Chapter 285 The whole city is searching for Ogata Ichitosai!
Under Amachi's guidance, the two slowly left the crowded downtown area and arrived at a remote, sparsely populated residential area.
"Here we are." A-Machi said, "Master Fuuma is living in seclusion here."
Ogata looked around.
The sparsely populated scenery around him formed an extremely sharp contrast with the prosperous scenes he had just seen in other places in Kyoto. It was hard to imagine that these contrasting scenery actually appeared in the same city.
However, one advantage of this remote and sparsely populated place is that it is clean.
It's a perfect place to live in seclusion.
"When you see Fuma-sama later, please remember to be polite." When Amachi led Ogata towards Fuma's residence, he turned his head and said to Ogata behind him.
"I know this kind of thing without you having to tell me." Ogata said in a helpless tone.
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"Ah, we're here."
Amachi stopped in front of an ordinary private house.
Ogata raised his head and looked at the private house in front of him.
This private house can be described in one word - ordinary.
It was extremely ordinary. It exuded an ordinary atmosphere from top to bottom. No matter from which angle you looked at it, it was just an ordinary private house.
"Sir!" Amachi stood on tiptoes, put his hands to his mouth, and shouted loudly, "Are you there? It's me, Komachi!"
"Omachi..." Ogata repeated in a low voice what Omachi called himself just now, and couldn't help but smile.
"Hey..." Omachi turned his head with an unkind expression and glared at Ogata fiercely, "Only elders can call me that. If you dare to call me 'Komachi', I will strangle you to death."
After warning Ogata in this way, Atachi turned his head and shouted into the house again:
"Sir! Are you there?"
After shouting loudly several times, an old male voice finally came from the room:
"Coming, coming..."
As the old male voice fell, a burst of footsteps sounded from behind the door at an unhurried pace.
Wow…
The wooden door was opened.
"Oh! Komachi! You're here! I thought I heard wrong just now!"
"Master Feng Mo, long time no see."
A-Machi stepped forward and hugged the old man in front of him.
"Oh? Komachi, who is this?" The old man turned his attention to Ogata, who was standing behind Omachi.
"This is our first meeting." Ogata bowed towards the old man and said respectfully, "Issei Ogata, I am a friend of Atachi."
"Oh! He's Komachi's friend!"
The old man looked at Ogata with curious eyes.
"Since you are a friend of Komachi, you should also know who I am. When we first met, I am the 17th generation Fuma Kotaro."
When the old man, the 17th generation Fuma Kotaro, was sizing up Ogata, Ogata was also sizing up Fuma.
Fuuma is about the same height as Omachi, only about 1.55 meters when converted to modern earth length units.
But because his waist is slightly stooped, Fuuma seems to be shorter than Omachi.
The exposed skin has many age spots, and the muscles on his body look shriveled due to his age.
Although he has a shaved head, the beard on his face is very lush. He has a big beard, and the lush beard hangs down to his chest.
The appearance of Feng Mo is the same as the house he writes about - his whole body exudes an ordinary, ordinary atmosphere.
Looking at the ordinary-looking old man in front of him, Ogata couldn't help but thought to himself:
——Is he the last generation of Fuma Kotaro...
On the way A-machi took Ogata to Fuma's residence, A-machi had already briefly introduced the 17th generation Fuma Kotaro to Ogata.
Through Omachi's introduction, Ogata already knew that Fuma no Sato was disbanded 10 years ago under the orders of the 17th generation Fuma Kotaro.
I know that these 17 generations of Fuma Kotaro have decided not to rebuild the Fuma Village, nor to teach others the ninjutsu passed down by their Fuma party from generation to generation, but to be the last Fuma Kotaro in history.
I also learned that the last Fuma Kotaro in history was a master of extraordinary skills. Ten years ago, he achieved the feat of "entering Shiranui alone at the age of 62, turning Shiranui upside down and then escaping unharmed."
"Well... you are Ogata Ittosai." After looking at Ogata several times, Fuuma suddenly murmured, "You do look very strong. Komachi, you have really made an incredible friend.
"
Ogata was not surprised at all that Fuuma immediately realized that he was the executioner Ittosai after hearing his name.
