I Was a Swordsman in Ancient Japan

"I was a swordsman in ancient Japan ()"

"How? Feeling a little better?"

"Well, it's better... Ayi, thank you..."

There are 2 rooms in the cabin of this sailboat.

One of the two rooms is larger and the other is smaller.

The smaller room was for the only two women in their party, that is, Ah Ding and Lin.

As for Ogata and the others, they all went to squeeze into another slightly larger room.

Although there are slightly more people, Ogata and the others can still live in the slightly larger room if they squeeze together.

Because of seasickness, Ah Ding and Lin spent most of the day sleeping in their room.

It's day 5 of sailing now.

Maybe it's because the body has gotten used to the rough sea a little bit, the bodies of Ah Ding and Lin are much better now, and they are no longer as uncomfortable as they were at the beginning, so that they couldn't even stand up.

But the bodies of the two of them have only improved a little bit.

They still have to spend most of their day in bed.

At this moment, Ogata was kneeling and sitting behind A-Ming's head, resting A-Ming's head on his lap, massaging A-Ming's head.

When he was still on the modern Earth, Ogata had learned some massage techniques that were effective in relieving dizziness and headaches.

And this massage technique just came in handy now.

Under Ogata's massage, A-Machi's expression, which was originally tense due to discomfort, eased a little.

Just as Ogata was concentrating on massaging Ah-Ming, Lin suddenly murmured from beside him:

"I actually get seasick too...it's too embarrassing...uh...so disgusting..."

Lin, who used to be stubborn and refused to admit that she was seasick, now finally admitted that the reason why she felt dizzy and nauseous was because of seasickness.

Although Lin and A-cho are both prone to seasickness, Lin's physical condition is much better than that of A-cho.

Without the help of others, A-Ming couldn't even stand up straight, but Lin could barely stand up with her own strength.

Probably because Lin's body is much stronger than that of Machi.

As soon as Lin murmured, Gamiya, who was kneeling above her head, comforted Lin in a helpless tone:

"My lord, some people are more prone to seasickness than others. Just like some people are more prone to spicy food than others. It's all natural."

It's like Ogata kneeling on the head of the bed, letting A-Ming pillow his leg, and giving A-Ming a head massage. At this time, Jian Gong was also kneeling on the head of the bed, giving Lin a head massage.

The only difference is that Lin didn't rest her head on Gamiya's lap.

When Ogata first used this head massage on A-Machi, Mamiya was very interested in Ogata's massage method, which can effectively relieve dizziness and headache.

Mamiya directly asked Ogata to teach him this massage method.

This was not an embarrassing request, so Ogata readily agreed to Mamiya's request.

Ogata remembered it clearly—the first time he used this massage method to relieve A-Ming's dizziness was the first night when he went to sea.

It was also that night that Mamiya asked Ogata to teach him this massage method.

Then after Ogata taught Gamiya the massage method that night, on the next morning, Gamiya was able to massage Lin with a much more skillful technique than Ogata...

"By the way... I heard that Katsurokuro also suffered from dizziness last night..."

Lin opened her eyes slightly at this time, looking at Gamiya behind her head.

"Is he all right?"

"Shimada is fine." Ogata replied on behalf of Mamiya, "I just feel a little dizzy. He is sleeping in his room now."

Last night, Shimada, who had never gone out to sea on this kind of sailboat, also suffered from seasickness.

However, Shimada's symptoms were much milder, just a little dizzy, and he didn't vomit like Acho and Lin.

It's hard to even stay sane.

...

...

After Ogata's massage, Machi felt much better and fell asleep again.

In order not to interfere with A-Ming's rest, after A-Ming fell asleep, Ooyo tiptoed out of the room and went up to the deck. Rumamiya continued to massage Lin in the room alone.

As soon as he came to the deck, Ogata saw Genichi who was squatting at the end of the bed drinking "Oolong tea" leisurely, and Makimura and Asai who were sitting side by side at the head of the bed.

Seeing Ogata coming out of the cabin, Mucun immediately turned his head and asked Ogata:

"Brother Ogata, how are your lord and Ms. Atachi?"

"Both of them are asleep." Ogata said as he walked towards the bow of the boat where Mucun and Asai were, and then sat cross-legged beside them.

The three sitting side by side on the bow looked at the sea in front of them.

Under the bright sky, one wave after another came continuously, the splashing waves shone with thousands of dots of silver light, and the endless vast sea was rippling with countless bright water waves like mercury.

"...It's free." Mu Cun said abruptly.

As soon as Mucun's words fell, Ogata and Asai beside him raised their heads to show their agreement.

The sailboat they were on was not a big ship, and there was not enough space for Ogata and the others to find someone to compete with and practice swords. Ogata couldn't get experience even if he wanted to.

At the same time, because of the small space, there are not many things they can do.

The most common way they pass the time these days is to get together to chat, or go to Yuan Yi for a few drinks.

Minamoto almost didn't have any luggage, so he brought a bunch of wine.

After boarding the boat, Yuan Yi stayed at the stern for nearly half of the day.

While drinking wine, while bathing in the sea breeze, it is very pleasant.

"Do you want to go swimming?" Mucun asked.

"No, there is no place to take a bath here, I don't want to get dirty sea water all over my body." Asai shook his head.

"And the waves here are high, not a good place for swimming." Ogata added.

"That's right." Mucun nodded.

"By the way, where is Gamiya?" Asai turned his head and looked back, looking for Gamiya's figure, "Why didn't you see Gamiya?"

"He's giving Miss Kinoshita a massage in his room right now," Ogata said.

Having said that, Ogata paused.

Then with a complicated expression, he said quietly:

"Gamiya's ability to learn is really strong... Now if you invite any outsider to see me and Jiangong's massage techniques, they will definitely think that I am the apprentice, and Jiangong is the master..."

"Gamiya's learning ability is very strong, and his comprehension is extremely high." Asai turned his gaze away from looking for Mamiya's figure, "No matter what he learns, he quickly masters it, which is why he has so many skills. "

"...Speaking of which—I've always been curious."

Ogata, whose gaze was still fixed on the sea in front of him, suddenly asked Asai.

"Asai, I can understand that you use honorifics for Ms. Kinoshita and Mr. Genichi, but why do you use honorifics when you face Mamiya? Is it because he is the old man of your gourd house? ?”

"It's not because Mamiya is an old man in our gourd house that I use honorifics to him."

Perhaps it was because he was really busy right now, and Asai, who was usually taciturn, introduced to Ogata in quite detailed terms the reason why he used honorifics to Gamiya.

"I only respect those who are better at swordsmanship than me."

"In terms of swordsmanship, in the entire gourd house, only the lord, Mr. Yuan, and Mamiya can easily defeat me."

"I admire Gamiya's superb swordsmanship and many skills, so I respect him very much, so I will say honorific words to him, it's as simple as that."

After hearing the words "he has so many skills" from Asai's mouth, Ogata smiled knowingly.

"What did Mamiya do before?" Ogata asked casually, "It seems that he has been to many places...was he also a wandering wanderer before?"

The voice of Ogata's question fell.

Mucun and Asai fell into a long silence.

The somewhat too long silence between the two made Ogata frowned slightly involuntarily.

Just when Ogata was about to ask why the two were silent suddenly, Mucun suddenly said in a deep voice:

"……have no idea."

"...huh?" Ogata tilted his head.

Asai continued Mucun's words and said:

"Except that the lord may know what Jian Gong used to do, none of us know where and what Jian Gong was doing before he joined the Calabash House."

"We have also asked Gamiya himself this question, but Gamiya always perfunctory and fooled this question, and never answered our question directly."

"When I asked the lord, the lord kept secret about the past of the palace."

"Don't say it's Mamiya's past." Just as Asai finished speaking, Mucun shrugged, "We don't even know where Mamiya came from, what kind of swordsmanship he used, and how strong he is."

"Gamiya doesn't have any accent when he speaks, and he can't even tell where he is from based on his accent, and he never says where he is from."

"Not only does Mamiya never talk about his past, he never reveals what kind of swordsmanship he uses."

"All we know is that Gamiya is very good at drawing swords."

"From the time I joined the Gourd House to now, I have never seen Gamiya go all out... Ah, no, or I have never seen any enemy successfully force out Gamiya's full power."

"The few of us have never seen Gamiya go all out against the enemy."

Ogata has been quietly listening to the big words of the two.

After hearing Mucun's words, Ogata suddenly realized that he himself didn't seem to have seen Gamiya go all out to fight against the enemy.

In every Gamiya battle that Ogata has witnessed so far, Gamiya has always looked calm and composed.

Even when the battle was fought in the narrow corridor with the elite of the shogunate army on Butterfly Island, after the battle, Mamiya was still in a state of ease, and there were almost no injuries left on his body.

"...I guess the work Mamiya did before he followed the lord and joined the gourd house was definitely not a very glorious job... Mamiya's previous work may be related to murder." Asai said suddenly and coldly .

"It's related to murder?" Ogata cast a puzzled look at Asai, "Why do you say that?"

"Asai, are you going to tell Brother Ogata the old story of 'the old monk was paralyzed by fright'?" Mucun asked with a touch of helplessness in his rhetorical question.

"This story is not a secret, everyone in our Calabash House knows it." Asai said, "It's okay to tell Yidao Zhai."

"Did anything happen to Gamiya before that made you suspect that the work he did before was related to murder?" Ogata asked Asai.

"This happened a long time ago." Asai said in a low voice, "One time, Mamiya and I went out of town due to some things and passed a temple."

"There lived a very old monk in that temple."

"It was night, and Jiangong and I planned to spend the night in this temple."

"I was the one who went to negotiate with the old monk if he could borrow a corner in the temple for us to rest for a night."

"The old monk was very talkative, and after I made this request for staying overnight, he readily agreed."

"However... I led Jiangong who was waiting outside the temple into the temple. After the old monk saw Jiangong... the old monk's expression at that time is really hard to describe in words."

"There was no blood on his face, and he was so frightened that he sat on the ground directly... In short, he looked like he saw a ghost."

"The old monk sat slumped on the ground, backed up on his hands and feet, away from the palace, and yelled something like 'I have never seen such a serious murderer'."

"No matter what you say, you will not leave a palace in the temple."

"We have no choice but to leave that temple."

"When leaving that temple, the old monk also advised Jiangong to study Buddhism and do good deeds for the rest of his life, so as to wash away the pent-up murder and the resentment of the dead."

"It was also at that time that I began to suspect that what Gamiya did before, maybe it wasn't a very glorious job..."

"If the work that Mamiya did before was really related to murder...then the number of people he killed before must be quite a lot..."

"The murder on his body is so severe that it can make a monk paralyzed to the ground... How many people have to be killed..."

As soon as Asai finished speaking, Mucun chuckled a few times:

"The monk may be talking nonsense."

"These monks like to talk nonsense."

"When I was in Kyoto before, I met a monk who said that I have a noble minister, and I will definitely become a big man like Toyotomi Hideyoshi in the future."

As soon as Mucun finished speaking, Asai shook his head:

"You were not there at the time, and you did not see the monk's appearance and expression at that time."

"If you were there at that time and saw how frightening the monk's face was, you wouldn't feel that the monk was talking nonsense." Asai said solemnly.

"Master Gen, don't you know what Mamiya used to do?" Ogata asked.

"Well, I don't know."

As soon as Ogata's words fell, Genichi's voice came from the stern of the boat.

Ogata, Mucun, and Asai all turned their heads to look at Genichi who had been sitting at the stern drinking "oolong tea".

"Master Yuan." Mu Cun said, "So you have been listening to our conversation just now."

"Although I am not young, my ears can still work. And this boat is not so big that the sound from the bow cannot be heard from the stern."

After raising the wine glass in his hand and taking another sip of "oolong tea", Yuan Yi said slowly:

"I've never been very interested in other people's past, so I never asked Gamiya what he did before he joined Calabash House."

"Only Xiaolin knows about the past of the palace."

"but--"

Speaking of this, several meaningful lights flashed in Yuan Yi's eyes.

"Although I don't know Gamiya's past. But I can roughly guess what Gamiya's previous occupation might be from the swordsmanship used by Gamiya."

"Is there any problem with the sword technique used by Mamiya?" Asai, who had always been expressionless, also had a bit of curiosity flashing in his eyes at this moment.

"You young people don't have enough experience, so you can't see any difference between the swordsmanship used by Gamiya and ordinary swordsmanship."

"The swordsmanship used by Jian Gong uses the words 'fast', 'accurate' and 'ruthless' to the extreme."

"Furthermore, when Gamiya slashes people with his sword, he always subconsciously slashes at some special parts of the human body."

"In the whole world... There is a certain kind of person who is best at using this type of swordsmanship..."

"What kind of person?" Mucun asked anxiously.

"Well... I won't tell you guys." Yuan Yi shrugged, "Whether Mamiya was that kind of person before, I'm just guessing. I'm not sure myself."

"Besides, since Jiangong never told you what he used to do, Xiaolin also keeps secrets about Jiangong's past. It means that Jiangong doesn't want his companions to know his past."

"So we respect Jian Gong's choice, and don't inquire about Jian Gong's past."

After all, Yuanyi took another sip of the "oolong tea" in the cup.

"... Gen-sama is right." Asai sighed softly, "Since Mamiya doesn't want to talk about his past, then we won't ask any more questions, let's stop this topic... let's chat Something more interesting."

Both Ogata and Mucun nodded in agreement.

The three turned their eyes to the sea ahead again.

Looking at the sea, after a long silence——

"Do you want to go swimming?" Mucun asked.

"No, there is no place to take a bath here, I don't want to get dirty sea water all over my body." Asai shook his head.

"And the waves here are high, not a good place for swimming." Ogata added.

"That's right." Mucun nodded.

"Why does this conversation feel so familiar..." Ogata murmured with a few black lines on his face.