The Man Who Ended the Realm: The Dagger's Scabbard - Chapter 28: Conclusion

Sekigahara was collapsing.

War cries tore through the air,
battle lines unraveled,
and banners fell to the earth.

Who was friend and who was foe?

There was no one left to tell the difference.

The outcome had long since been decided.

Yet the soldiers still ran.

Yet the commanders still shouted.

They tried to keep fighting in a battle that was already over.

—It was absurd.

Amidst it all, one person.

A shadow moved quietly.

Ishida Mitsunari.

He did not stop his feet.
He did not look back.
He did not rush.

He simply walked.

The wind whipped up the dust.

In the distance, there was the sound of someone being cut down and falling.

Mitsunari narrowed his eyes.

“...Is this as far as it goes?”

There was no regret in his voice.

There was no anger, nor was there any impatience.

All that remains is—understanding.

Where this battle ended.
Why it began, and what it left behind.

He knows it all.

Mitsunari looked up at the sky, just slightly.

The clouds are drifting.

Just as they were on that day.

"…So you have gone ahead, Yoshitsugu."

The voice that called the name was quiet.

There is no one left to answer.

Yet, Mitsunari felt it clearly.

That those men had fulfilled their promise.

And—

That he, too, had fulfilled his.

Mitsunari's hand reached into his robe.

His fingertips touched the scabbard of a dagger.

The blade is gone.

It is not for protection,
nor is it for striking.

Even so, Mitsunari did not let it go.

—This was the beginning of everything.

And so.

The one thing that leads to the end.

Mitsunari slowly raised his head.

He looked at the battlefield.

He looked at the realm as it crumbled away.

"...The battle is over."

He whispered softly.

But—

His eyes were still looking ahead.

The collapsing battle lines. The soldiers fleeing in panic. The nameless lives being cut down one by one.

Mitsunari watched it all.

He saw it through to the end.

The outcome of the war he himself had started.

Yet, there was no wavering in his gaze.

Just as if he were confirming something—

"...That is not it."

A whisper, not directed at anyone in particular.

Mitsunari slowly shook his head.

This battle was not a defeat.

In the first place—

It was never something to be measured by victory or defeat.

I stop walking.

The wind blows through.

In the distance, someone shouted, "Get back!"

Someone else cut them down.

Order is already gone.

Even so, Mitsunari stood quietly.

"The world... is not decided by war."

The words spilled out on their own.

What has been built up.
What has been connected.
Human will and the flow of time.

They are merely changing their form.

War is nothing more than the "trigger" for that.

"What is decided is—how it ends."

I lower my gaze.

A flag covered in dirt was being trampled upon.

Names and pride have already lost their meaning.

Mitsunari looked down at it quietly.

"If so,"

I take a step forward.

"I must bring it to an end."

As if that were his own duty.

It is not to be taken by force.
It is not to be ruled by wisdom either.

Simply—

To end it.

That was the purpose of this war.

That was why those men moved.

That is why I am standing here.

Mitsunari's hand touches his bosom once more.

The dagger's scabbard.

The cold sensation travels to his fingers.

"…I must return it."

This time, the words were clear.

He does not say to whom.

But the destination is already set.

Mitsunari turned his back on the battlefield.

There is no longer any reason to look back.

Sekigahara is over.

But—

My own battle has not yet ended.

Quietly, one step.

There was no hesitation in his stride.

The wind had stopped.

The clamor that had filled the air just moments ago faded away as if it were a lie.

No—

Is it I who am fading away?

Mitsunari walks.

Leaving the battlefield, simply and quietly.

Only the sound of his footsteps treads upon the earth.

Before long, the sounds behind him vanished.

He does not look back.

What he needed to see, he has already seen.
What he needed to fulfill, he has already fulfilled.

Only one thing remains.

Mitsunari reaches into his breast pocket.

The dagger's scabbard.

He grips it slowly.

“...It was a long battle.”

Words meant for no one to hear.

There is no one left to answer, either.

However—

This battle did not begin today.

It is something that has been built up over time.

Things that were distorted, frayed, and eventually reached their limit.

That is what ended here, now.

"People fought well."

He narrowed his eyes slightly.

There were no enemies or allies.

They were all people who lived in this era.

An end had come for them all.

Mitsunari looks up at the sky.

The clouds are drifting.

A sky that seems unchanged, yet is no longer the same.

"......This is fine."

His voice was quiet.

It was neither conviction nor satisfaction.

It was simply—

The voice of one who had accepted it.

Mitsunari begins to walk again.

No one knows where he is headed.

But his steps were surely leading toward the future.

The war is over.

There are no winners or losers there.

What remained was—

Only the end.

And.

There is one who carries that end forward.

Ishida Mitsunari walks.

All alone.

To bring an end to the era.

That battle was not meant to decide the fate of the realm.

It was meant to bring an end to the era.