"General Shimura!"
"Sir!"
It was early morning when he entered the camp and walked towards me, Nobisuke had a serious expression on his face.
"Nobisuke. You arrived quickly."
"I did as you ordered and took the northern district before directly marching the army towards here."
I nodded and narrowed my eyes to tell him that he can ask about it now.
"I wanted you to stop blaming yourself, Kou-sama. But for you to do this…"
"I call it taking responsibility for my actions."
"This… This isn't like the usual way that you-"
"Trust me, it is. Have you forgotten about that event in Aoya?"
Nobisuke's eyes widened before he cleared his throat and replied.
"I have not, my lord."
"Good. Now that I am back on my feet, I guess you won't punch me on the face anymore?"
"If it won't return, I believe it's no longer needed, my lord."
I chucked with his reply and told him to follow me into the tent where Kyoko and her general is waiting.
"Shall we start now?"
"Yeah, you two are taking your time. Come on, sit down in here."
We sat in front of a table where the map of the last district is placed along with some chess pieces.
"Intel from the inside said that the last of the enemy forces are cooped up inside this main castle."
"Defending the seat of power, huh?"
"Yeah. But there were recent movements as possibly half or three-fourths of the remaining enemy forces marched out of the castle and are moving towards our direction."
"That's three-fourths. My men already confirmed it from our side."
"Is that so? That would be good."
She moved some of the pieces around and now, it perfectly describes the current look of our battlefield.
"It looks good now. With this we can plan the attack more efficiently…"
"Yeah. I still have a lot of people on my side, so I'll take on the-"
"Nope! My force is more than enough to take them on. Even with the injured and deceased, my army is still 10,000 strong. It's a bit near to the attacking enemy's 8,000 but I doubt that it will be a disastrous defeat."
"H-hey, I know that Shinka folks are good with offensive campaigns but-"
"Shut it. Do you know how much you've hogged the spotlight since the war started?"
"T-that…"
"You killed an enemy lord when I told you to just defend. You annihilated a substantial amount of the enemy's force when you're supposed to just clear a pivotal force at the north. You defended the castle from a sortieing cavalry force and then came to our aid when we fell victim to a trap."
"Urk…"
"Do you get it now, Mr. Smarty-pants? This war is supposed to be between the Kusanagi clan and the Yukogahara clan, but you seem to be jockeying around too much and acting like you're the one under siege."
"Y-yeah."
I can't say no to that, unlike her straightforward self, she's going all around to tell me my faults right now.
"I'll fight against the attacking force and leave you to encircle the castle. But until I haven't arrived there yet, I don't want to hear that you've initiated an attack again and made the enemy capitulate. That's my part too, not yours."
"Sure. I'll keep it in mind."
I gave up speaking against her demands since she has a point anyway.
"I'm giving back Ishida to you now. I want to keep this upcoming battle strictly between me and the attacking leader."
"A personal fight, huh?"
"Yup."
I sighed and spoke to her softly.
"I get that you want to do this to gain your own merit in the battle and I cannot say anything against it…"
"Hm?"
"But still, keep safe, Kyoko."
"-!"
As I said that with a friendly tone and smile, her expression became stiff, and she looked away from me.
"I-is something wrong?"
"N-no. I just didn't expect you to say that… Ahem! But anyway, I appreciate the concern."
"S-sure…"
After the meeting was concluded and I stood up from seat and saw the slightly disappointed face of Nobisuke and even through his mask, I felt like Kuro had the same expression.
"W-what's wrong with you two?"
"General…"
"Yeah?"
"As much as he is knowledgeable in many things… I think the lord needs some lessons about common sense."
"As much as it pains me to admit, I agree with your idea."
"W-what?"
What are these two plotting? Why are they whispering to each other like this?
"You know, let's go already. We still have to march to start the siege in the castle."
""As you wish!""
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
A day later, the force that will be attacking them finally arrived a couple of kilometers away from their own formation line.
"It's a good day for a battle, Lady Kyoko."
"Mm. I sure am happy to have you back at your feet, Mitsuhide."
"Yeah, although I think it would be better if it was Mitsuha-nee who will be leading today."
"Don't add more fuel to her frustration. Even if she can stand up and fight for a bit, Mitsuha is still heavily wounded. She's not going out of her tent to fight."
"Hehe… I agree."
It is still new to me, but the feminine mannerisms and even the laugh from Mitsuhide is too authentic that it creeps me out.
"Hey, Mitsuhide…"
"Yes, Lady Kyoko?"
"…Do you… in a way…"
"Hm?"
Argh! Forget it! Why am I thinking about this when there's literally a war happening in front of me?!
"Haah… Forget it."
"I… I understand."
As we heard the enemy horn sounding an attack, I ordered my herald to raise the command flag for the frontline and to sound our horn as well.
"Commence battle! Don't die on me, my men!"
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
"Lord Iwasawa…"
"Yeah?"
"This may sound offensive, so I apologize in advance…"
"Don't bother. Just go with it."
"I just want to say that… this might be the most boring thing I've done in a war."
We arrived here just earlier and immediately spread out to besiege the main castle of the enemy by encircling it.
"That's to be expected, General… this is a siege. We have nothing to do here since Kou-sama agreed to wait for Lady Kusanagi."
