Chapter 77

"「「「「「「「「「「乾杯！」」」」」」」」」」

After the banquet in Ishiyama, Hikaru and Kyouko invited their close friends to share a dinner together.

The menu, considering it was a cold season and they had already enjoyed a feast at the noon banquet, consisted only of oden (a Japanese stew).

There are various styles of oden, such as Kanto-style and Kansai-style, but today they prepared three types: Kanto-style with kelp and bonito broth, Aichi-style miso oden, and Western-style oden.

The Kanto-style oden included ingredients like daikon radish, boiled eggs, kelp, konjac, shirataki noodles, chikuwa (tube-shaped fish cake), deep-fried tofu, ganmodoki (deep-fried tofu balls), rice dumplings, chikuwabu (dried chikuwa), tendon (braised beef tendon), clams, taro, potatoes, ginkgo nuts, octopus, satsuma-age (deep-fried fish paste), fish balls, chicken meatballs, hanpen (white fish cake), korokke (croquettes), saezuri (small fish balls), and various fried items.

Since they had secured the fishing ports in the Tohoku region, the fish paste products were from there.

The konjac production has been increased in Ueno.

The miso oden included ingredients like pork belly, konjac, grilled tofu, and boiled eggs.

The Western-style oden included ingredients like daikon radish, Chinese cabbage, carrots, rolled cabbage, sausages, dumplings, and spring rolls.

Each person could choose their favorite ingredients and eat them, and there were various drinks available, including sake, shochu, beer, wine, coffee, tea, green tea, barley tea, and juice.

The wine was provided by Hideyoshi, and the coffee and tea were prepared by Hisahide.

Many of those who came to Ishiyama brought their families, and the women and children were also participating in the dinner banquet.

The women and children were enjoying the oden and chatting while drinking non-alcoholic beverages.

Kyouko, who hadn't seen Nene and Matsu in a long time, was having a lively conversation with them.

Yasumasa, Masahide, and Sadaharu's wives also joined them, enjoying themselves separately from the men.

Hikaru and the others were drinking hot sake and eating oden.

"As you get older, ingredients like konjac and daikon radish taste better. It's delicious when you add a little bit of grated karashi (Japanese mustard)."

"Indeed, are you joining our group, Lord Tsuda?"

Sadaharu, unlike the young people and children, preferred the light ingredients from the Kanto-style oden pot.

Yasumasa, Masahide, Hideyoshi, and Kagekatsu also preferred similar ingredients.

Hikaru has been serving the Oda family for nearly twenty years.

Considering that ten years is a long time, it's been an incredibly long period, and everyone has aged accordingly.

"Lord Tsuda, you look young, which is great."

"Truly, I envy you."

Yasumasa, who was already over fifty, envied Hikaru, who looked younger than his age.

Sadaharu, who was already over sixty, felt even more so.

"Looking young isn't always a good thing. People tend to underestimate you."

"Indeed, there are such drawbacks."

Kagekatsu nodded in agreement with Hikaru's point.

"Lord Yasumasa, if you keep thinking about your age, you'll look older."

While brewing coffee and tea, Hisahide started sharing his own secret to staying young.

"Lord Hisahide, you always look energetic and are truly enviable."

"When you get absorbed in a hobby, you forget about your age."

As everyone chatted and drank, Nobutaka appeared.

He seemed to have been asked to do something by Nobunaga and arrived a bit late.

"Sorry for being late. This is my wife, Kikuko."

Nobutaka introduced his wife, Kikuko, to Hikaru and the others.

He was unique in this era for not having a concubine and had three sons and four daughters.

While not as impressive as Kagekatsu's wife Matsu, it was still quite something, Hikaru thought.

"Kikuko, the wives are enjoying themselves together. Why don't you join them?"

"Thank you for your consideration, Lord Tsuda."

"No, we will be relatives soon."

Before the banquet in Ishiyama, Nobunaga had arranged the marriages of his vassals' children to some extent.

The intention was for the vassals to become relatives and support the Oda family together.

In Hikaru's case, his eldest daughter, Chacha, born to Oichi, was to marry Hideyoshi's eldest son, who had recently come of age as Chogoro, and his second son, Jiro, was to marry Nobutaka's fourth daughter.

For the others, Hikaru had been hesitant, and Nobunaga did not push the matter.

Nobunaga himself had similar traits and couldn't criticize others too much.

"Lord Nobunaga wanted Lord Tsuda to get along with Lord Kuroda and proposed a marriage between Lord Tsuda's daughter and Kuroda's adopted son, Shigetoku, but..."

Hikaru openly opposed the idea, fearing his daughter would be bullied, and Nobutaka had to mediate with Nobunaga.

This was one of the reasons he was late.

"I'm sorry for causing trouble."

"No, convincing Lord Nobunaga wasn't too difficult. When I said it would only make things worse, he just sighed and said, 'I see...'"

One of Nobunaga's concerns was the poor relationship between Hikaru and Katsuie, among other hereditary vassals.

