"I know this..." Shimada looked at the powder on Makimura's fingers carefully and nodded slightly, "I saw my mother use this stuff."
"This fragrant powder is called 'Wakasa Incense'."
When he said the word "Wakasa-ka", Makimura's eyes flickered slightly.
"It is an extremely rare fragrant powder produced in the Wakasa region."
"Not only is it rare, but because the fragrance is extremely strange compared to other fragrance powders, it is not a very pleasant powder."
"Compared with other fragrance powders, the biggest advantage of this 'Wakasa Incense' is probably that the fragrance lasts for a long time, and the fragrance can last for several hours."
"It's rare and not very popular, so now I don't see anyone using this 'Wakasa Incense' in the whole of Kyoto."
"The 43rd, 44th, and 45th victims were all splashed with 'Wakasa Incense' on the ground at their murder sites."
"If there is only one murder scene with 'Wakasa-ka' on the ground, it can be explained by coincidence."
"But there are 'Wakasa-ka' in three consecutive murder scenes, so it cannot be described as a 'coincidence'."
"This 'Wakasa-ka' should have fallen from the murderer's body."
After quietly listening to Makimura's reasoning, Shimada's eyes were immediately filled with strong admiration.
"Makimura-senpai, you are so strong! You unexpectedly found a new clue so quickly!"
"It's not a big deal." Makimura said expressionlessly as he stood up slowly, "More than half of the clues in the case can be obtained by observing the crime scene."
"Let's go, Shimada."
"Go? Where?"
"Wellhead House, a powder shop."
Makimura spit out a store name that was extremely unfamiliar to Shimada.
"I just said it, right? This 'Wakasa Incense' is extremely rare, and few people buy it. Therefore, in the entire Kyoto, only this Iguchi House sells this 'Wakasa Incense'."
"Makimura-senpai...you are really amazing..."
The admiration in Shimada's eyes had grown to a frightening level.
"I even know which store sells what kind of powder."
"Why do you even know which store sells what kind of powder?"
"...Because I used to be a Yuli in Kyoto." After a moment of silence, Makimura said casually.
…
…
"...I didn't expect Kondo to be the enthusiastic person who helped send Fuma-sama home..." Ogata sighed softly after quietly listening to Fuma explain how he and Kondo met.
With.
When Fuuma and Fuuma called each other's names, both Ogata and Atachi had astonishment on their faces.
Fuuma, who recognized the look of astonishment on Ogata and Atachi's faces, explained to Ogata and Atachi in simple sentences why he met Kondo.
During the day today, Feng Mo told Ogata, Lin and others naggingly: He is now older, and he accidentally lost his waist when he went shopping some time ago. Fortunately, a kind person helped him.
He was able to go home.
And Kondo is that kind person.
That’s how Fuma and Kondo got to know each other.
"Why do you two call Kotaro-sama 'Fuuma-sama'?" Kondo cast doubtful glances at Ogata and Omachi.
"Kondo." Fuma answered before Ogata and Omachi, "People always have various nicknames. Fuma is just one of my nicknames."
From the conversation between Kondo and Fuma, as well as Kondo's name for Fuma, it is not difficult to see that Kondo does not know Fuma's true identity.
But this is normal - it is impossible for Feng Mo to reveal his true identity to someone he has only met once.
"Ogata brother." Feng Mo asked Ogata at this time, "What is the situation now?"
Feng Mo pursed his lips at the corpse of the murderer who had sniped Inaba.
"What's going on with this guy? And - why is Kondo here?"
"This is a long story..." Ogata sighed softly.
…
…
The murderer used a rifled gun to snipe Inaba from a hundred meters away. After catching up with the murderer, the murderer committed suicide. Kondo mistakenly thought that he and Atachi were murderers. Ogata summarized everything that had just happened in the shortest possible words.
.
After Ogata finished speaking, Fuuma stroked his long beard hanging from his chin:
"They were able to get the new iron cannons from the Southern Barbarians... This group of people has quite a lot of background..."
"Why did they attack the owner of the metaphysics museum?" After seeing the corpse of the murderer who apparently committed suicide, and seeing this strange-looking iron cannon that he had never seen before, Kondo already believed that Ogata and the others were
Innocent.
"Who knows. In short - I just met with the owner of the Metaphysics Hall, and I learned nothing."
Ogata said softly.
"At least we know that the wife and daughter of the owner of the metaphysics hall were kidnapped, and we also know where the wives and daughters of the owner of the metaphysics hall are being held."
