Through the Eyes of the Dragon

Chapter 29

Chapter 29 - The Truth

“... You take care, kay?”

Narrowing his eye at the former mercenary, Masamune gave Daichi a small shove towards the ramp, basically done with his teasing for the time being. “Just move your ass and hurry up with the saving,” he scoffed impatiently.

As planned, they had docked near the peace clearing, where Takatora, Riichi, Aki, and Daichi were now to depart for Ignis. While Akifumi had just bowed his head respectfully and Riichi saluted his lord rather dramatically, Takatora exchanged a few words with Kado prior to his departure, and Daichi had taken the liberty to unboard last, his curious amber gaze now fixated upon his leader.

“Indeed I shall. But before that... I have something I need to ask you real quick. I’m not the only one who has been hiding important information... so I just want you to answer me one question. Prior to your birth, your father Terumune had hired Magoichi to rescue one of Saitou Dousan’s sons so that he could be utilized as a sort of… political prisoner. I know this from reading some of the military records from the library... However, I wasn’t able to finish, as Natsuki rudely interrupted. Therefore, I have been meaning to ask if you happened to know who this potential ‘brother’ of yours could have been,” he inquired with a smile, doing a small twirl to face him.

Masamune scowled at this questioning, seeing as he would actually have to think about this one. The guy was asking him about events that happened before he existed; why couldn’t he just ask Kojurou or some of the other oldies?! ... Then again, that kind of information was kind of top secret... Stupid sneaky mercenary... He honestly wanted to keep that bit of information to himself, as the sheer thought of having him as a potential brother was partially sickening. Then again, everyone else was watching now, so to lie or avoid the question could reflect badly.

“... Saitou Tatsuoki, Dousan’s youngest. Had Magoichi not taken the child for himself, I technically would have had a brother that was four years older than me... Amusingly, that’s about how old you are, huh? And oh, I wonder. You also happen to be adopted... And Magoichi’s son…” he sighed nonchalantly, eye lighting up as a flash of shock came and left the mercenary’s gaze.

Eyes now sunken to the ground, Daichi was silent for a while, now realizing why the Dragon had kept quiet about it. Prior to the power struggle in Azuchi that ultimately lead to Azai’s supreme reign, Azuchi was ruled by a monarchy, or more specifically the Saitous. Hence, due to their royal status, a marriage between Dousan’s sister-in-law, Nana, and Acqua’s Chōsokabe Kunichika was established not only to allow them to maintain their positions, but also to tighten the bonds between their two kingdoms.

“... Wait... This... this guy’s... of royal blood?!” Tsuru exclaimed, staring at Daichi with wide eyes. For a girl who often came off as a ditz, at least she seemed to be able to comprehend blatant facts...

“Interesting...” Kado purred, suddenly looking very pleased with the information he was indirectly being given, “So then, not only did Taka fall in love with a Noble of all people... Should we fail to unify Sengoku but still defeat Oda, we can return Azuchi to its monarchical state... that is, if Motonari isn’t itching to take back his position...”

Now it was Daichi’s turn to freak. “Wh... wait... hold on... this is... you’re not fucking with me for once?!”

“Shouldn’t I be the one saying that?!” Masamune retorted almost immediately, a tad ticked off by this sudden show of denial. The man was always in search of knowledge, was he not? Or had Magoichi raised him in a manner that he would want to know everything BUT himself?

Stepping down from the main cabin, Shun stalked over to pat his comrade on the shoulder, somehow pitying him. “Yo man, that makes us cousins then. ... Not that we needed anymore guys in our family,” he sighed with a shake of his head.