Chapter 125: Rationale

After returning to the castle aboveground, Nobu briefly excused himself to use the bathroom before meeting up with his father and grandfather in one of the more traditional rooms. Both fell silent when he entered, but, before he could ask what they were talking about, Senken beat him to the punch, asking, "What do you know about the situation in Asai?"

Though Hitomi had already informed him about Nobu's reaction to the death of Tako, seeing his son apologize in the Dragon's Chamber caused Senken to have doubts. He was originally planning to let Nobu take charge of the situation. If the latter wanted to settle down and focus on building a family, however, he had no intention of opposing him. It was a little unorthodox but he could easily lead the Oda Clan for another decade if his son wasn't ready to step up.

Not expecting his father to suddenly mention Asai, Nobu found himself at a momentary loss for words. His beatdown and capture two days prior had helped to put things in perspective. He was still weak, and, the moment he found himself surrounded by enemies, he was basically fucked.

With that thought in mind, Nobu closed his eyes and took a long and deep breath before opening them to say, "My information specialist, Kumiko, has gone through all the documents related to the recent turmoil in Asai. I've also gone through a number of documents personally so I have a pretty good idea what's been going on..."

Nodding his head in approval, Senken pulled out a large scroll, seemingly out of thin air, before unfurling it on the ground and asking, "And? What do you think we should do about it? Like, if you were the person in charge of dealing with the rebellion, how would you resolve things?"

Furrowing his brows, Nobu hesitated to answer. In response, Senken just waved his hand in a casual gesture of dismissal, saying, "Relax, kid. I'm not going to go back on our previous agreement. You're free to continue staying in Yumegakure for as long as you like. We're just interested in hearing how you might tackle the situation."

Seeing that the scroll was actually an extremely detailed map of Asai and the surrounding region, a glimmer of interest appeared in Nobu's eyes. It even included a breakdown of the balance of power between the various factions that had rooted themselves within the city. This included color-coded properties, and, more importantly, an outline of each faction's military forces.

Before discussing things further, Nobu pulled out his stone tablet to take a photo of the map. This was something he had been trying to get his hands on for quite a while, but, thanks to the contract that restricted their actions, neither Hitomi nor Suzune was allowed to give him a detailed map as it was considered a state secret strictly regulated by the Imperial Family. Anyone found in possession of a detailed map would immediately be tried as a spy, so, with the exception of Daimyos, Generals, and a few affluent merchant associations, everyone else was completely ignorant in regards to the shape, structure, and territorial breakdown of the Archipelago.

With several other reincarnators running around, Nobu knew it was only a matter of time before he would need to wage war against them. The Goddess had made it pretty clear that the others were unaware of each other's existence, and, based on how his father and grandfather had been acting, Nobu felt it was safe to assume they couldn't openly discuss their true identities or past lives. Thus, with the expectation that he would be pitted against eight other reincarnators, each in possession of a balance-breaking cheat, Nobu decided to start planning ahead.

Fortunately, just as he took a snapshot of the map, yet another notification appeared on Nobu's stone tablet. When he saw what it was, a massive grin developed across his face as a tattered and ancient-looking map had appeared as an App on his Home Screen. It didn't immediately reveal his surroundings, but, in exchange for a substantial amount of Aura, he could basically send out pulses of energy that mapped everything in a 100m radius.

Seeing the weird look on his son's face, Senken's serious expression morphed into a wry smile as he asked, "You still with us, kid...?"

Blinking back to awareness in response to his father's words, Nobu adopted a wry expression of his own as he explained, "Sorry. My Heavenly Treasure just unlocked a mapping function. It consumes a lot of Aura, but I can use it to create an overhead map of everything in my surroundings. Better yet, it apparently lets me save any maps I've scanned directly. I'm not sure if it updates in real-time, but I now have a map of Owari-Asai stored in my stone tablet."

Hearing Nobu's explanation, both Senken and Senichi were shocked. Everything they learned about Nobu's Heavenly Treasure made it appear increasingly broken. At the same time, however, they felt it was remarkably suited for someone with the destiny of uniting the Archipelago.

Recovering quicker than his son, Senichi asked, "Can you transfer the details to a piece of paper? If you can actively map your surroundings, that is an unbelievably useful ability in a tactical setting. It could also make managing the territory a lot easier."

Since he couldn't find anything that would allow him to superimpose the map onto an object, Nobu eventually shook his head before answering, "No, but I can probably draw it out if I have a piece of grid paper. The map on my stone tablet also uses grids so I shouldn't have any problems creating a copy. I'm not the best artist but I'm pretty good when it comes to linework."

Nodding his head in understanding, Senichi decided to shelve the topic of creating updated maps until later. That wasn't the reason they had gathered like this, so, with various duties awaiting him, he decided to get back on track, saying, "Well, we can discuss that later. For now, why don't you try answering your father's question? Your Heavenly Treasure is clearly oriented towards rul...managing others. Let's hear what you have to say."

