(Taishakutsukige is Yoriko...? That Hirai Yoriko, the first wife of Asai Nagamasa...? And it's not a purebred horse—damn, what does that mean?)
To prevent Toushirou from noticing my inner turmoil, I gently stroked Taishakutsukige's large, graceful body and entangled his mane with my fingers.艶luster
--Calm down...
I take a slightly deeper breath with a natural movement, trying to organize my thoughts.
"I must stay calm," I tell myself. "Don't let them see my agitation. The moment I show it, the negotiation will completely shift in their favor. I must calm the turmoil in my heart, no matter what."襤褸rags
Then, after tracing my fingertips along Taishakutsukige's delicate neck , I gazed at Toushirou. More precisely, at the space between Toushirou's eyebrows.艶Ade
In negotiations, the most important thing is to look the other person in the eye and face them directly.
If you don't do that, you won't be able to gain the other person's trust—and you'll only get mediocre results in everything.
However, there are times when I cannot look the other person in the eye.
For example, when you're feeling shaken up, like I am right now, that's exactly what happens.
At that time, just look at the space between the eyebrows.
By looking at the space between the eyebrows, the other person will mistakenly believe that you are looking them directly in the eyes. Or, they will mistakenly believe that you are facing them directly.
In the meantime, you can simply compose yourself. That's all there is to it.
"Toshiro-dono"
"Yes?"
The voice emanating from Toushirou's massive body is incredibly loud, and so low that it makes the air vibrate.
However, that's only the surface.
His vocal cords had simply grown larger along with his enormous body, resulting in a louder voice. There was nothing to be afraid of.
"There's no need to reiterate that I desire coexistence with you zashiki-warashi. You already know that. Not through my words, but through Taishakutsukimo."
"..."
"You're right, I trust Taishakutsukige, but I don't understand his fundamental nature. I'll admit that. I thought he was a pure horse, and more importantly, I didn't know he was 'Yoriko'."
I looked at Toushirou's face, which was etched with countless wrinkles and old scars.
And then I realized one fact.
There are definitely pupils in his eyes.
However, his eyes were completely cloudy and white—it was clear he was suffering from cataracts.
That is one of the characteristics that eloquently tells us that he is a being that has lived for a long time.
"But that's not a big problem. After all, you can hardly know anything about other people—you can't see into their hearts."
"Hmm..."
"The only question is—whether or not you will become my friends. That's all."
Toushirou let out a rumbling growl, closed his eyes, crossed his arms, and fell into thought.
On his well-tanned arms, the muscles bulge like rock, and the veins, like hoses, bulge and pop out.
"Your Majesty!"
"...What?"
"What exactly does 'friend' mean to you, His Majesty?"
Toushirou's white eyes opened, and his cloudy, milky pupils twitched as he tried to grasp my figure.
"Perhaps using and employing a zashiki-warashi (house spirit) is what the current head of the family meant by 'friendship'..."
Seeing that, I slowly stood up.
Then, touching his enormous arm, I gripped his hand—which was as big as a rock and seemed capable of twisting and crushing my body—and said:
"A friend is someone who sees the same tomorrow together, Toushirou. Holding hands, never letting go no matter how difficult things get, and continuing to believe that one day everything will be rewarded—that's what I call a friend."
Toushirou took a deep breath, his body tensing—and then he gripped not only my hand but even my arm with his hand.
"But... you might be crushed by the very hand you cling to and trust in."
"I'll deal with it when the time comes. It just means I didn't have the ability to choose my friends properly."
Then, Toushirou let out a deep sigh and slowly released my arm.
"I can't give you an answer right now, but... I will think about it. Up until now, the Zashiki-warashi, and Tomokuni Village, have been oppressed by many purebloods. So, to ask us to become friends right now... is far too hasty."
"...Yes, that's a perfectly natural thought. I'm sorry, it was probably a far-fetched idea that ignored your past positions and circumstances, so it's understandable that you would think that way."
The moment I said that, Taishakutsukimo cried.
Toushirou listens intently to her cries, trying to understand the message hidden within them.
Then Toushirou let out a gust of sigh and scratched his head vigorously.
"Ah... If I were to pass on what Lady Yoriko just said to the current head of the family... in short, she told him that the current head of the family is seriously aiming for coexistence with the zashiki-warashi, and that she has created a village of zashiki-warashi called the 'Takamine Party' on Hibariyama."
