The soldiers looked at them strangely as they returned to camp.
"The siege was meant to take three days… don't tell me they lost?"
Was a common whisper that went around. They were men of the larger armies, and felt themselves to be above the likes of the common rabble a couple of small landowner samurai could drum up.
But then they saw one of Okabe's personal guard clutching a servered head in one arm, whilst Okabe wore a small smile on that pale face of his, which was a rarity in itself, and certainly not something that would happen should they be defeated.
But yet the men that railed directly after them looked just like that. As though they had suffered the most miserable defeat of their lives. It was unsettling how many contridictions were present merely within the men's behaviour, as directly after them, a small group of black armoured soldiers – with some ashigaru behind them – were conversing and laughing loudly, paying no attention to the curious glances that were shot their way.
Imagawa waddled from his tent – his fat belly jiggling as he did so – wondering what all the fuss was about. He leaned on a tent pole, with an apple clasped in his meaty grip, munching away whilst he stared at Okabe with a questioning gaze.
The guardsmen passed the head back to his lord, who in turn dropped it by Imagawa's feet. It was less than polite, but seemingly the two men were relatively close, as Imagawa did not even flinch, or take note of the lack of respect.
"And this is?"
"The commander's served head."
Came the pointed response.
"Ho… Who struck this head from its shoulders?"
Okabe turned around in his saddle to look toward the men.
"Well? Who was it? Make yourself known."
So much encouragement was not required, as Morohira pushed his way through the crowd, still stained in the crusted blood of today's battles. It was unarguable – even from just a glance – that this man had fought fiercely.
"Hmm… You're rather small."
He commented idly, still munching on his apple as he looked Morohira up and down. He had to physically restrain himself from bristling. His height was always something that had been commented on as he grew up, and as an older man. It was part of the reason he had come to love fighting so much in the first place – so that he could show those taller than him that height means nothing.
'If you stand too high for me to reach your throat, then I will sever your hamstring and make you kneel.'
Was the thought that had always passed through his head.
"How much did you promise him as a reward, Okabe-kun?"
He asked idly, licking his fingers as they grew sticky from the apple juice.
"50 gold coins."
"50 eh…"
He wandered back inside his tent, casting his apple core away. It flew across the crowd of gathered soldiers bouncing off the helmet of one of them, whose distaste was evident by his wrinkled brow.
And then he returned with a huge wooden chest. They only way he was able to carry it was with both arms, pulling it towards him, and even then he was huffing and puffing. He dropped it with a loud bang, before dramatically producing a key a holding it up for all around to see.
He inserted it and unlocked it in one fluid motion, casting back the lid to reveal that it was full to the brim of gold coins.
A gasp passed through the crowd, for such an amount of money they had never seen in their lives. At the very least there was 10,000 gold in there.
He picked up a few coins in his hand and began to count.
"37… 38… 39..."
"49…50, and 51, so that none can say the Daimyo is not generous with his troops."
He said, pettily trying to one-up his general. Okabe did not even flinch at such a notion. He could not care in the least, for it was not his gold.
"Hold out your hands."
He ordered, speaking to Morohira. He did not need to be told twice, as he had his hands cupped so tightly that they would have no problem retaining even water.
And then, he slapped 51 gold coins into them, taking pleasure in the expression of glee that Morohira wore upon receiving such an amount of money. It was wondrous to him, that one could be so enticed by coin. But of course, he held no value towards it, as it was something that had always been freely available to him.
"Go on now."
He motioned for Morohira to shoo, before he clapped his hands twice and waited.
Moments later the head-severer was back amongst his unit, and Imagawa was sat down in a comfortable chair, as his servants worked busily, transferring hot coals from the indoor fire, and loading them with dry wood, so that their Daimyo would not grow cold.
"Now, Okabe, it seems you have quite the story to tell. It is as of yet not even sundown, and you claim to have captured Washizu in that amount of time, how?"
"Hm… I wonder."
He stroked the short goatee beard that stuck to the end of his long face, more than taking his time to respond.
"Well, I suppose I had better leave this task to someone else. All I know is that the Niwa army managed to get inside and slay the defenders."
Imagawa frowned, holding an expression that said it all. By the looks of it, he shared Okabe's question from earlier that day: "who the f.u.c.k is Niwa?"
"I see… Niwa, reveal yourself."
He was not surprised by Okabe's lack of awareness in what had happened during the battle. The two shared the same opinion on the smaller armies of the retainers: they were expendable. It was pointless to spend any effort in commanding them, for it is likely that you would be unable to do so, or their incompetence would get in the way. And so, before the battle, they had reached the consensus that they should be left to do as they please.
