I Was a Swordsman in Ancient Japan

Last night, Ogata grew a lot - on the experience bar.

After annihilating the remnants of bandits headed by that Baoji, Ogata's personal level and Wuwo two swords directly gained nearly 700 experience points.

It's a pity - after Ogata and Genichi wiped out the remaining gang of bandits and returned to the gate of Yoshiwara, they never met other "rats".

Therefore, Ogata was unable to gain more experience points last night.

But Ogata didn't feel sorry either.

Nearly 700 experience points last night - Ogata is already very satisfied with this, after all, when he entered the "big pit" set by Genichi last night, he was mentally prepared to return in vain.

In addition to the nearly 700 experience points, what Ogata gained last night was technical guidance from Genichi.

When trying to pull Ogata into the water and into his pit, Genichi promised Ogata that he would teach him some sword skills as compensation.

And Yuan Yi fulfilled his promise last night.

When Baoji and his party were wiped out and they returned to the gate of Yoshiwara, in order to fulfill their promise to Ogata, and pass the time by the way, Genichi passed on some experience in using swords to Ogata.

And what Genichi taught Ogata was the trick he used to kill Baoji in an instant - dodge.

When he saw Genichi perform this "flash", Ogata was attracted by this move that combines dodge and counterattack.

After tidying up Baoji and others, before returning to the gate of Yoshihara and preparing to continue squatting, Genichi further introduced his proud technique to Ogata.

According to Genichi - this "flash body" is a masterpiece he created a year and a half ago with the strengths of hundreds of schools.

After learning that this "flash" move was a new move that Yuan Yi honed a year and a half ago, Ooyo couldn't help but immediately asked Yuan Yi:

"Then I use 'Flash' in public, so people won't find out that I'm related to Genichi Kinoshita, right?"

Regarding this question from Ogata, Genichi replied very happily: He has been very peaceful in the past two years, and he has basically never been out and about, so he has not made any new enemies.

There are only two kinds of people who have seen Yuan Yi's "dodging" trick: everyone in the gourd house, and the dead.

So even if you use "Flash", it won't make people see that this is Kinoshita Genichi's trick.

After learning that "flash body" is used immediately,

It won't let people find out that you are someone related to Kinoshita Genichi's move, Ogata became more interested in this move.

In Edo, where there are countless enemies of Genichi lurking, and at the moment when the military test of the "Imperial Trial" is about to begin, Ogata is too lacking in this kind of tricks that can be used boldly without fear of trouble. .

After Jianyuan said generously, "If you want to learn, I'm willing to teach", Ogata was also not polite, and said straightforwardly that he would learn this trick of "flicker".

Strictly speaking, "dodge" is just a kind of dodge and counterattack technique that does not belong to any genre.

Ogata's system can only extract this genre after watching all the martial arts of a certain genre, and then use skill points to unlock and own this genre.

"Flash", which does not belong to any genre, naturally cannot use the system to directly learn this move.

Therefore, Ogata can only learn to "dodge" honestly like an ordinary person.

Just like what Genichi said after using "Flash" to kill Baoji in a second - this move seems to be quite simple at first glance, but there are quite a lot of tricks in it.

The footsteps, the way the waist is turned, the way the arms are swung... There are quite a lot of skills in these.

It's just——according to Yuanyi, if there is the "stepping step" of "Wuwu Two Swords Style" as the foundation, this move of "Flash" will be much faster to get started.

In fact, it is true.

Ogata's current "step-up" level has reached "advanced".

With the "advanced" "steps" as a foundation, when Ogata learns this "flash", it is indeed much faster to get started.

In addition, Ogata's weight is not too heavy. If you have a light body, it will be easier to learn to "dodge".

By the time he returned to the hotel to rest, Ogata had already been able to put on a "dodge" posture in a decent manner. After practicing hard for a while, he should be able to try to use this move in actual combat.

Last night, Ogata and Genichi didn't sneak back to the hotel until almost 2 o'clock in the morning to rest.

Because of this, Ogata was a little sleep deprived.

Because the biological clock had already been set, Ogata couldn't sleep for a while longer, so he opened his eyes not long after dawn.

Only Ogata, Genichi, and Mamiya were used to getting up at dawn.

As soon as Ogata woke up, he saw Genichi who had woken up and started drinking, and Mamiya who had woken up and folded his futon there.

