The Sengoku Festival (An Oda Nobuna No Yabou fanfic)

Chapter 6

After maybe two-three hours, the Naramaki blacksmith with his guards and the other Ashigaru I had sent out came back with some men following them, two of them looking like they were possibly former fighters or warriors at one point.

In total, there was about twelve of them, all looking a little skeptical but as my eyes slowly drifted over the two previous men, with their looks looking hardened, I noticed that they seemed also hopeful.

"Bloody-Handed One... I have brought them." said the blacksmith as he gave a small bow and I nodded as I stood up and as I looked over them all, I watched a few go from being skeptical to becoming slightly worried.

"Thank you." I said to the blacksmith and as he went to get the armor and the weapons for these men, I looked at them all as I then said, "Alright... let me ask you all something."

"What brings you to join a mercenary company? Wealth? Fame? To be considered a hero here in Naramaki?" I asked them. "If you have, you may find it. But there is great risk if you join us."

"What sort of risk?" asked one of the hardened men.

"Likelihood of death from bandits, ronin, and other mercenary companies." I told them. "The death may come to a weapon, the bare hands of an enemy, maybe burned to death, there are many things that can kill you."

None of the moved as I then looked at the two men as I asked them, "I must ask about you two, however. You looked like veterans."

"I was once a warrior of the Useugi and my friend next to me here was once a calvaryman."  said the man.

"Does he still own a horse, by chance?" I asked as I looked at them from behind my mask.

"I do own my horse but it has been a long time since I have ridden." said the man.

"Well, it is better than nothing." I said as I then brought out my purse as I said, "Now, for the rest of you, I can pay you a fee of 25 koku if you want in. Your armor and weapons have already been taken care of."

Out of the eight men, six came forward and two left and as I paid those that came forward, I looked at the two veterans as I said to them, "I can you both 75 koku if you wish to join."

Both nodded and I paid them and as the group looked at me, I said to the veterans, "We can meet here when you are ready with your armor."

And as they nodded and left, I then looked at the men before me as I then said, "You all, come with me for your armor and weapons. Instructions will be given afterwords."

And then I marched them back into the blacksmith as my Ashigaru followed me and helped herd them after me.

When we left Naramaki, which was maybe four hours later and the sun had risen to become noon, we now numbered 16 in total.  We had about 15 spears and then the one calvary man, who was a light horseman armed with only a spear. But it was still much better than what it had been before, where it was just me, and as we marched our way out of Naramaki, I began to cycle our job through my head.

Okugawa was a village as big as Kurigawa and its layout was similar to Kurigawa, which meant that the blacksmith should be easy to find. We didn't know where exactly the bandits were, only they were heading to Naramaki and if thy did what I think they would do, they would go around Watamoto to not meet a garrison force that would certainly go out and face them.

Which meant that if we did the same, we would either meet them or, more likely, go the other way around Watamoto opposite of them. Either way, neither of our groups were likely to reach our destinations right away.