Although it is already September, according to common sense, it should be autumn now, but the sun that hangs high in the sky every day, emitting hot rays to lash the earth, makes it impossible to see that autumn is about to begin.
There is no air conditioning in this day and age.
Sitting in the carriage, Ogata really had the illusion that he was in a sauna.
Let it rain or get cooler soon - this is what Ogata and others were thinking every day during this period.
Today, the weather finally complied with Ogata and others' wishes and became a little cooler.
The weather today is exceptionally good, with clear skies and sunny winds.
White clouds as loose as cotton cover the not-so-strong sunlight, making it softer. Often accompanied by a breeze, the treetops, which are not red at all, sway their waists obediently.
The branches full of green leaves were filled with soft sunshine. There was a little bird on the treetops, its tail was shaking, and its shadow was clearly reflected on the country road beside it.
At this moment, the little bird seemed to hear something strange and turned back to look at the two carriages driving slowly on the country road nearby.
The people driving these two carriages were a handsome young man and a strong man with a strong build.
These two people are Asai and Makimura.
There were only three people who knew how to drive a carriage: Lin, Makimura, and Asai.
While hitching a ride with Rin and the others, Ogata also learned how to drive a carriage.
Ogata already had some foundation in equestrian skills, so he quickly mastered the skills of driving a carriage.
Originally, Rin, Makimura, and Asai took turns driving these two carriages. After Ogata learned to drive the carriage, it became Ogata, Rin, Makimura, and Asai.
Now it happened to be Asai and Makimura's turn to drive. Ogata was sitting in the carriage of the carriage that Makimura was driving, chatting with Machi beside him.
"Ayi, look, there is a little bird there."
"Well, I saw it. It's a big one. I wonder how it tastes."
"How far are we from Kinoshita-san and their base?" Amachi asked casually.
"It's not far." Makimura, who was sitting in the driver's seat driving the carriage, said without looking back, "We will probably arrive this afternoon."
"Is it finally here..." Atachi let out a long sigh.
At first, when they got on the carriage and headed to Owari, both Ogata and Omachi felt a little fresh.
But gradually, the novelty was worn away by a series of torturous things such as bumpy roads and hot cars.
On the way to Owari, Ogata had been quietly recovering from his injuries.
After learning that he was finally arriving at Calabash House, even Ogata couldn't help but feel a sense of relief.
Because the weather was very good today, Ogata and the others opened the door of the carriage and let the cool wind blow.
While Ogata was comfortably feeling the cool breeze blowing into the car, he casually asked Makimura who was driving:
"Makimura, how are your injuries?"
"Hahahaha." Makimura laughed heartily, "I'm almost healed! Brother Ogata, what about you?"
"I have completely recovered." Ogata raised his hand and tapped his chest gently.
"I thought my recovery ability was already amazing enough." Makimura said, "I didn't expect that, Ogata, your recovery ability is even more amazing than mine."
Before leaving Kyoto, Ogata heard Asai say that Makimura's greatest strength should be his amazing resilience.
Now it seems that Asai is not talking nonsense, Makimura's recovery ability is indeed quite amazing.
The injuries on Makimura's body were no less serious than Ogata's, and they have almost recovered as before.
Makimura said that they would be able to arrive at their Calabash House base around this afternoon.
Around afternoon, Ogata finally saw the long-lost small village surrounded by mountains.
Putting his head out of the car window and looking at the small village in front of him, Amachi said:
"Is that the village you mentioned, Ayi..."
On the way to the Calabash House, Ogata briefly introduced some basic information about the Calabash House to Atachi.
For example: Lin and the others used an abandoned mountain temple as their base for Gourd House.
There is a village at the foot of the mountain that looks very ordinary from the outside. Because the villagers have received the favor of Calabash House, they have the function of Calabash House's "outpost", responsible for warning outsiders approaching this place, and providing Lin and others with
Some support within our capabilities.
After seeing two carriages approaching, several villagers who happened to be guarding the village entrance immediately became alert.
After noticing that the two people driving the car were Asai and Makimura, the wary look on the faces of the villagers immediately dissipated and turned into a look of respect.
After driving the two carriages to the entrance of the village, Ogata and his party got out of the carriages and handed the two carriages to the villagers for their care.
In addition to the two carriages, Heitaro and Xuanren were left under the care of the villagers.
After arriving in this village, Xuanren has been looking at everything around him with great interest, and at the place where he will work in the future.
