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Soudouki Vol 4 Side Story
🕑 Added 2020-04-22 04:49:35 +0000 UTC
Side Story – A Warrior’s Reminiscence
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There was a colleague of Sanai whose name was Maeda Kokuzou Intotsu Nensai(前田穀蔵院咄然斎). (TN: What’s with this long ass name?)
On the contrary of the flashy rumor about him in the society, he could be said as an effeminate man with elegant appearance with his enchantingly beautiful form.
His appearance that was sighing in fascination when watching the sakura at Aizu that was still in full bloom even when May had come looked more like a dandy old man that could be found in the city rather than a warrior.
He was a nephew of the late chief minister Maeda Toshiie. From how he looked like, it was unthinkable that this was the great eccentric who was known in the world with the name of Maeda Keijirou Toshimasu. A man made up his mind and called out to him.
「I assume that you are the renowned eccentric Maeda Keijirou Toshimasu, am I correct?」
「And you who asked me that, who might you be?」
The voice of the faintly smiling Keijirou was filled with elegance like the voice of a singer, so the man felt like he was being made fun of. He replied with anger.
「I am Ushuu, born at Tsukiyama and is called Yomogida Juurouemon. I desire to have a match with Maeda-dono!」
Juurouemon looked like he was going to draw out his sword and attack anytime now. Keijirou waved his hand lazily to chide him and spoke.
「You, why are you knocking the gate of this Uesugi clan? You can try obtaining achievements at the battle against Tokugawa-dono so that you can be accepted into government service aren’t you? Even if you fight me, you will only get injured pointlessly and become unable to obtain what you desire in the end. Heaven forbid that.」
Juurouemon was a thirty years old man at the prime of his manhood. His ability at martial arts had also reached maturity. He didn’t seem like someone who would be outdone by a mediocre opponent.
Although Keijirou was an owner of numerous legends, he was already at the old age of 51 years old.
Such an old man was telling him to stop before he was hurt as though he was still a child.
Juurouemon had no intention to stay as a roninmasterless samurai forever.
He intended to defeat Keijirou who was famous but was already past his prime to gain fame among Uesugi Clan so that he was allowed to serve here.
「Are you mocking this one? I will teach you who among us will be the one who get wounded!」
Juurouemon was enraged, but Keijirou only held his stomach while holding back his chuckle.
「I’ll take you on anytime if you’re picking a fight with me, but are you really fine with that?」
「Enough talk!」
Juurouemon was a large man with height of six shaku (around 180 centimeters). His katana was also a splendid long sword that was forged by Tsukiyama Sadakatsu, an expert blacksmith of Tsukiyama smithing.
Juurouemon’s ambition to rise in the world could be inferred from how he was carrying a long sword even though he was nothing more than a common foot soldier.
That was because a long sword was mostly carried by horse riding samurai instead of common foot soldier.
The katana’s deep curvature and splendid luster was truly befitting for a sword that was the work of a master smith.
It was difficult for an average man to even lift a long sword, but Juurouemon easily unsheathed it and held it in front of him in an orthodox stance. The corner of his mouth was curled up in the belief of his victory.
Keijirou only stood still in a natural posture. He didn’t even unsheathe his beloved Magoroku Kanemoto──an oodachilarge war sword that was three shaku and three sun long (around one meter).
Just the courage to act like that was worthy of praise, but Juurouemon had no intention to give Keijirou any chance to unsheathe that stupidly long sword after this late.
「Prepare yourself!」
Juurouemon’s brawny muscles that looked like granite bulged up and he leaped forward.
It was an agile movement like a beast. Such movement was unimaginable coming from such a large body.
Juurouemon’s strike was without mercy and without any opening. Anyone who saw this was convinced that at the next moment Keijirou’s gray matter would be splattered gruesomely.
「──Too slow.」
「Umu. That’s weak.」
But the men who were watching the two’s match in delight weren’t worrying for Keijirou at the slightest.
One of the men was Kamiizumi Mondo, and the other one was Oka Sanai.
Certainly, as a single soldier Juurouemon was a skilled martial artist that was rarely seen.
However Juurouemon didn’t have experience with battlefield.
He was decisively ignorant about what kind of existence an old general who had survived numerous battlefields was. That was why he was rushing into Keijirou’s range so carelessly like that.
「Fuhn!」
It wasn’t clear whether it lasted for even an instant.
As soon as Juurouemon entered Keijirou’s killing range, Keijirou swung his sword along with its sheath.
With a shout of fighting spirit, Keijirou’s body that was five shaku and three sun tall (around 160 centimeters) looked like it was turning huge until more than ten shaku tall.
Juurouemon felt a primitive fear welling up from the depth of his soul and felt regret.
It was unfortunate for Juuroemon that he was capable enough to even have the time to feel regret. If he was just an average human, he wouldn’t even have any time to perceive what was going on.
Juurouemon’s body was blown away toward the garden that had its ground blanketed with white stones. It was like he had been punched by a giant’s fist.
「──Hou, he is alive.」
Sanai laughed in delight. Keijirou muttered quietly and sadly.
「A true warrior won’t die easily.」
However it was certain that Juurouemon’s wound wouldn’t be healed fully before the battle.
He wouldn’t be able to participate in the battle that would decide the fate of the country. He had lost his place to work and also a place to die. It seemed that fact was hurting the eccentric before Sanai’s eyes.
For Sanai, Keijirou was an acquaintance since the campaign of Odawara. The more he knew him, the more he realized how good hearted this man was. And this might sound contrary but, this man was also an awkward warrior who couldn’t find the worth of living without battle.
This self-contradiction wouldn’t be cured even until he died at Yamagata from his chronic disease.
Sanai thought that he was a pitiful man.
His inherent deep compassion and his drive that couldn’t stop seeking battle like a beast made this man who originally could even reach far greater height to become an eccentric.
Even Sanai had no confidence to defeat Keijirou in a one-on-one duel, though it would be a different story if it was battle as general in the battlefield.
It was said that those loved by heaven would be given trial by it, but the way Keijirou was loved by heaven was truly pitiful.
Sanai suddenly became curious about Keijirou’s reason for fighting.
He knew very well that Keijirou was best friends with Naoe Yamashiro no Kami, but he wanted to know the reason why a man like him was continuing to stand on the battlefield as a single warrior.
「Well now, just what are we fighting for?」
Sanai too was also an atypical person who couldn’t live anywhere else but in battle.
Sanai too was also looking for the stage of a lifetime where he could die before the world of peace arrived.
He didn’t know whether he would be able to obtain a place to die that was worthy for the end of his life in this Aizu, but at the very least his master, Uesugi Kagekatsu was a worthy master for him to stake his life for.
「……Simple, I’m just a brat who love to brawl.」
Keijirou laughed ‘ha ha’ cheerfully, but Sanai felt that Keijirou was saying those words as though he was puking blood.
──Most likely Keijirou was someone who had lost his place to die.
Because he survived through that time when he was determined to die, he wouldn’t be able to encounter that place to die anymore. Even so Keijirou continued to pursue that transient dream despite realizing just how futile it was.
Perhaps Keijirou’s numerous outlandish acts that were defying death itself were actually the expression of such despair inside himself.
「I see, what a heavy karma.」
It was painful for a warrior to not die when they should die.
However, a warrior was a warrior exactly because they couldn’t die even when they tried.
(The place where I should die……)
Sanai didn’t know.
He himself would also lose his place to die just like Keijirou. He would meet his death on his bed at the end of the anguishes plaguing his life.
He also didn’t know how a time would arrive for him to look forward to the battlefield once more at his next, next life.
