“More importantly than that, how is Ieyahsu? I heard he was hurt.”
“Ah, yes. He had been struck by an arrow to the shoulder, but he is quite fine.”
“Can you take me to him? I’ll heal him up.” Most people from Eashen, Yae included, didn’t have much aptitude for magic. There were barely any people in the country who could muster the power of light or dark, especially.
They did have their own specialized techniques that made use of magic power in a sense, though. Ninjutsu, for example. Tsubaki throwing her voice into nearby animals was an application of this.
“We’d appreciate that greatly. He’s with father in the castle right now. Let us depart at once, Tou— Shirogane-dono.” Yae hopped up on to Kohaku and we all headed toward the castle gates. The Tokugawa soldiers stared at us in a mixture of shock and awe.
“Forgive me, truly... It seems I owe you yet another debt, Tou— Shirogane-dono...” I cured Ieyahsu with my magic, and then helped the other wounded soldiers too.
He thanked me, and we sat together inside a hall in the castle. The main Tokugawa vassals were also present. Yae’s father, Jubei, was there among them.
“You know, stories of you have even reached Eashen... Your great and extravagant deeds, as well.” His eyes were filled with a curious sort of light as he stared at me. He was generally full of wonder. He seemed somewhat similar to the King of Belfast, and Mismede’s beastking in that regard...
“What kind of stories...?”
“We’ve heard that you violently seized the princesses of many great nations, that you annihilated an army of demonic monsters all on your own, and that you have some control over great metallic giants... And that you used that power to annihilate a country!” I smiled awkwardly as he spoke. Those stories were... partly true, at best. It was a game of telephone... The stories probably started true, but gradually warped from teller to teller.
I decided to brush that aside for the time being.
“My lord. Who is this...?” His retainers began to murmur amongst themselves. It was only natural to be suspicious around an incredibly powerful man who appeared from nowhere and refused to show his face.
“Ah, well. This is Shirogane-dono. He is a guest of Jubei’s and the Kokonoe family. As you can see, his strength is simply unmatched. A single Oni with the power of a thousand men. He learned of our desperate plight and came to our aid, he did.” After Ieyahsu spoke, everyone looked over to Jubei. He nodded. His affirmation seemed to reassure them, at least a little bit. Yae sat firmly next to him, too. Kohaku had reverted to her miniature form, and was comfortably nestled into Yae’s lap.
“That reminds me, Ieyahsu. How is the war front?”
“Right now we are greatly outmatched. Hashiba far exceeds us in terms of numbers. In order to succeed, we must take advantage of our enemy’s weak loyalty.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I said it was Hashiba’s army... However, the soldiers were mostly from Oda, Mori, Shimazu, and Chosokabe to begin with. The majority do not follow him out of loyalty or respect. They simply fear Hideyooshi’s power.”
And here I thought control through fear was Oda Nobunaga’s patented method... Still, the Hideyoshi I remember from Earth’s history was definitely capable of cruelty. If I remember right, after his son was born, he made his own nephew, Hidetsugu, commit suicide. Plus, he had Hidetsugu’s wife, concubines, and children killed as well... didn’t he?
Still, cruelty wasn’t all that unusual for the warring states period. Even Tokugawa Ieyasu historically punished one of his traitorous vassals, Oga Yashiro, by sawing him to death with a bamboo saw. The guy did try to sell him out to Takeda, though.
That Ieyasu didn’t seem much like the Ieyahsu in front of me... And the Hideyoshi... or rather, Hideyooshi of this world seemed different too.
“So why is everyone obeying him? Is he really that strong?”
“Nay. He carries with him a golden gourd that commands a powerful jutsu. With it, so they say, he can make anyone obey his power. The rumors state that Nobunaga’s assassin, Mitsuhide, was willed by the gourd to kill him.”
A golden gourd, huh...? Maybe this is another artifact. Could we have another situation like that immortality jewel again? It better not have fallen outta the Storehouse! I worriedly took out my smartphone and began scrolling through a list of items confirmed to be missing from the Storehouse. But nope. No gourd. It might’ve still been an artifact, though. Just maybe one made by another researcher, like during the Dragon King incident.
