New Espionage

Saki made it safely to the city. Her assignment within Komagata’s domain would be a month. Aya gave her a fairly detailed list of objectives, not all of which she understood very well. She had hoped that seeing the documents would have given her some sort of sense of the means that Aya had to battle against the Komagata. However, there were pieces missing to the plan that she hadn’t been able to put together.

Her mission outlined broadly by Aya required first information gathering. That part made sense to her. They had limited knowledge of Komagata’s domain. She needed to know all of the people in power and their assignments. If possible, she needed to gain personal information on them as well, which was an important additional objective. Aya made it clear in the documents that she could still win without them, but the war would likely drag on longer. Whatever methods Saki could come up with she was approved to do, the info was more important than the means.

That gave her some latitude, which she was grateful for. However, short of torture, she didn’t know of a good way at the moment to dig up all of the information she could on her targets. But the first matter was identifying targets and understanding the organizational structure.

After personally investigating, she wanted Saki to look into the military and training. Saki doubted how much use it could have in the battle since individuals probably wouldn’t make a difference. They didn’t have any sort of special soldiers that they could build a unit around. Yuki might be assigned to be their leader, but he didn’t have unique martial skills to stand out. So victory would be on the strategy. But she would still gather what Aya wanted.

Learning of key targets, garrisons and fortresses within the domain and their strengths was next in her tasks. With everything else she had to do, it felt like she had been given an impossible task. Or maybe the woman projected her capabilities upon Saki. It was hard for her to say. It was a significant amount of work to do in a single month.

But it didn’t end there. One more priority objective that ran at the same time was to locate and assassinate someone by the name of Goro Terada. She hadn’t been given any more information about him other than Aya wanted him dead by any means. It was the only objective that Aya gave that was a required completion. Everything else she would accept a range of incomplete or unfinished work.

Saki wondered who the man was that Aya felt so strongly about him being killed. She was certain that he had to be an important figure within the Komagata domain, but nothing more than that. Investigating the man would be the first thing she planned to tackle. If he had to die, she needed to know enough to see that he was killed in a way that she could escape with no witnesses.

Nothing about the mission was going to be easy. But it did give her mind focus. ‘It’s time to start working…’

Chapter 528 – New Espionage

Dressed as a commoner, Saki kept a low profile walking about the city getting a lay of the land. The general feeling was calm, maybe a little downtrodden, but nothing worse than what she saw in the place she called home. Just the standard, the common people live a meager life barely getting by while the Lords and governmental figures had things better off, a fairly common practice to see, even in the real world in her mind.

There was nothing meaningful to exploit from it. Though she doubted that Aya had plans to create a revolt against the government. It was going to be a war, maybe not entirely straightforward, if she had to guess the way she planned to go about it, but still a war. And knowing that she would win given who she was, these people would have a new master quite soon. She didn’t know how Lord Matsushina would treat them.

For his own people, he did about as well as Komagata seemed to be doing. There wasn’t distrust or hatred. But taking over and controlling other land, she had no clue how he would be. Though who knew how long he would last before Aya usurped the seat from him anyway. And even less known was the sort of ruler that Aya might be. Saki still didn’t know what sort of person she was. The woman remained shrouded in mystery and impossible to crack. But cracking Aya was Yumi’s task, she could focus at least on more straightforward tasks.

Saki leaned up against a wall of a small home looking down the dirt road towards one of the estates. A Lord Nawabe as she learned. The first of the Lords that she got to know about a little. He had more interactions with the commoners than others. So she could pick up some talk, but not enough to be useful. ‘I could start there…it’s a good place to begin. Though I don’t want to lock myself off from other avenues… It’s only been half a day. Maybe take a day to scout out other options…’

In the end, she decided to keep looking around. There was still plenty of the city to investigate. Monitoring guard movements through the city and flow of people, she watched carefully anything that might seem useful for later. ‘This isn’t really what I specialize in…hopefully I’m actually good at being a spy.’

She slipped around a corner and disappeared down a darker alley to come out to the other side absorbing the details. ‘Really would like to have my speed, if I could pick something. I can’t even remember what it was like anymore…it’s a little disconcerting not having something that I started to rely on.’

Walking through the crowd, she found another important looking structure. Another Lord she figured based on the general cleanliness of the walls that protected the grounds and that it even had walls. The place had money, though they didn’t have any guards which surprised her. ‘Why aren’t there any guards? Every Lord I’ve seen has soldiers stationed to protect from intruders. Do they not care?’

While it was tempting to just walk in, she decided against it. She really had no clue what that was all about, but she wanted to know more. Moving around to get a better look to find the name plate on the gate, at least she could learn the family name, maybe those in town knew something. ‘A little more…hmm…Nagahama, huh?’

