"Come along then wife, we have some exploring to do." With the breaking of dawn, Gengyo had already arisen, and was contending himself with idle thoughts and tea as he waited for Akiko to wake up.
"Wife...?" She blinked sleepily up at him, slightly recoiling at his use of the rather of blunt word.
"You are, are you not?" He was smiling to himself as he spoke, taking the pleasure in teasing her. "Or would you prefer mistress?"
"Gugh... Neither. Please, neither."
"Oh dear... She doesn’t like it. I suppose that’s it then. I’ve made my mistake. I will be left for another man by the morning. Ah, how pitiful it is to have lost such a treasure. I will have to embark on my journey alone." He began towards the door with an air of mock dramatism.
She squinted at the exit, daring to climb out of bed despite the coolness of the air. She was almost sure that he was playing with her. Still, she found her way to her kimono, and dressed with haste continually looking towards the door, expecting him to come back a moment later.
When he did not, she began to panic, wondering whether there was any seriousness in his words. And then, a moment later, she saw his head pop around the very bottom of the door, with an incredibly stupid look on his face, like that of a monkey.
She giggled despite herself. "Oh Tadakata. I really wish you would not tease me so heavily first thing in a morning. If you wish for me to wake up, then you had only need ask."
"Mm, but that takes the fun out of it. Anyway, you’d better use this before you go out – your hair looks fit for a bird’s nest." He informed her, tossing a comb.
"Mmph! And who’s fault is it that I am in such a state? You have no regard for the routine of a woman."
"That’s not true. I don’t complain even when you let out one of your routine midnight farts."
"Hah...?" She opened her mouth in shock, blushing. "You’re lying. There’s no way I’d do that! Oh Tadakata! Please, leave me in peace, and I’ll join you outside once I’m ready."
"Wait, wait! I thought that was a good thing. I thought you did it on purpose, to look after your husband. You’re making sure that I get enough sleep by knocking me out and kickstarting the process."
"Tadakata!"
"Alright alright, I’ll wait for you outside. Hurry up, would you? It’s a beautiful day to be burying gunpowder." He relented and closed the door behind him, with a wide grin.
Akiko shook her head, letting loose a sigh as she muttered to herself. "Honestly... The things he comes out with."
"What was that?" The door opened once more, as though he was waiting on the other side for her to speak.
"Nothing! Go!"
...
...
His words were not that of a lie. The day was startlingly beautiful, and with the coming of the rising sun, the birds were tweeting enthusiastically. As they walked through town, even the villagers did not seem so wary of him now. The Red Feather commander and his beautiful wife had become a part of the morning scenery.
"Good morning Takeshi. Good morning fellas." Gengyo greeted the smiths as they passed, and Akiko nodded towards them with a polite smile.
"Morning Miura!" The little smith responded back enthusiastically, as the others spared him some morning greetings.
"How are things getting on? This looks like a fine piece of machinery here." Gengyo pronounced, tapping the end of what was the first finished cannon. Not only did it look threatening, but it also looked rather beautiful. He had taken the time to polish the metal, so that it was as shiny as the blade of a sword, and one could see their face in it. Let no one say that Takeshi did not take pride in his work.
"I-it’s going pretty well! We’ve got the first cannon all ready to go, as you can see. I think things will be even quicker now. And we’ve begun work on the new type of ammunition, so we can start testing it at the end of the day."
This role seemed to be exactly what he had needed to help him get him out of his shell. His nervous stuttering had improved markedly from what it was before, and when he spoke, he was able to do so with a degree more confidence and clarity.
"I’ll look forward to seeing that then. Have fun!" He bid his farewells cheerfully, as they began to walk toward the city gate.
"See up there, Akiko? The men have already gotten so far in dismantling the old archer cages. When it’s reframed as training, I swear their performance increases by two-fold." He spoke, pointing up towards the wall where the Red Feather soldiers were finishing up their assigned work.
"Mm, they’re battle junkies, just like you. But it’s not like I don’t understand – I want to get stronger too."
"Heh, you’re already plenty strong. Think back to where we were just a few months ago – you’d be able to beat that Akiko up in seconds."
"And that Tadakata." She reminded him with a sneaky glance.
"Hey, that’s too far. Even if it’s the past me, don’t go beating me up."
"Someone needed to. You used to tease me something rotten back then."
"And I don’t now?" He threaded his arm over her shoulders, and dragged her in close to prove his point.
"Mm, let go! People are watching."
"So? All they see is a man that loves his wife."
"Guhhh..." She looked at the floor, embarrassed, unable to look the onlookers in the eye. Contrary to her, Gengyo freely nodded to everyone that looked towards them, as he passed out of the old wooden gates.
Outside one could see the beginnings of the logging train. Back and forth oxen were led by masses of people, dragging great chunks of timber, and setting them outside the city gates, readying them for processing.
As soon as they were received, a second detachment went to work on debarking, and creating panels with which they could use for the rebuilding of the archer cage. When they had enough wood, the logging team would switch their jobs, and become the rebuilding team, ensuring that everything was pushing forward as efficiently as possible.
"Good work everyone." Gengyo called out as he passed.
"Morning Miura-sama!" Those with any sense called back, not willing to risk portraying an improper amount of respect.
"What are we doing out here again?" Akiko asked, only now stopping to consider why they had been dragged to the middle of the field.
"Well... The weakest point in this entire fortress – even after we’re done all the repairs – will remain this wall, in which the gate is embedded. Most commanders will seek to attack here, and burn it down, so that they can charge in an overwhelm us."
"They can climb up too though..." She pointed out, a little worried by the prospect.
"They can, and that might be a viable tactic since they will likely have far more men than us. They can keep us buried here as the front, whilst they run around and try and climb at another point. However, they will be unsuccessful in doing that. Because of our firepower, we could simply abandon this gate-bearing wall, and pick off all the men who are attempting to climb, before coming back to defend. The climbers will be mightily exposed, so we should be capable of doing that."
"But... what if we’re not?"
"A good question indeed. Since we’ve been granted – by some god or other – this little grace period - this little time to prepare - then it does not make sense to leave that up to chance. I stated it before, did I not? That the only thing we can really do, is prepare our defences as optimally as we can. So, we’re going to set up a little something to give us the time we need in order to deal with any climbers."
"Mhm, I remember you saying. But what is..?"
"We’re going to burry a couple of surprises."
"Surprises?" She asked, frowning.
"Indeed. Deposits of gunpowder and hidden trenches of oil at locations only we know about. Then, when the time comes, we had only need send a shot towards them, and then the chaos of a whole firing squad will be brought to bear upon the battlefield."
"Wow... so that thing you said this morning – you weren’t joking?" She asked in dismay. She’d dismissed it entirely as a joke.
"Of course not. I never joke." He announced with a perfectly straight face.
She shook her head ignoring his obvious lie. "But how will we remember where each barrel is? What happens if you need to go off somewhere, and there is no one else to remember where the barrels are?"
"We’ll map the location of all of them, worry not."
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