《I Came to the Sengoku Period with a Space Fortress》


 Prologue

    Side: Kazuma


    When I looked up, I saw a wide-open blue sky.  It¡¯s now late summer. It¡¯s gotten pretty hot.


    ¡¸Would you like some barley tea? I believe it¡¯s called parched-barley tea in this era though.¡¹


    ¡¸Hmm. Well, that¡¯s a surprise.¡¹


    As I was cooling myself off from the summer heat on the veranda of a wooden house that you¡¯d typically see in Japanese period dramas, Elle brought over some barley tea for me.   It wasn¡¯t ice-cold, but it was still pretty cool.   It looked like it was cooled using the water well.


    Elle sported vivid golden pupils and hair, and her established age was eighteen.  She was sure to be a very beautiful woman with a great figure after a few more years.


    However, she wasn¡¯t actually a human.  She¡¯s an organic gynoid who was created by me in a full-dive VR space MMO called Galaxy of Planets.  She was a multipurpose gynoid of the highest quality and performance.


    Galaxy of Planets was touted as ¡°a virtual world that feels even more real than the real world¡±.  It was a sci-fi VRMMO that took the entire world by storm with such a slogan.


    ¡¸Man. It¡¯s true what they say; you never really know what¡¯s gonna happen to you in this world.¡¹


    Even after looking up at the sky for so long, I was unable to spot any planes flying around.


    In other words, this wasn¡¯t the virtual world of Galaxy of Planets.


    ¡¸If we want to return to our former world¡­¡­¡¹


    Elle¡¯s expression had slightly clouded over.


    ¡¸Unfortunately, there really seems to be no means for us to do so. In that case, let¡¯s try our best to live well in this era with everyone.¡¹


    It¡¯s been two weeks since we found ourselves here. This wasn¡¯t a virtual space, by the way. This was apparently Earth. However, it was Earth during the year 1547 AD.  As outrageous as it seems, we have apparently been displaced from that virtual world and found ourselves on Earth during Japan¡¯s Warring States period.


    I found myself here occupying my Galaxy of Planets avatar along with the space fortress Silvern that I personally owned in the game and 120 gynoids.


    ¡¸Truth is truly stranger than fiction. But stuff like this is surprisingly more common than I thought. There was that baseball player that played like he was a manga character back then too.¡¹


    It was an era without TV or radio.  There were no sounds of cars whizzing about, nor any other sounds that were common in a modern city.   You can sometimes catch people¡¯s voices in the wind, but it was mostly quiet and peaceful here.  By the way, we were currently in Tsushima, which is said to be the number one port town in the province of Owari.


    ¡¸This place is really interesting. We just took a brief walk and someone immediately picked a fight with us.¡¹


    ¡¸We¡¯re back.¡¹


    ¡¸Oh, Julia, Katie. Welcome back, you two.¡¹


    While I was relaxing, Julia and Katie came back to the house.


    Julia was twenty years old.  She had slightly wavy brown hair that extended to her shoulders and was a combat gynoid with flashy features and an equally eye-catching figure.


    Katie sported black eyes and short hair, and her age was set to sixteen.  She was petite and slender in appearance.  She was basically taciturn and speaks with little to no changes in tone, but she was inwardly quite emotional and a bit of a glutton.  She was a medical gynoid.


    The two of them went to see the market at the nearby Tsushima shrine, but did an incident happen during their time out? Well, they were gynoids who could probably go toe to toe with this era¡¯s fighters, so I suppose they should be fine.


    But the public order here sure isn¡¯t good.  Well, I suppose it¡¯s only natural to clash with people from time to time because the cultural norms and common sense of this period and our own are quite different. For example, it was common sense for one to be responsible for protecting oneself in this era.


    ¡¸You should refrain from causing too much commotion, you two.¡¹


    ¡¸I didn¡¯t kill em anyway. I just hurt em a bit, that¡¯s all.¡¹


    Katie aside, Julia¡¯s looks were a bit different from your typical Japanese features.  Someone like her should be quite rare in Japan during this era.  Elle looked a little troubled, but this was an era without police after all. It should be fine as long as no one was killed.


    ¡¸It¡¯s fine. We¡¯re merchants who came here on foreign ships, remember?¡¹


    The one who chuckled and interjected in the exchange between Julia and Elle was Melty.  She¡¯s also a multi-purpose gynoid like Elle.  She had blue hair and sported a short bob. She was also the sexy oneesan type.


    ¡¸More importantly, our mansion lacks security. At this rate, we¡¯d be practically inviting bandits to rob us.¡¹


    The one who changed the subject while displaying a worried expression was Celes.  She¡¯s a combat gynoid just like Julia. She had silver hair, sharp-looking almond-shaped eyes, and looked to be in her twenties.   She had a serious, militant personality, and was always harsh to enemies.


    ¡¸We¡¯ll just beat em up if they come.¡¹


    ¡¸I still think it¡¯s better to increase security¡­¡­¡¹


    Perhaps due to her belligerent personality, Julia seemed to want bandits to actually come, but Celes preferred increasing the mansion¡¯s security instead.


    I do understand the problem. After all, apart from me, all the gynoids were obviously female.  We also had robot soldiers that can disguise themselves as humans and bioroids with fully biological bodies, but people will be more likely to suspect us if we employed too many of them.


    After all, we¡¯re more or less outsiders in this era.


    ¡¸Well, it¡¯s not like we have anything in the storehouse that we don¡¯t want getting stolen anyway.¡¹


    For the time being, we were making use of several robot soldiers that have disguised themselves as humans.  The mansion we were currently residing in was quite large, so we wouldn¡¯t be able to hear any guests at the front door if we didn¡¯t have enough people.


    There were many storehouses in this era that contained lots of valuable items that people would most likely covet, but the only items we wouldn¡¯t want to be stolen are our comm devices.


    I told Elle and the others that we¡¯ll see how it goes first and increase security accordingly if it¡¯s really necessary.  After all, we¡¯ve already hidden high-tech sensors around the mansion, so we¡¯d know right away if there were any intruders.


    ¡¸So, how did your little trip go?¡¹


    ¡¸We managed to get some fish and veggies.  We also bought some beans and cereals.¡¹


    ¡¸The salt isn¡¯t of good quality. It¡¯s no good since cooking dishes with that definitely won¡¯t result in anything delicious.¡¹


    Hm. It looks like Julia and Katie managed to buy some groceries.  The market doesn¡¯t open every day. I think we can get a steady supply of fish from a fishing village, but I wonder if it¡¯s better to dry them in the sun to preserve them instead.


    Katie had a gourmet side to her, so it seems she didn¡¯t like the quality of the salt that was sold to the commoners in this era.


    ¡¸But still, this sure is an unsanitary era.¡¹


    ¡¸It should still be better compared to Europe around this time though.¡¹


    As I was ruminating about having fish for dinner, Melty frowned a little and talked about sanitation in this era.


    Even in this era, people still purify themselves at shrines whenever they could, but that doesn¡¯t apply to commoners.   Even if one¡¯s place had a bath, they would have to shell out money in order to buy firewood and the like to heat the bathwater, so baths are typically only found in the mansions of people of sufficiently high status and wealth.


    The mansion we¡¯re currently residing in was formerly owned by a commoner merchant, so it didn¡¯t have a bath.  I did ask a carpenter from Tsushima to convert a part of the mansion into a bathroom with a bath and toilet.   He was supposed to start working on it today.


    But I think I got a bit too careless.  I came to Hondo (known in the future as Honshu) because I wanted to see Oda Nobunaga.  But I didn¡¯t think we would actually meet for real.


    I suppose my gynoids and I will really be starting a new life here in Warring States period Japan.

 CH 1

    Side: Kazuma


    The sun was setting in the west.  Dinnertime had arrived in this age without electricity.  Elle and the rest were already preparing meals.


    The mansion still didn¡¯t have an actual bath. So, for the time being, I was gonna wash my body using hot water in a large basin. But I needed to draw water first.


    ¡¸That¡¯s the end of another day huh?¡¹


    It feels like time passes a lot more slowly here compared to the era I¡¯m from.  I don¡¯t really mind it though.


    The cry of a crow from somewhere reminded me of what happened a few weeks ago.


    ***


    A countdown timer and live video footage of the final game event were playing on the main monitor of the space fortress Silvern.


    Many players were making a huge fuss because this was the last time they¡¯d be able to enjoy playing the game.


    I was also personally invited by a player I was friends with to join in the revelry even though I was one of the top Galaxy of Planets rankers, but I couldn¡¯t bring myself to do it, so I turned the offer down.


    Things have been quiet in the central command room for a while. Previously, things were always lively here with me and my 120 gynoids and bioroids.


    It¡¯s been 15 years. That¡¯s how long I¡¯ve spent my days exploring this virtual world. I was fifteen when I first played it, and now I was almost thirty. In a sense, I¡¯ve spent my entire youth here.


    I, who lost both my parents at an early age and spent most of my time in the real world alone, have been with Elle since the game service first started, and I gradually spent more and more time in the game instead.


    With less than 30 minutes remaining, more and more players who were trying to stand out have begun to appear one after another to participate in the event.


    I no longer felt like looking at the countdown timer and closed my eyes.


    I was reminded of the fact that the apparent harmful effects of virtual worlds that were too close to reality have become a social problem in recent years.  Nowadays, it wasn¡¯t that uncommon for people to work hard in the real world with the goal of spending their lives in virtual worlds.


    Well, it¡¯s not like I¡¯m any better.


    ¡¸Commander, it¡¯s almost time. Thank you for all your time spent with us.¡¹


    When I opened my eyes after hearing Elle¡¯s voice, there was only a minute left on the timer.  All my gynoids have gathered around me.


    ¡¸Thank you so much for everything, guys.¡¹


    I thought everyone was strangely quiet, but I noticed many of them crying.  It felt like I was gonna break down crying as well if I said any more.


    ¡¸Commander, please live a fulfilling and wonderful life in the real world. It¡¯s our final request.¡¹


    ¡¸Elle¡­¡­ I understand. Thank you.¡¹


    An android in an advanced virtual space possessed an ego no different from a human¡¯s.  Such a thing was commonplace in this era.  It was especially evident in Elle and the others since I fiddled with the settings to lower the restrictions as much as possible.


    And so¡­¡­


    Goodbye, Silvern.


    Goodbye, everyone.


    ***


    I felt my consciousness returning. I must have already logged out.


    ¡¸¡­¡­Elle?¡¹


    What greeted my eyes wasn¡¯t the familiar ceiling of my room in the real world.   And when I turned my head, I found Elle standing beside me for some reason.


    ¡¸Please don¡¯t move yet, Commander.¡¹


    I tried getting up, but Katie stopped me.  Now that I¡¯ve taken a better look at my situation, it appears I was connected to an electrocardiogram and some other medical equipment.


    ¡¸What¡¯s going on?¡¹


    I asked about this strange situation while being examined by Katie.  I should have already logged out from the game.


    ¡¸It¡¯s currently been six hours since Galaxy of Planet¡¯s end of service, Commander. Our connection with the main server was lost when the end of service came.  Also, the internet connection and all communication with the outside world were also cut off.  Furthermore¡­¡­ it has become impossible to log out from the virtual system.¡¹


    I felt increasingly nervous as I listened to Elle¡¯s report.  That can¡¯t be. Real life isn¡¯t like those internet novels that became popular at the dawn of the internet.  I should be able to log out no matter what.


    ¡¸What does this look like to you?¡¹


    ¡¸Isn¡¯t that blood? ¡­¡­Wait, blood!?¡¹


    While I was busy wondering about what exactly was going on, Katie pointed a syringe at my arm and took a blood sample.  I was stunned silly when I saw the bright red blood within the syringe.


    Galaxy of Planets touted its realism as its selling point, but it was still subject to restrictions when it comes to sexual stuff and depictions of violence.  Naturally, it wasn¡¯t possible to draw blood in the game.


    ¡¸Presently, we are conducting blood and DNA tests on all the gynoids, including us.¡¹


    ¡¸That¡¯s¡­¡­¡¹


    ¡¸Something that was supposed to be impossible has occurred.¡¹


    She didn¡¯t appear to be joking.  Both Katie and Elle were dead serious.


    ¡¸According to Silvern¡¯s quantum computer, we appear to have been sent to another dimension.¡¹


    Just what the heck was going on?


    ***


    ¡¸Sevety-two hours have already passed huh?¡¹


    ¡¸Yes. It¡¯s impossible for any virtual system to not initiate a forced log-out at this point based on previous cases of fatal errors in virtual spaces.¡¹


    I and all of my gynoids have gathered inside Silvern¡¯s conference hall.  It¡¯s been seventy-two hours since we¡¯ve been cut off from the main server.  We¡¯ve managed to glean a lot of info during this period.


    Elle searched the archives for cases of problems in the virtual space similar to what we¡¯ve experienced, but it looked like there were no results.


    ¡¸This is the report from our medical department.  We¡¯ve completed the examinations of the commander and all the gynoids.  In a nutshell, all of us have live biological reactions.  Based on the results of the DNA test and various other tests, we have concluded that we have all turned into living organisms.  Unlike before, we have gained the weaknesses inherent in living biological organisms.  We recommend exercising an appropriate level of caution when going about our activities.¡¹


    ¡¸Combat department reporting. There are no signs of enemy or allied forces in this sector of space.  In fact, we have detected no man-made objects at all.  Also, we have confirmed Silvern¡¯s present location.  It¡¯s currently near Planet Jupiter. We haven¡¯t detected any signs of communications from Earth at all as well, so we sent down a probe and found out something interesting.  We are apparently in the year 1547 AD. There are no planes, and certainly no electricity.  We¡¯re in the middle ages.¡¹


    The conference hall fell silent after hearing Katie and Julia¡¯s reports.


    All sorts of evidence and images were shown on the monitor, proving that this was not a joke. It was deadly serious.


    ¡¸Research department reporting.  Based on the previous reports and various other factors, we have concluded that we have somehow left the virtual space and transferred over to the real world.  According to the calculations of the quantum computer, it is almost impossible for us to return back to virtual space. In fact, the possibility is practically zero.¡¹


    ¡¸Developments and Manufacturing department reporting.  There are no problems detected in the Silvern, our various starships, robot soldiers, and bioroids.  There are also no problems with our stockpiled resources for the time being.   However, please consider obtaining additional resources if returning to the virtual world is indeed impossible.¡¹


    I divided my gynoids into a total of five departments.   Central Command, Combat Department, Medical Department, Research Departments, and Development and Manufacturing Department.   In order to play Galaxy of Planets effectively, I needed the right people assigned to the right jobs and an appropriate organizational structure.


