I Was a Swordsman in Ancient Japan

"I was a swordsman in ancient Japan ()"

"I'm sorry... you guys go to dinner... I won't go... Just buy me something to eat when you get back..." A-Machi, who was lying on the bed, said to Ogata in a weak tone .

At this moment, Ogata and the others were in a decent hotel.

According to Ogata's estimation, it should be around 19 o'clock in the evening.

The group of them hadn't had dinner yet. The original plan was to find a hotel to stay first, and then go to eat something casually.

It's just that judging from the current situation, their plan has to make some small changes.

Even after leaving the sea and landing on land for a long time, Ah-cho's seasickness symptoms still linger.

Still feeling a little uncomfortable, she didn't have the strength and mood to go out to eat again, she just wanted to lie down and rest.

It's not just A-cho, Lin is also like this. Still feeling dizzy and nauseous, Lin just wanted to lie down and rest in the hotel.

Seeing that neither of them had the strength to go out again, Ogata and the others could only let the two of them stay in the hotel to rest, and the men went out to eat something casually, and then brought some food back to Ah Ding and Lin.

"Then I'll go and come back." Ogata said to A-Ming who was lying in the quilt, "Go to bed first."

"Hmm... um... why do I still feel so sick after being on land for so long..."

"You should have a good sleep first. After a good night's sleep, you should be better tomorrow."

"Understood... you go quickly..."

"Is there anything you want to eat?"

"...something sweet."

"Well. I'll be back soon."

After finishing speaking, Ogata picked up the Dashiten placed on the tatami beside him, and walked out of the room.

A similar scene was also staged in the next room.

The next room is Lynn's room.

At this moment, there are only two people in Lin's room—Lin herself and Jian Gong.

Mamiya was kneeling and sitting next to Lin's quilt at this time, and said seriously to Lin who was lying in the quilt with her eyes closed:

"My lord, we'll go back as soon as we go, do you have anything to eat?"

"... something cool."

"I see, we'll be back soon."

After finishing speaking, Mamiya picked up his saber, got up, and walked out of the room.

However——just when Jiangong was only about 2 steps away from the door, he was suddenly stopped by Lin.

"... Kuro."

"What's the matter?" Seeing Lin calling him, Jian Gong stopped and turned to look at Lin behind him.

Lin, whose complexion was still not very good-looking, raised her hand to caress her face.

"...Is this camouflage on your face...reliable? Can those in your family not recognize you?"

Hearing Lin's question, Jian Gong pursed his lips.

After raising his hand and touching his face, Mamiya said softly:

"...It has been 4 years since I left my family and joined Calabash House."

"After such a long time, my appearance has changed a lot compared to before."

"Plus I have painted my face black like this now, those people in my family should not recognize me."

Speaking of this, Mamiya paused, as if he was sorting out his words.

After a long pause, Mamiya continued in a somewhat joking tone:

"Besides—my lord, you know that our family has never been welcomed by Edo people."

"Because people are not popular, those people in my family have always lived in seclusion, so the probability of me meeting them on the road is quite low."

"Compared to meeting those people in my family, the chances of being recognized by the officials as 'Liu Guang Hachiman' Mamiya Kuro are higher."

Lin slightly widened her half-open eyes.

After staring straight at Kuro for a while——

"...Kuro. Have you ever thought about going back to your family?"

"I never thought about it." Mamiya said in a firm tone without thinking, "I already... don't want to work for the Tokugawa Shogunate anymore.

"

Hearing Mamiya's answer, a faint smile appeared on Lin's face.

After closing her half-opened eyes tightly again, Lin went on to say:

"Remember to come back early and don't buy that kind of hot food."

"Yes." Gamiya smiled, "We'll go back as soon as we go."

...

...

The only people who go out to eat are Ogata and his group of men.

After standing at the door of the hotel for quite a while, finally came Jiangong who came belatedly.

"Sorry, everyone." Mamiya smiled, "I kept you waiting for so long."

"It didn't take long." Ogata smiled, "Let's go, let's go and find some restaurants that smell good."

A group of people walked together towards the downtown not far from here.

When heading towards the busy city at a neither fast nor slow speed, Ogata raised his finger and pointed to his eyes, and asked Mamiya beside him:

"Gamiya, can you really move normally without wearing glasses?"

Mamiya does not have a human skin mask that can be used for facial camouflage like Ogata.

