◇ ◇

"Um... unfortunately, I've never known there was such a room in itself"

It was Naotaka Iui who answered that.

Me, Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Chihime, and the three daughters of Takani Uchi, came back to the former room after leaving the rumored room called "Ghosts Out".

It should be noted that Chihime, who leapt out of the room crying out, takes care of her in the room where her inner daughter was.

The thousand princesses cried for a while, but they were relieved and tired of crying, and now they seem to sleep well.

I was relieved to see how it was going, and I left them in my room to talk to Naoto Iui about what was happening today.

Unfortunately, however, he did not know anything about this mansion.

Originally, he works for Edo Castle and is rarely in this mansion.

Now he happens to be spending time in this mansion in the wake of the popularity of Hikone Castle, but in the meantime, when he found free time, he was busy keeping up with the people in the house, and he never even checked the details of the mansion.

"But there are ghosts... it's impossible to talk about..."

Naoki-san has a strange neck.

"Hmm... I thought so too... but I could hear a woman sobbing..."

By the way, I didn't tell Naoki about the phantom I saw in that room. Because I thought talking about that would just make me look more and more suspicious.

I was Naoki, who had been thinking about it for a while, but when I saw how I was frowning, I slapped Pong and his hand.

"Okay! Then let's say that's the servant going to that room!

To Naoki-san's words, I brighten my expression all the time.

"Oh! I'd appreciate it if you would! Let's go together and check the room again!

And I decided to act with him.

Then Naoki-san came up with another suggestion.

"My brother knows best about this mansion.

Let my brother follow me. "

There can be no objection to that suggestion. I snort. And we hurried to the immediate succession of the head of the Iyi family.

………

……

As rain fell outside without a single sign of stopping, me and Iui Naoto, Naoto's brothers, Kitamata Shouxing, the head of the Iui family, and for some reason, Princess Kofi, proceeded to the deepest room of the mansion.

"Why do you have to go too?!?

Yes, Princess Kofi is swelling her cheeks.

I smiled at her like that.

"Wouldn't that be nice!

Or what? Are you telling me that you can't be a ghost, Lord Kofi?

"Hey... Lord Hideyoshi... be careful what you say"

"Hih! After all, ghosts are scarier than ghosts!

"What!! What is a 'ghost' towards a raucous young stomach!!

And so on, thanks to me and Princess Kofi, a line that goes down the corridor without a strain of tension. It is also Princess Kofi's specialty that can create this atmosphere, which I rely on. Of course, I had her follow me on this one because I can't wait to be in the air that Naoki-san shows at home, that is, breathing.

But more than that...

If my reasoning was correct, she might be able to help, because she thought so.

And at some point I even came out to the hallway where I could see the outside.

With that said, who the hell was the Kasashi no Kasashi monk I saw then...

Those two young monks, Soyo Ishida and Melon...

Then…

He showed up again...

That monk who doesn't wear a cassette...

"Who the hell is your Lord...?

I asked him from inside the room.

But...

That young monk answers nothing...

Instead he was staring at me.

That's so pathetic eyes...

And I don't feel like I'm trying to tell you something.

"Is there something you want to say too?

That's what I asked, but if I didn't nod, I wouldn't shake my neck sideways.

And he turned toward the one with the big tree that he could see ahead.

"What the hell..."

staring at its back as it kept moving away, and as I was crushing,

"Hey, Lord Hideyoshi! What are you blurring about?

And, Princess Kofi's loud voice echoed.

I panicked.

"Sorry! Nothing!

And when he replied out loud, he ran towards her back.

………

……

"Ain't nobody in the room! Don't make a scene at all!

Again she complained to me like Princess Kofi bumped her grievances against me back in the deepest room.

Surely there doesn't seem to be anyone in this room.

This time, you're looking over the room relying on the lights brought to you by Direct Inui, so you should definitely find someone even if they were hiding.

This room, which is not very large in the first place and has a qualitative interior, has no place to hide, even as it is hidden.

"And don't you cry about women..."

and Princess Kofi looks at me in a half-assed manner.

Sure, I don't hear any crying at all right now.

But earlier me and Thousand Princesses, I'm pretty sure I did hear a woman cry.

Does that mean the woman left this room after we left?

But even if you turn on the lights and look around, there doesn't seem to be a place in this tiny room where you can hide.

When that happens, there's one thing you can think of…

And I had an intuition that it might have something to do with the anecdotes of the historical facts of Naoto Iwai.

I spoke to my direct successor.

"By the way, my lord."

The direct successor replied with his eyes round to my voice, which had slowed down a little.

"Why should I?

"My direct successor has been annoyed with a gentle man who doesn't like extra life, but is that sincere?

"I'm not sure if you're kind, but you certainly don't like killing."

The direct successor replied with a bitter laugh as illuminated. It is obvious from the looks of it alone that he is an innocent man.

I started talking to him like that.

"This is what I heard, but it seems that the popularity of Hikone Castle once didn't go as far as I thought it would go."

"Yes... indeed you are right..."

At this point, did the direct line come across something… the expression darkened. Seeing how it was, his elder, Shousheng Minamata, sandwiched his mouth.

"Lord Toyotomi... it's not like I'm going to talk to you right now."

Kitamata Shousheng is an old man with no more ankles, so much as a cane, but the words were something that made him feel awesome to blackmail somewhere.

Everyone turned a blind eye to the temper, but I was rather convinced of it.

Again...

The woman is here...!

It was then. I said it in such a voice that my direct brother, Naotaka Iui, could play it.

"Wouldn't it be nice, to defend the victory?

Lord Hideyoshi, I'm interested in that conversation. Keep going.