    It looks like the various departments were still functioning smoothly even in this situation.


    ¡¸Commander, um, we¡¯re very sorry.¡¹


    ¡¸Hm? About what?¡¹


    ¡¸Um, well, because you can¡¯t return to your original world if you can¡¯t log out.¡¹


    Everyone¡¯s tense gazes were focused on me, so it made me wonder about what exactly was going on, then Elle bowed her head and apologized for all of them.


    ¡¸It¡¯s fine, guys.¡¹


    Please don¡¯t look at me like that, everyone.  I¡¯m perfectly sane and quite calm to boot.


    ¡¸But¡­¡­¡¹


    ¡¸To be honest, I think I¡¯m quite lucky.  I don¡¯t have any lingering attachments to my original world in the first place, and I also wanted to stay with all of you. And if this is really Earth in the middle ages, then we would cause quite a commotion if we get sighted.  It¡¯s fine like this. And if it¡¯s really 1547, then that would place us in the Early Sengoku period.  I¡¯d actually want to try and see Oda Nobunaga in the flesh.  I also like history quite a bit, you see. Yup.¡¹


    Some of the girls gave me exasperated looks, while some sighed or giggled in amusement.


    It¡¯s fine. Really. I¡¯d probably be panicking more if I was thrown into an unknown dimension on my own though.  But since I had the space fortress Silvern that was touted as practically invincible in Galaxy of Planets along with everyone, there was nothing to fear.


    In my opinion, this was better than crying and despairing about wanting to go home.


    ¡¸Please continue to be vigilant as usual, everyone.¡¹


    Resource allocation and procurement huh? I guess I have to arrange that as soon as I can. Also, we should prepare a defense net, just in case.

 CH 2

    Side: Elle


    It looks like we¡¯ll be able to procure supplies without any problems.  We¡¯d be able to get mineral resources, water, and salt in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, as well as Jupiter¡¯s second moon, Europa. They can be obtained through the use of our mining robots and transport ships.


    ¡¸How is the Medical Department, Katie?¡¹


    ¡¸We are continuing with the analysis of the medicines we currently have on hand, as well as preparing for the production of medicines and vaccines that are considered necessary in this era.   We are organic gynoids, and the commander can be said to be an enhanced human.  We are simulating the effects of various diseases on our bodies.¡¹


    There are many things to investigate.  We have yet to explore most of the differences between virtual space and the real world.


    Fortunately, it looks like the knowledge and technology stored within Space Fortress Silvern as well as our various ships and other equipment from Galaxy of Planets can still be employed in this world.  That is really reassuring.


    The Commander has a habit of collecting things, so the knowledge and skills he¡¯s collected in Galaxy of Planets will certainly come in handy.


    ¡¸Elle, do we have any weapons that can be used on the surface during this era?¡¹


    The one who came to replace Katie was Julia.


    She was actually planning to descend to Earth.   After all, it was better to have multiple routes for acquiring resources.  Besides, we never know what might happen in the future.  A base on the ground was desirable.


    I checked the weapon list. We had combat knives available.  We also had machetes, but¡­¡­


    ¡¸Let¡¯s manufacture new weapons suitable for this era instead. I¡¯ll instruct the Development and Manufacturing Department to prepare for production.¡¹


    We¡¯ve selected the Ogasawara Islands as our landing point.  It would be best if we used weapons that are commonly used in Japan during this era.  However, as expected, we had no experience in manufacturing matchlock rifles.  I don¡¯t think it would be that difficult to make them though. In any case, we should try manufacturing them first.


    Matchlock rifles and katanas can also be sold as commodities.  It might be good to manufacture them in bulk and engage in trade in Japan.


    We also need supplies for the maintenance of a base on the ground.  It¡¯s better not to bring anything that far surpassed the technology available in this era. And if we were to bring some, we had to make sure they weren¡¯t easily discovered.  It looks like we have to manufacture a lot of things.


    ***


    When I glanced at the clock, it was almost time for dinner.  I suppose that¡¯s about it for today¡¯s work.


    This reminded me of the old days.


    15 years ago, to be exact.  That was when Commander and I first spent time together.


    The sight of Commander laughing in relief after telling me he¡¯s finally gotten over the loss of his parents, who had died when he was just in junior high, was burned into my memory.


    There was a wall between us residents of a virtual world and Commander that we just couldn¡¯t overcome even after all the time we¡¯d spent together.


    But on the last day of the game¡¯s service, I made a single wish.


    I don¡¯t want to be separated from that person.  I want to stay with him forever.


    And then, we found ourselves sent from the virtual world to the real world.


    Was this reality brought about by the inevitability called chance?  Or was it God¡¯s prank? I wasn¡¯t sure either.


    Commander wasn¡¯t really all that different from your average person.  But if I had to pick one thing that stood out about him, it¡¯s the fact that he persisted in spending time in a single virtual world for an entire 15 years.


    I¡¯ve already reported everything we¡¯ve discovered to Commander except for one thing.


    I couldn¡¯t bring myself to tell him about it.  As for what this matter was, it¡¯s the fact that we¡¯ve become able to nurture our love for him and bear his children because we¡¯ve become real living beings.


    How will Commander react when he hears of it, I wonder?


    Will it result in what I wished for from the bottom of my heart?


    I¡­¡­ Is it alright for me to love you, Commander?


    ***


    Side: Alex (Kazuma)


    We decided to establish a base on the surface.  The location will be on the Ogasawara Islands.  As for why the Ogasawara Islands were chosen, it¡¯s apparently because they were currently uninhabited during this time period, were of reasonable size, and were easy to defend due to being surrounded by the sea.


    There were various theories regarding when exactly the Ogasawara Islands were discovered, but it was at least certain that they were uninhabited during this period.


    We landed via a transport ship filled with base construction materials on Chichijima, and my first impression was that it was surprisingly large.


    First, we decided to build villages in Chichijima, Haha Jima, and Iwo Jima.


    We decided to adapt their appearance to this era, and the villages would have an architectural style that was a mixture of the Edo, Meiji, and Taisho eras.


    However, considering the size of the islands, wood was in short supply, so we decided to get some from around Siberia, which was an undeveloped land in this era.  In this time period when there are no other planes apart from our own, we were able to easily obtain the necessary wood through the use of our transport planes and robot soldiers.


    ¡¸It¡¯s impossible to cultivate rice here. The island is too small for large-scale planting, and the water availability isn¡¯t ideal either. Even in historical records, it seems they resorted to planting tropical fruit trees that didn¡¯t grow on the mainland.¡¹


    As something necessary to maintain Space Fortress Silvern, I¡¯d like to have facilities that can extract gold and other rare metals as well as convert sea water into salt and potable fresh water, but they were currently still in development and didn¡¯t have the required output.


    Even if I and all 120 gynoids descended, we would still lack people to maintain our lives on the surface, so we had to employ robots that were disguised as humans.


    Actually, food can be mass-produced at the space fortress¡¯s agricultural plant, but there¡¯s no need to be totally self-sufficient while staying on the islands.


    ¡¸I didn¡¯t expect you all to come down here.¡¹


    ¡¸We¡¯re all pretty bored after all. There are no enemies or allies in space anyway.¡¹


    More than 100 of the gynoids actually decided to come to Earth.   In any case, the space fortress facilities were mostly automated, so having few people managing them wasn¡¯t much of an issue.


    It seems that over 2000 robot soldiers have been unloaded, and they, along with heavy machinery, would construct our surface base network as quickly as possible.


    ¡¸At this rate, we can go take a look at Japan during the Sengoku period soon.¡¹


    ¡¸Are you really planning on going?¡¹


    ¡¸Don¡¯t you wanna see history unfold before your eyes?¡¹


    ¡¸If you¡¯re saying that much, then¡­¡­¡¹


    The vehicles in Galaxy of Planets were basically all equipped with anti-gravity engines and nuclear fusion reactors.  So I couldn¡¯t do anything here except for watching the vehicles flying about and working to construct the base.


    My responsibility was merely to decide on a rough action plan.  I can only leave the details to Elle and the others.  I wasn¡¯t much of an expert on that stuff after all.


    ¡¸But man, it sure feels surreal. To think my game avatar would actually transform into an actual real body.¡¹


    It¡¯s been about a week since we came to this world, and since my body was basically real, I didn¡¯t feel much of a sense of discomfort.  This body seems to be one that has undergone anti-aging treatment and improved physical abilities in Galaxy of Planets and wasn¡¯t much different from my original body except for being younger. Specifically, I looked like I was in my mid-teens.


    Rather, it was Elle and the others who were feeling bewildered by their bodies suddenly turning into real ones.  Galaxy of Planets was a game with a virtual world that pursued realism, so it wasn¡¯t that they were unfamiliar with the sensation of having a real body. But since it was a game, that particular setting wasn¡¯t actually used much, so their bodies there were only treated as game objects.


    But honestly, since they were all female, I had a lot more reasons to watch myself around them since I was the only man here.


    In any case, I think everyone is getting used to the situation gradually, so I don¡¯t think there¡¯s a reason to rush or change anything.


    Actually, I couldn¡¯t help but enjoy this situation.


    After all, I now get to spend time in the real world together with everyone.


    But I have to try not to get too carried away.

 CH 3

    Side: Alex (Kazuma)


    The space fortress had no enemies to contend with, and no other players were around, so we switched it to full standby mode.


    The port at the Ogasawara Islands has already been partially completed.  It seems they made use of Roman concrete that was created using material found on the islands.  It was said to be extensively used in ancient Rome.  It¡¯s great that we were able to reproduce such material.


    The harbor was now lined with brick warehouses. Houses and fields were also being built.  The fields were being prepared for cultivating the fruit trees that were available in the artificial farm of the space fortress.


    It seems the buildings will be a mix between Western-style brick buildings and Japanese-style wooden buildings with raised floors.  Townscapes differ depending on the climate, topography, and history, and it seems ours will be a sort of multinational townscape.


    The main purpose of this base was for obtaining resources from the surface.   We were building a spaceport on Iwo Jima that had a lot of flat lands available, so we should be able to start securing resources fairly quickly.


    ¡¸After all, we gotta use sailing ships in this era.¡¹


    ¡¸Using a regular sailing ship will be dangerous, so we installed an ultra-compact antigravity engine and a nuclear fusion reactor.  We also equipped it with a laser cannon as its main weapon, as well as an auto-balancer and comm device.¡¹


    ¡¸Then it ain¡¯t a sailing ship anymore!¡¹


    ¡¸Just in case, Commander.¡¹


    Also, we were supposed to use this ship to visit Japan, but it outwardly looks like a 500-ton galleon ship.  Anyway, I think this thing was furnished with an excessive amount of equipment. Heck, it was armed to the teeth.  I feel like Elle¡¯s become a little bit too much of a worrywart since we found ourselves in an unknown dimension.


    As for cargo, it seems we¡¯ll be bringing silk fabric, sugar, pepper, saltpeter, and the like for trading.  It appears to be able to load quite a bit of cargo, and a lot of barrels filled with goods were loaded inside it.


    ¡¸Tropical seas are nice, aren¡¯t they??¡¹


    ¡¸Ufufu. I feel like converting this place into a resort.¡¹


    Well, I suppose that¡¯s fine. After spending a week on the surface, it looks like all the gynoids have come to enjoy the tropical life.


    Of course, they were still doing their jobs properly regardless.  However, the stuff in Galaxy of Planets was highly automated.  So there would be no problems if the gynoids simply managed the work of each department and the development of the Ogasawara Islands.


    As a result, everyone seems to have a lot of free time on their hands.  And since it was just about time for the summer season, we indulged ourselves in swimming on the beach.


    This is no longer a virtual space after all. That¡¯s why I don¡¯t mind if they cut loose occasionally.  However, I¡¯m not sure what to think about some of them going topless or completely naked though.


    Even though they were gynoids who I created with my own hands using the in-game character creator, it was a sight I certainly haven¡¯t seen before because I didn¡¯t mess with the settings regarding sexual stuff in the game.  It was a strange feeling, but I do admit it was a pleasure for the eyes.


    ¡¸Commander, are you listening?¡¹


    ¡¸Yeah, I hear you Elle. We¡¯ll be leaving in three days, right?¡¹


    Elle seems to be sulking a bit as I indulged in witnessing such a wonderful spectacle.  Was it just my imagination? I¡¯ve never seen her act like this before.


    My biggest enemy in a virtual space that has become real ended up being myself.


    But I was the one who increased the number of androids with the appearance of cute girls and beautiful women, so in a sense, it was me who led to this current situation.  To be fair, I never thought they¡¯d all turn real, okay?


    ***


    Side: Elle


    Commander seems to be enjoying the situation.  This is a good thing.


    The impact of leaving the virtual space and turning real was far greater on us organic gynoids compared to its impact on Commander.


    It may not be an exaggeration to say that I¡¯m already a ¡°me¡± that is not ¡°me¡± at this point.


    We were essentially gynoids created by Commander in the virtual space for the purpose of serving him. Even if we have been allowed to have a higher level of ego compared to other virtual beings, that fact hasn¡¯t changed.


    But now, we may have been liberated from such a rule that we have always treated as a given.


    Both we and Commander should be perplexed regarding our situation.  I myself have undergone psychological changes that seem to come as an instinct to life forms that weren¡¯t artificial intelligence.


    I did have emotions before, but with the disappearance of the barrier separating me from Commander, I have begun to think of him as a man. ¡®


    While I¡¯m happy that he¡¯s checking me out, I also feel embarrassed from being looked at with such a gaze by a man who I liked.


    Also, it seems I feel jealous whenever Commander pays attention to everyone else.  This is the first time something like this has happened.


    Life isn¡¯t all about beautiful things.  Everyone should be feeling the same as well.  I wonder what¡¯s going to happen in the future. I have to work even harder on making sure everyone is unified compared to before.  I need to brace myself.