So the camouflage he made was quite simple and rough-he took off his glasses, and then used mud to smear his face, hair, and clothes dirty.

From the outside, he was just a dirty, down-and-out wanderer that no one would take a second look at.

"My eyesight is indeed not as good as that of ordinary people, but it's not so bad that I can't do anything after taking off my glasses. So whether I wear glasses or not, it won't affect my actions."

"Actually, you just need to wipe your face dirty?" Shimada took up the conversation, "Is it necessary to take off the glasses?"

"Shimada, you don't understand this, do you?"

A strange smile appeared on Mamiya's face.

"The biggest feature of the portrait drawn by the shogunate on my arrest warrant is wearing a pair of glasses."

"In fact, many officials of the shogunate recognized me as Mamiya Kuro through my glasses."

"So as long as you take off your glasses, it is tantamount to taking away this biggest feature, and it will not be so easy for the officials of the shogunate to recognize him as 'Liuguang Hachiman' Mamiya Kurō."

"Hey! You bastard! What kind of eyes do you have?!"

As soon as Jiangong finished speaking, a loud shout from not far away suddenly attracted everyone's attention.

Ogata is taller than most people in this era, so he can see what happened just by turning his head.

"Master Ogata! What happened over there?" Shimada, who is only 1.57 meters tall, couldn't see what happened to the source of the sound due to his vision, so he could only ask Ogata.

"It's nothing." Ogata said softly, "It's just a 'sheath'."

The samurai sword is known as the soul of the samurai. In the eyes of most samurai, the sword at the waist is more important than life.

So there will always be murders related to knives.

All samurai wear their swords on their left waists. When walking on a narrow street, when they pass by others, it is inevitable that they will touch other people's swords, or others will touch their own swords.

Some people with a hot temper and some problems in their heads may go to war on the grounds of "you touched my knife, you stained my knife".

Over time, the term "sheath" was born in the Edo period.

Over time, the meaning of "sheath" has been expanded.

Now, sheath can be used to describe: quarreling over little things and jealousy among men.

The one who yelled just now was a middle-aged samurai with a rough appearance and a rather scruffy appearance.

This "rough warrior" was glaring at a young warrior with a neatly shaved Tsukidai head in front of him.

The shout of "Rough Warrior" not only attracted the attention of Ogata and the others, but also the attention of the people around them.

Those passers-by who happened to be standing around the "rough warrior" and the "Tsukidai warrior" hurried to the two sides to make room for only the two warriors, and then looked at the two warriors with fear or excitement. Samurai.

After the "rough warrior" roared, the "Tsukidai head warrior" frowned slightly:

"I've said it all—you're just being paranoid. I didn't look at you just now."

"Stop sophistry!" The rough samurai's voice was so loud that Ogata, who was not far away, felt a little eardrum pain, "You were looking at me with disdain just now!"

Just when Ogata was watching the conflict between the two samurai intently, Asai on the side said abruptly:

"That rough-looking guy speaks with an accent from Kyushu. He must be a wanderer who wandered here from Kyushu."

Asai was originally from the Satsuma domain of Kyushu, so he could tell that the rough-looking guy was from Kyushu just like him.

"Humph."

"Samurai Moon Generation" let out a sneer.

"I've said it all—it's your overthinking!"

No matter who was present, one could definitely see that the smell of gunpowder between the two samurai was extremely heavy, and it belonged to a state where no one would find it strange even if the two of them pulled out their knives and slashed at each other in the next second.

"Hey!"

At this moment, there was another loud shout.

"2 people over there! What are you doing?!"

The loud shout came from a group of officials who were running towards the two warriors with their hands pinned to their waists.

Watching this group of observers, the faces of the "rough warrior" and "Yuedai head warrior" changed, and then quickly spread their feet and fled to a place far away from the gang of officials.

That gang of officials didn't go after the two warriors either, and after driving away the two warriors who had almost caused trouble, the gang of officials withdrew and returned.

Shimada, who was born in Edo, said softly as he watched off the group of officials who were leaving the team:

"Where's Tsujiban's official post..."

In ancient Japan, there has always been the bad habit of taking people to test knives.

Some samurai with psychological or mental problems always like to ambush people at the intersection in the middle of the night to try their swords.

People call this evil act of ambushing people at intersections in the middle of the night to try their swords "Tsuji-Zan".

