragile heart, so fragile that he can even feel empathy for people who aren't related to him. To me, my master wasn't supposed to carry this guilt in his heart…
"My lord, this is one of the camps that one of my men scouted ahead. He said that there are no captives inside."
"Good. I believe that everyone can see it?"
"Y-yes… Of course, my lord."
"Because in the span of an hour, I don't want to see it anymore."
Yet here am I, seeing and hearing his commands that seem to have come from a very different person. Someone who seem to not have any sense of humanity at all.
I can say so as I used to display the same attitude as him before…
"As you command, my lord…"
Who I am and what I was prior to serving my master is a burden that I still carry unto this day.
With my father who was sent away from this place, my mother who cannot face me due to the shame of leaving me behind after birthing me and my sister is unaware that I even exist, there is a myriad of reasons that are causing me a lot of confusion about who I really am. And after a while, I gave up and made myself known to people in my own way.
I became a nameless person, someone who sometimes would just be forgotten by the people he works for and most of the time, remembered but never mentioned again by the people he ends. I was a manslayer, a being that to many people, is synonymous to a demon or an evil spirit.
Only when I became a recipient of my master's kindness was I able to put a purpose in the mindless slaughter that I became accustomed to and with that, I bent my knee to serve this person who gave me a new purpose in my life.
He is kind to law-abiders and ruthless to any evil. A simple man with simple desires but would prove himself shrewd and cunning to anyone wanting to harm those that he protects. He is the man that I wanted to serve. A person whose actions are not led by what he feels is right but what is absolutely right.
So now that I am yet again in a battlefield, claiming lives as he commanded to us, I felt like I have failed the man that I wanted to serve.
I felt like all of this grief that he is feeling, for thinking that his allies faced the same destruction as the one that he made his enemies face, should have been something that I carried to ease his pain.
Lord Iwasawa… May you not change after this… for I fear that if you do, you will not be able to come back to the you that everyone came to love and support out of love.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
"Don't let anyone escape! Kill them immediately on the spot!"
My guilt earlier turned to rage whenever I see the flags attached to the backs of these men.
"G-G-GET AWAY!!!"
"DIE!!!"
From my horseback, I fired at the enemy soldiers that the Crows huddled into the center of the camp. Once there are no one else alive outside of that circular formation, I shouted an order that is among the most inhumane ones that I have ever done.
"Throw in the Firebombs!"
After the jars filled with alcohol or oil where a lit wick is attached was thrown, the men hit with it burst into flames, the fire consuming everything they have as it stuck to their armor and clothing.
"UYAAAAA!!!"
"HOT!!! HOT!!!"
"SAVE ME!!!"
As the flames consumed them, I watched slowly and thought.
"Nobisuke is right. Hell does really exist."
With those words, I threw in another glass jar filled with alcohol and listened until their agony-filled screams and painful screeches finally ceased.
"Master! We found one soldier hiding at a tent! With his armor, we think he is the local camp commander."
Captain Kuro spoke as he approached me with his horse before he pulled a rope to drop a wounded man to the ground who after writhing in pain from his fall, immediately bowed down to the ground towards me and pleaded for his life.
"P-P-Please spare me! Please! I am the leader of this camp, I will tell you everything, please just don't kill me!!!"
"He is the leader! My lord, this can be our chance to-"
*BYAK-!*
Without even letting him finish, I fired a bullet that went through his forehead and out on the back of his head.
"Where's the next camp?"
"H-huh…?"
"The enemy camp in the reports. Lead the way to it."
"Y-yes! Right away!"
Right now, I am not in the right state of mind to think about diplomacy or showing mercy. Right now, the only thing I want to do is to find a solution to the thing that is bothering me.
"…It's just a small camp."
"Yes, my lord. But the reports say that this is the camp responsible for sending out commands to the other enemy camps."
"A command center, huh? That would be unnecessary now that there are no more encampments to deliver messages to."
I heaved a sigh and looked at the 20 or so Crows around me that are awaiting my orders.
"Kill them. Don't let anyone escape alive."
"""Yes! My lord!""""
I don't know if this can ever be justified… Right now, I am hunting down and ending the lives of my enemies not in a battlefield but in their very own turfs.
May it be while they sleep, while they eat, while they bathe or in any situation that we find them in, my men are planting bullets on their heads or bodies and going to the next location to do the same things.
It was not a war. It's just a massacre. A one-sided slaughter that they all fell for.
For me, this is just a measure to lessen the enemies we will eventually have to face in the upcoming battles, but for some, this carnage is not a semi-calculated precaution or culling of possible enemies.
It is a sign that I have stopped treating the enemy honorably and decided that this is the place to end them all.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
"What the… what the hell happened here?!"
"M-master! The other camps are destroyed as well!"
This is Yukogahara Akihiro, brother of the deceased Yukogahara Akihiko and the first of the three remaining half-brothers to personally march ahead with his army.