    ***


    Side: Alex


    ¡¸What are you making, Commander?¡¹


    ¡¸A fishing reel. Since I¡¯m rather free, I thought it would be nice to go fishing.  Though I can¡¯t exactly make a modern fishing reel because it doesn¡¯t fit the era.¡¹


    Our departure date has been decided, but I was still quite free.  I¡¯d just get in the way if I participate in building the base, so I thought of making a fishing reel using the leftover lumber instead. I was in the middle of working on it when Katie called out to me.


    ¡¸Fish is delicious. But I can¡¯t forgive the fact that there is no soy sauce in this era.  That will impact the deliciousness of fish.¡¹


    ¡¸Mm. Should we bring some soy sauce and other seasonings with us?¡¹


    ¡¸That would be nice.¡¹


    Katie was a gourmet.  However, the kinds of seasonings available in this era were quite limited, so should we bring some on our end instead?


    I don¡¯t particularly want to stay on the mainland for long.  I only want to conduct some trades and check the town out for a bit.   I also kinda want to see Oda Nobunaga, but he¡¯s not someone I can easily meet just because I want to.


    ¡¸Right, would you like to go fishing with me? It seems like you can catch tuna around these parts.¡¹


    ¡¸I¡¯ll go.¡¹


    Now then, shall we go fishing for some ingredients for tonight¡¯s dinner? We should be able to catch some by using a fish finder.  Alright. Let¡¯s aim for a tuna-filled dinner.


    ***


    Side: Katie


    Biological lifeforms sure are interesting.  There are various physiological phenomena, including cravings.  What the body and the mind want do not always match sometimes.


    I had a sense of touch in Galaxy of Planets, but I only experienced pain for the first time in this world.  It¡¯s interesting to think that Commander had always experienced such things in real life.


    The deviance value between the knowledge and technology employable in Galaxy of Planets and this world was practically zero.  Since Galaxy of Planets itself was a virtual space that faithfully reproduced Commander¡¯s original world, this world should also be operating using the same laws as his world.


    However, it was quite surprising that the super-technologies and super-theories that existed only in the virtual space and not in Commander¡¯s original world could actually be used in this one.


    Currently, we still can¡¯t verify our exact situation even with all the advanced technology at our disposal.


    ¡¸I¡¯m already used to my body being younger now. It¡¯s easy to move around in it, and I¡¯m also really good at remembering stuff because of physical strengthening and sleep learning.¡¹


    Commander has changed after we came to this world.  No, I wonder if this was the kind of person he actually is in real life from the start.


    I believe his tendency to think positively is a nice talent to have.  But our resolution to comfort him and give him advice if he ever broke down and started talking about wanting to go home has gone to waste though.


    However, just as we have become living beings that are able to experience new sensations and physiological phenomena, Commander¡¯s game avatar has also turned into a real body.


    Was it called sexual urge? I feel like his gaze is a bit different from before.


    I think both we and Commander need to get used to our new relationship dynamics a bit more. Melty seems to be up to something though.  But I believe it¡¯s still too early for that.

 CH 4

    Side: Alex


    Space Fortress Silvern was one of the largest man-made structures in Galaxy of Planets, boasting the same size as Earth¡¯s moon.


    Within it was various facilities such as manufacturing plants for fully automated production of stuff like industrial machinery and agricultural products, as well as many docking stations for spaceships.  In addition, it also had a spaceport that can accommodate up to 500 spaceships and was at a level that can be said to be too much for a single individual to own.


    I had about 300 spaceships that are also capable of atmospheric flight.  Some of those ships were ones I personally built as a hobby, and some were bought for collection purposes.


    Silvern was currently located near Jupiter, in a spot where it wouldn¡¯t have much of an effect on the Solar System.  It¡¯s also a mobile fortress, so it was possible to move it from there. It wasn¡¯t necessary to do so at present though.


    Currently, we¡¯re conducting research there in order to further understand our current situation, and we¡¯re also setting up a defense network around the fortress.  Additionally, we were also manufacturing products for trading on the Japanese mainland in order to procure funds for further activities.


    After discussing our current status with Elle, we decided that we would act as merchants.  In this era, the Ming Dynasty on the Chinese continent implemented a ban on private maritime activities, and a large smuggling group known as the Wakou became active in Kyuushuu and the continent¡¯s coastal areas. That¡¯s why we thought that it would be ideal to present ourselves as maritime merchants.


    Basically, we chose products that could be sold at reasonable prices for trading.  We made sure that they weren¡¯t that precious, but would still be on demand.  In this era, stuff like saltpeter, silk fabric, and cotton fabric were often brought to the center of the Japanese mainland.


    ¡¸We¡¯ll leave the rest to you all.¡¹


    The six members who will come to the Japanese mainland will be composed of me, Elle, Katie, Julia, Celes, Melty, and a robot soldier disguised as the sailing ship¡¯s helmsman.


    Our ship was a black 500-ton galleon.  Its hull appears to have been coated with coal tar. It was a technology that didn¡¯t exist yet in this era, but it¡¯s said that it has the effect of extending a wooden hull¡¯s life.


    It definitely increased the ship¡¯s intimidating aura.  It looked like a really reliable ship.


    ¡¸Rising to a higher sea level. We will now set off toward the Kii peninsula by flying at a low altitude.  Destination: Tsushima port, Owari province.¡¹


    I¡¯ll leave the command of the ship to Elle.  It would take about a week by sailboat to get from the Ogasawara islands to the Japanese mainland.  In order to shorten the travel time, we decided to lower the sails and fly low over the water¡¯s surface until we neared the mainland.


    ¡¸By the way, is that cannon really useable?¡¹


    ¡¸Of course. Pirates called the Suigun are running rampant in the waters surrounding Japan in this era. We prepared it just in case we need to engage in combat.¡¹


    Even when out on the deck, I still felt pretty comfortable since I wasn¡¯t getting buffeted by the wind even though we were moving at high speed. That¡¯s because the ship had put up a barrier.  Now that I¡¯d had a good look at the deck, there were apparently cannons that looked quite fitting for the era as well.  It looks like they prepared weapons other than that laser cannon.


    There wasn¡¯t even a bit of the elegance of a sea voyage.  But all you can see around was water and even more water, so you¡¯d probably get bored before you can even enjoy such an atmosphere.  It¡¯s kinda similar to outer space, actually.


    Oh, yeah. I and the rest were all wearing kimonos in order to match the look of the people in the present era.   They placed more emphasis on ease of movement and weren¡¯t that fancy, but I think we also wouldn¡¯t be a target of ridicule while wearing them.  Strictly speaking, there were some differences in the details of our kimonos and the ones used in this time period.


    But that¡¯s fine since we decided that we wouldn¡¯t present ourselves as people of Japan, or rather, Hinomoto, which was Japan¡¯s name in this era.  Instead, we were frontier people hailing from the Ogasawara islands.  That¡¯s basically it.


    I realized once again that we have been transported to the Sengoku period.


    I¡¯ve been studying how to use a bow, spear, and swords in the last few days through sleep learning, but I don¡¯t have much of a sense for them, so I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be able to use them properly.  It seems they have made cannons and other weapons of the era.  I didn¡¯t bring weapons of my own though. I mean, a katana or spear just wasn¡¯t my thing.


    ***


    Side: Julia


    So this is the real world huh? I¡¯ve gotten used to the physiological phenomena experienced by a living biological body.  I never thought I¡¯d actually turn into a real living being and get transported to the real world.  We, who should have been nothing but data, had become alive. Truly alive.  Maybe miracles really do happen after all.


    For better or worse, we would just disappear if we returned to the virtual world.  At first, we thought that we would prioritize returning to the virtual space if Commander wanted to go back.


    However, Commander himself doesn¡¯t seem to want to go back.  I don¡¯t know if I can call that gutsy or if he simply has a few screws loose.  It¡¯s way better than him breaking down and whining though.


    But to think he¡¯d prioritize trying to see a historical figure in person instead of finding a way to go back home in this situation. Did he not have much of a sense of attachment to his former world? He was one of the most addicted players of Galaxy of Planets, and he didn¡¯t manage to even get a girlfriend in real life. He apparently lived a free and easy bachelor¡¯s life.


    I think it would have been better if he lived a happy life in reality. Instead, he saw us masses of data as family or even lovers in a sense.  Honestly, what a troublesome commander he was.


    But perhaps due to a twist of fate, we ended up becoming real.


    What should we do from now on though? We had discussed the matter among ourselves a couple of times.  And the conclusion was that we would maintain the status quo for now.  However, we¡¯ve also undergone changes in various ways due to becoming living beings.  We would have to think carefully about our future actions.


    Men and women.  In the virtual space, there were restrictions on sexual activities between men and women, so it was practically impossible to deepen relationships more than necessary.  But it¡¯s different now.


    We are now being influenced by our instincts and the physiological phenomena experienced by living organisms.  There is a bunch of stuff to be concerned about.  Even Commander has gotten conscious about the sense of distance between us and him.


    But I¡¯m against creating such a distance.  For some reason, Commander included a clause that he wanted to grant us freedom when we started living here.


    I do appreciate that. But I really don¡¯t like behaving as if we¡¯re strangers.  Either way, Commander and us share a common destiny.  So I think we need a chance to be completely honest with each other when the time is right.


    Well, I guess I¡¯ll leave that matter to Melty.  It looks like she¡¯s coming up with something.


    ***


    Side: Alex


    The galleon continued its low-altitude flight just above the water¡¯s surface and eventually landed in the waters near Japan¡¯s mainland.  It looks like we¡¯ll be sailing like a real galleon from here on out.


    The ship tended to sway a lot when it landed on the water.  Well, it¡¯s the open sea, so I suppose that¡¯s only natural.


    ¡¸Oh, I see it already.¡¹


    ¡¸So that¡¯s the Kii peninsula. Historically, there was a lot of maritime activity in this area, including cargo ships and pirates.  It would be troublesome if we get spotted, so we¡¯ll keep our distance from land and head straight for Owari.¡¹


    Should I say that I¡¯m back? Or should I say that it¡¯s actually my first time here? Well, I¡¯m a tried-and-true country boy, so I¡¯ve never actually been to the Kii peninsula or Aichi.


    Pirates huh? This was practically a lawless area. It¡¯s that kind of era after all. It should be fine if they don¡¯t spot us.  But we¡¯ll win even if they did target us though. Even so, I don¡¯t wanna get too involved with those kinds of folks if I can help it.


    ¡¸There are no buildings or even a proper port. Even fishing ports in the countryside are nicer than this place.¡¹


    ¡¸I think that should be the Tsushima port in the province of Owari. It¡¯s mainly a river port, but it¡¯s still the best port in Owari.¡¹


    Luckily, we entered Ise bay without getting spotted by pirates and proceeded along the river until we arrived at the Tsushima port in Owari.  However, based on what I saw, even the countryside fishing ports back in the era I came from would be better than it.


    I was familiar with Tsushima port, of course. Oda Nobunaga¡¯s clan ruled this place since his grandfather¡¯s generation, and it was the trigger for the Oda clan¡¯s rise as well.


    I also knew that Nobunaga¡¯s father, Nobuhide, made a large donation to the imperial court and that the Oda clan was rather affluent.  But to be honest, Tsushima didn¡¯t really look all that prosperous when viewed from the sea.


    ¡¸Let¡¯s land in a small boat.  We¡¯ll sell some of our cargo and rent a house as our base here.¡¹


    ¡¸There seems to be quite a commotion going on at the port though. We aren¡¯t gonna get attacked or arrested all of a sudden, are we?¡¹


    ¡¸It¡¯s fine as long as they think we aren¡¯t hostile. Galleon ships are quite rare in these parts after all.¡¹


    Unfortunately, there doesn¡¯t seem to be a place for the galleon to dock at Tsushima port.  We ended up dropping anchor offshore. For the time being, I, Elle, and Julia will go on land for negotiations.


    As we were getting off the boat, more and more people gathered at the port, and it seems we caused a bit of a commotion.


    ¡¸By the way, Julia. Isn¡¯t that naginata a bit too flashy?¡¹


    ¡¸We don¡¯t know what¡¯s gonna be done to us if we get underestimated in this era you know?¡¹


    ¡¸I do get that, but¨C¡¹


    One needs to take care of oneself.  Well, this was also the case in my previous world. Fortunately, modern Japan was a relatively peaceful country, but you still had to lock your door, and crime prevention practices were commonly employed.


    However, I don¡¯t think it¡¯s good to seem like we¡¯re looking for a fight right from the get-go.  We already came here in a pretty intimidating galleon after all.


    Ah, it looks like all the people who were gathered at the port made themselves scarce while we were talking among ourselves.  It looks like most of them already ran away the moment we got off the boat.


    Now then, what should we do now?

 CH 5

    Side: Ohashi Shigenaga


    ¡¸A black ship you say¡­¡­?¡¹


    An unfamiliar ship had come to Tsushima, causing quite a commotion. A huge unfamiliar black ship can easily be seen in the waters just beyond the port.


    I had thought it was a merchant ship from Ise or the navy, but I have never seen a ship like that in my life.  It had many pillars built onto it, and its sails were stretched out in such a bizarre way that it was difficult to tell exactly how they were made.   I truly have seen nothing like it before.


    Do not tell me it is a ship of those Nanban people I¡¯ve heard about. I did hear that they were spotted in faraway Kyushu, however¡­¡­ There is no one in Tsushima who understands the language of the Nanban people.  It would be good if some of them can understand Chinese.


    ¡¸It is never wrong to take precautions.  Gather the soldiers and have the women and children leave the port.  Also, send a notice to Furuwatari¡¯s lord on a fast horse.¡¹


    I do not even want to think that they have come here to launch an attack.  No matter how large their ship is, I do not believe they would attempt to attack us with it alone. However, it is not unheard of for other ports to be attacked while one force is serving as a distraction.  Indeed, I do not know what they will do if I show them even a sliver of an opening.


    ¡¸Lord, four people have come down from the ship. One was a young man who looked like a merchant, two Nanban women, and another man who seemed to be their oarsman.¡¹


    ¡¸Nanban women? Are they slaves, perchance?¡¹


    ¡¸I do not think so. One of the women is armed with a naginata. I believe they might be the merchant¡¯s wives, or perhaps his servants.¡¹


    ¡¸Lead a portion of the soldiers to a place that is out of their sight. However, do not engage without my order.¡¹


    Nanban women? I have heard that male Nanban came to Kyushu. However, I have never heard of female Nanban coming as well.  Do not tell me they got lost at sea. Or perhaps their ship was destroyed in a storm.


