Somewhere in Matsucho, there is a two-story house that is somewhat inconspicuous due to its relatively remote location.
Although this house is inconspicuous, it has a rather small courtyard.
On the top floor of the house, Hasegawa and several subordinates headed by Imai were sitting around a stove.
The stove was spraying flames outward, while Hasegawa, Imai and others put their hands on top of the flames to warm themselves up.
After inspecting the gambling den in Emoto Village last night, Hasegawa moved the temporary residence where they had converted the gang to Matsucho.
A remote and large enough house in Matsu-machi was requisitioned from the Tatsuno domain, which is the house where Hasegawa and others are currently staying.
Last night, they found the clues they had been dreaming about about the "Buddha Enemy" in the gambling hall in Eben Village.
After discovering this rare clue, Hasegawa and others secretly determined not to let this clue be broken.
The guy who killed everyone in the casino just committed the murder yesterday, so it's very possible that he hasn't gone far yet.
As early as last night, Hasegawa ordered the mobilization of all the fire-fighting thieves and official officers under his command, and also recruited some of the strength and unity of the Tatsuno Domain to launch a search for Emoto Village and its surrounding areas.
Hasegawa relied on his intuition and instinctively sensed that the guy who massacred the casino was most likely to escape to Matsucho, which is located next to Emoto Village.
It is precisely because of this that Hasegawa chose to temporarily move the temporary residence they had converted to the thieves into Matsucho.
Although Hasegawa and others have mobilized manpower to search since last night, the search has been fruitless until now.
But Hasegawa is still waiting patiently.
Strong patience is one of Hasegawa's proudest qualities.
And they are warming their hands now, not just to pass the time there, but to keep their hands warm so that they can draw their swords in the best condition at any time.
Just as Hasegawa and others were warming themselves by the fire silently, anxious footsteps suddenly came from outside the door.
After the thumping of footsteps, the sliding paper door was opened by a young official who had been converted into a thief.
The next moment after opening the sliding paper door, the young official said loudly:
"Sir! We have found information about the whereabouts of the 'Glasses Samurai'!"
As soon as the young official finished speaking, Hasegawa immediately clenched his hands that were spreading over the fire.
He turned his head and shouted to Imai beside him:
"Imai!"
"clear!"
Imai and Hasegawa have worked together for many years and have developed a deep understanding between them.
There is no need for Hasegawa to talk nonsense. Sometimes all it takes is Hasegawa's shout, and Imai can understand what Hasegawa wants him to do.
Imai immediately stood up and took a map placed in the corner of the room.
As for the brazier that was still flaming out, it was extinguished by the rest of Hasegawa's men and placed in the corner of the room to make enough space to lay out the map.
The place where the stove used to be was now covered with the map that Imai had just brought over.
This map is exactly the map of Matsucho.
After arriving at Tatsuno Domain, in order to facilitate their search, Hasegawa obtained all the maps of Tatsuno Domain from the elder Sano Sokena of Tatsuno Domain.
Including city and town maps, rural maps, and outdoor maps.
"Orange!"
Hasegawa shouted to the young officer who came to report the news just now.
"come over!"
"yes!"
This young officer was none other than Heitaro Tachibana who had just joined the Fire Thief Kaitai.
This young man is not only highly regarded by Imai, but also highly favored by Hasegawa. He is one of the newcomers whom Hasegawa focuses on training.
Tachibana quickly walked to Hasegawa's side and knelt down, leaning over the map of Matsucho.
"Just now, a member of the famous Tatsuno Domain heard from a woman in Matsucho that a spectacled samurai was traveling with another young samurai wearing a light green haori."
"The two of them went to the Yukaku run by the local 'Yakuza' Negishi family."
Tachibana raised his finger and clicked on a corner of the map.
"The location of this tour is here."
"According to what the woman said, the spectacled warrior and his companions separated when they arrived at the tour."
"The young samurai who was accompanied by the spectacled samurai entered Yuko."
"And where the bespectacled samurai went after being separated from his companions, the woman didn't know."
Hasegawa and others listened quietly to Tachibana's report.
After Tachibana's report ended, Imai took the lead and said in a deep voice:
"That guy... still has his companions with him... but why are he separated from his companions?"
"...Anyway." As soon as Imai finished speaking, Hasegawa said, "This is very precious and rare important information."
"Although the woman didn't know where the guy went after being separated from his companions."
"But it's enough for us to know that that guy's companion is now in Youkuo."
Hasegawa glanced sharply at the location of the brothel that Tachibana had just pointed out on the map.
"Imai! Gather your troops immediately! Set off immediately! Capture that guy's companions!"
"As long as we catch his companion, we might be able to get a lot of useful information from his companion."
"yes!"
…
…
Tatsuno Domain, within the Yukaku where Ogata is located
Looking at Ajia who was apologizing to him, Ogata waved his hand quickly.
"No, you didn't do anything inappropriate! I'm just confused."
"In my imagination, I always thought that in a place like this, girls and customers would chat for a while and build up their feelings for each other before starting to do that kind of thing..."
Hearing Ogata's words, Ajia was stunned for a moment.
Then he laughed a few times.
"Sir! Is this your first time coming to our place?"
"...Yeah." Ogata nodded silently.
At the same time, I added something in my mind: This is my first time entering this kind of store...
"Sir, if this is your first time coming to our place, it is normal for you to have such misunderstandings!"
"If it's a tour from other places, maybe it's like this. The girls chat with the guests for a while and get to know each other before they start doing that kind of thing."
"But that's not the case here."
"We are not allowed to spend too much time chatting with our guests here."
"Because we usually have too many guests."
"If every guest spends a lot of time chatting, it won't be worthwhile."
"So it has become our practice here to 'don't chat too much with the guests and just do that kind of thing'."
"Guest officers, hurry up and finish your work. We can also receive more guests."