"This place… and the others around it… how… how?!!"
The place he visited was the encampment where they send their primary instructions to their men in the field. However, instead of being met by their soldiers bowing to pay respect to them, what they saw is a place whose ground was stained by blood and where corpses lie, feasted upon by ravens and other critters.
"My lord! We found a message in the captain's tent!"
One of his men came out of a tent and brought a letter to him. He opened it and it contained the letter of unconditional surrender that his half-brother wrote which was meant to be sent to the enemy leaders of the forces attacking them since they foresaw a victorious counterattack against the enemy.
[I, Yukogahara Akira, 8th Generation Daimyo of Yukonami's Yukogahara Clan, demand the unconditional surrender of your army to our forces. You will surrender all weapons and horses in your possession and hand over all of your nobles as prisoners of war. If you wish to reclaim them, it can be negotiated with a minimum ransom of 10,000 Kan per prisoner. Additionally, we will have your normal soldiers stay in our lands as slaves to reconstruct our damaged castles and farm the ground for us. If you wish for us to not end all of your lives, you will agree to every single one of the demands written in this document.]
However, a few words written with blood as the ink made the vein in the lord's forehead to knot until it seemed to burst.
[F**k off. Demand that when all of you are not dying in mere seconds during battle.]
Reading this direct insult, he felt an anger so great that it felt like it will make his chest burst.
"That impudent bastard!!! I will show him! I will show him how to bow down to unmatchable power!"
With a desire to put the man who insulted them in his place, he hurried along the path directed to him by their scout's reports and arrived at the eastern defense line commanded by Commander Ishida.
Normally, the attacking side would send over a messenger to the defending side, often asking for their surrender or offering bribes to let them through. However, in his rage, he simply lined his soldiers to their formations and made them march forward.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
"Huh? Attack? There's no messengers at all?"
Commander Ishida, who took a nap just before the attack, groggily went over the trench and saw the 10,000 or so army marching towards them through his telescope.
"Haah… another empty-headed enemy commander. The orders are just as usual. Fire at them as soon as they are in range. Don't be shy to miss a little, we received enough munitions to hold out in here."
Treating this hasty and senseless attack as nothing, Commander Ishida gave the orders to fire away, not knowing that the enemy is here to honorably recover a tarnished pride due to the actions of his lord.
Well, not like he would care anyway if he did know. If anything, he'd probably be more aggressive since his lord must've had a reason to attack them first for this enemy force to haphazardly attack.
"Aim! Keep your sights still, men!"
Commander Ishida and the other officers lined up to start the defensive actions and with the guns pointing to the enemies and the cannons raised into the arc of fire where they can be most effective, the battle started.
"FIRE!!!"
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Back to the main castle where the Kusanagi clan leader and her generals are recovering, an issue came up that has worried everyone in the place.
"Where is he… where is that guy…? He left a letter, but it doesn't tell anything about where he went and for what reason..."
Ever since their conversation last night, Kyoko has been feeling nervous about something.
"I thought this is just stress from my injuries… but why won't it disappear…?"
There's something in the tone and words of Hiroshi that she can't properly ascertain. It feels so familiar yet so strange to her.
"What… when did I have this feeling again…?"
She sat down between the unconscious female generals and only then did she give up in thinking about it.
"Haah… no sense in catching the wind. If I can't remember it, I can't remember it."
She heard that Hiroshi went away from the castle that morning, informing no one but leaving a letter saying that he will be back tomorrow and if any issues arise, it should be brought to her attention as she is a lord of same stature and authority.
"That guy, really… leaving the leadership to me to run off somewhere."
As she sighed, she opened the window of the room and saw the soldiers of his allied leader training at the courtyard.
"Change of positions! Start!"
The synchronous movements of the soldiers were cleanly executed from start to finish. The movement of the feet, the speed of the arms and the coordination to hold their guns at their hands while twirling it around for inspection made for a very interesting and entertaining sight for her to watch.
"Wow… that looks so awesome. Not only good at the field but also in appearances, huh?"
Somehow, Kyoko's mind drifted to a thought where every day, she can watch this scene unfold as she opens her window in the morning just in the right time for this change of guard ceremony to be done.
It was weird for her to imagine this and when she remembered it, she quickly dismissed the thought as wishful thinking.
"Hmph! Not like I am interested. When things repeat their selves, it always ends up to not be entertaining anymore."
She felt bashful for even thinking about such a thing and it just added to her stress as she now remembered what she and her female general was talking about before the explosion in the abandoned village.
"AAARRRGHH!!! Why was I thinking about that?! Why the hell am I so concerned about it?!"
Just like her effeminate general guessed, Kyoko really is too naïve and prideful to recognize that she is having her puppy love with the young lord of Kiko. That, and she is forcing herself to focus on her current responsibilities as a daimyo leading a war.
