002. voice

[curseking]

[Mitsunari's voice may not be a familiar one as he uses the journal so infrequently. Today he's actually bothering with it because he's realized there's a practical, productive use he can get out of the darn thing. What is that, you ask?

He can spread propaganda for a dead guy!]

"Hideyoshi Toyotomi."

If you have never before heard this name--my lord's name--commit it to memory immediately. You are no longer allowed to claim ignorance of his existence.

Lord Hideyoshi was an exemplary person. A paragon! His noble ambition was to unify the Land of the Rising Sun once and for all! Though his life was cruelly extinguished by Ieyasu Tokugawa, I am speaking now to ensure that his memory persists.

When you hear that name, understand that it commands respect! Know it belonged to a man whose magnificence will never, in all of time, be matched by another!

...

And if you are aware of my lord's works and still choose not to acknowledge his greatness, know that your behavior is absolutely unconscionable!

[So! ...Any questions?]

Comments

[curseking]

[This whole alternate worlds thing is difficult enough to think about. Figuring out how he ought to regard alternate Hideyoshis has given him the world's worst headache every single time he's tried. Should all Hideyoshis be viewed with the same amount of reverence? How different can a version of his lord be before he's not Hideyoshi any more? What does it mean to be Hideyoshi Toyotomi?!

Give the poor man a second, he's a little discombobulated.]

...And what sort of man is "your" Lord Hideyoshi?

[Should...should he be outraged that someone is speaking ill of a Hideyoshi?]

[delicate_maiden]

He was, um, [a perv] a notorious womanizer. I had little contact with him in person, but he did send one of his retainers to me with the gaudiest kimono I've ever seen to try to woo me. I think he wanted me as a concubine.

[Ew.]

[curseking]

[...]

We are still speaking of Hideyoshi Toyotomi. Is that correct?

[He's kind of mentally substituting Alternate Hideyoshi with the image of his own and it really isn't computing for him.]

[delicate_maiden]

Uh-huh. Used to be Hideyoshi Hashiba, defeated the Hōjō at Odawara Castle, wore gaudy gold armor and looked like a little monkey. Hideyoshi Toyotomi. I didn't really enter the service of the Toyotomi until after he'd passed, so I'm really more familiar with Hideyori. Most of my dealings with Hideyoshi were through his retainers.

[curseking]

[Hm. Hideyoshi never talked about his past, so whatever he was called previously is something Mitsunari doesn't know. His armor was always ever black and red and far from gaudy, so that doesn't match up.

Mitsunari has heard damnable monkey comparisons leveled at his lord before, and he also remembers the battle of Odawara. Mostly. Who was that man he fought, again...? The one who... uh...

Oh well. It's not that important.

He has one question.]

Who is Hideyori?

[delicate_maiden]

Huh? Who's Hideyori?! His son! With, um, Lady Yodo, one of his concubines. Nagamasa Azai and Oichi's daughter. It's kinda strange because her sister is married to--

Oh, you're from the place where Hidetada doesn't exist, too!

[That would explain it.]