The journey back to Lord Matsunaga’s residence was considerably slower than the journey to the ruined temple.
Saburo could walk, but not quickly, and although one of the younger samurai eventually surrendered his horse and shared it with him, the injured retainer still needed frequent stops.
His wounded arm had begun bleeding through the cloth wrapped around it, and whatever strength had carried him through the previous nine days seemed to disappear the moment he no longer needed it.
Ren found that understandable.
People could endure surprising things while they believed there was no other choice.
The moment safety appeared, the body often remembered that it was exhausted.
They had barely left Mount Kuro when Saburo fell asleep on horseback.
Kagemori rode beside him, occasionally glancing over to make sure he wasn’t about to slide from the saddle, while Tadakatsu remained unusually quiet.
That silence lasted nearly an hour.
Ren noticed because Tadakatsu had spent most of the previous day looking at him as though fortune tellers were an especially irritating form of insect.
Now the older samurai barely looked at anyone.
Eventually, while they stopped beside a stream to refill their water containers, Tadakatsu approached.
Ren was sitting on a rock with his wooden case open beside him.
The five cards from the reading rested across his knees.
Duty.
Journey.
Danger.
Hidden.
Betrayal.
He had spent most of the return journey staring at them.
Tadakatsu stopped several steps away.
Ren looked up.
For a moment, neither spoke.
Then Tadakatsu folded his arms.
“You were right.”
Ren stared at him.
“About what?”
The older man’s eyebrow twitched.
“Don’t make this more difficult than it already is.”
“I’m genuinely asking.”
Tadakatsu exhaled through his nose, and the irritation Ren had become familiar with returned to his expression.
Strangely, that made the conversation feel more normal.
“You told us not to decide that Saburo was the traitor.”
“I said we didn’t have enough information.”
“That is close enough.”
Ren looked back down at the cards.
“If it makes you feel better, I almost believed it too.”
Tadakatsu’s expression shifted.
“You did?”
“Of course I did.
Everything pointed toward him.”
Ren touched the edge of the Betrayal card.
“He disappeared with military information, carried more money than usual, deliberately left his route, traveled away from his destination, and then this appeared at the end of the reading.
I would have had to be extremely stubborn not to suspect him.”
“Yet you didn’t accuse him.”
“I almost did.”
“But you didn’t.”
Ren was silent for a moment.
Then he shrugged.
“I made that mistake before.”
Tadakatsu sat on another rock nearby.
It was the first time Ren had seen him voluntarily place himself beside him without looking like he wanted an interrogation.
“What happened?”
“A dispute over stolen money.”
“Did you accuse the wrong person?”
“Almost.”
Ren explained the situation briefly.
Not every detail.
Just enough.
A missing pouch, a man who had touched it, a pendulum that insisted he was involved, and assumptions that filled in the rest.
Tadakatsu listened without interrupting.
When Ren finished, the older man glanced toward the Betrayal card.
“So this has happened twice.”
“Not exactly.”
“It sounds exactly the same.”
Ren shook his head.
“The first time, the problem was that I asked bad questions and assumed the answers meant more than they did.
This time…”
He paused.
Tadakatsu waited.
Ren looked toward Saburo, who remained asleep beneath a nearby tree.
“This time the questions weren’t necessarily bad.”
That was the part he disliked.
He had been careful.
He had remembered Matsuo.
He had deliberately avoided asking whether Saburo was a traitor.
He had separated facts from assumptions.
He had used several different methods.
And still, the obvious interpretation had been wrong.
Tadakatsu followed his gaze.
“Then what was the problem?”
Ren looked at the cards again.
“I don’t know.”
That answer had once frustrated him.
Now it merely felt honest.
Tadakatsu remained quiet.
After several seconds, he spoke more softly.
“I thought Saburo betrayed us.”
Ren looked toward him.
The man’s eyes remained on the stream.
“I’ve known him for eleven years,” Tadakatsu continued.
“We fought together twice.
He was beside me when my brother died, and I was present when his eldest son was born.”
His mouth tightened.
“Yet when I heard he had vanished with the letter, I became angry before I became worried.”
Ren said nothing.
There was nothing useful to add.
Tadakatsu rubbed a thumb along one knuckle.
“When your card appeared, I wanted it to confirm what I already believed.”
There it was.