After saying hello to Genichi and Mamiya, Ogata, with a look of surprise in his eyes, looked at Genichi who was drinking a small wine:

"Master Yuan, did you... have you just woken up too?"

"Yeah." Yuan Yi took a sip of the wine in his glass and chuckled, "I probably woke up an incense stick earlier than you."

"Master Yuan...your body is so good that you don't look like an old man at all..."

Ogata, who was forced to wake up by the biological clock, still had a tired look of lack of sleep on his brows and eyes.

On the other hand, Yuanyi—as usual, is full of energy.

Holding the newly bought sake a few days ago, I huddled in the corner and drank it in small sips, feeling very comfortable.

As soon as he got up, he saw Yuanyi drinking there - Ogata was used to this situation.

Yuanyi is good at wine, and he can drink a lot. At present, when there are no entertainment activities, the most common way for Yuan to pass the time is to drink. He often drinks for a day, even if he drinks for a whole day, he will not get drunk.

Genichi's over-spirited appearance made Ogata couldn't help but think of Fuma - he didn't behave like an old man at all.

While recalling Fuma, Ogata couldn’t help but feel a little annoyed—why everyone went to bed and woke up at about the same time, why someone who could be his grandfather at this age was more energetic than him...

"My body is indeed quite strong." Yuan Yi shrugged and said with a smile, "but probably only for a few more years."

"People always grow old."

"The physical body always and still will gradually weaken with age."

"In a few years, I may not be able to drink early in the morning like I am now."

As soon as Yuanyi's emotion, which was somewhat joking, was over, Mamiya next to him interrupted abruptly:

"Master Yuan, if you can quit drinking, maybe you can slow down the aging of your body."

"That's impossible." Yuan Yi said with a smile without hesitation, "It's impossible to quit drinking, drinking is one of my biggest hobbies."

"I've never been afraid of growing old or dying."

"If I quit drinking just to live a few more years, then I'd rather not have those few years of life."

After all, Yuan Yi poured a large glass of wine into the wine glass in his hand as if in response to what he said just now, and then drank it happily in one gulp.

First, Jian Gong had expected that Yuan Yi would say that in a while, so he smiled without saying a word, and didn't say anything more.

Makimura, Asai, and Shimada are still asleep.

Ogata and Genichi's conversation just now was played very softly, so they didn't wake up Mucun and others, and Mucun and others still slept soundly.

Mamiya only got up a little earlier than Ogata, and just now he has been concentrating on making his bedding.

After stacking his quilt neatly, Mamiya suddenly said to Ogata with a serious face:

"Ogata-kun, Gen-sama, you two come out with me, I have important questions for you two."

"Huh?" Ogata raised his eyebrows, his face changed slightly.

The thoughts in my mind drifted unconsciously to last night's "rat hunting" with Yuan Yi...

Yuan Yi also had one eyebrow and his face changed slightly.

"Can't you say it here?" Ogata asked.

"What I say here, I'm afraid it will wake up Mucun and the others."

"……I see."

After Ogata nodded, he picked up his saber and stood up.

After Ogata got up, Genichi sighed helplessly, then replaced the wine glass in his hand with his own saber, and followed Mamiya out of the room with Ogata one after the other.

It was just dawn, and there was no one else in the corridor except Ogata and the three of them.

Mamiya, who was in charge of leading the way, didn't go far after leaving the room. After reaching an unoccupied corridor some distance away from their room, he turned towards Ogata and Yuanyi asked:

"I won't say unnecessary nonsense anymore."

"Master Yuan, Ogata-kun, can you two explain to me what you did last night?"

After Mamiya's words fell, both Ogata and Genichi had helpless smiles on their faces.

——Sure enough, it was discovered by Gamiya...

When he saw Gamiya let him and Genichi come out together, Ogata vaguely guessed that it should be that Gamiya found out that he and Genichi sneaked out last night.

"Mamiya." Ogata asked, "How did you find out?"

"I was woken up by Mr. Yuan at about the same time as you last night."

Mamiya spoke eloquently.

"After opening my eyes a little, I saw Master Yuan standing by the window with his sword in hand, looking like he wanted to slip out."

"I also wanted to get up and ask Mr. Yuan what he planned to do, so you get up before me, and then follow Mr. Yuan out of the room."

