What Does a Super Weak Minor Lord in the Sengoku Era Aim For? - Chapter 3

Episode 3: I Become My Other Self

In this Warring States (Eiroku) era, my other self, known as Yamanaka Yūjirō, turned out to be a tiny, weak landowner overseeing a few villages.

To make matters worse, this region near Yamato was a chaotic zone where allegiances changed as frequently as a cat’s mood.
Someone like me, with no family or political ties, would be the first to get thrown into some meaningless battlefield and meet a pointless death.

Life is the most precious asset. For a moment, I considered running off with all the money I could gather.

But then I hesitated—I needed more information before making a move. After all, even if I fled, I didn’t have anywhere to go.

A wandering ronin with a small amount of money wouldn’t last long. Such a person would quickly face starvation and end up either as a bandit or a mercenary for hire.

In that case, even as a weak landowner, it might be better to stick with this position. Can I really call myself a landowner when I’m living alone in a small manor? That’s debatable…

Besides, as a local landowner, I might get the chance to meet some of the famous historical figures of this era—people like Tsutsui Junkei, Shima Sakon, Matsukura Shigenobu, or Yagyū Muneyoshi.
As a history buff, that’s a very tempting prospect.

But there’s a major problem.

I may look like me and sound like me, but I’m not the same person inside. The difference is like comparing a real sword to a bamboo practice sword.

The current me knows nothing about this era—prices, politics, social etiquette, or anything else.
And I definitely don’t have any experience in battle. Not that I’d ever want to have any experience in it, honestly.

What’s worse, I don’t even know the names, positions, or past conversations of the people this body has interacted with.

Even with people who should be familiar acquaintances, I wouldn’t be able to act the same as before. That’s a huge problem.

What should I do…?

Same face, different memories—essentially, I can’t convincingly play the role of the same person. Everyone would find me suspicious.
And this applies not only to the villagers but also to the powerful figures who granted me authority over this land.
There’s no way they’d let a suspicious person linger near them.

In the worst-case scenario, I’d probably get eliminated.

I need to come up with a reason for this sudden change.

…That’s it. A transformation.

I’ll stop being me. 

I’ll become the other version of me.

I quickly fetched water to the kettle, added firewood, and began heating it.

While waiting for the water to boil, I searched the living room and the backroom, eventually finding a ledger detailing the surrounding villages. There were also several sets of clothes and undergarments.
To my delight, I even found a small hand mirror.

A hand mirror must have been a precious item in this era—probably something found in the old capital (Yamato)… I think.

While looking into the hand mirror, I untied my chasen-gami hairstyle and tied it back into a simple bundle. Then I roughly cut off the excess hair, including the sideburns, leaving them short. A total makeover.

Yep, the impression of my face has definitely changed a lot.

Once the bath was ready, I wasted no time getting in. I don’t know the specifics of how bathing worked in this era, but this was a real Goemon-style bath. The firewood-heated water warmed me to the core…

Oh, wait. Ishikawa Goemon’s exploits come much later—around the time Hideyoshi seizes control of the country. So technically, this isn’t a Goemon bath, just a simple cauldron bath…

Yūjirō must’ve wanted a proper bath and built it himself. Though I’ve never met him, he probably has similar skills to mine.

In other words, he’s likely good at making things. Judging from the practice spears with crosspieces I saw in the dojo, he probably has some experience in traditional martial arts like me. He can handle spears, iai (quick-draw swordsmanship), archery, shuriken, and even throwing stones.

He also seems to know about castle-building, fortifications, strategies, and tactics, and has some historical knowledge as well. Even if modestly, those skills must’ve contributed to his success.

Of course, in this era, soap doesn’t exist. What I found in the bathhouse was ash. I rubbed it on my body to scrub away the dirt and even washed my hair with it.

Hmm… not bad, I guess.

Next, I wanted to shave. Oh, there’s some mud-like substance here. No, it’s definitely mud. I’ve come across it somewhere before—this slimy kind of mud that makes your skin silky smooth.

I applied it to my face and used the hand mirror to carefully shave my beard. I used the kogatana (small utility blade) from my sword. I had sharpened its edge to a razor-like precision with a whetstone. It was a bit nerve-wracking, but I shaved slowly and cautiously.

How I wish I had a safety razor… but this will have to do.

Somehow, I managed to finish shaving. Thanks to the mud, my skin feels silky smooth.

Yep, as expected, I look a bit younger now. Transformation complete.

From now on, I am no longer Yamanaka Yūjirō. I am Yamanaka Yūzaburō , his younger brother.

The story goes like this: Our father is gravely ill, and I(Yuzaburo) left our Okusuruga to summon my older brother, the rightful heir. However, since my brother has this territory to manage, he entrusted it to me, his younger sibling, saying: “I leave things to you.” There wasn’t even time to explain the situation to acquaintances due to our father’s critical condition.

Perfect.

With this, I can rebuild my social interactions here from scratch.

And if things ever get dangerous, I’ll just say: “I need to return to Suruga,” and make a run for it.

Heh heh…

I had other reasons for rushing my transformation.

The accident in my original era happened in the early hours of January 29th. Since there’s snow covering the ground in this era as well, the timeline might match. If so, today is likely January 29th or 30th. However, since this era follows the old lunar calendar, it’s about a month behind—around the New Year.

For now, the snow has kept me indoors, but if it’s the New Year, the ashigaru (foot soldiers) and the village headmen might come to pay their respects. And they could arrive at any moment. With the nearest village just a stone’s throw away, it wouldn’t be surprising if they came right now.

Alright, I’m ready for them to come anytime.

Before that though, I should read the notes Yūjirō-aniue (technically still me) wrote about the villages. But man, his handwriting is hard to read—my shoulders are getting stiff. Still, the calligraphy of this era, written in flowing kanbun (classical Chinese), must be even harder to decipher.

‘Shimizu Jūzō of Hirashimizu Village and Kitamura Shinsuke of Kitamura Village command 38 men. They train once every ten days, focusing primarily on swordsmanship, spearmanship, and archery.’

So, Hirashimizu of the Shimizu family and Kitamura of the Kitamura family are kokujin (minor landed samurai lords). I should start by calling them here and explaining the situation.

Thirty-eight men in total, and they train once every ten days, huh? I wonder if the schedule is fixed.

It’s clear that martial arts are a necessity in this era. Falling behind on the battlefield is a death sentence. Thinking about it that way, it makes sense why the dojo seems like the centerpiece of this estate’s design.

I can’t afford to slack off either. I haven’t done any proper training recently. If everyone comes, I’ll have to lead their practice sessions.

For now, I decided to head to the dojo and try practicing with a spear.

I ran through the forms of the Hōzōin-ryū spear technique. Though it had been a while, I managed to recall the moves. After running through the 14 basic forms (omote) and the 14 advanced forms (ura), I was dripping with sweat.

With my body warmed up, I used the momentum to shovel the snow from the gate to the road in one go. From the gate, the path slopes down at a steady incline, making two sharp turns before connecting to the main road. The design prevents a direct line of sight from the road to the gate, giving the estate a fortress-like feel.

There was but a single footprint on the road. I don’t know how long the snow had been there, but it seems like this path is really rarely traveled by people.