After learning that Xuanren was the doctor brought by Lin and would work here, the villagers were very happy. They happened to be short of excellent village doctors here.
Xuanren was treated kindly by the villagers.
As for Heitaro's prisoner, he was imprisoned directly in the dungeon in the village.
…
…
After taking care of a series of trivial matters such as "the placement of the carriage" and "the placement of Xuanren", Lin returned to the entrance of the village and found Ogata, Amachi, Makimura and others who had been waiting at the entrance of the village.
"Okay, let's go... hmm? What are you talking about?"
After returning to the entrance of the village, Lin found Makimura and others gathered together, chatting about something with serious faces.
"We are discussing how to distribute these luggage." Asai said.
Lin glanced at the luggage piled at the feet of Makimura and others, and then a look of understanding appeared on her face.
The luggage that these people have is more than one baggage.
The pile of luggage in their gourd house may be large or small, with a total of 16 bags.
This pile of luggage is piled at your feet. The amount is really scary, and just looking at it is full of visual impact.
Lin had already finished handling those trivial matters and returned, but Makimura and the others were still wrangling over the issue of "baggage distribution."
"I remember that before we set off, we didn't have so much luggage. What on earth is this bag at my feet? Who bought it?" Makimura nuzzled at a big cloth bag at his feet.
"That... those are the specialties of Kyoto that I bought." Shimada raised his hand weakly, "It was my first time to go to Kyoto, so I couldn't help but buy some specialties of Kyoto..."
"What about this one?" Makimura pointed at another big cloth bag.
"That's what I bought." This time Lin spoke up, "Inside are the Kyoto fruits I bought. I bought them specially for Kuro and Uncle, who couldn't go to Kyoto."
"What about this one?" Makimura pointed at another big cloth bag, "Who bought it?"
"I bought it." Asai raised his hand.
"What is that thing of yours?" Makimura asked, "Is it also a specialty of Kyoto?"
"Hardly so. Gendai-san commissioned me to buy it." After saying that, Asai winked at Makimura.
Makimura and Asai seemed to have a clear understanding of each other. After seeing Asai wink at him, they immediately showed understanding and quickly skipped the topic.
Ogata and Atachi had been standing aside, listening to the quarrels between the Calabash House group.
After hearing the end, Ogata couldn't help but look helpless and complained:
"You guys went to Kyoto under the guise of 'finding clues to the undead,' right?"
"We do seem to have bought too many things." Lin did not make any rebuttal to Ogata's words just now. She just folded her arms and sighed with a serious face.
"Hey, Shimada. Among us, you buy the most messy things, so you take responsibility for me and carry the pile of things you bought on your back." Asai said.
"Huh? How can I carry so many things? Makimura-senpai, please help me!"
"Don't look at me... I'm just recovering from my injury, but I don't have the ability to carry so much luggage. How about we move the luggage in two times?"
"Don't be ridiculous." Asai said without thinking, "You should also know that our base of Calabash House is on the mountain, right? Wouldn't it be very tiring to move it in two times?"
"How about asking the villagers to help us carry our luggage?" Atachi, who had been listening with Ogata, put forward his own idea at this time.
Unfortunately, as soon as A-Machi finished speaking, Lin gently shook her head.
"It's almost time to make dinner now. Every household is very busy now, and it will take a lot of time to move this pile of things up the mountain. I don't want this trivial matter to affect their meal."
…
…
The quarrels between the people in Calabash House seem to be endless.
Ogata, who couldn't stand listening any longer, clapped his hands vigorously, attracting everyone's attention.
"Just keep it simple and crude." Ogata said, "Use 'rock, paper, scissors' to decide who carries how much luggage."
As soon as Ogata finished speaking, Lin and others all cast doubtful glances at Ogata.
"What is 'rock, paper, scissors'?" Asai asked.
At this time in Japan, there is no "rock, paper, scissors" boxing game.
Ofangyan briefly and comprehensively introduced the gameplay of this rather simple game to Lin and others.
After figuring out how to play, Lin and others showed interest.
"I see...rock, paper, scissors..." Lin nodded gently, "I think it's a very fun game."
"Ittosai." Asai asked, "Is this a game from your hometown Izumo?"
"No," Ogata said, "I created it myself."
Ogata decided to tell an inconsequential lie.
"This game is very suitable for playing while drinking." Makimura looked thoughtful, "Whoever loses gets a drink or something."
