Romance of the Four Kingdoms

Chapter 42

Two weeks later news reached Lu Bu's ears that Cao Cao was making an attack on Wan Castle. At first, he thought nothing of it until Chen Gong urged him to attack from behind. Making a temporary alliance between Zhang Xiu and himself. Talks were already underway between an alliance between Lu Bu and Yuan Shu. A topic of conversation during these talks was the idea of making they're children marry. A topic that unsettled both LingQi and Mitsuko whenever they would hear the conversation whether publicly in meetings or the whispers of the common soldiers. LingQi loathed the idea of marrying someone whom she never met, however if this was the will of her father she will abide. Mitsuko on the other hand absolutely hated the idea of this though she would not admit this publicly...no matter how much she wanted to vent. Without Pang Tong helping her to calm down nothing would stop her to express how she feels.

'That son of a bitch how dare he! He shouldn't willingly be doing this.' Mitsuko vented in her private quarters with Pang Tong there. She paces down her quarters anxiously

'I understand how you feel but you must remain calm. Remember these are only just lengthy talks at the moment and there are one of many topics to discuss. Potentially she may not even get married off at all.' Pang Tong explained however that didn't help Mitsuko too much.

'Still though, he shouldn't be doing this after what he put her through. Unfeeling bastard!'

'Oh of course, I agree completely however due to his...nature he simply will not listen to us in this scenario. After all, this is just for his political gain and cares little for Yuan Shu, his previous allies should tell you that.' Lu Bu had various warlords side with him initially when he first started his journey. However once he claimed Xia Pi he slowly but surely started to abandon them when they were attacked similar to Wu Zi. Thus Lu Bu developed a reputation among the others as a betrayer, however warlords such as Yuan Shu and Zhang Xiu still wanted to keep diplomatic ties with him due to wanting to use his might for themselves.

'I know and whatever I do or say about this may make things worse and not better...I just...' Mitsuko stops herself as she sits down on her bed and looks at her hands before suddenly clenching her right hand into a fist as hard as she can.

'I just hate being so damn powerless to change anything.' Pang Tong walked over to Mitsuko and puts his hand on her shoulder. She looked up as he chuckled with his eyes closed. Mitsuko released her fist as soon as Pang Tong puts his hand on her.

'My lady, allow me to assure you, you are anything but powerless however. In this circumstance, no amount of power can overcome this. It is like a man breaking his body upon a gate, no matter how hard he tries he cannot overcome it and that's not because of a lack of strength. We just simply need to find the best way and time to use that power.' Pang Tong walked away a few steps before turning back.

'Besides I think when the time is right you'll be the only one able to help her.' They suddenly hear a war horn.

'Well looks like they're starting to depart, should we see them off?' Pang Tong questioned Mitsuko who sighed.

'Sure.' She picked up her scythe and exited the room. As she went on to the and caught some of the army just leaving through the main gate. The main part of the army would attempt to attack Cao Cao from the rear as he was going to attack Zang Xiu under the advice of Chen Gong. Only a small garrison would remain in the castle with several officers such as Mitsuko and her officers, LingQi and a couple of other non important officers. Pang Tong saw Chen Gong that almost pass through to the gate and gave him a wave. Chen Gong spotted him and looked away pretentiously with an arrogant smirk on his face. He suggested that Mitsuko and her forces would remain as a garrison force to Lu Bu which he agreed with. What he didn't anticipate was for LingQi volunteering to stay behind aswell, something Lu Bu didn't have a problem with in the slightest. Chen Gong thought this didn't matter too much all things considered. When the main army left and the main gates were closed, the castle itself looked pretty abandoned compared to a few seconds ago.