"Damn it! DAMN IT ALL!!!"
I don't know why all of this is happening…
"Incoming cannonball! Hide quickly!"
From around me, the beautiful city of Naka is being destroyed.
"Mama! Where are you?!"
"It hurts! Help me!!!"
From the streets, children who was separated from their parents were crying while injured people laid on the streets and clutching their wounds.
"Iwasawa-sama! Awaiting your orders!"
"Kh-! Fire, fire, fire!!!"
But of course, things never started out like this…
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
"Wow… sure is a rainy day, huh?"
"It is, Hiroshi-sama. The maids were supposed to do the laundry today but as you can see…"
"Yeah. But… I like the rain, you know."
My name is Iwasawa Hiroshi. And a year ago, I became the lord of the province of Kiko. I came from modern Japan and through a certain way that I only came to fully discover, I came to this weird version of Feudal Japan that has its general features but none of the historical accuracy that I know of.
My past life? Mmm… It doesn't really matter to me now. After all, I lived a life back there that is not mine. So now that I don't have to act like how I was taught to act and think as how I was designed, I am happier here than I can ever be.
"Chi-chan…"
"Yes, Hiroshi-sama?"
"Spoil me more…"
I spoke and rubbed my face on her lap where I was resting my head and took her hand to my hair, asking her to comb it with her gentle fingers.
"Muu… You're like a kid, Hiroshi-sama."
"Come on, I only melt like this when I'm with you. Cause you're too loving and gentle to me."
"Mm… Fine."
After I complimented her, she blushed and sighed before giving me a gentle smile. Afterwards, she softly patted my hair and being spoiled like that, I even made some purring sounds as if I was a cat.
"Okay, that's enough spoiling for the day."
"Eeh? But I still want more…"
"That's enough, Iwasawa-sama. We both still have a work to do."
"Fine…"
Resigning as I understood her point, I turned my face in preparation to sit up from resting on her lap and that is when I saw her face that isn't looking at me. Hehe… I wish she'll forgive me for this.
"Chi-chan."
"Mm?"
"*Chu*"
"-?!"
I raised my head slightly and stole a kiss on her left cheek. A bold move, that I can't believe I did out of impulse.
"I-Iwasawa-sama! That is-"
"Why? I love you and you love me. You were too cute so I can't stop myself."
"Still…"
"Ehehe."
To be honest, it was a drag that we have to hide our relationship from the public and the nobility. Both of us wanted to be with each other already but circumstances are stopping that.
"…"
Chiyo grabbed her hair and used it to hide her deeply blushing face which just made her look cuter.
"Are you really that flustered? I kissed you because you're cute but when you turn out to become more charming like this, I might want to steal another one."
I was only joking of course, any more of this and I might not be able to stop myself anymore.
"Then… do it as how you should do it."
"Huh?"
She looked at me and slowly removed her hair from her face while still holding them with her hands.
"You always go for the forehead and cheeks. So… can you try another place?"
Is she telling me that… I can go to the next base?
"C-Chiyo… that's…"
Wow. Now I am the one who got flustered and scratching the back of his head in embarrassment.
"…"
"…"
Well… as they say, nothing ventured, nothing gained. If she's letting me do it, I'll happily receive it!
"Chiyo…"
"Hiroshi…"
I moved closer to her face and stared deeply into her eyes as she did the same to me. Her elegant and gentle gaze captivating me as her breath felt closer and closer until our lips met each other and we shared our first real kiss as a couple.
Our lips intertwined as we embraced each other gently like we're holding an infant on our arms. After a few moments, we parted to catch our breath and I saw her eyes was watery and her soft lips were moist.
"Hiroshi-sama… no. Hiro-kun?"
Hiro… my name from the past. I was supposed to hate it but when Chiyo called me that, it was pleasant to my ears.
"Hiro-kun is good. But only when we're alone, okay?"
"Mm."
She nodded and we looked at each other's eyes as if thinking about the same thing.
