This "person" is now naked, and a maid is kneeling next to this "person", wiping his body.
To be honest - Ogata didn't know what words to use to refer to this terrifying creature in front of him.
If the creature in front of you can be said to be an object, its chest is still rising and falling rhythmically, proving that it is alive and not an inanimate dead thing.
But if you say it is a person... it is really... not quite like a person...
No hands.
No legs.
The dense scars occupy the entire cheek, making it difficult to see the original appearance of the face.
But Ogata reluctantly judged from the tough skin on her body that this "person" must be young, probably in her 20s.
There are no eyeballs, the two eye sockets are black and there is nothing.
She seemed to sense that someone was looking at her, so she slowly turned her head and aimed her eyeballs at Ogata.
His mouth opened as if he wanted to say something.
However - her mouth kept opening and closing, but Ogata couldn't hear even a single word from her mouth.
Through her open mouth, Ogata saw that there was nothing in her mouth.
No teeth or tongue.
"Well……!"
Ogata could no longer resist the strong nausea that surged from his stomach.
He raised his hand to cover his mouth, and then quickly escaped from the room as if running away.
After escaping from the room, Ogata directly held onto the wall closest to him and began to vomit crazily.
Kuronaga and Tobiru also silently left the room with Ogata.
When Kuronaga left the room, he did not forget to tell the maids in the room who were responsible for taking care of these poor women to continue their good work.
When Tobiru closed the paper sliding door of the room again, Kuronaga walked slowly to Ogata's side and patted Ogata's back gently, making Ogata, who was vomiting heavily, feel better.
"My lord...I'm sorry..."
After vomiting out everything in his stomach, Ogata wiped his mouth and apologized to Kuronaga beside him.
"I stained your floor..."
"It doesn't matter." Kuranagi said softly, "The floor is dirty, just let the servants clean it later."
"...My lord, are those people covered by quilts inside...all the poor women who were mutilated by Matsudaira Gennai?"
Kuronaga nodded.
After a moment of silence, Kurunaga sighed softly.
"I have always felt very embarrassed about how to take care of these poor girls..."
"I don't know if I want to continue entrusting the maids to take care of them as I am now."
"It's better... to send them on their way directly so that they can be relieved as soon as possible..."
"There were 23 of these poor women in the first place."
"But now...only the 18 people in the room are left."
"The other five people used the same method to commit suicide one after another after they were adopted by me and returned to my hometown."
"The same...method" Ogata said doubtfully.
"I choked on purpose when drinking water and choked myself to death."
"They have no hands or feet, no tongue or teeth."
"The eyes were gouged out and the ears were deafened."
"They cannot move and cannot tell outsiders what they are currently thinking. The only way they can commit suicide is to choke themselves to death by deliberately choking on water when drinking water..."
"I have always felt that...if these surviving girls could speak, they would beg me to kill them quickly so that they could be freed as soon as possible..."
Having said this, Kurunaga raised his head, closed his eyes, and sighed.
"What should I... do..."
…
…
Hirose Domain, Sakakihara Sword Hall——
At this time, the Sakakihara Kenkan no longer had the cheerful atmosphere it had before.
There was tension, panic, etc. in the air.
All the disciples of Sakakihara Kenkan were kneeling respectfully on the side of the dojo.
On the other side of the dojo - opposite to them, a large group of dark people were kneeling.
These people were all without exception - they had stern faces and swords on their waists.
A pale young man sat casually in front of these stern-faced people.
The pale young man was picking at the dust between his nails carelessly, as if he was waiting for something.
At this moment - an old figure flashed in from outside the dojo.
This old figure is none other than Sakakihara Hanbei, the owner of the Sakakihara Sword Hall.
Hanbei held a cup of steaming hot tea and walked slowly towards the pale young man.
"My lord, please have some tea."
This pale young man is none other than the lord of their Hirose Domain, Matsudaira Gennai.
About a moment before I burned the incense, Gennai Matsudaira suddenly led a large number of people into the Sakakibara sword hall.
After meeting the masters and disciples of the Sakakibara Sword Hall headed by Hanbei, Matsudaira Gennai said directly to Hanbei and others without any greetings: I want to drink tea, go and prepare it for me.
Naturally, Hanbei and the others did not dare to neglect Matsudaira Gennai's sudden arrival.
Quickly move the tables filled with food and drinks to make room for the people waiting in the Matsudaira courtyard to sit.
Hanbei also immediately rushed to the inner room of the sword hall to prepare the best tea in their sword hall for Matsudaira Gennai.
Usually, Hanbei occasionally invites his disciples who are practicing swordsmanship to drink tea, so some tea leaves and various tools for making tea are stored in the inner room of the sword hall.
After preparing the tea as quickly as he could, Hanbei hurriedly brought it out for Matsudaira Gennai to enjoy.
Looking at the cup of tea Hanbei brought out, Matsudaira Gennai said in a calm tone that was neither salty nor light:
"I thought I would be able to have tea immediately after arriving at this Broken Sword Hall, but it took me a long time - I still had to wait."
The term "Broken Sword Hall" sounded particularly harsh to Hanbei's ears.
But Hanbei still suppressed his inner discomfort and put a flattering smile on his face.
What Matsudaira Genchi said just now not only made Hanbei feel unhappy, but also made Hanbei feel panicked.
I don’t know what Matsudaira Gennai meant by what he just said.
Are you unhappy with his slowness?
Or does it mean nothing else?
Just when Hanbei felt uneasy about what Gennai Matsudaira said just now, Gennai Matsudaira picked up the tea in Hanbei's hand and handed it to a person next to him.
The young man immediately respectfully took the tea handed over by Matsudaira Gennai and took a sip.
After taking a sip and waiting for a while to confirm that the tea was not poisonous, the young man said respectfully to Matsudaira Gennai:
"My lord, the tea is not poisonous."
"Yes." After a soft response, Matsudaira Gennai picked up the tea cup and began to pour tea into his mouth in small sips.