Extra Chapter: The Weight of Nobility, Shimura Nobisuke.

"So… what are we doing again?"

"Fishing?"

"Yeah. And I still don't have anything biting my hook."

"Maybe if you stopped leering at the women, you could've actually caught something."

Today, there is a small gathering at a certain lake in Shinka province. Here, we are sitting by the shore with fishing rods on our hands while some of us are already complaining.

But to cover the entire story that happened today, it would be better to start from the events during the day.

"Do you already have everything?"

"Y-yes… Jeez, stop asking about everything, I'm not a kid like you."

"You-! Argh… I am just worried, okay. Anyway, Ishida-dono, Shimura-dono, please take care of him."

"Understood, Asada-san."

"We'll keep an eye on him."

"Why are you going with it?!"

Today, Kaminari, Ishida and I were invited by the chamberlain of Lady Kusanagi to a small private meeting. The venue was at a lake in Northern Shinka that used to be a supposed holy lake of a local water dragon until Lady Kyoko had her men drain it to disprove the claim. After the reveal, the townsfolk decided to worship her instead until she came back and scolded them severely about it.

"I'm surprised that you accepted the invitation. As far as I know, you're not one to leave your work, Shimura-sama."

While we are riding our horses towards Shinka's end of the border bridge, Tatsu spoke up.

"To rest is also a part of my work ethic, Tatsu-kun. I'm not so obstinate to not acknowledge my own human limits and just work and work even when it will eventually make me unwell."

"Hmm… I see."

"Besides, it's not everyday that we get the perfect opportunity to meet the other retainers of our master's allies. It would be to our benefit to get more acquainted with the others so we can be more confident and efficient when the time comes for us to work together."

"Mm! I understand now."

It seems like Tatsu has no more questions, but Ishida asked something important that I haven't talked about with them before.

"With that in mind… Should we hide Iwasawa-sama's absence from them?"

"Of course. If it's known that he's not in Kiko, it would probably cause problems for the alliance. Iwasawa-sama said that he personally wrote letters to the three other leaders, but those under them would be better off not knowing that he's away."

"Understood. What should we tell them then?"

"Iwasawa-sama said that the best alibi is to say that he's been advised to hide in Naka castle due to the assassination attempts."

"That's reasonable."

"Oh, trust me. Nothing makes sense anymore since Kou-sama said that we'll be fighting against another Otherworlder. We saw horrible things back at the Satou clan's lands, but I believe what Iwasawa-sama's investigations will uncover would be more horrid."

"I wish Captain Kuro and his men can help him keep a cool head about it then."

By the time we arrived at the lake village, we were greeted by servants who took our horses and led us to where the other officials are.

"Shimura-dono, Ishida-dono, Kaminari-dono… Welcome to Shinka."

"""You're welcome, Ishigawa-dono."""

The three of us greeted back to him and bowed as an act of gratitude.

"I see that the other guests are also here now. Who were invited again?"

"Ayanami Mitsuhide, Itsuki Ichigo, Daigo Shizuka and you three. It's just us since Nayoko-dono from Fuku said that she can't leave Yamaguchi-sama by himself."

"I see."

Ishigawa-san was on his female appearance again as it was still daytime, but his actions and tone was actually very convincing.

"Oh, the officers from Kiko. It's a pleasure to meet you gentlemen. I am Itsuki Ichigo from Kise province. I know that we're not in official business today so I won't lengthen this anymore with my title and occupation."

"That's fine. I am Shimura Nobisuke from Kiko. This is Ishida Takeo and Kaminari Tatsu, my fellow retainers under Iwasawa Hiroshi-sama."

At the lake shore where a roofed dock is built as a fishing spot, the general of Kise's army was there after he hung his fishing pole to greet us.

"Any luck today, Ichigo-dono?"

"There's a few of them. But I let them go since they're too little to be eaten."

"I see. It's a good moral to keep in hobby fishing."

"It sure is."

We bid a temporary good-bye as Ishigawa-dono led us to the inn where we will be staying for the night. We had the option of having separate rooms or a large one and hearing the choices of the two, we chose to sleep in the large room in order to not cause too much inconvenience for the servants who will be attending to us during our stay.

"Ishigawa-dono said that there would be lunch first before our meeting."

"That's quite good. I'm hungry now after our trip."

"Same with me."

After unpacking our belongings, we went to the inn's dining hall and saw the other four officers who were drinking tea as they waited for the food.

"Are we late?"

"Not at all, Shimura-dono. You arrived just at the right time actually."

The one who replied was Mitsuhide who smiled at us after placing down her teacup.

