July, the 13th year of Tensho (1585).

  An unprecedented imperial decree was issued by the Imperial Court, altering the very course of Japanese history.

  Hideyoshi Hashiba was appointed Kanpaku (Imperial Regent).

  Though born a warrior, he had ascended to the pinnacle of the court nobility—the supreme advisor to the Emperor. With this, Hideyoshi’s armies were no longer mere private forces; they had been transformed into the Kogi—the official "Will of the State."

  In that single instant, Ieyasu Tokugawa, who continued his defiance, was stripped of his status as a mere "enemy" and branded a "rebel" against the Imperial Throne.

  Four months later. Along with the November chill, a tectonic shift rocked the foundations of the Tokugawa house.

  Kazumasa Ishikawa, Ieyasu’s right hand and the overseer of all military and administrative affairs, suddenly fled Okazaki Castle with his family. To the world’s shock, he defected to the camp of his enemy, Hideyoshi Hashiba.

  "Kazumasa... That Kazumasa has abandoned me!?"

  Within the depths of Hamamatsu Castle, Ieyasu’s cry echoed hollowly. Kazumasa’s betrayal was not merely the defection of a single general. He knew everything—the Tokugawa military system, their deepest secrets, the temperaments of every retainer, and the intricate defense lines of their territory. That entire bank of knowledge had now fallen into the hands of Hideyoshi Hashiba at Osaka Castle.

  On the night Kazumasa resolved to flee, the final words from Kanbe’e’s letter remained seared into his mind: ‘Will your loyalty destroy Mikawa, or will your disloyalty save the Tokugawa?’ By drowning himself in the abyss that was Kanbe’e, Kazumasa had, ironically, sought to ensure the survival of the Tokugawa house.

  "Kanbe’e Kuroda... You bastard. Without ever setting foot on the battlefield, you have torn my right arm out by its very root..."

  Ieyasu fought to keep his knees from trembling. With the loss of Kazumasa, the Tokugawa defense network had become completely "transparent."

  Meanwhile, at Osaka Castle, Kanbe’e prostrated himself before his lord, Hideyoshi. Before him lay a vast mountain of documents containing the secrets extracted from Kazumasa.

  "My Lord, there are no longer any blind spots in Mikawa. Based on the intelligence provided by Mr. Kazumasa, the Tokugawa’s formations, their granaries, and even their emergency escape routes are all within my mind. Now is the golden opportunity to flood Mikawa with an army of one hundred thousand. We can take Ieyasu’s head."

  A flicker of madness, the hallmark of a hegemon, ignited in Hideyoshi’s eyes. To avenge the humiliation of Nagakute, Hideyoshi ordered a mobilization of unprecedented scale.

  As the war council at Osaka Castle concluded, Kanbe’e returned to his private quarters, caught between a surging pulse of exhilaration and a bottomless sense of emptiness.

  Due to Kazumasa’s defection, Ieyasu’s fate now rested upon the tip of Kanbe’e’s finger. If he moved the hundred-thousand-strong army now, the Tokugawa would surely perish. Though his mind understood this was the shortest path to Tenka Taihei (Great Peace), the taste of victory gained by shattering Kazumasa’s soul was as heavy and bitter as lead.

  That night, Kanbe’e secretly summoned Ukon Takayama.

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  On the table lay a worn set of Kontatsu (rosary beads), given to him by the young girl, Fuji, in the earthen dungeon of Arioka.

  "Mr. Ukon... I died once within the darkness of Arioka. At that time, the one who gave me light was the mercy of a young girl who believed in Deus..."

  Kanbe’e’s voice was a ragged rasp, forced from his throat.

  "Now, I have turned that light into a weapon. I manipulate people through the violence of my intellect to rule the world. But... this Karma is too heavy for a vessel as small as mine to carry alone."

  Ukon’s eyes widened slightly at the sight of this "Peerless Strategist" showing such trembling solitude for the first time.

  "Mr. Kanbe’e. Is it forgiveness you seek, or further power?"

