The Price of Rice

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The Price of Rice was a virtual representation of one of Yasuke's genetic memories, relived through the Animus EGO.

Description

Yasuke meets with Lady Oichi's bodyguard Kuma about dealing with the corrupt daikan.

Dialogue

Yasuke travels to the small town west of Azuchi, coming across a small child.

• Tazu: I'm hungry.

He approached the child.

• Tazu: Please, Yasuke! Do you have any rice? I am hungry.
• Yasuke: Of course. Now be sure to share.
• Tazu: Thank you, sir!

Yasuke then went up the stairs to Kuma's Lookout where he overheard a worker speaking to Kuma.

• Fieldworker 1: We already paid our taxes. yet the daikan returns, saying we must pay again.
• Kuma: The poor must plant rice so that the rich may wear silk. It has always been so. But the Emperor—
• Fieldworker 1: The Emperor is powerless. The Shogun is weak. And now the Great Fool of Owari has danced his last.

Yasuke approached Kuma as the worker left.

• Kuma: Yasuke, sir! Welcome to Hachiman.
• Yasuke: Lady Oichi tells me of trouble in the rice fields of Omi.
• Kuma: Yes, Omi's daikan is corrupt. He secretly works for the Shinbakufu.
• Yasuke: Hm. So much for loyalty and doing your duty.
• Kuma: Indeed... And you, sir? Are you still loyal to Lord Nobunaga? And Lady Oichi?
• Yasuke: The Oda clan holds a place in my heart, but I serve a new purpose now.
• Kuma: Hm. I hope that new purpose proves just as worthy. Come, I will show you what is amiss in Omi.

Yasuke walked with Kuma as they took a look over the town.

• Kuma: What they do is send out a second daikan who claims the first was an imposter.
• Yasuke: A clever scheme.
• Kuma: The daikan is too well-guarded for the peasants to resist.
• Yasuke: That is shameful. What about the daimyo?
• Kuma: Lord Hideyoshi holds northern Omi. He seems fair. But he's always away at war. And the stewards at Azuchi and Nagahama are bribed to look the other way.
• Yasuke: No daimyo should permit such thievery in their domain.
• Kuma: I would take action myself, but I am too well-known as Lady Oichi's bodyguard.
• Yasuke: Yes, let us keep Lady Oichi's name out of this. I'll look into matters here and return.

Yasuke left to head to the Hachiman Canal, looking for a few of the workers, and he found the child he talked to earlier, Tazu, nearby.

• Tazu: Are you the famous giant Yasuke?

He approached the child again.

• Tazu: Please feed the evil daikan to the water dragon of Lake Biwa! The dragon is hungry.
• Yasuke: (laughs) You have nothing to fear. I will help you.
• Tazu: Yatta! I believe in you, brave Yasuke!

Yasuke approached the fieldworkers.

• Fieldworker 2: Who's that drunken oaf snoring in my rice field?
• Fieldworker 3: One of the daikan's samurai. He drank too much sake and was left behind.
• Fieldworker 2: Well, stay quiet. Don't wake him up or we'll have to pay more taxes.

Yasuke spoke to the male worker.

• Yasuke: Pardon me, did you mention a samurai giving you trouble?
• Fieldworker 2: Yes, one of the daikan's men, sleeping off his sake.
• Yasuke: I will take care of him. He might lead me to the daikan.

Yasuke traveled to the fields and found the samurai outside a small hut.

• Drunken Samurai: Don't make all that noise in my ears! Stupid peasants. Bring me more sake.

Yasuke sneaked up and killed the samurai. He then returned to the worker.

• Fieldworker 2: Did you find him?
• Yasuke: That rice-field ruffian is dead.
• Fieldworker 2: Thank you for ridding us of that drunken beast. But the root of the problem is his boss. The corrupt daikan is in Azuchi.

Yasuke then left to deal with the daikan.

• Yasuke: The daikan lives on a canal in Azuchi. Time to pay him a visit.

Yasuke followed the nearby road toward Azuchi and passed some ashigaru.

