Niwa Nagahide finished asking, and Nozawa was a bit surprised.
He had thought it was soone from the Niwa Family who was gravely ill, so they’d invited him for a house call. That’s why he ca all formal and proper, only to find out he was here to help soone look for a job...
He hesitated for a mont, then suddenly thought of soone, and said straightforwardly and politely, "Is Lord Niwa here to recomnd Lord Maeshima Shichiro?"
Niwa Nagahide nodded, "That’s right."
Nozawa found it a little odd. "So where is he?" Is job hunting these days done without even showing up?
Niwa Nagahide felt a bit embarrassed, but quickly regained composure. "Shichiro admires your style greatly. He’s ntioned you often these days, but not knowing your feelings and aware his talents are ager, he’s never dared to ask directly. When I heard about it, I volunteered to..."
Maeda Toshie was sitting to the side munching on pine nuts. He couldn’t hold back and interrupted, "Actually, it was Shichiro’s aunt who asked Van Chiyoda (Niwa Nagahide) to co ask. Shichiro probably doesn’t even know about this yet. If you don’t agree and don’t want to add more people to your household, we just won’t tell him. No need to make him upset again—he’s already been rejected who knows how many tis."
Having said that, he turned to Niwa Nagahide, complaining with no pretensions, "We’re all friends here. No need to beat around the bush—just say what’s on your mind, isn’t that better?"
This ti, Niwa Nagahide was thoroughly embarrassed. But since Maeda Toshie was the one he brought along to talk him up, he couldn’t bla him. He could only compose himself as best he could, bow slightly, and say, "Forgive . It’s just as Lord Maeda said; I’ve co at the request of Shichiro’s aunt. But Shichiro does truly admire you—he’s praised your deeds many tis in his letters ho. That part is absolutely true—I stake my honor on it!"
Nozawa hurriedly waved his hands. "I understand—there’s really no need for such formality, Lord Niwa."
Niwa Nagahide imdiately said, "Then, Lord, your aning is..."
Nozawa hesitated. Maeshima Shichiro had been wandering alone for years, only diocre in ability, running into walls everywhere—his family, worried, had started asking people to help him job-hunt. This, he totally got—parents ask relatives, relatives ask other relatives, all to find jobs for the family’s kid. He’d heard about this plenty of tis back ho; he didn’t expect that after five hundred years and a new country, it’d be the exact sa thing.
So things never change—society always runs on personal connections!
As for giving up on Oda Nobunaga and switching allegiance to him, he could understand that too. It was pretty much like taking the civil service exam N tis and never passing, so you settle for a private company instead—totally normal.
He wasn’t going to look down on Maeshima Shichiro for this, or call him wishy-washy. After all, everyone’s just trying to make a living. He just couldn’t decide whether hiring a household retainer was a good thing or not...
He hesitated for a bit before saying, "Sorry, Lord Niwa, I hadn’t really planned on hiring any household retainers before. But if Lord Shichiro isn’t happy where he is now and wants to co work for , that’s fine too. I just can’t promise anything at the mont."
After a pause, he added, "By the way, does Lord Shichiro’s current annual salary happen to be..."
Niwa Nagahide seed a little disappointed, but not offended. The Maeshima Family had already fallen on hard tis, and Maeshima Shichiro was just okay—okay at martial arts, okay at archery, okay at riding, okay at talking, okay in looks, even his singing was okay. Everything was just... okay. His one virtue was that he was honest and hardworking. Fourteen when he left ho, five years out, and hadn’t found anyone willing to appreciate him. Nozawa’s reluctance to hire him was normal—recruiting a household retainer is serious business, takes real silver, and not a small sum either, otherwise it wouldn’t be this hard.
But hearing that Nozawa would consider him as a clerk, possibly with a pay bump, he felt he’d done all he could for his relatives and was cheered up right away. He quickly replied, "Shichiro’s annual salary is five kan of Wen, perhaps with a bit of rice allowance added."
Five kan of Wen? That’s about 2.5 tis what a Lang Faction mber gets? Temp work really isn’t worth much, huh. Even back in the day...
No wonder people in old Japan were desperate to find a good lord. Turns out it really was the difference between eating grass and eating at!
Nozawa hadn’t expected Maeshima Shichiro to be this cheap—after all, Maeda Toshie took fifty kan a year, plus all sorts of rice, clothes, shoes, rewards, whatnot. To support soone like him, it’d take over a hundred kan a year.
If it’s that cheap...
Nozawa was actually tempted. Maybe Shichiro’s skills weren’t much, but from Nozawa’s experience, he was obedient and honest, did whatever he was told without whining, was literate and could do so basic math. Maybe he could hire him back to replace Ah Man and let him handle all the chores at the soy sauce workshop—Ah Man was really more suited to running the streets. Having her manage the shop was kind of a waste, since floor managers were a di a dozen while well-trained Ninjas like her were a rare find.