    I hope things will end peacefully.


    ***


    Side: Alex


    We landed at Tsushima port in a small boat, but the people suddenly scattered in all directions the moment we disembarked.


    Well, I suppose we do look like a foreign warship that came without prior notice, so it¡¯s only natural for them to be wary of us, but if we¡¯re gonna stand out, either way, Elle said it would be better to act boldly from the start.  Elle and the other¡¯s features definitely didn¡¯t look Japanese, so we ended up standing out even more.


    ¡¸Do you understand our words?¡¹


    More than a dozen armed soldiers appeared at the port along with a middle-aged man who seems to be in command.   The expressions of the soldiers were rather grim.  It¡¯s to the extent that it wouldn¡¯t be strange for a fight to break out at any time.


    ¡¸Yes. We do understand your language.¡¹


    ¡¸That is a relief.  Might I inquire as to where you are journeying to? Hakata or Sakai would be west of here¡­¡­¡¹


    The middle-aged man seems to be trying his best to speak calmly.


    ¡¸Actually, I had just inherited my ship not long ago.  I was thinking of visiting Owari¡¯s Tsushima shrine and Atsuta shrine while looking for new business partners, you see.¡¹


    The middle-aged man who called out to us amidst the grim atmosphere seemed relieved when he found out that we could understand one another.


    As for the reason we came to Tsushima port, I had already discussed it with Elle beforehand.  Owari was the home of both Tsushima and Atsuta shrines, and visiting them would be a plausible excuse for us to come over.


    ¡¸Is that so? This one¡¯s name is Ohashi Shigenaga.  If it pleases you, then I would like to invite you to my residence.  We shall serve as your guide to the Tsushima shrine and Atsuta shrine.¡¹


    ¡¸Thank you for the kind offer. You can call me¡­ Kazuma. We will be in your care.¡¹


    Speaking of Ohashi of Tsushima, was this man from that Ohashi clan? The one who historically became Oda Nobunaga¡¯s brother-in-law? Wow. It looks like I met a big-shot right from the get-go.


    I introduced myself using my real name instead of my player ID ¡°Alex¡± in Galaxy of Planets.  There was no particular reason why. It¡¯s just that since we¡¯re in the real world, I thought I should use the Japanese name given to me by my parents instead.


    ¡¸Hou. I did not expect that you would have sugar, pepper, and saltpeter as part of your wares¡­¡­¡¹


    ¡¸This is also a kind of fate. We will provide you with the things you need here in Tsushima.¡¹


    Julia was still wary of a surprise attack, so her guard was still up.  However, she was simply showing them that she was on guard and doesn¡¯t actually plan on making a move.  I suppose she¡¯s just warning them not to pull anything sneaky.


    Ohashi-san¡¯s home was quite large.  In my previous world, it wouldn¡¯t be strange for it to be called a mansion.  The gleam in Ohashi-san¡¯s eyes brightened when I told him about our cargo and our intention to do business.


    ¡¸Is that really alright? Would it not be more profitable to bring your goods to Sakai instead?¡¹


    ¡¸I have no prior appointments when it comes to my goods.  As long as I do not lose money, it does not matter where I sell them. Ah, but I have one request.  I would like a residence that I can stay at whenever I come to this land.  It would be great if Ohashi-sama could arrange one for us¡­¡­¡¹


    ¡¸A residence, is it? I can certainly prepare one for you, however, will you be conducting business there?¡¹


    ¡¸No, I do not plan to conduct business directly.  Sea voyages are hard, so it would be reassuring to have a residence in a port that I can call my own.¡¹


    ¡¸Understood. I will buy your cargo after accounting for the market price. Please leave the residence to me. I will prepare one while you are visiting Tsushima shrine and Atsuta shrine.¡¹


    After some small talk, I told Ohashi-san that I had recently inherited the clan and ship in place of my deceased father and that our hometown was on a small island.


    I thought I would be looked down on for being young and seemingly na?ve, but that doesn¡¯t seem to be the case.   It¡¯s probably thanks to our ¡°foreign ship¡±. If the people here were stupid enough to look down on us after seeing our ship, then it would be better not to stay for long.


    It looks like they would prepare a house for us, and Ohashi-san even offered to have us stay at his mansion for a night, so why don¡¯t I call over Katie and the rest who we left on the ship so they can also relax?


    ***


    Side: Elle


    The Ohashi household should be the head family of the So clan that ruled Tsushima.


    It¡¯s also documented that Lord Ohashi Shigenaga was a person who fought in wars together with Oda Nobunaga¡¯s father, Oda Nobuhide.   After taking Nobuhide¡¯s daughter as his wife and serving as Nobuhide¡¯s vassal, he eventually became a powerful supporter of Nobunaga.


    He was soft-spoken and was taking good care of us, but he is most likely a lot more important of a person than Commander is giving him credit for.


    He seems partial to silk, I believe. Perhaps he also wants saltpeter, but this was a time when the value of matchlock rifles still wasn¡¯t truly explored.


    At present, not only silk but cotton also cannot be domestically produced. It seems they are able to somewhat locally produce ramie fiber though.


    Perhaps we¡¯ll be able to meet Lord Nobunaga in person instead of just observing him from afar.  After all, if Lord Nobunaga is anything like the historical records describe him to be, then I believe he would be quite interested in the galleon and us.


    In other words, we might end up changing history at this rate instead of being mere observers.


    Have we appeared as nameless merchants in the past of Commander¡¯s world? If we did not exist in the past of Commander¡¯s world, then¡­¡­


    Perhaps this world was just one of the infinitely expanding branches of different timelines.


    ***


    Side: Kazuma


    ¡¸Those ladies are¡­¡­?¡¹


    ¡¸Uh, they are my wives.¡¹


    ¡¸Ah, they are your wives.  I see.¡¹


    After a while, Katie and the others got off the ship as well, so it was only natural that Ohashi Shigenaga-san would ask about them.  Well, their treatment would differ depending on their social position, so I suppose it¡¯s to be expected.


    I think they were amazed to see people with different sense of values from them.


    We¡¯ve already discussed this particular matter as well. Melty told me it would be better to treat them as my wives.  It would be troublesome if someone takes a fancy to them because they were rare foreign women after all.


    ¡¸Well, that is¡­¡­ truly something quite unusual.¡¹


    Did he figure out that we were false couples? After all, Ohashi-san said something like that with a strange smile.


    ¡¸They were all born on the same island.¡¹


    ¡¸Oh, so that is the case.¡¹


    Was my excuse too flimsy? But I¡¯m glad that Ohashi-san doesn¡¯t seem keen on pursuing things too deeply and is apparently treating me as a proper adult.


    We stayed at Ohashi-san¡¯s mansion for the night, and the food was quite delicious, perhaps because the people in the mansion were instructed to treat us well.


    ***


    Side: Ohashi Shigenaga


    Kazuma-dono was so young that it would not be strange for him to be my own child. However, he seemed to be quite the man indeed.  To think he had five wives. It meant he was in a position that allowed him such luxury.  Well, he did inherit such an imposing ship, so I suppose it was only natural.


    I have heard that white-skinned Nanban people all hailed from the far west.  Was there actually a Nanban island not far away from here?   At the very least, I have never heard of it.


    Well, this was only if they are not telling lies.  I still have not figured out exactly where they hail from. However, it was better not to pry too much.


    Well, regardless of their reason for coming here, I cannot miss out on doing business with such a Nanban ship.  It was better to deepen our ties with them instead of antagonizing them.


    What shall I do for their mansion? I cannot possibly lend them a shabby one.  I believe there was an available mansion whose previous owner was an unscrupulous money lender who had gotten killed due to his deeds.  Shall I lend them that? It also had a warehouse, so it would be perfect.


    ***


    Side: Kazuma


    ¡¸It¡¯s a very fine mansion. Though we would have been happy with a smaller residence.¡¹


    ¡¸Well, it is just sitting vacant after all. This was the former residence of a dosou, so it is fairly well-protected.  Please go ahead and make use of it.¡¹


    The next day, Ohashi-san showed me around the mansion he was going to lend to us, and it was just as splendid as his own residence.


    Personally, though, I would have liked a smaller residence.  After all, it looks like it would be pretty tough to clean up and stuff.  Also, I feel like wouldn¡¯t be able to settle down when staying at an overly big mansion.


    I suppose this is also thanks to our foreign ship.  I wonder what he¡¯ll ask in return? Will it be silk? Or maybe saltpeter?


    ¡¸Thank you very much. I really appreciate all your help.¡¹


    I can¡¯t act willfully here and complain that the mansion was too big.   And besides, it doesn¡¯t look like he¡¯ll be charging us rent.


    The mansion was surrounded by earthen walls and had a large garden, stables, and three storehouses.  This was owned by a dosou huh? I think a dosou was a money lender. I wonder if he went bankrupt due to the Tokusei decree issued by the imperial court that made all lenders waive debts owed to them.


    ***


    Side: Melty


    Ufufu. I wonder if you are aware of this saying, Commander: There is nothing more expensive than something free.


    Even if each one is so small that one wouldn¡¯t even notice them, they would become strong and firm once put together.  This is how people fetter one another with ties of obligation.


    Commander is too na?ve to live in an era where there is no such thing as good faith.   However¡­¡­ Being fenced in by ties of obligation doesn¡¯t necessarily mean one would end up being preyed upon.


    Making use of those trying to tie you down may be impossible for Commander, but it¡¯s just a piece of cake for us.


    Ohashi Shigenaga.  I wonder if you realize just how risky it is to try and bind us?


    If you properly understand the risks and are also aware of our wishes, then we will be of great help to you.


    Is Commander¡¯s weakness women after all? He doesn¡¯t seem to be particularly adept at socializing.  It would be troublesome if they sent a woman to take care of him.


    I had another motive when I asked him to treat us as his wives. We¡¯ve spent quite a long time together in Galaxy of Planets.


    But you know¨C I¡¯m also worried that this might turn out backfiring on us.  The trust and history we¡¯ve built up over the years as player and virtual space residents definitely weren¡¯t in vain.   However, we are now in the real world.  I¡¯ve learned firsthand that people tend to change with time. That now goes for us as well.


    There needs to be a new bond between us and Commander.


    In order for us and Commander to survive in this war-torn era, this was absolutely necessary.


    We are no longer in a virtual space, and nor was this a mere game. If we don¡¯t form even stronger bonds, we might find ourselves getting tripped up one day.


    I believe it¡¯s fine for us to obtain freedom, just as Commander wants.  But freedom also requires responsibility.


    Now then, all that¡¯s left is¡­¡­


    ***


    The surname Kuon and the Kuon clan first appeared in Japanese history during the 16th year of Tenbun.


    It is said that Kuon Kazuma, who inherited his family estate in the Kuon islands, visited Tsushima port in the province of Owari on a foreign ship at the time.


    The family name of Kuon was later given to him and his clan by Oda Nobunaga himself, and it is recorded in the ¡°Oda Unification Chronicles¡± and ¡°Kuon Chronicles¡± that the clan lived inconspicuously before receiving the surname.


    The identity of the Kuon clan¡¯s ancestor is still unknown.  There is evidence that the clan¡¯s past before Kazuma inherited it was systematically erased, and many related materials are still in the possession of the Kuon clan and are not open for public view.


    All the Kuon islands are still privately owned by the Kuon clan, and permission from the clan is required in order to enter them.


    There has been a growing influx of tourists, and for the sake of nature preservation, it currently takes years for permission to be handed out.

 CH 6

    Side: Oda Nobunaga


    These damned unchanging days.  I am already fed up with them.


    Even though I have come of age, nothing still went as I pleased.  Those old geezers have taken charge of everything, and they do not recognize my own will at all.


    Even the clan¡¯s chief retainer, Hayashi Sado, was so hostile toward me that he continues to plot behind the scenes in order to make my younger brother Nobuyuki take my place as heir.


    Did he think I was not aware?


    He doesn¡¯t even try to understand my thoughts in his capacity as the chief retainer and keeps trying to bend me to his will.


    The only one who truly cares about my matters in the clan is the old man.


    What did they think of my attire? What of my etiquette? Behaving the way I do does prove quite useful.   It is a way for me to discern who among those under me are truly loyal and who are not.


    ¡¸Young Lord, have you heard? It seems an unknown big black ship came to Tsushima.¡¹


    ¡¸Hou. When was this?¡¹


    ¡¸Err, I heard that it arrived yesterday. Ohashi-sama personally invited me to his abode.¡¹


    Katsusaburo has once again brought back an interesting story that he¡¯d heard from other pages and friends he¡¯d met along the way at the nearby riverbank after going out of the castle.


    Katsusaburo serves as my page, but he might be the one who understands me best.


    ¡¸What is there purpose for coming? Have you heard?¡¹


    ¡¸It appears that they came to visit Tsushima shrine and Atsuta shrine in addition to conducting business.  The ship is rumored to be from Nanban and caused quite the commotion.¡¹


    Katsusaburo occasionally picks up rumors on the streets and relays them to me, but today¡¯s rumor sounded more interesting than usual.


    ¡¸Alright. Let us depart for Tsushima.¡¹


    ¡¸Young Lord!?¡¹


    I have heard that Nanban was to the far south.  However, that did not matter to me.


    I want to see it.  A place far across the sea.


    I want to see that Nanban ship that crossed the vast sea.


    ***


    Side: Kazuma


    After successfully renting a house, I decided to sell all the trade goods we brought on the ship to Ohashi-san.


    Once we finish unloading the futons and foodstuffs from the ship, we can start living in the house right away.  However, it would take some time to unload all of them.


    Because this place was a river port, ships couldn¡¯t get too close to land.  Hence, they first need to transfer the cargo onto small boats before bringing them over to land.  The people of Tsushima were also helping out with the unloading though, so I think the work would get finished relatively sooner than I expected.   Of course, it would still take some time.


    Meanwhile, Ohashi-san guided me, Elle, and the rest to Tsushima shrine.


    The Tsushima shrine was located in an island, or rather, a riverbank.  Moreover, it also had a splendid torii and main shrine building.


    ¡¸It is pretty crowded, as expected.¡¹


    ¡¸Indeed. This is my first time guiding people from Nanban to the shrine, but merchants who visit Tsushima often come here.¡¹


    The current shrine probably occupied a larger amount of land compared to the Tsushima shrine in the future.   I¡¯ve never been here before though.  It was just that big and grand.