  "An indulgence. By surrendering to the absolute judgment of Deus, I wish to become a 'Tool of God.' I must believe that all the atrocities I am about to commit are part of a Divine Providence to build a world without war... If I do not believe that, I will be crushed by the weight of my own intellect."

  Kanbe’e’s conversion was not merely for the practical gain of an information network. It was a desperate, almost maddened form of self-preservation for a man whose intelligence had encroached too far into the realm of the gods.

  Beneath Kanbe’e’s resolve to entrust his soul to Deus lay the shadow of another "cage."

  It was the memory of Fuji, the girl who had tethered him to life in Arioka. A fourteen-year-old girl who preached of loving one's enemies... Though Kanbe’e had prayed occasionally, he had yet to truly internalize Fuji’s selfless mercy.

  It was then that rumors reached Kanbe’e’s ears regarding Tama (the future Gracia Hosokawa), who lived in seclusion deep within the Hosokawa mansion.

  Tama was the daughter of Mitsuhide Akechi—the man Kanbe’e had used as a sacrificial pawn. After the Incident at Honno-ji, she bore the "Karma" of being a traitor’s daughter and was destined for execution.

  Fujitaka Hosokawa, who had conspired with Kanbe’e to drive Mitsuhide toward rebellion, was tormented by an indelible guilt for betraying his ally. Yet, he could not openly shield the daughter of a rebel. In a desperate compromise, he spared her life but confined her to the frozen, desolate land of Midono in Tango. For two years, Tama endured a lonely cage of ice and snow, only recently being permitted to return to the mansion in Osaka.

  Yet, even in Osaka, her husband Tadaoki’s pathological possessiveness robbed her of freedom. Her heart remained buried under the snows of Midono.

  The moment Kanbe’e heard of her plight, he was struck by a violent sense of déjà vu.

  (Lady Tama... You are just as I was. Though you have left the cage, your heart remains shackled in darkness...)

  By pouring the debt of gratitude he could never repay to Fuji onto Tama, Kanbe’e hoped to wash away even a fraction of his own sins.

  Following Fujitaka’s instructions, Tadaoki had sworn to never reveal the truth—that Mitsuhide had been discarded by Kanbe’e’s hand—to Tama. It was Tadaoki’s own twisted form of devotion, an attempt to protect her pure soul from the blackened shadows of politics.

  However, within Kanbe’e’s chest, separate from his cold calculations, there was a dull ache. As a man saved by Fuji in the dungeon of Arioka, he could not ignore the plight of Tama, who had been confined to "another cage" by his own schemes.

  Kanbe’e summoned Ukon and spoke only this:

  "Mr. Ukon... In the Hosokawa mansion in Osaka, there is a lost sheep whose heart is still trapped in the snows of Tango. I was saved by the teachings of Deus through a girl named Fuji. Could you deliver those same teachings to that lady? For a man like me, the most I can do is set down a lamp."

  Ukon did not ask why the strategist so fervently desired the salvation of this one woman. The quiet color of despair clinging to Kanbe’e made it self-evident that this was an act of atonement.

  Through his female disciples, Ukon began to preach to Tama, just as Kanbe’e had requested.

  For Tama, it was a miraculous guidance. In the depths of her despair, a saving hand had reached out, its source unknown. She accepted it purely as "Divine Mercy," finding for the first time a light by which to walk through the darkness.

  When Kanbe’e heard from Ukon that she had found peace in the teachings, he merely cast his eyes down for a moment.

  (It is better this way... Let Lady Tama go forth into the light, knowing nothing of my "Karma.")

  There would be no direct meeting, no crossing of paths. One as a monster who knew no light, the other as a saint who knew not her savior.

  Under the night sky of Osaka, the souls of these two individuals secretly and sublimely resonated through the "Teachings of Christ," without either of them ever realizing it.

  In mid-November of the 13th year of Tensho, Kanbe’e received the holy water from Ukon and accepted his Christian name: Simeon.

  Produced and written by a Japanese author, rooted in authentic Japanese history. Translated with the assistance of Gemini (AI).