"I thought you could persuade Mr. Yuan to suppress those strange thoughts in your heart. So I continued to pretend to be asleep."

"I didn't expect that when I pretended to be asleep, I heard the sound of you and Mr. Yuanyi jumping out of the window together."

The more Mamiya said, the lower Ogata buried his head, and the guilty look on his face became more obvious.

"That..." Genichi scratched his hair with an embarrassing expression on his face, "Mamiya, you probably didn't tell Xiao Lin or anyone else about my going out with Ogata-kun, did you?"

"They don't know now." Mamiya replied, "But whether they will know later... depends on what you and Ogata-kun did last night."

After understanding Mamiya's subtext, Ogata and Genichi let out a helpless sigh at the same time, and told Mamiya exactly what they did last night and the results of last night.

...

...

Mamiya carefully listened to Ogata and Yuan's explanation of what they did last night, and said seriously:

"That is to say—did the two of you go to hunt and kill your enemies last night..."

Speaking of this, Mamiya twitched the corners of his mouth, and then sighed heavily.

"Master Yuan...why are you still like this...you are so messed up...when normal people know that there are many enemies nearby, they should not take the initiative to provoke them, but just avoid them Sharp..."

For Yuan Yi's behavior of provoking his own enemy, Mamiya did not show much surprise, but just let out a light sigh.

Mamiya's overly calm appearance made Ogata very suspicious of whether Genichi had done more messy things before, that's why Mamiya was honed to be calm about Genichi's various actions now The strong adaptability of...

Regarding what Mamiya said just now, whether it was a compliment or a derogation, Genichi only showed a faint smile.

After smiling, he said:

"Anyway, Mamiya, the specific situation is like this."

"I didn't go out with Ogata-kun to have fun. From another perspective, Ogata-kun and I are reducing potential allies in Shiranui."

"So - Mamiya, just pretend you didn't know that Ogata-kun and I sneaked out."

"...I see." The hesitant look and the determined look went back and forth on Gamiya's face for several rounds before the determined look finally defeated the hesitant look, "I'll keep it a secret... I hope you guys In the next two days, don't cause any trouble when hunting down those enemies of Mr. Genichi..."

Seeing that Mamiya agreed to keep it secret so quickly, Ogata's eyes were uncontrollably surprised.

"Gamiya, I didn't expect you to agree to keep it a secret so readily..." Ogata couldn't help but murmur.

"Because past experience tells me that it is impossible for Mr. Yuan to be persuaded." As he spoke, Jian Gong cast a somewhat resentful look at Yuan Yi, "Even if I tell the lord and the others Informant, Master Yuan will definitely continue to go out stubbornly."

Hearing Mamiya's complaint-like words, Genichi laughed a few times in embarrassment.

Then he was noncommittal about what Mamiya had just said.

Mamiya let out a long, silent sigh, and continued:

"In short - I know that it is impossible to persuade Mr. Yuan, so I will not stop you, and I will keep it secret for you."

"But you don't want to make extra troubles and make troubles..."

Speaking of this, Mamiya let out another long sigh.

"To be honest, when I see Gen-sama, you, a troublemaker, and Ogata-kun, a man who once conquered Nijo Castle, I am quite uneasy..."

This time it was Ogata's turn to make an awkward dry laugh.

...

...

Night fell.

After the sun sank to the horizon and the sky began to turn from white to black, Ooyoshi appeared in Yoshihara on time.

Ogata, who "works" in Yoshihara, still has the heavy responsibility of "acting as their and Hasegawa's informant", so now he arrives in Yoshihara on time every night and starts "working".

As soon as he arrived in front of the gate of Yoshihara, several officials of the clubhouse who were standing guard in Yoshihara greeted Ogata in a respectful tone.

Before and after arriving at the entrance of the clubhouse, several of the officials standing guard at the gate of the clubhouse bowed and said hello to Ogata again.

For these people's respectful greetings, Ogata could only show a helpless smile while responding to them one by one.

A while ago, the feat of "repelling Huofu thieves and changing official posts with one's own strength" made Ogata famous. Many officials in the club took the initiative to get to know Ogata and changed their previous attitude towards Ogata.

Before the incident of "Huo Fu Thief Changed to Official Post to Grab Merit", many official posts in the clubhouse used the tone of "senior to junior" to talk to Ogata.

