Although Ogata never stopped the work at hand, he had been quietly listening to the chatter of these colleagues.
——My lord...Matsuhira Gennai...
Matsudaira Gennai—the current daimyo of the Hirose Domain and the lord of Ogata and the others.
Ogata was a samurai of the Hirose Domain.
As the daimyo of the Hirose Domain and the ruler of the Hirose Domain, Gennai Matsudaira is naturally the lord of Ogata and the others, the lord whom Ogata and the others must protect and support even at the risk of their lives.
Matsudaira Gennai is a young daimyo who is only 23 years old this year.
Although he is young, since he took over the mantle of his late father and became the new ruler of Hirose Domain 2 years ago, Matsudaira Gennai has shown his... countless cruel nature.
When Gennai Matsudaira's father was still alive, Gennai Matsudaira's cruel nature was somewhat restrained.
But after his father died and no one could tell him what to do, Matsudaira Gennai completely revealed his cruel side.
In just two years, he has committed countless absurd and cruel acts.
...
...
Ogata didn't pay much attention to the chat content of the colleagues just now.
After all - he is just a low-level samurai with an annual salary of only 50 dan.
Not in his position, not in charge of politics - this has always been Ogata's way of life.
Therefore, he didn't care what ridiculous things his lord did.
He is just a low-level samurai, so Ogata doesn't need to worry about this kind of thing at all.
Ogata just wants to continue doing his job well.
It's up to the big shots to find a solution to the problem of the Lord's cruelty.
...
...
The sky started to turn a little yellow.
Dusk has come.
Since dusk has come, it means that Ogata and the others can get off work.
After quickly packing up everything on the desk and saying hello to his colleagues who were still slowly arranging the desk, Origon left quickly.
He hurried to Sakakibara Sword Hall.
Every day after get off work, he goes to the Sakakihara Kenkan to practice swordsmanship - this is what Ogata must do every day.
Ogata is not very familiar with the system in his mind.
Therefore - Ogata has quietly made plans to use his fellow apprentices as "experimental subjects" in the Sakakibara Sword Hall to test the system's functions bit by bit.
Holding the two sabers on his left waist, Ogata quickly ran to the Sakakihara Kenkan.
Currently, there are not many people coming to practice swordsmanship in the sword hall.
These are the only people who are not close to Ogata.
Seeing that no acquaintance was present, Ogata was a little disappointed.
But he quickly cheered up.
Although no acquaintances were present, Ogata had an experiment that could be carried out even without acquaintances to accompany him.
After putting away his sword and randomly choosing a wooden sword, Ogata walked slowly to a corner of the sword hall.
He took his lower stance facing the air in front of him.
After adjusting his breathing, he shouted loudly.
Following the loud shout he made, Ogata performed the only upward attack technique in Sakakibara's Ittōryu - climbing the stairs.
Climbing the stairs - the only upward move in Sakakibara's Itto-ryu.
There are a total of 4 sword skills in Sakakihara's Ichitō style.
They are——
Thrusting technique - Bird Thorn.
The lower splitting technique - water drop.
Horizontal Slashing Technique——Dragon Tail.
Challenging skills - climbing stairs.
There are no fancy secret techniques.
There are only these 4 sword skills that are simple and unpretentious, but extremely practical.
Climbing stairs is the sword skill that Ogata is least good at.
What he is best at is water falling, followed by bird thorns, thirdly dragon tails, and what he is least good at is climbing stairs.
As he faced the air in front of him and climbed the stairs, Ogata clearly felt a sense of disharmony in his body.
This is proof of lack of proficiency in sword skills.
"You need to practice more..."
After murmuring at a volume that only he could hear clearly, Ogata moved his muscles and bones, and then continued to practice the Sakakihara Ittōryu swordsmanship in the air in front of him.
…
…
"Hey, look."
"Ogata-kun is so serious today..."
"Yes, I think he has been practicing alone for a long time..."
"Okay, Ogata-kun is so serious, so as a senior brother, I can't slack off."
…
After entering the sword hall, Oubon practiced frantically on his own, attracting the attention of his brothers in the sword hall.
While everyone praised Ogata for his diligence, they were also inspired by Ogata's diligence and began to practice their swordsmanship in a more serious manner.
…
…
After facing the air in front of him and climbing the stairs for an unknown number of times, Ogata paused and raised his hand to wipe the beads of sweat that were about to drip down his chin.
At this moment, a familiar system prompt sounded in my mind:
[Ding! Practice "Sakakibara Ittō-ryu" hard and gain 10 swordsmanship "Sakakibara Ittō-ryu" experience points]
[Sakakihara Itto-ryu Level: 4th Dan (30/700)]
After the reminder sound in his mind fell, Ogata's face showed uncontrollable joy.
He muttered in a low voice:
"Succeeded..."
The reason why Ogata was practicing swordsmanship alone just now was to conduct an experiment.
Let's experiment - can I gain experience points by practicing swordsmanship on my own without defeating or killing others?
And now, the experimental results are out - it's absolutely possible.
It's just...the efficiency is really too low.
Ogata swung the sword until he was sweating profusely and his hands were almost weak, and then he gained 10 points of Sakakibara Itto-ryu experience.
Moreover, only swordsmanship experience points are added, and personal level experience points are not added.
Calculating it this way, it is not cost-effective to upgrade your personal level and sword skill level by practicing alone.
——If you want to level up quickly, you really have to compete with others in sword competition...
Ogata said this to himself in his mind, wiping sweat from his clothes and adjusting his breathing.
At this moment - a very familiar male voice to Ogata sounded from behind him:
"Ogata-senpai, good evening."
The person who spoke was the person with the best relationship with Ogata in the entire Sakakibara Sword Hall—Ogata's junior brother Makino Bunshiro.
"Makino." Ogata responded with a smile, "Good evening to you too. You came very late today."
"Alas." Makino smiled helplessly, "I was delayed due to some things on the way."
"In that case, don't waste time, come and compete with me."
"Oh?" Makino raised his eyebrows, "Ogata-senpai is so full of fighting spirit today. Okay, please wait for me while I go get the wooden sword."
…
…
Ogata held a mid-range stance, and Makino also held a mid-range stance.
Both of them stared at each other.
Although Ogata is much stronger than Makino in terms of swordsmanship, he is not strong enough to crush Makino.
If you are careless for a moment, you may be defeated by Makino.
After this confrontation for an unknown amount of time, Makino took the lead and shouted loudly, then used the Dragon Tail of the Sakakihara Itto style, and swiped the tip of the sword towards the back of Ogata's right hand.
But Ogata took half a step back with great agility, dodging Makino's sword.
After dodging Makino's sword, he stepped forward and closed the distance between the two again.
While closing the distance between the two, Ogata raised the wooden sword high, and then slashed it downwards - Sakakihara's sword flow·water fell.
The wooden sword blade stopped just one finger away from the tip of Makino's nose.