Chapter 7: The Detachment of Life and Death
"We have twenty swords and armours from the soldiers we killed. Also we have two horses but they can't ride them. So we will use the animals for the strategy I came up with. The armours are fine, the only problem is that only one or two of them knows how to wield a sword. Talking about it, they were really motivated to making bows. So now Yoichi is helping them make bows and arrows. And they are making bows and arrows like there was no tomorrow. It seems they were experts in this", Oda said while peering down the window slit eyeing the elves as they went about their business.
"I would wish for some spears. A long range weapon like a spear reduces the fear in the battle. Even a peasant can kill a warrior with a long spear", he said while chuckling little. In his mind he was imagining a line of warriors with their polearms, poised and ready to strike. That being aid he had never seen Takeko fight, not even once. She came into the world bloodied and torn, like a rabid animal fighting for its last breath but now she was like a docile bird simply waiting for something.
"Obviously you have no means to know, but Akechi Mitsuhide was killed by poor farmers while fleeing in Fushimi", Toyohisa with a smirk. He leaned back against the stone as he chuckled, to think he was conversing with the Demon Lord himself in such a manner surrounded by strange long ears. He knew nothing of this world, but perhaps he would just act as he would in their world, there was no reason to act any differently. After all he was still himself and there was no change in that.
"You kidding! Hah! That kumquat-head saw it coming! Long live the poor farmers of Fushimi! I exempt them from taxes for the next one million years!" Oda said evilly.
"Either way, Nobunaga. You seem to have lots of fun while plotting nasty stuff", Toyohisa thought aloud.
"The battle itself is only the consequence of what you did before. I believe that wars are actually waged, fought and won before the battle. Although nobody except that monkey Hideyoshi understood this truth", Oda said with a wicked yet forlorn grin.
"We didn't know why the corpses of the dead soldiers disappeared overnight", one of the elf men said as he looked at the bloodied armour.
"So it was you who gathered them!" Shara said, sweating a little. He stared at the blood drenched armour, staining the silver a crimson red. They didn't even bother cleaning off the blood nor even hiding the fact they stripped the men of their armour and their clothing. Despite their harmless looks, they were truly monstrous men. A devil disguised as an old man, an ogre disguised as a warrior, a reaper disguised as a woman and a ghost disguised as a young boy. Each individual Drifters was not something that should be of their world, and yet they were still here. These Drifters really didn't have any regard for life at all.
"Choose any gear you want. I hope you don't the blood", Yoichi said simply as if there was nothing wrong with using dead soldiers armour. Besides the blood, there shouldn't be any problem. It was just blood, a red liquid which was the vitality of life, but by itself it was truly nothing. But perhaps it would be best to not tell them what happened to the bodies of the soldiers. 'Toyohisa beheaded the bodies and buried the heads in a common tomb, which is fine. The problem is what Nobu is doing with the remaining parts of the body',
"What a terrible stench!" Olmine cried out, she cupped her nose to stop the smell penetrating any further into her nose. Her legs hurt, they had already been walking for so long and at such steep altitudes. She glanced at the three Drifters climbing upwards with ease, and despite their clothing and the equipment they were wearing she was the one who was struggling the most. Several times she had stumbled on a root or slid on wet mud.
"We have a proper burial to their heads, so we will use their bodies to our purposes", Oda continued walking on as if there was nothing wrong; he was a little anxious. He was unsure of the chemistry of this world and if he would have the sufficient materials to create what he needed. Not only that but he wasn't sure if this world's technology was advanced enough to recreate the matchlock. But if he could create the powder, then the matchlock would might just be a bonus. He suddenly came to a stop when they reached an abrupt drop on the ground level. Olmine peered down to see an amass of bodies covered in a white substance, she felt bile rise up from her stomach
"A saltpetre mound, eh?" Toyohisa nonchalantly, they had done quite a good job. Although it was mostly him and Oda who undressed the men and did the necessary preparations to create such a pit. Takeko had never seen such a mound before, and she fascinated to say the least. She leaned forward and peered down to get a better look. However she edged a little too close to the edge, and for a brief second she lost her footing but before she fell into the pit Toyohisa grabbed hold of her cuff and pulled her back. She blinked her eyes in surprise, and looked up at Toyohisa's face. He stared back at her before he pulled her back little more so she was a little further away from . "Careful", he said wryly.
"I mixed soil, grass, excrements and the corpses of those soldiers. I presume it will take some two years 'till we can get the first crystals. This is something I learned from my enemies. By the way, we have to forbid those elven villagers from entering this mountain. Or else they may get sick from diseases unknown to us", Oda said blandly whilst looking down at his handiwork. He said it in manner which was unbefitting for the atrocities he had just spoke.