Toushirou pressed his right hand to the corner of his eye and groaned.
"And then, I was scolded for not listening to what people have to say. We zashiki-warashi listen to what monsters have to say, but we don't listen to what people have to say... At the very least, we should listen to what the current head of the household... no, the commander has to say. It's been quite a while since I 've been scolded by someone older than me, so it's really getting to me."儂eagle, I
"Kyuoooon"
Although I couldn't accurately understand the words of Taishakutsukimo, I understood the meaning of that cry just now.
It probably means something like, "Don't say unnecessary things," or "Don't mention your age."
Talking about a woman's age is taboo—even for a horse.
However, despite being a horse, she is said to be Yoriko, the former wife of Asai Nagamasa.
When that happens, even I, with all my experience, start to get confused about a lot of things.
Indeed, I have heard from Hikobe that Taishakutsukige was the beloved horse of the first head of the Asai family during the Sengoku period, two generations before Asai Nagamasa .浅井Azai亮政Sukemasa
However, she is Yoriko, the wife of "Nagamasa"—so it's absolutely no idea how she managed to infiltrate the Rokkaku family, and the Hirai family, who were important retainers.
"Hey, Toushirou-dono—I have a favor to ask. Would you listen to me?"
"...What is it?"
"I love Taishakutsukige, who is here with me. I don't care if he's a horse or not. Without him, I wouldn't have even survived this far... Please, can you translate for me? I want to know about Taishakutsukige—his existence!"
I had a lot of questions I wanted to ask.
Why would she follow me and save her life?
Why does she still adore me, even though she must know I'm not her husband?
And I was also certain of it.
I was convinced that if I could just have a conversation with her, all the questions I had—all the things that made me feel uneasy or doubtful about this world—would be resolved.
"Kyuoooon"
Taishakutsukimo cried. Hearing this, Toushirou nodded.
"General... I'm sorry, but that's not possible..."
"Why?"
"Well, Lord Taishakutsukige... Lady Yoriko has told me not to say anything. She said to wait a few more days, and that I will be able to talk then..."
"What...?"
I quickly glanced at Taishakutsukimo.
She relaxed gracefully, tilting her demure head, and enveloped my entire body in her gentle, light green eyes.
"Lady Yoriko insisted that I share this with you, so I'll explain a little bit about it..."
Toushirou coughed, making a sound like a depth charge exploding, and said:
"The one whom the commander refers to as 'Taishaku Tsukige' is a demon born from the union of a horse and a fox. Foxes are demons that can transform into humans, but this one's entire body shines with a golden light, and they are all female. Therefore, they conceive their offspring by receiving sperm from other demons or male humans... and a fox born from bathing in the sperm of a stallion is a demon like Lady Yoriko, who is called ' '."狐馬Koba
So, she's actually a fox, not a horse...?
一角獣unicornI was quite shocked when I saw Taishakutsukimo, who looked like that.
You're kidding. It clearly looks like a horse with horns, and its tail... well, it's certainly fluffy, but it's clearly not like a fox's.
"Well, to begin with, horses and foxes don't get along well, so they hardly ever have offspring... That's what I meant when I said it was 'rare' earlier."
"Hmm..."
"To get back to the point, the Fox Horse is an extremely powerful monster that combines the anthropomorphic abilities of a fox with the strength of a horse—but..."
"but?"
I leaned forward, waiting for Toushirou's next words.
"However, the fox-horse... uses up a lot of energy using its ability to transform. In other words, once it transforms, it can maintain that state, but once it reverts to its original form, it becomes unable to use its ability for a while."
In other words—and I apologize for using such a game-like analogy—it probably means that they have a very limited stock of ideas.M.P.Magic Point
"Of course, your energy will naturally recover if you eat and sleep. But the quickest way is male semen. Fox-horses feed on the fundamental bodily fluids of males in their wombs and transform them into their own energy."咀嚼chewing
Ah, I see.
I returned to Taishakutsukimo and gently stroked her body.
It finally all made sense to me.
Why does she devour stallions in such a sexual way? What are her reasons and motives?
"And—the time of recovery is fast approaching."
"That's how it is."
"Kyuoooon"
When I stroked Taishakutsukimo's head, she seemed to enjoy it—closing her eyelids blissfully and letting out a soft cry.
