Chapter 39

“Shut your mouth! If I retreated now, my clan would be finished, whether the battle was won or lost! And I’d rather fight than turn tail!” “I see. I can’t say you’re wrong.” Talsha’s sword was straight as an arrow, with no deviation—a weapon befitting someone coming here. “It’s a pity you’re my enemy, with a sword like that.” “Apparently, my profession is that of a famous warrior—Takeda Shingen!” Takeda Shingen? Isn’t that who Oda Nobunaga was talking about?! All right, Alsrod, fight with all your might! And win at any cost! I want to know what it feels like to win against Shingen one-on-one, too! This isn’t about you! And not fighting this woman simply isn’t an option to begin with. Besides, even if this is a duel, she’s already exhausted. “Alsrod! Your head is mine!” The woman calling herself Talsha swung her hefty sword down at me. It was a full-force swing, far stronger than you’d expect from a woman. I countered it with the Stroke of Justice, but the shock went through my hands. My big, gnarly sword was able to stop it, but had I been wielding something more modern and mass-produced, I might’ve been sliced into ribbons. “Definitely not a refined attack, but the brutality may be enough.” “Do not mock me! Your royal-capital swordplay is so weak! You people just use an extension of ceremonial swordfighting, after all!” My swordplay wasn’t anything I’d learned in the capital, but the capital lords might very well fight like Talsha said. Most of them disdained going out into the middle of the battlefield, for one thing. Talsha’s swordplay, on the other hand, was meant only to kill her foes. And that’s what made this fun. I felt like a petty rural lord once more. Had I ever gone in this close to enemy generals? I laughed in spite of myself, and Talsha shrank back in fear. Ahh, I guess even the Northlands doesn’t have many people who can enjoy a situation like this. But whatever the reason is, once you’re afraid, you’ve lost. “Now it’s my turn!” Using my whole body, I swung my blade sideways as hard as I could. This old sword was intended to be used with the wielder’s full body weight. Talsha also countered with her sword. My swing wasn’t something so fast it couldn’t be met. However, whether it could be stopped was another matter. Talsha’s sword was no match for mine—it flew off in an arc! “How’s that for a heavy attack?” The fight was over; I’m sure everyone had assumed so. In fact, cheers erupted from my side. However, the fight still hadn’t gone out of Talsha’s eyes. You absolutely mustn’t let your guard down before people with eyes like hers. Talsha immediately drew a short sword, no longer than about half a jarg at most. It looked like she wasn’t going to bend her knee as long as she could fight. “I shall defeat you, Alsrod, no matter what it takes! Then my clan shall rise like never before!” “Rise? How ridiculous. I’m sorry, but your domain is much too far away to rule the kingdom. You won’t accomplish anything from such a distance.” “Even if we can’t rule the kingdom, we can rule three or four prefectures. My plan is to form a federation of multiprefectural lords!” shouted Talsha. She then swiped at me with her short sword. I felt such power from the impact that I could hardly believe it came from a short sword. This woman boasted exceptional strength. Something much stronger than that affected me, however. There was someone besides me in this realm who had big plans. I didn’t know if it was realistic, but the most profitable thing for great rural lords would be shared rule with other great lords. They could probably gobble up plenty of smaller lords on their own, but they would hit a wall eventually. I intended to subjugate those great lords by force to achieve unification, but it made sense that someone would plan to form a coalition. “Alsrod! Indeed, you are mighty, but ultimately you built all of this in just your own generation! When you die, the world will fall into chaos once more! So that gives me any number of openings to exploit!” What Talsha spoke of was no silly fantasy; I knew that better than anyone. That was why this woman was doing everything she could to come kill me. It wasn’t particularly to protect her domain or anything simple like that. In my mind, Oda Nobunaga was shouting, “Don’t you dare ease up on her! She will stop at nothing to achieve her goals—be that driving out her parents or murdering children!” Indeed. People who could forsake everything for their goals were formidable. I swung my sword with all my might as well. “You’re not half bad, Talsha!” “Enough! I’ll kill you here and now!” “Submit to me! Your true worth is waiting in your future!” Of course, Talsha shouted “I’m nobody’s fool!” and thrust her short sword at me. However, I sensed the power behind her sword had diminished. After all, I could help her realize her goals. Talsha could have a place in the new realm I would rule. I snatched Talsha’s sword hand and twisted it upward. “N—agh…” Her sword fell to the ground. She was now entirely powerless. “I can’t kill a defenseless woman, you see. I’m taking you prisoner.” “Do as you will. But if you disrespect me, I’ll bite your tongue right off…!” Her spiteful remarks actually made this even more satisfying. The battle was completely one-sided after that. Enemy morale fell dramatically. “She’s been captured!” “Retreat!” More and more members of the enemy force were beginning to panic. Just as I thought—her Takeda Shingen profession must have had some effect like greatly raising the unity of allies. It seemed the Margrave of Machaal’s strength lay not in himself, but in his outstanding commanders. The battle had ended in a great victory for us and our guns. The Margrave of Machaal had no choice but to withdraw his troops to his home castle for now. He likely predicted they’d be wiped out otherwise. And he was right to think so. “Let’s chase them down and end them now!” Laviala suggested, but I declined. “No need. All we need to do now is build a fort here and hold our ground. At the very least, recovery is impossible for them now.” “But even though we won, we still haven’t taken their territory.” “This is a list of the primary enemy casualties this time. You’ll understand when you look at it.” I could immediately tell Laviala was shocked at the numbers. “We absolutely slaughtered them with our guns. Their clan hasn’t gone extinct—their children or brothers will probably take over—but even so it’ll take ages for them to function properly again. Of course, history won’t wait that long for them.” Soon, the petty lords who were only following the Margrave of Machaal’s lead would realize their days were numbered and abandon him before running to my side. “Besides, we have a hostage.” “If you work for me as a general, I’ll let the Machaal clan survive. This may not be quite what you’d envisioned, but I’ll allow them the possibility to exist as a great lord over several prefectures.” I’d ducked out of the victory banquet to see Talsha where she was being held prisoner. “It pains me to do so, but it seems there’s no other way… To think I’d ever end up bowing to you…” Talsha still looked disgusted, but she then sighed deeply as if to forget it. “I will fully comply. If you’re going to treat me as a general, do let the other generals know right away.” She changed her attitude fast. She must’ve still had a desire to fight. Thus, this expedition ended in success for the moment, but the real fight was still to come. The day after the banquet, a messenger came to me on horseback. I’d had him put on a blue sash beforehand, so I instantly knew why he had arrived. The sash was there to let me know what had happened just by the color. “Marquess of Brantaar Ayles Caltis and Count of Olbia Brando Naaham have both raised their armies!” So my father-in-law and brother-in-law were challenging me to a fight. I’d expected as much. Now that they had made their intentions clear, I would crush them both. What followed, however, was entirely unexpected. “Also…it appears financial officer Fanneria has joined their ranks…as has at least one of the lords near Maust Castle…” Fanneria was a werewolf I’d originally hired when he was a merchant. However, after I’d advanced into the royal capital, he’d had fewer opportunities to shine. Since I was using more and more such ex-merchants—like Yanhaan, for example—his work had become mostly centered on Fordoneria Prefecture. I clicked my tongue with frustration. I didn’t know who had sprung this first—whether it was Ayles or Brando or even Fanneria—but it appeared they intended to annihilate me. But to think there would be an uprising near my domain’s capital as well—I’d never anticipated it. “I accept their challenge. That’s why I came so far north, after all.” END