Daimyo's Mansion.
A man in his fifties, with a full head of silver hair but still handsome, was nervously reading the script in his hands over and over.
He was the "Great Counselor" in the Daimyo's bureaucracy. His main job was to convey the Daimyo's decrees and review government orders. In simple terms, he was the head of the propaganda department, in charge of both internal and external communications.
The Great Counselor had worked honestly and diligently his whole life. He thought he could retire in a couple of years and return to his hometown to enjoy his old age.
But he looked down at the script in his hand and felt that things were a bit uncertain.
The Great Counselor asked the samurai who delivered the message in front of him.
"Are you sure you want me to say this?"
The samurai said coldly, "This is the decision of the lords."
Not "lord," but "lords."
This indicated that it was the result of discussions among the major noble families.
The news of the Akatsuki organization's assassination failure had already returned. The major families knew that Linto was wandering around Kyoto with Oda Ieyasu.
The families sent out their private samurai and ninja armies to encircle and intercept Linto and his companions. On the other hand, they planned to act swiftly and decisively to settle the matter.
Cheers came from the crowd outside.
The parade float that started from the Water Source Shrine, surrounded by commoners, arrived in front of the Daimyo's mansion, waiting for the Daimyo to come out and deliver his annual speech.
The elderly Great Counselor stood up.
"Then I'll go now."
He looked back with every step, hoping that the samurai delivering the message would call him back.
But behind him was silence.
The elderly Great Counselor sighed softly in his heart, knowing that this matter had fallen on his shoulders and he couldn't avoid it. He braced himself and walked in front of Maxi Wind, unfolding the document in his hand.
"The Daimyo's office announces to the world: Daimyo Oda Ieyasu has unfortunately been harmed by villains and passed away suddenly tonight—"
Like Morgan Freeman, a deep, magnetic voice echoed through the streets with the help of Maxi Wind. The smiles on the faces of everyone who heard this sentence froze.
They couldn't believe their ears.
Oda Ieyasu, the most diligent Daimyo in hundreds of years, who had won the love of countless people in just half a year since taking office... died?!
The Great Counselor paused, meeting the gaze of the commoners. His legs felt numb. He was about to continue reciting the next sentence, "The murderer, Linto, deserves to be punished."
Suddenly, a samurai rushed out from the curtain behind him.
He whispered in his ear, "Don't read it, change the script, the plan is canceled!"
The Great Counselor looked at the other person's face. It was someone from the noble families. He pinched his cheek, and it wasn't a ninja transformation. But...
What plan?
He was just an old man in charge of publicity with no real power. How would he know about the noble families' stupid plans!
Seeing that he still didn't understand, the samurai roared, "The Daimyo is 'alive'."
After speaking, he slapped the Great Counselor's hand away and disappeared back behind the curtain.
The Great Counselor opened his mouth and looked back at the tens of thousands of commoners below the stage.
This time, it wasn't just his legs that were numb.
His whole body was numb.
Seriously, what's with the kinks! A bunch of noble lords are playing tricks on this old man?
The Great Counselor was sweating profusely, desperately searching for a reason to explain. Then another person walked out from behind the curtain.
His heart skipped a beat, thinking there was some new information.
He turned around and was greeted by Oda Ieyasu's gentle smile.
"I'm sorry for the trouble."
Oda Ieyasu walked past the Great Counselor. He didn't have time to change his clothes. The bright red bloodstains on his abdomen were particularly glaring. Even though he had used Ripple to remove the poison, his face was still very weak.
But for some reason, the Great Counselor looked at Oda Ieyasu's back and had never seen the lord's back so solid and tall.
Seeing their beloved Daimyo appear, the people who had just heard the bad news cheered. Oda Ieyasu smiled and waved in greeting, brushing off the previous incident with a few jokes.
After a simple celebration of the Water Source Festival, he announced a series of reforms involving technology, diplomacy, education, and other aspects to tens of thousands of Kyoto citizens and the television stations broadcasting on both sides.
Linto and the others stood behind the curtain, listening to Oda Ieyasu's eloquent speech through the gaps.