His mind spun quickly, and then he made his offer, giving Niwa Nagahide plenty of face: "So if Lord Shichiro’s willing to co help , I’ll set his pay at eight kan... no, make that ten kan of Wen! Rice and other allowances stay the sa—what do you think, Lord Niwa?"
A literate, nurate workshop manager, for this era that was a fairly advanced job. Paying him a salary for four people was fine—besides, he didn’t mind losing one or two kan here or there.
Niwa Nagahide thought that was fair too. For a clerk, this was a pretty high salary; Shichiro could save a bit and still help out back ho. Plus, Nozawa hadn’t ruled out eventually taking him as a retainer—if Shichiro stuck with him and really worked hard, who’s to say he wouldn’t be promoted? Definitely better odds than with Oda Nobunaga—Oda would never give a guy like Shichiro the ti of day. Nozawa was way more approachable.
He placed both hands on his knees and formally bowed seated before Nozawa, "Thank you, Lord Nozawa, sorry to trouble you. Shichiro’s aunt will be delighted—she’ll certainly chant prayers and make offerings for you. Really, thank you so much."
Yeah, honestly, he wasn’t all that impressed with Shichiro—it was mainly for the aunt’s sake.
Nozawa had no choice but to bow formally in return, "Oh, not at all, Lord Niwa. You’re too kind."
Niwa Nagahide straightened up, feeling that the easy stuff was over and now for the harder part. He cleared his throat and added, "Lord Nozawa, forgive , but there’s one more matter. The Lord of Upper General has instructed to purchase iron guns, and told to consult with you first. I wonder, would you be willing..."
"Oh, buying iron guns?" Nozawa perked up—this was sothing he’d love to take on! The idea of moonlighting as an arms dealer was pretty appealing, so he imdiately asked, "How many are we talking?"
"Three hundred."
Nozawa imdiately gave up. With his current resources and manpower, there was no way in hell he could fill that order. But he understood Oda Nobunaga’s thinking—last ti Nobunaga got tricked into buying a shoddy iron gun for 160 kan. This ti he was probably looking to equip his troops and was worried about getting scamd again, so he specifically told Niwa Nagahide to seek out his "iron gun expert" for advice.
This was the kind of job where he just had to talk, so of course Nozawa wouldn’t refuse. He had Ah Qing bring Ah Man’s iron gun back to use as a sample, and explained to Niwa Nagahide what to look out for when buying iron guns and what sort were suitable for large-scale deploynt.
Niwa Nagahide hadn’t expected Nozawa to be so easygoing. He thought this would be the hard part, but it turned out to be the easiest. If he’d known, he wouldn’t have bothered dragging along Maeda Toshie the Oddity. He listened intently, and not long after, borrowed so brush and paper, taking notes on everything Nozawa said.
Sawaki Tenguhachi was just tagging along for the hell of it today. He had co to celebrate his own appointnt as a page for Oda Nobunaga with Maeda Toshie, and just happened to get a lesson in iron gun know-how. He drifted closer, listening with great focus.
Learning anything new these days was tough, especially sothing as "cutting-edge" as iron guns. Even Oda Nobunaga had to go to the Kawamata Group for that, and stingy Hashimoto Ichibashi never let outsiders eavesdrop. Yet Nozawa absolutely didn’t care, answering every question in detail, as if he couldn’t wait for them to go buy three hundred iron guns, blow all the rebels to smithereens, and restore peace to all of Owari.
Niwa Nagahide ended up studying the whole afternoon and learned a ton. He figured his trip to Kaido Town should go smoothly now—at least he wouldn’t be scamd easily. When he finally took his leave, he looked back at the "Nozawa residence" from horseback and couldn’t help but praise, "Lord Nozawa is truly an honest man!"
Maeda Toshie, holding a jar of premium soy sauce, nodded repeatedly, "Lord Nozawa’s character really is top-notch. Next ti, let’s treat him to a al and chat so more!"
Niwa Nagahide shot him a sidelong glance—this clown hadn’t helped at all today, yet managed to out-eat everyone and leave with stuff. What a disgrace! Next ti he ca to talk with Nozawa, only a fool would bring this guy along. Actually, he thought Nozawa wasn’t really an Oddity—just honest to a fault, leading to misunderstandings; they actually got along quite well, co to think of it.
But he only complained in his heart and didn’t say anything, turning to go find Maeshima Shichiro to give him a little surprise.
......
Nozawa saw the three of them off and didn’t feel anything special, just pondered one question:
He finally had a Samurai co work for him. Sure, it was just a nobody, basically a temp, but still soone from an actual earth Samurai clan. So... was he about to beco a Lord himself?
What kind of Lord would he be?
A Cao Cao type or a Liu Bei type?
He stood there stroking his chin for a while and decided Cao Cao wasn’t a fit—he wasn’t into married won, so his personality didn’t match. Big-Ears Liu suited him much better!
Maybe, it was ti to level up his acting skills—next ti he t a famous general, he’d have to grab his hand, bawl his eyes out, and let the tears stream!
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