Ogata wanted to praise Makimura as a "genius" for realizing one of the correct ways to play "rock, paper, scissors" so quickly...
"Okay." Lin said seriously, "Then let's use rock-paper-scissors to decide who will carry our luggage."
Ogata and Atachi did not participate in the fistfight because they had their own luggage to carry.
That is, the pile of gunpowder, iron tools and other items that A-machi asked Fuuma to get for her in Kyoto.
Not only were the piles of stuff numerous, but they were also heavy, leaving Ogata and Atachi with no energy left to help Rin and the others carry their luggage.
Lin and their luggage included a total of 16 packages of various sizes.
After a brief discussion, they decided on how to play: 16 rounds, and the loser in each round would carry a bag.
Lin, Makimura, Asai, and Shimada formed a circle, raised their hands high, and then said loudly like Ogata taught them just now——
"Rock, paper, scissors!"
…
…
About half an hour later——
“‘Rock, Paper, Scissors’…isn’t fun at all!”
After throwing all the pile of luggage at her feet, Lin held on to the base of their Calabash House - the doorpost of the abandoned ancient temple, sweating profusely and roaring like this...
Just now, Ogata saw a miracle.
Ogata originally thought that if we used "rock, paper, scissors" to decide who carries how much luggage, in the end everyone should be carrying a similar amount of luggage, but it might be that who has more luggage, or who has more luggage.
Just a little less.
Then a miracle happened...
Lin lost 8 of the 16 rounds of boxing...
According to the rules they drew up, Lin had to carry 8 of their 16 bags...
After the punching was over, the situation was awkward for a while.
Makimura and the others did not expect that Rin would be so weak in punching, so after the punch was over, they all said that the punch just now did not count.
But Lin said: To be a good person, you must keep your word.
So one person carried 8 bags of luggage and started climbing...
Successfully carried half of their luggage from Calabash House on his own.
"My lord." Makimura said to Lin sincerely with a serious look on his face, "Thank you for your hard work."
When we were hiking just now, Makimura and the others also stepped forward and offered to help Lin share some of her luggage, but they were all rejected by Lin who insisted on "keeping her word".
"Okay." Lin said as she pushed open the temple door in front of her, "It's just 8 bags of luggage, it won't tire me out... huh?"
As soon as Lin pushed open the door of the temple, a rich look of astonishment appeared on Lin's face.
Not only Lin, Makimura, Asai and others, but also Ogata, who had been a guest at Calabash House once before, all had astonishment on their faces at this time.
When he first escaped from Butterfly Island and came to Calabash House as a guest, Ogata remembered clearly - Lin and the others used an abandoned temple as their base.
Therefore, the base area of Huluwu is full of old and dilapidated buildings.
But at this moment, the scene before Ogata's eyes was completely different from Ogata's impression of "old and dilapidated houses everywhere you look."
Looking in through the wide open temple door, all the houses in the temple look like they have been repaired.
Not only has it been renovated, but every house has been completely repainted.
"...Lord, is this our home?" Makimura poked Lin next to him with his elbow.
"..." Lin was also speechless at this time.
"Huh?" Atachi, who had never been to Calabash House before, looked stunned at this moment, "Isn't this your home?"
Just now, when the door of the temple was pushed open and he saw the beautiful houses, A-Machi let out a small exclamation.
"It seems a little different from the home in my impression..." Lin whispered.
"Hey, look." Shimada suddenly raised his hand and pointed forward, "Is there...smoke coming from there?"
The location Shimada pointed to was filled with thick smoke.
"That seems to be the kitchen. Are they Mamiya and Genichi cooking?" Makimura asked.
"It should be." Asai replied without thinking.
"Huh? But...it seems too early to eat now..." Shimada raised his head and looked at the slightly dark sky, "In my impression, both Mamiya-senpai and Genichi are used to being in the sky.
You don’t have dinner until it’s completely dark…”
"Well..." Ogata's voice suddenly broke in, "Is the smoke there... getting thicker and darker...?"
Everyone: "..."
After hearing Ogata's reminder, everyone fell silent and looked quietly at the smoke not far away that seemed to be getting thicker and blacker.
After a period of silence, panic suddenly broke out among everyone.
"Hurry! Get me water quickly!" Lin's face was full of horror.
"Hey! Shimada! Is there anything that can hold water in the pile of Kyoto specialties you bought?!" Asai couldn't help but open some of Shimada's cloth bags filled with the Kyoto specialties he bought.
