Remains of War (vagrantsx)

Synopsis

The setting is the Sengoku period.

During an era of warring states, battles raged across the nation.

After each battle concluded and both armies withdrew, the battlefields were littered with countless corpses.

However, all the bodies were missing their heads.

This was because samurai proved their valor in battle by bringing the severed heads of defeated enemies back to the commanding general’s headquarters. The commander would demand soldiers to produce the heads they claimed to have taken, investigate the identity of each head, and award merit-based promotions accordingly—with higher-ranking individuals like nobles and military officers receiving greater rewards.

The headless corpses left behind were eventually stripped bare by local peasants, who took everything of value—from weapons and armor to loincloths—leaving only naked bodies abandoned in the fields.