Speaking of which, that general of hers can now be heard running towards the room in full speed.
"Princess!!! Are you alive?!"
Not even using his usual female voice, the deep and tough tone of her general came with a question filled with worry.
"I-Ishigawa-nii!"
"Kyoko-sama… Kyoko-sama!"
"A-ahh… Mmm…"
And without caring for the soldiers guarding the room who can see him, he ran towards his lord and embraced her tightly like a father who has finally been reconciled with his daughter.
"Hime-sama… Hik-! Hime-sama!"
"There, there… You can take your time… I'm not gonna ask you to let go until you're fine too."
"Uwagh! Hik!"
The man who would usually tease his fellow retainers and unsuspecting guest with his female-like figure being like this, breaking down into tears and tightly embracing his lord would bring to question about what he went through to shed this many tears and have so much care for her.
It is natural for subordinates to feel strongly concerned for their masters, but this level of emotional worry… it's as if the man was reminded about something that he doesn't want to experience again.
"…I'm sorry, Ishigawa-nii. I should've listened to you."
"N-no! Not at all, princess!"
"No. This is my fault. We had an argument when you heard that I bought information from a local informant and when I can't say anything against your going against my plan, I ordered you to turn back and guard our conquered locations… I was just stupid."
This is the reason why during the march, General Ishigawa was present but not in the abandoned village. He knew that this place has a lot of crooks and scammers and that Kyoko's plan may result to their own losses but in her desire to secure a place nearer to the enemy's main stronghold, she bought the information and fell into the enemy's trap.
"Ishigawa-nii… Sorry for dismissing your concerns… I should've been wiser in my decisions."
"Although I don't want to be so direct, I agree, Kyoko-sama…"
"Mm. Because of my stupidity, Mitsuha and Mitsuhide almost died as well."
They looked at the lightly injured but still unconscious Mitsuhide who shielded her lord from the blast of the explosion and the heavily wounded Mitsuha who after having the ground beneath her feet blasted apart, was still able to stand up and fight off the enemy soldiers that attempted to end her.
"They're both hardy retainers. They won't easily kick the bucket."
"Yeah. I agree."
After that short exchange, the effeminate general brought up some news that allowed Kyoko to connect what he said to her thoughts earlier.
"By the way, Kyoko-sama. Have you heard the rumors that just started today?"
"Huh? Rumors about what?"
"I heard about it from the villagers when I was having my breakfast earlier. They said that an evil spirit has been going around and wreaking havoc around the battlefield since last night."
"Evil spirit?"
"Mm. A man riding a horse, clothed in black from head to toe, rode from camp to camp, slaughtering everyone in his way. From the gallop of his horse whose nostrils breathed fire and smoke, a shadow extends that eats up the souls of the deceased and casting their bodies into the flames to be judged by Enma."
"This sounds like just another rural banter to me. Probably a fairytale made up to make kids stay at home…"
"It does, but when I raced here to see if you are well, I saw it with my own eyes. The enemy camps really are desolate. Some of them simply had the soldiers dead and left to scavenging animals while others were burnt to the ground."
"Hmm… This sounds so familiar…"
She thought for a moment and that is when she shook from fear, having learned about the truth.
"Say… what direction are the attacks going to?"
"Umm… North-east, I think."
"Has the Iwasawa clan's northern and eastern armies marched out further into enemy territory?"
"I think Commander Ishida would be moving his men to conquer the eastern district…"
Just then, a soldier came running to the room before bowing down in front of the door.
"Your highness! I have news from the battlefield!"
Kyoko heard it and through the door, she ordered for it to be narrated.
"The eastern army of the Iwasawa Clan has reported that the Yukogahara Daimyo of the eastern district, Yukogahara Akihiro, has been defeated in battle!"
"P-Princess! This is good news!"
Unlike her general, Kyoko was not happy.
"No… No way…"
Instead, she was wearing an expression of pure worry after hearing the news.
"Ishigawa-nii… prepare the army."
"H-huh?"
"This is an order. Prepare the men that we still have! We have to march forward as soon as possible!"
"Y-yes, Kyoko-sama!"
As her general ran out to do as she said, Kyoko held onto the windowsill, needing it to support herself as her knees trembled yet again in fear just like last time.
"That guy… is he… is he crazy…?"
Normally, Kyoko would only hear about someone going into a suicidal charge when they are overcome with emotions, has nothing to lose anymore or they feel that it is the only way to get the justice that they want to get.
"We were the ones who fell for it… why does he have to charge there for our sake?!"
Mustering her strength, she stood up and tightened the bandages on her wounds as she wore her armor and took her sword from its stand.
"I have to go… I have to stop him or else he might die!"
It wasn't just a matter of losing merit, Kyoko was also worried.
Worried that the young man who's been making her uncomfortable for a while already may not be able to live through this battle.