    You could feel just how amazing Tsushima was during this period just by looking at the splendid Tsushima shrine.  The port was honestly disappointing, but the shrine was quite amazing.


    The Ikko-shu was also from this time period.  This was an era where religion and the belief in gods and buddhas was flourishing.


    After our visit to the Tsushima shrine, we encountered a group that resembled delinquents on the way back.  I wasn¡¯t really good with these types.  Delinquents, I mean.


    ¡¸If it isn¡¯t the Young Lord.  It has been a long time.¡¹


    ¡¸It looks like you are in good health.¡¹


    What¡¯s surprising was that Ohashi-san bowed deeply to the one leading the delinquent group.  It seemed that Ohashi-san was a bit shaken though.


    The leader of the delinquents sported a loosely tied chasen-mage hairstyle, an untidily worn kimono, and a tachi and drawstring purse hanging from a rough-looking straw rope tied to his waist. Judging from his appearance, he must be in his mid-teens.  In my original world, he should be in high school.


    Hold on. Did Ohashi-san just say ¡°Young Lord¡±? Ohashi-san was a vassal of the Oda clan. Don¡¯t tell me¡­¡­


    Was this guy actually Nobunaga Oda?


    ¡¸Shigenaga, are these ones the nanban people?¡¹


    ¡¸Indeed. This one is Kazuma-dono, the owner of that Nanban ship. These are his wives.¡¹


    Ohashi-san¡¯s expression looked strange.  You could say he looked nervous, but he also looked a bit troubled.


    ¡¸Be at ease. I merely wish to talk with them. I will not interfere in your business.¡¹


    ¡¸Well then, please come to the mansion to rest.¡¹


    The guy who was probably Nobunaga looked at Ohashi-san¡¯s expression and said a few words to reassure the latter.


    Um. What about our opinion? I only wanted to observe the guy from afar and didn¡¯t really wanna interact with him directly though.  Somehow, I had a feeling that we might get caught up in something troublesome.


    ¡¸This man is Oda Saburo Nobunaga-sama, the eldest son of the lord who governs Tsushima, Oda Danjotada Nobuhide-sama.¡¹


    ¡¸Do not bother with such ceremonious introductions.   Are all of you really nanban people?¡¹


    When we arrived inside the mansion, Nobunaga-san immediately sat down on the seat of honor and started talking to us.  The atmosphere was neither good nor bad.  It was probably because of Nobunaga-san¡¯s companions who were looking at me and Elle with curiosity.


    Although Nobunaga-san seemed to be filled with curiosity as well, he still looked at me calmly as he began to talk.


    ¡¸If you mean to ask if the land we were born in was Nanban, then that is not the case.  We were born on a small group of islands about ten days by ship from Owari.¡¹


    ¡¸Hou. Was there truly such an island?¡¹


    The talk feeling more like an interrogation can¡¯t be helped.  This was an age where ones station in society was paramount after all.  I think this treatment was fine as long as they weren¡¯t acting in an openly threatening manner.


    ¡¸This world is wide.  Outsiders who come from far away would actually take about a year before reaching Hinomoto.¡¹


    ¡¸That is quite something. By the way, it seems that you have five wives. Is this normal in Nanban?¡¹


    ¡¸I have heard that it varies depending from land to land. Our hometown is quite small, so those circumstances led to this custom.¡¹


    It¡¯s said that historical Nobunaga had a progressive side to him, but was this sense of curiosity the driving force for that? He was asking me questions one after another.


    He reacted differently to Elle and the others, but he seemed more concerned about how tall some of them were instead of their beauty.


    Maybe it¡¯s the difference of perceptions and values between eras.  Maybe he simply didn¡¯t like tall women.  Does that mean Katie would be popular here? Of course, I wouldn¡¯t hand her over no matter what though.


    ¡¸I see. Just because one possesses a Nanban ship does not mean one is from Nanban.¡¹


    ¡¸They died early due to disease, but their parents were indeed from Nanban.¡¹


    Elle and the others have never been to Europe, of course.  The plan was to pretend that their parent¡¯s generation came to Japan, and that they were all born on the islands.


    ¡¸What do you plan on doing after this?¡¹


    ¡¸We will visit Atsuta shrine next and rest for a while in the house we rented here in Tsushima. We will probably head out to conduct our next trade once all our goods have been unloaded though.¡¹


    ¡¸Hou. I see.¡¹


    I couldn¡¯t refuse to answer the questions, so I tried my best to give innocuous answers, but it was pretty nerve-wracking.   It would be troublesome to be labelled as an insolent fellow after all.


    After this, I was asked about the products we brought over. Then I was asked a lot of other questions, including seemingly trivial ones.


    I was actually planning on experiencing life during the Sengoku period after this though. Should we just get out of here before we got involved any deeper?


    In any case, it wouldn¡¯t be bad to live a leisurely island life with Elle and the others.


    ***


    Side: Elle


    So, this person is Lord Nobunaga Oda.


    I feel like his sense of curiosity and his insight in understanding Commander¡¯s story showed mere glimpses of his great potential.


    In historical records, it¡¯s said that Lord Nobunaga Oda got known as a demon king due to the passages he wrote in a letter during his battles on Mt. Hiei while contending with the Ikko-shu.  However, daimyos who fought with the Ikko-shu weren¡¯t particularly rare.


    It wasn¡¯t uncommon for the temples or shrines during this period to use force or put pressure on the imperial court and the shogunate, and it¡¯s also a fact that the actions of the Ikko-shu were particularly intolerable.


    You could even say that Lord Nobunaga¡¯s historical response to their provocations was rather lenient.


    However, though the Lord Nobunaga in front of me showed promise, he was still a child.  He seemed to be preoccupied with rebelling against the adults surrounding him and society in general.


    However, even though I did somehow anticipate this to be the case, we really did end up getting involved with Lord Nobunaga.


    Was Commander aware that he was already interfering with history? I will have to ask him about this later.


    It is better for us to leave as early as possible if we didn¡¯t want to get involved any further, and if not, then we had to be prepared for the consequences.  This wasn¡¯t an era in which you can live while being idealistic.


    Of course, Commander and us should be able to live just fine.


    However, this was no longer a virtual space. We need to consider the possibility of both taking the lives of others and dying ourselves.


    Can this be said to be a trial? Or perhaps¡­¡­

 CH 7

    Side: Kazuma


    After managing to have Nobunaga-san return somehow, I, Elle, and the others proceeded to prep our newly rented home.


    Ohashi-san seemed to have had the house cleaned beforehand, so that saved us some trouble.  It would be livable once we¡¯ve finished organizing the futons and other luggage we unloaded from the ship.  However, even though the mansion was quite large, it didn¡¯t have a bath.  I would like to extend the bathroom and renovate the toilet because it was a bit filthy.


    Ohashi-san did say we can use it however we liked. I think I¡¯ll go ahead and look for a carpenter tomorrow.


    ¡¸Commander, can you give me a moment?¡¹


    ¡¸Sure. What¡¯s up?¡¹


    ¡¸It¡¯s about what we are going to do from now on.¡¹


    I was in the middle of thinking about adding a kitchen garden since the yard was quite spacious when Elle called out to me.  Come to think of it, we hadn¡¯t discussed our future plans after this yet.


    ¡¸Commander, at this rate, we will end up being a part of recorded history instead of simply remaining as spectators.  I wish to ask about your thoughts regarding this matter.¡¹


    ¡¸Mm. I wonder. Should we just go back to the island before we get involved any further?¡¹


    I thought about discussing such things with Elle after we get back from Owari, but Elle bluntly pointed out our current predicament.


    ¡¸Hey, before that stuff, let me ask you something else, Commander. Do you actually want to return to your original world?¡¹


    ¡¸Not really. I don¡¯t even have family left in my original world.¡¹


    We were talking while drinking barley tea, and I was well aware that my current plans were half-baked.  I was honestly a bit lost about what to do next.  For real.


    Melty asked me about my original world, but I don¡¯t really hold any lingering attachments, so I think I would be fine with not being able to return.   After all, I should be able to overcome any hardship if I was together with everyone and the Silvern.


    I should have already told them about this before we went to the surface, but why were they acting all exasperated?


    ¡¸If that¡¯s the case, then I think you should stop treating this as the past, Commander.  Rather, you should think of how we should live in this world from now on.¡¹


    ¡¸I think so too.¡¹


    I was preoccupied with thinking about whether or not we should get involved in feudal Japan further or just return to the island, but Melty and Katie seemed to have misgivings about my basic motivations for wanting to come here and see Nobunaga in the first place.


    It¡¯s true that I was treating this place as something from ancient history.  I was a bit careless.


    ¡¸Since we have a massive technological advantage, I think we¡¯ll be able to hold it for at least a thousand years even without us doing any further technological innovations.  But if we did that, Earth technology would be able to catch up to us eventually.¡¹


    ¡¸Commander and us don¡¯t age, so unless we get killed by others, we would never die.  However, practically speaking, we should still establish an adequate living space for ourselves.¡¹


    ¡¸If you think about it, this era may be perfect for us to integrate ourselves.   There¡¯s no need for us to have official citizenship records, and it¡¯s also possible to rise through the ranks from below due to the feudal system.¡¹


    Elle and Celes remained silent, but Melty, Katie, and Julia started talking enthusiastically about the future.


    Organic androids didn¡¯t age, and bio-enhanced players didn¡¯t age either.  It¡¯s already been confirmed that this still applied even if we¡¯ve transitioned from a virtual world to a real one.


    It¡¯s true that the space fortress and us were all aliens to this world.  Depending on the situation, there¡¯s a chance that the people of this world might deem us dangerous.   But in the worst case, we still had the option of escaping back into space using the space fortress, so I suppose it wasn¡¯t that serious of a matter after all.


    ¡¸Elle, Celes. What about you guys?¡¹


    ¡¸I think we should establish a place for ourselves.  However, I believe doing so will not be that easy in this era.¡¹


    ¡¸I think it depends on what you want to do, Commander. Honestly, if we just want to establish a suitable living space for ourselves, it might be easier to just leave the Solar system and search for an uninhabited planet somewhere.¡¹


    It seemed like everyone had been seriously considering things.  Was I the only one who wasn¡¯t really thinking ahead all that much? I really do believe that we¡¯d be able to overcome anything if we¡¯re all together though.


    ¡¸Alright then. Let¡¯s hear everyone else¡¯s opinions first and then hold a formal discussion. We¡¯ll decided things after that.¡¹


    I already met Nobunaga-san anyway, so I suppose it¡¯s time to think about what we¡¯re gonna do from now on.


    This time, I had to listen to everyone¡¯s opinions and make a decision.  After all, this wasn¡¯t a game where the answers were already predetermined.


    After listening to everyone else¡¯s opinions over a transmission, we finally came to a consensus come nightfall.


    There were various different opinions, but we mostly came to the consensus that there was a need to establish a place for us on Earth first.   It would be up to me to make a decision on anything after that.


    ¡¸Let¡¯s just continue to pose as merchants then.¡¹


    I was thinking of challenging ourselves with it.  It wouldn¡¯t be that easy, but I think we can do it.  Truthfully, I was feeling quite excited about the prospect.  After all, I¡¯ll be aiming for something together with everyone again.  I personally think that¡¯s more than enough.


    Elle, Melty, Julia, Celes, and Katie.  Each of them agreed to my decision as well.  I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll encounter various problems, but we should be fine as long as we endeavored to constantly aim for improvements.


    ¡¸By the way, Commander.  Do you plan on getting a girlfriend or wife anytime soon? It would be lonely being single forever, right?¡¹


    ¡¸Un? I have you guys, so I don¡¯t think I need to. If you think about it practically, that would lead to a risk of our secrets getting exposed, and it would also be troublesome to deal with nosy in-laws and incompetent descendants.¡¹


    ¡¸Right. If that¡¯s the case, then I¡¯d like you to treat us as your real wives then, Commander.¡¹


    ¡¸Un. I suppose that¡¯s okay. There won¡¯t be any danger of our secrets getting exposed if that¡¯s the case.¡¹


    For the time being, we decided to continue living as merchants in order to establish ourselves here on Earth.  However, to think that Melty was that worried about me.


    After all, I haven¡¯t made a girlfriend for nearly ten years back in my original world.  I wasn¡¯t that old to feel lonely though, and we had a lot of secrets, so it would be troublesome if I just carelessly welcomed a wife.


    I think it¡¯s fine as long as I¡¯m together with everyone.  There was no need for Melty to bother confirming things with me.


    ***


    I¡¯ll just relate what happened after that.  Simply put, I was tricked by Melty.  I had no idea that the gynoids had all gained the ability to give birth to children.


    They also decided the order among themselves already.  It looked like they decided to go by seniority ¨C in other words, the length of time they¡¯ve been serving me.  And then, I would be free to have relations with any of them after going through all of them once.  But if that¡¯s the case, wouldn¡¯t the number of times I have relations with each of them cause dissatisfaction among them in the long run?


    My family of gynoids gradually accumulating resentment due to jealousy was a scary thought.


    But y¡¯know¨C It¡¯s not like I had been thinking of refusing in the first place.  And here I was obliviously thinking of what to plant in a food garden until Elle came in and called me over.


    Also¡­¡­ It¡¯s not like I could have refused.  After all, they were all gynoids I made according to my tastes.


    In front of Elle and the others who had made up their mind and resolved themselves, there was no way I could refuse.


    The Three Laws of Robotics or anything of the sort didn¡¯t apply to Elle and the others.  According to Katie, they were pretty much free of stuff like that as a result of being released from the virtual world¡¯s system.   To put it bluntly, they were no longer obligated to follow my orders unconditionally.


    And as a result, everyone consulted with each other and decided on doing this in the end.   If that¡¯s the case, then I had no choice but to accept it.


    The problem was how to make sure that I get along with all 120 of them without anyone getting dissatisfied.  Having a harem this large was seriously no joke. But hey, I didn¡¯t make them for the purpose of marrying them all in real life in the first place.


    I guess I¡¯ll ask the space fortress quantum computer secretly when I have the chance.  I¡¯ll ask it for tips on how to get along with everyone smoothly.


    ***


    Side: Elle


    Melty didn¡¯t really have to use a trick like that.


    Commander was a late-bloomer and wasn¡¯t very adept at socializing, so she said that we had to create a suitable opportunity as soon as possible, or things would get messy later.


