"Anyway, I will report this matter to Lord Omefuku after I return to Edo."
"Knowing that Tatsuno Domain has become so corrupt, Lord Omefu will not sit idly by and ignore it."
"As for whether the lord of Tatsuno Domain is innocent or not, and who is the most guilty, we can only know after Lord Ometsuo sends someone to investigate."
"Hasegawa-sama." Imai said to Hasegawa in a half-joking tone, "If you do this, you will offend many people in Tatsuno Domain."
The corners of Hasegawa's mouth turned up slightly.
"Compared with the sufferings suffered by the common people, this criticism of mine is not worth mentioning. Well, this topic ends here. Let's start talking about the tasks we are currently undertaking."
Hasegawa swept his sharp eyes across the faces of the capable subordinates in front of him.
"We are very lucky."
"Originally, I just learned that someone was killed here, so I came to see if I could find any interesting clues or information. Unexpectedly, we actually found him."
"There is no mistake. The casino guard who died from drawing a sword was killed by that guy's sword drawing technique, 'Divine Light'."
"Only that guy's 'divine light' can cut such a wound."
"From now on, send all my men out."
"Start a search with this village as the center."
"I will also ask Master Sano to help organize the strength and unity of Tatsuno Clan to cooperate with us later."
"Our target is only a young samurai wearing glasses!"
…
…
A few hours before Hasegawa Heizo led the official servants of Hufu Thieves Kai to arrive at Emoto Village
Just as Mamiya said, the two of them hurried on at a normal speed and arrived at the town called "Matsu" just in time when the sky was slightly dark.
The area of Matsucho is not particularly large, and it is more prosperous than Ogata imagined.
Ogata turned his head and looked around with interest, and said in a half-joking tone to Mamiya beside him:
"When I first learned that I was wanted by the shogunate, I thought I might never be able to enter a castle in my life. As soon as I entered a castle, I would be hunted down by countless people who recognized me."
"Afterwards, I realized that I really worried too much. There are very few people who would seriously keep track of the new wanted criminals in the world."
As soon as Ogata finished speaking, Mamiya responded with a smile:
"That's of course. It's just that those ronins who plan to live off bounties and government officials will carefully note which additional wanted criminals there are."
"Ordinary people just want to live their current lives well. Who would bother to remember how many more wanted criminals there are and what they look like?"
At this point, Mamiya paused.
Then the corners of his mouth curved up, and he continued to say to Ogata in a meaningful tone:
"Ogata-kun, among other things, don't you also not read the wanted poster?"
"You're really right." Ogata responded casually, "It's true that I never look at wanted posters. I've only seen my own wanted poster so far."
"Where did you see your wanted poster?"
"There was a fool who waved my wanted poster and said, '300 taels are mine.' The artist who painted my face was really bad at painting me so ugly. I have always been curious about those people.
How on earth did you recognize me based on that wanted notice..."
…
…
Ogata and Mamiya walked around half a circle in Matsucho and found a ramen restaurant.
After hastily settling down for dinner at this ramen restaurant, the two began to look for an inn where they would stay.
Of course, because Ogata's wallet was stolen, Mamiya helped Ogata pay for the ramen tonight.
Not only the money for dinner, but also the money for tonight's accommodation was paid for by Mamiya.
Just as the two were looking for an inn with available rooms, Mamiya suddenly poked Ogata with his elbow.
"Ogata-kun, look quickly."
As Mamiya spoke, he raised his chin forward.
Ogata looked forward.
I saw in front of me an imposing house occupying a large area.
Billows of steam billowed from above the imposing mansion.
There is a large flag hanging above the house.
There is a big Chinese character written on the flag: soup.
"Bathhouse..." Ogata muttered.
"Ogata-kun, let's go."
"Go? Where?"
"Is there any need to ask?" Mamiya cast a doubtful look at Ogata, "Since you have come across a bathing place, you can't miss it."
"Besides, don't you want to take a bath after a long time?"
"I see, Ogata-kun, you haven't had a bath in a long time, right?"
"You already smell bad."
After hearing Mamiya's words, Ogata was stunned for a moment, then raised his left and right arms and smelled back and forth on the upper arms of his left and right arms.
"Does it taste..."
"Let's go, Ogata-kun." Mamiya walked straight towards the bathhouse not far away with firm steps, "Your bath money? I will pay for it too."
Sutra said this? Ogata also realized that he had indeed not taken a good bath for a while.
Probably since the beginning of winter, Ogata hasn't taken a bath again.
Now it is rare to come across a bathhouse? At the same time, someone invited him to take a bath, so Ogata did not make any excuses or pretentiousness. He walked a few steps quickly? After letting himself walk side by side with Mamiya again, he and Mamiya walked straight towards each other in a steady stream.
Walking out to the steaming bathhouse.
This bathhouse has two gates.
There is a curtain hanging on each of the two doors.
One curtain says "Men's Soup" and the other curtain says "Female's Soup".
It can be seen that this bathhouse is not a mixed bathhouse, but is strictly divided into men's bathing area and women's bathing area.
Mamiya and Ogata lifted the curtain that said "Men's Bath" and stepped into the men's bath.
As soon as they stepped into the bathhouse, a passionate male voice came from the right side of Ogata and Mamiya:
“Welcome!”
The account counter is set up on one side of the entrance to the bathhouse.
When the young man sitting behind the counter saw Ogata and Ogata entering the bathhouse, he immediately put on a skilled and formulaic smile on his face and warmly entertained Ogata and Ogata.
"Guest sir! Are you two?"
"That's right." Mamiya said as he threw a large judgment toward the account counter.
"Okay!"
The young man sitting behind the counter quickly found the money with neat movements and then made a gesture toward the depths of the bathhouse.
After leaving the account counter, the first place Ogata and Mamiya stepped into was the undressing room.
In the undressing room? There is a bathhouse staff walking back and forth there.
After seeing Ogata and Mamiya, the staff member immediately greeted them with a smile.
"Your Majesty! Do you need to wash your clothes? You only need so many copper coins to wash your clothes cleanly!"
"Can you wash clothes in your bathhouse?" Mamiya raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Your bathhouse is pretty good, Ogata-kun? Do you want to wash clothes?"
"Of course I'm more than happy to put on clean clothes."
"Okay? Then I'll leave his clothes and mine to you."
After saying that, Mamiya threw a handful of copper coins at the staff member.
The staff member roughly counted the coins, and after confirming that the amount was sufficient, he smiled happily and said to Ogata and Mamiya:
"Then you two distinguished guests, please give me your clothes."