Saki thought about the name trying to figure out if she had heard it before during the day. Something about it seemed familiar, but her mind was having trouble placing it. ‘I’m guessing they’re another Lord, probably a minor one serving under Komagata. I should learn more about them, since they’ve left the door open…’

Rather than walking inside, she looked around the perimeter. She did what she could to make it not seem very obvious, but there was little avoiding that anyone watching her would pick up quickly. They could tell that she kept showing back up at different spots, if they were weary of her. Though at least for now, no one seemed to be taking an interest in her.

She stopped a bit of a distance away to think about what she saw. ‘They only have the one entrance, but have nothing to show for security. Why? It feels like a trap. If they’re a Lord, even a minor one they should have guards, some signs that they’re keeping safe. Something doesn’t add up…’

Honestly, she knew she should have just walked away rather than hanging around. And even more, the idea of entering the grounds removed from her mind. Nothing good would come from it, because it didn’t feel right it was asking for trouble she knew.

She wrestled the thoughts for a little bit before pulling herself away from it. ‘I’ll come back once I know more. This is too dangerous to go in with no knowledge.’ Turning away from the direction, she began to put some distance between her and the odd mansion.

“Coward! Defend yourself right now!” shouted an unfamiliar voice from behind. It alerted her to the attack in time that she dodged out of the way of a fist followed by the rest of the person. A man, tall and muscular with no sleeves, as though proud of their work, slid by in a fluid motion.

The man came to a stop in front of her blocking the path she intended to take. ‘What idiot announces themselves before an attack…though it didn’t feel like that strike was meant to do anything. A rather honorable man it seems…’ Honorable or not, he blocked her path forcing some sort of engagement.

She looked around quickly seeing that it started to draw attention from some of the others. This was far more attention than she wanted. A quick end to it was all she could hope for. “I don’t know who you are. I’m just passing through. Do you make a regular habit of attacking innocents?”

“I attack those that are deserving of it!” He struck out with his palm with a speed that caught her off guard. It hit deep in her chest making her cough, though not enough to break anything, yet.

It was enough to make her stagger back. Saki tried to catch her breath from the impact. ‘He’s not serious yet…he’s going easy on me. Just showing me that things will get rough.’ For now, she worked with what the situation dealt her. “I haven’t done anything. Let me pass, please! I’m poor and starving.” She worked into her voice some shaking and attempted tears. Anything that might sell her innocence.

“You’re not fooling me.” He began to approach again. Saki backed away trying to cower. “That first strike, you dodged me skillfully. I know you’re trained and talented. So fight back!”

Watching his expression, he had conviction in his eyes and an intense wild look about him. The man was an idiot and she was certain about that. ‘He only can see through it because he knows I have martial training. Truly an idiot and the worst sort of person I could run across. He’s not giving me up.’

Saki considered her options quickly. The mission against a response, a difficult resolution forced upon her. It wasn’t like her mission was exposed, but he made things more difficult for her. She didn’t know what sort of impact it would have.

Unfortunately for her, she didn’t get a chance to make up much of a decision. The man was head strong and eager for more than just a conversation. He didn’t take her cowering as a sign of submission. He could see through her and wanted that fight he spoke about.

He spun around a kick put in more effort than before. He expected her to defend herself now. There was a smooth flow to his actions. Years of refinement and exercise pounded into every muscle and every action. It was no novice that she was dealing with. Idiot yes, but a very talented and well trained idiot.

Just the thought of dealing with someone like him sent annoyed chills down her spine. ‘There’s something bothersome about him. He really gets under my skin…’ Saki grimaced knowing what things meant.

She caught his foot and pushed back putting a bit of a twist on his leg. The idiot took it with grace and spun about with a flair she had only seen in movies. ‘Never seen someone so athletic…’

“Finally going to face me like a proper warrior?”

“You’re really starting to get on my nerves. I was minding my own business.”

“Show me what you’ve got!”

“And narrow minded. I really don’t do well with people like you…”

He struck back, beginning to display more of his martial prowess for Saki. A block or a dodge was all she could really manage against him. She trained for quite some time, but not the way that he did. There was a devotion and commitment to his movements. He very clearly outmatched her in skill.

Dancing around, she did the only thing that she could think of, stall. While he was exceptional, there was something about him that she could beat him at. He was straightforward to a fault. This man wanted nothing more than a fair and honest fight. ‘He’ll probably hate me, but this is going to be the only way to win…’

Saki watched for her opportunity seeing his movements. He had speed and power, she took a lot of hits from him while she waited and maneuvered him into position. ‘Now’s the moment!’ Fainting an opening, she let him think that she left an opening for him to strike. One that she would take a direct hit, something he would use to finish the fight.

The fool went for it and in the moment she dodge just enough, though she still felt a bit of the blow. But his hand smashed into a wood beam of a hut, enough to possibly break his hand. Though she didn’t wait while he was in pain and countered. In a swift move, she flipped him on his back, dropping him to the ground and pinning him in her leg and arm quickly. “Give up. I’m not interested in a fight.”

He struggled with her and she could feel his strength threatening her hold. It was unbelievable how strong he was. The amount of training he put himself through to reach such a condition. But then he suddenly went limp. “Saki?! I finally found you!” he said.