All Chapters of Shards of Time: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

When we took back Mino, Nobunaga had instructed Hideyoshi to rebuild the castle. In my memory, I remember clearly how the Gifu castle looked like. I was lucky enough to get a chance to visit the said castle back in my time. Who would've thought that I would be able to see the Gifu Castle when it was first restored. "Would you like to visit the castle?" Nobunaga asked me. I quickly agreed and accepted his offer. I would definitely want to see it after all this time. Nobunaga and I traveled to Mino where the Gifu Castle was. Hideyoshi did a good job restoring the castle and now it's almost complete. The men who were under the previous daimyo had deflected and pledged their allegiance to the Oda forces. Nobunaga stationed them at the Gifu Castle as guards and as a reserve army. "We're nearing the castle." Nobunaga told me. We were riding a horse when I saw the castle in the distance. I got excited when I had my first glimpse of Gifu Castle. It was magnificent. I

During the preparation for Nobunaga's March to Kyoto, there was news from the soldiers stationed at the gate of the castle that two men were here to visit Nobunaga. When the soldier told me about that, I immediately knew who they were. I quickly got out of my chair and practically ran down to where Nobunaga was. He told the soldier to let the two men in. I stood by Nobunaga's side as we waited for the two men to enter the audience hall. The moment they stepped in, I knew what was going to happen next. "Lord Nobunaga, we come here to seek your help." The first man spoke as they knelt down in front of Nobunaga and I. I recognized him as the brother of the 13th shogun of the Ashikaga Shogunate, Ashikaga Yoshiaki. If that's him then I can only assume that the person next to him is his bodyguard and another key person in history, Akechi Mitsuhide. "Who are you?" Nobunaga asked. The two men raised their heads but they remained kneeling on the floor. "I

I slowly opened my eyes and realized that there was light out. Did I sleep through the whole night? I remembered I was poisoned by the leader of the Rokkaku clan during the dinner banquet that they prepared for us. I slowly pushed myself to sit up and I looked at my surroundings. I was in an unfamiliar room and no one was around with me. As I was about to stand up, the door slid open and Hideyoshi came in. He saw that I was awake and I could see the concern in his eyes as he moved closer towards me. 

After the long journey, we were finally back in Gifu Castle. I felt like my butt was about to fall off from sitting on a horse for nearly 2 days. As soon as we passed the gates, I immediately dismounted the horse and ran inside. I made sure to stretch my legs and my arms. When I walked in, I was greeted by my three boys. 

Nobunaga didn’t waste any time once he was back in Gifu. He prepared his army and informed them of their march to Echizen. Nobunaga told me about how Asakura Yoshikage wasn’t present at the banquet. He saw this as an act of betrayal by the Asakura Clan and he didn’t want that. I knew of his intentions and I knew this was bound to happen but this battle is different. Nobunaga will not be able to win this time. I made sure to attend the war councils to listen to Nobunaga’s plans and how he was going to approach this.