After Ogata made the feat of repelling the Huofu thieves and changing to official posts, many official posts instantly changed the tone and tone they used when talking to Ogata.

Change to the way of speaking of the peers, or even the juniors, and use a lot of honorifics.

I don't know if it was Ogata's illusion, he always felt that the attitude of the officials who greeted him just now seemed to be more respectful than before...

When Ogata entered the clubhouse and was about to report for duty, he was suddenly stopped by a tall club official.

"Mashima-kun." The official who blocked Ogata's way said respectfully, "I finally found you. Please go to the soil immediately. Mr. Keemon seems to have something to announce to you."

"Between the soil? Okay, I see."

Following his memory, Ogata walked quickly to the soil where the gate was open.

Passing through the open gate, Ogata suddenly found out that there were a dozen or so people crowded in darkness on the tatami mats between the soil.

And among the dozen or so people was an acquaintance of Ogata—Guasheng.

Seeing Ogata coming, many people in the room including Gua Sheng greeted Ogata warmly.

Except for Guasheng, Ogata didn't know anyone else in the room.

Seeing that there was still an empty seat next to Guasheng, Xu conveniently sat next to the only person he knew.

After sitting down next to Guasheng, Xu conveniently exchanged simple greetings with Guasheng.

After exchanging pleasantries, Guasheng smiled and said to Ogata:

"Mashima-kun, after you entered Yoshiwara, did you find that many people in the clubhouse treat you more respectfully?"

Hearing Guasheng's words, Ogata was taken aback for a moment, then nodded:

"Yes. I can clearly feel that many people's attitudes are somewhat different from before."

"Want to know why?"

Ogata nodded again.

"It all starts with you getting the first place in the literary examination of the 'Imperial Examination'."

...

...

Guasheng simply explained the cause and effect to Ogata.

After listening to Guasheng's explanation, Ogata's face was covered with black lines.

It turned out that not long after the essay test was released last night, almost everyone in the Shirobei Club knew that Goro Mashima of their club had won the first place in the essay test.

In the past, there was "single-handedly repelling Huofu thieves and changing to an official post", and later there was "winning the first place in the "Imperial Examination" literary examination"-Ogata made two major feats in succession, which naturally made his own reputation in Yoshiwara rise.

Then followed by various speculations about Ogata's identity.

It is impossible for ordinary ronin to be so versatile in both civil and martial arts-this is the consensus of everyone.

So various discussions about Ogata's identity came out.

Some people think that Ogata should be a descendant of a powerful samurai family before, but he was forced to become a ronin due to some accidents.

Some people think that Ogata is a "fake ronin" who came to experience the life of the people at the bottom.

Some people think that Ogata may just come to sharpen himself...

Anyway, there are rumors.

Everyone is most energetic and energetic only when discussing these non-existent and gossip-related rumors.

No matter what kind of rumors they have, they all have one thing in common—they all think that Ogata is a descendant of a very powerful samurai family, and has received a good education since childhood, otherwise it would be impossible to be both civil and military like this.

After quietly listening to Guasheng's explanation, Ogata's face was full of dark lines.

"This is all a mess... No wonder so many people treat me with more respect..."

Now Ogata finally understands why so many people's attitudes have undergone a new change—it turns out that they all think that Ogata is a descendant of a high-ranking samurai family, and they came to Yoshihara for some reason, so they respect Ogata even more .

"...Actually... I'm also very curious." Gua Sheng, who had been smiling just now, now looked serious, "Mr. Ogata, are you a descendant of a samurai family?"

Seeing that Guasheng also suspected that he was a high-level warrior, Ogata couldn't help showing a wry smile.

Just when Ogata was about to explain to Guasheng, a familiar figure entered the room.

"Everyone be quiet!"

The person who entered the room and yelled so loudly was Keemon.

Seeing that Keimon came, and seemed to be about to tell them something important, Ouyang could only shut his mouth first and looked at Keimon in front of him.

"I don't want to talk nonsense, just get straight to the point."

After Qingemon cleared his throat, he continued to speak loudly:

"There is an urgent mission."

"The reason why everyone present is called is to complete this task."

"The task content is also very simple: everyone present is required to support the 'Yangmei House'."