Ren’s attention sharpened.
Tadakatsu looked toward him.
“You noticed.”
“Yes.”
“Was it obvious?”
“Very.”
The older man frowned.
Ren smiled faintly.
“Don’t worry.
Everyone else was doing it too.”
“Including you.”
“Including me.”
Tadakatsu gave a quiet grunt.
For some reason, admitting that seemed to remove the last of the hostility between them.
After a moment, he stood.
“I still don’t like fortune tellers.”
“That’s reasonable.”
“But perhaps I dislike this one slightly less.”
Ren stared.
“That might be the nicest thing you’ve said to me.”
“Don’t become accustomed to it.”
Tadakatsu walked away.
Ren watched him rejoin the others.
Then his attention returned to the cards.
He had been considering making another.
Deception, perhaps.
Or Falsehood.
Something representing lies, misleading appearances, and deliberately concealed truth.
Yesterday, he would probably have done it.
His deck had grown that way for months.
Whenever he encountered a situation the cards could not describe cleanly, he added another concept.
Danger had become Threat and Conflict.
Person had gradually divided into several more specific ideas.
Loss and Change had separated.
Duty had appeared because obligation did not fit comfortably beneath Authority.
Betrayal had appeared because broken trust was not merely Conflict.
So why not Deception?
Ren stared at the blank piece of paper in his notebook.
His brush hovered above it.
Then he stopped.
The reading had not lacked a card.
That was the uncomfortable truth.
Hidden had already represented concealed information.
Betrayal had already represented the broken alliance.
Adding Deception would not have prevented the wrong interpretation.
Ren slowly lowered the brush.
For once, he did not add anything to the deck.
He closed the notebook instead.
*****
They reached Lord Matsunaga’s residence after sunset.
The gates opened quickly when the guards recognized Kagemori, but the sight of Saburo caused an immediate stir.
A servant ran toward the manor.
Another hurried to help him down from the horse.
Within minutes, Saburo was surrounded by people asking questions he was far too tired to answer.
Kagemori stepped between them.
“Give him room.”
A servant bowed quickly.
“Lord Matsunaga ordered that Saburo be brought to him immediately if you returned with him.”
Kagemori looked toward the exhausted man.
Saburo managed a humorless smile.
“Of course he did.”
Tadakatsu placed one hand beneath Saburo’s uninjured arm.
“You can collapse after the report.”
“I appreciate your compassion.”
“You’ll appreciate it more when I stop you from falling on your face.”
Together, they entered.
Ren followed several steps behind.
No one had told him he was required to attend the report.
He considered using that as an excuse to disappear.
Then Kagemori looked back.
“You’re coming.”
Ren sighed.
“I was afraid you’d say that.”
“You found him.”
“I found a location.”
“You found him.”
“It was technically everyone else who walked into the building first.”
Kagemori ignored him.
Ren reluctantly followed.
Lord Matsunaga was waiting in the same chamber as before.
This time there were fewer retainers present.
The atmosphere, however, was far more tense.
When Saburo entered, Matsunaga rose immediately.
Ren noticed the reaction.
Not the reaction of a lord seeing a useful subordinate return.
Something more personal.
Relief appeared only briefly before discipline buried it.
“Saburo.”
The injured retainer knelt, although the motion was awkward.
“My lord.”
“You look terrible.”
Saburo lowered his head.
“I apologize.”
Matsunaga stared at him.
“For looking terrible?”
“For failing to return.”
Something in the lord’s expression tightened.
“You can apologize after I decide whether you failed.”
Saburo remained silent.
Kagemori placed the captured letter on the table.
“My lord, you should read this first.”
Matsunaga looked at the seal.
His expression changed immediately.
“Akiyama.”
“Yes.”
Lord Matsunaga picked up the letter.
The chamber became silent.
Ren had seen him read troubling news before.
The first time, when Saburo disappeared, his expression had become cold and calculating.
This was different.
At first, there was nothing.
Then his eyes slowed.
His jaw tightened.
By the time he reached the final lines, the paper had begun to crease beneath his fingers.
Nobody interrupted.
Matsunaga read it twice.
Then a third time.
Finally, he placed it on the table with deliberate care.
“So.”
One word, but unlike the clipped conversations Ren had grown accustomed to hearing from soldiers, this one carried enough anger that nobody mistook it for simplicity.
