Chapter 14: A Man
A Man felt she had slept a very comfortable and long sleep, warm and secure, as if back in her mother’s embrace. When she slowly woke up, she saw the room filled with golden dust, and it seemed to be dusk.
The afterglow of the setting sun slanted across her small face, making her body feel soft and her head fuzzy. For a moment, she didn’t know where she was. In a daze, a familiar male voice came from beside her: “You’re awake?”
A Man suddenly remembered last night’s unfortunate experience and tried to spring up like a carp, but a pain in her waist immediately made her control her impulse. She tilted her head to observe her surroundings while gently moving her limbs.
This seemed to be the main house they had barged into last night, and her hands and feet were not bound, but…
She looked down at the strange mat （ thin quilt covering her. It was made by Yayoi, the mother of this household, today. She had called a bunch of women to sew it together, so the efficiency was high ）. Moreover, one of her hands was wrapped in a never-before-seen, very soft white gauze, emitting a medicinal smell—her hand had been injured by an electric shock, burning off a patch of skin.
Her clothes also seemed to be…
She lifted the quilt and peeked inside, instantly becoming furious and shouting at Yuan Ye: “Bastard, how dare you… how dare you…”
She was dressed as a boy, but was actually a girl. Now that her clothes had been changed, she seriously suspected her purity had been compromised.
These Samurai and Court Nobles are very perverted; she had wandered the world for many years and knew this well!
Yuan Ye was fiddling with a pile of small trinkets he had found on her at the table and casually said, “Don’t rush. Yayoi… well, the daughter of this family, changed your clothes for you. Your previous clothes were smelly, so they had to be changed.”
It was indeed Yayoi who changed her clothes. But before changing them, he had already discovered her gender was not male during the search. Her sharp voice was not entirely due to being a child.
Of course, to avoid further upsetting her, he wouldn’t mention these things. He’d just pretend they never happened!
A Man gradually calmed down and looked at Yuan Ye, asking, “You’re not going to kill me?”
“No one intended to kill you. Why were you in such a hurry to escape!” Yuan Ye indeed had no such intention, especially after replaying the scene at the time. He became even more certain that these three people were not a group—the two River Pirates moved stealthily to steal, and at most would slit his throat, while A Man rushed in without hesitation, likely wanting to quickly backstab them and deal with the two River Pirates first, not caring if he woke him up.
Coupled with her expression and tone when she shouted, and the meaning conveyed when she played the Biwa earlier, her words were quite credible, at least logically consistent and self-explanatory.
“I don’t want to put my life in someone else’s hands, nor do I need a fool to spare my life…” A Man said half-heartedly and stopped. Mainly because she didn’t escape. If she had successfully escaped, she would probably be mocking Yuan Ye now for not killing her immediately after catching her, and for letting her yell and twist on the ground while secretly cutting the ropes. What a huge fool, worse than a Dung Beetle.
However…
She then asked curiously, “How could you believe I wasn’t a River Pirate? What if I was lying?”
“Because you’re a Ninja!” Yuan Ye had found two Fire Starters, a Bamboo Whistle, a section of thin bamboo tube for an oil lamp, a Shuriken （ meaning ‘not hard’, a primitive wilderness survival tool, claiming that with ‘Shuriken’ one could be ‘not hard’ anywhere ）, a stone-hanging rope, a piece of an unknown animal’s dried, flattened Urine Bladder, a packet of quicklime powder, and a small bag of Black Powder.
Her clothes were specially made. Although tattered, they were wrapped and hung with many things inside. The sheer amount of miscellaneous items he found surprised even Yuan Ye, making him strongly suspect she was a young Ninja. This was also the biggest reason he moved her indoors and spent a fortune treating her injuries—it was said that Ninjas generally had better access to information, and he was currently lacking systematic information about the era.
A Man looked bewildered, “Ninja? What the hell is a Ninja?”
The image of Ninjas in later Japanese history was an artistic embellishment from the Edo period. The so-called “Ninjas” described in various Storybooks were more akin to “martial artists” in Chinese martial arts novels. They had similar archetypes, but were heavily mythologized and fictionalized, far removed from reality.
Yuan Ye knew some things about this, but he was unsure what to call these people in the early Warring States period. He hoped that the word “Ninja,” coined in the Edo period, would be understood by A Man due to its pronunciation, but unfortunately, it wasn’t.
He directly retorted, “Then who are you?”
A Man hesitated for a moment. Since she had already been captured and was being treated with dignity, she decided to tell the truth, “I am A Man of the Kōka Group.”
“Kōka Group? You’re from Kōka?” Yuan Ye was slightly surprised. He had thought A Man was a local “Ninja,” but he didn’t expect her to be an imported product, and even a high-end imported product quite famous in later generations.