After Tokugawa Ieyasu ended the Warring States Period and established the Edo Shogunate, he explicitly banned "Tsuji Zan".

Afterwards, a public security agency established by samurai to prevent Tsuji-Zhan crimes—that is, "Tsuji Ban" was born.

To put it simply, it is a sentry post specially set up at each intersection.

The officials of Tsujiban are usually not only responsible for monitoring whether the samurai with brain problems take live people to test the knife, but also responsible for maintaining the law and order in the area they are in charge of.

Like the situation where two samurai almost drew their swords and fought in the street just now, the officials of Tsujiban had to intervene.

After Tsujiban's officials drove the two samurai away, the surrounding atmosphere returned to tranquility.

The flow of people on the street resumed its natural flow, and everything returned to the situation before a stick of incense.

"Unexpectedly, there will be a situation in Edo where 'the samurai are about to fight in the street for no reason'." Mu Cun smiled and summed up the scene just now.

"Of course." Ogata said lightly, "There are as many samurai with regular jobs and idle ronin in Edo as there are crucian carp crossing the river, and the probability of conflict breaking out must be much higher than in other places. gone."

Where there are more wanderers, all kinds of chaos are more likely to break out-this should be regarded as one of the laws of this era.

Ronin, to put it harshly, is a group of people who have nothing to do and don't have a serious job at hand, but they value honor very much, and they have weapons on hand.

There are only a handful of ronin like Ogata who are extremely rich, and the vast majority of ronin don't even have what to eat tomorrow.

"Value honor" was the core value of the samurai class in the Edo period.

In the case of extremely poor material life, those ronin often have extremely paranoid pursuit of their spiritual life.

Because only in this way can they bring some spiritual comfort.

So it often happens that some ronin pay more attention to honor than samurai with regular jobs. to a morbid degree.

The conflict that broke out between the two warriors just now is a good example.

"Let's go." Yuan said, "Hurry up and finish the dinner. Xiaolin and Miss Atachi are still waiting for us to send the dinner back."

Ogata nodded, and when he was about to follow the rest of the people to find a restaurant, the conversation between the two women next to him drew Ogata's attention.

"It's disgusting...why do you always feel that the law and order in Edo is getting worse and worse recently? Just now is the third time I've seen samurai on the street making trouble today."

"It's really scary... It must be because there are too many country warriors flocking to Edo recently! If there are more country bumpkins, the law and order will definitely deteriorate!"

"Why have there been so many country bumpkins flooding into Edo Castle recently..."

"Oh...it's not because of that...forget it, don't talk about it on the street, let's talk slowly after we get home."

Ogata quietly eavesdropped on the conversation between the two women.

"Brother Ogata, what are you doing?" After noticing that Ogata was still standing there and not following up, Mucun stopped, turned around and cast a puzzled look at Ogata.

"It's nothing..." Seeing that the two women had also interrupted their conversation, Xu Fang also withdrew his attention, and quickly followed up with the people who had already pulled a short distance away from him.

...

...

Ogata and the others didn't have much pursuit of food, and Lin and Atachi were still waiting for them to bring their dinner back at the hotel, so they directly found a buckwheat restaurant closest to the hotel where they lived. noodle shop.

Judging from the decoration of the storefront, the buckwheat shop is very close to the people, even ordinary people can eat it.

After entering the store, it was indeed the case. There were warriors like Ogata and the others, but most of them were civilians wearing various clothes.

Ogata and the others were very lucky, there was just one empty table left in the store, and this empty table was just enough for the six of them to sit.

Everyone held their sabers in their right hands and entered the store. After sitting down at this table, everyone turned their attention to the menu hanging on the wall next to it.

"Buckwheat noodles, 16 coins. Imperial food steamer, 48 coins. Tempura buckwheat, 32 coins. Egg-wrapped buckwheat, 32 coins..." Mucun quickly announced the names of the dishes written on the menu.

The menu is also very carefully written, and there is a line of small characters at the back of each noodle to mark the characteristics of this noodle.

For example—there is a sentence "big bowl of soba noodles" behind the big steamer.

This store not only sells noodles but also sells wine. At the end of the menu, it is marked "1 of the best wines for 40 Wen".

1 go in the Edo period is approximately equal to 180 ml of the modern earth.

I just don't know how good the "good wine" in the mouth of this store is.

Seeing that this store sells wine, Yuan Yi grinned: "Let's buy some wine and drink."

