#Merchant Sample: Ebisuya Koharu (恵比寿屋小春)

Contents

"Before money, there are no enemies."

---

#1st Dan — Young Shopkeeper of Sakai

#Scent

The daughter and heir of Ebisuya, a mid-sized merchant house in Sakai (堺). She has held an abacus since childhood. Her smile is kind, but her eyes never stop calculating.

#Background — How the Adventure Began

Ebisuya is a mid-sized merchant house belonging to Sakai's merchant league. Its main business is teppo gunpowder and Nanban imported sundries. Koharu is the eldest daughter of that house, and from age twelve, she read ledgers and sat in on transactions. After her father was poisoned when she was sixteen — a rival merchant house's plot — Koharu took over the family business. A woman shop head was rare in Sakai, but Koharu knew how to persuade with numbers.

Her first battlefield experience was a supply convoy delivering gunpowder to Kagura Domain's teppo units. When bandits attacked on a border mountain road, Koharu instantly offered the escorting ronin double pay + rights to the bandits' plunder. The ronin fought with triple strength on the spot, and eight bandits fell. Koharu learned that day that money can be faster than a blade.

#Law

Ebisuya Koharu — Merchant 1st dan
Wounds 3, Defense 12(light armor under merchant clothing), Energy 10
Courage-1, Finesse+0, Physique+0, Wisdom+1, Presence+2, Fate+1
Background: Merchant's Child (wallet gold coins +3) | Heart: No Heart

Starting Gold Coins: 8 (base 5 + Merchant's Child +3)

Weapons: self-defense dagger(basic)

Maneuver List:

Typical Breath: maintain Rear Zone → Golden Leverage(2, 1 gold) × 2 = 4. Total enemy Domination in the target zone -4. Transactions outside combat are also a major role.

---

#5th Dan — War Merchant

#Scent

Ebisuya has joined the ranks of Sakai's great merchant houses. Official military supplier to Kagura Domain. The more war breaks out, the more wealth grows, but Koharu sometimes becomes unsure whether she is using war or being used by war.

#Background — How She Came This Far

After 1st dan, Koharu spent four years under an exclusive supply contract with Kagura Domain and became the main supplier of military gunpowder, teppo, and food. She participated in five campaigns, each time from the rear. During that time, she perfected the logic of War Economy: when one Minion falls on the battlefield, 1 gold coin enters her wallet. Corpse recovery rights, weapon recovery rights, and first purchase rights to spoils.

In the second year, Koharu first used Hire Mercenaries. She paid an unaffiliated mercenary squad before battle and deployed it in Kagura Domain's Rear Zone. That day, her contract held the supply line while the regular army regrouped. After this, Koharu became famous: "Ebisuya gold cuts better than blades."

In the third year, while bodies were being sorted after battle, Koharu saw a mother weeping beside the body of her fifteen-year-old ashigaru son. The mother said, "Did my son falling add one line to the money of the Ebisuya rich?" Koharu could not answer. That night, after returning to Ebisuya, she created a fallen soldiers' family fund. She set aside one tenth of her own profit and distributed it to the families of fallen ashigaru. It was the incident that began to shake her No Heart (無心) slightly.

#Law

Ebisuya Koharu — Merchant 5th dan
Wounds 3, Defense 13(masterwork Nanban armor — designed to look like merchant clothing when worn by a merchant), Energy 10
Courage-1, Finesse+0, Physique+0, Wisdom+2, Presence+3, Fate+1
Background: Merchant's Child Route A (Merchant Company Management) | Heart: No Heart (a little Compassion)
School: none (self-taught business)

Additional Maneuvers:

Typical Breath: Rear Zone → Hire Mercenaries(spend 2 gold) + Golden Leverage(2) + Squad Order(1) = 3. Gold flows in during combat.

---

#10th Dan (Tatsujin) — "Wealth of the Realm, Koharu"

#Scent

The richest merchant in the realm. Ebisuya is now a zaibatsu with branches in Sakai, Kyoto, and Edo. One line of her gold coins can raise a daimyo house, and one refusal can ruin one. Yet she still lives in Sakai's old main shop, beside her father's altar.

Renown Title: Class Capstone — Wealth of the Realm.

#Background — How She Earned the Renown Title

Koharu's legend began with opening the Nanban trade route. She persuaded the Sakai merchant league to open a Nanban-ship-only port and monopolized imports of foreign gunpowder, teppo, clothing, and medicine. As a result, four domains including Kagura Domain received military supplies from her fingertips.

The decisive incident was the economic defense of the Edoku Disturbance. When Hannyakai tried to cut the gunpowder supply network, Koharu had secretly stockpiled half a year's worth of gunpowder with her own money. That was why teppo never ran dry during the disturbance. Because of it, she lost gold coins, almost half a year's profit. But Kagura Domain's daimyo offered her an honorary daimyo post, and instead of accepting, she requested the position of "official head of the merchant league." The daimyo accepted her request.

Koharu is now the official head of the Sakai merchant league. She moves the realm not in the name of official warrior honor, but in the name of capital itself. She is called "Wealth of the Realm." On the day that name attached to her, she placed one gold coin before her father's altar.

#Law

Ebisuya Koharu — Merchant Tatsujin
Wounds 3, Defense 13(masterwork Nanban armor+talisman), Energy 12(10+Finesse 2)
Courage-1, Finesse+2, Physique+0, Wisdom+3, Presence+3, Fate+1
Background: Merchant's Child Route A (9th dan: Trade Monopoly) | Heart: Compassion (complete — something exists above profit)
Renown Title: Wealth of the Realm (Class Capstone)

Wallet: maintain the cap of 20 gold per combat

Additional Maneuvers:

"War is the finest business. But after war is even greater business."