"Another one?"
"Sure thing."
She asked for another and I complied. We kissed each other again and afterwards, giggled at each other to commemorate another milestone in our relationship. To me, I would probably remember this moment for the rest of my life.
"Now, let's get to work. We can't get too carried away and forget about reality."
"Well said. Your secretaries are keeping up with the influx of new documents, right?"
"Yeah. They told me that working at the office makes them feel like they've become a part of the unification efforts. It helps to keep their morale up."
"I see. As for me… Oh yeah. I remember Ishida-kun and Nobisuke telling me to close my office today. Apparently, the military has something that they want me to hear about."
"A new battle? I'm a little worried."
Hearing that, I can't help but be so happy that Chiyo was the one who came to love me. Such a caring and lovely girl, she's exactly what I need to keep me out of the stress of being a Daimyo.
"Don't worry. I won't let anyone to be too reckless. I promise you, I'll be back for dinner."
"Muu… Don't say it in that way. You make it sound like a wife that is nagging her husband to not drink after work and miss dinner."
"Ahaha! Why do you have to use the worst possible analogy?"
"Mm! You're teasing me again!"
After having enough of her spoiling and cute complaints, I walked with her to the secretariat office hand-in-hand which was good since we weren't seen by any servants or guards.
"Do a good work, Chiyo."
"You too, Iwasawa-sama. Take care to not catch a cold while going to the port."
After she entered the office, I went to my own office and saw a familiar pair of faces.
"Your Higness…"
"Iwasawa-sama…"
They raised a salute and bowed to me afterwards which I received properly before sitting down behind my table.
"You said that no one should hear this… what is it about?"
"It's because of this, my lord."
When I said that, Ishida handed me a scroll that has the Kusanagi clan's wax seal on it. I used a prying pick on it to open the scroll tube and read the letter inside.
"Hmm… I see…"
It was from Ishigawa-san, Kyoko's effeminate main general. He probably wrote this in lieu of his master who has other businesses to attend to. I knew it because of his beautiful handwriting.
"The small provinces comprising the central plains are currently holding a meeting at a certain city. It's possible that they caught wind of the alliance and are trying to band together to fight us off as much as they can."
"That's not all, Iwasawa-sama. It's said that the heir was finally found and will be placed on the Shogun's throne soon. But as we knew from our spy network, that man is definitely just a placeholder, a fake that is placed as a puppet for the ones who truly want to rule."
"Yeah. This is quite concerning, actually."
I heaved a sigh as I stared out of the window where the rain was still pouring. It reminded me of our situation right now.
"We're not moving out yet. If we deploy early, we'd be fighting together with the Fuku and Kise troops that doesn't have a modernized army yet. Well, Kise said that they want to preserve the feudal troops and would only train modern rifle infantry. It was quite the compromise but it's more than a huge help to us."
"Speaking of which, a letter from Kingo castle came earlier. It came from the castle chamberlain and it extended their appreciation for saving Lady Daigo during the attack."
"Mm. I'll send back a reply and a medical package later. For now, let's think of a way to secure our territories before everything else. Ishida, if you may?"
He nodded as he understood what I wanted him to do. He stood up to place the new map on my table and I placed the wooden chess pieces in there to represent our troops.
"I formulized a defense plan for us regarding this situation where the central provinces would poke us to coax us into attacking them. I call it "Plan 32-Z" or "Receding Fire" if the former is too complicated for you."
To be fair, Sister Camilla is the one who made this. But I can't just tell anyone that a nun made a war tactic, something that no one would easily believe.
"I talked to Kyoko about this already. She said that she'll prefer the enemies to not enter Shinka in the first place, but I told her that we can't waste resources and men on direct battles."
"Then what does this tactic do, your highness?"
After placing the last piece on the map, I began to simulate it to them.
"Even though it is not an actual act, we will formally declare war against them. In preparation for hostilities, I predict that they will mobilize after four days and close the gap to the border in two more. After which, they will enter the forest of Len at the border of Shinka and would begin to move in with the thought of plunder and massacre."
