SKM – Chapter 17

Translator: Manshiro    Editor: Arocks141    Proofreader: Arocks141   TLC: ShimizuA

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Arc 2 – Ninth Year of Eiroku Era, Owari Province Agricultural Reform

Early October, 1566

After Shizuko had finished calculating the number of warehouses needed to store the rice bales, Nobunaga had, in stark contrast to his earlier behavior, turned eerily quiet. After she gave her formal reply, he let her go without any further unreasonable tasks. Shizuko wondered about his sudden shift in attitude, but didn’t want to wake the sleeping lion and serenely left the castle, without making any comment which might get her in trouble.

Shortly after Shizuko departed, Nobunaga called for Mori Yoshinari and Takigawa Kazumasu.

“Do you have anything on Shizuko?”

“It shames me to confess, but there was not a single piece of information I could gather on her.”

Acknowledging Takigawa, who was bowing with an expression filled with regret on his face, he then turned towards Mori Yoshinari. Understanding what Nobunaga wanted of him, Mori Yoshinari bowed his head and started talking.

“I too was unaware that she had this kind of talent.”

Right in front of Nobunaga Shizuko had displayed not only Kanji, Hiragana, and Katakana, but also calculations using the four basic arithmetic operations.

In the present era, this level was something learned in elementary school, but in the Sengoku period it was quite different. In this era, arithmetics was something almost unknown to people other than merchants or the lords like Nobunaga.

Military commanders would be able to gauge how many thousands of soldiers they and their enemy had and compare these values, but only roughly, at best. In either case, the ability to write Kanji and perform complex calculations without using an abacus was not something a peasant could acquire.

“What about the Ayanokouji Clan?”

“There has been no word about a female child like Shizuko-dono being born from them.”

“……”

Having listened to Takigawa’s words, Nobunaga silently closed his eyes.

“When I first met her, I did not once give my name.”

About 5 minutes later, Nobunaga started recounting while in the same posture.

“Yet she called out my name.”

“That is…..”

“I did not think much of it at that point in time, but several days later it piqued my interest and I asked Shizuko about it. How do you think she answered?”

Neither Mori Yoshinari nor Takigawa could reply. They both knew Nobunaga well, but Shizuko was completely unrelated to him. To be able to instantly infer his true identity in that position was impossible. They had of course thought about her being a spy, but they could not feel any malice or hostility from her.

“The crest and Yoshimoto Samonji.” ¹

The duo gulped unconsciously after hearing that unexpected answer.

“I certainly did wear a sleeveless robe bearing the [Five-petaled floral crest]. ² And I did have Yoshimoto Samonji strapped to my waist. But only that and nothing else.”

Playing around with the fan in his hands, Nobunaga continued further.

“That one has enough talent to be wanted by all countries, yet she doesn’t show it off as though it is natural to her. It might be because of her noble family name, but she is also well versed in etiquette. Furthermore, she is also knowledgeable about Takada and myself.”

And after mumbling to himself, he declared while looking at Mori Yoshinari and Takigawa.

“She herself might not be aware of it…. However Shizuko is good at putting people to use, good enough to see through their abilities and assign them the ideal tasks. That ability in of itself is Shizuko’s most horrifying talent. When I understood this I even felt gratitude towards the gods and buddhas for my encounter with her.”

“But my lord. Trusting a person unwilling to speak of their origins might cause a problem…”

“Indeed…. Certainly, we can’t be too trusting. However, in my personal opinion, she is too honest to be a spy.”

While agreeing with Takigawa’s frank words, Mori Yoshinari also came to Shizuko’s defense. As the person among those present with the most contact to Shizuko, he couldn’t imagine Shizuko being a spy. As Mori Yoshinari had described earlier, the reason for this was her excessively honest personality which did not fit into this strife filled era at all.

“It is as Yoshinari says. But Kazumasu has a point too. There is no need to do anything at this moment, but we need to put an insurance in place.”

When Nobunaga lightly clapped his hands, the sliding door of the entrance was opened silently. Behind it was ——–.

While Mori, Takigawa, among his trusted vassals discussed with Nobunaga about the treatment of Shizuko, she was troubled by a certain something.