"Idiot! It's faster to go into the temple and find a bucket!" Makimura shouted as he rushed into the temple.
"Omachi! Let's go! Let's follow Makimura to find the bucket!"
"good!"
"Huh?" Shimada, who reacted a moment too late and hadn't realized what was going on, tilted his head, "Aren't Mamiya-senpai and Genichi-sama cooking over there?"
Lin: "If you do this again, you will become a meal! It will be on fire!!"
…
…
"So..." Mamiya cast a look full of doubts at the people holding various containers filled with water in front of him, "What on earth are you doing?"
Just now, everyone was holding various containers filled with water and rushing towards the place where the smoke was coming from.
After being "instructed" by Lin, Shimada finally realized how bad something had happened, and hurriedly joined the army of people looking for a container that could hold water.
Among the piles of Kyoto specialties that Shimada bought, there are actually a few things that are very suitable for holding water.
Shimada, Asai, and Lin randomly took the three largest containers, filled them full of water from the stream outside the temple, and went straight to the place where the smoke was coming from.
When they rushed straight into the smoking place, the three of them happened to meet up with Ogata, Amachi, and Makimura who had found a bucket and filled it with water.
The group of people rushed straight to the smoke area.
After getting closer, everyone discovered that the smoke was coming from behind the kitchen.
After bypassing the kitchen and coming to the back of the kitchen, they saw Mamiya and Genichi sitting leisurely.
In front of Mamiya and Genichi is a large ball of fire.
This big fire was burning something, and it was emitting a strange smell.
Ogata and others looked at Mamiya and Genichi...
Mamiya and Genichi also looked at Ogata and others...
"I want to ask you instead!" Lin, with a relieved expression on her face, shouted angrily, "What are you doing? I almost thought it was on fire!"
"We are burning garbage." The person who answered was Yuan Yi.
Ogata and others looked at the large ball of fire in front of Mamiya and Genichi.
This fire is burning all kinds of messy things.
Wood, paper, a large mass of unknown objects that cannot be named... everything is there.
"It turns out they were burning garbage." Ogata also let out a sigh of relief, "No wonder the smoke was so dark and thick..."
When he saw the thick smoke just now, Ogata was also startled.
Now is the time when the weather is dry, and the surroundings are full of wooden buildings and mountains.
Once the fire spreads, it's no joke.
Seeing that it was just a false alarm, everyone poured the water in their containers to the ground in angrily manner.
"My lord, everyone, welcome back." Mamiya smiled gently at everyone, "You also brought two old acquaintances back...Ogata-kun, Miss Atachi, long time no see."
Ogata knew that Genichi did not recognize Atachi, so he took the initiative to introduce Atachi to Genichi.
As soon as Ogata finished introducing Omachi to Genichi, Lin crossed her arms and asked Mamiya:
"Mamiya, please explain to me - what happened to our house? Did you invite craftsmen to renovate it?"
"How could I do such a waste of money?" Mamiya waved his hand, "I renovated our house by myself."
"Are you a renovator?" Ogata's eyes widened.
"Well, because I was so bored waiting for you to come back from Kyoto and had nothing to do anyway, I renovated our house by myself and painted the faded areas with new colors."
"You can still do carpentry work?" A Machi looked shocked.
"I once studied carpentry in the Yamato area."
"None of the houses here need major repairs. Even a layman like me, a carpenter, can easily complete the repair work."
"I just completed the renovation of the house a few days ago. After finishing the renovation, I had nothing to do, so I did some general cleaning."
"Because you have been away for a while, many places are covered with dust, leaves, insect corpses, and discarded wood that I did not use when renovating the house."
Mamiya nodded towards the fire next to him.
"These are the garbage I cleared out today."
Speaking of this, Mamiya paused as if he remembered something.
"Speaking of which - it seems it's almost time for dinner."
Mamiya continued.
"My lord, and Ogata-kun, you guys must be tired after coming all the way back."
"You guys should go and take a rest now."
"Leave it to me to cook tonight's dinner."
After saying that, without waiting for anyone to respond, Mamiya bowed lightly and walked straight towards the kitchen.
Looking at Mamiya's leaving figure, Amachi suddenly whispered to Ogata beside her at a volume that only she and Ogata could hear clearly:
"Mamiya is so strong..."
"Yes." Ogata nodded solemnly, "I feel the same as you..."