We went home once to wait for Elze to return, prepared, then crossed back into Eashen.
The party: Yae, me, the Elze-Linze sister pair, Yumina and Kōhaku, plus Leen and Paula.
With Yae leading, we pushed through dense forest. Gradually the dappled sunlight grew thicker — and then the view opened all at once.
“Whoa…”
The view from the small rise stretched over a town and rice paddies. That over there has to be a castle. Not a European castle — a Japanese one, like Himeji or Osaka. A bit smaller, maybe.
“This is my hometown, Oedo.”
Oh — not the Edo of old, but Oedo. One look made it clear that the town was laid out very differently from the historical-drama towns I’d seen.
For one — it was a fortified city. A long moat ringed it, high white walls warding off intruders. Sentries on the walls; archers, apparently, in the watchtowers spaced along them. A scattering of houses dotted the paddy fields around the wall, but inside the wall the houses looked far more densely packed.
Eashen isn’t a large country. There’s nominally a king, but the title is empty now — provincial lords run things as they please.
Nine principal lords govern their territories — there’s frequent friction, apparently — but on paper the king is still the head and the country still functions as a country.
The Nine Lords: Shimazu, Mōri, Chōsokabe, Hashiba, Oda, Takeda, Tokugawa, Uesugi, Date… Hold on, wait.
The names were so familiar I almost interrupted on reflex.
Wait, what? Is Eashen the Sengoku period? I asked Yae — no, there hadn’t been any large-scale wars in decades.
Coincidence, then. …Coincidence?
Yae’s hometown, Oedo, sits in eastern Eashen — Tokugawa territory. A relatively prosperous region with a lord said to be kind to his people.
“So — where is this ancient ruin you want to visit, Leen?”
Eashen isn’t huge, but it’s still a country. Can’t just wander aimlessly.
“I don’t know the exact location. Only that it’s the Nilya Ruins.”
“Yae, you know it?”
“Nilya…? Familiar, perhaps. Or perhaps not… Father may know.”
For now, Yae led us toward town. We crossed a wooden bridge over the wide moat and passed through the wall.
Inside, the town was as close to Wa-style as I could imagine. Buildings were almost all single-story timber with tile roofs. Shoji-paper-paneled doors, noren hanging in shop entrances. (The lettering on the noren wasn’t Japanese, though.)
The people in the streets wore samurai garb, kimono — there were townsfolk types and even masterless rōnin in casually wrapped robes. None of them wore the shaved-pate-and-topknot, sadly; most just bound their hair into a ponytail.
“Whoa, what’s that? Those people are carrying somebody?”
Elze’s eyes had locked on a two-man team trotting toward us with a palanquin between them, calling out yo-ho, yo-ho.
“That’s a kago. You pay to ride. Functions like a coach.”
The girls’ eyes went round, following the kago bearers as they passed. Of course — nothing like that exists over there.
”…But why have people carry it? A carriage would be easier, and faster…”
Linze, reasonably. Right, why is it…? Cultural difference, I guess.
“Eashen’s roads aren’t as well-maintained as Belfast’s. And much of the land has steep elevation changes — carrying a carriage up and down those roads would be hard. Also, horses are quite valuable here.”
Ah — that’s the reason, then. Some lands suit one method, some another.
“Touya-san, that person over there is wearing wooden shoes.”
“Wooden shoes? Ahh — geta.”
“What’s the bell hanging from that tower for?”
“That’s a fire-watch tower with an alarm bell…”
”…A clear sound… what’s that one selling?”
“That’s a wind-chime. The sound when the wind catches it is meant to be enjoyed…”
”…You know rather a lot for one not born in Eashen, Touya-dono.”
Well, you know — grandpa got me watching a lot of historical dramas.
But… hmm. The townsfolk didn’t seem to be enjoying themselves. There was a sense of fear — or anxiety — about them.
Yae led us past a shrine torii, through a path lined with bamboo, until an open space opened up before a large estate bordered with a tall wall.
Kokonoe Shinmei-ryū Swordsmanship Dojo: Kuyō Hall — that was the sign hanging at the imposing front gate. We passed through, reached the entrance to the house, and Yae raised her voice.
“Anyone home!”
After a moment, hurried footsteps approached from inside, and out came a maid — twenty or so, black hair tied in a single tail behind her.
“Yes, yes, just a moment… oh! Lady Yae!”