• Ashigaru swordsman: My feet are sore and my belly is empty!
• Yasuke: Listening to those guards might lead me to the corrupt daikan.
• Ashigaru spearman: Where would you rather be? A Kyoto teahouse?
• Ashigaru swordsman: Honestly, yes. But even patrolling the daikan's manor is better than this.
• Ashigaru spearman: Why? The daikan is just a boring old aristocrat.
• Ashigaru swordsman: But his house is packed with luxuries! A teahouse, a rock garden - even a boat dock on the canal.
• Ashigaru spearman: Can't you see how your worldly desires cause all of your suffering?

Yasuke continued along the road and saw Tazu again, this time with another child.

• Tazu: I'm hungry.
• Child: You're always hungry, Tazu. Why don't you eat something?
• Tazu: The bad men took my father's rice away.
• Child: All right, you can eat with us. We're having funazushi, salted lake fish fermented with rice. It's my mother's specialty.
• Tazu: Food! My favorite!

He arrived in Azuchi and went past the Shingu Shrine, noticing a big residence near the shrine.

• Yasuke: This looks like the right place. Time to find the evil daikan.

Yasuke managed to gain entry into the Daikan Mansion and overheard a woman pleading to the daikan.

• Woman: Please, kind sir! I... I have sold my hut, my pots, even my spare rags. I have nothing left.
• Daikan of Omi: You have children, don't you?
• Woman: Yes...
• Daikan of Omi: Sell them in Wakasa!
• Woman: (cries)

Yasuke confronted the daikan in the courtyard.

• Daikan of Omi: Leave here at once.
  Get away from me, you bandit. You thief!
  What! What are you doing?
  Please! I have the Emperor's favor!

After killing him, he found an invitation on his body.

• Yasuke: The Shinbakufu of Omi are gathering in Shiotsu. Time to end them.
  I should return to Kuma.

Yasuke investigated a room in a nearby building.

• Yasuke: That is the end of the daikan of Omi. Let us see where he hides his secrets.

He found a note on a table.

• Yasuke: Hm. I wonder who these people are.

Register of Compromised Daikan

The following daikan and officials have the right to collect taxes on behalf of the True Shogunate:

Honorable Goro, known as the Greedy, one of the most prominent citizens of Azuchi

Gamo Morinari, known as the Sword-Hunter, hails from an ancient and ambitious samurai family

Ise Asuka, known as the Concubine, frequently hires acting troupes to perform Noh plays

Shunkei, nicknamed the Abbott, devotes his studies to the miracle known as the sokushinbutsu

Okudaira Toshizo, known as the Hedonist, seeks pleasure and vice in all its fleshy forms

Endo Riku, called the Connoisseur, gains fame for his war parties seeking lascivious meals

Izumi Bunzo, known as the Hoarder, holds many of the artisan guilds of Yamashiro in his iron grip

Isshiki Mansaku, called the Soiled Merchant, is a filthy fellow who deals in night soil and dung sweepings

Yasuke left the residence and returned to Kuma's Lookout.

• Kuma: Yasuke! I'm over here, sir.

He spoke to the bodyguard.

• Kuma: Thank you, Yasuke. The farmers told me of your good works.
• Yasuke: A samurai's duty is to serve the land.
• Kuma: Serving the land. Yes, I like that. Thank you.
• Yasuke: These people mean much to you.
• Kuma: I grew up on a rice farm here in Omi, but I serve Lady Oichi now.
• Yasuke: How did you enter her service?
• Kuma: Many years ago, Lord Azai Nagamasa held a sumo match in our village.
• Yasuke: Lord Azai?
• Kuma: He was the daimyo of northern Omi. And Lady Oichi's husband. He died.
  My size and strength impressed the great lord. He gave my father a koku of rice and took me into his household.
• Yasuke: I see. Lord Nobunaga chose me too, in a way. Like you.
• Kuma: The whole land knows your story, Yasuke.
• Yasuke: That is both a blessing and a curse.
• Kuma: Oh! There's one more thing. A list of more corrupt daikan, working for the Shinbakufu.
• Yasuke: Thank you. We will put this to good use.
• Kuma: Until next time, friend.

Outcome

Yasuke helped Kuma to deal with the corrupt daikan in southern Omi, easing the lives of the residents tormented by his corrupted rule. He was later given a list by Kuma of more corrupt daikan across the Kansai region.