2 A Female Samurai.

"Can you please lead my horse to the stable?"

"Yes, sir. Come here big guy..."

"Sir. Here is the turmeric ginger and arrowroot that you asked to be bought."

"Thank you. I'll be taking it. Another thing, please don't enter my room for any sort of reason, am I clear?"

"As you wish. Sir."

"What's he gonna use it for?"

"Bah! Everyone has their tastes. He's just one of the few hundred weirdos in this place."

Just this afternoon, I arrived at a certain village named Aoya. I was supposed to come here to look for lodgings and work, but instead, the reason why I came here is for an another thing...

"Please endure... this will hurt a lot..."

"Uurrrgggghhhhhh...Aaaahhhhh...."

Her moans that is muffled by a cloth gag is quite audible outside the door. But in the place where I chose to stay for the night, no one would really care if they hear it.

"Iiiiiiyaaaaahhhh!!!!"

"More! AAAAHHHH!!!!"

Yes... this is an inn beside a courtesan house so no one was really surprised to see a young-looking guy to enter there while lifting a woman inside the inn.

"Don't move around too much... I'm disinfecting your wounds..."

"S-sorry..."

She apologized with a soft murmur while I am applying the mixture of powdered turmeric ginger and arrowroot on the wounds at her arm. I made her wear a spare yukata that I found inside the bag and let her lay down on the futon.

Feeling that she is troubled with where she was brought while she's unconscious, I decided to start the conversation myself.

"I'm sorry for bringing you to a place like this... I would like to bring you to a normal inn... but if I do that, they'll be suspicious after seeing that you are wounded."

"Huh? Um... No... Please don't lower your head... I... Um..."

She sat up and bowed her head but writhed in pain after moving her body that was also wounded.

"Please don't move too much... you are still hurt so don't overexert yourself..."

"A-ah yes!"

She replied as I tucked her bandaged arm inside the futon and pulled the blankets over her body to let her rest.

"If you need anything, I'm just outside the room after I eat my dinner. Don't be shy to call me."

"Y-yes...Thank you...for saving me and healing my wounds."

Hearing these words, I was surprised and was dumbfounded for several moments.

"Ah...You're welcome."

After that momentary trance, I spoke and stood up to walk outside the room.

"Um... Sir, do you mind if... Can I... know your name?"

"Oh... Hiroshi. Iwasawa Hiroshi."

I replied with a slightly low bow before I closed the wooden sliding door behind me.

"Iwasawa...dono..."

●○●○●○●○●○●

"Pork ramen! Firm noodles."

"Comin' right up!"

I went to a nearby restaurant and ate a large bowl of pork ramen. Yeah, that's the most fulfilling dinner I had ever since I came here.

"Hah... Seems like that's my very first patient after all..."

I mumbled as I finished sipping the rest of the broth from the bowl. I covered my mouth and burped before placing my payment for the food on the counter.

"Hey young man! You a worker in the fields?"

A burly old man asked me while he's sipping on a saké bottle. His tone is making me uncomfortable since he's being all familiar and whatnot.

"Huh? Umm...no."

"Geh... then you're a traveller?"

"Uhhh... Yeah. I think that I am."

I replied as I scratched my cheek and turned towards him. I asked the chef for saké and approached the man since he's being friendly after all.

"Hehe... well, you shouldn't have travelled towards here. The Kusanagi clan is already crossing the Iso river... they'll be sieging the castles in no time."

"Just as I thought... this really is the Sengoku era... Wait... Kusanagi..?"

I thought after hearing his words. I remembered about the words that the girl was mumbling while she's unconscious earlier and sat near him to talk.

"Wait... The Kusanagi clan?"

"Yeah... that nasty family who wants to conquer and unify the southern triad. They are planning to pass through the low banks of Iso river to attack our Kiko province..."

"A nasty family, huh?"

He gave me a cup and poured saké on it for me. I raised the cup and drank it cleanly as a sign of courtesy.

"Yeah... The 1st, 2nd and 3rd generations of that family has been continuosly attacking us through the years... not braggin' or anythin' but most of my scars came from their vassals... like this one on my arm."

"Does this place offer anything beneficial to them that they really want to have it?"

"Well, this place has the only trading spot comparable to the city of Kingo at Kise province. Even merchants from other countries visits us every 3 months."

"Trading spot?"

"Well... I'm illiterate so I don't know the complicated matters... but a merchant friend of mine said that the merchants from the capital pays a lot of gold to buy salt and soybeans and the foreign traders who come by with enormous ships also buy huge amounts of rice."

"Soybeans and rice..."

"Hey, drink up young man! By the way, what's your name?"

"Oh? Ah... Iwasawa Hiroshi. I'm a travelling doctor."

"A doctor? Man, you seem so young!"

"Am I really?"

I smiled and sipped my sake quietly as he seemed to start to slip into his drunkeness...

In no time, the two of us became friends. His name is Takeru Kenji, a farmer in the village who sometimes goes to battle when the local daimyo calls men for a war.

He told me several events in the current era and about the military and economic situation since the warring states period started.

After 3 or so number of empty saké bottles, I decided to stand up and turn in for the night. I also pretended to get drowsy from drinking but the saké is just going down my throat and nothing more.

"Well then... Good night, Takeru-san... I had too much for a drink and I don't want to end up sleeping on the road."

I spoke and went out of the restaurant to go back to the inn. But I stopped by the doorway and listened for a while.

"Ya, ya... good evening young man! Hey old man, I'm gonna bill out!"

"Eh? It's been paid already! Man, you made the lad pay for your drinks..."