“Hmm…. Even if you tell me to decide…”

“I’m sorry village chief. I know that it’s unreasonable on such a short notice, but it’s really urgent.”

Daiichi, the former village chief, was standing back slightly to her left, bowing his head.

But not just him. The majority of the villagers who had been here since the beginning such as Kinzou, Tagosaku, Saki, or Osora had gathered.

With Shizuko at the center, they had gathered in the long house which could be called a public facility. Shizuko was placed at the honor seat, the villagers who had been with her from the very beginning sat to her left and right. But across from there were four men with a totally different appearance than them, looking almost like hunters living deep in the mountains. Their outfits were varied but all of them were thin as sticks, the signs of extreme malnutrition obvious at first glance.

“I am well aware that this is a shameless request. But at this rate, everyone in our village will starve to death. Please have mercy on us.”

Saying this, the leader-class man of the four bowed deeply to Shizuko. Lowering his head to someone half or even a third of his age, and a woman at that, must have deeply hurt his pride. But they didn’t even have the leeway to care about their appearances.

“(To think that this village and the one in the mountains were originally a single village….) Please lift your head, Nisaku-sama. I too have no objection to lending support to your village.”

But, after having opened with this statement, Shizuko quietly continued on.

“Even if we provide support now, your people will most probably have to leave your village in the near future, Nisaku-sama.”

It seemed as though Nisaku had understood this as well, as his face turned into a grimace at Shizuko’s words. After all, the villagers (of Shizuko’s village) had supported Nisaku’s village with what little they could spare. But even so, the situation had not improved at all this year, rather, it had deteriorated even further. For that reason, they decided to personally ask Shizuko for support.

“….. So what should we do then? We have already tried all sorts of things. Yet the situation won’t get better at all! What else are we supposed to do!?”

It might have been his irritation at being powerless, but Nisaku’s tone gradually got harsher as he went on. But he immediately came back to his senses and shortly shook his head before bowing to Shizuko.

“I offer my sincerest apologies for losing control of myself.”

“It’s okay, I don’t mind. Let’s instead talk about how to solve the issues of your village. But before that…”

Shizuko lightly clapped her hands towards the entrance. As a result, the door was opened and serval women carrying trays entered the room. Leaving a tray in front of everyone including Nisaku’s group, the women bowed once before leaving.

“You must be exhausted from the long journey. Please sate yourselves first. We can discuss after that.”

What had been left in front of them was food. There was rice porridge with pickled plum as well as several slices of pickled vegetables.

While Nisaku’s group had been hesitant at first, at Shizuko’s “Please don’t hold back and enjoy.” they tried the rice porridge. Maybe this was the first time they had seen rice porridge as they started eating it like they were expecting something to jump out. But eventually, their hunger might have won over their fear, they started eating heartily.

“I have no words to thank you for these alms”

“Ah, no, it’s fine”

She didn’t know whether it was just his character or whether he was originally from a samurai family or similar, but Nisaku was very courteous.

To Shizuko it had been nothing more than a small effort to try and stop the shivering induced by the coldness stimulated by extreme malnutrition by offering them rice porridge which was easy to digest and warmed the body.

“Now then, about the issues of your village, please let me tell you my conjectures first. Please correct me if I am wrong about anything.”

“Please do so.”

Shizuko might have called them conjectures, but she was quite certain that what she was about to tell him was more or less correct.

After all, she had noticed these issues in spring, but had refrained from meddling as they were a problem of another village.

“There is too much mud mixed in the river running through your village to use its water, isn’t it, Nisaku-sama?”

Instantly, the expressions of Nisaku’s group stiffened.

And not just them. The same was true for the others like Daichi, Tagosaku or Kinzou.

From this, Shizuko was convinced that her thoughts couldn’t be that far from the truth.

“And because the mountain is dark and damp even during the day, animals no longer enter your hunting grounds. As a result, you can’t make a living off of their meat and pelts, and suffer from a constant lack of food. Are these the two issues bothering you?”

“…. Are you able to wield supernatural powers? How did you figure out the reasons for our problems?”

“Nothing quite that complicated. People living in the mountains produce firewood, charcoal, timber, minerals, meat and leather. I only drew my conjectures from that.”