"That would be good. We wouldn't want to be late after all. Oh! I remember now…"

I finally understood the reason for her unexpected smile and remembered that thing that she wanted me to bring for her.

"This was wrapped by Nagisa-san back at Kiko. She said that they're mixed specifically for your skin tone."

"Thanks a lot, Nobisuke-san! I've been wanting to have it since I saw Nagisa-dono's make up at the coronation ceremony at Yamagata."

"It's a pleasure to be of help."

While responding to her, I saw the expression of the other woman in the room and knew that I had another person to give gifts to.

"As for Princess Shizuka… Ishida, give it to her."

"Understood… Here it is, Daigo-hime-sama."

Across the tatami floor, Ishida slid a wooden box covered with a cloth wrap and without minding usual courtesies, the young princess opened the gift box and what she saw made her eyes sparkle brightly.

"Uwaah! This was it! The gold-lined Kimono that I wanted to buy last time!"

"The original one was already sold, so I asked the dress's maker to make another one using real gold threads. As you can see, Hime-sama. It is genuine gold that lines the Kimono."

When I said those words, she carefully unfurled the clothing and confirmed for herself that my words were true. It was indeed, made of genuine gold thread.

"Hime-sama… Daigo-sama would be disappointed of this action."

"Mm! Shut up, Ichigo-kun! Let a girl enjoy her reward for herself."

"I just want to tell you that opening a gift in front of the sender is a rude action."

"Hmph!"

It seems like even if she was a noble girl who learned etiquette since childhood, the princess also has quite a spoiled side to herself.

"I believe the princess deserves to admire the item she receives as soon as she can, I don't take any offense about it. Besides, it came to my attention that Itsuki-san has been eyeing the metals produced in our land so…"

I looked at Kaminari-kun and he nodded before taking out one of the katanas at his hip and presenting it towards the general with both hands.

"It came from the Hiryu Steel company. It's high-carbon spring steel that is popularly known as a metal that creates a distinct blue sheen when it is made into a blade. The master blacksmith who made this named it "Azure Sky Splitter" and wanted it to be wielded by a worthy user."

"This is…"

He took the sword and unsheated it. I knew from the expression of his eyes that he immediately fell in love with the beauty of the blade.

"I- I don't think it would suit me. I appreciate it but-"

"Please receive it as a personal gift, Itsuki-dono. I wish that it would be of great use to you."

"I… I appreciate it, thank you."

He tried to turn it down but hearing about the word "personal gift" made him receive it gratefully.

"Now then, I believe that it's time for us to partake in the meal."

With the gift-giving over, the servants came in and served us food which was surprisingly not as salty as we expected it to be. I later learned that after eating the food during our combined defense in the city of Shime and hearing of the mistakes in Lord Kenji's diet that caused his illness, Lady Kyoko made it a priority to make the cuisine of Shinka to be a bit less saline than it used to be.

"Now that we've had our fill, shall we get down to business?"

All of us nodded as the last of the servants left with our tables and bowls and locked the door behind them.

"Today, I gathered all of you to discuss a collaborative plan to support our masters and allies."

"It's also about the situation in Kaiji, Hatsu and Asahi provinces."

The two Kusanagi retainers spoke before the effeminate chamberlain nodded to two servants who brought a map to the center of our gathering circle.

"Currently, Shinka and Yukonami soldiers are occupying the lands and guarding it against internal and external threats, but as the days are going by, the situation in the lands is getting direr."

That was quite expected. Unlike the southern provinces, the three provinces routinely boast about their pedigree as people who originated from the Central provinces. So being occupied by us Southerners would be an issue for them.

"How are the security forces faring nowadays?"

"Quite heavily to be honest. The men in Asahi reported that the citizens are just indifferent to them but the people in Hatsu and Kaiji would shoot hostile gazes and even throw rocks at them while they are patrolling."

"Hatsu had majority of their people dead due to the fires while the survivors in Kaiji lost their families without even knowing about it… it's inevitable for them to be the most hostile of the bunch."

"Indeed."

"For now, we should just continue our patrol routine and send out the most understanding magistrates we have. If the people can understand that we are not there to antagonize them nor exploit them, they would probably accept us later."

The situation at the provinces is quite hard to solve in one go. If I will be completely honest, I believe that only time and understanding could probably solve this, but for now, we can't do anything but cross our fingers and hope for the best.

"About the road building projects of Fumikage-dono. I believe she is expanding the highways to Fuku and connecting it to Kise's roads. Once that has been completed, trade and travel would be smoother and easier so there should be not that many issues for us to handle at that point."