"Huh? Wow... He's really kind isn't he... Paying for the drinks of a drunkard like me..."

Hearing his reply, I felt that being brought to this world isn't as bad as it seems to be.

"Hah... Though my life in the previous world wasn't as interesting as it is now... I think this is the life that I wanted all this time..."

I mumbled as I looked at the night sky while walking back to the inn. Seeing the bright, shining stars, I started to think deeply.

Though it is far from the lifestyle that I grew up into...

Though I do not have anyone who I know in this world...

Though I know that this world is a dangerous one...

"I have to look forward to a brighter new life... aren't I?"

Yes... This is my life now.

Starting today, I will live my life as how I see fit....

Unlike the past world... This world wouldn't cover me with shackles and chains of expectations.

"The Iwasawa Hiroshi that was brought to this world... will never be the Iwasawa Hiroshi who left the past world...This will be my mission starting from now on."

Speaking to myself, I clutched my chest and felt a newfound self-esteem that seems to be... sheltered... without me noticing, I was already wandering outside the village. Being so deep in thought, I unconsciously sat below a tree.

"Should I forget about my past life completely..?"

No that's wrong...

If I do forget who I am... will I still be me?

"Back then, I would never have any time to think like this... I... should try to be better in this world."

I spoke and stood up to go back to the inn. The young lobbyist was asleep so I just passed by quietly and climbed up to my room.

*Ka-chak.*

The sound made by opening the sliding doors resounded upon the calm night. I removed my haori and loosened my yukata a little.

"It won't get much more peaceful than this ain't it?"

I breathed in the peaceful atmosphere inside the inn room and sighed as a sign of relaxation.

"How peacefu-"

"Mooooorrrreeeee!!!!"

I heard a pleasured moan of a woman just an alley between my room's window and the neighboring courtesan house.

"I'm moving out tomorrow... this isn't peaceful... "

I take back my previous words about peacefulness. I forgot that I am staying at this kind of place.

"Iwasawa...dono?"

I heard a voice behind me as I noticed that someone lighted the lamp. It was the female samurai from earlier, she rose up from her bed with a blushing face that contrasted her pale white skin and her shiny black hair that waved in sync with the faint wind in the room.

"Oh... you can't sleep?"

"Um...no...its that..."

She was fidgeting and only then did I remember that it's the middle of the night and maybe she was holding it back since I am here.

"Oh... Don't worry. I understand, I'll be outside the door. Don't worry you're not being a bother."

"Uh... Iwasawa-dono... I..."

"It's alright, just do your business."

I spoke and closed the door to let her do her thing. She's a woman anyway so I knew that she isn't the kind that would let just some guy to see her in an unsightly manner.

I sat on the stair's steps for several minutes, scribbling some english words on the wall using a piece of charcoal just for the sake of confusing the person who would clean it later. I'm such a kind customer, aren't I?

"Iwasawa...dono?"

I heard a muffled voice near the sliding door and I guess it was her cue to let me in.

"Are you finished, Miss?"

I gently opened the door.

"Um... please be gentle..."

"What?"

For a moment, my brain seemed to malfunction because she sat there in a surreal position with her legs spread apart and her yukata falling off her pale white shoulders.

"Ah... Please don't stare too much..."

She took off her yukata and what's left on her body is just her underwear and the bandages.

"What are you doing?"

I spoke and calmly closed the door slowly as I tried to hold my shock.

"A-ah! My apologies! My apologies!"

I heard her muffled voice through the door and heard the rustling of cloth being moved.

"Umm... you... can go in now..."

"Thanks... you gave me a shock there Miss-"

Screw it. Now she's bona fide naked.

"Hah... Calm down Hiro... You've been through worst situations than this... Remember why that thing with that woman happened alright..? Don't repeat your mistakes..."

I spoke softly while closing my eyes tightly and rubbing my palms together.

"Uhm... Iwasawa...dono? I-is something wrong?"

"Please just wear your clothes, I don't really know where to look."

I spoke slowly with a slightly aggitated face which made her stagger a bit.

"I-I'm sorry! I'm sorry!! I'm sorry!!!"

She repeatedly apologized while bowing lowly to me and pulled her yukata back to its proper position.

"I...I'm sorry for startling you... I... I just had a rough day... and even I am confused..."

"T-that is... I... Um... You...Um..."

She started to mumble words softly while fidgetting and fiddling her fingers.

"I-is there something wrong... Um... I mean... except for these... event..?"

"No... it's that... I just want to thank you for saving me earlier... I... Um... I just thought that words aren't enough and I... you know...I-"

"Please... don't make decisions like that Miss..."

I cut her mid-sentence as I finally understood what she meant while patting her head.

"Iwasawa-dono..."

"I am a doctor, Miss. It's natural for me to care for people who is hurt. Even if I don't receive words of appreciation or a single coin, I will still do my job. So please don't feel indebted to me."

I spoke while giving a smile towards her.

"Is...Is it alright..? I may be a samurai, but I don't have anything to give you right now..."

"I already said didn't I? Don't feel indebted to me. I wanted to heal your wounds and I brought you here under my own volition."

"Thank you...very much..."

She spoke and tugged at the sleeves of her yukata while letting her tears to flow down her cheeks.

For the first time in my life... I finally felt that my actions... brought happiness to other people...

"By the way, let's do this properly Ojou-san... Again, I am Iwasawa Hiroshi. A travelling doctor."

"Oh! I... Um... Aoyama Chiyo. Page of Lady Ayanami Mitsuha who is one of the Kusanagi clan's Star Generals."

"Eh? Page of a General?"

"Um... Yes."

"EEEEHHHH???!!!!"