Chapter 1492 - 1154: Special

"I am, after all, only Lord Ando Shouji’s son-in-law."

On the way from the city gate toward the Tenshu, Takeda Shigetada spoke with an apologetic tone.

"This concerns the household registry of the entire Iwamura Castle. There is no way Lord Ando Shouji would bring it out just because of my one-sided word."

"But I will mediate between the two of you. To be honest, though, I also felt rather lost just now. I hope you can explain the situation in detail later. If it truly is extremely urgent, I will do my best to persuade Lord Ando Shouji."

Among the nobility, considerations of political alliances and interests weigh far more than feelings in marriages.

When it comes to crucial records concerning the whole castle, it’s not just that he is only a son-in-law—if even a blood son tried to interfere, Ando Shouji would instantly become wary.

"That is enough." Lann sincerely nodded to the young Warrior. "Thank you very much, Lord Takeda Shigetada."

"No, you flatter me." As the one being thanked, Takeda Shigetada instead bowed slightly, making Lann feel somewhat ill at ease. "If you don’t mind, just call me Habu. No need to be so formal."

The straw sandals scraped softly against the earth; the horse led by the young Warrior was snorting through its nostrils.

And the three of them had already arrived before the Tenshu.

Just as Lann had anticipated, Ando Shouji—who had tried to keep his distance and avoid contact during the day—was now standing directly on the steps of the Tenshu.

The look of delighted welcome on his face was as if he had long wanted to properly entertain Lann but had never had the chance.

The "surprise" and "delight" in that expression were both genuine.

The City Lord of Iwamura Castle was somewhat surprised that the son-in-law he favored so much had already fallen in with the man whose background he wanted to probe.

But when Takeda Hanbei lifted his head and gave him a slight nod from the foot of the steps, he stopped dwelling on it.

He had firsthand experience of his son-in-law’s intellect, and the man was reliable and gentle by nature; Ando Shouji could be said to value this son-in-law greatly.

Otherwise, when a noble of unknown background appeared in the city, his first reaction would not have been to invite him over to consult with him.

"My recent hospitality has been lacking; I beg your pardon."

Before Lann and the others had even reached the midpoint of the steps, Ando Shouji, who had been standing above, came down quickly and, assuming the posture of a host, led them into the Tenshu.

"I have lately been occupied with military affairs. These past few days a shipment of weapons and armor from Tabei Mountain was due to be entered into the arsenal, so I have neglected my guest. It is truly inexcusable."

Ando Shouji spoke with overflowing enthusiasm, and Lann had no intention of exposing him; he simply smiled and nodded, as if he really believed it.

"Tonight, then!" Ando Shouji’s tone was resolute, his ardor almost spilling from his words. "It so happens that my son-in-law has also come ahead to pay a visit. I think it is just the right moment to formally welcome you."

Lann had long anticipated this, and Wuming, forewarned by him, merely cast the Demon Hunter a look of surprise before silently accepting it.

Ando Shouji beckoned the page at his side to step forward, to lead the guests to bathe and then to arrange the banquet.

As for himself, he kept his son-in-law, who had also just arrived from outside, close at hand, clearly shifting Takeda Hanbei’s role from "guest" to "host helping to receive the guest."

He did not actually expect Takeda Hanbei to help organize the banquet; he had no need of that.

He was simply using this arrangement as a pretext to speak with his son-in-law in advance.

Takeda Hanbei took off the traveling straw raincoat and veiled hat he wore, handed them to the page beside him, and followed in his father-in-law’s footsteps without pausing, until they entered a small tea room.

At this time, the Way of Tea had not yet surged into prominence as a political symbol thanks to Oda Nobunaga’s patronage of tea utensils.

But because tea rooms were small and private, and possessed a quiet elegance that calmed the mind and aided reflection, they had already become places where many people truly discussed matters and devised strategies.

Their status was roughly equivalent to a study in ancient China.

So-called "tea appreciation" was, in essence, a small-scale private meeting.

Ando Shouji’s tea room was likewise extremely cramped: only wide enough that three people standing side by side would have to press shoulder to shoulder, and long enough for four people to sit cross-legged.

This narrowness was one of the hallmarks of tea rooms in Japan.

"Well?"

As soon as Takeda Hanbei stepped in right behind him and slid the narrow tea-room door shut, Ando Shouji could no longer hold back his question.

The father-in-law sat down cross-legged in an unceremonious manner, while Takeda Hanbei maintained a proper kneeling posture.

"Father, I only ran into those two on the road into the city; I hardly spent any time with them at all."

"Don’t try to fool me, Habu!" Ando Shouji blew out his moustaches and glared. "In this world, no one knows your wits and abilities better than I do. For ordinary people, it’s normal not to see through someone even after years of daily contact, but with you, that simply doesn’t apply."

"You must already have sized them up, haven’t you? Come, tell me—what sort of people are they?"

The City Lord of Iwamura Castle gazed at his son-in-law, eager for an answer.