"War is war… it's regretful that this has to happen."
"Indeed, General."
It seems like the two of them understood what I meant with what I said. Being the two commanders that came with me to Yukonami during our assistance operations for the Kusanagi clan, they knew how I acted when I learned about the enemy attacking their own people just because they can.
"Don't worry. The forest of Len is not populated. The trees are mostly untouched due to local beliefs on Wood Sprites and Tree gods and even the non-believers rarely pass by it with the intention of exploring or taking anything from it. So, it's mostly just Shinka's passage to the central plains."
"If that is so, does that mean that we can make use of the lack of people in the forest to actively hunt them down?"
"Yep. I was actually planning about executing several Psychological Warfare sorties with Kuro and his men. They'd act like forest denizens to slowly whittle the enemies' morale and remove the blame from us."
"Psychological warfare?"
"It's the same reason why Samurai masks look so monstrous. We're basically making them fear us and be unable to fight back because of that fear."
"I see…"
I continued my narration and moved the pieces back slowly while the other side went straight to where they were standing.
"The plan is an encirclement. We retreat slowly to feign weakness and once their men has all entered Shinka, we will block off the road to cut their logistics and reinforcements and finally drop the stamp on them using an all-out attack where they can't fight back properly."
"As expected from you, Lord Iwasawa. Always doing the safest and most efficient way to solve our problems."
"Don't flatter me too much, Ishida. This is nothing but child's play to a true tactician."
I stared into the map and looked at the four highlighted provinces which have become our allies. For some reason, I felt like something was off about all of this.
"Nobisuke, Takeo…"
""Yes, your highness!""
"Say, is the land route the only possible way to directly attack us?"
When I asked that question, they looked at each other as if they've never thought about it all this time.
"General. I think that would be impossible but…"
"Yeah. There's always an exception. It's possible that they are not thinking of doing this attack by land alone."
But before we can discuss this further, an explosion echoed from the harbor city which even we heard from this far.
"-!!!"
"What the-?!"
We ran to the window and through the hazy, rain-drenched sight of the city, we caught sight of several flashes of explosions out at the sea.
"Sir! We received a report from Naka Coastal Defense line!"
"Brief us on the way!"
A soldier came in with a report and I shouted as I ran out with Ishida and Nobisuke.
"They just radioed the situation from the central wharf. They have visuals on three warships and three armed-merchant ships. These ships are firing their cannons sporadically to the buildings."
"Anything about who they are? A formal navy or something?"
"Arakami Pirates, sir!"
Pirates… no way! How the hell did they amass that large amount of ships and men to man them?!
"Hey! Prepare our horses! We're mobilizing after the lord's announcement!"
"Aye sir!"
We passed by the stables and Shimura ordered the vets to prepare our horse already.
When we finally got to Military Communication Command, the officers are frantically talking into their microphones and pressing their headphones to their ears.
"Sir! I'll prepare to connect you to the public frequency! Please stand by to announce your battle statement!"
"Understood!"
Ishida sat in front of an empty console and turned it on the connect me to the nearest military camp in Naka harbor.
"Hey, connect me to the Bunker 13."
"Yes sir!"
Nobisuke ordered a radio officer, and he turned the frequency dial of his radio console and turned another knob to increase the quality of the sound before giving Nobisuke the microphone and disconnecting the headphone to redirect the output to a speaker.
"*Bzzzt!* S-Sir! We are being *bzzt!* overwhelmed. We are-"
"This is General Shimura. What is your situation there?"
"*Bzzzt!* Very bad sir! We were hit by the initial bombardment! *Bzzt!* Please send immediate reinforcements! They will land on the harbor if we- *Bzzzt!!!*"
"Hey! Hey!!! Damn it!"
The line was cut which Nobisuke hated to hear. He gritted his teeth as he waited for my announcement.
"Iwasawa-sama! It's on!"
