Measures for War

The skies had been unnaturally grey for longer than normal the past few weeks in the provinces of the Yasuki. But despite the gloomy weather Yasuki Kurohane has had quite a relaxing time even with the upcoming march to the north his paper work load has been quite streamlined. He had asked for more servants over months ago and his cries had finally been heard. With the arrival of three new servants on his staff he did not know how well it would work out. Two of the servants had no real knowledge of commerce while the third was only moderately skilled in such tasks. It took Kurohane some time but over the second week all three servants came up to speed on the ways that the Yasuki conduct their trade and shipments. By the time he had to get the actual supply shipment logistics worked out the two unskilled servants, Taro and Hiku, were working swimmingly with Jima the third servant who had worked in the Yasuki offices before. This week though has shown that kurohane’s work load has slightly lifted as the entire backlog had finally been catalogued and processed, a rare event in his office. Kurohane looked at the final stack of records as his servants rummaged about frantically and smiled satisfactorily that he could finally start at the task at hand, the upcoming march on Shiro Chuda in the coming year.

“We’re finally on the home stretch boys, keep up the hustle and we’ll have everything in order in the next couple weeks. Get it done by the end of this week and I’ll even give you guys a paid vacation.”

“Osu!” the servants rang out through the offices as they started to move with much more fervor motivated by the offer. The next morning as Kurohane entered his office he came to a sight of complete chaos as his servants were cleaning up papers strewn all over the place.

“What the hell happened here!?”

“we don’t know, Yasuki-sama we came in early this morning to get ahead on the workload and it was like this when we got here.” Jima replied.

“Dammit… it’s gonna take all day to clean this up and get everything reorganized. Alright lets get this mess cleaned up, and take accounts for anything missing.”

“Hai, nothing so far Yasuki-sama.” Taro shouted from the other room.

Kurohane stepping over strewn scrolls and loose papers makes his way to his desk to start sorting out the mess on his desk. As he started to get closer to his desk he could start to smell a faint burning scent. A combination of fear and curiosity came over him as he rounded to the back of his desk to see a small pile of papers still smoldering under the desk. He slowly bends to pick up one of the pieces and examines the remains of whatever the document was. The scroll was charred heavily but some of the ink remained on the document. At least enough for Kurohane to make out what was on the piece of paper. It was the store house locations for the crab armies before they began to march. The route had not yet been plotted yet so all the rice and other various rations were being held in large warehouses from Yasuki Yashiki to Kyuden Hida. And who ever went through this place now knows where each of them are, and can somehow sabotage their supply for the coming march.

Kurohane clears the desk of all the strewn papers and takes out a clean scroll and ink well, and begins to write quickly. He is not concerned with his calligraphy at this point as the urgency of this letter was more important. After a few moments he applies his chop to the document and calls out “Taro, Jima, someone, I don’t care who, but someone go deliver this to the magistrate office immediately. This needs to get to the other locations immediately!”

Hiku being the closest approached Kurohane first, and received the now rolled up piece of paper and hurried off out the door.

Hiku though with purpose with going to the magistrate’s office was rather nervous. He was constantly looking over his shoulder for someone following him, and thinking that his life could be in danger, but at the same time feeling excited about the prospect of being on an important mission. His steps quicken as he rounds the next street. He never thought the magistrate’s office was so far before since he and the others would pass by it daily going to and from Yasuki Kurohane’s office, but when he needed to get there post haste it seemed like the longest walk he’d ever taken. Having to weave in and out of the busy morning streets of people going in and out of buildings, houses, and running various stands of food and goods made Hiku think that that kami were intentionally trying to hinder his progress, but he would prevail in this most important task.

Finally, he made it to the magistrate outpost office in the district. After having to wait a few moments he was met by one of the office yoriki and asked to explain what he was doing there. He took a few moments to explain what happened and then handed over the document which they then read over.

“I see. I shall pass this up at once and have copies written up and ridden out as soon as possible.”

Hiku bowed low “Hai, thank you sama.”

“Is there anything else?”

“No nothing else, thank you again. I shall go return to Yasuki-sama now.”

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Kurohane was sitting at his desk mulling through papers as his servants walked through the office door. It was the first day back from the vacation he promised them as he was a man who always kept to his deals, whether it was to a peasant or samurai alike. Good business practice is good business practice.

“I hope you boys enjoyed your time off because we got some urgent work to do.”

The three servant men looked at each other then back at Kurohane, and with a look of resolve on their faces responded in unison “Hai!”

“It would seem that someone within the ranks of this outfit is incompetent and decided to not keep a full record of documents for the shipment papers that were a part of the vandalizing a couple weeks ago. So we have been tasked to re-document the entire inventory from here to Kyuden Hida. This is because those who are higher up think that we know what the last bit of documentation had said so therefore we should know what is supposed to be in what warehouse and where it’s going. So let’s get started then shall we?”

Kurohane outfits his men with the proper utensils and tools as they head out for their first destination.

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With the brisk wind of early spring starting to bite at people’s noses most take refuge at the closest inns to warm themselves up inside and out before making the final trek to their homes. Peasants and eta come in after a hard day’s work, traveling wave men looking for work and lodging. Even some clan samurai decide to make their way into these places when their bill isn’t being taken care of by their hosts. The proprietor looks up as he sees a few familiar faces walk into the inn.

“Hey wow, haven’t seen you three in almost 2 months. I almost thought you were dead. I was going to hold services for your wives and everything!”

“Not dead yet, Han-san.” Taro replies as he enters with his friends. “But we’re about to get fat and happy as we’ve had our purses well fattened while we were away. So serve us up a bottle of your finest!”

With a slight surprised look on his face the inn keeper pulls out a large bottle with 3 cups for the servant girl running around to bring to the group, and the revelry began.

“To a job well done! Kampai!”

“Kampai!”

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“And, you’re sure that these figures are accurate?”

“Within about 100 men or so supplied and fed yes. The paths may change slightly along the way up toward Shiro Chuda, but not by much. The crab are far too pragmatic to deviate from the most useful direction of moving their supplies.” “And how do you know that you weren’t fed false information?”

“While I considered this greatly, and no offense to another clan’s champion, but O-ushi-sama is not the type to try and play games of any kind when rumors about the shadowland is involved. I can trust the information my agents sent me is valid. While they will have to continue to live as crab servants for the duration, our people are meticulous to the end.”

A silence falls momentarily as Bayushi Yojiro reads the documents closely. While it is not that he distrusts his vassal this kind of information cannot be taken lightly.

“Very well, I shall send others to look into these locations that lead up through crab territories and toward dragon lands. As for you, your job is not yet done. I am sending you back to Shiro Chuda, and I want you to find out the validity of the concerns that the Crab and the Phoenix have over this reclaimed family that the dragon have acquired. We already know the history of the first family, but we must make sure that these individuals are not a repeated event. Report back to me before the spring season concludes.”

“Hai, Yojiro-dono.”

“You are dismissed Tenrai-san. I shall have papers drawn up for you by the morning.”

Yojiro exits the small low meeting room with the practiced grace of one who is used to using such things. He is immediately joined by two bushi guards who’m take up his left and right side as they head back toward the main chambers of Shiro Bayushi. Shortly after another samurai steps out heading the opposite direction, his next assignment given, he goes to ready himself for travel.