"Ah?" Makino's face turned pale and he lowered his voice, "My lord, he actually killed someone for such a reason..."
"Yeah..." Ogata smiled bitterly and nodded, "It's ridiculous, right?"
Ogata knew that Gennai Matsudaira was a very cruel person.
But after all, I had only heard about it in the past, and Ogata had no real sense of the level of cruelty of Gennai Matsudaira.
It wasn't until he witnessed Gennai Matsudaira's cruelty with his own eyes today that he realized firsthand how cruel Gennai Matsudaira was who ruled this land and ruled them...
Just because someone accidentally bumped into you, you would kill the other person. This is really... ridiculous...
"Alas..." Makino sighed softly, "Forget it, Ogata-senpai, let's not talk about this topic anymore. After all, he is our lord. No matter what he has done, the fact that he is our lord
Nothing will change.”
"No matter what, we cannot criticize or speak ill of the Lord in private."
The ancient Chinese etiquette centered on "benevolence".
Ancient Japanese ethics centered on "loyalty".
This characteristic of ancient Japanese ethics reached its peak in the Edo period.
In the Edo period, the most noble virtue of samurai was "loyalty", followed by "valor".
Loyalty to innocence, loyalty to one's lord regardless of right or wrong - these are the common values of samurai in this era.
Therefore, no matter what their lord has done, all the warriors who are loyal to this lord cannot have any complaints. They must swear loyalty to the death, risk their lives to protect the lord, and complete all the orders given by the lord.
If there is any act of disloyalty to one's lord, one will be despised by everyone.
Ogata, whose soul comes from the modern earth, naturally scorns the values of the samurai of this era.
But he really didn't have the leisure to discuss topics related to Matsudaira Gennai.
After sighing together, Oubon answered:
"That's right. Let's not talk about this topic anymore. Let's seize the time to practice sword practice."
"Well, okay...ah! That's right!"
Makino seemed to have suddenly remembered something, and after saying "Ah", he asked Ogata:
"Ogata-senpai! I heard that you had a duel with Toyama from the Ishikawa Kenkan Hall a few days ago! Is this true?"
When Makino asked this question, he did not deliberately lower his voice.
His voice spread throughout most of the dojo.
At this time, several other fellow apprentices who were practicing swordplay in the dojo were attracted by the question raised by Makino Asakata. They all stopped what they were doing and gathered around Ogata and Makino.
Hearing Makino's question, Ogata raised his eyebrows.
"How do you know?"
"'Ogata from the Sakakihara Kenkan and Toyama from the Ishikawa Kenkan had a duel a few days ago and ended up with a tie' - this rumor seems to be spreading everywhere these days! I only found out today.
Got this rumor!"
Ogata scratched his hair.
——Who spread this news...
——Are they the brothers from the distant mountains...
——The same group of onlookers at that time...
Ogata thought for a long time, but couldn't figure out who had sent the news, so he simply stopped thinking about it.
Although the competition that night was interrupted at the last moment due to the arrival of the concentrics, judging from the result, it was indeed a tie.
"Ogata-senpai!" Makino asked again, "Is this rumor true?"
"Yes." Ogata nodded after hesitating for a while, "A few days ago, I did compete with Toyama from the Ishikawa Kenkan Hall, and we were indeed tied."
As soon as Ogata finished speaking, the fellow apprentices led by Makino who were surrounding Ogata immediately burst into exclamations.
Just when Ogata was startled by the exclamations from Makino and others, Makino asked in an excited tone:
"Ogata-senpai! You are so strong! You can even tie with Toyama from Ishikawa Kenkan! Isn't Toyama very strong?"
"Yes." Ogata acknowledged Toyama's superb swordsmanship generously, "Toyama's swordsmanship is very strong. That night, Toyama and I actually competed twice. In the first game, I lost to Toyama.
, it wasn’t until the second game that I finally managed to compete evenly with Yuan Shan.”
"It's already very strong to be able to tie with Toyama from Ishikawa Kenkan!"
"Yes, yes! Being on par with that distant mountain is already very strong!"
"Now it seems that the strongest person in our Sakakibara Sword Hall has become Ogata-kun!"
"I really didn't expect...Ogata-kun has become so strong without even realizing it."
"Ogata-kun, you are so awesome!"
…
The brothers and sisters who gathered around Ogata praised Ogata one by one.
These feelings of the brothers were already somewhat exaggerated praises, and Ogata couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed.
"Alas..." Makino scratched the hair on his temples, "When will I be able to become as powerful as you, Ogata-senpai..."
As soon as Makino finished speaking, an old voice suddenly sounded from behind him:
"If you continue to chat like this in the sword hall, you will never reach Ogata's level of intensity in your life."
The sudden sound of this old voice startled everyone including Ogata.
Everyone followed the sound.
An old man who was not very tall was walking slowly towards them with his hands behind his back.
Looking at the old man walking slowly towards them, Ogata and others quickly stood up straight, then bowed to the old man and said in unison respectfully:
"master!"
This old man was the master of Ogata and others, and the first master of the Sakakihara Sword Hall—Sakakihara Hanbei.
Hanbei glanced at Makino and others:
"Why are you still standing here? Why don't you go practice sword practice soon? Or do you think that you already have the strength of Yuxu Jiden, so you don't need to practice sword practice anymore?"
"Master! Please forgive me! We will go practice sword practice immediately!" Makino took the lead and said loudly.
After Makino finished speaking, everyone immediately dispersed.
And Ogata was also going to take out a wooden sword from the sword rest to practice sword practice.
However, before Ogata could reach the sword rest, he was stopped by Hanbei:
"Ogata!"
"Yes!" Ogata responded loudly.
"You come with me."
After saying that, Hanbei continued to walk towards the outside of the Sakakihara Kenkan with his hands behind his back.
Although he didn't know why Hanbei suddenly called him out, it was the master's order after all, and he had to obey it. Therefore, Ogata could only adjust his clothes and follow Hanbei closely.
Hanbei walked out of the Sakakihara Kensho together.