After all, this was an invitation from the second-in-command of Hirose Domain.
Besides Gennai Matsudaira, Ogata's highest boss.
In addition—Ogata also has many questions for Kuronaga.
And this sudden invitation from Kurunaga was a great opportunity to question Kurunaga face to face about his various problems.
So—Obori accepted Kuranaga’s invitation.
Before coming to Kuranaga's residence, Ogata did not forget to make a special detour to the Sakakihara Sword Hall to tell his fellow apprentices that he would attend the banquet later tonight.
"Ogata-kun, I'm very sorry."
Kuronaga suddenly leaned over and apologized to Ogata.
"I heard just now - you have a very important banquet to attend tonight, right?"
"Because of my reasons, you had to postpone the banquet. I'm really sorry."
As early as yesterday, Kuronaga learned from Tobiru that Ogata was going to attend a very important banquet tonight.
However, for his own selfish reasons, Kuronaga decided to go ahead with the original plan and summoned Ogata into the house tonight, humiliating Ogata and forcing him to postpone the banquet.
Ogata sighed silently.
"My lord, you don't need to apologize."
"If you have anything important to say to me, just say it. I'll listen."
Kurunaga straightened up and straightened his clothes.
"Since Ogata-kun, you have an important banquet to attend tonight, I won't waste time and get straight to the point."
Kuronaga raised his eyes.
He looked directly into Ogata's eyes with extremely serious eyes.
"...Ogata-kun, are you willing to be the executioner?"
…
…
After the room was immersed in an eerie silence for quite a while, Ogata's "ha" finally broke the silence.
"...Huh?" Ogata looked at Kurunaga who was still holding on with a serious face with stunned eyes.
Kurunaga's serious expression declared that what he just said was not a joke, he was quite serious.
Executioner - although this word is unfamiliar to Ogata, he also understands the meaning contained in this word.
"The executioner... is he asking me to kill someone?"
"That's right." Kuronaga nodded.
"Who do you want me to kill?"
"Matsuhira Gennai."
"……ha?"
This was the second "ha" sound that Ogata made that contained complex emotions including surprise and shock.
Of course Ogata knows who Matsudaira Gennai is.
At this time, Ogata was wondering whether he heard correctly.
"...My lord, who do you want me to kill?" Ogata repeated the question he just asked in a cautious tone.
And Kuronaga also repeated his answer just now:
"Matsuhira Gennai."
As if intending to convince Ogata that he heard correctly, Kuranaga paused and added:
"I hope you can help us work together to assassinate the Daimyo of Hirose Domain, that is, our lord - Matsudaira Gennai."
…
…
Hirose Domain, somewhere in a dense forest within the domain.
"I'm so unlucky today..."
A young man with a rather frighteningly pale face spoke in a calm and indifferent tone.
"At the end of the day, I didn't even kill a single prey."
The young man is sitting on a samurai.
The warrior put his hands and knees on the muddy ground, turning his back into a "chair."
And this pale young man sat on the warrior's back so carelessly.
Even though the warrior under his crotch was already sweating from exertion, and his hands and legs began to tremble slightly, the pale young man sitting on his back had no intention of understanding him.
The young man sat on the back of a samurai.
In front of him, warriors were kneeling one after another on both sides.
These warriors are the young man's bodyguards.
There are 113 people.
Every time he went out hunting, the young man would bring out his 113 guards to protect him while he hunted.
This young man is none other than Gennai Matsudaira, the current daimyo of Hirose Domain who came to hunt today.
After hearing Matsudaira Gennai's complaint about not being able to catch prey, many guards began to sweat thinly on their faces.
At the same time, they are also afraid that their already hung heads will be buried even lower.
This posture makes him want to shrink himself into the soil.
Because they have seen too many times the scene of Matsudaira Gennai venting his anger on others because of poor hunting...
In order not to be stared at by Matsudaira Gennai, they had to lower their heads as much as possible and shrink their bodies...
"...Lord."
A strong samurai who was also kneeling on the ground but closest to Matsudaira Gennai spoke up.
"It's getting dark now, so let's end today's hunting."
This sturdy samurai is none other than the first samurai of their Hirose Domain and the personal bodyguard of Gennai Matsudaira - Nanabahara.
At the same time, he is also one of the few people who can give some advice to Matsudaira Gennai.
Hearing Nanabahara's words, Matsudaira Gennai raised his head and looked at the sky that was almost dark.
"……Let's go back."
After saying that, Matsudaira Gennai stood up and walked towards the horse tied next to him.
Seeing that Gennai Matsudaira finally planned to go back, most of the guards - especially the one who served as a "chair" for Gennai Matsudaira - breathed a sigh of relief...
…
…
"Assassination...Matsuhira Gennai...?"
Ogata struggled to get every word of this sentence out of his mouth.
"...My lord, let me confirm - are you joking about what you just said?"
"I'm not kidding," Kurunaga said seriously, "I'm quite serious."
Due to the impact of the huge amount of information, Ogata now feels that his head is a little swollen.
When Ogata raised his hand to rub his forehead to soothe his brain that was a little tense due to the impact of the huge amount of information, Kuranagi said:
"Ogata-kun, although you don't have many opportunities to come into contact with my lord on weekdays, you should have heard of my lord's cruelty to some extent, right?"
"...I've heard a little about it. I've also seen it with my own eyes..."
Ogata's mind recalled the scene when Gennai Matsudaira was inspecting the warehouse and killed Gennai Matsudaira who accidentally bumped into his arms with a sword...
"Although you have heard about and occasionally witnessed the lord's cruelty, you have not yet experienced the lord's cruelty - I can guarantee this."
"In order to make it easier for me to explain to you the motivation behind my decision to assassinate the lord, I decided to let you... meet someone first."
After saying that, Kuronaga tilted his head and shouted outside the room:
"Flying Monkey!"
As soon as Kuranaga finished speaking, a short, unattractive young man opened the paper sliding door on Ogata's left side.
"Lord." The young man whom Kuranaga called Fei Saru knelt on the ground with one knee.
"Bring me Rigi."
"yes!"
After Tobiru responded loudly, he closed the paper sliding door he had just opened and disappeared from the sight of Ogata and Kuronaga.
Not long after, Fei Yuan came back.
The flying monkey who came back did not come back alone.