“So if I took out that gourd, do you think the enemy would crumble?”
“Possibly, yes. But Hideyooshi never leaves his castle. Even I’ve never seen his face, despite being a feudal lord just like him. The rumors say he doesn’t like being seen due to the fact that he resembles a monkey.”
...Some kind of monkey-faced feudal lord? I wonder how he’d look without hair... Heh.
Still, having a lord who’s also a shut-in is unusual. Hell, the fact that he was granted the title is suspicious enough.
A monkey-faced man who found a golden gourd and infiltrated Oda... He must have manipulated the Emperor and used that influence to become a feudal lord, too. The Emperor isn’t exactly anything special in Eashen, either. Most people just do their own thing, so it’s no surprise that he’d be able to muster up the ability to manipulate so easily.
After that he crushed Oda and took over, I guess. I didn’t really have a good idea of what that guy’s plan was or how it all connected.
“So... where exactly is Hideyooshi?”
“Oosaka. He built a golden castle there.”
Is it really made out of gold? I guess that fits with the kind of guy he is... But it’s still a little much.
I projected my smartphone map into the air and gave it a look-over. The retainers in the room exclaimed in shock, but I paid them no mind.
Tsk... They put up magic barriers all over the place... That means I can’t just use [Gate], then. I decided that Gungnir would be the best option, in that case.
“Tou— Shirogane-dono. Just what are you planning?”
“I’m going to attack Hideyooshi head-on... Hmm... I wonder if crashing into his castle with Gungnir would be too messy. It’ll probably blow the place to pieces. But I can’t really think of another way to get inside.” Ieyahsu simply muttered in astonishment at me as I planned my course of attack.
“...Are you capable of something like that?”
“I can do it, yeah. I have a lot of strange powers, after all. As far as finding him goes, I’ll just look around after I breach the castle. Then, I just need to take care of that gourd...”
“Could I come along, then?” A sudden voice rang out from the hallway. Everyone turned toward the source.
Standing there was a boy about my age. A tall man stood next to him. He wore black armor over a black hakama, and a purple overcoat. Still, what stood out to me was not his gaudy clothing, but the patch over his right eye.
I had a sudden thought as to just who this one-eyed warrior could be...
“Are you the one they call Shirogane-dono? That battle earlier was incredible, truly incredible... I apologize for being late. Allow me to introduce myself. I am the feudal lord who presides over the Date house. Date Jiro Massamune.”
I knew it!
“Date... Massamune...? Then this fellow must be...”
“My retainer, Katakura Kohjuro Kagetsunna.”
“A pleasure.” The tall, slit-eyed man bowed his head. That’s about what I expected. If Date Masamune was around, then he had to be with Katakura Kagetsuna. The two were an inseparable combo.
But there were more pressing matters on my mind.
“By come along... You mean come to Oosaka with me?”
“I do, yes. I’m interested in meeting Hideyooshi before he dies, and I’m very interested in that gourd of his.” Masamune smiled a little too broadly. It was a little teasing, in all honesty. I had no doubt in my mind that this youn
gster was plotting something.
Ieyahsu caught on as well, as he let out a sigh and commented.
“Massamune-dono... If your intention is to seize the golden gourd for yourself, then I’d ask you forget such a foolish idea.”
“What?! How did you know what I was thinking?!”
“Massamune-sama... Your thoughts were right there on your charming face.” Kohjuro spoke up and gave a veiled warning about displaying intent. Massamune had certainly let things slip a little too soon.
“I’ll just make it clear now. I’m going to destroy that gourd. It sounds like a really bad artifact to me.”
“Hmph... Very well, then. As you wish, Shirogane-dono. I will stand by your choice.” Massamune said that, but he started grinning again.
You’re fooling nobody!
“...You are thinking of swiping it from him before he can destroy it, aren’t you?”
“What?! How did you know what I was thinking?!”