No one objected to Yuan Yi's proposal.

After quickly ordering the noodles they wanted, Mucun sighed with emotion in a low voice:

"It's really cheap... so soba noodles in Edo are so cheap..."

"Soba noodles are one of the specialties of our Edo." Shimada said with a smile, "Because soba noodles are very suitable for our Edo people's appetite, and because they are easy to make, common people can afford it, so the soba noodle shop It can be said that the whole of Edo is full of flowers. By the way, do you know the origin of the soba noodle's nickname "Nihachi Soba"?"

Anyway, the process of serving the noodles was quite boring. Seeing that Shimada brought up a topic, Ogata and the others were also willing to chat.

"I've heard of the nickname 'Erba Buckwheat'." Ogata said, "I remember it because buckwheat noodles usually sell for 16 vin? Because ordinary soba noodles usually sell for 16 vin, so people call it Soba noodles are 'Erba Buckwheat'."

"This is actually just one of the sayings." Mamiya interjected with a smile. "Actually, this statement is not very accurate. As far as I know-the soba noodles in Edo have not always been sold for 16 coins a bowl."

"Senior Mamiya is right." Shimada nodded, "That's just one of the sayings."

"I don't really agree with that statement either."

"Because the price of soba noodles is actually changing all the time."

"The most expensive bowl of soba noodles I've ever eaten in Edo costs as much as 20 ken."

"The most mainstream theory is that buckwheat noodles contain 20% wheat flour and 80% buckwheat flour, so they are called '28 buckwheat'..."

Shimadamoto introduced soba noodles seriously.

And Ogata and the others were also listening carefully.

But at this moment——

"Bastard! How long do I have to wait?!"

An untimely shout resounded throughout the soba shop.

This yell made the noisy shop instantly become audible.

Everyone—including Ogata and the others followed the sound and turned their eyes away.

He is a tall and majestic samurai with a full beard and fleshy face.

This samurai should be about 25 years old and tall. Although he is sitting cross-legged, according to Ogata's visual inspection, his height should be about 1.75 meters.

He was alone at the table, so he should have come here for dinner alone.

His cheeks were a little red, probably from drinking some wine.

Both his body and his clothes were dirty, his feet without socks were covered with mud, and the hair on his head was even more messy. I don't know how long he hasn't taken care of his hair.

This kind of samurai with a dirty appearance is basically a ronin.

The yelling just now had a very strong accent in it, and it is basically certain that this guy is also a ronin who wandered to Edo from nowhere.

After uttering that angry shout, the warrior swung his hand and swept the chopstick holder containing the chopsticks on the table to the ground, and the chopsticks rolled all over the floor.

The sudden action of the warrior scared many people present.

While many people were looking at this majestic samurai with terrified eyes, the soba noodle shop's female middle school—that is, the waitress walked towards the samurai with a trembling look.

There is only one waiter in this soba noodle shop. The owner of the shop is probably cooking noodles seriously in the kitchen at the back, so he didn't hear any movement here, so at this moment, this female high school girl can only go forward to deal with the "" The mighty warrior".

After the female middle school leaned over, the "Majestic Warrior" shouted at the female middle school with a louder voice:

"Why haven't my noodles been served yet! It's just a bowl of soba noodles, does it take so long?!"

"Ten, I'm very sorry..." The female middle school seemed to lack experience in dealing with such situations, and explained to the "Majestic Warrior" with a slightly trembling voice, "There are more guests now, please wait patiently In a moment, we will speed up."

Although the female middle school has tried its best to appease the "majestic warrior", it seems that the "majestic warrior" still does not intend to let the female middle school go so simply, and still faces the "majestic warrior" with an aggressive look. Famous women said all kinds of ugly things.

Until now, the shop owner who was concentrating on cooking noodles in the kitchen - a middle-aged man about 40 years old finally noticed the strangeness in the shop and stepped out of the kitchen.

After realizing what was going on, the shop owner rushed to support the girls in their shop.

However, the shopkeeper's support did not play any role.

It just changed the situation from the "majestic samurai" saying nasty things to the girls' high school, to "the majestic samurai" saying nasty things to the shopkeeper and the girls' high school.

Looking at the "majestic samurai", Ogata, who was drinking tea, narrowed his eyes slightly.

Sections of images of the past hidden deep in his mind flashed quickly in front of Ogata's eyes.

