Chapter 353 Don't be so arrogant within my attack range [7300 words]
"Sorry...you guys can go have dinner...I won't go...just buy me some food when you come back..." Amachi, who was lying on the bed, said to Ogata in a weak tone.
.
At this moment, Ogata and others were in a rather grand hotel.
According to Ogata's estimation, it should be around 19:00 at night.
The group of them hadn't had dinner yet, and their original plan was to find a hotel where they could stay and then have something to eat.
But judging from the current situation, their plan needs to make some small changes.
Even though he had left the sea and landed on land for quite some time, Omachi's symptoms of seasickness still remained.
Still feeling a little uncomfortable, she didn't have the energy or mood to go out to eat anymore, and just wanted to lie down and rest.
Not only Amachi was like this, but Rin was also like this. Still feeling a little dizzy and nauseous, Rin just wanted to lie down and rest in the hotel.
Seeing that neither of them had the energy to go out again, Ogata and others could only let the two of them stay in the hotel to rest, while the men like them went out to eat something casually first, and then brought some food back to Atachi and Lin.
"Then I'll go and come back." Ogata said to Amachi who was lying on the quilt, "You should sleep for a while first."
"Hmm...well...why do I still feel so sick after being on land for so long..."
"You should have a good sleep first. After one night's sleep, you should be better tomorrow."
"I know... you go quickly..."
"Is there anything you want to eat?"
"...something sweet."
"Yeah. I'll be back soon."
After saying that, Ogata picked up the Daishiten placed on the tatami beside him and walked out of the room.
A similar scene was playing out in the next room.
The room next door is Lin's room.
At this moment, there were only two people in Lin's room - Lin herself and Mamiya.
Mamiya was kneeling next to Lin's quilt at this time, and said sternly to Lin who was lying on the quilt with her eyes closed:
"Master, we'll be back as soon as we go. Is there anything you want to eat?"
"...something cold."
"I know, we'll be back soon."
After saying that, Mamiya picked up his saber, stood up, and walked out of the room.
However - when Mamiya was only about 2 steps away from the door, he was suddenly stopped by Lin.
"...Kuro."
"What's wrong?" Seeing Lin calling him, Mamiya stopped and turned to look at Lin behind him.
Lin, who still looked unhappy, raised her hand to touch her face.
"...Is this disguise on your face...reliable? Can it prevent those in your family from recognizing you?"
Hearing Lin's question, Mamiya pursed her lips.
After raising his hand and touching his face, Mamiya said softly:
"...it has been four years since I left my family and joined Calabash House."
"After such a long time, my appearance has changed a lot compared to before."
"Plus, with my face blackened like this, those in my family shouldn't be able to recognize me."
Having said this, Mamiya paused for a moment, seemingly sorting out his words.
After a long pause, Mamiya continued with a somewhat joking tone:
"Besides, my lord, you also know that our family has never been popular with Edo people."
"Because they are not popular, the people in my family have always lived in seclusion, so the probability of me meeting them on the road is quite low."
"Compared with meeting people in my family, the chance of being recognized by officials as 'Ryuuang Hachiman' Kurō Mamiya is greater."
Lin slightly opened her half-opened eyes.
After just looking at Kuro for a while—
"...Kuro. Have you ever thought about returning to your family?"
"I never thought about it." Mamiya said without hesitation in a firm tone, "I already... don't want to work for the Tokugawa Shogunate anymore."
Hearing Mamiya's answer, a faint smile appeared on Lin's face.
After closing her half-opened eyes tightly again, Lin continued:
"Remember to come back early and don't buy that kind of hot food."
"Yes." Mamiya smiled, "We'll come back as soon as we go."
…
…
The only people who went out to eat were men like Ogata.
After standing at the door of the hotel for a long time, Mamiya finally arrived belatedly.
"Sorry, everyone." Mamiya smiled, "I kept you waiting for so long."
"It didn't take long." Ogata smiled, "Let's go, let's go find some restaurant with a good smell."
The group of people walked together towards the downtown area not far from here.
While heading towards the downtown at a moderate speed, Ogata raised his finger and pointed at his eyes, and asked Mamiya beside him:
"Mamiya, can you really move around normally without wearing glasses?"
Mamiya does not have a human skin mask that can be used as a facial disguise like Ogata.