“Massamune-sama... As I said before... your thoughts were right there on your charming face.” Both master and subordinate were repeating their previous exchange. They didn’t necessarily seem like bad people, though. The Date Masamune of my old world employed cunning strategies all the time, too. Though I didn’t recall him being exposed all that often.
“Ieyahsu, is it okay to take the feudal lord of Date right into enemy territory?”
“Well, I say that him wanting to go with you is no problem of mine. It is a matter for his house to determine.” Ieyahsu clearly had no plans of interfering, even if they were allies. But I couldn’t help but worry that if Date died their alliance might end up dissolved.
“Actually... I too would like to come to Oosaka’s castle. I’m not so lazy that I would have my guests do all the fighting for me.”
Hmph... I guess doing it all alone isn’t fair.
“Then... can you and your men operate outside of Oosaka castle to draw their soldiers away? While you do that, I can take care of the gourd, and then leave the rest to you guys. How about that?”
“That sounds quite fine to me, but Oosaka is a rather far distance away... Ah, but... Tou— Shirogane-dono, I have heard you employ transportation magic.” Leaving the castle unguarded would be bad, so we settled on taking thirty-thousand soldiers from the combined Tokugawa-Date alliance with us. It was going to be a raid, so that number seemed more than suitable.
“If we deal with Hideyooshi, will the civil war die down?”
“Well, the situation really exploded once Hashiba took on the problems that Oda began... If we defeat Hashiba, then the fighting should end as well... I hope.”
“But the Emperor isn’t capable of supporting our country. To whom will the beacon of control be passed?” Massamune folded his arms as he muttered.
What’s with that wicked face? You’re making it way too obvious! You won’t be able to get one over an old raccoon dog like Ieyahsu if you make yourself so easy to read...
Hashiba had destroyed Oda, so if I destroyed them... Tokugawa would be the strongest Feudal Lord left.
Huh... Wait. Does that make this the this-world equivalent of my world’s Battle of Sekigahara? Or is this the Siege of Osaka’s summer campaign? But wait... It’s winter... And Hideyoshi was dead when that happened. It is gonna be spring soon, though...
I decided it was pointless to compare. It’d be a real pain if Hideyooshi united the nation and invaded Yulong, so that needed to end as soon as possible. Without any further hesitation, I hopped into Gungnir and made for Oosaka.
◇ ◇ ◇
“Is that Oosaka castle...?”
Whoa, that’s bright... It’s all sparkly and golden! The walls, support beams, and roof tiles were all shining gold. It looked more like Kinkaku-ji temple, to me. It was also shaped differently to the Osaka castle I knew. I couldn’t even imagine how much it would’ve cost.
Yae, Kohaku, and I walked along the castle grounds, watching as the sunlight shimmered off of the grand construct.
Hideyooshi is in there, I guess. He didn’t show up on my map, but that’s hardly surprising. Guess I’ve got no choice but to go in there.
For now, I’ll bring the army over...
I cast my spell, and the Tokugawa-Date alliance soldiers appeared from all four directions, surrounding the castle entirely.
A war trumpet blared all of a sudden, and then a beat of war drums followed. The army charged onward and readied their bows.
The Oosaka garrison didn’t seem to have anything special in place to prepare for the raid.
“Alright, time to bust in.”
“Ah, well... Oosaka castle has a magical barrier, does it not? Teleporting within should not be possible, it should not... How do you intend to... Wait, could you be planning to...?”
“We’ll be flying in, of course.” Yae made a frowny face at that. I forgot how much she disliked flying. Rosetta was in the sky piloting Gungnir, but I decided it’d be easier to just use my flight magic to invade directly.
“If you want to wait out here, by all means...”
“N-No, I shall join you, I shall. We are betrothed, and thus we should share the same fate, we should.” My future wife quietly motivated herself, both hands on her chest. It was happy to hear her speak like that, but she didn’t have to talk like we were about to charge into our deaths.
“Alright, then. You wanna ride Kohaku, Yae?”
“Oh, is this how it works, is it?” I waited until Yae clambered up onto Kohaku’s back, and then I cast [Levitation] on them both.
Following that, I cast [Fly] on myself and floated the two of them next to me toward the castle. Naturally, I’d also cast [Invisible] on us both. I didn’t want to be struck by arrows, after all.