"Rie-sama, huh? Is she sending regular reports to Kusanagi-sama?"

"Yes. She reported to us when the road reached Fumetsu's outskirts."

"Good. It would be bad if she forgot to file official paperwork again."

The next subject came up from Princess Shizuka.

"About the military factories, Kise is currently running out of laborers so we aren't looking forward to seeing immediate results in the production of ammunition and rifles."

"That's alright, Hime-sama. But do tell Daigo-sama to attend to it as soon as possible to lighten the expenditure and time that it takes to import the weapons from us. It would be to our mutual benefit if all allied provinces can become independent in arms manufacture."

"I will keep it in mind, General Shimura."

The meeting continued on for a while until the early afternoon when we left the hall and went our own ways around the lake.

"…Do you think we may accidentally catch one of those just after they ate at that part of the lake?"

"Stop asking weird questions or I'll make you the food of these fishes."

"U-understood."

As expected of this ex-pervert, Kaminari-kun asked out loud after he saw Princess Shizuka and Lady Mitsuhide happily dipping their feet at the lake water where a school of doctor fish swam near their toes.

"Stop looking at them too. Do you want me to tell this to Asada-san?"

"P-please don't. Calling and treating her like a kid is one thing but her hearing that I am looking at other women would probably make her beat me to a pulp."

"Then stop leering at them and mind your fishing pole."

As for us three, we are fishing at the platform. Ishida already caught a pretty big Koi fish while I got a bit lucky and caught a large-mouthed Bass. Meanwhile, Tatsu still has nothing.

"I wonder what Iwasawa-sama is doing right now."

"He'll be fine. Kuro and his men are with him."

"I know. I just can't stop thinking about it."

It seems like me and Ishida had the same concerns. It's only been a few weeks since his departure and Kiko is fortunately still under peace, but our leader is away in a far away land and we have a reason to be concerned.

"General."

"Yeah?"

"I know that it's a bit personal but… I wish you can answer this small question."

"Do tell me."

Ishida sighed and looked at me as he lowered his fishing rod.

"Why did the Shimura noble house fall?"

"…"

"Oh no, Ishida-dono. You've asked something too personal."

As my face frowned a bit, Tatsu teased Ishida who felt a bit worried as he looked at me.

"You don't have to be worried. It's not that personal to be offending to me. I just feel a bit uncomfortable while narrating it."

I looked at the lake's water surface where waves blown by the wind forms.

"It all happened 20 years ago… way before I was even born…"

I started with that as the two listened carefully.

"My father was a dashing and youthful lieutenant of Uncle Takeshi. Riding with his elite cavalry and acting as the right-hand man of Aoyama-jii, there were no shortage of women who wanted to be married to him."

"Is that… Shimura Shido-sama? The captain of the famous Asura horsemen who was said to sweep bandit bases and leaving no heads uncut by the time they are finished?"

"Yes. That's my father's name."

After responding to Ishida's question, I continued on.

"However, the woman who caught his eye was the rebellious half-sister of uncle who came from a servant who seduced their father. Her name is Aoyama Natsuki."

Before I can even continue, Tatsu's fishing pole fell on the water as he sat there with his mouth open wide in shock.

"What's wrong, Tatsu?"

"Did you say… Aoyama Natsuki?"

"Yeah, why?"

"She… Isn't she the one who ran away from Kiko along with the heirloom sword of the Aoyama clan? The one who sold off one of Kiko's ancient treasures that had to be bought back by the Misanagi clan?"

"Yes. That's her. The woman who gave birth to me."

I annoyingly scratched the back of my head after being reminded by that fact.

"The heirloom sword of the Aoyama clan… why did such an old hunk of steel have such a huge price?"

"I believe you two are at least aware that the sword was owned by the first Kirin Lord."

"W-wait! What?!"

"I haven't known about that before!"

It seems like the two were indeed unaware of that fact. I can't blame them anyway, that story isn't that common anymore.

"The first Kirin Lord was said to have lived over 5000 years ago when Japan as an empire was still in its infancy. Serving under the Emperor and protecting the Imperial capital, he and his army was said to be undefeated until…"

"Until what, Shimura-sama?"

"Until he learned that all of this struggle and dedication to serve would only go unnoticed and unrewarded… and at that point, he was the first person in history to commit seppuku."

""…""

The two went silent after hearing that end of the story.

"The heirloom sword was the blade he used to take his own life. It was given to one of his subordinates after he died, it is said that it was given to the Aoyama clan as a reminder that a master cannot depend on the kindness of his retainer's heart alone and that loyalty is mostly subjective to the reward that the servant looks forward to from his master."