The exceptions were Masahide, Kagekatsu, and Sadaharu, who were actually from Omi, not purely from Owari.

"Many other marriage arrangements were made, but let's forget about that today and enjoy ourselves."

"It's good that Aihime's husband has been decided."

"Yes... but I don't know much about him. What kind of person is he?"

In the end, Aihime's husband was Nobunaga's fifth son, Gomaru, who had recently come of age as Nobufusa.

Aihime was a few years older, but the older three children already had wives, so it didn't work out.

If Hikaru's eldest daughter had become a concubine, it would have been a major issue, which didn't need to be pointed out.

"He's still young, so he has potential."

Nobutaka's response was cautious.

When talking about the Oda family's children, the conversation inevitably turned to the second son, Nobukatsu, who was rumored to be incompetent.

No matter how foolish, one couldn't call the lord's son a fool.

Many Oda vassals, who didn't want to cause trouble, kept their distance.

"Let's eat some oden. Lord Nobutaka, please help yourself. You don't like alcohol, right? Lord Hisahide has prepared some new drinks."

"That's very kind. I don't like alcohol, so I always struggle at such gatherings."

Nobutaka enjoyed the oden and the coffee Hisahide had brewed, spending a pleasant time.

"This drink is very calming."

"Indeed, Lord Nobutaka, you understand. The key to brewing coffee is..."

However, being treated as a coffee companion by Hisahide, Nobutaka ended up listening to a long discussion about coffee.

Hisahide was trying to increase his circle of coffee enthusiasts.

"Lord Tsuda, I am grateful for your invitation."

Finally, Hori Hideyasu appeared.

Despite being a close vassal, he seemed to have the skill to manage his busy schedule, as befitting his nickname, Master Kuta.

"Oden? This is an interesting dish."

"The various ingredients create a delicious broth, and the flavors complement each other. The miso oden, with its rich miso flavor, enhances the ingredients... and the Western-style, with its unique ingredients, is also quite good. By 'Western-style,' do you mean 'Southern Barbarian style'?"

Master Kuta was an expert in evaluating dishes.

Moreover, he had an incredible appetite, which made Hikaru and the others envy his youth.

"By the way, what will be served for dessert?"

Hideyasu, who seemed to enjoy dessert, asked Hikaru about the menu.

"Choux cream."

"Choux cream? The Southern Barbarians have many interesting sweets."

Hideyasu thought he had never heard of such sweets from the missionaries who occasionally visited to gauge the mood.

Initially, they came frequently to present excellent Southern Barbarian items to Nobunaga, but after Nobunaga commented that they were inferior to items from the Tsuda domain, they came less often.

They were conducting missionary activities in the city, and while there were many converts at first, they were now struggling.

The lack of official permission from Nobunaga to conduct missionary activities was a significant factor.

While not explicitly banned, Christianity lacked appeal in terms of the benefits of conversion.

"The custard cream and whipped cream inside the choux cream are delicious."

Hideyasu enjoyed the oden and choux cream, and as the night grew late, the dinner gathering dispersed.

"Once China, Shikoku, and Kyushu are settled, we will have more time. It would be nice to gather again."

Everyone agreed with Hideyoshi's words and returned to their domains.

"..."

The next day, Nobunaga was reviewing a large number of documents.

However, his mood was not good.

This was because he had not been invited to the enjoyable private banquet that Hikaru and the others had held the previous night.

"What is oden, anyway?"

Nobunaga understood that as the lord, he didn't need to be invited to private gatherings among colleagues, but he was still hurt not to be invited.

He was very curious about the dish called oden that had been mentioned.

He really wanted to try it.

As he was thinking about this, it was already noon.

Wondering what the menu would be, Nobunaga noticed a pleasant aroma.

Looking in the direction of the smell, he saw Hideyasu with a hot pot.

"Kuta, what's that?"

"I received the ingredients from Lord Tsuda."

"Oden!"

"Yes, oden."

"Good job, Kuta! Mitsuo must have provided the ingredients."

Nobunaga was delighted to see the dish he wanted to try.

After praising Hideyasu and Hikaru, he started eating the oden with relish.

"This is hot and delicious. Indeed, the broth from the various ingredients soaks into the ingredients, creating the best flavor... The fried items are from Oshu... The konjac and shirataki are from Ueno... The eggs are delicious... There's whale and beef. I've heard beef is medicinal, and it's delicious."

Nobunaga continued to enjoy the oden.

"By the way, why are the corners of the daikon radish cut off?"

"To prevent it from falling apart."

"I see. There's a lot to consider."

Hideyasu was grateful to Hikaru for providing the ingredients, but the cooks from the Tsuda household, including Kyouko, were unavailable due to scheduling.

So, Hideyasu learned how to make oden from Kyouko and prepared it for Nobunaga.

He carefully made the broth, placed the daikon radish at the bottom of the pot, and simmered the other ingredients.

Oden may seem simple, but its simplicity