"Alright. Let me handle this."
I took the microphone and heard the other line loud and clear through the headphones.
"Your Highness! We've heard about the reports! We're mobilizing as soon as we can!"
"Good. Bring the Rakurai artillery by the western wharf and spread your men in the residential area. Evacuate the citizens while pushing towards the harbor. Am I clear?"
"Clear copy, sir! We'll meet you at the area!"
With that line finished, I then went to the center of the room where I was handed another microphone.
"To all military encampments at Central Naka Command, we have just received dire news from Naka Harbor. Pirates are attacking the city and their bombardment has left the town's defenses rattled. I, Iwasawa Hiroshi, order all of you to mobilize as soon as possible into Naka Harbor. Formal orders will be passed by senior field officers from Commander Ishida, but there is but a single objective, protect the city and drive out these invaders!"
With that, I nodded to Nobisuke who stood up from his seat.
"Ishida! Work with the communications command to coordinate the defense and counterattack. Keep the navy posted about our situation so they can support us out in the sea."
"As you command, sir!"
"Nobisuke! Come with me!"
We wasted no time, as soon as we ran to the muddy stables and mounted our horses, a battalion of Castle Guards immediately followed us as we sprinted down the city drenched in rain and dust.
"Get out! Move deeper into the city! Don't trample with the others, leave your belongings and save your lives!"
The Land Guards (Kiko's police force) directed the people out of the public roads and into the deeper levels of the city.
"Sir! The lord is here!"
"Y-Your Highness!"
He raised a salute to me but with not much time in our hands, I simply ordered him and his men.
"Keep the people out of the streets and lead them to Misao Pavilion. Open the gates and keep your defenses there while the army is yet to arrive! If you see any invaders rushing into the safe zone, fire at will!"
"Yes sir! Lads! Half of you will lead the children and women into the central park building before coming back to here! The rest of you, we have to take whatever cart or crate we find and make a barricade! Come on, get moving!"
"Yes sir!"
We continued on and we soon arrived at the Shouri clan's warehouse where their private guards are barricading the gate and arming themselves to prepare to defend it. It then reminded me of something.
"M-My lord! We are-"
"Quick question, can we borrow the cannon that we left here last time?"
"T-the Rakurai artillery prototype? W-we can, but why do you ask, my lord?"
"If you can then bring it out! We need it and the ammunition it came with!"
"Y-Yes sir!"
I turned to Nobisuke and the castle guards and gave them an order.
"Some of you will stay here at the central port area with the artillery. We'll go to the bay and radio in coordinates to fire. Do you get what I am trying to say?"
"Yes sir! We won't miss a shot!"
"Good. Prepare the cannon as soon as you can and look at your map for the coordinates. We have to hold off until the rest of the force arrives! Come on, time is not on our side!"
Three-fourths of the castle guards went with me and soon, we got to the bay area which received the heaviest brunt of the bombardment.
"Sir! We need to find cover! The bastards are not letting up their fire!"
"I know that! But we have to mount a defense!"
We dismounted and ran from one building to another as round cannonballs rained upon us with impunity. Some that hit the buildings sent splintered wood to our heads while some that hit the roads bounced and almost caused us to lose our legs.
"S-sir! Requesting permission to attach to your group, sir!"
I was surprised when I heard someone shout from the seawall, only to see the lightly wounded remnants of the coastal defense soldiers coming to me to ask for another chance to fight.
"Get to cover and keep your eyes peeled for the enemies! Once you have a visual, fire at them."
At the seawall, we found the suitable cover against the cannons. Here, the castle guards set up their machine guns while some raised stones over the fence to act like stabilizing slots for their rifles.
"Sir! The artillery is ready!"
Once the officer with a radio said that, I shouted to Nobisuke who also has another radio officer near him.
"Nobisuke! Call in a cannon strike!"
"Aye sir!"
He replied and opened his map to deduce the positions of the ships before shouting the coordinates to the microphone.