Although Inaba was brutally attacked by a sniper just now, fortunately, it did not hit a vital point. If treated in time, his life should not be in danger.
What makes Ogata feel even more fortunate is that before being sniped, Inaba promptly revealed the location where his wife and daughter were imprisoned that he had painstakingly found out.
And Ogata still remembers this string of addresses.
Go to the place where Inaba's wife and daughter are imprisoned, maybe you can find some new clues.
"Lord Fuma, do you know where this place is?"
Ogata reported to Fuma the address of where Inaba's wife and daughter were imprisoned.
After listening to the address reported by Ogata, Feng Mo frowned slightly.
"Well...this place..."
A-Machi, who noticed something wrong with Fuuma's expression, asked:
"Lord Feng Mo, what's wrong?"
"This place...is the 'Burn Area'."
"Burn area?" Ogata asked doubtfully.
"It was an area that was burned down by the Tenmei Fire two years ago and has not been completely rebuilt until now." Fuma replied softly, "Although it is already two years after the Tenmei Fire, the current financial situation of the shogunate is not optimistic.
, and failed to allocate too much funds for disaster relief and reconstruction to Kyoto Prefecture.”
"Until now, large areas of Kyoto are still burned down and have not been rebuilt."
"We all call these areas 'burn zones.'"
"Because these areas are in a state of being redeveloped, these areas are considered no-man's land, with only some homeless people wandering there."
"No one lives there..." Ogata said in a half-joking tone, "This kind of place is indeed suitable for setting up a secret stronghold for detaining people."
"...Brother Ogata." Feng Mo waved to Ogata, "Have you ever said that the wandering girl named Dieyin gave you a map of Kyoto? Bring that map, I will go there
The local route is drawn for you.”
"I really have to accept my old age..."
Speaking of this, Feng Mo smiled bitterly.
"I'm ashamed to say it... First I took you to the Metaphysics Hall, and then I followed you to chase the guy who attacked the owner of the Metaphysics Hall. My legs are in severe pain now... I thought my legs were still there.
Can I hold on a little longer..."
"Master Fuma... Thank you for your assistance just now." Ogata handed the map he got from Dieyin to Feng Mo, and smiled bitterly along with Feng Mo, "You should go and have a good rest now. The next thing will be
Leave it to me and Atachi."
Since there was no charcoal on hand, Feng Mo bit his finger and used the blood to scribble on the map.
After taking the map back from Fuma's hand, Ogata took a rough look - the place where Inaba's wife and daughter were imprisoned was not far from where they were now.
"Atachi, let's go."
"Um!"
While Ogata and Fuma were talking just now, Atachi silently carried the rifled gun on his back, and then searched for something on the "original owner" of the rifled gun.
Ogata glanced at the rifled gun behind Atachi and asked aloud:
"A-Machi, are you sure you want to bring this iron cannon with you?"
"This is a rare thing, we can't let it go to waste."
After saying that, A-Machi gently threw the two small cloth bags held in his right palm into the air, and then caught them accurately.
"These are the pellets and gunpowder I just found from that guy. These pellets and gunpowder are enough for me to squander for a while."
Letting Amachi, who is good at shooting, hold this rifled gun, it can really make the best use of it, so Ogata didn't say anything more.
After putting the map away in his arms, Ogata strode forward.
However - just after taking two steps forward, Kondo, who had been looking thoughtful since the beginning, seemed to be thinking about something, suddenly stopped in front of Ogata with a quick stride.
"What?" Ogata frowned slightly.
"Tengu-sama!" Kondo shouted with his loud voice.
Then, with the power of Mount Tai, he quickly knelt on the ground.
"Please let me become your teacher!"
"...Huh?" Ogata tilted his head.
"I always thought I was already a master."
Kondo pressed his forehead firmly to the ground.
"Until now, I realized that I was just a frog in a well."
"Just now I dared to say something to you so brazenly, 'I'm very strong.' Now just thinking about what I just said, I feel extremely ashamed!"
"Lord Tengu, I am fascinated by your swordsmanship!"
"I finally met a real master in Kyoto!"
"My goal is to be the strongest swordsman in the world!"
"For this goal, I have always been eager to become stronger!"
At this point, Kondo suddenly raised his head.
"So - please accept me as your disciple! Teach me swordsmanship!"
"I'm sorry, I have no intention of taking on a disciple." Ogata responded without hesitation, and then led Amachi to get around Kondo, who was kneeling on the ground in a dohoshi position.