Lord Matsunaga looked toward Saburo.
“Tell me everything.”
Saburo did.
He described leaving the residence.
The southern road.
The messenger he recognized.
His suspicion.
The decision to follow.
The discovery that the man once connected to Takeda was now carrying Akiyama’s seal.
Saburo explained how he had watched from a distance until the messenger stopped at an isolated house, where several armed men were waiting.
He had moved closer.
Too close.
Someone recognized him.
Saburo’s expression tightened as he reached that part.
“I realized that if I continued toward Akiyama’s residence, I would be delivering our patrol information directly to men who intended to use it against us.”
Matsunaga’s fingers curled slowly against his knee.
“So you changed direction.”
“And the original letter?”
Saburo reached beneath his clothing.
The movement made several retainers tense.
He produced a small wrapped bundle.
Inside was the sealed letter Lord Matsunaga had originally sent.
Untouched.
Matsunaga stared at it.
Saburo lowered his eyes.
“I considered destroying it, but if I survived, I thought you might want proof that the seal was never broken.”
Lord Matsunaga took the letter.
He inspected the wax.
Then he closed his eyes briefly.
“You carried that for nine days.”
“Yes.”
“While being pursued.”
“Yes.”
“And after being captured.”
Saburo looked uncomfortable.
“For part of it.”
Tadakatsu’s head turned sharply.
“You told us you escaped.”
“I did.”
“You neglected the part where they actually caught you.”
Saburo glanced toward him.
“I was hoping we could avoid discussing that until after I had eaten.”
Tadakatsu’s eyes narrowed.
Matsunaga raised one hand.
“Later.”
Saburo looked visibly relieved.
The lord’s attention returned to the second letter.
“The Akiyama message.
How did you obtain it?”
Saburo hesitated.
That was the first time during the report.
Ren noticed immediately.
So did everyone else.
Matsunaga’s eyes narrowed.
“Saburo.”
“The messenger died.”
The room changed.
Ren remained still.
Saburo’s voice was quieter when he continued.
“Not by my hand.
When they realized I had followed them, there was an argument among their men.
One accused the messenger of leading me there, and things became violent.”
He paused.
“The messenger was wounded.
I found him later after I escaped.”
“Alive?”
“Briefly.”
Lord Matsunaga’s expression remained unreadable.
“He gave you the letter?”
Saburo looked down.
“No,” There was no pride in the answer, “I took it after he died.”
No one spoke for a moment.
Matsunaga finally nodded.
“Continue.”
Saburo described returning to the ruins.
Hiding.
Waiting for pursuit to pass.
Attempting to find a safe route east.
His injured arm.
His dwindling food.
And eventually, the arrival of Kagemori’s group.
When he finished, the room remained silent.
Lord Matsunaga looked toward the captured message.
Then toward the sealed letter that had never reached its intended recipient.
Finally, he looked at Saburo.
“You disobeyed your orders.”
Saburo lowered his head.
“Yes, my lord.”
“You abandoned the route you were given.”
“Yes.”
“You failed to deliver my letter.”
“Yes.”
Tadakatsu shifted, but Matsunaga continued before he could speak.
“And by doing all three, you may have prevented me from giving an enemy everything he needed to attack us.”
Saburo’s shoulders moved slightly.
Lord Matsunaga exhaled.
“I suppose punishing you would create an unfortunate lesson for the rest of my retainers.”
Kagemori’s mouth twitched.
Saburo looked up cautiously.
“My lord?”
Matsunaga’s expression finally softened.
“You’re an idiot.”
Saburo blinked.
“You should have returned immediately.”
“I couldn’t without risking pursuit.”
“You could have sent someone.”
“I trusted no one on the roads after finding the letter.”
Matsunaga paused.
That answer seemed to strike deeper than the others.
Because Saburo had been right.
An allied lord was conspiring against them.
A familiar messenger belonged to another master.
At least some information had already moved between households.
How many people could be trusted?
Matsunaga looked suddenly older.
“Get your arm treated,” he said eventually.
“Go and rest.
Tomorrow we’ll discuss exactly how many stupid decisions you made while saving my territory.”
Saburo bowed low.
“Yes, my lord.”
Tadakatsu helped him stand.
