Hyakuren no Haou to Seiyaku no Valkyria - Volume 18 - Chapter Pr

PROLOGUE

It was June 2, 1582. That night, Nobunaga’s eyes snapped open from his slumber, alerted by a feeling of hostility in his immediate vicinity. The air was heavy with a tension that couldn’t be explained by the presence of just one or two opponents. It needed several thousand warriors, perhaps even as many as ten thousand, to reach a level like this. Honno-ji Temple, where he was currently staying, was far from enemy territory, meaning the tension had to come from something other than an enemy army.

“Treachery! Just who is behind this?!” Nobunaga asked in a roar as his squire ran into his room. His squire was a good-looking young man in his mid-teens. The young man’s name was Mori Naritoshi. Nobunaga still called him Ran, however, coming from his childhood name of Ranmaru. Ran was a son of the late Mori Yoshinari, one of Nobunaga’s most loyal retainers, and he was blessed with a sharp mind. Nobunaga had recently begun to view him as one of his most promising retainers.

“My Lord, based upon the banners, I believe it is the armies of Akechi Koretou Hyuga no Kami!”

“Ah, is it him? Perhaps this is fate, then.”

Upon hearing Ran’s answer, Nobunaga realized his fate was sealed. His enemy’s forces numbered over ten thousand, and he had, at most, a hundred soldiers on his side. Certainly, Nobunaga had defeated enemies despite being badly outnumbered countless times before, but given the sheer gulf in numbers and the fact that he was surrounded, there was virtually no chance of him seizing victory here.

The best thing to do under the circumstances would be to run, but Honno-ji Temple wasn’t his castle; it had simply been a convenient stop on his journey, meaning there were no hidden escape routes. His only option would be to force his way through the envelopment to escape, but among the Five Great Oda Clan Generals, Akechi Koretou Hyuga no Kami Mitsuhide was the one Nobunaga rated the most highly. Mitsuhide was perhaps the perfect warlord; he was a supremely capable diplomat, governor, and general. He skillfully took care of whatever issue was placed before him and had no real weaknesses to speak of.

While Nobunaga had no intention of giving up without a fight, Mitsuhide had taken an extremely risky gamble. More than anything, he would try to secure Nobunaga’s head. Nobunaga knew deep down that he had almost no chance of escape.

“Tch. I let my guard down thinking I was in my own territory.” Nobunaga clicked his tongue bitterly as he picked up the bow and spear against the wall. With his supremacy secured, he had assumed that no one would dare resist him. This was the result of that arrogance.

“Seems I’ve grown feeble.” He sneered self-deprecatingly at himself. Had this unfolded in his youth, when he was constantly on guard for assassins, he would have likely realized the danger before Mitsuhide’s armies could surround him and would have easily made his escape. It was an awful thing, getting old.

“I’m not letting you mere underlings take my head!” With a roar of defiance, Nobunaga rapidly shot off arrows from the temple’s entrance. Over the years, Nobunaga had continued to hone his fighting abilities. His arrows quickly struck down the ashigaru that charged toward him. However, there were far too many enemies for him to handle. Every time he shot down one, ten times that number would take their place, sensing the opportunity to take a valuable head.

“Back, you damned cur!”

His enemies had finally reached his melee range, forcing Nobunaga to discard his bow and pick up his spear. He quickly beat down the ashigaru that lunged at him. More men continued to surge forward, and Nobunaga kept cutting them down as they approached. He swept them away and struck them down. However, he was but one man facing off against thousands. The drawn-out fighting sapped at his strength. He began to accumulate more and more small wounds...

Bang!

A gunshot rang out, and the ball pierced Nobunaga’s right arm.

“Guh!”

In response to the intense pain and the force of the impact, Nobunaga dropped his spear. The spears of the ashigaru tried to follow up, thrusting toward Nobunaga...

“Great Lord!”

However, Ranmaru’s spear swept aside the enemy spears. The spear points all were knocked off target, never managing to quite reach Nobunaga’s body. Still, it had been quite the close call.

“We can’t hold them here. Pull back, Ran!” Nobunaga ordered.

“Yes, my lord!” Ranmaru replied, his body already drenched with the blood of his enemies. Even so, he was still steady upon his feet, and as they continued their retreat, he cut down any enemies that gave chase.

“Heh. Impressive skill with that spear. It reminds me of your old man.”

Despite the current circumstances, Nobunaga bared his teeth in a grin. Ranmaru’s father, Mori Yoshinari, had been a master of the jyumonji spear, and had been known by the alias of “Sanza the Berserker.” Ranmaru had clearly inherited his father’s skill with the spear.

“I’m extremely honored by your praise. However, if things continue like this...”

“Mm, yes. Things are looking grim...” Nobunaga bitterly spat out the words. Far from finding a solution to his current predicament, things were clearly getting worse. Nobunaga was already severely wounded and was finding it difficult to move. It appeared that he had exhausted his options.

“Then this, too, is fate!” With that, Nobunaga kicked down two of the braziers that had lit the room. The fire quickly jumped to the floorboards, and the wooden floor began to burn in the dimly lit gloom.

“M-My Great Lord?!”

“Hrmph. I won’t allow that traitorous cur to have the honor of claiming my head!” With that remark, Nobunaga ran into the nearest room. Ranmaru followed after him, and soon after, a wall of flame blocked off the entrance. At the very least, this would buy them some time.

“Phew, at least we can take a brief rest.” Nobunaga plopped down in place with a sigh. This level of exertion was a bit much for a man who was nearing his fiftieth birthday.

“Perhaps this is a fitting end... Having invaded and burned all before me like a raging fire, for the flames to consume my body in the end would be rather poetic,” Nobunaga murmured as he stared out into space. Even the great Nobunaga could do nothing but accept his fate.

“A damned shame. To be a step away from conquering all, only to be tripped up by my own retainer...”

Had he fallen to a powerful enemy—someone the likes of Takeda, Uesugi, Hojo, Mori, or Honganji—he would have been able to accept his fate, though certainly, he would have still felt some measure of disappointment. Even if he knew that betrayal was a common fate to befall lords of the Warring States Period, dying in this way meant that the flame of ambition burning in his body would forever remain unfulfilled.

“Thirty years of work... It was all so close to coming to fruition. I was so close!”

Nobunaga had sworn that when he came of age, he would seek to conquer all beneath the heavens. In the thirty years since, he had focused single-mindedly upon that goal and charged through the world of the Warring States Period. He had been the pathfinder, paving the road toward reunification. Just as he was about to achieve his long-stated goal, someone had come to snatch it out of his hands. It wasn’t something he could forgive.

“It’s mine. This is my conquest. I won’t give it to anyone—not to this traitorous swine, and not even to my son! I’m the one who will be known as the conqueror!” Just as Nobunaga spat out the words in an almost mad spate of rage, the strange bronze mirror sitting in the corner of the room began to glow with an eerie light.

When Nobunaga came to, he found himself in an unknown land. He knew nothing about the language or the culture, but that meant nothing to him. He had overcome countless obstacles in the past. This was just another new challenge for him, which was why he would do here as he had always done. The oath he had sworn to himself in his youth hadn’t changed. All he would do in this new world was surge forward toward that goal. He would once again be the conqueror. Here, in the land of Yggdrasil.