Disclaimer: Sorry I'm late, had some errands to do during the day. Ahem, all credit goes to Shingo Nanami and フクロウ. Enjoy!

お仕事

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Part Two

Nobunaga(?) → Kasane x Ikeda

"You are really a strange girl."

Swinging on the horse, Ikeda suddenly muttered it out loud. Kasane looked at him bewilderedly.

"Eh? A-am I weird…?"

"From what I've seen, even though you're not a daughter of a samurai clan you have knowledge of swordfighting, yet you also have no common knowledge of this warring battlefield. However you still know how to read, something that farmers cannot do… I also don't believe that you have grown up as a servant either. ...Therefore, you are only seen as strange to me."

"U~n…"

It's true that in this era there were such things as warriors and poor people who couldn't read or write. She was formerly a high school student who did kendo, but even back in her world that was also quite unusual so it wasn't like she couldn't understand Ikeda's explanation.*

"What you've said also doesn't seem to be like a lie either."

"Eh?! Y-you believed me!? That I come from the future…!"

Hearing those words, she immediately peered out and leaned forward from the back to look at his face.

"It's not that I believe in everything."

"E-! Even so I'm grateful…! !"

"...More than a woman, you are more like a child."

"Huh?"

"Nothing."

Returning his gaze to the front, he returned to moving the horse forward.

Honestly since Kasane first came to the castle, Ikeda was cautious of her.

From the battle of Narumi his lord had picked up a strange girl out of nowhere.

She had no social standing like a farmer yet knew how to use the sword. She had no general understanding of this place and said and did incomprehensible things. Towards this girl, there was no one who couldn't help but be cautious against her.

To add to that when there was an eyewitness account of a young shinobi, Ikeda had more of the reason to avoid Kasane.

In the end it turned out the spy was from Mino, that's why he was able to finally talk to her like this.

As he inspected her behaviour and conduct, though it may sound rude, she wasn't smart enough to be a secret agent.

Basically once she makes her mind, she will make her move.

She is easily won over by emotions and is quickly moved to tears.

You may say that it's good to be sensitive, however she seems to be more of a reckless human who doesn't think things through.

There is certainly a limit for a young girl like her to be this active.

Plus he was less conscious of her as a woman.

The fact that she was abnormally defenseless against the people whom she trusts made her stand out.

It was clear just by looking at her interacting with Niwa and the others.

For a girl around that age to do that sort of thing, what what in the world is she… is what popped in his mind the most.

(...Well, that is none of my concern...)

"...Now that I've thought about it, just how far are we going?"

Now that she said it, he has yet to tell her of their destination; Ikeda considered whether if he should tell her or not.

"...Well when we get there, you'll know."

Hesitant to tell her the contents of the mission, Ikeda responded to her vaguely.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. It would be faster to just show it to her.

"Uwah~! Wow!"

Kasane cried out as she saw the entire city in full color.

Color buildings, dressed up women, and handsomely dressed men.

There were many stores lines up before them, compared to the previous town this seemed to be much more prosperous.

"Unlike the market I went to before, this seems to be much more flamboyant and big, huh!"

In high spirits, Kasane looked all around while Ikeda left their horse with the drayman.

"Please don't be too over excited that you would leave my side."

"I-I'm sorry…! But this was kinda amazing so I just…"

Observing her behavior, Ikeda wondered how on earth is she so clueless of this place.**

Feeling a tug on his sleeve, Ikeda felt a bad premonition. He frowned.

"Osamurai-sama. Please feel free to stay over at my place."

As expected a young prostitute was there looking up at him with fawning eyes crooning softly as she offered him her services.

"Unfortunately, I have someone…"

"Well, and where is that someone that you speak of?"

Using his eyes to trace Kasane's location, he found that she had disappeared from her spot. He had no clue where she was.

That girl…

Ikeda frowned.

There's no meaning in bringing Kasane with him if she didn't drive prostitutes away for him.