Before leaving, Saburo glanced toward Ren.
“You really found me with those cards?”
Ren shook his head.
“The cards mostly made everyone think you were a traitor.”
Saburo stared.
Kagemori spoke from beside him.
“The sticks found you.”
“That isn’t much better.”
Ren smiled.
“No.”
Saburo seemed to consider this.
Then he bowed slightly toward Ren.
“Whatever method you used, thank you.”
Ren hesitated.
“You’re welcome.”
Saburo left with Tadakatsu.
The door closed.
The atmosphere immediately changed.
Matsunaga looked toward the remaining retainers.
“Kagemori, stay.
Everyone else, leave us.”
The men bowed and departed.
Ren began to rise as well.
“Ren.”
He froze.
Of course.
Slowly, he sat back down.
Lord Matsunaga watched him.
“You too.”
Ren wasn’t sure whether that meant stay or leave.
Kagemori noticed his confusion.
“He means stay.”
“I knew that.”
“No, you didn’t.”
Ren ignored him.
Matsunaga’s mouth almost formed a smile, but the expression disappeared as he looked back toward Akiyama’s letter.
“We have a problem.”
Ren glanced at Kagemori.
Kagemori sighed.
“He’s looking at you.”
“I was hoping he wasn’t.”
Matsunaga tapped one finger against the captured message.
“Akiyama believes Saburo never discovered this.”
Ren considered that.
“If the men who chased him haven’t reported otherwise.”
“Exactly.”
Kagemori’s expression sharpened.
“They probably think Saburo is dead or still hiding.”
“Or captured,” Matsunaga added.
“But whatever they believe, Akiyama has no reason yet to think I know of his agreement with Takeda.”
Ren slowly understood where the conversation was heading, and he immediately disliked it.
“You want to keep it that way.”
Matsunaga looked toward him.
“Yes.”
Kagemori leaned forward.
“If Akiyama learns we discovered the betrayal, he’ll change his plans.”
“Which means we lose whatever advantage this letter gives us.”
Ren looked at the captured message again.
It suddenly felt much more dangerous sitting on a table than it had in the ruined temple.
“What does any of this have to do with me?”
Matsunaga’s gaze settled on him.
“Perhaps nothing.”
Ren waited.
The lord continued.
“But you found Saburo when my men were searching the wrong roads.”
“Because Kagemori knew about the temple.”
“After your divination pointed northwest.”
Ren couldn’t argue with that.
Matsunaga folded his hands.
“And yesterday your cards indicated betrayal before any of us knew who the traitor actually was.”
Ren’s stomach tightened.
There it was.
Exactly the reaction he had feared.
“My cards also almost convinced everyone Saburo betrayed you.”
“Almost.”
“That’s an important word.”
“It is.”
Matsunaga studied him thoughtfully.
“Which is why I am not asking you to decide what I should do.”
Ren blinked.
That was unexpected.
The lord looked toward the message.
“I want information.
I will make the decision.”
Ren was silent.
That was considerably more reasonable.
Still dangerous.
But reasonable.
“What do you want me to ask?”
Matsunaga’s fingers paused.
“Does Akiyama know Saburo survived?”
Ren immediately shook his head.
“I can’t ask it like that.”
Kagemori raised an eyebrow.
“Why?”
“Because we don’t know enough about what Akiyama himself knows.
If someone told him Saburo was followed, does that count?
If he believes Saburo is probably alive but hasn’t confirmed it, what answer am I supposed to get?”
Matsunaga looked interested rather than annoyed.
“Then how would you phrase it?”
Ren thought carefully.
“Has reliable information about Saburo’s survival reached Lord Akiyama?”
Kagemori nodded slowly.
“That is more precise.”
Ren retrieved the pendulum.
He placed the captured letter beneath it.
That was the closest connection he had to Akiyama available.
He focused.
“Has reliable information confirming Saburo’s survival reached Lord Akiyama?” The pendulum moved.
No.
Ren repeated it.
Same answer.
Matsunaga’s eyes narrowed.
“What about the letter?”
“What about it?”
“Does he know we have it?”
Ren frowned.
“That might be harder.”
He tried anyway.
“Does Lord Akiyama currently know that this message has fallen into Lord Matsunaga’s possession?” No.
Kagemori released a slow breath.
“So we still have surprise.”