    I wanted to be the one chosen first, and then gradually go from there.  I thought Commander would actually reject Melty¡¯s proposal¡­¡­


    However, in truth, there were only two options for us to get ourselves a mate: either choose Commander or have a new male organic android created specifically to be our partner.


    As beings born in a virtual space, we had been brought up and lived in a special limited environment.


    If we told Commander we would like an android life companion, I¡¯m sure he would give us permission to create one.  But I think something like that would make Commander feel lonely.


    Commander chose to stay with us instead of returning to his original world.  That¡¯s why all of us also chose to stay with Commander of our own free will.


    Perhaps something like this was impossible for regular humans, but since we were originally made by the virtual space system to favor our creator, we didn¡¯t find choosing Commander as our partner distasteful at all. In fact, we all welcomed it. Perhaps we were still being affected by the system¡¯s former influence over us.   However, each and every one of us understood and accepted this.


    I knew that Commander wanted us to be free, so I thought that there was no reason to rush things and told this to everyone.


    We were not humans.  In that case, we gynoids agreed that we should live our lives our own way.


    The first step to living our lives in this world was to be together with Commander who treated us as real individuals and loved us.


    Perhaps Commander will never notice.  Our resolve, that is.


    No matter what kind of lifeform it was, there were things they would be bound by.  There were various forms, such as the rules that bound certain groups or individual fates.  We chose to live under the rules of us androids.


    That¡¯s what we decided.


    But¨C I personally felt happy to be loved by Commander, no matter what reason or form that love might have resulted from or took.


    Commander, though inexperienced, I look forward to spending my life together with you from now on.

 CH 8

    Side: Ohashi Shigenaga


    The Young Lord of Nagono was also known to the public as the Great Fool.


    It was true that he went around wearing clothes and displaying a demeanor unfit for a lord of the people, so I do understand why they called him by such a moniker.


    But others didn¡¯t know. The Young Lord was more interested in business compared to anyone else in Tsushima, and he personally comes over often to ask about various things related to the topic.  He asked about all sorts of things; from the flow of money and goods to the ways of conducting business.


    However, I suppose it was only natural that the rest of the Oda clan was not aware of this.


    In addition, the Young Lord also visits Tsushima often and asks about the goings-on outside of Owari.


    I heard that there were some in the clan who wanted his younger brother, Nobuyuki-sama, who hasn¡¯t even come of age yet, to serve as the successor. But I think that the Young Lord was far more suitable as the clan¡¯s successor compared to Nobuyuki-sama who doesn¡¯t even deign to come to Tsushima himself.


    At the very least, no one here in Tsushima would dare to underestimate the Young Lord.  The Young Lord¡¯s memory and intuition were enough to impress even the shrewdest of Tsushima merchants.


    They also jested that he would find it easy to become a splendid merchant if he so wished.


    Nobuyuki-sama hadn¡¯t even undergone his coming-of-age ceremony yet, so it was a little unfair to compare the two of them, but he was quite amiable, and his vassals should find it quite easy to deal with him.


    It appears that the Young Lord has taken an interest in Kazuma-dono.  He plans to come and visit Kazuma-dono often to ask about this and that.


    The Young Lord was not a person of ill character at all.


    Whenever he hunted for fowl and beasts, he would divide the captured game among all his accompanying vassals.  What¡¯s more, whenever he obtained valuable sake or tea, he would bring some to us as souvenirs.  The people of Tsushima were probably more familiar with the Young Lord than Nobuyuki-sama who hadn¡¯t shown his face to us even once.


    Although I suppose the situation cannot be helped because the other vassals and I see things differently.


    I do not think there is much cause for concern, but it might be better to see how Kazuma-dono is doing regularly for a while.  After all, he might get troubled by the Young Lord¡¯s visits while he is staying in a land unfamiliar to him.


    Side: Oda Nobunaga


    I have always wanted to know more about it.  Just what was beyond that vast sea?  Just what kind of country was the one that made the matchlock gun?


    Those people who recently came to Owari behaved completely from other people.  They were different from the samurai, monks, and merchants I was familiar with.


    That¡¯s why I wanted to know more about them. I want to know more about the places outside of Hinomoto.


    I wonder how those people view our Owari?  This state that was filled with only conflict and jostling for territory.  Those vassals who proclaim fealty to my father but scheme behind his back.


    Father said to simply ignore them, but was that really alright?


    If I do not know of something, then all I had to know was to learn about it.  My father would get furious even at the thought of meeting those from beyond the sea who he saw as uncivilized barbarians.  And his vassals would fan the flames.


    ¡¸Alright, let us hunt for game then.¡¹


    ¡¸Hunting for beasts? Are you not going to Tsushima, Young Lord?¡¹


    ¡¸I¡¯ve heard that the Nanban people are fond of eating meat. One can easily get fish on Tsushima, but not meat.¡¹


    A boar or deer should do nicely as a present.  Shigenaga did mention that the Nanban people from the far south preferred meat to fish.


    They had looked somewhat bewildered yesterday, but a present would do nicely to ease the awkwardness between us.


    Side: Kazuma


    I was able to secretly return to the island at night on an anti-gravity engine aircraft and return before dawn, so I had no trouble spending the night comfortably.  However, since there were plans to continue bringing goods from the island to the mainland on regular flights, it looks like I would be riding on an aircraft straight to Owari.


    As for the mansion in Tsushima, we decided to perform a full-scale renovation with the intention of living there for the time being.  When I mentioned renovating the toilet and adding a bath to Elle and the others, we eventually came up with more and more places to renovate.


    They also wanted to renovate the kitchen, for example.  I would also like to install tatami mats inside the rooms, and shoji paper screens seemed not to be treated as something valuable in this era.


    In addition, we decided not to bring anything related to over-technology as much as possible.   We can carry comm devices and the bare minimum equipment, but we had to make it so that we would be able to withdraw from here quickly at any given time.


    Ohashi-san seemed like a trustworthy enough person.  However, it wouldn¡¯t hurt to keep being cautious.  Arrangements have been made so that we would be ready to pick up the goods from the island in just a few minutes with only one call.


    ¡¸About this garden¡­¡­ Will it be fine to convert it to a kitchen garden instead?¡¹


    I¡¯ve walked around the mansion, but the large garden particularly caught my attention.  It seemed that the previous owner used it as an ornamental garden, but as expected, it had been left untouched for quite some time, so it looked a bit messy, with weeds growing all over it.


    ¡¸It should be fine. It¡¯s not like there is a particular need for us to put on airs.¡¹


    After consulting with Elle, I decided to convert it from an ornamental garden to a kitchen garden for growing vegetables. It was pretty large, so we would be able to grow more than enough vegetables for us to consume.


    Yesterday, Julia and Katie heard that there was a market set up at the Tsushima shrine, so we paid it a visit. But, to be honest, there weren¡¯t that many vegetables being sold.  There were only a few wild vegetables such as edible wild grasses and a few more familiar vegetables.


    In this era, there were many kinds of vegetables that haven¡¯t been cultivated yet, and even if they were, most of them were grown in between rice planting seasons.


    They didn¡¯t seem to put much effort into growing vegetables because the distribution system was still pretty immature, and in this era, having something to eat was already a blessing.


    Now that that¡¯s decided, it¡¯s time for weeding.  We were using robot soldiers disguised as humans as workers in the mansion, so let¡¯s have some of them do the weeding.


    It would be faster if we used a mower or something of the sort.  But in this era, even a farm sickle was quite valuable.  I¡¯ve seen some of the farming tools they were employing, but they were honestly quite shabby.  It would be quite inefficient if we used those.


    ¡¸What are you doing?¡¹


    ¡¸Weeding. I was thinking of converting this into a vegetable garden, you see¡­¡­ Eh? Young Lord!?¡¹


    We¡¯ve been weeding for ten minutes with shabby scythes in hand.  I was so focused on the work before me that I failed to notice Nobunaga-san and his attendants entering the garden.


    ¡¸You could have just summoned for me if you had business with me, Young Lord.¡¹


    ¡¸It is fine. There would be a commotion in the castle if you came there. Right, here is a present for you.¡¹


    ¡¸Ah, thank you very much, Young Lord.¡¹


    A present, huh? It turned out to be a large deer.  It seemed that it was carried over by four of Nobunaga-san¡¯s attendants.  He already came by yesterday, and he came again today.  Did Nobunaga-san have lots of free time on his hands?


    I had the deer we received brought to the kitchen and guided Nobunaga-san and his attendants to the veranda.


    ¡¸Parched-barley tea, is it? It is cold. Do you also drink this in Nanban?¡¹


    ¡¸We used the well to cool it down.  I have never heard of this being drunk in Nanban.  However, our islands are closer to Hinomoto, so our lifestyles are somewhat similar.¡¹


    Now that they¡¯re here, I thought it would be best to serve them something, and Elle brought over some barley tea.


    ¡¸Young Lord! This mochi is very delicious!¡¹


    ¡¸Uwah! It truly is!¡¹


    ¡¸Truly. Is it filled with azuki bean paste inside? But why is it so sweet?¡¹


    ¡¸That¡¯s because we used sugar when making it.¡¹


    The attendants were surprised when they tasted the daifuku served together with the barley tea.  Elle made them for us to snack on.  Elle¡¯s hobbies were cooking and making sweets after all.


    ¡¸Bufuooo!?¡¹


    ¡¸S-Sugar!?¡¹


    ¡¸Young Lord! I have not brought any money over!¡¹


    ¡¸No, no, I will not charge you for them, so it¡¯s fine.¡¹


    In this era, sugar was a very valuable commodity that could only be imported, so that¡¯s probably why everyone was so surprised.  Sugar was cheap back in my original world though.  Besides, we weren¡¯t used to not having sugar in food or sweets, so I had it brought over.


    ¡¸¡­¡­Is it really alright?¡¹


    ¡¸Go ahead. In addition to the portion we have sold to Ohashi-sama, we have brought enough sugar for us to use, so do not worry.¡¹


    I thought that Nobunaga-san would be used to eating stuff with sugar, but he was more surprised than I expected.  I do remember there being sweet steamed buns in this era though.


    ¡¸The mochi is soft as well!¡¹


    ¡¸Oh, that¡¯s because the mochi also have sugar in them.¡¹


    Everyone behaved like elated children while savoring the barley tea and daifuku.   Children, huh? Well, they were all in their mid-teens, so I suppose they were all still kids.


    ¡¸Um, what is your business with us today, Young Lord?¡¹


    ¡¸Un? Oh, I was thinking of listening to stories about Nanban and the sea from you.¡¹


    After Nobunaga-san and his attendants made short work of the barley tea and daifuku served to them, I inquired about his business with us.  It ended up not being such a big deal after all.


    But stories about Nanban huh?


    ¡¸In the first place, why did you not proceed to Sakai instead?¡¹


    ¡¸Because one cannot make money if one went about doing the same things as everyone else.¡¹


    Nobunaga-san asked me about why we didn¡¯t go to Sakai, and I felt sorry about it, but I had to tell a white lie.  I actually came all the way here to see you, y¡¯know? But I can¡¯t say something like that, as expected.


    ¡¸I see. Merchants do vie for profits often after all.¡¹


    ¡¸To put it simply, trading is more profitable if there are no middlemen.  If we went to sell our goods in Sakai, we will have to consider transportation costs and pay tolls before our goods reach Owari.  However, part of the profits will not go to other¡¯s pockets if we sell our goods directly.¡¹


    ¡¸Umu. That is true.¡¹


    I don¡¯t really want to be asked too much about Nanban, so I decided to talk about business instead.  With this, I can just talk about some common business knowledge from my original world.


    The price I sold the goods for to Ohashi-san was actually higher than the market price in Owari, so it was also considerably higher than the market price in Sakai.


    There was a shortage of money in this era in the first place, so I couldn¡¯t really generalize, but goods were normally expensive in this era because of the taxes people in authority collected along the way as they pleased.   But the quality of the goods played a part as well, of course.


    Alright then. Next time, I¡¯ll sell goods lower than Owari¡¯s market prices.  They¡¯re all made in the space fortress anyway, so we wouldn¡¯t be losing out.

 CH 9

    Side: Kazuma


    It¡¯s been two weeks since I came to Owari.


    Nobunaga-san comes over to visit us often.  The reason why he always brought all kinds of wild game such as deer, boars, and ducks as presents was due to the rumor that Nanban people liked eating meat.


    Ohashi-san also told me that if I wanted to eat meat, he would immediately procure it for my sake.


    The renovation of the mansion was progressing smoothly, and although the kitchen garden wasn¡¯t that large, we had finally completed preparing it. So now, it¡¯s about time to think about what to plant.


    ¡¸You seem to be having fun.¡¹


    ¡¸Yeah. It¡¯s fun thinking about what to cook with the ingredients we currently have. It¡¯s interesting.¡¹


    There have been some changes since we came to Owari. First of all, Elle has been enjoying cooking quite a bit.  In this era, doing housework was pretty labor-intensive so we all shared the burden. But for some reason, Elle found the challenge of cooking with troublesome heat management and limited ingredients quite novel and interesting.


    We originally didn¡¯t plan to stay for that long, so we didn¡¯t bring that many ingredients and seasonings that could be stored at length.


    ¡¸I¡¯ll be going first.¡¹


    ¡¸Come on.¡¹


    Julia and Celes started training in martial arts with wooden swords and spears.  Galaxy of Planets employed a military-grade melee combat system, but a lot of the techniques didn¡¯t correspond to the weapons and martial arts of this era, so they were planning on making some improvements to it.


    Melty said she wanted to take up painting as a hobby.  Katie, on the other hand, seemed to be interested in the lives of the people in this era and has been asking the carpenters about various things.


    I didn¡¯t particularly enjoy the inconveniences that come with living in this era, but I am honestly happy that everyone seemed to have found something that genuinely interested them and were having fun.


    ¡¸This is delicious!¡¹


    ¡¸I am going to be addicted to this prickly sensation on my tongue!¡¹


    And as for Nobunaga-san and his friends, ever since they tasted the daifuku when they visited the mansion, they have been coming over frequently to sample even more of our food.


    Today, we served them boar steak seasoned with black pepper, and it seemed to be a big hit.