A Man didn’t understand why he was surprised and scratched her face, telling the truth, “Uh… I’m not from Kōka. I’ve never been to Kōka, but my grandfather is from Kōka, so I should… be considered part of the Kōka Group?”
“Then what does your Kōka Group mainly do, and who is your Leader?” Yuan Ye continued to interrogate.
A Man seemed a bit strange and couldn’t help but ask, “You haven’t heard of our Kōka Group? We’re not that unknown in Owari Province, we come here quite often!”
“I’m asking you now!”
“Alright, alright!” This wasn’t a secret, and getting beaten by Yuan Ye for it wasn’t worth it, so A Man honestly said, “We don’t have a Leader, at least not a recognized Great Leader. We’re all small groups.
Take our branch for example. When I was young… before I could even remember, the Rokkaku Family and the Azai Family were at war, and our Village was destroyed. My grandfather found me and took me with him as he wandered. He and his fellow villagers—my grandfather was from Jiangnan in Upper Kōka—were hired by people along with his fellow villagers to gather information, occasionally set fires, and spread rumors.
Other Kōka Groups are similar. They gather together by their hometowns, like Shuikou, Kaishi, Ishibe, Shigaraki, Tsuchiyama. Each has one or several groups. Some have good relations, some have bad. So, our Kōka Group is just a loose organization!”
After speaking, she couldn’t help but complain, “Actually, in my opinion, they’re all a bunch of useless people! Except for a few who are still somewhat capable, the rest are either singers, storytellers, beggars, puppeteers, or various Traveling Merchants and peddlers. They can’t even feed themselves for the next meal and wander around all day. Even Mountain Bandits and River Pirates don’t bother robbing them. They’re just a bunch of old geezers worse than dogs, even dogs despise them. Asking about this is completely unnecessary!”
Yuan Ye: …
However, this might be true. The saying “All Ninjas in Japan come from the two Kōka regions” refers to Kōka District and Iga Province.
These two unfortunate regions reportedly have very poor soil, mostly Mountain Area and clay soil, making it difficult to survive by Farming. Even a slight natural disaster or man-made calamity would lead to the entire family starving. Thus, they were accustomed to going out and selling their skills to make a living.
At the same time, these regions had a strong martial spirit. Coupled with the fact that the poor generally don’t fear death, they were excellent sources of soldiers during the Warring States period. In the later Warring States period, various Daimyo formed many “special operations units,” mostly recruiting from Kōka and Iga.
These factors combined likely formed the archetype of the later Japanese “Ninja.”
Yuan Ye pondered this and then asked A Man, “So, did you have a mission in Nagoya Castle? Who hired you?”
“The Viper of Mino.” A Man showed no professional integrity and directly sold out her employer, adding maliciously, “He wants to know the Defense situation of Shōbata Castle in Kaishi District, Owari Province, and the defensive situation along the line of Suemori Castle, Furuto Castle, Nagoya Castle in Kaito District, and Atsuta, Gokiso Castle, and Narumi Castle in Aichi District. And he’s very stingy. For so many places, he’s only willing to give one kan and five hundred mon. That old fart will eventually be choked to death by his greed.”
The Viper of Mino?
This must refer to Saito Dosan, the current ruler of Mino Province. He wasn’t familiar with the place names, and perhaps he could consider asking her to draw a Map later…
Yuan Ye pressed, “Does Saito Dosan have any intentions in inquiring about these things?”
A Man said indifferently, “Who knows what the hell he’s thinking? I haven’t even spoken to him. But the Tiger of Owari is rumored to be half-dead, and the Imagawa Family and Matsudaira Family are stirring. It’s likely that the oil seller wants to see if the Oda Family can still hold on and if he can gain any advantage. But this is not surprising. Those Important People are like that; they care about distant matters too, otherwise, they wouldn’t be alive today.”
Yuan Ye nodded silently.
Saito Dosan seemed to have started as an oil merchant and became the Shugo of Mino through Gekokujō, considered the first “Sengoku Daimyo” （ who rose to power on his own, distinct from the “Shugo Daimyo” ） appointed by the court. But what was the situation with the half-dead Tiger of Owari?
Yuan Ye felt that treating A Man’s injuries was not in vain. At least this information was very useful. She was indeed an “Original Ninja,” a professional Information Broker.
With his historical knowledge, he only knew a little about Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Tokugawa Ieyasu, and others, mostly from Games, Anime, and historical dramas, and he wasn’t even sure if they were accurate. He urgently needed to systematically understand this Era and immediately poured A Man a cup of tea to prevent her from getting thirsty and going on strike.
Then, he smiled and said, “I’m not familiar with Owari Province, and your explanation is too vague for me to understand. Tell me from the beginning, starting from the first year of the Tenbun era.”