After all, he has become famous a long time ago.
"...It's such a pity." Feng Mo suddenly said.
"Regret?" Ogata tilted his head and asked doubtfully.
"It's such a pity that you are just Komachi's friend..." Fuuma curled his lips, "When I saw a man following Komachi just now, I thought you were Komachi's husband."
"I was just happy that Komachi found a handsome husband, but in the end it turned out that he was just a friend of Komachi..."
"Lord Fuma!" Atachi's face turned slightly red and he said urgently, "What are you talking about..."
Regarding what Fuma just said, Ogata didn't know how to respond for a moment and could only smile helplessly.
Feng Mo stroked the beard on his chin and looked at Ogata again.
Fuma's assessment of Ogata this time was a little more meaningful.
"Hmm... the more we look at it, the more they look like..."
"Huh?" Ogata raised his eyebrows in confusion, "Like?"
"You look a lot like an old friend of mine..." Feng Mo's face showed a faint look of memories.
"Okay, the door is not a good place to chat, so come in."
Feng Mo walked towards the house with his hands behind his back.
Following Fuma through the door, Ogata and Omachi took off their shoes at the dirt floor of the house, and then stepped into Fuma's home.
As soon as her little feet without socks stepped on the wooden floor, her expression froze.
Ogata, who noticed the strange expression on A-Machi's face, turned his head and asked A-Machi softly:
"A-Machi, what's wrong?"
Atachi did not respond to Ogata's question out loud.
She just smiled bitterly and raised her right foot, letting Ogata look at the sole of her right foot.
A-Machi's originally white and red soles were now covered with a layer of black dust.
After stepping on Fuma's house, Atachi's originally clean soles turned black.
As for the floor where Atachi was originally standing, the dust on the floor was trampled away, leaving a small footprint.
Looking at Omachi's soles, which were covered with a thick layer of dust, Ogata was stunned for a moment, then lowered his head and looked at his own feet.
After moving his right foot away, there was a footprint reflected by the dust being stepped on where Ogata's right foot had just stepped.
Because Ogata was wearing socks, Ogata didn't immediately feel that the ground was very dirty like Amachi.
"I'm sorry... I made your feet dirty." Fuuma, who was walking in front, turned back to Ogata and Ogata with an apologetic expression, "I forgot to tell you... my home...
A little dirty..."
"Lord Fuuma..." A-Machi's face showed a bit of astonishment, "When I came to see you last time, your house was not so dirty..."
"In recent times, my body has become weaker and weaker, and my energy has become worse and worse."
Feng Mo smiled bitterly.
"Because my body and energy have become much worse, I have become more and more lazy when it comes to cleaning, so I haven't cleaned the house for a long time..."
…
…
at the same time--
At the corner of an ordinary street in Kyoto, four Okabiki were chatting boredly.
From the beautiful woman I saw by chance while walking on the street yesterday, to the delicious restaurant I recently found by accident.
In the Edo period, excluding special security organizations such as the Huo Fu Bandit Kai, the city's security forces were roughly divided into three levels: Yuli, Doshin, and Okahiki.
To use an analogy with the police system of modern Earth, Yuli is similar to the police chief, Concentric is similar to an ordinary policeman, and Okabiki is similar to a co-police officer.
Compared with force and concentricity, Gangyinhe is special.
Both Yoli and Tongxin are directly affiliated with the execution office and take orders directly from their superiors headed by the mayor.
Gangyin is generally recruited from among the people by Yuli or Tongxin, and is not formally affiliated with the government. They only obey the Yuli or Tongxin themselves who recruit them.
In the words of modern earth, that is - Yuli and Tongxin are both members of the system, but Okabiki and others are not.
Since there was nothing to do at the moment, these four Okahiki could sit carelessly on the corner of the street and chat.
However - at this moment, a sharp-eyed Okabiki noticed that Tongxin, who recruited them to become Okabiki, was walking quickly towards them holding a few pieces of paper.
Seeing Tongxin walking towards them, these Okahibiki immediately realized that there might be work to do.
So they all put away their fun and stood up straight.
"Sir Tongxin! Good afternoon!"