    ¡¸Pepper is quite expensive. So, be sure to savor the food.¡¹


    It was basically Elle and Katie who cook our food.  They liberally used seasonings such as sugar, mirin, sake, and other spices such as chili and black pepper which were all treated as precious in this era whenever they cooked.  That¡¯s why our cooking was on another level compared to this era¡¯s usual fare.


    I asked Elle if it was alright to serve Nobunaga-san and the others¡¯ stuff that was too extravagant. But she told me it was fine because we¡¯ve already ended up changing history.


    ¡¸Kazu, what are the sweets for today?¡¹


    ¡¸We¡¯re having youkan today.¡¹


    Yeah. Before I knew it, Nobunaga-san was already calling me ¡°Kazu¡±. Historical records did say he was fond of giving silly nicknames to his vassals, so I suppose ¡°Kazu¡± isn¡¯t that bad.


    ¡¸This is youkan? The taste is completely different. It is smooth, sweet, and delicious.  Does this also contain sugar?¡¹


    ¡¸Elle made them. Elle¡¯s specialties are Nanban and Ming cuisine, so her dishes might be different from those commonly served here in Hinomoto.¡¹


    Whenever Nobunaga-san comes to visit our mansion, he looked forward to sweets the most. It seemed that he had a sweet tooth, just like what was written in historical records in our original world, and he especially enjoyed sweet treats.


    We served neri or red bean paste youkan today.  Did they not have it in this era? Anyway, I tried to brush things off by saying that it was made by Elle.


    ¡¸Is doing business with Nanban really that profitable?¡¹


    ¡¸We do make quite a bit of profit, but if our ships sink, we¡¯ll end up losing everything.  It¡¯s similar to samurai going off to war.¡¹


    ¡¸Is it truly that dangerous?¡¹


    ¡¸Well, yes, I suppose.¡¹


    After finishing off the barley tea and youkan that was served for dessert, Nobunaga-san and the others started relaxing.


    Perhaps because he was finally full, Nobunaga-san started talking about business again.  He was really curious about Nanban and Ming from across the sea, about business practices, and so on.


    Moreover, he is quite knowledgeable about business himself.  Ohashi-san, who came here the other day as well, did say that Nobunaga-san was quite famous in Tsushima due to the fact that he liked to listen to stories about business.


    He seemed to be on very good terms with the Tsushima merchants.


    ¡¸Kazu, do you think you can make money together with me and these fellows?¡¹


    ¡¸But I heard that your clan was quite wealthy, Young Lord. Do you not have a castle and territory already?¡¹


    ¡¸My old man is the one in charge of the territory.  I cannot interfere with matters too much.¡¹


    According to the Shincho Koki or the Chronicles of Nobunaga in our original world, Oda Nobunaga was rigorously trained in horse-riding and swimming when he was young.  Moreover, it wouldn¡¯t look good for a territory¡¯s young lord to work with seemingly suspicious fellows in order to earn money, right?


    ¡¸Would you like me to donate some?¡¹


    ¡¸No, I want nothing of the sort. These fellows are the second and third sons of farmers, and they are quite idle outside of the busy farming season.  Hence, I thought of securing another source of income for them. It would be best if they can make money without the need for a ship like yours.¡¹


    I thought he was asking money in a roundabout way, but it seemed I was wrong.


    He does have a point though. Trading was inherently risky, so another way to earn income was ideal.  It would benefit both Nobunaga-san and his friends.


    Thinking of benefits for everyone does sound like a good idea, but it really felt like something other than something a samurai would do.  Well, there was a historical anecdote about Oda Nobunaga charging an entrance fee for a tour of Azuchi castle though. Was it really possible to come up with such a forward-thinking idea in this era with just a little impetus?


    ¡¸Hmm. Any ideas, Melty?¡¹


    ¡¸Ufufu. I do have one, in fact. Actually, I have more than one. Something that doesn¡¯t require much time, and something that does. Which one would you prefer?¡¹


    I couldn¡¯t come up with an idea on the spot, so I called out to Melty instead, who was sitting next to me after bringing Nobunaga-san and the others some more barley tea. She responded with a suggestive smile on her lips.


    ¡¸Do you truly have some ideas?¡¹


    ¡¸Indeed. Let¡¯s see. If you want to start earning money right away, then how about brewing sake? Sumizake would be good.¡¹


    ¡¸Sumizake?¡¹


    ¡¸Sake that is not cloudy. It¡¯s almost time to harvest the rice, so if you buy them cheaply and start brewing sake now, you can start selling them at the start of the next year.  This can make a pretty profit.¡¹


    This Melty. She¡¯s really recommending brewing alcohol to underage youths.  Was this really okay?


    ¡¸Sake huh? There are certainly many who like to drink sake.¡¹


    ¡¸It¡¯s a popular consumable after all. Therefore, there is quite a market for it.¡¹


    ¡¸Alright. Kazu. Please proceed with that and hire these fellows.¡¹


    ¡¸Are you sure, Young Lord? Won¡¯t your position get worse if you do something like this?¡¹


    It seemed that Nobunaga-san was pretty on board with Melty¡¯s suggestion.  But is that really okay? The young successor to this territory¡¯s daimyo would be engaging in that sort of business after all.


    ¡¸I do not mind.  If one was only obsessed with keeping up pretenses, then isn¡¯t that akin to a tiger made of paper? I have come to think so after observing you all.  The more one earns, the more power one holds.¡¹


    ¡¸Well, if you say so. But is it really okay for us who only just arrived here in Owari to do as we please like this?¡¹


    ¡¸I will give word to my father and Shigenaga.  They will probably not mind if you make them here in Tsushima and sell them internally in Owari.¡¹


    I wonder if it¡¯s okay for him to be this hasty in making decisions like this. Especially since he hasn¡¯t known us for that long yet.


    Well, it¡¯s true that winter was the best time to make sake, and we also have a warehouse available in our mansion.  With a bit of preparation, things should be ready come winter.


    ¡¸Melty, is this really alright?¡¹


    ¡¸Of course. Alcohol is made everywhere.  The history of sake is not that clear-cut, but it¡¯s certain that it¡¯s been around since the Sengoku period.  Someone else will end up doing it, even if we don¡¯t make a move ourselves.¡¹


    Nobunaga-san seemed to be really enthusiastic about the idea, so he took plenty of youkan as souvenirs and went back home in order to discuss things with his father.  He¡¯s been recently bringing home sweets as souvenirs whenever he pays a visit to us, so we always made sure to prepare plenty of them.


    He wasn¡¯t actually eating them all himself, right? Overeating sweets wasn¡¯t good for the health.


    ¡¸Well, the warehouse isn¡¯t being used anyway, so I suppose it¡¯s fine.¡¹


    ¡¸Ufufu. We should take the opportunity to sell favors whenever we can.¡¹


    ¡¸You can be pretty crafty sometimes, Melty.¡¹


    Sake brewing huh? Melty seemed to want Nobunaga-san to owe us a favor.  Well, it¡¯s certain that Nobunaga-san was dissatisfied with his current situation though.


    I haven¡¯t really heard much about it, but it seemed that he really was being called a great fool.  Was he currently in his rebellious teenager phase?


    Hm. Even if Nobunaga-san and his followers made some money, it probably wouldn¡¯t make much of an impact on history.   I¡¯ll have to ask Ohashi-san to introduce me to a barrel craftsman.


    I also have to ask the carpenters working on renovating the mansion to include the warehouse on the renovation list as well.


    I originally planned on spending my days dozing on the porch while earning some money by selling goods every now and then, but it looked like I was gonna get pretty busy from here on out.


    But considering our position, it wouldn¡¯t be a bad thing to cooperate with Nobunaga-san.


    It can¡¯t be helped. I suppose I should pay a visit to Ohashi-san in a bit.

 CH 10

    Side: Kazuma


    The season changed from summer to fall.  The sake brewing has been proceeding smoothly.


    We¡¯ve gotten used to life in this era without electricity, and I believe everyone¡¯s enjoying the experience.


    As for food, the rice wasn¡¯t very tasty, to be honest.  Something was just missing.  Though in this era, one should be thankful for simply having food on the table in the first place, so I¡¯m not going to complain much.


    ¡¸Hey, Kazu. You procure silk and saltpeter from Ming, don¡¯t you? And Ming wants copper and silver in return for those goods.  What do they do with all that copper and silver in Ming? What do they use them for?¡¹


    ¡¸I heard that silver is often used to make tableware in Nanban. Also, silver itself is treated as quite a valuable commodity.   You can use silver as currency in any country after all.   Compared to other countries, silk is more valuable here in Hinomoto and silver is relatively cheap.  That¡¯s why Ming and Nanban merchants prefer to buy silk cheaply in Ming and sell it for significantly higher prices here in Hinomoto.  The same goes for silver. I heard that silver is highly valuable in Ming.¡¹


    Nobunaga-san still frequently made visits to our home and asked questions about matters he was curious about.  As a result, I ended up teaching him about the secrets of Nanban trade.


    It¡¯s mostly second-hand knowledge from historical records and educational textbooks though, so I might have blurted out knowledge that even the Sakai merchants didn¡¯t know about.  Should I just try to gloss over it when pressed?


    ¡¸So, silver is expensive in Ming huh?¡¹


    ¡¸Well, silver and gold are generally treated as precious and finite commodities.  To put it simply, silk can be made as much as one wanted as long as one had mulberry trees and silkworms. The same can¡¯t be said for silver and gold.¡¹


    ¡¸Wait a moment.  Does that not mean that Hinomoto will run out of silver eventually?¡¹


    ¡¸Well, yes, I suppose.¡¹


    ¡¸Then why has no one actually noticed something so crucial!?¡¹


    ¡¸I wonder. I¡¯m not too sure. But in the first place, isn¡¯t Hinomoto focused more on warring for territory instead of trade?¡¹


    Nobunaga-san wasn¡¯t only smart and well-educated. He also had great intuition.  He was able to become aware of the inherent problems with the Nanban trade just from listening to my words.  Well, maybe he just weighed the importance of silver and silk and concluded that silver was a lot more important though.


    ¡¸The Nanban traders also make sure not to let the prices of pepper and sugar fall.  Hinomoto is akin to an ignorant farmer who is unaware of the vastness of the world and is easily taken advantage of.¡¹


    ¡¸Kazu, could it be that your words normally were not supposed to reach the ears of the people of Hinomoto?¡¹


    ¡¸Perhaps. I don¡¯t really mind though, so it¡¯s fine.¡¹


    There were no rules for trade in this era.  Whoever takes the most advantage of another is the ultimate winner.  Besides, buying at a low price and selling high is the basis of doing business.


    The Nanban trade will continue to flourish at this rate, but the people of this era probably don¡¯t even see the problems that will result in the unrestricted outflow of so much copper and silver.


    In fact, the missionaries, who will eventually come to Sengoku-era Japan later on, were also sponsored by the Kingdom of Spain and participated in business in various ways.


    ¡¸This matter. It is not something to discuss about while sitting on the porch and drinking barley tea.¡¹


    ¡¸I¡¯m just a single merchant.  How you would make use of all the information you have learned from this discussion will be up to you, Young Lord.¡¹


    ¡¸As long as we cannot produce silk on our own, there is nothing that can be done, correct?¡¹


    ¡¸Well, roughly speaking, that¡¯s right. You can probably produce silk and cotton locally if you wanted to. But nobody has any thought of doing so currently, right? With all the warring going on, I mean.¡¹


    Nobunaga-san¡¯s expression turned serious due to the possible dangers of Nanban trade.  I wonder if he¡¯s already considering Tenka Fubu at this stage? Well, it¡¯s true that the current situation wasn¡¯t a laughing matter though.


    ¡¸¡­¡­Kazu, serve under me.¡¹


    ¡¸What are you saying so suddenly? I¡¯ll get angry. Why would you want someone you know very little about to serve you? And first of all, there¡¯s nothing for me to gain in serving you.¡¹


    Nobunaga-san turned silent for a while. After some time mulling things inwardly, he suddenly blurted out something so ridiculous.


    His retainers and Elle and the others ended up getting surprised by his sudden offer and became even more surprised when I turned Nobunaga-san down.  C¡¯mon, guys. It¡¯s nothing to be so surprised about.  It was just something that came up in the middle of a chat after all.


    Even so, what made him come to such a decision in the first place?


    ¡¸This Hinomoto needs someone to unite it under one banner. Do you not think so?¡¹


    ¡¸Well, I suppose. Hinomoto has been embroiled in constant wars for nearly ninety years after all.¡¹


    ¡¸I have been thinking about it for a long time. Just why are we in a state of constant wars? When will this all end? Will it even ever end in the first place?¡¹


    Was this kid actually serious? He did seem like he was taking things quite seriously.


    ¡¸Should someone not stand up to put an end to it once and for all?¡¹


    ¡¸And you will be the one to do so, Young Lord?¡¹


    ¡¸That is my intention.  But I have no idea how to go about it. However, you do know of a way, do you not?¡¹


    ¡¸I¡¯m just a country bumpkin raised on a small island chain though.¡¹


    ¡¸That is not so. You people are ones who are knowledgeable about the world outside of Hinomoto.¡¹


    ¡¸You do know that in order to create a new order, the old one must be destroyed, right? The road you are trying to tread will be a path to hell. You will probably earn the ire of many. It will be to the point that you would likely end up in hell when you die. And even if you do succeed in conquering the world, it is still not a given that the ones who will ultimately end up ruling that unified world will be the Young Lord or the Oda clan.¡¹


    ¡¸I do not mind. We were originally the clan of a magistrate serving under the shugodai in the first place. I would be more than content if my children or grandchildren can inherit even half of Owari.¡¹


    ¡¸Well, I¡¯ll be.¡¹


    He really looked like he was serious.  However, right now, Nobunaga-san was just a young clan heir apparent who¡¯s ridiculed as a great fool. One normally wouldn¡¯t take such a person seriously.   It sounded so absurd after all.


    However, we did want to establish a place for ourselves in the general area.


    I don¡¯t think it would be a bad idea to serve under Nobunaga-san and establish a territory to call our own somewhere around the mainland.  This sure is a pickle.