So the disguise he made was quite simple and crude - taking off his glasses, and then smearing his face, hair, and clothes with mud to make them dirty.
From the outside, he looks like a dirty, down-and-out ronin that no one would take a second look at.
"My eyesight is indeed not as good as that of ordinary people, but it is not so bad that I can't do anything after taking off my glasses. So whether I wear glasses or not, it will not affect my movements."
"Actually, all you need to do is wipe your face dirty, right?" Shimada took over, "Is it necessary to take off your glasses?"
"Shimada, don't you understand this?"
A strange smile appeared on Mamiya's face.
"The most distinctive feature of the portrait on my wanted poster drawn by the shogunate is that I am wearing a pair of glasses."
"In fact, many officials in the shogunate relied on my glasses to recognize me as Kuro Mamiya."
"So as long as he takes off his glasses, it is equivalent to taking away this biggest feature. The officials of the shogunate will not be able to easily recognize him as 'Rukou Hachiman' Kurō Mamiya."
"Hey! Bastard! What's that look in your eyes?!"
As soon as Mamiya finished speaking, a loud shout from not far away suddenly attracted everyone's attention.
Ogata is taller than most people of this era, so he can see what is going on just by turning his head.
"Ogata-sama! What happened over there?" Shimada, who was only 1.57 meters tall, could not see what was happening at the place where the sound originated because of his field of vision, so he could only ask Ogata.
"It's nothing." Ogata said softly, "It's just a 'sheath'."
The katana is known as the soul of samurai. In the eyes of most samurai, the sword on their waist is something more important than their lives.
So there will always be murders involving knives.
Samurai all wear swords on their left waists. When walking on narrow streets, when passing by others, they will inevitably bump into other people's swords, or others will touch their own swords.
Some people with hot tempers and some brain problems may start a fight on the grounds of "you touched my knife, you soiled my knife."
Over time, the term "shoto" was born during the Edo period.
As time goes by, the meaning of "sheandang" has expanded.
Now, sheandang can be used to describe: quarrels over trivial matters and jealousy between men.
The person who shouted just now was a middle-aged warrior with a rather rough appearance and a rather slovenly appearance.
This "rugged samurai" was glaring at a young samurai with a neatly shaved Tsukiyo head in front of him.
The loud shout of the "Rugged Samurai" not only attracted the attention of Ogata and others, but also the attention of the people around him.
Those passers-by who happened to be standing around the "Rugged Samurai" and "Tsukiyo-tou Samurai" hurriedly stepped aside to make a space where only these two samurai could stand, and then looked at these two with either fear or excitement.
A warrior.
After the "Rugged Samurai" roared, the "Tsukiyo Tou Samurai" frowned slightly:
"I've already said it - you're just too worried. I didn't even look at you just now."
"Stop sophistry!" The rough warrior's voice was so loud that Ogata, who was not far away, felt some eardrum pain. "You were clearly looking at me with disdain just now!"
Just when Ogata was watching the conflict between the two samurai intently, Asai on the side said abruptly:
"That rough-looking guy speaks with an accent from Kyushu. He should be a ronin who wandered here from Kyushu."
Asai was originally from the Satsuma clan in Kyushu, so he recognized that the rough-looking guy was from Kyushu just like him.
"snort."
"Tsukiyo Tou Samurai" sneered.
"I've already said it - you're overthinking it!"
No matter who was present, it was definitely obvious that the atmosphere between the two warriors was extremely strong. Even if the two men drew their swords and slashed at each other in the next second, no one would find it strange.
"Hello!"
At this moment, there was another loud shout.
"Two people over there! What are you doing?!"
This loud shout came from a group of officers with ten hands tied around their waists, who were running towards the two warriors at high speed.
Watching the group observing, the expressions of the "Rugged Samurai" and "Tsukiyo-tou Samurai" changed, and then they quickly spread their legs and fled away from the gang of officials.
The group of officers did not chase the two samurai. After driving away the two samurai who almost caused trouble, the group of officers returned.
Watching this group of officers collecting the team, Shimada, who was born in Edo, said softly:
"Where is Tsujiban's official servant..."
In ancient Japan, there has always been a bad habit of using people to test swords.
Some samurai with mental or mental problems always like to ambush at intersections in the middle of the night and kill people to test their swords.
People call this evil behavior of ambushing people at intersections in the middle of the night and trying to kill people with a sword "Tsuji Slash".