"Thanks for the support, Ishida-san. I don't feel good with this too but I have to honor her request for me to stay put."
"I appreciate it, my lord."
As for what the three of us are doing right now…
"It's done, my lord."
"Mm… pass it on to me."
"I want to burn mine more for a moment."
"If that's your choice, Ishida-san."
We're having a barbeque at the camp. This is possibly the last day we'll be fighting in the war so the chefs in the war kitchen decided to give out the salted pig meat, so it won't be wasted.
"Still, I can't believe that the jar rations aren't commissioned yet, what happened at that, anyway, my lord?"
"The jarred army food? There's no functioning factory yet so I told Toshinori-san that we won't be buying any."
"But why? If we brought preserved food from home, we won't have to be so dependent on the food around us?"
"Listen here, Ishida. If I decided to buy the current stock of the rations that is being endorsed to us, we can only supply it to 2000 men for the entirety of our campaign. If I did that, the ones who didn't get any may complain and lose morale and there may even be some bad blood going after we get home."
"That is-"
"Do you get it now? It's like taking care of children. If you don't want them bickering later, give the similar things to both of them so there won't be a fight."
"I see… how profound, my lord."
"Agh… don't praise me for all the little things, would you guys? Any parent knows this trick. I just used it on a larger number of people."
As I sighed and placed another piece of roasted meat on my mouth, the smell of the toasted matsutake mushrooms wafted my nose and I took a skewer of it too.
"Who collected the mushrooms? I know that the other camps are also having their barbeque parties but still, who had the time to collect some of these? Chomp! "
"Oh. It's Major Komatsu and his group. They stumbled on some while finding trees to cut down for the barricades. He sent some to us as a present and gave most to the other camps."
"Really? Good guy."
This sure is a surreal sight. We're sitting here, eating meat and mushrooms while enjoying the cool autumn breeze while Kyoko and her army are fighting tooth-and-nail with the enemy at the south.
"Meh… It's not like they'll hate me for it. We already did too much, and she wants to take some credit. I'll trust on her decision and leave it to her hands."
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
The words of the young daimyo cannot be any truer.
"AAAAAHHHH!!!"
"PUSH THEM AWAY!!!"
"DON'T LET THEM THROUGH!!!"
The heated battle at the south became more and more chaotic as one side gains some ground and the other pushes them back.
Formations of soldiers met each other, shooting their enemies with bows or muskets, stabbing each other with spears and spikes or galloping around to finish their enemies from their expose rear.
This is how the Sengoku battles are meant to be fought. Sword to sword and projectile to projectile.
The weapons and defensive structures of the Iwasawa clan gave them too much of an unfair advantage that unless they wanted to, no one can ever come close enough from them to retaliate at all.
"Fourth foot soldier group! Attack!"
*Barrruuuuuuuungggg!!!*
"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!"
The sound of the trumpet was followed by the shouts of charging soldiers who went straight for the exposed side of the enemy force that is pushing them back.
"Kyoko-sama! Ishigawa-dono said that the enemy's right flank has surrendered."
"Good. He'll arrive at the right time for the omni-directional attack. Ride your horse, Mitsuhide. We'll join in the next wave!"
"Yes!"
Kyoko, with her black samurai armor that has her clan's white tiger insignia painted on it, stood up and climbed to her horse with sword at hand.
"Raise all the flags! We're going for an all-out fight!"
"RAAAAA!!!"
The cheers of her men resounded and with the galloping of her main army's cavalry group, Kyoko charged into battle to meet her enemy.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
"Lord Akira…"
"Is it here?"
At the main castle of the Yukogahara clan's domain, the formal lord is standing by a window, watching the enemy soldiers surrounding his fortress without letting anyone to step out of it.
"Yes, my lord. I have brought it."
"…"
A servant came near him and brought a vial containing a white fluid.
"I'm keeping my word, Atsushi. If all of you will be gone, I don't have any reason to stay here. I started this and I will end it by myself."
He took the vial and placed it over his eye, letting the bright moonlight to pass through it.
"Master! It is an honor to serve you!"
"I know, I know… I can't believe that even a scheming coward like me who killed his father and uncles to gain power can be held in high regard by someone… I was too boastful. I wanted power but I was immediately crushed by its responsibilities… I'm such a failure."
He looked out and even with his eyes that has started dimming already, he caught sight of the enemy lord who is playing Shogi with his general.
"It's so ironic… the man who killed my half-brothers, annihilated our armies and mindlessly went from camp to camp to massacre our soldiers is sitting with his subordinate, playing Shogi while sipping tea…"
He let out a short chuckle before closing the window and sitting on his throne.
"Leave me alone and tell no one about this yet. If they will demand our surrender, welcome them in and lead them here to see my soulless corpse."
"Yes, my lord!"
The servant, with tears on his eyes, spoke up and went out of the room immediately, leaving his lord alone in the room.
"Now then… I've already decided to do this so I shouldn't waste my time anymore…"
With a single sip and a gulp, he did the last thing he wanted to do and used his fingers to kill the flame on the lamp near him.
"I leave it all to you now… May you not fall to the same evil and greed as I did… Otherworlder..."