Ogata followed the old man's instructions and walked straight forward, then turned right at the first corner.
After turning right along this corner, a large wooden house with constant noise coming from outside appeared in front of Ogata.
This wooden house is larger than any building Ogata has seen since entering this village.
There are two white curtains hanging at the door.
Even though the distance was still quite far, Ogata could still clearly hear the constant noise coming from the wooden house.
——This should be a casino...
Ogata thought to himself in his heart.
Ogata, who was hiding in the dark, was looking at the casino opened by the Negishi family, while silently thinking about how to collect information about the location of the Negishi family's headquarters.
Just when Ogata was thinking about whether he should enter the casino first to find someone who seemed to have a high status and negotiate in a more peaceful way, or simply rush in with his sword drawn and ask loudly "Who is in charge?", a strange male voice came out
Suddenly a voice came from behind Ogata:
"The Executioner Ittosai."
Before the unfamiliar male voice could even finish speaking, Ogata's pupils shrank suddenly.
Ogata jumped forward instinctively, distanced himself from the person behind him, and quickly pressed his right hand on the handle of the sword on his left waist.
After distancing himself from the person behind him, Ogata looked towards the source of the sound just now.
Behind where Ogata was standing just now, stood a young samurai who looked about the same age as him.
She has fair skin and a pretty face.
Wearing an ordinary kimono, hakama, and a dark red haori.
On the bridge of his nose was a pair of glasses which was quite rare in this era.
He exudes a quiet temperament.
In terms of temperament, this guy is more like a scholar than a warrior.
After seeing Ogata quickly distance himself from him and get into a fighting stance, a faint smile flashed across the originally expressionless guy's face.
"With your reaction... it seems that you are indeed the famous 'Executioner Ittosai'."
"Who are you?" Ogata asked in a deep voice, "Are you also... here to take my head?"
After saying that, Ogata gathered the five fingers of his right hand that were pressing on the handle of the sword, tightened the handle, and was ready to draw the sword at any time to fight.
Ogata now felt cold sweat breaking out on his forehead.
I thought to myself:
——This guy...when did he come behind me just now...!
This samurai wearing glasses came so close behind Ogata, but Ogata didn't notice it at all.
The more Ogata thought about it, the more scared he became.
If the bespectacled samurai hadn't come to talk to him just now, but instead drew his sword and slashed at him, he would definitely not have been able to react...
Upon hearing Ogata's question, the "Glasses Warrior" raised his hands slightly, showing his empty palms to Ogata.
"I mean no harm."
"I'm not here to take your head."
"I just saw your face on the wanted poster a while ago, so I recognize you."
"I met you by chance in this place and became somewhat interested in you, so I just wanted to have a chat with you."
"My surname is Mamiya and my name is Kuro. Please give me your advice."
Ogata looked up and down the man who called himself Kuro Mamiya several times.
After confirming that there was no murderous intent in this person and that he indeed did not exude any malice, Ogata slowly loosened his grip on the handle of the knife.
"I'm Ogata Issei. Please give me some advice."
"Ogata-kun." Mamiya glanced at the gambling house run by the Negishi family, "You have been looking at this gambling house just now. Do you want to go there to play a few games? Or do you want to go there?
How about making some money?"
"What I want to do has nothing to do with you, right?" Ogata responded in a cold tone.
"If you, Ogata-kun, have something to do with the Negishi family, then it has to do with me."
"Oh?" Ogata raised his eyebrows, "How do you say this?"
"I have some grudges with the local Negishi family... so I came all the way here to settle the score with the Negishi family."
"It's just that - I don't know where the Negishi family's headquarters is."
"So you came here all the way? You plan to collect some information from the casino opened by the Negishi family."
After Mamiya finished speaking, Ogata chuckled a few times and said:
"What a coincidence? I also have grudges against the Negishi family? I also want to recruit the Negishi family's stronghold."
"And because you don't know where the Negishi family's base camp is, you came here all the way? You plan to enter their casino to find people from the Negishi family and ask about the whereabouts of their base camp."
"Oh?" Surprise flashed across Mamiya's face, "That's really a coincidence."
Speaking of this? Mamiya paused.
After thinking for a while, Mamiya threw a suggestion to Ogata.
"Ogata-kun, since we both have the same purpose, how about we cooperate? We have been working together to find the base camp of the Negishi family."
"Oh?" Ogata shrugged, "Since you know that I am 'The Executioner Ittosai', do you dare to cooperate with a wanted criminal like me?"
"What are you afraid of?" Mamiya said without hesitation? "If I were afraid of this kind of thing, I wouldn't have come to talk to you in the first place."
Mamiya once again cast his gaze on the gambling house in the distance.
"Anyway - let's go to the casino now."
"If the two of us stand here for too long, it will easily arouse others' suspicion."
After saying that, Mamiya held the knife on his waist and walked slowly towards the gambling house.
Ogata, after hesitating for a while, quickly followed.
After Ogata followed, Mamiya said to Ogata:
"Have you agreed to cooperate with me?"
"No. I just happen to want to go to the casino to collect information like you."
"Ogata-kun? There are skills in collecting information in gambling halls."
"Want to collect intelligence in a gambling hall? You have to pretend to be a gambler first."
"Only by pretending to be a gambler and entering the casino will the casino staff be less alert."
"And while you're gambling, you secretly observe the manager of the casino and where the thugs are."
"Are you going to pretend to be a gambler..." Ogata muttered? "I don't know how to gamble... Mamiya, do you know how to gamble?"
"I once studied gambling in the Owari area."
Speaking of which, the two of them just walked to the door curtain of the casino.
Mamiya, who was walking at the front, opened the white curtain and stepped into the casino.
And Ogata followed closely behind.
The moment he stepped into the casino, noise and heat burst out.
The casino was extremely hot, and the smell of heat mixed with "manly odor" made Ogata feel suffocated.
The gambling hall is more spacious than Ogata imagined.
A dozen gamblers were sitting on their knees or cross-legged on futons.
Opposite the gambler sat the dice thrower.
There are several large pieces of paper placed on the wooden floor between Hu Zhen and the gambler.
Each of these large pieces of paper has "odd" and "even" written on them.