After Tokugawa Ieyasu ended the Warring States Period and established the Edo Shogunate, he explicitly banned the "Tsuji Slash".
Later, a security organization established by samurai to prevent Tsuji-za crime was born - that is, "Tsujiban".
To put it simply, they are sentries specially set up at various intersections.
In addition to supervising samurai who have brain problems to test swords on living people, Tsujiban's officers are also responsible for maintaining law and order in the areas they are responsible for.
In a situation like the one just now where two samurai almost drew swords and started fighting on the street, Tsujiban's officials had to intervene to mediate.
After Tsujiban's officers drove away the two samurai, the surrounding atmosphere returned to peace.
The flow of people on the street began to flow naturally again, and everything returned to the scene in front of the incense stick.
"I didn't expect that there would be a situation here in Edo where samurai would start fighting in the streets for no apparent reason." Makimura smiled and summarized the scene he just encountered.
"Of course." Ogata said calmly, "There are as many samurai with regular jobs in Edo as there are ronin with nothing to do, so the chances of conflicts are definitely much higher than in other places.
Already."
The more rogues there are in a place, the easier it is for all kinds of chaos to break out - this should be considered one of the laws of this era.
To put it more harshly, ronin is a group of people who have nothing to do and don't have a serious job at hand, but they attach great importance to honor and have weapons at their fingertips.
After all, there are only a very small number of extremely rich ronin like Ogata, and most of them don't even know what to eat tomorrow.
"Valuing honor" was the core value of the samurai class in the Edo period.
When their material life is extremely poor, those wanderers often have extremely paranoid pursuits of their spiritual life.
Because only in this way can it bring them some spiritual comfort.
So it often happens that some ronin value honor more than samurai who have regular jobs, to a pathological degree.
The conflict between the two samurai just now is a good example.
"Let's go." Yuan Yiyi said, "Let's finish the dinner quickly. Xiaolin and Miss Atachi are still waiting for us to send the dinner back."
Ogata nodded and was about to follow the others to find the hotel when a conversation between two women next to him attracted Ogata's attention.
"I hate it... Why do I always feel that the security situation in Edo is getting worse and worse recently? This is the third time today that I have seen samurai causing trouble on the streets."
"It's really scary... It must be because there are too many country samurai who have flocked to Edo recently! When there are more country bumpkins, public security will definitely get worse!"
"Why have there suddenly been so many country bumpkins pouring into Edo Castle recently..."
"Oh...it's not because of that...forget it, don't talk about this on the street, let's wait and talk slowly after we get home."
Ogata quietly listened to the conversation between the two women.
"Brother Ogata, what are you doing?" After noticing that Ogata was still standing there and not following, Makimura stopped and turned around to cast a doubtful look at Ogata.
"Nothing..." Seeing that the two women also stopped their conversation, Oburon also withdrew his attention and quickly followed the people who had already distanced themselves a short distance from him.
…
…
Ogata and the others didn't have much pursuit of food. In addition, Rin and Omachi were still waiting for them to come back with dinner at the hotel, so they directly found a soba restaurant closest to the hotel where they lived.
Noodle shop.
Judging from the decoration of the store, that buckwheat shop is a shop that is very friendly to the people, and even ordinary people can eat there.
After entering the store, it was indeed the case. There were samurai like Ogata and others among the customers, but most of them were civilians wearing various clothes.
Ogata and the others were very lucky. There happened to be one empty table left in the store, and this empty table was just enough for the six of them to sit.
Everyone entered the store holding their own sabers with their right hands. After sitting down at this table, everyone turned their attention to the menu hanging on the wall.
"Soba noodles, 16 fen. Large steamer with royal meal, 48 fen. Tempura buckwheat, 32 fen. Egg-wrapped buckwheat, 32 fen..." Makimura quickly called out the names of the dishes written on the menu one by one.
The menu is also very carefully written, with a line of small characters at the back of each noodle describing the characteristics of that noodle.
For example - the phrase "big bowl of soba noodles" is written behind the large gozen steamer.
This shop not only sells noodles but also wine. At the end of the menu, it is marked "Fine quality wine 1 for 40 cents".
1 unit in the Edo period is approximately equal to 180 ml in modern Earth.
I just don’t know how good the “good wine” this store calls it is.
Seeing that this store sells wine, Yuan Yi grinned: "Let's buy some wine and drink."