As I was doing that, I felt Toushirou let out a deep sigh, seemingly filled with emotion.
After all, that breath is so strong that it could easily make your body shake, so it would be strange if you didn't feel anything.
"General..."
"...What is it?"
I stood up straight, and faced the giant old zashiki-warashi (house spirit) who had straightened his posture and grown tall.
Toushirou closed his eyes for a while, seemingly deep in thought, but then slowly opened them and asked a question.
"Your Majesty, you are currently building a castle in Nagahama... but are you truly sure about this?"
"...What does that mean?"
"In other words... Nagahama is close to our Tomokuni Village. And, Hibariyama is similarly close as well..."
Ah, I see.
I felt like I somehow understood what Toushirou was thinking.
In other words, they're asking about my resolve. My resolve to have a zashiki-warashi, a socially marginalized class, attend to me near my new castle.
"What a foolish thing to say... After everything we've talked about so far—is it too late now, Toushirou?"
To be honest, that was completely out of the question.
The reason we decided to make Nagahama our new base was because it's a transportation hub, not because we had any thoughts about the zashiki-warashi (house spirit).
But, as has been the case before, it's also important to be glib and, depending on the time and situation, to bluff.
"Building a castle in Nagahama is a matter of my resolve. It's a castle built with the intention of protecting the core of the Asai clan in northern Omi, and the neighboring zashiki-warashi (house spirits)—all of that is included in the construction."
I said, staring into Toushirou's cloudy eyes.
"But there's no way that Zashiki-warashi alone can protect Nagahama. As before, the power of us humans, whom you call purebloods, will be absolutely necessary... But that's fine. Forcibly creating an environment where Zashiki-warashi and humans can come into contact—that's what's necessary for us to live together hand in hand."
Leaning forward, he spoke with force, continuing to slam his words down.
Or, like punching a giant wall with all your might.
"But I'm well aware that this is a goal that I won't be able to achieve in my lifetime. Discrimination can't possibly disappear in my generation alone—but I can't just leave it as it is. It's a problem that someone has to take the lead in addressing."
And even if they couldn't pierce the massive wall, it seems they at least managed to make it tremble.
Toushirou clenched his fists tightly, and the sound of his joints creaking and cracking echoed.
"That's precisely why we need tomorrow. A future called hope... And it's not me who will create that future—my role is to create a breakthrough. The children will create the future. All I can do is manipulate the watershed that will determine what that future will be..."
People must know their limits, their own powerlessness.
Humans are largely incapable of accomplishing anything on their own until around the age of 15—and from the age of 60 onwards, as physical abilities decline, it becomes impossible to fully utilize one's potential.
In other words, humans are ultimately just creatures that can only perform at their best as individuals for a mere 44 years, from age 15 to 59.
Furthermore, that would include the time needed to develop one's abilities through apprenticeship. Therefore, actual working experience would only last about 30 years.
What can really be accomplished in such a short amount of time?
There is almost nothing that can be accomplished by oneself alone, or by one's own generation alone.
Therefore, the most important thing is to pass it on. Your will, your hopes, and the future you wished for.
This will increase humanity's options and create diverse possibilities and directions for evolution.
"...Interesting! Isn't this interesting, General?!"
Toushirou laughed.
It was a deafening roar, like a 250-kilogram bomb had been detonated.
"Actually! I, in my old age, have finally had a child!! I'll give it to you, I'll give it to you!!! It hasn't even been born yet, but if it's a boy, you can make him your servant, General, or if it's a girl, you can make him your concubine!!!!"若子Wako
"—I wouldn't do something like that."
I stood up and pressed my palm firmly against Toushirou's chest, which was as thick and hard as bedrock, and said:
"I would never make my friend's child a servant or concubine for my own child. I will raise him—to the status he deserves, so that we can walk hand in hand together."
Indeed, tears began to pour from Toushirou's cloudy white eyes, literally like a waterfall—followed by a thunderous roar.
A hole has been pierced through the wall, creating a new channel for water. Now it's up to the force of that overflowing water to determine what future it will lead to.
And I suppose they realized that this was a serious situation.
The zashiki-warashi, who are Toushirou's subordinates, open the sliding doors and barge into the room one after another.
Although Taishakutsukimo was constantly there to keep them in check, one after another the zashiki-warashi came into the room and were left stunned when they saw their supreme commander weeping uncontrollably.Inana