Ah Man felt like she had slept a long, deep, and peaceful sleep, warm and secure, as if she had returned to her mother's arms. When she finally woke up, she saw dust floating in the room, bathed in gold—it seemed to be dusk already.
The last rays of sunset slanted across her little face, making her body feel soft and sluggish, her mind a haze, not quite knowing where she was. In her daze, a familiar male voice came from nearby: "You're awake?"
Suddenly, Ah Man remembered last night's shitty experience, and tried to sit up with a kick, only to be stopped by a sharp pain in her hips and waist. That quickly kept her impulses in check—she cocked her head to look around, subtly moving her hands and feet.
This seemed to be the main room she'd rushed into last night, and her hands and feet weren't tied—but…
She looked down at the strange mat (thin quilt, actually—a brand new one Yayoi's mother had just finished today, calling a bunch of women to sew it together, finishing really fast) covering her. Also, one of her hands was wrapped in some unfamiliar, very soft white gauze that smelled like medicine—her hand had been burned by an electric shock, scorching off a patch of skin.
Her clothes also seemed…
She lifted the quilt for a peek underneath, and instantly flew into a rage, shouting at Harano, "You bastard, how dare you… how dare you…"
She might be dressed like a boy, but she was actually a little girl. Now, her clothes had been changed, so she suspected her chastity was already gone.
Samurai and Courtiers are all perverts—she'd wandered the world long enough to know this all too well!
Harano was fiddling with the pile of little gadgets he'd found on her, and answered casually, "Don't panic. The clothes were changed by Yayoi—uh, the daughter of this household. Your old clothes stank so bad, there was no choice but to change them."
It really was Yayoi who changed her clothes, but before that, while searching her, Harano had already realized her gender didn't match her disguise—her sharp voice wasn't just because she was a kid.
Of course, to avoid upsetting her any further, Harano didn't mention that. Just pretend it never happened!
Ah Man did slowly calm down, staring at Harano and asking, "So you're not planning to kill me?"
"No one planned to kill you! Why were you so desperate to run away?" Harano had never intended to—especially after replaying the situation in his head, he was even more sure these three weren't together. The two river pirates crept in to steal, maybe to slit his throat as a bonus; but Ah Man stormed in without hesitation, likely just wanting to quickly backstab someone, take out the river pirates first, and didn't care if she woke Harano at all.
Plus, judging by the way she shouted and her tone, and the vibes she gave off when playing the biwa earlier, her story seemed pretty credible—at least it made sense and held together.
"I'm not looking to hand my little life over to anyone, and I don't need some idiot to spare me…" Ah Man muttered half a sentence, trailing off—mainly since her escape didn't work out. If she'd gotten away, she definitely would have mocked Harano non-stop about how he caught her but didn't kill her immediately, letting her wriggle around shouting and cut the rope, what a colossal idiot, not even as smart as a dung beetle.
But…
She switched to curiosity, asking, "So why are you so sure I'm not a river pirate? What if I'm lying to you?"
"Because you're a ninja, right!" Harano pulled out from her a couple of fire starters, a bamboo whistle, a thin bamboo tube oil bottle, a shuriken (literally 'not hardship'—an original survival tool, legend says as long as you have a 'shuriken', you're never out of luck), a stone-hanging tripwire, a knife-like and razor-sharp iron shard, some dried unknown animal bladder, a pouch of Quicklime Powder, and a tiny bag of black gunpowder.
Her clothes were custom-made—tattered now, but full of things stashed and strung inside. He'd been shocked by how much random junk he found, and suspected she really was a junior ninja. This was the main reason he'd carried her indoors and spent real money to treat her injuries—ninja were said to be well informed, and right now he was desperate for solid information about this era.
Ah Man blinked blankly: "Ninja? What the hell is a ninja?"
The later image of the Japan ninja is all an Edo Era artistic invention—the so-called "ninja" in various tales were really more like the 'martial artists' of Huaxia wuxia stories: there were real-life prototypes, yes, but later adaptations wildly exaggerated and mythologized things, making them far from reality.
Harano knew a bit about all this. But he had no idea what these people called themselves at the dawn of the Warring States Era, hoping somehow that the word 'ninja' from the Edo Era would ring a bell with Ah Man—but sadly, it didn't.
So he shot back, "Then what are you?"
Ah Man hesitated, but since she'd already been captured and given decent treatment, she told the truth, "I'm Ah Man of the Koka group."