Also this territory wasn't safe.

This wasn't a place for one young girl to wander around all by herself.

"Now, shall we hurry to my shop…?"

Ikeda knitted his brow at the charm and attraction the woman gave him.

"Sorry, but I'm mana-..."

Incidentally at the same time, he felt as if he caught wind of Kasane's voice so Ikeda moved his view to look for her.

There he found her surrounded by some nasty looking, young male servants.

Waving off the woman's hand, he went straight toward Kasane.

"An innocent looking gal we have here. You're wearing Western clothes so are you a foreigner?"

"How much for one night?"

"How much? What is?"

As Kasane couldn't comprehending their conversation, the men groaned with irritation.

"Don't act dumb. Hurry up and come here!"

"Ouch…!"

One of the men violently grabbed her arm and started pulling her into one of the shops.

Kasane, not fully comprehending what had happened in that short span, only widened her eyes.

"-!"

At the same time the man's hand, the who had grabbed Kasane, was suddenly twisted and Kasane was pulled into safety.

"I-Ikeda-san?"

"This girl isn't a prostitute, she is my attendant. I ask you to hold back."

"It's a warrior, this is bad!"

"...Uu, damn."

With one glance at the two swords displayed at Ikeda's waist, the men immediately retreated.

"Goodness, what's the good of it if you're the one that's being held up. Now it seems that I'm your attendant instead."

"I-I'm sorry! But… what was that now…?"

"...I haven't properly told you what this job was about, didn't I?"

At wit's end, Ikeda place one hand over his head as he sighed.

It's true that it's his fault for not telling her what was going to occur when he brought her out here.

"Do you understand what sort of place this is?"

"Eh, uumm… a flashy market?"

"...This place is a liaison between men and women, a red-light district."

"Red light district?"

"...In other words, a brothel inn."

"... …. Eh?!"

Finally understanding his implications, exclaimed in surprise.

And looked at her surroundings more notably.

Indeed now that he told her, this had a totally different feel than the other market.

"So this is the current brothel…?"

Kasane frowned as she looked at the scenery.

"Eh, then before was?"

"They mistaken you as a prostitute and had intended to buy you."

"B-buy…"

Indeed, she felt as if the man earlier gave her a licking gaze as he grinned in her direction.

'How much?' She now understood what that question meant.

"J-just what kind of work are we going to do here? For what reason did you bring me here?"

"It was to have you be my attendant. I am not good in these places, so I believed if I brought in a female companion random women wouldn't forcibly pull on my sleeve."

"Ha…."

"My work here is to scout this territory's lord. It seems that he is a frequent visitor to this red-light district and there are plenty of rumors that say that he is preoccupied with overtaxing the specified amount our lord has issued out to him and that he has committed multiple debaucheries. I intend to check if this is true in that shop."

"Ah, so that's why we're staying over…"

"That's right. That's why I shall finish this job quickly. I don't want to stay in this town for long."

"Y-yes!"

As she said that, she quickly followed after Ikeda, who had already started walking toward their destination.

TBC

*It's pretty true here. I've done kendo for… more than half of my life Σ(・ω・ノ)ノ and the population of girls in kendo is so small compared to the boys… like if there was a tournament there would be about 100+ boys and 20~40 girls. There were so many weeks where I was the only girl in many of the practices. And many girls also tend to quit early while the guys stick around more. Kinda intimidating especially when most guys hit really hard (when you're supposed to control your hits) and also miss the armour and smack you right on the skin multiple times. Ouch.

**Knowing Kasane, she most likely didn't know that they stepped into the red-light district. In her defense, I probably wouldn't know either since I only know Yoshiwara and how that looks like. I have no clue how red-light districts during this era would look like. Maybe similiar, maybe different.

I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. Tomorrow I have to meet up with some people, so there might not be a chapter up then. Sorry about that, however, the next chapter is quite long so that's something to look forward to! So until then, I hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable weekend!