However, before Ogata and Atachi had taken a few steps further, Kondo quickly stood up, walked in front of the two of them again, and then knelt down on the ground in the Dogeza position again.
"Please accept me as your disciple! I sincerely want to become your master! You are the strongest warrior I have ever seen!"
"I also sincerely want to reject you."
After saying that, Ogata once again led Amachi and walked quickly forward, bypassing Kondo.
However, Kondo caught up again, and then fell to the ground again.
"Please accept me as your disciple!"
Kondo completely entered the "repeater" mode and began to keep saying "Please accept me as your disciple".
Ogata glanced helplessly at Kondo, who was kneeling on the ground, and sighed softly.
The next moment, Ogata's pupils suddenly shrank, and his face immediately sank.
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He took half a step back, lowered his body weight, lifted the Daishutian up with his left hand, and placed his right hand on the handle of the Daishutian. His eyes were fixed in front of him, behind Kondo - the movements were completed in one go.
Kondo, who thought an enemy was approaching, immediately looked serious, stood up from the ground, and turned around.
While turning around, he placed his right hand on the handle of the sword like Ogata did, preparing to face the enemy.
However - after turning around, Kondo was shocked to find that there was no one behind him.
There are no enemies approaching - just as this question emerged in Kondo's mind, a series of strange sounds sounded behind Kondo.
Kondo, who finally realized something, hurriedly turned around - Ogata and Atachi, who were standing behind him just now, had already jumped onto the roof of the nearby house, and they were completely gone.
"Damn it...I was deceived...!"
After cursing secretly, Kondo cheered up and rushed out of the alley, preparing to chase Ogata and Omachi.
Fuma, who had been standing there watching Ogata, Kondo and others leave, slightly raised the corners of his mouth, and a faint smile appeared in his eyes.
But this faint smile was mixed with a bit of sadness.
"...Genichi... you are right. Whenever a young person appears, they are so dazzling that an old man like me just wants to look away..."
"Hiss... my knees hurt... Is there a tea house nearby where I can rest..."
…
…
Kyoto, Administrative Office.
The administrative office - the center of official power in Kyoto.
At this moment, in a hidden room in the monastery, bursts of sobs could be heard coming from it.
In the room, a thick and long hemp rope hangs from the ceiling.
This thick and long hemp rope hanging naturally was tied to a man who was probably only in his early 20s.
A white cloth was tied from behind his ears to his mouth to prevent him from making any sounds other than whimpering.
In front of this man, stood a middle-aged man who was probably over 40 years old.
Although this middle-aged man is not young anymore, his body is still very strong, and the bulging muscles can be vaguely felt through the kimono.
At this moment, the middle-aged man was holding a knife in his hand with a cold light emitting from the handle.
After waving in the air a few times, the middle-aged man turned his head and looked at the young man who was hanging and crying tears of fear.
"Kudo, be happy, your shameless body can be chopped off by the Bizen Nagafune - this is your honor."
The middle-aged man's tone was quite calm, as if he was talking about a very ordinary thing.
After that, the middle-aged man used "Kasaya Chop" on the young man in front of him without any hesitation...
"Oh..." The middle-aged man swung his sword and shook off all the blood on it, "As expected of the Bizen Nagafune... he cut the man in half easily... Ah, no, no
Okay, my feet were almost contaminated by the filthy intestines. Someone come here! Clean the room!"
As soon as the middle-aged man finished speaking, loud echoes sounded outside the room.
After putting the newly purchased sword back into its scabbard, the middle-aged man strode out of his knife-testing room with the sword in hand.
As soon as he walked out of his knife-testing room, an official came up to him quickly and knelt on one knee in front of the middle-aged man.
"Lord Abe, I have something to tell you."
The middle-aged man called "Abe-sama" is none other than Riri Abe, the chief minister in charge of Kyoto.
"What's the matter?"
As soon as Abe finished speaking, the official stood up immediately, put his lips to Abe's ear, and whispered a few words in Abe's ear.
When the whisper fell, Abe's pupils shrank slightly.
"'Sword Dragon' is back? Is this serious?"
"Seriously." The official nodded vigorously, "He seems to have been commissioned by Shenshan to investigate the 'murder case of 45 people' that has continued since last night."
"...Go." After thinking for a moment, Abe showed a meaningful smile, "Spare some of your manpower and capture Makimura for me."