"That's quite the sad tale…"

"Yeah, it's a bit concerning."

"Don't be like that. It's just an old legend anyway. There's only been four Kirin Lords in our history before Iwasawa-sama received the title. All of them rose to power at times when our country was in a huge dilemma."

"Do you believe that the same thing applies to Iwasawa-sama?"

"Yes. I believe in that. If Iwasawa-sama came to power in order to unite this country and give it a newfound peace, I wouldn't wish anything anymore other than to be one of the people who will bring it to reality."

The two nodded their heads, seeming to have the same idea as me.

"Now, if you have a reward that you want to receive from Iwasawa-sama, what would it be?"

"Hmm… Nothing really comes up to mind right now."

"I'd probably ask him to reward me a house with a scenic view at Mt. Kichi where I can live with Kahono."

"Wow. How sweet of you, Tatsu."

"Hey, if it's for her, I'm willing to do anything."

The two talked for a moment until I spoke up myself.

"I'd ask him to let me march our troops to burn down Kisaragi Province and personally behead my mother."

"-!!!"

"That would be my dearest wish."

As I said that, the seething embers of hatred in my heart gained heat as it reminded me of the days when I would be kicked to the curb just for being her child.

"General… that's-"

"That's quite the brutal wish."

"I know, but that's what I want to do. As I said before, there's no real end to this unless someone comes to take her head. She's not only a traitor towards Kiko, she's an active threat to our master's dream towards a peaceful Japan."

"But does that warrant you to be the one to kill her yourself?"

"…It's just killing two birds with one stone. I get to exact my revenge while also being in service of Iwasawa-sama's goal."

"It still sounds too cruel."

Before I can interject, Tatsu responded to Takeo's statement.

"Don't you know about the situation in Kisaragi province, Ishida-sama?"

"No. Why?"

"Kisaragi province is currently a vapid and cruel dictatorship under the daimyo's rule. From the information I bought from the black market, I heard that it has already been known as a slave trading province where the government itself is selling their citizens as slaves."

That information changed Ishida's sentiment. Being a former slave himself, those words struck his heartstrings.

"…The only thing I wish that you can keep in mind Shimura-sama… is that you won't be swept by your hate and end up causing harm to yourself and our men."

"That, you can entrust to me. The childish outbursts of mine back then has long been out of my system. Right now, I still carry my hatred against her for what she has done to our clan. How her betrayal and breaking of vows caused my father to lose hope in life and die of grief… how Uncle Takeshi had to bear the brunt of the shame that she caused after her infidelity was leaked to the public…"

"And how Chiyo-dono had to work under the Ayanami clan who lent her the money that she used to escape from the Southern triad and establish a criminal cartel that made her a renown figure in the central plains."

"That's right."

The afternoon sunset bathed the lake with bright orange light and by the evening, we ate our dinner with the other officers, bathed in an outdoor hot spring and retreated to our room where we enjoyed some light alcohol from Kiko.

"Naka Sake… it's diluted to not be that alcoholic."

"That's good. I don't want to have a hangover while we're riding horses to go home."

Tatsu poured us some and we clinked our cups together before knocking it back.

"Say, General."

"What is it, Ishida?"

"What do you think about our master's situation with Mitsuhide-dono and Kyoko-sama?"

Hearing that, Tatsu suddenly spat his drink and looked at us puzzlingly.

"W-what? What did I just hear?"

"…Should we tell him?"

"I'm personally against it, but since we are watching over him, it would probably be better to tell him anyway."

We both sighed before telling him the truth.

"Mitsuhide-dono and Kusanagi-sama has feelings for Iwasawa-sama."

"WHAAAT?!?!?!"

"And that's not all. They might be looking for a way to catch his attention too."

"But…"

"Isn't that good? If Iwasawa-sama get's married with one of them, that would strengthen our alliance and maybe even unite Shinka and Kiko."

"Hmm… that does make sense."

While the two were talking, I was the only one who was genuinely worried about things.

Being the only person except for uncle and the two people in that relationship who knows about it, I was actually concerned if the feelings of the two women may cause problems in the future.

Kiko's marriage traditions are very conservative and inclusive… since ancient times, it has always been one man to one woman and nothing else. At some points of history, it was even said that this rule was upheld so tightly that anyone under the suspicion of breaking that inclusivity might be stoned to death or fed to tigers and unsurprisingly, it was mostly non-native people who underwent such bloody and painful executions.

