Chapter 42

"Father, I caught something."

"That's good. What did you catch? My dear?"

"Um, a pufferfish."

"Alright, let's gut it and make it into bekkou-zuke."

Usually, Koki and his gang are busy with their evil deeds and establishing their territory, but occasionally they enjoy family leisure activities.

It's what you might call family service.

He has four children so far: his eldest daughter Aihime, his eldest son Taro, his second daughter Iori-hime, and his third daughter Chacha. Furthermore, Kyouko and Oichi are pregnant again, so Koki has become a father to six children. He brought his family to the Shinji family's private fishing spot.

Seiki, who rarely goes out, also joined today with his wife Kousuke and his eldest son Kotaro.

While having a barbecue party at the fishing spot, the men and children leisurely cast their fishing rods.

Aihime's rod got a bite, and when she reeled it in, she caught a thirty-centimeter sea bream (pufferfish).

"Sir, what is bekkou-zuke?"

When Yako asked, Koki began to explain the dish.

"You marinate the fillets of the pufferfish in a sauce made of dashi, sake, mirin, and soy sauce. You marinate it in the sauce now and eat it on top of rice at night."

"Wow, that sounds delicious."

Yako loves delicious food and eats a lot despite being small.

But because she moves around a lot, she doesn't get fat.

"I'll gut it."

Yako skillfully gutted the sea bream, cut the flesh into bite-sized pieces, and marinated them in the sauce. She also started making a broth from the head, bones, and scraps, not wasting anything.

It seems that her family was poor and couldn't afford servants, so Yako is good at housework.

"The scraps shouldn't be wasted either."

Koki thinks it's correct but also feels a bit poor.

Still, the broth made from the scraps looks delicious, so he eats it.

"Yako, the meat is ready. There are also fish and vegetables."

Since they are having a barbecue while fishing, everyone starts eating the cooked ingredients dipped in the sauce.

There is no beef yet, but there are pork, pork offal, bacon, sausages, chicken, wild boar, and deer meat.

When the meat with seasoning is cooked, they dip it in the special barbecue sauce.

There are four types of sauce: soy sauce, miso, salt, and curry base.

"Don't fight with your siblings anymore."

Kyouko warned Koki and Seiki, who had previously fought over the flavor of ramen.

"Having various barbecue sauces makes it more enjoyable."

Koki argued that they wouldn't fight over barbecue sauces since they fought over the flavor of ramen.

"Sure, sure, oh, the seafood is also ready."

Clams, scallops, salmon, squid, spiny lobsters, and crabs, along with vegetables, are cooked, and everyone temporarily stops fishing to start eating.

"It keeps cooking, you know."

"Is it delicious? Taro."

"Yes, Father."

Koki thought it was inevitable to be called "Father" in this era.

When he is called "Father" by the young Taro, it feels as if he is a character in a period drama.

"I caught a lot, but they are all inedible fish, so I'll keep trying."

Taro was also fishing with Koki, but he kept catching pufferfish.

They are not entirely inedible, but they are dangerous, so he releases them all.

"Oichi, you need to take in nutrients since you are expecting your second child."

"Thank you, Sir."

Oichi, while feeding her baby Chacha weaning food, starts eating meat.

At first, Koki thought she might refuse for religious reasons, but since she is Nobunaga's sister who eats anything delicious, she doesn't mind and eats.

"Still, Chacha is quite big..."

Oichi is also tall for a woman of this era.

Koki is also tall, so their daughter Chacha is a rather large girl.

However, she is bigger than Aihime, Taro, and Iori-hime were as infants, so it might just be a coincidence.

"Chacha needs to find a big husband."

When Kyouko said this while looking at Chacha, Koki's expression suddenly darkened.

"What's wrong? Mitsu."

"Chacha won't go to another family... Neither will Aihime or Iori... They don't have to go to another family..."

As the father of three daughters, Koki didn't want to hear about them going to other families.

Firstly, Koki is from a super-futuristic era.

Coming from an era where women can live independently without necessarily getting married, he doesn't feel the need to force them into marriage.

"You know, Mitsu, that kind of logic doesn't work."

Kyouko, being a woman, is more pragmatic.

Since they have to be married off for political reasons, she wants to find a family that will treat them well.

"Then, I'll set strict conditions for the husbands!"

"Setting strict conditions is fine, but please keep it within reason."

Koki doesn't want to give his daughters away.

Oichi didn't understand his reasoning, but Koki ended up rejecting their marriage talks until the last moment, even confusing Nobunaga.

"Bekkou-zuke is delicious."

After the barbecue party, they returned to Shinji Castle for dinner.

Yako placed the sea bream bekkou-zuke she made earlier on top of the rice and ate it with relish.

"After eating halfway, add sesame, chopped seaweed, and wasabi, and pour dashi. It's also delicious as ochazuke."

"While eating ochazuke, Yako said wistfully, so Koki and the others prayed for her father's soul... but then they remembered that her father, both biological and step, was still alive and well.

"Yako, your father is still alive, right?"

"Yes, he was poor and exhausted, but thanks to the allowance from the Shinji family, he is now doing well."

"I thought he had passed away from the context..."

"He is technically a noble, but he was socially dead..."

Despite being her biological father, Yako speaks quite harshly about him.

Considering the state of the Sanjo Nishina family, it was easy to imagine that Yako's real family was even worse.

"Being a noble is tough, isn't it?"

"Converting education into money is difficult."

Still, through negotiations by Masahide Honda, the Sanjo Nishina family was to receive 300 kan annually, and Yako's real family, the Hanka family, was to receive 100 kan annually.