Minerals are used for money, blades, farming tools, and everyday items, so there should be close to no influence from the mountain being dark.

So the people who would be bothered by the mountain being dark and no longer attracting animals would be people like hunters, charcoal-burners or lumberjacks.

“The trees are standing together densely, hindering their growth, and the sun barely reaches the forest floor anymore, right? Furthermore, the ability to absorb carbon dioxide is reduced, the undergrowth vanishes, and the ground becomes too poor to allow the trees to take root properly. As a result, the lower branches of the trees wither, leaving them thin and tall and not sellable as firewood. That is what I make of the situation.”

“….. I might not understand half of your words, but in general it is as you say. There are no trees that can be used as firewood. And as there is no food, the beasts won’t come, leaving us without meat to sell.”

“As I thought. in that case, we need a『well』and 『periodic thinning』as solutions. As for the river, we will need a filtration device.”

Shizuko had easily provided a solution to the problem which had plagued the villagers for a period of years, if not decades.

The ease with which she provided the solution was such that Nisaku was completely unable to understand what she said at first.

“Kinzou-san. Do you have all the tools for the『well』 I asked you to make before?”

“Eh? Ah, yes. I did prepare the things as you told me to, village chief.”

“Okay. Tagosaku-san, please collect some charcoal, long plant material and some pebbles for me. Daichi-san, please bring me a big bucket and a cloth big enough to envelop the bucket.”

“Alright, understood!”

“Understood”

Recounting whether she had everything necessary covered with this, Shizuko looked at Nisaku’s group and remembered something important.

“Saki-san and Osora-san. Please prepare a food packet we can take with us to the other village. I want the people over there to do some work, and they won’t be able to work properly on an empty stomach”

“Yes”

Osora energetically responded to Shizuko’s words before rushing out of the room.

‘I haven’t even told you which items to pack!’ Shizuko thought, but let it be, considering that such detailed instructions were probably not needed.

“Well, um… What are you doing?”

Nisaku asked Shizuko, unable to keep up with the string of events with an expression of surprise on his face.

“We will be going to your village and fix the problems you are having”

Shizuko exclaimed brightly as though to blow away Nisaku’s worries.

One koku (roughly 2 hours) later, Shizuko and company departed towards Nisaku’s village, each carrying the items they had prepared.

As expected, ascending a mountain was too much for Saki and Osora, so they stayed in the village while the food they had prepared was carried up by the men.

Shizuko had traversed this mountain for almost two years now, collecting and hunting all manner of things, so climbing the mountain was like taking a walk in her backyard.

However, not having climbed the mountain for a long time, Kinzou and Tagosaku were completely out of breath around halfway to their destination.

Because of this, they were slightly behind schedule when they arrived in Nisaku’s village just past noon.

“Wai-, I can’t anymore…. I’m dying…..”

“Village chief…. Where do you get that energy from…. uff”

The moment they arrived in the village, Kinzou and Tagosaku keeled over.

Drawing wheezing breaths, they greedily gulped down the water from the bamboo canteens on their waists.

“I have been climbing this mountain looking for herbs and hunting deer. That might be where I got my stamina from?”

In contrast to the duo completely out of breath, Shizuko was not much different from usual and answered lightly.

She might have worked up a light sweat, but she was nowhere near Kinzou and Tagosaku’s state of complaining about being at the limit of their strength and stamina.

“We’ll start working after I finish the discussions. Make sure to catch your breath by then, okay?”

With these parting words, Shizuko left the worn out duo and Daiichi, who had forced himself to keep standing despite his exhaustion, and entered Nisaku’s village.

They entered the village with Nisaku’s group at the front, followed by Shizuko, with Wittmann, Kaiser, and König bringing up the rear.

“Ah, welcome back village chieeeeeeeee——–!!”

With three wolves following them, there was nothing that could be done about the screams each time they met a villager.

1. Yoshimoto Samonji is a famous sword. For more info:
   https://japaneseswordlegends.wordpress.com/2015/10/01/the-yoshimoto-samonji
2. The crest of the Oda clan, in particular the version used by Nobunaga. https://samurai-world.com/oda-nobunagas-crests/