Chapter 164: Second Ring: Master of the Tokaido

Imagawa Yoshimoto was strange.

Perhaps it was a woman's natural intuition, or perhaps some other factor.

She always felt that in just the instant she raised her eyes, Uesugi Toru, who was walking toward her, seemed to have changed in some way.

Very different.

The young head of the Imagawa Clan repeatedly sized up Uesugi Toru as he walked slowly toward her, pinching her chin with her index finger and thumb.

—Could it be because Toru was simply too handsome, so that without realizing it, her mindset toward him had changed somewhat?

After all, she had never before seen such a handsome and steady youth.

The key lay in his steadiness.

Imagawa Yoshimoto greatly liked that steadiness of his—"no matter how the outside world changed, he remained immovable"—especially that faint smile like a placid lake.

It gave a very full sense of security.

"But this won't do."

Imagawa Yoshimoto thought coldly in her heart.

She was the head of the Imagawa Clan, the master of Mikawa, Totomi, and Suruga, the three provinces, a daimyo who would one day become a Tenka-bito.

Therefore, she could not harbor private feelings that could affect her self-judgment.

Imagawa Yoshimoto examined herself from a third-party perspective.

She had to ensure that no matter what means she used to win over this Onmyoji Toru, no matter how she treated him, and no matter how she appeared to the outside world—

ultimately, she needed to maintain calm judgment from beginning to end, so that she could maximize the utility of Toru, an Onmyoji rarely seen in the world.

As for those romantic affairs, it was not too late to discuss them after she became a Tenka-bito.

After a thorough self-examination, Imagawa Yoshimoto let her heart return to calm.

Then she said to Hattori Hanzo, who was kneeling on one knee before her and happened to be looking toward the rear,

"Hanzo, this is the Onmyoji Toru I mentioned earlier; no need for avoidance, it just so happens he can listen too."

After speaking, Imagawa Yoshimoto smiled and waved at Uesugi Toru, pointing to the small rattan chair beside her and saying, "Mr. Toru, please take a seat quickly."

Uesugi Toru, who had stayed in the gray "Time Stop" state for quite a while until all "Transmigration Aftereffects" had disappeared before coming over, said nothing more.

He directly sat down beside Imagawa Yoshimoto under Hattori Hanzo's indifferent gaze.

The girl then lightly curled the corners of her lips, raised her hand toward Hattori Hanzo, and said,

"Continue speaking; speak in detail and as fully as possible, do not miss a single detail if possible, and please specially mark any uncertain information."

Hattori Hanzo, wrapped in black, silently nodded.

He lowered his head, recalling the image of Uesugi Toru deeply imprinted in his mind.

—Onmyoji Toru.

In the instant he looked at him just now, his aura suddenly became this much stronger; was this a show of intimidation?

Many pieces of information related to Uesugi Toru suddenly surfaced in Hattori Hanzo's memory, and naturally he also recalled what his lord Matsudaira Motoyasu had told him a few days ago.

Toru was undoubtedly an Onmyoji with rich methods.

But upon observing him, he saw beneath those thin clothes a full body of muscles possessing both strength and explosiveness.

Moreover, the skin all over his body seemed to have undergone special muscle forging; perhaps even ordinary swords and blades could not necessarily cut through.

Hattori Hanzo even discovered that a continuous flow of qi swirled around Toru's entire body, seemingly the "Internal Qi Circulation" that only a samurai who cultivated to the extreme depths could achieve.

Was this an Onmyoji who "could only rely on Yin-Yang Techniques and shikigami, with a fragile body"?

—This Toru was absolutely not as simple as he appeared.

He had to tell his lord.

Hattori Hanzo finished his thought, and with his head still lowered, spoke in a hoarse but clear voice: "This riot was mainly caused by local warlords in Mikawa Province rebelling."

Imagawa Yoshimoto raised her eyes and gave an affirmative sound.

"Again, those people from Okudaira, Saigo, and Toda?"