"Koka group? You're from Koka?" Harano was a little surprised. He thought Ah Man was a local ninja, but turns out she was an import—and one from a very famous, top-quality source.
Ah Man didn't get why he was so surprised, scratched her face, and answered honestly, "Uhh… I'm not actually from Koka. I've never even been there! But my grandfather was from Koka, so I… I guess you could say I'm Koka group?"
"So what do you Koka group folks usually do? Who's your leader?" Harano kept questioning.
Ah Man found that weird, and couldn't help but shoot back, "Haven't you ever heard of the Koka group? We're not that unknown in Owari, you know! We're here all the time!"
"I'm the one asking questions now!"
"Fine, fine!" It wasn't exactly a secret, and not worth getting hit by Harano over, so Ah Man just gave it straight. "We don't have a leader, at least not any one official leader—just lots of little teams.
Take my group, for example. When I was a baby—can't even remember it—the Rokkaku family was fighting the Asai Family, and our village got wiped out. My grandpa found me and took me wandering with his townsfolk—my grandpa was from Koka Jiangnan, he and his fellow Jiangnan people would get hired by others, help dig up intel, sometimes set fires, and spread rumors.
The other Koka guys are the same—townsfolk stick together. In places like Shuikou, Jiaxi, Ishibashi, Shinetsu, and Tushan, there's at least one group, sometimes more. Some get along, others don't, so really, Koka group is just one really loose organization!"
She finished, then couldn't help but start ranting, "But really, if you ask me, they're all a bunch of useless losers! A few are good for something, but most of us are just wandering singers, storytellers, beggars, or puppet shadow show players—some peddlers and traveling salesmen too. Always on the move, never sure where the next meal comes from! Even bandits and river pirates can't be bothered to rob us. Just a pack of useless geezers, not even dogs want them around! You asking all this is a total waste!"
Harano: …
But maybe it's true. The saying "all the world's ninja come from the Two Kas"—that refers to Koka County and Iga Province.
Those two unlucky places supposedly have terrible soil, all mountains and gummy earth, so farming is tough. One bad year and everybody starves, so people go out busking or begging just to survive.
And both regions are known for their martial spirit. Plus, since the poor have nothing to lose, they make great soldiers—a lot of Daimyo at the end of the Warring States Era built 'special operations teams' mostly by recruiting from Koka and Iga.
Put it all together, and that's pretty much the prototype of the later Japan "ninja."
Harano mused on all this, then asked Ah Man again, "So you came to Nagano Castle on a mission? Who hired you?"
"The Viper of Minoh." Ah Man had zero professional loyalty, selling out her client instantly—and with malice. "He wanted to know about the defenses along Shoban Castle in Owari's Haixi County, Mosen Castle in Haidong County, Gudu Castle, Nagano Castle, and also Hoten in Aichi County, Mikisyo Castle, Nagami Castle… stingy old bastard only offered five hundred Wen for all of that! That cheapskate geezer's gonna end up being stingy to death."
The Viper of Minoh?
That referred to the current ruler of Minoh Province, Saito Dosan? Harano didn't recognize all those place names, but maybe he could get her to draw a map later…
He pressed for more, "Does Saito Dosan want this info for a particular plot or reason?"
Ah Man didn't care a whit: "Who the hell knows what that guy's thinking—I never even spoke to him. But they say the Tiger of Owari is half-dead now, the Imagawa family and Matsudaira family are itching for action, so the old oil seller probably wants to see if the Oda Family can still hold out, see if he can grab a bargain. Not much of a surprise, really—those big shots are all like that. Meddling in far off business because otherwise, they'd never survive this long."
Harano nodded silently.
Saito Dosan was supposedly a merchant who sold oil, rose from the bottom by sheer will, and became the governor of Minoh—the first "Warring States Daimyo" (meaning he took the post himself rather than getting it from the Court). But what was the deal with the half-dead Tiger of Owari?
Harano figured treating Ah Man's wounds wasn't a waste—these news tidbits were quite valuable. As expected for an "original ninja," a real professional information hawker.
He only had a little real knowledge of Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Tokugawa Ieyasu, and mostly from games, anime, and historical dramas—accuracy questionable. Right now, he needed a systematic overview of this era, so he poured Ah Man a cup of tea—so she wouldn't dry out and quit talking.
Then, smiling, he said, "I'm not familiar with Owari Province, and some of what you said flies right over my head. Could you start over and explain it all to me, from the first year of Tenmon?"