What Does a Super Weak Minor Lord in the Sengoku Era Aim For? - Chapter 2

Now that I’ve eaten, let’s head to the back room to investigate.

In the room, there’s a low desk placed by the window. It’s the kind of desk you use while sitting in seiza. There’s also a shallow drawer in the middle and a narrow side drawer on the right. I remember using that type of drawer when I was a child.

Opening the broad, shallow drawer, I find some papers and a booklet.

‘Oh! I’ve found exactly what I was hoping for right away.’

The booklet, bound with string, is about the size of B6 paper and fairly thick. On the cover, it says “Record of Observations”, with “Yamanaka Yūjirō” written on the left side.

Hmm… This must be my name in this world. It seems like a name the original person here came up with, as the characters used remind me of my real name and feel familiar.

Is “Yamanaka” the name of this area? In this era, it was common to take the name of the land as your family name. Or maybe it’s just because this place is in the mountains. The name flows well enough, so it doesn’t really matter.

The important thing is this, the fact that the person who lived here before was me. Or, to be more precise, it was me existing in this parallel dimension—a version of me in this alternate world. It’s not the same “me” who lived in the modern world, but we’re connected through shared thoughts, dreams, and subconsciousness.

I suppose you could call him my “other self.” It’s a complicated situation, but overthinking it won’t help. What matters now is that I, who have swapped places with the me from this era, must quickly adapt to this environment.

That said, having a job in this era that provides enough income to own a mansion and stock it with food and tools is impressive.

I must say… no, he must say… Well, either way, it’s remarkable. Even if it turns out that the job was as a mercenary or a mountain bandit…

…Wait a second. If this is the Sengoku period, being a mercenary isn’t entirely out of the question, though mountain banditry is less likely.

Anyway, let’s check the other drawers.

I open the top drawer of the narrow, two-tiered compartment on the right. Inside are ink, an inkstone, brushes—writing tools. And the lower drawer…

Found it. Money.

There’s a bundle of coins tied with string, and in the back, there’s a small pouch containing what appears to be tiny pieces of silver. Copper coins are worth one mon each, and a bundle of one thousand coins is equivalent to one kanmon.
The small silver pieces… I have no idea what they’re worth. They come in various sizes, too.

There are five bundles of coins—which means five kanmon—and some loose coins, probably around 200 of them. Plus a few small silver pieces.
I can’t really gauge their total value…

Oh well. The important thing is, I have some money, ample food, a house and estate, and what appears to be expensive weaponry.
In other words, I’m living quite well in this world.

Yeah, I’m safe. To my other self, wherever you are—thank you for everything.

I return to the irori hearth and start flipping through the booklet.

Ah, here it is! It’s a date.
It says: “Eiroku 2, New Year.” (Eiroku: February 1558 – April 1570)

Sengoku period confirmed!! (^_^;)

After the date, other things were written:

‘It has been one year since I descended into this world. I will record here with what I have discovered.’

So, Yūjirō-san must have suddenly come to this world, too.
Apparently, he was in the early years of Eiroku… though I don’t know where he himself came from.

His handwriting is a bit odd, making it difficult to read. Honestly, my own writing is a bit better. Even though we’re technically the same person, it’s nice to see we have some differences. It’s oddly reassuring.

‘This land lies on the border between Yamashiro Province and Yamato’s Soejō District. Ownership is ambiguous.’

Yamashiro (modern Kyoto Prefecture) and Yamato (modern Nara Prefecture)—so this is in the mountains along their border. Soejō District must be near the area where Yamagai Village existed in that era.

In modern terms, this places me in the northeastern part of Nara Prefecture or the southeastern part of Kyoto Prefecture. That explains the amount of snowfall. I thought it didn’t seem like a snowy country level of snow, and I was right.

Actually, this place isn’t far from the region I lived in during my time. So I do have some connection to this area… Right, I see that now.