This bunch of bastards had just rebelled a year and a half ago, and she had easily suppressed them.

She muttered somewhat doubtfully: "Could it be that my punishment was too light, too merciful?"

"These past days, at most I merely let those Mikawa country samurai and Owari wear each other down, yet I didn't even change the tax revenue."

Imagawa Yoshimoto concluded: "This makes no sense for a rebellion doomed to fail to occur."

"What about the Matsudaira Clan? Are they just going to watch?"

She continued to ask.

Uesugi Toru did not speak, merely collecting and organizing the current information first.

He heard Hattori Hanzo answer: "The Matsudaira clan, along with their vassals the Sakai clan and Honda clan, though they took slight measures, were mostly indifferent; besides reporting upwards, they acted as if nothing had happened."

Doing some surface work showed their attitude, yet they would not be overly targeted by local warlords afterward.

—If it were not for Matsudaira Motoyasu still being held as a hostage of the Imagawa Clan at Sunpu Castle, presumably the Matsudaira Clan would also have a considerable chance of joining this riot in the Mikawa Region.

Imagawa Yoshimoto heard the Matsudaira Clan's practice, which could almost be called outward compliance and inward defiance, and did not become angry; instead, she asked the two most important words regarding this incident,

"What about the 'Great Demon'? What is the situation with the Great Demon? What did the Dharma Master of the Pure Land True Sect on the Mikawa side say?"

Hattori Hanzo: "News about the Great Demon was transmitted from that Dharma Master's mouth."

Imagawa Yoshimoto said nothing more; she narrowed her eyes and fell into thought.

Uesugi Toru, on the other hand, raised his eyebrows somewhat surprised—Pure Land True Sect; these four words left a relatively deep impression on him after he had crammed some knowledge of the Sengoku Period beforehand.

Because the predecessor of Hongan-ji was the Pure Land True Sect.

Moreover, Buddhism in this era seemed to directly participate in the struggles between daimyo, whether in politics, economy, or military domains.

There had even been incidents where Buddhist sects dispatched warrior monks to aid daimyo.

However, these Buddhist sects were not like samurai who would shout something like "loyalty," swear allegiance to a certain daimyo, and follow him unwaveringly down one path.

For instance, even now the Pure Land True Sect still falls within Imagawa Yoshimoto's domain and is nominally her subordinate.

But once Imagawa Yoshimoto declines or falls, the Pure Land True Sect will immediately be poached and become a sect under another daimyo.

For example, in the original timeline, after the defeat at the Battle of Okehazama, there were sects that became Oda Nobunaga's subordinates...

Ah no, that one is completely impossible.

Because Oda Nobunaga would only kill, kill, kill, slaughtering that flood of Buddhists almost to a clean sweep.

Uesugi Toru recalled the knowledge he had read and summarized it briefly—

These sects scattered across various places in Japan, all different from each other, their only similarity is probably the pursuit of profit.

Money, crafts, weapons... whatever it is, as long as the price is right, they can definitely be hired to help.

When it comes down to it, the vast majority of monks and Buddhists in this era are merely people who changed identities to make a living.

Therefore, the Pure Land True Sect's head priest bluntly stating that the Mikawa turmoil is due to a great demon's machinations — the intention behind it is still worth considering.

He looked again at the task prompt that had popped up earlier—

【Please note, the Main Quest Second Ring · Lord of Tokaido has been unlocked!】

【Lord of Tokaido: Raise the Imagawa clan's kokudaka to two million koku, or occupy more than one-third of the provinces of the entire Tokaido.】

【—First Bow of Tokaido? Great Daimyo of Tenka? These empty titles don't matter at all; I only want to grasp Tenka in my hands.】

【Task time limit: None】

Compared to the Main Quest First Ring which could be completed no matter what, the Second Ring's requirements and difficulty have increased exponentially.

—Make Imagawa Yoshimoto the de facto master of the entire Tokaido.

The meaning conveyed by these five words "Lord of Tokaido" is just that simple and direct.

