Chapter 170 - 116 XP is So Unique!

"Any news from outside lately?" Now that everything in the territory is running smoothly, Harano hasn’t had much to do lately besides supervising the smiths drilling gun barrels at the blacksmith workshop, so whenever he’s free, he starts poking his nose into outside affairs—his focus is beginning to shift outward. Right now, Ah Man’s happily caressing a big-caliber, short-handled iron cannon with her little hands. It’s a prototype that Harano had made at the blacksmith’s—just half a shaku long, fires iron-sand shrapnel, and has a very short range. It’s basically a special weapon meant for the Ninja team and Internal Guard team in the future. He gave it to her, the honorable East Factory Director, for a trial run, if only to get her to stop bugging him about returning her iron cannon—the crappy one Oda Nobunaga gave her somehow became hers after she ’helped’ carry it for Harano, but she lost it during the battle at Takeshige Manor. She’d been pestering him for a replacement ever since, so this pretty much scratches that itch. She treasures her new and expensive ’toy,’ feeling the smooth, refined gun barrel, the tough stock, the trigger and serpentine perfectly coordinated and flexible. It’s miles better than her last iron cannon. There’s also a hand-carved inscription on the side of the stock—she runs her fingers over it and guesses it must be the gun’s name: "Abe Cut." Being a rowdy, undisciplined wild child, she completely ignores Harano’s question and minds her own business first—tracing the weird inscription "Abe Cut" over and over, curiosity getting the better of her. "Why is it called that? What’s this iron cannon got to do with the Abe Family?" "No relation at all, just a name I made up." Harano had indeed scribbled the name in a fit of boredom; the gun’s design was perfect for close-quarter assassinations, and for some reason it made him think of the top gunman on the Japan server—so, feeling artsy that day, he carved the name on and called it a day. Consider it a little souvenir of modern life. He didn’t see it as anything serious, still preferred to hear some outside news, so he repeated, "Don’t worry about the name. If you don’t like it, just scratch it off later. So—got any news from outside?" "Nothing new, it’s been peaceful lately." Ah Man brushed him off absentmindedly, still petting the strange inscription "Abe Cut." Strangely, she felt a weird premonition—as if this cannon would one day be used for something big. But the feeling disappeared in a flash, and she re-focused on her intelligence work. Thinking for a moment, she changed her tune: "No big stuff, but there is a bit of gossip. Heard Oda Nobunaga’s been running off to Iwakura Castle these days, like every three or five days he’s got to go. Other than that, nothing much happening." Iwakura Castle? The residence of the Family Head of the main Oda branch in the Upper Four Provinces of Owari? The city lord’s name should be Oda Nobuyasu (a.k.a. Ise no Kami). Back then, "Tiger of Owari," Oda Nobuhide, married his own sister to him. The Ise no Kami branch and Dan Zhengzhong branch have always had close marriage ties, which is why the Upper and Lower Four Provinces of Owari have been able to stay at peace for years. Harano had been stranded in Owari for almost a year and a half; he’s pretty familiar with the names and people by now and doesn’t need Ah Man to add further "common knowledge." He mused aloud, "So, Oda Nobunaga’s teaming up with his uncle-in-law to deal with someone? Is the target the Lower Four Prefectures’ Qingzhou Oda main house?" That theory made sense. Internally, within the Oda Family, the Iwakura branch of the Upper Four Provinces and Dan Zhengzhong branch are closely related by marriage, while the Qingzhou main branch of the Lower Four Provinces and Dan Zhengzhong have a blood feud. Oda Nobuhide’s first wife was from the Qingzhou Oda family, but after using her family, he just sent her back home, and the two branches became bitter enemies. Not long ago, the Qingzhou Oda family tried to seize a piece of the Shimazu Atsuta trade line the moment Oda Nobuhide died—largely out of spite. But Nobunaga nearly skewered them with his crazy long spears, burned their castle town, and foiled the plot all together. Now that the Qingzhou Oda family’s been badly weakened, if Oda Nobunaga wanted to swallow them up and take full control of the Lower Four Prefectures, it’d be pretty natural. Historically, he did storm Qingzhou City, lived there for a while, made it his base and all that. Harano nodded quietly—yeah, seems legit and logical. "Nope, he’s probably just going there for a woman!" Ah Man was still fiddling with her new iron cannon, more interested in trying it out than in gossiping. "Honestly, I don’t think he ever really visits his uncle and aunt—it’s more like he’s hooked up with a widow from a village outside Iwakura Castle... or, that’s what I heard when I passed through Nagano Castle’s castle town, but I didn’t look into it." "A woman?" Harano had been so deep in logical deduction—strategizing for possible warfare and wondering if Oda Nobunaga moving to Qingzhou City would be good or bad for him—that the sudden mention of a widow derailed all his trains of thought. What the hell kind of plot twist is this widow? "Exactly this!" Ah Man starts making a fist with her left hand, aiming to poke it with her right index finger. Harano stops her right away. "Okay, I know what ’going after a woman’ means, you don’t have to explain! I’m just surprised he hooked up with...a lover?" Isn’t Oda Nobunaga supposed to be working hard on industrial and commercial development, piling up strength quickly, and using long spears and iron cannons to unify Owari? Hasn’t even been half a year, and already he’s wandering off for love? Is this a case of old habits die hard, or just classic short attention span? Ah Man nods in agreement, sighing, "It’s weird he goes so far just for a woman, and his tastes are pretty unique—picked a widow, and