    ¡¸I need you all. You who have detailed knowledge of Nanban and Ming. I need the wisdom of those not from Hinomoto.¡¹


    ¡¸Hmm. I don¡¯t mind lending you a hand, but do I really need to serve as your retainer? Honestly, I¡¯m no good with such formalities.  How about I simply remain as your personal merchant?¡¹


    ¡¸That will probably not be enough. We are going to create a new world. It is not like you all need to become samurai. Rather than that, I need you all to show the samurai your way of thinking and your way of life that is so different from their own.¡¹


    Well, he sure is forward-thinking.   However, there would probably be quite a lot of difficulties implementing his ideas.  People see things differently depending on factors like gender, social position, and age.  What Nobunaga-san envisions for Hinomoto may not be what the current rulers of this era wish to see.


    ¡¸People probably call you a great fool because you spout things like that so easily.¡¹


    ¡¸I do not mind being called some great fool. The current ways of the samurai will never unify the world.¡¹


    ¡¸What do you think, everyone?¡¹


    Looking at things objectively, it indeed wasn¡¯t a bad move to enlist us who were familiar with foreign countries and trading under Nobunaga-san¡¯s banner.  But he really might seem like a great fool to those who weren¡¯t familiar with history and didn¡¯t come from the future like us since he was spouting stuff like unifying the world even if he hasn¡¯t even inherited the position of the head of the Oda clan.


    ¡¸We don¡¯t really mind on our end.¡¹


    ¡¸Alright then. We will serve under you, Young Lord.¡¹


    I asked Elle and others for their opinions first before making a decision.  They tended not to openly oppose my decisions, but judging from their expressions, it looked like they really didn¡¯t have any problems with it.


    The world, huh?  If we lent our power to Nobunaga-san, the Toyotomi government, and the Tokugawa shogunate will probably not come into being.


    Even so, us becoming official Japanese citizens will be the most suitable way to establish a territory of our own on the mainland.   Also, I was originally a Japanese citizen anyway.


    Nobunaga-san was also a rather pleasant young man who had big dreams, quite unlike the picture of him that was painted in the history books.


    However, the glimpses of his rebelliousness and innovative ways of thinking were characteristics that many in this era might not deem appropriate or appreciate.


    ¡¸Oh, right. You will now become a samurai.  If so, then you will need a surname.  I shall grant you one then. ¡­¡­How about Kuon? Kuon Kazuma.¡¹


    Nobunaga-san seemed a bit surprised by our abrupt acceptance of his offer, but he quickly regained his composure. He then suddenly coined a last name for me.


    To be honest, I would have liked to coin my surname on my own, but¡­¡­ As expected, this guy was probably quite a genius.


    ¡°Kuon¡± was originally a Buddhist term.  It meant ¡°eternity¡±.  It also encompassed the distant past and the far future.


    I also coined the name of my very first gynoid, Elle, from the word ¡°eternal¡±.


    ***


    Side: Oda Nobunaga


    I was blissfully unaware.  It never even crossed my mind that Hinomoto might be being preyed upon by the merchants from the distant Nanban and Ming.


    But it was possible for one to come to such a conclusion if they gave some more thought to the matter.  Anyone would wish for the prosperity of their own homelands. Furthermore, there was no reason for people living outside of Hinomoto to consider this nation¡¯s benefits when conducting business.


    Were the merchants in Hakata and Sakai unaware of this? Or were they aware but chose to do nothing about it? What are those from the court thinking?


    As I thought, I had no choice but to take action myself.


    Listening to Kazu¡¯s words made me understand.  Hinomoto and I were akin to nothing but ignorant farmers.  Learning about things was not enough.  If I do not recruit people who have knowledge of the lands beyond the sea, I will never be able to live a life different from those of the other samurai.


    They were different.  Kazuma and the others were truly different.  Their viewpoints, way of living¡­¡­ Everything was different.


    I wonder what my father would say? I had now taken the owner of a Nanban ship under my employ.  I do hope he will not have any objections.


    ***


    According to the¡ºOda Unification Chronicles¡», Oda Nobunaga personally came to Tsushima and recruited Kuon Kazuma, who was visiting Tsushima at the time, as his retainer.   It was also written that the Kuon family name was granted to Kazuma by Nobunaga himself.


    The events of Nobunaga visiting Kazuma three times before formally welcoming him as a vassal was widely depicted in various novels and period dramas, but this was actually a fictional detail that was added in later retellings.


    It was said that Nobunaga himself did not disclose the details of these events except for saying that he was blessed with heavenly luck, and Kazuma himself did not say anything about the matter either and merely laughed it off.


    However, Ikeda Tsuneoki, who was present during the historic meeting, was quoted saying that the conversation between the two at the time sounded incomprehensible to him, which has become a topic of fervent discussion among many researchers and historians in later generations.


    Also, in the¡ºKuon Family Chronicles¡», it was said that Kazuma came to Owari in search of new business partners after he had inherited his family¡¯s estate in the Kuon Islands.

 CH 11

    Side: Kuon Kazuma


    ¡¸Now then, we have to think of what exactly we¡¯re gonna do after becoming retainers.¡¹


    The matter was quite sudden, but since we¡¯ve already decided to serve as Nobunaga-san¡¯s retainers, we¡¯ll have to think up plans for the future.  I decided to immediately consult with Elle and the others.


    ¡¸I think we need to manufacture coins first.  One of the problems that need to be dealt with in this era is the lack of good-quality coinage.¡¹


    The first thing Elle suggested concerned money.  Well, it¡¯s true that the coins currently in circulation weren¡¯t of very good quality.  We managed to obtain money early on in order to do some shopping in the market, but we were surprised to find a lot of bad coins that were either too worn out, chipped, or just badly smelted.


    I have already read about such a matter in historical e-books, but I was still quite appalled when I saw just how bad it was in person.  Even their monetary value wasn¡¯t fixed.  Heck, there isn¡¯t even an official currency.


    The currency of this era was basically reliant on importing coins from the Ming dynasty, but it¡¯s said that the quality of the copper coins imported from there has declined.  I knew that currency materials were mined and smelted privately here and there within Japan as well.


    As a result, the economy can be said to have stopped functioning properly due to the shortage of currency in general and the increase in the quantity of poor-quality coins. Moreover, there was actually a theory that it was the Ashikaga shogunate itself that distributed a large amount of poor-quality currency all over the country.


    Well, it¡¯s true that manufacturing superior-quality coinage will greatly benefit the Oda clan.


    ¡¸Let¡¯s collect copper through trading and make copper coins out of it. Since the technology for processing crude copper ore in this era is still quite immature, we¡¯ll likely get some gold and silver out of them too. We¡¯ll be making enormous profits from this.¡¹


    ¡¸Cupellation huh? Yeah, we can probably do something like that even with the tools available in this era.¡¹


    We will be extracting gold and silver from crude copper ore as well huh?


    ¡¸Shall we introduce the cupellation method to the Oda clan? It¡¯s gonna be troublesome to take care of all of that with just us.¡¹


    ¡¸I think that¡¯s a good idea. Let¡¯s have the Oda clan also participate in the casting of copper coins. We¡¯ll need to train craftsmen who can handle the processing techniques.¡¹


    I see. Simply having technology was useless. You¡¯ll need to train qualified people to handle the technology as well. The problem was that the Oda clan still wasn¡¯t under Nobunaga-san¡¯s leadership. His father, Nobuhide-san, was still the clan¡¯s lord.  We¡¯ll have to demonstrate the cupellation process in order to convince him then.  I suppose we need to make some preparations for that.


    ¡¸I¡¯d like the next ship to mainly carry goods that can be used as tributes this time around. Let¡¯s also increase the number of ships we can use.  It will also be necessary to conduct trades with Emishi and Luzon.   Ten galleon-type transport ships should suffice.¡¹


    ¡¸Yeah. Just one ship isn¡¯t nearly enough.¡¹


    ¡¸But let¡¯s make sure to keep the number of our ships and our trade routes a secret.  If people who really are from Western Europe come across us, we¡¯d seem plenty suspicious in their eyes.   But smuggling is rampant in this era, so we can probably get away with deceiving them.  There¡¯s no way one person would have full control of all smuggling activities, even if it¡¯s limited to just East Asia.¡¹


    I¡¯m now a bit afraid of what the history books would say about us.  Will they classify us as a clan of Japanese pirates?


    ¡¸Come to think of it, according to the original historical records, Nobunaga-san will have a really hard time until Owari is completely unified under the Oda clan¡¯s banner. What should we do about that?¡¹


    ¡¸I think it¡¯s better not to mind how the historical records progress for the most part. It¡¯s unlikely that the events will occur in the same way in the first place. However, I think it¡¯s still necessary to make preparations for the next battle the Oda clan will undertake.¡¹


    ¡¸Oh, the one where they lost huh?¡¹


    ¡¸Yes. The second battle of Azukizaka will be taking place next year.¡¹


    ¡¸Mikawa huh? It has a poor reputation and is known for housing a lot of Ikkou-shuu.¡¹


    So, we can¡¯t really rely on the historical records huh? Does Nobuhide-san really want Mikawa that much? Personally, I think it¡¯s better to completely unify Owari first.  Well, it¡¯s not like that¡¯s gonna be easy either.  Especially in this era where social position greatly mattered.


    Anyway, I haven¡¯t even met Nobuhide-san yet, so it can¡¯t be helped.


    ¡¸For the time being, we should actively sell goods to Nagashima, and Imagawa.  Both seem quite wealthy.  If we can take control of the flow of money and goods, it will allow us to gain an advantage against Imagawa and the Ikkou-shuu.¡¹


    ¡¸It won¡¯t just end with gaining an advantage.  But we also have Sakai and Ominato to take into account, so it won¡¯t be that simple.  If we can control the flow of goods and money even if just a bit, we¡¯d also be able to collect vital information that may allow us to decide victory or defeat even before a battle even starts.¡¹


    ¡¸Engaging in saltpeter trade would be bad though. So, it¡¯s either silk, cotton, or foodstuffs huh?¡¹


    ¡¸Sake and sweets would be especially good. Let¡¯s come up with a list of tradeable goods.¡¹


    Even if it¡¯s impossible to accomplish it the normal way, we should be able to gain control of the flow of goods and money within Nagashima and Imagawa-controlled territory by making use of our goods transported through galleon ships.


    In particular, Nagashima and its Ikkou-ikki were the banes of the Oda clan.  If we do it well, we¡¯d be able to preemptively deal with those Buddhist monks.


    Well, even if we fail at that, we¡¯d still be able to enrich the Oda clan through Nagashima and Imagawa¡¯s wealth, so it was still worth doing.


    Side: Oda Nobuhide


    ¡¸Father, I¡¯ve acquired the services of a man who owns Nanban ships.¡¹


    This whelp always springs these kinds of surprises on me without any warning.  He has once again said something so outrageous without batting an eye.


    ¡¸Hou. That is indeed quite an accomplishment.¡¹


    ¡¸Yes. Their way of life and looking at matters are quite different from us samurai. Furthermore, they are quite informed about matters outside of Hinomoto.¡¹


    I knew that a Nanban ship belonging to a merchant had suddenly come to Tsushima and settled down there and that Saburo had gone to visit that merchant several times.


    However, I did not think he would actually acquire that merchant¡¯s services.  I have heard that it was his wives that were actually from Nanban, and that the merchant was born on a remote group of islands.


    ¡¸Those snacks were quite sweet and delicious.¡¹


    One day, Saburo brought me sweetened manjuu as souvenirs.


    For some reason, the sweets made by that merchant¡¯s Nanban wife possessed a sweetness and elegance that elevated them above the usual fare.


    ¡¸Father! Those people are exactly what Owari and Hinomoto need!¡¹


    Our vassals often frowned upon Saburo¡¯s usual behavior, and he has refused to change his way despite this. However, I personally think he was fine the way he is.


    Saburo¡¯s way of looking at things greatly differs from mine and the other samurai.


    ¡¸Hinomoto, is it? Do you really wish to put an end to this war-torn era with your own power?¡¹


    ¡¸Yes, that is indeed my will, Father.¡¹


    His eyes were as unfaltering as always.  I do hold high hopes for Saburo, who displayed a firm conviction and claimed that he wanted to put an end to this war-torn era.


    All men held grand dreams when they were young. However, before I noticed, I was already in the middle of my thirties.  I was already too old to chase after such dreams.


    However, if it was Saburo¡­¡­


    ¡¸Do as you please. However, be sure to inform Gorozaemon about your plans.  Only he will never betray you no matter what.¡¹


    Saburo¡¯s greatest shortcoming was his inability to understand the feelings of the others around him.


    He does indeed have his own thoughts regarding matters in that brilliant head of his, so he must find it hard to understand the thoughts of other people who were less brilliant than he was.


    Hence, I had assigned Gorozaemon as his guardian, but this whelp does not even care to tell his own guardian about his thoughts.


    I do wonder what that man who married wives of Nanban descent had shown Saburo to make him so enthusiastic.


    Mm. I believe I should meet with him at least once as well.


    Side: Ohashi Shigenaga


    I did not think the Young Lord would actually appoint Kazuma-dono as his retainer.


    ¡¸I believe I will continue to be indebted to you in many ways from now on, Ohashi-sama. I will be in your care.¡¹


    ¡¸Kazuma-dono, what exactly are you planning on doing from here on out?¡¹


    I do not know what others would say, but if I were in the Young Lord¡¯s position, I would probably do the same as him.


    After all, you would obtain the services of Nanban ships as well as extensive knowledge regarding foreign trade after enlisting Kazuma-dono.   But what would Kazuma-dono obtain in return for serving under the Young Lord? It did not seem that he particularly desired status or authority.


    ¡¸I plan to bring change to the flow of goods and money.¡¹


    ¡¸That is¡­¡­¡¹


    ¡¸I believe we can do it. After all, we have knowledge and technology from Nanban and the Ming dynasty.¡¹


    I see! This man plans to conduct even bigger business through the Oda clan and Tsushima! A change is coming.  With this man¡¯s extensive knowledge of Nanban and Ming methods, things will definitely undergo earthshaking changes.


    With his influence, Tsushima might be able to surpass Ominato and take control of Ise¡¯s sea trade.


    As I thought, this man was far from ordinary.  After all, he can make use of such a large ship at will at his age.


    ¡¸Then, allow me and the people of Tsushima to assist you in that endeavor.¡¹


    I need to grasp this opportunity immediately.  It would be too late once others realize just what Kazuma-dono was capable of.


    Interesting. Things were now getting quite interesting.  No one has ever come to Tsushima bringing such an opportunity to gain enormous profits.


    I couldn¡¯t help but look forward to how things would turn out.


    ***


    TL Notes:


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