But which daimyos are on the Tokaido?

—"Tiger of Kai" Takeda Shingen, "Lion of Sagami" Hojo Ujiyasu, and even the future Oda Nobunaga who defeated Imagawa Yoshimoto and was later called the "Sixth Demon King".

And the first two are currently the Imagawa clan's allies.

Therefore the condition "occupy more than one-third of the provinces of the entire Tokaido" hardly needs a second thought — it is absolutely impossible to achieve.

Naturally, the target falls on increasing the kokudaka.

So...

Uesugi Toru's gaze shifted slightly.

How much can be squeezed out of the Pure Land True Sect, which definitely has ample oil and water on it, is something that can be properly negotiated.

Conveniently, this Mikawa turmoil is an opportunity.

However, Imagawa Yoshimoto seems to have spent a long time in a temple since childhood; to avoid losing favor, he still needs to probe her attitude.

Uesugi Toru looked at Imagawa Yoshimoto, who wore a cold face with slightly furrowed willow brows, and suddenly realized.

—There are a heap of Buddhist sects in this Warring States era; the temple Imagawa Yoshimoto stayed at most likely has nothing to do with this Pure Land True Sect.

I'm afraid she herself has long been thinking of ways to uproot this Pure Land True Sect that keeps siphoning oil and water from her territory, openly and secretly.

Only perhaps she was stopped by the local warlords of Mikawa joining forces, so she couldn't act.

Thinking up to here, Uesugi Toru immediately spoke: "Lord Imagawa, perhaps you could let me go to the Pure Land True Sect to test the waters and see if the so-called great demon matter is true."

His words interrupted Imagawa Yoshimoto's thoughts.

The girl had just raised her head when she heard Uesugi Toru say meaningfully: "If that great demon is unexpectedly hiding within the Pure Land True Sect..."

Imagawa Yoshimoto was slightly startled.

The next moment, she realized the implication behind Uesugi Toru's words, so she pursed her lips, yet still could not hide the joy showing on her face.

"Then I shall follow Mr. Toru's words..."

But just as Imagawa Yoshimoto finished speaking, another cold male voice came from not far away,

"—My lord, you are perhaps a bit too trusting of this Onmyoji Toru."

Before this voice appeared, Hanzō, who had been kneeling on one knee before the two, had already vanished.

Uesugi Toru followed the sound with his gaze and saw a youth with a rugged face, strong build, wearing a sakayaki hairstyle, whose height actually reached nearly 1.7 meters.

This family crest, seems a bit familiar.

He searched his memory for a while and finally found he seemed to have seen this family crest at the genpuku ceremony.

According to what Shiraishi said at the time, this seems to be a fudai retainer directly serving the Imagawa clan, Asahina?

But the one wearing clothing with this family crest at the genpuku ceremony was a middle-aged man... though his appearance looks somewhat similar to this youth.

That youth stepped forward, walked to a short distance before Imagawa Yoshimoto, and first performed a complete zarei with utmost respect.

The so-called zarei refers to the etiquette Japanese samurai of the Warring States period would perform for their own lord in most situations — they must remove the uchigatana at their waist, then sit properly and bow, similar to kowtow next door, still very solemn.

Imagawa Yoshimoto has always valued etiquette and conduct between herself and her subordinates, so the youth's bow perfectly blocked all her scolding.

She pouted, tone slightly dissatisfied as she asked,

"Taichou, what do you want to say?"

Asahina Yasutomo, sitting properly in the pavilion, didn't even glance at Uesugi Toru beside him.

He said seriously,

"My lord, in just ten-odd days you want to dispatch this person to conduct such important diplomatic work — is this not a bit too rash and arbitrary?"

Imagawa Yoshimoto frowned at this.

This guy Taichou... has long been saying she relies too much on her teacher in everything everywhere.

Clearly a warrior who can't even recognize all the big characters, yet always pointing fingers at her, and now he actually comes to say her arrangements for Tetsu-kun are problematic.