“According to the pendulum.”
Matsunaga glanced toward Ren.
“You don’t sound confident.”
“I’m confident that’s what the pendulum said.”
“That isn’t the same thing.”
“No.”
Lord Matsunaga leaned back.
Instead of being irritated, he seemed to approve.
Ren found that strange.
“What would you do?” Matsunaga asked.
Ren stared at him.
“I’m not.
I’m asking what a cautious man with your information would consider.”
Ren looked between the two samurai.
He was not a military strategist.
He barely understood local politics.
Ten months ago, he had lived in a world where territorial disputes generally did not involve armed retainers carrying secret messages through forests.
Yet the answer seemed obvious enough.
“I’d pretend nothing happened.”
Kagemori’s expression shifted with interest.
Ren continued.
“Akiyama expects the message.
He doesn’t know you found out.
If you suddenly stop communicating with him, that’s suspicious.”
Matsunaga nodded slowly.
“So I send another letter.”
“Not the same information.”
“Obviously.”
Ren rubbed his chin.
“Could you give him something believable but wrong?”
Kagemori looked toward his lord.
Matsunaga’s eyes narrowed, and a faint smile appeared.
“Yes.”
Ren immediately regretted suggesting it.
That expression looked dangerous.
The lord reached for a blank sheet of paper.
“If Akiyama has promised Takeda information about my defenses, perhaps we should provide him with information.”
Kagemori’s smile matched his lord’s.
“Information we choose.”
“Exactly.”
Ren watched the two men.
“You both became frightening very quickly.”
Kagemori looked toward him.
“You started it.”
“I suggested a fake letter.”
“Yes.”
“I didn’t suggest whatever expression you’re wearing.”
Matsunaga ignored them.
“We’ll send revised patrol routes.”
“Routes that don’t exist?” Kagemori asked.
“Some will.”
The lord’s brush touched the paper.
“If every piece is false, Akiyama may suspect a trap.
Give him enough truth to make the lie useful.”
Ren sat quietly.
That sentence stayed with him.
Enough truth to make the lie useful.
There was something unpleasantly familiar about it.
Divination could work the same way.
A true answer, interpreted badly, could become more dangerous than a lie.
He looked down at his wooden card case.
Perhaps truth alone was not enough.
The planning continued for nearly an hour.
Ren contributed very little after that.
Mostly, he listened.
Names he did not know.
Roads he had never traveled.
Villages he had never visited.
Numbers of men.
Supplies.
Relationships between minor lords.
Promises made years earlier.
Marriage connections.
Old grudges.
It was the first time Ren truly understood how complicated the world beyond ordinary villages was.
A farmer worried about crops.
A merchant worried about roads.
A lord worried about which supposed friend would sell his patrol routes to an enemy.
Everyone had questions.
The scale changed.
The uncertainty did not.
Eventually, Lord Matsunaga put down his brush.
“Kagemori, arrange the messenger.”
“Yes, my lord.”
“And choose someone Akiyama already knows.”
Kagemori nodded.
The lord’s gaze then shifted toward Ren.
“You’ve been quiet.”
“I don’t understand half of what you’re discussing.”
“That has never stopped most advisers.” Ren almost laughed.
Matsunaga continued.
“You helped me.”
Ren looked toward the cards.
“I helped find Saburo.”
“And discovered the betrayal.”
“The cards discovered betrayal.
We almost attached it to the wrong person.”
The lord considered that.
“Yet you didn’t.”
Ren frowned.
“Everyone keeps saying that like it was deliberate wisdom.”
“Wasn’t it?”
“No.
I was scared of repeating a mistake.”
Matsunaga smiled faintly.
“That is where a great deal of wisdom comes from.”
Ren didn’t have an answer.
The lord reached toward a small wooden box nearby and opened it.
Coins.
More than Ren usually saw at once.
Matsunaga pushed it across the table.
“This will serve as your payment.”
Ren stared.
“That’s too much.”
“You think so?”
“I didn’t do that much.”
“You located a missing retainer carrying military information and helped reveal that one of my allies intends to betray me.”
“When you say it like that, it sounds impressive.”
“It is.”
Ren looked at the box again.
Taking money from villagers was one thing.
Taking a lord’s reward felt very different.
Yet refusing might be insulting.
Also, he needed money.