not just any, but his step-aunt! It’s legit baffling. I may never understand people like you guys." Harano is left speechless again, surprised that, at least in Ah Man’s mind, he and Oda Nobunaga are somehow one and the same kind of guy. But whatever—the real question is, what’s up with this "step-aunt"? His brain freezes for a second. "Wait, his...this lover of his is...his step-aunt?" "Yep, used to be his step-aunt!" Ah Man loves a good gossip, and whether or not she looked into how Oda Nobunaga got it on with this widow, she’s got all the messy family drama down. "The widow’s pretty old, like twenty-five, twenty-six, maybe twenty-seven. She married into the Tsuchida Family, which is Nobunaga’s mom’s side of the family. Her husband was Nobunaga’s mom’s cousin, so she’s Nobunaga’s step-aunt, obviously. Then her husband died, she had no kids, so she moved back home, planning to remarry. Somehow, she and Nobunaga met, and bam, they hit it off. Nobunaga seems totally obsessed, going over there every other day now." "Hold on—a total crush?" Harano suddenly got a hunch. "That widow...what’s her name?" He suspected this was Ikoma Yoshino, Oda Nobunaga’s future concubine—almost more like a proper wife, totally independent, raising sons who all counted as legitimate heirs. All Nobunaga’s legitimate sons were supposedly hers. His official wife, the ’Viper Woman’ Saito Kiyotsugu, apparently never had his love—or any kids. Ah Man honestly hadn’t bothered remembering the widow’s name—this sort of salacious gossip held no strategical value—so she thought hard before guessing, "Seems like she’s a daughter from the Ikoma Family. The Ikoma have some influence in Niwa district—raise lots of horses, breed champions, pretty rich, but never managed to build a castle, so they’re only considered Earth Warriors. Nothing too impressive." Harano nodded to himself—yup, that’s her! Now it made sense why Oda Nobunaga would trek so far for a widow—and even be obsessed. Dude must’ve found true love. Ikoma Yoshino really must be Nobunaga’s one true love; otherwise, he wouldn’t have treated her so well. Never thought she’d be so much older than him—practically a whole generation apart. Or maybe Oda Nobunaga just has really unusual XP? He seems to care deeply about his wet nurse, went nuts when she was... and died violently, rebelled against his biological parents, crashed his old man’s funeral, locked his mom up in Nagano Castle, and then found his soulmate in a significantly older woman. Guess his preferences truly are unique. Or maybe he just likes women who are older but gentle—eighteen or nineteen versus twenty-five, twenty-six, twenty-seven, not such a big deal—but it sure stands out here in this era. Bored out of his mind, Harano just wanted to hear about the outside world, and ended up learning about Oda Nobunaga’s biggest scandal yet. At least now he understood the man’s XP—and more importantly, knew the Lower Four Provinces of Owari probably wouldn’t break out into chaos anytime soon. Nobunaga’s the biggest wildcard in the Lower Four, and if he’s busy chasing "true love," there’s little chance of war for a good while. This year’s not bad—just a small skirmish at the start, not like last year, fighting non-stop for six months straight. While Harano was lost in thought, Ah Man found it odd, "Is there some detail off here? Want me to go dig around for more details on the Ikoma Family and their daughter?" Harano snapped out of it, waving his hand. "No need, doesn’t concern us much. Just keep an eye on the Ikoma Family every now and then." "Alright then!" Ah Man didn’t think it was a big deal anyway. Seeing him so casual about it, she let it go, but then glanced meaningfully at his lower body, thoughtfully adding, "Want me to find you a widow, too?" Credit where it’s due, she was looking out for him—Harano was two or three years older than Oda Nobunaga, yet still sleeping solo. After all this time, she worried he’d implode. Plus, Harano and Nobunaga were both weirdos—didn’t even seem interested in young women, hadn’t even made a move on Yayoi yet. Maybe he had odd XP as well and only liked widows in their twenties. If that was the case, as an important figure in the Nozawa family and the new East Factory Director, Ah Man felt she had a duty to find Harano a widow. Shouldn’t be hard—in these times, every battle leaves piles of widows, so if Harano gave her his preferred height, weight, and looks, she’d have one for him in three days flat. You little rascal, you’re getting bolder by the day... Harano was exasperated—even if he wanted to play as Yuan Bei or Yuan Xuande, he couldn’t. He snapped, "Why would I need a widow? My business...stay out of my private life!" Ah Man was still worried. "But you need a son! What if you kick the bucket tomorrow? Everything you’ve worked for will just go to some outsider!" "Get outta here!" Harano wasn’t about to start chatting about his personal issues. After hearing her "news broadcast," he started shooing her away. He was only twenty-one. Marriage wasn’t urgent—honestly, he hadn’t even decided if he wanted to marry in Japan at all. The era was just so nuts—anyone over fourteen was basically married off, and all the singles were widows, so there really wasn’t anyone left to marry. Ah Man saw he was being stubborn and didn’t bother arguing. He never listened to "uncomfortable truths," in her eyes, so he lacked the "temperament of a wise lord." She muttered to herself about his flaws and left. Wanjin really lacked administrators right now, so she was busy too—she didn’t even get time to try out her new iron cannon before joining a supply convoy, off to sell saltpeter under the table, gather market news, and serve as security all at once. Riding on horseback with her Lang Faction in tow, she yelled at the house slaves and laborers to hurry up, threatening to kick some butts if they were late. They were picking up speed on the road when suddenly, a sharp whooshing sound rang out—a heavy stone shot straight for her head.