"He's really amazing," said Kambara Hayato.
His wife had just died, and he could stand in front of tens of thousands of people with a smile and deliver a speech.
Kambara Hayato couldn't do it. Forget about his wife, he would be heartbroken for a long time if a regular cute girl went back to her hometown to get married.
"Yeah, he's really amazing," said Terumi Mei.
After Saito Ayame died, Oda Ieyasu contacted the forces she controlled and spread his influence.
Through a series of phone calls, he mutually deterred, traded, and negotiated with the major noble families, successfully "coming back to life" and establishing the reform plan he was currently describing.
Every plan was extremely beneficial to the expansion of the awakening thought. The noble families didn't want to agree, but as Oda Ieyasu orchestrated everything, each family had to grit their teeth and nod under the pressure of interests and deterrence.
The whole process took less than an hour.
"He's indeed very amazing," said Linto.
Just joining their camp could bring a dimensional core, which meant that Oda Ieyasu's support could bring significant changes to the development of the timeline.
Zabuza glanced at his three teammates and scratched his head, feeling that they were talking about different things.
…
The Water Source Festival ended successfully.
Most ordinary people couldn't understand the meaning of the reform. Many merchants, spies, and lower-level officials lurking in Kyoto had realized that something was wrong.
In the brightly lit city of Kyoto, undercurrents surged, and various pieces of intelligence flew everywhere.
The originator of all this, Linto, was sitting cross-legged on the tatami mat with Oda Ieyasu, discussing the follow-up series of plans in detail—
How to spread the reform, which people could be contacted and brought on board, which people should be suppressed, and which people should be left alone for the time being.
The chain reaction behind each reform, the inevitable positive conflicts, and how to resolve them.
This was an extremely complex task.
Fortunately, Linto had a plan in mind, and Oda Ieyasu knew the major and minor forces within the Land of Water like the back of his hand.
The two were very efficient, discussing from night until three in the morning. In five or six hours, they drafted a general action plan.
Linto took a deep breath and rubbed his temples, which were throbbing from intense thinking. "That's basically it."
"I have one last question."
Oda Ieyasu put down the pen in his hand. The following words were not convenient to write down:
"As you saw just now, many things depend on those key points and key people.
They are very smart and won't engage in direct conflict with you, but they have countless ways to delay and hinder the implementation of the plan.
I don't have any dirt on them, and I lack corresponding weaknesses. For these people... can I use assassination, seduction, or similar tactics?"
"No."
Linto's answer was very straightforward.
"Out of justice?" Oda Ieyasu asked.
Linto shook his head.
"It has nothing to do with justice. Change requires bloodshed."
"If both sides have already started fighting, then naturally any tactics are fine. But if we haven't started fighting, I don't want to use assassination."
Linto picked up the document on the table.
"What determines history is not a single person. Killing in non-war times simply replaces the enemy's leader with another person."
"We are following the trend, targeting the rules, walking fair and square, and winning openly. And..."
Linto raised his hand, and a wisp of golden flame appeared in his palm.
"The destruction of the body is too useful and too simple, but once we get used to solving problems in this way in non-war times...
Over time, we will ignore the real problems and become too lazy to think of better solutions, using killing to solve everything."
"That's not right."
Oda Ieyasu looked at the wisp of golden flame and sighed softly, "I've really taken on a troublesome task."
"Scared?"
"A little, but..."
Oda Ieyasu thought about what Linto had just said, "Also more confident."
Linto smiled. "Let's go, let's get something to eat."
"I'm not going, Hideyoshi is waiting for me to go back. He needs me."
Linto nodded.
For a five-year-old child, tonight, Hideyoshi experienced too many things. He needed his father's comfort.
"Also."
Oda Ieyasu pointed his chin outside. "Don't you have someone waiting for you too?"
Linto turned his head to look.
Through the window, he saw Terumi Mei sitting on the steps, wrapped in a thin blanket, yawning.
---
You can read 50 Chapters ahead on my
pat reon.com/GMadman