Though he furrowed his brows in response to his grandfather's clearly intentional slip, Nobu was eager to end this conversation so he could rendezvous with Yui. Thus, after taking a moment to organize his thoughts, he answered, "If you had asked me this question a few weeks ago, I would have insisted on assigning a specialized task force to assassinate the current Governor. After that, I would place an embargo on trade with Granus before expelling their ships from port..."

Rather than admonishing Nobu for his lack of foresight, Senichi just nodded his head in approval while Senken adopted a strangely proud look on his face. This caused Nobu to feel uncomfortable as the advice he had received from both Hitomi and Suzune left him doubting this was the correct course of action.

Noticing Nobu's discomfort, an amused chuckle emanated from Senken's throat before he teasingly inquired, "You're surprisingly sensitive, ain'tcha?"

Glaring at the ashen-haired man, Nobu briefly considered telling him to shove a bamboo shoot up his ass. Fortunately, Senken beat him to the punch, adding, "Truth be told, I don't dislike that way of thinking. When I was your age, I got into a lot of trouble because I disliked how political everything was. Hell, if we're being completely honest, I was closer to twice your age before I finally got my shit together..."

Scratching the back of his head, Senken's smile became somewhat awkward as he recalled all the trouble he and his friends had gotten into. If his father and the members of his entourage hadn't been there to bail him out, he probably would have lost his life on more than a few occasions...

Taking advantage of his son's silence, Senichi decided to add, "Demonstrations of power are vitally important to the stable management of a territory. If this incident didn't involve another country, it might have worked. Unfortunately, we-"

Before Senichi could finish speaking, Nobu gave the man an incredulous look, stating, "I said that was the plan I would have come up with weeks ago. The Matriarch of the Yoshitsune Clan and their Information Elder have already explained to me why such a course of action isn't acceptable in this instance. Since then, I have been thinking of other plans to try and resolve everything in a way that ensured the greatest number of benefits for the province..."

While he wasn't particularly fond of being interrupted, Senichi just supplied a curt and patient nod before gesturing for Nobu to continue. He knew exactly what kind of woman Hitomi was, and, while he felt the Yoshitsune Clan had too much sway over his grandson, there wasn't much he could really do about it. Nobu had already cooked rice with the Guardian of the Yosthisune Clan, so, depending on what the fates had in store, the Oda and Yoshitsune Clans would be one and the same...

With his father and grandfather patiently awaiting his explanation, Nobu took another deep breath before going on to assert, "Trade with Granus has become integral to our economy. In spite of this, I still believe the best course of action moving forward is to place an embargo on trade. So long as we are openly trading with them, the Imperial Family will be unwilling to support our deposition of the current Governor..."

Since the Imperial Family had prohibited trade with foreign countries, the Oda Clan was, technically speaking, in gross violation of the law. The only reason the Imperial Family hadn't cracked down on them was because the Oda Clan was among their most powerful allies and one of the only families that still supported the Ashikaga Shogunate. They were also the largest consumer of luxury goods imported from the Heavenly Kingdom and Granus, so, when it came down to it, they would be the most affected if trade suddenly ceased. It was an amazing example of the 'rules for thee, not for me' mentality...

"While we await the decision of the Imperial Family, we'll send a representative to conduct a public audit. In actuality, they will just be a figurehead while a team of experts investigates the Governor's family and negotiates terms and pledges support to the other influential factions in the region. This includes the merchants of Granus, who, in exchange for being able to stay in port, will need to pay a leasing fee..."

Though he actually wanted to investigate Granus and try to seize some of their tech, Nobu wasn't too optimistic about their chances of success. Thus, taking advantage of the fact it took literal years to complete a round trip between their two countries, he wanted to put pressure on those currently in port using the inbound ships as leverage. After all, while those currently present might have more than enough supplies to set sail, those just arriving would have no choice but to resupply.

"Our end goal will be to renegotiate terms and redistribute power in Asai so that a repeat incident is less likely to occur. If the merchants of Granus refuse, we will take inbound vessels hostage and force them to exchange their goods in exchange for the supplies necessary to return. We may end up making an enemy in the long term but we should be able to benefit for the next seven years or so. In the end, this is the consequence their actions have mandated. If we give ground in the pursuit of profits, they will become even more brazen in the future. Instead, we should focus on increasing our revenue through internal production and distribution. Relying on imports from another country will place us in a precarious position if we ever find ourselves at odds with our neighbors..."

As the merchants of Granus were disgustingly opportunistic, it wasn't even remotely difficult to imagine them increasing their prices the moment Owari entered into conflict with the surrounding Provinces. They would basically be able to name their prices, so, in an effort to teach them a lesson and temporarily remove them from the picture, Nobu was more than willing to step on a few toes.

Hearing Nobu's surprisingly rational assessment of the situation, smiles developed across the faces of Senken and Senichi. Nobu had even pointed out a few things they had overlooked, so, while they still had a number of misgivings about the future, the notion that Nobu would be the one to unify the Archipelago was now firmly cemented in their minds...

And thus they laughed.

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(A/N: Our boy is as clever as he is petty xD...)