But still, the southern part of Yamashiro and Yamato during the Sengoku period was ridiculously chaotic and hard to make sense of.

Kōfuku-ji Temple and Kasuga Taisha Shrine held immense power, while local samurai clans like the Tsutsui, Ouchi, and Tōichi constantly switched allegiances and fought like cats and dogs. Add in the interference of Matsunaga and Hatakeyama forces, and also the proximity to the capital brought meddling from court nobles and the shogunate’s retainers.

It’s an absolute mess, impossible to manage.

That’s why there are mountain villages here with ambiguous ownership—no one could keep track of who controlled what.

‘Thus, my existence is tolerated, but support from the Yagyū is indispensable.’

I see. The Tsutsui clan in northern Yamato and the Yagyū clan in the northeast are neighbors. If I don’t ally with them, I’d be crushed in no time.
But being “tolerated” in exchange for that… What exactly does that mean?

‘Nearby is Hōyō Village, six chō west along the Yamato Road is Narukawa Village. Kasuga Taisha Shrine is one ri and a half away. Northward, Iwahune is half a ri and Kamo is one ri and a half. Eastward, Nanjo Village is ten chō away. Cross Sugawa and you reach Ōyagyū, also one ri and a half. Southward, ten chō away lies the Yagyū Road.’ (one ri is about 3.927 km. One cho is about 109.1 m)

Hmm. So even though it’s in the mountains, if you travel about one and a half ri in any direction, you’ll reach a town or a road.

In particular, the western direction leads close to the central area of Yamato. By Taisha, he probably means Kasuga Taisha. Seems like this area might be convenient for shopping.

Okay, I’ve got a decent grasp of the geography. There’s a village nearby called Hōyō.

‘I strive to remain unnoticed above all but I still achieved minor recognition. By September of Eiroku 2, I became a patron of six villages: Hōyō, Narukawa, Hirashimizu, Sonoda, Minamishō, and Kitamura. With Three hundred koku and ten foot soldiers under my command.’

W-What?!

So… does that mean I’m a feudal lord of six villages? No, wait, I’m more like a yoriki(assistant in the Samurai class) to local small landowners? Either way, it means I’m leading ten foot soldiers into battle when war arises.

This is shocking…

But what does a yoriki in a mountain village even do? Is that different from being a lord? Do I oversee land cultivation, maintain waterways and roads, or something like that?

With six villages and only 300 koku, they’re more like hamlets than actual villages. Can they even grow enough rice in these mountains?

‘Being small hamlets unable to produce much rice, our primary duty is to train in martial arts to guard against bandits and avoid dying in battle.’

As expected, they can’t grow much rice. Makes sense.

So, the focus is on training for battle and bandit defense… That explains the dojo. I thought it was strange for a lone man to have so many wooden swords—as there are over twenty of them.
I guess the village foot soldiers come here for training.

‘Matsunaga invaded Yamato from Kawachi. Taking this as an opportunity, we joined the Yagyū in aligning with Matsunaga.’

So they switched allegiances from the Tsutsui to Matsunaga.

Matsunaga… That’s Matsunaga Hisahide, right? The one infamous for killing his lord (Miyoshi Nagayoshi), burning down the Great Buddha Hall, and assassinating the shogun (Ashikaga Yoshiteru).

Well, supposedly, the truth of those incidents is different, but still…

Anyway, when war breaks out, I’ll have to march under Matsunaga’s banner with my ten foot soldiers.

This… isn’t something to be happy about. What about their provisions and equipment?

More importantly, commanding only ten soldiers makes us a ridiculously small and weak force. We’d likely be sent to the front lines as expendable troops and be wiped out instantly.

This is the Sengoku period, an era where battles never cease. Wars are constant, year-round.

At this rate, I’m definitely going to die… 

This is bad. Very bad.

I don’t want to live a disposable life like some kind of throwaway paper.

What should I do…?

Should just I take the money and run…?