"Full load! D4, G19! HE-2 shells, 10 degrees North! Send them!"
A few moments after he spoke the lines, the loud noise of the cannon firing was heard, and the whirring noise of air being forcefully ripped apart resounded before it hit the back of the leading warship and made it explode violently.
"Good hit, good hit! Maintain plot coordinate and shell type! Readjust to 30 degrees North! Send it!"
Just after it hit, Nobisuke didn't waste any time and dialed another coordinate that was shortly replied to by the artillery with another cannon fire. The air whirred again but this time, it was only the mast of the other warship that was hit, but it at least disabled the vehicle for us to see it as sitting ducks!
"Machine gunners! Fire at the crippled ship! Don't let them fix it!"
"Aye sir! Firing for effect!"
"Sweeping the deck, sir!"
"Keep the tripod stable! The sea wall isn't a good place to use this thing on!"
As I ordered them, the three machine gunners harassed the ship. Filling it with holes on the side while the pirates who was on the deck was showered with hot lead as they faced the wave of bullets from them.
"Riflemen! Try to find the officers of the ship and snipe them! I know that it's raining but do your best to pick off the enemy and weaken them!"
"As you command!"
The riflemen who received my order swept their visual ranges and individually fired at whoever they caught on the simple scopes of their Seiryuu rifle.
"My lord! A message from Admiral Kuwahabara's fleet! They are speeding from Sagiri port to enclose the enemy while Major Akamori's force is coming from the western wharf with Sakana cannons."
"Good! Tell them to provide support fire as soon as they get in range! Tell them that we have to stop these ships from firing on the city!"
"Aye, sir!"
The firefight never ceased. While we are making do with out limited fire support, the enemy is still destroying the city by firing its cannons towards them without caring if they actually hit it or not.
"Iwasawa-sama! The artillery up top has ran out of shells!"
"It's alright! Kuwahabara is coming with the destroyers. Tell them to regroup with us ASAP!"
But as I gave that order, the soldier near me tapped my back as he noticed something in the water.
"W-Wait… my lord, something is coming!"
Another soldier pressed his eye into his rifle scope and suddenly shouted.
"B-boats! They are preparing to land in the city!"
When I heard that, my instincts kicked in more as I handed a pretty heavy order.
"Don't let them take a step into the port! Kill them as soon as you see them!"
I was desperate. If the enemies take even a step into Naka harbor, we'd run the risk of losing them in the crowd and harming the civilians.
Little by little, we saw the silhouettes from the fog, but I made them hold their fire while they are still under the cover of the mist.
"…Aim."
They pulled the bolts of their guns back and chambered a bullet in.
"Now!"
As soon as they heard me, bullets flew into the boats and after a while, I raised my hand and ordered them to stop.
"Wait! Cease fire!"
Something… bothered me.
"M-my lord! We made a mistake!"
"Huh?!"
"Those are dummy boats! They know that we're here!"
When the boats riddled with bullets hit the harbor moors, I saw straw-filled dummies shaped like men and I immediately snapped into danger mode.
"Keep your heads down!!!"
They heard me and they ducked below the sea wall just before bullets and cannonballs whammed into it and blasted off the parts hit by the steel spheres.
"Aaaaaargh!!! My leg!"
Unluckily for me, I was hit by a flying piece of wood on the leg, and it made a cut that hurt too much for me to move the rest of my leg.
"My lord! Let me help you!"
"T-thanks! Let's go back and barricade there… in the inner streets."
"Retreat! Retreat to the inner streets!"
Nobisuke shouted and we took our weapons before running to the street behind the destroyed buildings.
"Urk! Gyaaahhh!!!"
I pulled the piece of wood out and poured antiseptic on it before forcefully twirling it with a roll of bandage.
"S-Status report! Have they landed yet?"
"No sir. They are still firing at where we were. It seems like they also have no clear visual on us!"
"Radioman! Connect me to Naka castle's central channel."
"Y-yes sir!"
