The wind and snow press heavily upon Kyoto at midnight.
Within the residence of the Great General leading the campaign against the barbarians, the lights still shone brightly.
At the tender age of twenty, Ashikaga Yoshiaki, who had assumed the position of Great General of the Ashikaga Shogunate for nearly a decade, sat cross-legged in a kimono embellished with golden bamboo patterns on a white background, deep in thought with his eyes closed at the upper end of the main hall. Below him, the flow of visitors never ceased, with all sorts of news flooding in.
"Report!"
A visitor, taking small rapid steps and bowing, hastened inside; the sharp, loud sound of his wooden clogs striking the cypress wood floor gave Ashikaga Yoshiaki a sense of foreboding, like a chilling wind and cold rain descending upon him.
"Your Excellency, the Great General."