There is a possibility that using his power and influence, he can change such traditions to marry more than one woman, but with his words and personality, I believe that Iwasawa-sama wouldn't do such a thing.

He wouldn't do it… won't he?

"Ishida, Kaminari…"

"Yes, General?"

"Let's sleep now. We've had enough to be drowsy. Let's rest now since we still have a long day tomorrow."

I don't know… But I pledged my loyalty to him. Even if there comes a time when my personal belief would no longer be aligned with his', I will still do my best to serve him whole heartedly.

By sunrise, we ate our breakfast and bid farewell to the other officers who had bright expressions on their face as they wore the gifts we gave to them.

"Take care, Esteemed gentlemen."

"Same to you, Ishigawa-dono."

"I wish for your safe travels."

We went to the highway and coincidentally crossed paths with the lively civil engineer from Kiko while she is directing her men in the road's construction site.

"Uwaaahhh! Nobi-kun! Long time no see!"

"Haha! Nice to meet you again, Rie-chan."

Rie is… I knew her for long enough to call her my childhood friend.

"Where did you guys come from? You're not wearing your military uniform, so I don't think you're on official business."

"It's a small get-together with the retainers from the other allied provinces. You can say that it's a semi-formal meeting of sorts."

"I see. Hey, did you bring some sweets with you? I've been so busy that I can't even send an errand boy to Kiko to buy me some snacks."

As she asked that, the clerks and engineers inside the tent looked at her as if they heard her lying about something.

"Please don't send official workers for something that unimportant… Well, I did bring some rock sugar candy from the castle. I babysitted Rinne-chan before I left so I had some on hand."

"That's perfect! Thanks a bunch, Nobi-kun!"

"Argh… quit clinging to me for so little things."

I complained as she tried to hug me, but I held her head away while groaning a complaint.

"Anyway. Take care in your work and your workers. It's best that they rest when the sun is too high up. They might suffer heatstroke if they work too hard and lack water."

"Heatstroke? What's that?"

"Iwasawa-sama told me about it when I was training some soldiers. He scolded me for making them jog around at noon and not letting them drink water until the end of the training. Since then, I've only made the soldiers to train in the morning and regularly set up a water tank near the training fields so they can rehydrate their selves."

"Mm… I see."

I looked at the highway that stretched to the horizon and felt a sense of satisfaction after seeing this tangible symbol of the development that Iwasawa-sama brought to this country.

"Will you also set up the same roadside features as those found in Kiko?"

"The well and small tree grove for travelers? Yes, Kusanagi-sama told me that she wanted it to be done too."

With that, I walked near to her and pinned her head between my arm and torso.

"GWAAAAHHH!!! What are you doing?!"

"Hey, if this cowlick girl makes your work unnecessarily hard, send a letter to me and I'll personally scold her."

I spoke loudly inside the tent where her workers are working.

"Hey! Stop this already! I haven't even made their works hard, y'know?!"

Contrary to her claims, some of the workers are already writing a letter which when she saw, made her blush in embarrassment as I had my fill of laughter.

We left later to go home and when we arrived at Naka, we split ways.

Ishida said that he has something to take care of in the local army garrison and broke off from our group. Tatsu later followed suit after saying that he'll meet a black-market informant at the western wharf.

I arrived by myself in the castle where some guards and servants bowed and greeted me. It was only then did someone came running towards me while I was bringing my horse back to the stable.

"General! The Military Communications officer is calling you."

"What? Alright, lead the way."

In the room at the castle where the radiophones and morse code machines are running in full swing, a communications officer raised a salute that I gave back before he handed me a letter.

"It's from Captain Kuro, General."

Hearing that, I opened the envelope and there, saw what the rush was all about.

[Report to Naka castle: Clues about the events in Kaiji and Natsu has been found. We will need more time to find more evidence for the other mysteries. However, we noticed that our enemies seem to know what kind of information we are after and has been hiding or paying off informants to keep their silence. We think that the spy has internal connections in the castle. Expect no reports for the next two weeks. Sender: Kuro.]

With that report, I've been brought back to my work mentality and gave out an order.

"Send a command to our embassies in the other provinces. Tell them to conduct investigations in their ranks and to check if any of our equipment has been brought out from our buildings."

"""Yes, sir!""'

The fight has become an internal struggle. Just as Iwasawa-sama said, this may actually be a really hard thing to work around with.

Still, we have to fight. Or else, we will lose everything for nothing.

Bab 57: Extra Chapter: The Weight of Nobility, Shimura Nobisuke.

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Bab 57: Extra Chapter: The Weight of Nobility, Shimura Nobisuke.

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