He adjusted the radio machine on his back and handed me the headphone and microphone after.
"Ishida. This is Iwasawa. Do you have confirmed ETAs for the reinforcements?"
"Yes sir! Admiral Kuwahabara is nearly there and Major Akamori is still out of range as he and his men are evacuating the residents. The force from the industrial zone is coming a bit late due to the rain while the private forces of the Nagisa clan is on the way to assist your position."
"Tell the Nagisa force to come here as mounted cavalry. Inform Akamori to use airburst shells and fire at the central wharf without ceasing. The invaders are starting to land on the port so-"
Thankfully though… my prayers have been answered without any other need to wait.
"I-Iwasawa-sama! A new ship is emerging from the west! W-W-Wait! That's-!"
"An iron ship?!"
I forgot that it was still top secret, so I can't expect them to be calm after seeing the thing that just showed up in front of us.
"Wait, not only one. There are three of them!"
"Oh heavens! What the hell is happening right here?!"
"How are we supposed to sink that?!"
Their surprise and misconception were short-lived though as they saw the turrets of the ship turning to the pirate vessels and firing towards them.
"They're firing at the pirate ships!"
"A-Are they allies?"
Hearing the exclamations, I just sighed gratefully as Nobisuke did the same and laughed a bit.
"Oh man… now all of this is finished."
This wasn't something new to me. But for those castle guards around us, the sight of a giant metal ship firing at the wooden vessels and sometimes ramming itself towards them to crush the ships in half was a terrifying sight.
"S-sir. A message from Admiral Kuwahabara."
"O-okay. Give it to me."
I took the speaker from his hand and was waiting for a few words with official connotation but what I got was something half annoying.
"*Bzzt!* You owe me a crate of Naka Sake, Iwasawa-kou-sama."
"Che! Hehe… Kahahahaha!!!"
I can't help it. After all the panic and pain from earlier, everything sounded like a joke to me now.
The battle raged on for a few more minutes after that. With the large warships shot to the bottom of the bay, the armed merchant ships turned tail, only to face the Sakana cannons waiting to ambush them in the eastern port area. Unlike the warships, we got a lot more prisoners on the ships that tried to run away.
"Okay, okay… keep it steady, Iwasawa-sama…"
"Y-yeah… thanks a lot for tying it, Chiyoooo! Owwww!!!!"
"Ah! S-S-Sorry! I tied it too tightly!"
Back in the castle at the night after the battle, I was being helped by Chiyo to change my bloodied bandages when Nobisuke came in with his report.
"Kou-sama. These are the list of people that we caught."
"…Wait. What is this?"
"My guess is just as good as yours, my lord."
What was written on the record book wasn't names and ages but rather, numbers and some kind of word that is repeated again and again together with those numbers.
"Charlie… Delta… Echo… Why did they write this…?"
"This is just a guess, my lord. But for some reason, the men who wrote "Echo" in the records looked the poorest and weakest among them while the "Bravo" men looked a bit noble-like."
"Class levels? But this isn't the caste system that we know…"
Why a class system? They are pirates, there do are superiors and juniors but not to this extent where almost everyone who is lower will have to own the same nickname.
Unless of course…
"They are not doing this by random. Someone paid them to thrash the city."
"I suspect the same. I believe it would be better to act in advance rather than letting things to escalate even further. What would you choose, my lord?"
I gave it some thought and I spoke my decision.
"Nobisuke."
"Yes, Kou-sama?"
It was something that never happened yet during my reign. But now, faced with a strong and mysterious enemy, I had no choice but to inform them that I need their presence.
"Send a message to every noble house in Kiko. Tell them that we will meet at Misao Pavilion in three days."
"Okay… what would be the contents of each letter?"
I had no time and patience right now for formal words, so I went with a straightforward subject.
"Come to Misao Pavilion in Wednesday. I will be declaring war against our enemies."
And so, the first problem that I have to face now has emerged as I tried to uncover the real mastermind behind this.