Practicality won.
Ren bowed his head slightly.
“Thank you.”
Matsunaga nodded.
Then he said something Ren had expected eventually.
“You could remain here.”
Ren’s hand stopped above the box.
Kagemori glanced toward him while Matsunaga continued.
“I have no court diviner, and before you become alarmed, I am not asking you to predict battles every morning.”
“That was exactly what I was becoming alarmed about.”
“I assumed so.”
The lord leaned back.
“You would have food, lodging, payment, and protection.
You could continue practicing whatever it is you do without wondering where you will sleep each night.”
Ren didn’t answer immediately.
The offer was tempting.
Far more tempting than he wanted it to be.
Food.
Safety.
A roof.
Money.
Protection.
It was almost exactly what he had left behind months earlier, except considerably better.
And that was the problem.
Ren looked toward the open doorway.
Beyond the compound walls, the road continued.
“I can’t.”
Matsunaga did not seem offended.
“Why?”
Ren thought about the potion.
About the mysterious system.
About the kitsune.
About villages filled with questions.
About the road.
About everything he still did not understand.
“If I stay somewhere every time it becomes comfortable, I’ll stop moving.”
Kagemori’s eyebrows rose.
Matsunaga studied him.
“You are moving toward something?”
Ren smiled faintly.
“I’d like to know.”
That answer seemed to satisfy the lord more than a detailed explanation would have.
“Then I won’t stop you.”
Ren relaxed.
“But.”
There was always a but.
Matsunaga’s eyes narrowed with amusement.
“If you travel through my lands again, come here.”
Ren sighed.
“Why?”
“Because interesting things happen when you’re nearby.”
“That’s a terrible reason.”
“It’s my reason.”
Kagemori smiled.
Ren shook his head.
“Yes, Lord Matsunaga.”
*****
That night, Ren sat alone in the room he had been given.
The reward box rested beside him.
His cards lay across the floor.
Twenty-eight.
He picked up Betrayal.
For several minutes, he considered making a twenty-ninth card.
Deception.
He imagined its symbol.
Perhaps a mask.
Or two faces.
Something representing a truth deliberately concealed.
His brush hovered over the blank paper.
Then he remembered Akiyama.
The Betrayal card had described him perfectly without naming him.
The Hidden card had represented the secret alliance.
Duty had represented Saburo.
Danger had represented the pursuit.
Journey had represented the entire event linking them together.
The cards had been enough.
Ren slowly set the brush aside.
Maybe the problem wasn’t always that he needed more symbols.
Maybe sometimes he needed to understand fewer symbols better.
That thought felt strange.
Months ago, every gap in his divination had seemed like something that could be solved with another tool, another method, another question, another card.
Now he wasn’t certain.
Ren looked at his pendulum.
It had told the truth.
He looked at the sticks.
They had pointed in the correct direction.
He looked at the cards.
They had described the situation.
Every method had worked.
And yet, if they had stopped after the first interpretation, an innocent man would have become a traitor while the actual traitor remained an ally.
Ren leaned back against the wall.
“Divination is annoying.”
The cards did not respond.
He smiled faintly.
Then he reached for his notebook.
He opened to a fresh page.
For a while, he simply stared at it.
Eventually, he began writing.
A correct answer can still lead to the wrong conclusion.
He paused.
Then added another line.
The clearer an answer appears, the more careful I should be about what I am assuming.
Ren looked at the two sentences.
They felt important.
Not complete.
But important.
He closed the notebook.
Outside, Lord Matsunaga’s retainers were already preparing a false message for a false ally.
Somewhere to the west, Lord Akiyama presumably still believed his betrayal remained hidden.
And somewhere beyond that lay Takeda’s men, waiting for military information they did not know had already been compromised.
Ren had no intention of becoming involved in any of it.
He suspected the world would disagree.
For now, however, he picked up the Betrayal card and returned it to the deck.
He did not create another.
Not tonight.
For the first time since he had begun expanding the cards, Ren considered the possibility that improving his divination might not always mean adding more answers.
Perhaps it meant becoming more careful with the ones he already had.
For next week, the deal remains the same.
Perhaps we can hit 180 this time?
Also, there’s only less than 400 collections so far!
If we reach 1k collections,
As promised, this is the 2nd bonus chapter for this week!