Tch.

The girl looked at the righteous-faced Asahina Yasutomo, and thinking he probably still feels his remonstrance was very timely, a faint anger rose in her heart.

But whether it is Asahina Yasutomo or his father Asahina Yasunaga, both are core retainers with immense merit to the Imagawa clan and to her.

Regardless of what she thought, she could not chill the hearts of this group of retainers.

Moreover, those Elders who had never seen the world had an even worse impression of Tetsu-kun.

They were dissatisfied with the generous salary she gave, yet constantly spoke of kicking this fraud who played the god and ghost out of the Imagawa Clan.

If she let the retainers close to her likewise come to hate Tetsu-kun, many things would become difficult to handle afterward.

She had to think of a way...

At this moment, another rough voice rang out from the previous position,

"What are you saying to the Lord, you brat! Lord Tetsu's strength and wisdom were witnessed by all on that day!"

Under Uesugi Toru's gaze, the middle-aged man he had seen earlier at the Genpuku Ceremony hurried over, arrived behind that youth, and immediately said in a loud voice,

"This honorable Lord Tetsu is a Great Onmyoji personally recognized by the Lord! An expert who can control Heavenly Thunder!"

These words made Uesugi Toru's goosebumps rise — the title of Great Onmyoji was one he still could not bear by a long shot.

Asahina Taichou did not reply directly, but his face was full of disbelief.

People are always full of doubt toward things they have never seen; even a sage of vast learning cannot avoid this.

Moreover, standing before Asahina Taichou was an Onmyoji with almost no record in the entire Sengoku Period.

His doubt was only natural.

But Imagawa Yoshimoto was already getting irritable — Uesugi Toru could clearly tell just from the corners of her slightly narrowed eyes.

So Uesugi Toru took the initiative to stand up, smiling as he asked the seated Asahina Taichou,

"Then I wonder, Lord Asahina, what would it take for you to acknowledge me as a qualified Onmyoji?"

Asahina Taichou was stumped by the question.

He merely felt that this unknown youth of extraordinarily handsome appearance had suddenly approached the Lord, and was swiftly beloved and trusted by the Lord, even to the extent of coming to check on this youth every morning.

In this, there definitely existed some other clan's conspiracy or shady dealings.

And he had come precisely to awaken the Lord, to expose this conspiracy!

Asahina Taichou completely did not expect this "thief" Uesugi Toru to take the offensive.

The young warrior gazed up at this face that could be called bewitchingly beautiful, and thinking that this fellow called "Toru" had actually won the Lord's favor relying solely on this one face, he surprisingly felt a pang of jealousy.

The rumored Onmyoji can indeed rely on terrain to cast some trivial minor spells, such as raising mist within a small area — Asahina Taichou was clear on this.

But as for using Heavenly Thunder to exorcise demons? And what about summoning and dismissing at will a Giant Wolf Dog Shikigami comparable in height to a person?

What a joke!

If you're going to fabricate lies, at least make them more believable!

If those monsters, gods, and Yaoguai truly existed, he should have been defeated and killed by enemy Onmyoji long ago.

Asahina Taichou let out a heavy breath, likewise stood up, and with a faint disgust and scrutiny faced Uesugi Toru eye to eye,

"Then I ask Lord Toru to come with me to meet the Elders who likewise harbor doubts about you."

Uesugi Toru laughed upon hearing this.

So the ill-intentioned visitor was waiting for him here.

He bowed slightly to the young woman: "Lord Imagawa, Toru will go and return at once."

"If you are interested, you may also come along to watch."

Imagawa Yoshimoto's face showed apology; after a light sigh, she nodded.

"Then, please lead the way, Lord Asahina."

Seeing his confident appearance, Asahina Taichou recalled the "Toru's methods" the Elders had spoken of, and coldly snorted in his heart.

— Just let me, before the Lord, ruthlessly expose the true face of this "Onmyoji" who deceives the world and steals fame!

End of Chapter