Warring States Survival Guide
Chapter 120 - 73 Temporary Worker_2

Chapter 120: Chapter 73 Temporary Worker_2

The third kind are wandering Samurai, meaning Samurai without a lord.

For all sorts of reasons—like their family going downhill, their previous lord kicking the bucket, or some juicy internal family drama—they can’t stay in their own clan, and with no territory of their own, they have to find a new "lord" to serve just to get a meal. But entering a lord’s service is a two-way thing: just like you can’t become a civil servant today just because you want to, you gotta pass some tests and the government’s got to want you.

So, you get a bunch of Samurais without a boss wandering around, all hoping to get hired and land themselves a secure rice bowl. But jobs are scarce, and you still gotta eat while job-hunting, so you pick up temp gigs—as a low-level clerk, for example—making small change to keep food on the table, hoping that with some hard work, or by risking your neck for some glory, you’ll finally get permission to officially become a household retainer and lock in that sweet government paycheck. Security for life, no more worrying about famine or flood.

This was exactly the case for Maeshima Shichiro. He wanted to be a household retainer for Oda Nobunaga, but Nobunaga wasn’t interested. Still, a guy’s gotta eat, so for now, he had to take on odd jobs for Oda Nobunaga and figure it out from there—he could leave at any time, try his luck taking a "civil service exam" somewhere else, and go find another lord. No feudal strings attached, no obligations or stuffy codes.

Harano quickly figured it all out, feeling a little awkward. He himself didn’t want to lose his freedom, didn’t want to be tied down, didn’t want to bow and scrape to anyone, and he wasn’t short on cash either—so he stubbornly refused to go serve as a household retainer for Oda Nobunaga. But now, Maeshima Shichiro actually wants to grovel for a job and can’t get in line, which made Harano feel unexpectedly weird for some reason.

Maybe this is what they mean by "one man’s meat is another man’s poison."

He quickly tried to make Maeshima Shichiro feel better, praised his excellent work lately, said he was super capable, and that he’d definitely make it into official service one day. Next time he met Okurakiyebi, he’d really sing his praises. Then he changed the subject fast, asking about Maeshima Shichiro’s background—only to be surprised to find out that Shichiro was from a branch family of the Niwa Family, and a distant relative of Niwa Nagahide. Maeshima Family was just an offshoot of the Niwa Family, kind of like how the Maeda Family split into sub-branches, like the one in Kuno and the Hosokawa Family—the Maeshima had split off so long ago, they even changed their last name.

But thinking about it, that’s not so surprising.

The landholding families of Owari—even pioneers like the Maeda Family, who originally came from Minoh—have been living in Owari for seventy or eighty years. Many other families have been around for over a hundred, even two or three hundred years. With all that branching out and intermarrying, you can bet that if you compare notes, most Samurai around here are distant cousins to each other in some way.

In other words, all the Samurai in Owari, no matter who they serve, are 99.9% connected to the old landholding clans here.

Owari used to belong to the old families. Harano had never thought of this before. Now that Oda Nobunaga wants to bring all the local gentry in Owari under his control, and even pull off "separating soldiers from farmers," that’s gonna be a tough nut to crack... He wonders what method Nobunaga will come up with for that...

Maeshima Shichiro, though, wasn’t overthinking things, spinning off into seven or eight directions at once. He was just happy to be praised, though he hesitated a moment. Harano seemed gentle and polite, maybe not a bad candidate for a lord. But since he and Harano barely knew each other, and Harano was young and didn’t seem the type to need household retainers, Shichiro didn’t get up the nerve to pitch himself. Still, he started to itch a little inside.

He really wanted to find a lord, and was sick of doing temp work.

......

So Harano spent nearly a day worrying about the future of Owari, chatting with Maeshima Shichiro as they slowly made their way back to Nagano Castle. And then, surprisingly, that messy group of townsfolk was still tagging along behind him, not a single one running off.

He just couldn’t figure it out, but what could he do? So, he pulled out his wallet again, rented them a spot in the Castle Town, let them settle themselves, and left it at that—no one was watching over them, and it was a bustling Town. Surely they’d sneak away this time?

He’d done his due diligence and wasn’t going to bother with them anymore. He got back to his real job, placing the wounded in the special area assigned to him, strictly managing hygiene to minimize infections and inflammation and cut down on casualties. Maybe he’d get Oda Nobunaga to pay him extra in the future.

As he was busy ordering his people around, Ah Man came strolling up, tugging at him and whispering in his ear: "Just heard some news, seems like there’s trouble again!"

When she got back and saw Nagano Castle all quiet, with zero signs of post-victory celebration, she thought it was odd—she’d actually been hoping for a party and some free booze—so she didn’t even wait for Harano to ask before going to dig for gossip among her drinking buddies. Sure enough, she found out something, and rushed straight back to report to Harano.

Harano was silent for a moment. He hadn’t even warmed his butt after getting back, and now there was trouble again?

Why’s my luck so rotten?

But he knew that the situation in Owari these days was complicated, these were troubled times, and pretty much anything could happen. So he wasn’t too disappointed.

He kept cool, finished up what he was doing, then took Ah Man aside and asked, "So, what’s the news?"

"Yamaguchi Zembo Keiji has rebelled!" Ah Man got straight to the point, sighing.

"From the top—remind me, who’s Yamaguchi Keiji?"

"A top retainer of the Dan Zhengzhong family—the City Lord of Nagami Castle." Despite being a gambler and a boozehound and a wildcard, Ah Man’s Ninja skills were still on point. She immediately explained, "Nagami Castle is the front line against the Matsudaira family and the Imagawa family. But just last night, Yamaguchi Keiji flipped, slaughtered a ton of Household Retainers that Oda Nobuhide originally assigned to help him out, and has officially pledged allegiance to the Imagawa family."

What the hell...

Harano had never even heard of this guy before, but now he’d just popped up to stir the pot. At this rate, when was Harano ever going to get home and settle down?

He quickly pulled out the map and took a look—Nagami Castle really was a crucial spot, stuck right on the main route from Sankei Province to Chita County. And it was a big castle too, a major stronghold for Dan Zhengzhong’s control of Chita County.

He cursed under his breath again, sighing that ever since the "Tiger of Owari" died, the whole place had gone completely off the rails: Matsudaira family attacking, Qingzhou Oda Family swooping in to take advantage, now the Imagawa family showing up and right away flipping a frontline general, instantly pushing the front to East Tsubono and East Mokawa River, which wasn’t far at all from Atsuta.

But this kind of historical event was out of his hands anyway, and after two battles and seeing thousands of bodies, he was getting used to it—no longer feeling that modern squeamishness about death. When he was done cursing, he just said flatly, "So, another bloody fight’s on the way?"

Well, if there’s gonna be a fight, let’s get on with it. All these people in the past weren’t afraid of chaos, so what was a modern guy like him supposed to fret about? Oda Nobunaga, basking in victory, was still dreaming of locking up all the local bosses, but it looked like his own head was about to be chopped off—wonder how he’s feeling now?