Nakatane glanced briefly at Gengyo, wondering whether they really should reveal just how they had gotten inside. But with a nod from the young lad, he was reassured. There was nothing present within the strategy used, or the tactics employed, that would cause them any trouble in the future. It was merely a plan made up entirely for the situation they had been facing.
He took a few tentative steps forward, catching Imagawa's gaze.
"Closer man."
He was made to come closer, until he was standing by the fire, directly opposite Imagawa, sitting under his scrutinising gaze.
"So you're Niwa, eh? Mmm, perhaps your face does seem familiar. But alas, your name does not. Well, not that any of that matters. Walk me through the actions of your men from the beginning of the battle to the end. Try not to make it too boring."
"By your command, Daimyo-sama."
He bowed deeply, before recounting their tale.
"As the other commanders rushed for the wall, we abandoned our ladders and made our way through the forest."
"Why?"
It was an odd question, that caused Nakatane to pause slightly, as he was not the one who had come up with the why in the first place, but he felt he might have guessed the young man's reasoning.
"Simply because exchanging arrow fire with men sat inside an archer's cage is suicide."
He words, of course, caused a few commanders to bristle. Both from his words, and from realizing their own stupidity. They had been caught up within the flow of Itou, assuming they had to show a good impression by not showing hesitance in front of the general.
"Good. Continue."
"We continued within the forest until the northern wall began to run out, and then we attacked at the corner of the eastern wall."
"Attacked? How? No man is fool enough to leave any section of his walls unguarded."
"We took out the three guardsmen that were able to see us by use of the bow."
"…Unless you have amongst your men some of the best archer's in all of Japan, then I think it would be impossible to make such a shot from the edge of the forest. I've been to the battlefield myself. If such a flaw was present within their defences, then we would have taken advantage of it from the start. You had better stop leaving information out, otherwise, I might grow cross."
He bowed low once more.
"Forgive me, Daimyo-sama."
It was not that he had intentionally left information out, it was merely that he was wary of Imagawa's earlier remark: that boring he was something to be avoided.
"Using the nearby grass, we camouflaged our men so that they were able to sneak close enough to make the killing shots."
"Camoflague?"
He frowned as he rolled the word around on his tongue.
"I see… Continue."
He had disbelief written all over his face, but did not give voice to it, asking the man to continue.
"And then, one of our units scaled the walls, and opened the gates from the inside."
"Mmm, I see where this is going now. It must have been a bloody battle for your men, eh? A brave sort they are. At most you had what, 150 men? Against their 300, brutal. How many did you lose? I'll make sure to compensate you for your losses."
Nakatane coughed uncomfortably.
"Er… 2 men, Daimyo-sama …"
His words caused Imagawa's eyes to all but bulge out of his head, as he chocked on his words.
"T-two… men?"
Even Okabe turned around to look at him sharply. He had indeed seen the number in which they emerged with, but he had merely assumed that they had entered with more, possibly 200-250.
"That's correct, my lord…"
He shook his head madly, as if trying to toss the number around enough so that it could find a fit somewhere within his brain.
"How…?"
He asked breathlessly.
"We caught them by surprise… They were not in a fit state to meet us, Daimyo-sama."
"…Are you telling me, you moved a force of 150 soldiers within the fortress of Washizu, and brought them behind the attack force, all without being seen?"
He voice was tainted with disbelief. There were guards positioned everywhere. The chance of such a force staying hidden was virtually none – at least, he himself could not see a way in which it had been done.
Gengyo, on the other hand, was baffled by his disbelief, as were the rest of the men. In the moment, it had been simple. All they did was go slow and shoot anything that moved. It was not exactly the revolutionary strategy Imagawa seemed to be looking for.
"Yes, my lord."
He said firmly. There was something about the confidence in which he announced it that caused Imagawa to pause for a moment. They would find out whether what he said was true or not later – when they moved to occupy Washizu. But for now, it would not hurt to let him have his glory.
He massaged his temples vigorously, before reaching a conclusion.
He dug his hand within the chest of gold, holding a large amount within his palms. He handed it to Niwa rather hastily, apparently keen to let this business rest for now.
"There are around 300 coins here. No doubt Okabe offered you a similar amount. Your contributions are immense, and I'm sure your fellow commanders are grateful to you, for you saved the lives of many of your men."
He bowed gratefully, taking that as his signal to leave.
"Ah, Niwa."
Nakatane turned around.
"You have come to my attention."
Were the last words he spoke, before retiring back inside his tent, as Okabe followed behind him.
//Author's Note
On time today!! Woo!! Hope you enjoyed c: