I Was a Swordsman in Ancient Japan

Ogata followed closely behind A-Machi, and ran forward with A-Machi one behind the other.

It didn't take long for Xu to see the shadows of buildings beginning to appear in front of him.

"There really is a village..." Ogata muttered, "Machi, your eyesight is really good..."

"Of course. Good eyesight is also one of my proudest abilities...huh?"

A-Ming suddenly twitched her little nose, and then slowly frowned.

The person who also frowned, and Ogata who was walking beside her.

The two of them smelled a... strange smell almost at the same time.

"...It's the rotten smell of corpses." A-Ming's face darkened for a moment, and he raised his hand to cover his mouth and nose, "And...it seems to be coming from the village in front..."

"Look carefully..." Ogata on the side also said in a deep voice at this time, "There is no cooking smoke in this village... There is no smoke at all..."

"Ayi, here it is."

A-Machi took out two black handkerchiefs and handed one of them to Ogata.

"You can smell the rancid smell so far from the village... I can't imagine how stinky the village is. We'd better cover our mouths and noses with a piece of cloth."

"Thank you." Ogata took the handkerchief from A-Machi.

The handkerchief that A-Ming handed over was wide enough to cover his mouth and nose.

The two of them, who were well protected, slowly approached the village in front of them that was emitting a rotten smell...

As the distance to the village continued to get closer, Ogata slowly pulled out the sword from his waist to prepare for any eventuality.

And A-Machi also pulled out the wakizasa hanging from her lower back.

As the distance got closer, Ogata also gradually saw the whole picture of the village.

From the outside - it's just an ordinary village. It's neither too big nor too small.

However, the village looks ordinary on the outside.

The death-like silence, the lack of smoke and fire, flying flies everywhere, and blood stains everywhere... These scenes are intertwined and cast a strange atmosphere on the village.

Atachi, who was standing on the outskirts of the village with Ogata, said softly:

"There seems to be no one in this village..."

"...Go ahead and have a look." Ogata responded, "See if there are any villagers inside. If there are no villagers, then search this village to see if there is anything worth taking away, and look for this place by the way. Is there a well in this village. We both lack 2 things right now - medicine and drinking water."

"Okay." As Machi said, he tightened Wakizashi in his hand.

...

...

The two became horns of each other, and slowly stepped into this dead, smelly village.

The air in this village is filled with a suffocating stench.

Because the rancid smell was too strong, Ogata and A-Machi couldn't tell where the source of the smell was.

"This smell is really terrible..." Ah-Ming tightened the black handkerchief covering his mouth and nose, "I almost vomited because of the smell... And is it my illusion... Why do I feel like It's getting more and more stinky..."

"...No." Ogata, who has been silent since entering the village, said softly at this time, "It's not your illusion. It is indeed getting more and more stinky. And - I also discovered the reason why it is getting more and more stinky What is it?"

After saying that, Ogata pouted his chin in front of him and Tomachi.

Ah-machi looked forward.

I saw a person lying on his back on the muddy ground in front of the two of them.

No... To be precise, there is a corpse lying on its back.

Even though the distance was a little far, Ogata and A-Ming could clearly see that this corpse was already highly decomposed.

Countless flies danced and reveled on the corpse, and a lot of blood was splashed around the corpse.

"...Let's go." Ogata tightened the handkerchief on his face, "Let's go up and have a look."

"Hmm..." Ah-Ming nodded, "Let's go..."

After walking slowly to the side of the corpse, Ogata swung his knife towards the top of the corpse to drive away the clusters of flies hovering over the corpse.

While Ogata was driving away the flies, A-Machi bent down and began to observe the corpse.

"...It's been about 6 or 7 days since I died." A-Ming said in a deep voice, "Look, A-Yi, this man still has a sword on his waist...is he a samurai?"

"It should be." Ogata nodded in response, and pouted at the corpse's right palm, "His right palm has calluses that only a sword practicer would have, and from the size of the calluses, Judging from his thickness—this man is a very diligent swordsman.”

Machi continued to observe the corpse.

After a while, Ah Ding noticed a lot of strangeness on the corpse.

"Ayi, look quickly."

Machi pointed at the abdomen of the corpse.

Ogata looked in the direction that Machi's finger pointed.

I saw a very conspicuous scar on the abdomen of the corpse.

And this scar looks very much like... a bite mark.

Ogata carefully looked at the corpse several times, and found that this kind of bite marks were all over the corpse.

"This guy has bite marks all over his body..." Ogata muttered, "Did he get attacked by some beast?"

"No..." Ah Ding's expression became more serious, "A Yi, don't you think these bite marks look familiar?"

"Familiar...?" Ogata once again fixed his eyes on the bite marks on the corpse, and began to observe carefully.

After taking a closer look, Ogata found that—as Ah-cho said, the bite marks looked quite familiar...

——? !

Ogata's pupils shrank suddenly, and then a look of horror appeared on his face.

It is indeed as what Ah-Machi said—the bite mark is quite familiar...

Because all human beings can make such bite marks...

Ogata felt a bit of chill in his heart, and said in a deep voice:

"This guy... was bitten to death by humans?"

"It may also be an ape." A-Ming said softly, "The ape's teeth are very similar to our human teeth..."

"Is there such a vicious ape in the world...?" Ogata couldn't help muttering.

"On the contrary, I hope that this person was killed by a ferocious ape, not by a human... If he was killed by a human, it would be really terrible..."

After saying that, A-Machi straightened up.

"Ayi, let's stop here first to observe this corpse."

"This corpse is too corrupted, and the information that can be searched from it is too limited."

"And I can't stand the smell anymore..."

"Hmm..." Ogata nodded slightly, and then shifted his gaze to a thatched hut beside him.

"A corpse is just lying in the middle of the road, and no one has cleaned it up... It seems that no one lives in this village. Let's search every house in this village one by one to see if we can find it." Find something useful."

"okay."

Although the corpse at the two's feet had a sword on its waist, Ogata had no intention of taking his sword away.

Because—the knife in this man's waist was already full of corpses... For this disgusting knife, Ogata can be said to be very grateful...