Defeating Mitsuhide, Episode 10

Episode 10: The Battle of Yamazaki

Part 1

The damp wind of June slipped between the soldiers.
Our army, having set up camp in the land of Yamazaki, should have been on the verge of battle.
However, the air was strangely clear; it was neither heavy nor filled with a murderous intent.

It felt as if we were simply heading toward a battlefield where everything had already been decided.

1. The Narrative Comes First

"I will surely strike down the enemy of Lord Nobunaga with my own hands!"

Toyotomi Hideyoshi's command rang out loudly, and the soldiers raised their voices.
Anger, loyalty, honor—various emotions were carried by those voices and released into the sky.

But I stood still amidst that wave of voices that sounded too well-rehearsed.
As Kuroda Kanbei, I felt keenly the unsettling nature of the fact that the narrative was leading reality.

No one doubted it.
It was Mitsuhide who struck down Nobunaga. It is Mitsuhide who must be struck down. In the name of justice.

—But from whose mouth was that justice born?

2. Quiet Suspicion

I had secretly dispatched spies.

The goal was only one: to verify Akechi Mitsuhide's lineage—specifically his origin, which was said to be of "Iga blood."
This was because the composition Lord Hideyoshi spoke of was far too perfect.

Nobunaga's invasion of Iga.
Mitsuhide, having lost his family due to that, was driven by a desire for revenge.

This narrative certainly moves the hearts of soldiers and the people. But it is spreading while it remains unclear whether it is fact.

If this battle is constructed upon a told story—
then it has already been written as a "narrated victory."

3. A Path Without Battle

The march proceeded without delay.
However, it was too without delay.

There were no enemy scouts to be found, and there were no traps or ambushes on the route.
It was as if our movements were being read; we encountered not a single resistance.

"...This is strange."

Hachisuka Koroku said in a low voice.

"It is as if the path has been prepared for us."

I nodded. It was a well-ordered path, as if our march were a predetermined harmony.

4. To Mitsuhide's Camp

Eventually, we arrived at the mansion that was supposed to be Akechi Mitsuhide's main camp.

The gate was closed, but there was no sign of gatekeepers, and no one responded.
When the soldiers who received the order broke in, a report eventually returned.

"There is no sign of soldiers at all."

It was said that the inside was deathly silent.

The atmosphere that should be present on a battlefield—tension, defense, resolve—
none of that was there.

5. The Absence of the Shadow of War

I also entered the mansion.
There were no footprints in the garden, and only the wind blew through the corridors.
Even in each of the tools, the signs of daily life were faint.

Was there not someone here from the beginning who showed the will to fight—
it was a void that made one think so.

"...My lord."

A soldier who returned reported.

"There was... one corpse."

6. Toward the Ending That Should Be Told

My chest felt suddenly cold.

A mansion not yet burned, a silent battlefield, and the body of a master who was protected by no one.

This is not a battle.
This is a place for an "ending" that was staged to be told.

While waiting for news from the spy who had not yet returned,
I stood in this place and held a thought bordering on conviction.

—This battle was told as a "victory" before it even began.

If so, perhaps the enemy did not even wish to be "struck down."

Episode 10: The Battle of Yamazaki

Part 2

A room in the back of the mansion.
Between the lattices that blocked the flow of the wind, there was one corpse.

There were no signs of being slashed; he had died as if he had cut his own belly.
The blood had already dried, and insects were swarming on the skin.

1. Mitsuhide's Final Moments

"...It has been three days since his death."

Hachisuka Koroku crouched down and said in a low voice while keeping his eyes on the corpse.
I also bent my knees and looked down.

This way of dying was not the death of a military commander.
It was not that he was struck down on the battlefield, but rather as if someone who was already dead had been brought to a place where they would be "made to have been struck down"—there was a strong sense of discomfort like that.

There were no remnants of battle here, nor any traces of resistance.
There was only the ended life of one man.

2. Ordering the Fire

"...Burn it."

Lord Hideyoshi's voice came.

I raised my face.
That order was neither a loud voice nor was there any anger.
It was merely a "staging of the finale" as one who tells a story.

The soldiers silently set the fire, scattered oil, and the flames engulfed the mansion.
The smoke rising into the night sky is not just smoke.
It was the "fire of staging" that solidifies the told history.

3. Report from the Spy

Late that night.
My spy returned to me.

“I report. Akechi Mitsuhide’s mother is not from Iga.”

“—Oh?”

“She is the daughter of a local samurai from Owari. There is no record of any connection to Iga.”

I slowly closed my eyes.

“...Then the ‘revenge against Iga’ that Lord Hideyoshi spoke of was fabricated?”

“In all likelihood...”

I asked nothing more.
The truth had not been spoken.
A narrative that needed to be told had simply been “made” into the truth.

4. Standing in the Ashes

The next morning, I stood at the site of the fire.
The pillars had collapsed, the roof tiles had fallen, and there was nothing left on the site.

Mitsuhide’s remains, which had been there, were already reduced to ash.

But I remembered.
I remembered that his death had been arranged somewhere, specifically so that it could be told to someone.

And that this narrative was what had led to victory.

5. The One Who Does Not Speak, The One Who Records

Lord Hideyoshi stood before the fire, not uttering a single word.

His back was that of a victor.
As the one who had told the story, as the one who had told it through to the end—he was now in a position where he no longer needed to speak.

I took up my brush.

“Enemy dies without resistance. Several days after death. Mansion burned. Narrative leads to victory.”

This is not a record to be shown to anyone.
It is merely a single line left behind as proof that the truth, which was never told, had indeed existed here.