With the engagement money, their lives became much more comfortable, as Yako explained.

"That's good... (It's good that it doesn't cost much, but Yako's real family is one thing, but the Sanjo Nishina family is a noble family...)"

Koki thought that as a retainer of the Shinji family, who all receive over 1000 kan in stipends, they would be asked to send that much.

It was a bit disappointing, but he decided to think it was good that it didn't cost much.

"Sir, I want to have your child soon. I'm ready."

"Sure, you eat a lot... but no."

For a moment, Kyouko seemed to agree, but in fact, Koki hasn't touched Yako yet.

The reason is that she is only fourteen years old.

Kyouko, who is also a doctor, issued a proclamation in the Shinji domain.

It states that it is desirable for women to be at least seventeen years old before giving birth.

At sixteen, the body is almost fully grown, and in the future, women could get married at sixteen.

"Giving birth before the body is fully grown is risky and dangerous."

Pointed out by the excellent doctor Kyouko, the retainers nodded in agreement.

They knew that many women who became pregnant and gave birth at twelve or thirteen years old, before their bodies were fully grown, lost their lives.

This proclamation is not absolute, but more people in the Shinji domain are following it.

And as they started to follow it, the number of women who died from poor postpartum recovery dramatically decreased.

One reason was that Kyouko trained women who had finished raising children and widows who lost their husbands in war as midwives and had them assist in childbirth.

The people and retainers believed Kyouko was right based on the results.

"Women live longer, so it's fine to marry someone a little older."

Continuing, Kyouko said this, and in the Shinji domain, more men started marrying women one to two years older.

"I'll also follow Shinji-sama's example and marry an older woman to advance in life!"

More people started marrying slightly older women.

"My son is fifteen, but if he marries a sixteen or seventeen-year-old, they can have children right away."

For samurai, who need to continue their family, they want to have children as soon as possible.

Therefore, more couples with this combination are formed.

"Besides, Taro's fiancée, Fuyu-hime, is also older."

This was a coincidence, but Kyouko predicted that families with older wives might increase.

"Two more years. It's a bit disappointing, but I'll eat a lot and grow quickly. I'll grow as big as Kyouko."

"Big... I don't think you're being praised much..."

Kyouko, who is overwhelmingly large for a woman of this era and has had various experiences because of it, had a subtle expression when she heard Yako's words.

"Kyouko, being big is good. I'll become big too."

"..."

While eating a lot for dinner, Yako made Koki wonder if she would really grow.

And another thing.

"(Kyouko is mostly right, but there are exceptions in the world. Like Matsu at the Rikyu's place...)"

Impressed that there are exceptions to everything, as Matsu married at eleven and gave birth at twelve.

In a different era, Rikyu would be a resident of a walled city.

"(Rikyu, you're amazing...)"

While Koki was talking about this, in Echizen where Rikyu was...

"Achoo!"

"Rikyu, did you catch a cold?"

"No, I don't think so..."

"Echizen has a different climate from Owari. Be careful."

In the distant land of Echizen, Rikyu suddenly sneezed and was worried by his colleague and friend, Sasa Masaharu.

"Why? I don't feel excited."

"Sir, please don't compare a family dinner with a meal during a battle."

One day during the Kii campaign, Koki was having a meal outdoors.

In addition to rice and miso soup, grilled wild boar marinated in sauce was served, but he wasn't having fun because he was eating with only men.

"I miss the kids."

"That's how everyone feels."

When Masahide calmly responded, Koki was at a loss for words.

"Is there anything fun?"

"Well, a large amount of supplies has arrived."

The Shinji army's rear support system is overwhelmingly superior to the average of this era.

A logistics unit is specially organized, and they can always bring money to make local purchases.

Looting is prohibited in the Shinji army, and if this rule is broken, the penalty is execution.

Thanks to this, the gentle residents of Kii are not very afraid of the Shinji army.

Merchants gather to sell goods to the Shinji army, which has money.

Incidentally, there were women selling their bodies, but this is prohibited because soldiers getting sexually transmitted diseases would reduce their combat effectiveness.

Instead, a large number of 18+ books made by Seiki are distributed to each unit.

"These are my masterpieces. But, I might need to add more variety..."

Seiki's books became popular among the soldiers, and he is planning the next series.

"Are the supplies sweet potatoes?"

Among the supplies, there were a large number of sweet potatoes.

They started production in the Shinji domain, cultivating them in the Kanagawa automated farm.

As a strategic material, the production of sweet potatoes is strictly managed.

Farmers are only given the vine part to plant in their fields, and most of the harvest is bought by the Shinji family.

The sweet potatoes are also genetically modified F1 hybrids, so even if the harvested sweet potatoes are planted, they won't grow.

"There are also potatoes. Let's eat them right away."

The sweet potatoes are baked using the stone-baking machines held by the cooking unit, and the potatoes are steamed in large steamers.

"Stone-baked sweet potatoes are good as they are, and potatoes are delicious with butter or salted fish."

The soldiers start eating them, but there are children looking enviously.

Even though their parents forbid them from getting close to the army, some children can't help but come near because of the good smell of the baked sweet potatoes.

"Give some to the children."

"There are still some left, so I'll arrange it."

Since there were still sweet potatoes left, Koki ordered them to be baked and given to the children.

"Wow, they're sweet and delicious!"

"Really! I've never tasted anything this delicious!"

The children were overjoyed with the baked sweet potatoes.

"If this helps the residents of Kii get used to the Shinji family, that would be great."

Koki conducted consolatory activities such as cooking and distributing food in various places in Kii.

While there was no dramatic effect, it is later evaluated as contributing to the stabilization of Kii in the long run.