“Ayane! It has been long!”
The maid Ayane, startled, rushed over with a delighted smile, taking Yae’s hands.
“Welcome home, Lady Yae! Mistress Nanae! Lady Yae has returned!”
At Ayane’s call, more footsteps thudded from deep in the house, and a kind-looking woman in her late thirties — in a pale-purple kimono — emerged. She does resemble Yae.
“Mother! I have returned!”
“Yae… thank goodness you are unharmed… welcome home.”
Yae’s mother, all right. After so long apart, the mother gathered her daughter into a tight embrace. A faint glimmer of tears in her eyes.
“Yae, these companions of yours?”
“Ah, my comrades. They have looked after me a great deal.”
“Oh my, oh my, then… thank you so much for caring for our daughter.”
“N-no, it’s nothing — she’s looked after us too, so please, raise your head.”
We hurriedly waved off Yae’s mother, who had sat down on the floor and bowed deeply. A mother’s love for her child, I suppose. Nanae-san’s feelings came across just in that gesture.
“Mother — by the way, where is Father? At the castle?”
At Yae’s words, Nanae-san and Ayane-san exchanged a look, faces darkening. Then Nanae-san rose, faced Yae, and slowly spoke.
“Father is not here. The Lord — Ietsu-sama — and he have gone to a battlefield.”
“A battle!?”
Yae’s voice came out sharp with shock as she stared at her mother. Battle is no small word. I thought this country was united under the king?
“Against whom!?”
“Takeda. Several days ago they launched a surprise attack on Katsunuma to the northwest and seized it; now they are advancing on Kawagoe beyond. To halt them, the Master and Master Jūtarō have gone to the fortress at Kawagoe.”
Ayane-san answered Yae’s question on Nanae-san’s behalf. Sounds like a neighboring lord suddenly invaded.
“Brother is on the battlefield too…! But — I don’t understand. Why would Takeda begin such an invasion? Lord Shingen of the Takeda is not the kind to commit such folly…”
“Recently, a strange strategist has joined the Takeda lord. A man named Yamamoto, by report. Dark-skinned, one-eyed, and reportedly using strange magic. Such a man may have whispered something into the lord’s ear.”
I half-tuned out what Nanae-san was saying. Takeda’s strategist named Yamamoto — that’s gotta be the famous Yamamoto Kansuke, the Twenty-Four Generals of Takeda. By Nanae-san’s account, however, this one is some kind of suspicious sorcerer. Different person, probably. Some overlap, maybe.
“And how stands the battle, then?”
Leen, who had been listening in silence, cut in. At her feet, Paula tilted her head a little. Beside her, Kōhaku watched and tilted his head the same way. Kind of cute. Wait — this isn’t the moment for that.
“It was so sudden that insufficient forces could be gathered. At the rate things stand, it is rumored only a matter of time before Kawagoe Fortress falls.”
“Then Father and Brother…!”
At Ayane-san’s words, Yae’s face went white. But the unease and fear cleared from her eyes in the next moment, replaced by a burning resolve. We know Yae well — she’s not the kind of girl who’ll stand silent while her family is in peril.
“Lord Touya! I have been to the pass near Kawagoe Fortress! Please——!”
“Got it. We’re going.”
“Lord Touya…!”
I caught Yae’s hand and spoke plainly. I looked at the others — Elze, Linze, Yumina — and each gave a small nod.
“Didn’t expect to be heading to a battlefield. Well — I get it. I’ll come along.”
Leen gave a small laugh, shrugging. Her partner Paula started shadow-boxing, raring to go. Movements like that are also [Program]med?
“Yae, picture the pass for me.”
“Understood.”
I took both Yae’s hands and, with her eyes closed, lightly pressed my forehead to hers. Given the situation, the embarrassment from earlier oddly didn’t come.
“[Recall].”
A scene surfaced in my head. A great solitary cedar, and in the distance a castle… no, a fortress. That must be Kawagoe Fortress.
I let go of Yae’s hands and opened a [Gate] in front of the house. Yae was the first to dive through; Elze and the others followed in quick succession.
The two Kokonoe women stared at the scene in stunned silence. As the last to remain, I turned to them.
“I’ll bring your husband and Yae’s brother home, without fail. Everyone will return safely, so please — don’t worry.”
“You are…?”
I didn’t know how to answer Nanae-san’s question — laughed it off, and stepped through the [Gate] after the others.