"Ulp", Olmine held onto her stomach and forced the bile back down into her stomach. She averted her eyes from the pit trying to erase the image from her mind. It was the first time she had ever seen such a sight, even the soldiers from the barracks had never used corpses in such a way. To regard these dead men with families and wives as pieces of meat. It was so inhumane and so 'Offscouring' like!
"What are you going to do with the earth we dug from the bathrooms?" Takeko said in curiosity, she continued to eye the mound in fascination. One of her uncles had been a guns expert and as a child he would always show her little fire shows with a strange powder. It was only when she got older did she realize what it was and what its true purpose was. She had a clear interest for the processes and she did not hide it, she had always been a curious child. And her imagination knew no bounds and her imagination was far and wide.
"It's easy to get charcoal, but so far we have no sulphur. So we leave it as is for a moment", Oda answered back, pleased with Takeko's enthusiasm. It was hard to find a woman who had such similar interests, finding a woman like that was like finding a diamond within a desert. To few and far between. It was hard to imagine that this woman before was still unmarried, or maybe t was because of her uncontrollable nature which could never allow her to be bound to man. Olmine was not having fun, it fact she had just about enough with these crazy people.
"This is just too much! I can't believe you could do this to the bodies of those soldiers!" Olmine cried out, she just couldn't understand these people. These were living human beings with emotions and their own free-will! They were not meant to be treated like, she could accept this regardless whether they were Drifters or Offscouring or anyone else.
Oda looked at her in a bored manner, it was hard to tell if this girl had any use at all. She was whiny and by the looks of it she wasn't a fighter either. Perhaps she had skills in another area, but it was hard to say. He couldn't just judge her yet, she still had her uses and her glorious breasts. "What are you talking about? Bury them as is and the same thing will happen. Maggots will eat them and they will become dust once again. We are just speeding the process. We can't let precious resources go to waste".
"We washed and cleaned their heads. We gave them a proper burial as human beings. So, if you want to pray, pray to those heads. If you believe that shit and piss are dirty, remember that me and you are also bags of flesh, full of shit and piss inside. Do you think that the soul dwells in the shit filled flesh instead of the decently cleaned and buried heads? That would be nonsense", Toyohisa said dryly. These sorts of things were common place in Satsuma, death was a mere thing that you had to accept.
Olmine widened her eyes in shock, she turned her head to Takeko in hope that she had a different opinion. "They're dead, I only have reverance for the living, and homage for the dead, that is if I know them. These are soldiers, so we gave them a burial befitting of their rank", Takeko said in a sombre tone, shrugging indifferently.
Olmine looked at them in disbelief, she now understand them, to an extent that it is. She knew that these people which came from the other world were not to understood with, it was simply the way they were raised and the environment they were born from. The difference was a whole other world, but the main difference between her and them is not knowledge, technology or culture. But their views on life and death.
"Hey Olmineboobs", Oda suddenly said breaking the momentary silence.
"Are you so senile to mistake only the last part of my name? It's so disgusting that I can't even get mad at you", Olmine said narrowing her eyes.
"I want that yellow stinky stuff you get near volcanoes. It's something we call sulphur. That stuff smells like powdered fart. Can you get it for us?" Oda said a vindictive expression. They should have that shouldn't they. The world may be different but the fundamental were the same, that must remain the same for such a civilisation to emerge with their own individual races and cultures.
"What? Sulphur? Yes, I think it's possible to get it. But what are you going to do with it?" Olmine questioned with suspicion written all over her face.
"It doesn't matter. Just bring it to us will ya? Ask you I-don't-know-the-name organisation", Oda said with a deadpanned face. "Octotits?"
"What?" Olmine said with her eyebrows twitching, "I don't think we can do this for free. How much are you willing to pay us?"
"Shut Up!" Oda cried out suddenly reminded of their financial predicament. "I will pay you after conquering some five or six countries! Just shut up and bring the damn sulphur as soon as possible, damn it!"
"WHAT!?" Olmine screeched out. 'Honestly what were these crazy people thinking of? Earth from the bathrooms? Corpses? Sulphur? What are they planning to do?! Somebody please give me a clue!' She thought in desperation.
"You're not like those three men are you?"
Takeko looked up from her work, she looked at Mark, the youngest of the three brothers. And despite his looks, he was older then her by fifteen years.
"You mean those three idiots over there", Takeko she pointed to the sleeping Toyohisa who had a few curious elven men poking at his face with stick to check if he was still alive. Just several metres away from him was Yoichi who was flaunting his archery skills to the elves who praised him with applause and much reverance. And then finally Oda who was commanding the elves and herding them like a shepherd making himself look like a buffoon. The two brothers paused before a moment and sighed.