No one refuted Yuan Yi's suggestion.
After quickly ordering the noodles they wanted, Makimura sighed in a low voice:
"It's so cheap... Is the soba noodles in Edo so cheap..."
"Buckwheat noodles are one of Edo's specialties." Shimada said with a smile, "Because buckwheat noodles suit the appetite of Edo people, and they are easy to make, ordinary people can afford to eat them, so soba noodle shops
It can be said that the whole Edo is filled with flowers. By the way, do you know the origin of the nickname ‘Nihachi Soba’ for soba noodles?”
Anyway, the process of serving the noodles was quite boring. When Shimada came in and brought up a topic, Ogata and others were happy to chat.
"I've heard of the nickname 'Twenty-eight Soba' before," Ogata said, "I remember it's because buckwheat noodles usually sell for 16 mun, right? Because ordinary buckwheat noodles usually sell for 16 mun, so people call it
Soba noodles are called '28 buckwheat'."
"This is actually just one of the theories." Mamiya interjected with a smile, "Actually, this statement is not very accurate. As far as I know - the soba noodles in Edo did not always cost 16 fen a bowl."
"Senior Mamiya is right." Shimada nodded, "That's just one of the opinions."
"I don't quite agree with this statement either."
"Because the price of soba noodles is actually changing all the time."
“The most expensive bowl of soba I have ever eaten in Edo cost 20 mun.”
"The most mainstream theory is that buckwheat noodles contain 20% wheat flour and 80% buckwheat flour, so it is called '28 buckwheat'..."
Shimada was there carefully introducing soba noodles.
Ogata and others were also there listening carefully.
But at this moment——
"Asshole! How long do you have to wait for me?!"
An untimely roar echoed throughout the soba shop.
This angry shout made the originally noisy shop instantly become audible.
Everyone, including Ogata and others, followed the sound and turned their eyes.
He is a tall and majestic warrior with a full beard and a muscular face.
This samurai should be around 25 years old and very tall. Although he is sitting cross-legged, according to Ogata's visual inspection, his height should be about 1.75 meters.
He was the only one at the table, so he probably came here to have dinner alone.
My cheeks are a little red, probably because I drank some wine.
Both his body and clothes were dirty, his feet without socks were covered in mud, and the Tsukiyo haircut on his head was even more messy. He hadn't taken care of his hair in an unknown amount of time.
This kind of dirty-looking samurai is basically a ronin.
The shout just now had a very strong accent, and it was basically certain that this guy was also a ronin who wandered to Edo from nowhere.
After making that angry shout, the warrior waved his hand and swept the chopstick holder with the chopsticks on the table to the ground, causing the chopsticks to roll all over the floor.
This sudden action of this warrior shocked many people present.
While many people were looking at this majestic samurai with horrified eyes, the female middle school girl of this soba noodle shop, the waitress, walked towards the samurai with a trembling look.
There was only one waiter in this soba shop. The owner was probably cooking noodles in the back kitchen, so he didn’t hear anything going on here. Therefore, at this moment, the middle school girl could only step forward to deal with the "
The mighty warrior".
After the middle school girl came closer, the "Majestic Warrior" shouted at the middle school girl with a louder voice:
"Why hasn't my noodles been served yet? It's just a bowl of soba noodles. Does it take so long to cook?!"
"Ten Ten, I'm very sorry..." The middle school girl seemed to lack experience in dealing with this kind of scene. She explained to the "Majestic Samurai" in a slightly trembling voice, "There are more guests now, please wait patiently.
In a moment, we will speed up."
Although the female high school student has tried his best to appease this "majestic warrior", this "majestic warrior" still doesn't seem to intend to simply let this female high school student go. He still faces this female high school student with an aggressive look.
Famous women say all kinds of ugly things.
Until this moment, the shop owner, a middle-aged man about 40 years old who was concentrating on cooking noodles in the kitchen, finally noticed something strange in the store and walked out of the kitchen.
After realizing what had happened, the shop owner rushed to support the girl in their shop.
However, the store owner's support was of no use.
It just changed the situation from a "majestic samurai" saying nasty things to the girls' high school, to a "majestic samurai" saying nasty things to the shop owner and the girls' junior high school.
Looking at the "majestic warrior", Ogata, who was drinking tea, narrowed his eyes slightly.