But the gentle smile at the corner of Takeda Hanbei’s mouth faded somewhat, and he shook his head solemnly.

"Please don’t say such exaggerated things anymore, Father."

"All I can say is that I have a faint impression, but as for seeing through them? That is far beyond me."

And when he heard his son-in-law respond so earnestly to his words...

Ando Shouji’s expression went from surprise and disbelief to wide?eyed contemplation.

When he first sat down cross?legged he had been leaning forward in expectation, but as his expression changed, his body slowly settled back instead.

"You really... can’t see through him?" He still looked unconvinced, and his eyes, cautious and furtive, flicked to the space behind his son?in?law’s shoulder. "Even if you asked your teacher to look, he still couldn’t see through him?"

On a level invisible to ordinary people, Takeda Hanbei’s Guardian Spirit had already revealed itself and was floating in front of him.

The long?bearded old goat, looking like a pedantic scholar, had its hands clasped behind its back, its waist hunched as it floated leisurely before Ando Shouji, shaking its head with a sighing air.

"Utterly rotten wood, unfit to be carved."

The Guardian Spirit was speaking to its host.

"This old man is no omniscient, omnipotent exaggeration of a thing; how could I be as divine as he imagines?"

The voice of this Guardian Spirit matched its appearance very well—aged yet orderly and clear, with a faint bleating tremor like a goat’s "meh?meh."

"Teacher..." Takeda Hanbei called out to his Guardian Spirit a bit embarrassedly.

He regarded the Guardian Spirit dwelling in his body as his teacher.

The Takeda Clan, even within Mino Country, was not considered some formidable great house; by rights, they shouldn’t have produced a man of his intellect.

For wisdom needs to be developed, needs to be nurtured, and what can develop and nurture wisdom is knowledge and training.

The Takeda Clan originally lacked such accumulation, and just when Takeda Hanbei had finished reading the few books in the family’s collection, his Guardian Spirit suddenly appeared one day.

It taught him and broadened his horizon.

This was a genuine, bona fide master.

And now, Ando Shouji was also his son?in?law’s father in every sense of the word.

Even though his father?in?law could neither see nor hear his teacher’s complaints, Takeda Hanbei’s own moral and ethical constraints still made him feel stuck between two elders, extremely awkward.

He could only plead with his teacher to stop talking.

As soon as Ando Shouji saw his son?in?law start talking to a patch of empty air in the tearoom, he immediately sat much more upright, his face also taking on a solemn and dignified look.

Though he could not see or hear anything, he knew very well in his heart—within this cramped tearoom, gods or buddhas had already descended!

If he hadn’t once accidentally obtained a Talisman that could temporarily open the [Spiritual Vision], he’d never have had the ability to pick such a person as his son?in?law!

"Well now, Habu. There’s really nothing much to say about that blockhead of a father?in?law of yours. Let it be, let it be."

The scholarly old goat swayed its neck, the goat horns wrapped in gold ornaments swaying along with it.

"My deepest thanks." Takeda Hanbei let out a breath of relief that his teacher had shown mercy with his tongue.

But immediately after, the young Warrior turned to his Guardian Spirit with a puzzled question.

"Teacher, although with my art of reading faces, when I look at Lord Lann I only feel an unfathomable depth without seeing the bottom, you... to be honest, when you appeared on my shoulder back then, it wasn’t just in response to the power of that [Eight Hundred Waves], was it?"

Thanks to his Guardian Spirit, the amount that Takeda Hanbei had been able to read in this era was nothing short of astonishing; naturally, that included various illustrated texts of Demons and gods and buddhas.

At the very moment Wuming’s Guardian Spirit revealed itself, he had already roughly confirmed that Guardian Spirit’s identity.

"Of course not." The scholarly old goat spoke in its distinctive trembling tone, then, hands still clasped behind its back, floated once more before its student. "Though the[Eight Hundred Waves]is extraordinary, this old man has already seen it possess Humans more than once."

"But that man... if he can still be called ’human’."

At this point, the goat’s head, which had been lowered due to its hunched back, lifted slightly.

The "single?stroke pupils" behind the small round spectacles regarded its student with particular seriousness.

"You didn’t sense that he is also in the midst of being possessed?"

"...?!"

Without words, only Takeda Hanbei’s astonished expression conveyed his feelings at that moment.

In the midst of being possessed? Isn’t the possession of a Guardian Spirit supposed to be instantaneous?

It’s just that most people who are possessed only gradually discover that a Guardian Spirit has settled in their body, which gives rise to the illusion that "it’s an ongoing process."

This was knowledge his teacher had taught him.

And now, his teacher was actually proposing another explanation?

"This old man is not mistaken on this point; he is merely an exception."

Facing his startled student, the scholarly old goat shook its head, its words lilting.

"That man is very special... exceedingly special. Whether it’s he himself, or the Guardian Spirit that is about to dwell in him, or even the manner of possession."

"To be honest, even this old man finds it hard to imagine that someone would actually be possessed by Him."