It was a period... obviously not very long, but to Ogata, it felt like an image of the past a long time ago.

In the video, after finishing his daytime abacus work, he would go to an izakaya to work as a security guard...

...

...

"That person really spoke too much..." Shimada said in a low voice that only he could hear clearly, "Is it just a bowl of noodles... can't you wait patiently..."

"It's really ugly, can't you wait obediently?"

"That's right, that's right." Shimada nodded vigorously a few times, "That's how I should scold this kind of person...Huh?"

Shimada looked at Ogata beside him with a look of astonishment.

Not only Shimada, but almost everyone present focused their attention on Ogata—including the "majestic samurai".

"Majestic Samurai" didn't seem to expect that someone would preach to him, so he looked at Ogata with somewhat angry eyes in astonishment.

"Are you talking to me?" he asked.

"Who else but you?" Ogata raised the teacup in his hand, took a sip of tea, and replied in a calm tone.

call!

"Majestic Samurai" stood up abruptly, held his sword, and walked quickly to Ogata's side.

Seeing this, Shimada was about to say something when he was stopped by Mucun at the side.

Makimura signaled Shimada with his eyes—don't pay attention to the "majestic samurai".

It's not just Mucun who is like this, Mamiya, Asai, and Genichi also look calm.

After walking quickly to Ogata's side, the "Majestic Samurai" opened his mouth, wanting to say something.

However, before he had time to say what he wanted to say, Xu conveniently took the first step and said:

"Sit back for me, and wait patiently for the noodles to be served."

Hearing Ogata's words, the face of the "majestic samurai" turned blue and white instantly.

Finally, the face of the "majestic warrior" turned black like coal.

The "majestic warrior" lowers the center of gravity of the body, presses the sheath close to the mouth of the sheath with his left hand, pops the blade out of the mouth of the sheath with his left thumb, and holds the handle of the knife with his right hand.

"Apologize to me!"

Ogata took a look at the posture of this "majestic warrior": "Is the sword drawing skill..."

"Hmph!" "Majestic Warrior" sneered, "You are really stupid, just obediently let me put on a sword posture!"

"Apologize to me quickly! Otherwise, I'll kill you!"

Seeing that the "majestic samurai" seemed to be about to fight Ogata, the guests around immediately stepped aside, fearing that the possible battle that might break out later would affect him.

Only Mamiya and others at the same table as Ogata remained motionless.

"Brother." Mamiya, who was sitting at the farthest place from the "majestic warrior", said to him with a smile, "Put the knife back, and wait obediently for the face to come, or else..."

Before Mamiya finished speaking, the "Majestic Samurai", whose eyes were fixed on Ogata's body without even looking at Mamiya, shouted:

"Shut up! I warn you! You are also within my slash range! Don't be so arrogant within my slash range! Otherwise, I will cut off your head too!"

The voice of "Majestic Warrior" just fell...

Ogata, who had been drinking tea silently with the teacup in his hand just now, loosened his hand, and the teacup that fell off from his palm fell towards the table under the influence of gravity.

With his left hand, he grasped the handle of Da Shitian's knife placed on the right side of his body, then raised Da Shitian upright, and pointed the tip of the knife at the throat of the "majestic warrior" who was just standing on his right side.

While grasping and erecting Da Shitian with his left hand, Ogata grabbed Da Shiten's scabbard with his right hand and pulled the scabbard upwards.

When Ogata turned the tip of Da Shitian's knife under the throat of the "Majestic Warrior", Ogata just pulled out Da Shitian's scabbard completely, revealing Da Shitian's extremely sharp blade.

Because the sword was erected and then the scabbard was pulled upwards, Ogata could pull out the blade completely with only a very small movement.

After pulling out the scabbard upwards, Ogata kept the upper part of the scabbard with his right hand, and the middle part of the Dashi Tenchi with his left hand, with the tip of the knife against the throat of the "majestic samurai".

The "Majestic Warrior" lowered his eyes, looking blankly at the tip of the knife against his throat.

Boom.

The teacup that Ogata had put down just now fell steadily back to the table with a small "bang" sound, and not a single drop of tea spilled out.

It wasn't until the sound of the tea cup falling that the "Majestic Samurai" finally seemed to be awakened, and looked at Ogata who was holding the tip of the knife to his throat with horrified eyes.

"You are also within my slash range."

"Don't be so arrogant within the range of my slash."

Ogata said in his usual calm tone.