A series of past images hidden deep in the mind flashed quickly before Ogata's eyes.
It was a period... it was obviously not very old, but to Ogata it felt like it was an image from the past a long time ago.
In the image, after finishing his day job as an abacus, he would go to a izakaya to work as a security guard...
…
…
"That person is really exaggerating..." Shimada whispered in a voice that only he could hear clearly, "It's just a bowl of noodles...can't you wait patiently..."
"It's really ugly. Can't you wait obediently?"
"That's right, that's right." Shimada nodded vigorously a few times, "This is how we should scold such people... huh?"
Shimada looked at Ogata beside him in astonishment.
Not only Shimada, but almost everyone present focused their attention on Ogata - including the "majestic samurai".
The "Majestic Samurai" didn't seem to expect that someone would preach to him, so he looked at Ogata with a look of surprise and anger.
"Are you talking to me?" he asked.
"Who else besides you?" Ogata raised the tea cup in his hand, took a sip of tea, and replied in a calm tone.
call!
The "Majestic Samurai" stood up suddenly, holding his sword, and walked quickly to Ogata's side.
Seeing this, Shimada was about to say something, but was stopped by Makimura on the side.
Makimura signaled Shimada with his eyes - ignore the "majestic samurai".
Not only Makimura was like this, Mamiya, Asai, and Genichi also looked calm.
After walking quickly to Ogata's side, the "Majestic Samurai" opened his mouth, wanting to say something.
However, before he had time to say what he wanted to say, Oubon said first:
"Sit back and wait patiently for the noodles to be served."
Upon hearing Ogata's words, the face of the "Majestic Samurai" instantly turned blue and white.
Finally, the face of the "Majestic Warrior" turned as black as charcoal.
The "Majestic Samurai" lowers the center of gravity of his body, holds the scabbard close to the sheath with his left hand, pops the blade out of the sheath with his left thumb, and holds the handle of the knife with his right hand.
"Apologise!"
Ogata glanced at the posture of this "majestic warrior": "Drawing a sword..."
"Hmph!" "Majestic Warrior" sneered, "You are really stupid, just asking me to get my sword ready like this!"
"Apologise to me now! Otherwise I will kill you with one knife!"
Seeing that the "Majestic Samurai" seemed to be about to start a fight with Ogata, the surrounding guests immediately stepped aside, fearing that the possible fight that might break out later would affect them.
Only Mamiya and others at the same table as Ogata remained motionless.
"Brother." Mamiya, who was sitting farthest away from the "majestic warrior", said to him with a smile, "Take the sword back and wait obediently for him to come up, otherwise..."
Before Mamiya finished speaking, his eyes were fixed on Ogata. The "Majestic Samurai" shouted without even looking at Mamiya:
"Shut up! I'm warning you! You are also within my slashing range! Don't be so arrogant within my slashing range! Otherwise I will chop off your head too!"
"The majestic warrior" had just finished speaking...
Ogata, who had been drinking tea silently with the cup in his hand, let go of his hand, and the teacup that fell from his palm fell towards the table under the influence of gravity.
With his left hand, he grasped the hilt of the Daishuten on the right side of his body, then raised the Daishuten and pointed the tip of the knife at the throat of the "majestic warrior" standing just to the right of his body.
While grabbing and erecting the Daishiten with his left hand, Ogata grabbed the scabbard of the Daishiten with his right hand and pulled the scabbard upward.
When Ogata turned the tip of Daishiten's sword to the throat of the "Majestic Samurai", Ogata just happened to completely pull out Daishiten's scabbard, revealing Daishiten's extremely sharp blade.
Because he stood the sword up and then pulled the scabbard upward, Ogata could completely pull out the blade with only a very small movement.
After pulling out the scabbard upwards, Ogata maintained the posture of holding the upper part of the scabbard with his right hand, holding the middle part of the Daishitenju with his left hand, and the tip of the sword pressed against the throat of the "Majestic Samurai".
The "Majestic Warrior" lowered his eyes and stared blankly at the tip of the knife pressed against his throat.
Bang.
The teacup that Ogata had just put down fell steadily back to the table, making a small "bang" sound without a drop of tea spilling out.
It wasn't until the sound of the tea cup falling to the ground that the "Majestic Samurai" finally seemed to be awakened by a shock, and looked at Ogata with horrified eyes in front of him, who was holding the tip of the knife against his throat.