Very well, I have no qualms of passing down our history, though I'm afraid there is little to tell that would seem significant to outsiders.
The original Magoichi Saika was a wandering mercenary. He was an early adopter of arquebuses and he took pride in how his lifestyle allowed him to travel the world and help whoever he chose. His skills and charisma eventually gained him a following among like-minded individuals, and thus the Saika Faction was born. Unfortunately, by this time Magoichi was an old man. He passed his name and position on to a man he'd been apprenticing for some time and soon died of natural causes.
The second Magoichi was... [She pauses for a moment, trying not to let the memories overwhelm her.] ... he was a very honorable man. Though he too valued his freedom over all else, anything he agreed to do may as well have already happened. It was under him that the Saika flourished and gained our reputation. It was also under him that I learned the ways of war. Those days... were our most peaceful. We did not go into battle as often, as the leaders of the many provinces were not as ambitious, not as inclined to turn to their armies on a whim to expand their territory. Or perhaps it didn't really change and it only seems that way to me, since I did not have as many responsibilities back then.
In any case, those halcyon days did not last. The Demon King, Nobunaga Oda, rose to power and began to spread his militarism over the land. We were contacted by a man named Kennyo Hongan-ji, the head of the temple at Ishiyama Hongan-ji. Though that man was... well, calling him a corrupt monk would be putting it lightly, our leader was a devout Buddhist and agreed to a contract with him. It was of no use, though. Even we could not stand up to the Demon King, and in the siege, both our leader and Kennyo were killed.
After a period of mourning, I took on the name of Magoichi and began to reconstruct our forces. Our reputation had suffered with our loss, and we were forced to take jobs we would not even look at before. But we endured and were rewarded for our patience with a contract with Hideyoshi Toyotomi, who filled the power vacuum after the death of the Demon King at the hands of his mad dog, Mitsuhide Akechi, who himself was killed by Hideyoshi's forces. We worked with him until he broke the terms of our contract. We wandered for a bit, during which Hideyoshi was betrayed and killed by Ieyasu Tokugawa, and we only did small jobs until we received offers of alliance from both Ieyasu and the remnants of Hideyoshi's forces, led by Mitsunari Ishida. We chose Ieyasu and worked to gain him other alliances until the time came for him to battle Mitsunari at Sekigahara.
After this came events that I can only call surreal, in retrospect. We received reports of the remnants of Nobunaga's forces gathering in Kanegasaki. In order to prevent them to from interfering with Sekigahara, we went there to disperse them. There we found the Demon King's sister, Oichi, and a monk who'd been advising Hideaki Kobayakawa, Tenkai. Tenkai killed her, saying her blood would resurrect the Demon King. Though we killed him, we were unable to prevent him from coming back. We chased him to Honnō-ji and sent him back to his eternal slumber. I cannot say what happened after that, as I was brought here after the battle.
[voice]
The original Magoichi Saika was a wandering mercenary. He was an early adopter of arquebuses and he took pride in how his lifestyle allowed him to travel the world and help whoever he chose. His skills and charisma eventually gained him a following among like-minded individuals, and thus the Saika Faction was born. Unfortunately, by this time Magoichi was an old man. He passed his name and position on to a man he'd been apprenticing for some time and soon died of natural causes.
The second Magoichi was... [She pauses for a moment, trying not to let the memories overwhelm her.] ... he was a very honorable man. Though he too valued his freedom over all else, anything he agreed to do may as well have already happened. It was under him that the Saika flourished and gained our reputation. It was also under him that I learned the ways of war. Those days... were our most peaceful. We did not go into battle as often, as the leaders of the many provinces were not as ambitious, not as inclined to turn to their armies on a whim to expand their territory. Or perhaps it didn't really change and it only seems that way to me, since I did not have as many responsibilities back then.
In any case, those halcyon days did not last. The Demon King, Nobunaga Oda, rose to power and began to spread his militarism over the land. We were contacted by a man named Kennyo Hongan-ji, the head of the temple at Ishiyama Hongan-ji. Though that man was... well, calling him a corrupt monk would be putting it lightly, our leader was a devout Buddhist and agreed to a contract with him. It was of no use, though. Even we could not stand up to the Demon King, and in the siege, both our leader and Kennyo were killed.
After a period of mourning, I took on the name of Magoichi and began to reconstruct our forces. Our reputation had suffered with our loss, and we were forced to take jobs we would not even look at before. But we endured and were rewarded for our patience with a contract with Hideyoshi Toyotomi, who filled the power vacuum after the death of the Demon King at the hands of his mad dog, Mitsuhide Akechi, who himself was killed by Hideyoshi's forces. We worked with him until he broke the terms of our contract. We wandered for a bit, during which Hideyoshi was betrayed and killed by Ieyasu Tokugawa, and we only did small jobs until we received offers of alliance from both Ieyasu and the remnants of Hideyoshi's forces, led by Mitsunari Ishida. We chose Ieyasu and worked to gain him other alliances until the time came for him to battle Mitsunari at Sekigahara.
After this came events that I can only call surreal, in retrospect. We received reports of the remnants of Nobunaga's forces gathering in Kanegasaki. In order to prevent them to from interfering with Sekigahara, we went there to disperse them. There we found the Demon King's sister, Oichi, and a monk who'd been advising Hideaki Kobayakawa, Tenkai. Tenkai killed her, saying her blood would resurrect the Demon King. Though we killed him, we were unable to prevent him from coming back. We chased him to Honnō-ji and sent him back to his eternal slumber. I cannot say what happened after that, as I was brought here after the battle.