"Sir Tongxin! You still look very energetic today!"
…
In response to the greetings of these subordinates, Tongxin only nodded lightly, and then stuffed a few pieces of paper in his hand into their arms.
"Now that we have something to do, post this wanted notice to several places in our jurisdiction where there will be a lot of traffic."
"It is not necessary to post all of these wanted notices. One is left to inform people from door to door to be wary of the thief on this wanted notice."
"Sir Tongxin... what is this wanted order?"
"You should all know this, right? We have a man-killer in Kyoto. From last night to now, more than thirty people have been killed by him."
"Now we have found out who this person is. He is the thief on this wanted order - the executioner Ittosai, Ogata Issei."
"The Lord of the Kyoto Prefecture has issued an order - a city-wide search. Even if Kyoto is turned upside down, Ogata Yoshi must be uncovered."
"Isn't it just to catch a murderer..." an Okabiki muttered, "is such a big battle necessary..."
"Don't you understand this?" A meaningful smile appeared on Tongxin's face, "Do you know why Mr. Kyoto Shodai wanted to arrest Ogata Issei in such a big way?"
The four Okahiki shook their heads.
"Because—today is the day when Tokugawa Munemu, the lord of the Owari Domain of the 'Gosan Family', holds a banquet at the Nijo Imperial Palace."
"Master Tokugawa Munumu likes our Gion Festival in Kyoto the most."
"Whenever the Gion Festival is held every year, as soon as he has time, Tokugawa Munemu will definitely come to Kyoto to watch the Gion Festival."
"This year is no exception."
"Tokugawa Munemu, who has time to come to watch the Gion Festival this year, has arrived in Kyoto in his car three days ago."
"Not only that - Lord Tokugawa Munemu also received permission from the shogun this year to use the Ninomaru Garden in Nijo Imperial Palace."
Tongxin raised his finger and pointed at the ground.
"Tonight, Lord Tokugawa Munemu will hold a grand banquet in the Ninomaru Garden to entertain all the dignitaries in Kyoto and around Kyoto."
"Kyoto Governor Toda Tadahiro-sama, temple minister Ota Shiae-sama, Osaka joshiro Hota Masjun-sama, Kyoto town minister Kamiyama Koshinosuke-sama... These big names will attend the banquet held at Nijo Imperial Palace tonight."
"In order to please Lord Tokugawa Munemu, our Kyoto Governor Toda Tadahiro has been bragging to Lord Tokugawa Munemu about how good our public security is in Kyoto. Once any criminals appear, they can be quickly arrested. Bring to justice."
"Think about it - if we can catch this murderer who has killed more than thirty people before the end of today's banquet."
"Then the Kyoto Governor can brag to Tokugawa Munemu and other dignitaries at the banquet about how good the security in Kyoto is under his watch. The murderer who appeared last night was successfully arrested tonight. Already."
Hearing this, the four Okahiki all had expressions of understanding on their faces.
And Tongxin continued:
"The reason why the Kyoto Governor ordered the arrest of Ogata Ittosai with such great fanfare was not only to brag in front of Lord Tokugawa Munemu, but also for a more important reason, which was to ensure that the Gion Festival was held without any interference. Influence."
"If the murderer of countless people is allowed to continue to go unpunished, it will frighten the people of Kyoto and indirectly affect the holding of the Gion Festival."
"If the holding of the Gion Festival is affected, it will destroy the elegance of Tokugawa Munemu who came specially to watch the Gion Festival."
"If Tokugawa Munemu's elegance is affected, there will definitely be a lot of scolding of all the officials in Kyoto, headed by the Dai-sama of Kyoto."
"So whether it's to keep Lord Tokugawa Munemu's interest from being affected, or to give himself a chance to brag in front of Lord Tokugawa Munemu, Mr. Kyoto Shojiro must arrest this murderer who has killed countless people as soon as possible."
"If you all understand why Kyoto Toshiro-sama ordered the arrest of Ogata Ittosai with such great fanfare, then everyone should take action! Post all these wanted notices quickly! Leave one to inform our jurisdiction house by house. Common people, please pay attention to the executioner Ittosai!"