I've never heard you talk like that. "

Naoki-san doesn't know... that I know such a story in another house is an impossible one if you think about it normally.

But I can't help it if it takes.

Not if you're worried.

Because I have to solve this' ghost noise 'right now, I don't feel that way.

I nodded to Naoki-san and kept talking.

"Sounds like the surrounding party said that the popularity of Hikone Castle is not going well because it doesn't offer a human pillar to popularity… i.e. sacrifice."

"Yep... that was certainly the case then"

"In the meantime, a young daughter, a child of popular service... did you say her name was Daisy...

She named herself the human pillar... "

"... yes, you're right..."

"So the LORD dedicated his daughter to the human pillar by putting her in a wooden box, and the popularity proceeded well…"

Speaking so far, the weak direct gavel completely interrupted and just nodded to my words.

Still, I went on.

"But... actually, the chrysanthemum was alive.

His Highness did not let anyone in the box of man-post trees, and therefore no one could die.

And while the surroundings were astonishing, I heard your direct successor said.

The construction was successfully accomplished through the efforts of everyone, including the popular service. Never by the human pillar... "

By the time we talked that far, my brother Naoki seemed to realize what it was.

"No way... brother... then again..."

To that word, the direct line is silent.

And...

I said away with a hot gaze.

"Again, there are no ghosts or anything else here.

That is, there is a woman in this room somewhere.

I don't know what the reason is, but isn't it because the Inheritance will keep the woman hidden until she shuts up to the people in the house?

Everyone on the spot's eyes grew bigger in my words.

Especially if the direct line turns your face bright blue,

"Well... that's..."

And it was obviously upsetting.

... and it was then...

Once again, in my head, the memories of the past that this room saw popped in. But this time, that figure doesn't come to my attention, only my voice can hear it in my chest.

- Sakichi, what are you doing? Get out of here!

- I don't like it! My brothers and sisters are in Kyoto, and I don't know how to live or die, and now I can't let my mother get away with it alone!

Saji... Is it the same name as Souyoshi Ishida's childhood name...

With that in mind, it was apparent from that impatient conversation that a crisis was coming to this mansion.

That this mansion has become a crisis...

That can only be one event later or earlier.

Needless to say, what happened...

The Battle of Sekigahara

And it's not hard to imagine that this conversation would be between Souyoshi Ishida's wife and her son, Sachi.

That's when... in my chest,

ood tad tad tat!!

I wondered if the intense footsteps had echoed from the hallway outside, from which I heard a loud noise.

Ma'am! Dear Saki-sama! The enemy, approximate 15,000 are approaching with Hideaki Koyakawa as the vanguard!!

Oh, my God...

- It is only a matter of time before this mansion is surrounded!! Anyway, please come in from Fahwaguchi to the castle!!

- Sagi!! Run to the castle! A castle in Mount Sawa will surely protect your Lord

- Then your mother too!

- I won't! You go alone!

- Why? Why!? Mother!

- Wasabi... promised Sang-san. Defending this mansion...

- Mother...

- You don't look like that. Your father is a man who doesn't break his cool face at all times.

Souyoshi Ishida's wife seems determined.

Sakichi said in a voice like he had given up.

- Mother... then promise me. Be sure, when I see you alive again...

- Yeah... spending time in this room again with the whole family is a frivolous' dream '...

I guess the landscape that popped into my chest then was just our 'dream'...

Everyday life… everyday it is normal for families to be on their side…

Does something so trivial become a 'dream', not normal in this day and age...

I learn chest pain.

In the meantime, Sachi said.

- Mother... I will see you again in the wake of the end of this battle, under the tree "Nantian near left"

- Yeah, let's do that.

- It's a promise! Mother!

From this moment on, there was a sight in my chest of my parents and children tearing at each other.

- Yeah... it's a promise! Sakichi, please don't let your life get crude! That's all my mother wants!

- Well, then! Please only take care of your mother's life!

- Yeah. I know... but go now... or you'll be surrounded by enemies...

- Ugh... ok... then... farewell!!

Leaving word of farewell, the footsteps of Sachi leaving this room echoed in my chest.

And when that footsteps disappeared far away...

Soo-young's wife cried out in tears.

- Oh... I can't stop worrying about the passing days, I didn't know they were so loving! He was a happy man! How can you be so sorry that you have to thank me for that...

What a painful thought.

How thoughtless was it?

The strength to protect what should be protected as a wife, even if it is lost in front of her.

Tears flow like a weir cut out of my eyes.

And...

My vision came back to the landscape.

Still, tears convey cheeks.

Memories of this room...

It's two memories: 'Dream' and 'Despair'...

Memories of Mother and Child Thinking of Family...

"Hi, Lord Hideyoshi...? How did it go...?

When Princess Kofi called out worried about how I was doing, everyone on the spot was peeking into my face.

But I didn't answer that question.

Because I had something else to say next. And at this time, I understood who the woman lurking here was and even who the young monk I saw outside the mansion was.

I sound all over the room... no, I said it out loud so I could hear it all the way outside the room.

"Nantian near left... Lord Sagi is waiting for you there!

shortly thereafter.

- Gatter!

I wondered if there was a loud noise, how the walls of the room spinning in a kurli and one woman came out.

"So... who!? What about the Lord!?

and the words of consternation leak from Naotaki Inui's mouth.

There are traces of a large burn on the woman's face, and I guess her eyes are losing light from that trick.

The woman shouted loudly as she tried to grab the sky with both hands.

"Sakiya! Sakiya!!

And...

When she saw the woman, and heard her voice, Princess Kofi uttered her name in astonishment.

"My lord!!? Isn't that my lord!!

and…