We entered the castle and found ourselves in a broad room with laminate wood flooring. What the hell... It’s even gold on the inside...? I looked around the room, and not a single thing was drab. Everything sparkled.
“This is rather distasteful, it is...”
“Yeah, it’s pretty damn tacky...” I know they say people who enjoy gold are those with lofty ideals, but this is a little much.
Hideyooshi didn’t seem to be in the area, so we headed down some nearby stairs.
There was nobody down the stairs, either. However, as we walked down a long hallway, I felt an unusual presence. It was hard to place, but it was definitely something weird. Yae and Kohaku didn’t seem to notice it at all.
I slowly moved toward this unknown presence. We passed through various sliding doors of gold, until we finally made it...
“Huh?”
“What is wrong, Touya-dono?” I stopped before a sliding door and opened it just a little bit to peek through to the other side. The moment I looked through, I snapped it shut immediately. Seriously?! I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me, so I opened up the door again...
There was someone sitting on a pillow in the middle of large room. He wore vibrant silk clothing of purple and red. He also wore a golden hakama. He was scratching his back in a most uncouth manner. And, on his back... there was a golden gourd. It was about the size of a two-liter soda bottle.
No way... That’s Hideyooshi?! Yae peeked in as well, and she was just as dumbfounded. She quietly muttered.
“...That is a monkey, that is.”
“...So my eyes weren’t playing tricks.” I was a little relieved that Yae was seeing the same thing I was, since it meant that my eyes were alright and I was completely sane.
But there was absolutely a monkey here. A monkey relaxing in this room. And he wasn’t a man with a monkey-like face. It was literally a finely-dressed monkey.
He was slightly smaller than Yae. He vaguely resembled a Japanese macaque, but he was the size of an orangutan. I’d never seen a Japanese macaque that size, though. I wondered if he was a magical beast or something.
“What the hell...? Is this one of Hideyooshi’s pets?”
“Ook. Is someone there?” He spoke. The friggin’ monkey spoke! I noticed
he had a paper fan in his hand. He slapped it against his palm as he looked us over.
We’d been discovered, so there was no point in hiding. I opened up the sliding door and stepped into the light.
“Hoo hoo. An Oni, a lady, and a white tiger... Strange guests, strange guests indeed. Are you friends of those outside? Ook.”
“...Are you... Are you Hideyooshi?”
“Hoohoohoo! That I am. The one and only Hashiba Chikuzen no Kami Hideyooshi!” I could hear his voice, but I could also vaguely hear monkey noises underneath his words.
What the hell? It feels weird hearing him talk. It’s like I’m watching a really bad movie dub.
“You have done well reaching this place. Congratulations. Ook. As a reward, you may become my personal attendants.”
“Thanks, but no. I’m nobody’s attendant.”
“Hoo! I did not say you’d have a choice!” Hideyooshi’s eyes suddenly shone a gleaming red. That was when I noticed the something coming out of the gourd on his back.
Yae and Kohaku suddenly stiffened up. Their eyes were unfocused and cloudy. It almost seemed like they’d been put under some kind of trance.
“...Bastard. What’d you do? No, more importantly than that, what is—”
“Ook ook?! Why are you able to resist it?!” The monkey stood up, evidently angry at me. His eyes glimmered again, and that something leaked out of the gourd once more. It was exactly what I’d suspected...
“Why?! Why isn’t it working?!”
“I knew it. You’re not just a monkey, are you? You’re just using a monkey’s body! And that gourd... It’s your real body, right? Reveal yourself, servile god.”
“You miserable little... Just who are youuu?!” The monkey’s eyes became blood-red all over. The something that kept leaking from the gourd? It was divinity. Godly essence. The energy carried by anyone from the realm of the gods. However, unlike the essence that my sisters and God Almighty held, this one was murkier.
Servile gods were at the bottom rung of the ladder, as far as I knew. But regardless of status, a god was a god. Manipulating humans would be trivial.
In Another World With My Smartphone: Volume 9 Page 14