"I take it back", Mark said with a sigh.
Takeko nodded absentmindedly continued to shave the stick with a small knife, defining the shape more and more. She held it up to the sun to see if there were any imperfections, once satisfied she took out a premade arrowhead and attached it to the tip with a bit of twine. Wrapping around the stick and the pieces of metal she worked meticulously letting herself fall into a repetitive pattern. The two brothers simply watched in awe, her hands moved fast and rarely did she make a mistake and never once did she look up from her work.
"Pass me a few feathers", she said without looking up, holding out her hand. Marsha placed a few goose feathers already cut, Takeko took them and wedged them into the cuts at the other end and secured them with some more twine. As she worked the brothers chattered with no direction of where the conversation was going. They simply spoke what was on their mind and Takeko was listen patiently asking the right questions and politely interject to add a mindful comment. Even though her mind was actually far away, wandering and thinking of some other personal business which she had no obligation to tell anyone. But she still kept some of her towards the two boys, she paid no mind to the work though. Her hands moving automatically once stuck into the pattern.
"We heard from one of our friends that you saved their fathers life, he thanks you though he's a little to afraid to approach you. You are after all guarded by those three men quite well", Mark continued. Toyohisa and Yoichi were unaware why the fact she had come so late in the fight from the night before. Oda had found out through some quiet murmurs. Takeko had long before caught the horse but when heading back towards the village she was delayed by a wounded elven man who lay bleeding to death. She only did what she thought was right, tearing part of her dress to bandage him up and using so balm to soothe the cuts. She had quietly kept it to herself, she was quite an introvert, liking only the company of a few select people.
"That's fine by me, having someone guard your back is quite a refreshing feeling", Takeko said chuckling a little. She took a small piece of damp cloth and gently wiped down the arrow, when done she looked at her handiwork. She placed the arrow in a basket and began with the next one. She stopped for a moment to crack her neck and loosen her stiff limbs. She had been sitting in the same position for quite some time and her legs had become rather numb. She stretched her legs out, letting the stiff joints crack. She sighed in relief a she leaned back against the tree stump.
"You really don't seem like those men", Marsha said as he fiddled with a feather. Takeko took it from his hand and inspected it against the sunlight, letting the rays seep through the fine threads of the feathers.
"Being different is nothing really wrong, it just means we are individuals", she said with a smile as she stood and dusted her dress. Mark and Marsha gave her queer look before trotting off to follow her. She left her work done, the arrows were stacked up neatly and everything was packed away. She signalled so adult elves to help her take them away to be collected in the bunches near the carriages.
"Very well. Now, we will attack the village. Kill every single one of them. We won't just take our village back. We will go right to the castle of the local governor and we will kill him", Toyohisa said. His eyes narrowed at the thought, but his body thrummed in energy. He was jumpy to get to work, he had been sleeping for most of the day only waking to eat so his body was bursting with energy. And it needed to be dispersed or he might so crazy.
"W-What?!" Oda said in shock, what was this fool thinking now?! Was this fool crazy, no wait! This sort of thinking, without a plan, spontaneous and dangerous. It was perhaps what this world was lacking, if he could just harness this power.
Toyohisa indicated to Mark and Marsha who stood side by side, Takeko stood behind those two with a somewhat pitying expression. "Those two told me the reason why there are no young women in the village", Toyohisa said to Oda.
"…We elves can only have children once a year. And when that time arrives, all young women are taken to the local governor", Shara said with a pained expression.
"Oh, I see now. So they really are trying aren't they? To wipe you from this world", Oda said with a sneer.
"Recover your women and you children to be a man once again. They reduced you to slaves in this world. Now it's your turn to reduce them to slaves; in hell!" Toyohisa proclaimed loudly. "If there's something like right and wrong in this world, then right is what you are going to do now. Even if you die, you can face you ancestors and say; full of pride that you died fighting a battle. That you died protecting your loved ones. Recover you women. Recover your children. Recover you country. Recover your honour to be once again the mighty men you were!"
The atmosphere around the room suddenly thickened, it was like as if everyone was in a trance. They were entranced by this strange man's words, and they were ready to die for their pride.
"This man is indeed a military commander from the very beginning. He has the necessary power for a general fighting a war. The power to move people towards battlefield. The power called 'insanity'", Oda murmured to himself with a wicked grin. Together with this rag-tag 'army' they would bring this entire country to its knees.
I've got school, so don't blame me if I don't update as fast as you may hope.