"Support the 'Yangmei House'?" Gua Sheng was the first to raise doubts, "What happened to the 'Yangmei House'?"

"Just now, the person in charge of the 'Yangmei House' asked us for help." Qingweimen said with a bitter face, "Many fierce warriors came to the 'Yangmei House' to drink tonight."

"Many of those samurai seem to be people who failed the civil examination and came to relieve boredom. All of them have a stinky face."

"It is said that there are quite a few banner warriors here. It's really scary."

"Because there are too many of these warriors, and none of them seem to be good, the manager of the 'Yangmei House' is worried that these people will make trouble if they drink too much, so they ask for help from our Shirobei Club, hoping that we Send some officials to serve as their temporary guards."

"...So that's how it is." Guasheng smiled wryly, "No wonder the people gathered here are all those skilled people from our Shirobei clubhouse..."

"Even I want to go to the 'Yangmei House'." The bitterness on Keemon's face turned into helplessness, "Anyway—now follow me to the 'Yangmei House'."

"Ah, that's right, I almost forgot to tell you."

Keimon patted his head.

"As I said just now, there seems to be a group of banner warriors at Yangmei House."

"So remember to pay attention later. Unless they cause trouble, stay away from those powerful banners."

...

...

While Ogata was still listening to Keeimon's explanation of tonight's unexpected mission——

As the night gradually deepened, the number of people coming and going under the gate of Yoshihara continued to increase.

Amidst the traffic, two warriors wearing bamboo hats walked slowly on the road into Yoshihara, one behind the other.

Because the brims of the bamboo hats worn by these two people are very wide, so as long as the heads are slightly lowered, the wide bamboo hats can cover the faces of the two people.

In this dense crowd, the two warriors wearing bamboo hats looked very inconspicuous.

In the past, in order to save face, samurai often wore a wide bamboo hat to cover their faces when they entered and exited romantic places like Yoshihara.

The purpose is to prevent acquaintances from seeing that he actually went to such a romantic place to have fun.

The businessmen who saw this business opportunity built a shop outside the gate of Yoshihara that specializes in selling bamboo hats, called "Weaving Hat Tea House", which is specially for those who want to play in Yoshiwara but forget to bring bamboo hats.

But with the passage of time, the warriors who originally wore bamboo hats to hide their shame gradually let themselves go.

I no longer feel ashamed about going to Yoshiwara, and I start to go in and out of Yoshiwara openly and swaggeringly, and I no longer wear anything that can hide my face.

Because of the samurai's self-discipline, as of the current Kansei period, the "weaving tea house" that was originally built outside the gate of Yoshiwara and specialized in selling bamboo hats has also disappeared due to loss of customers.

When outsiders see these two warriors wearing bamboo hats and walking slowly towards Yoshihara, they will only think that these two people are the kind of people who don't dare to let go completely and care about face.

But who knows-these two warriors wearing bamboo hats did not go to any of the girls' houses.

After passing through the gate of Yoshihara, he turned right without any hesitation and went straight to the Shirobei clubhouse on the right.

The guard in front of the clubhouse had just crossed the long wooden stick in his hand and stopped the two, the leader of the two showed something to the guards in front of him, and said softly:

"We need to find Shirobei for something."

The voice is very young.

Words are brief.

But the tone is full of unquestionable and rebuttal toughness.

What the mysterious young man showed the guards was a fan.

The handle of the fan is painted with a family crest - the three-leaf sunflower pattern.

Looking at the clover pattern on the fan handle, the pupils of the guards shrank slightly.

Anyone with a little brain knows that the three-leaf sunflower pattern is the family pattern of the Tokugawa family of the shogunate.

Anyone with this family crest is a member of the Tokugawa family.

After all, these gatekeepers also worked in Shirobei in Yoshihara, and they had seen some of the market more or less, so they could tell that the clothes worn by these two people were not cheap.

Sensitively aware that these two people might have a lot of background, the guards quickly put away the long wooden sticks.

Two people were separated—one of them took the two mysterious guests to the reception room, the other went to inform Shirobei, and the rest continued to stick to their posts.

The two mysterious people who were brought to the reception room waited silently for Shirobei's arrival while drinking the tea that had just been served to the guests.

Shirobei didn't keep the two mysterious people waiting for too long.

After hearing the news that "two mysterious guests with clover patterns came to visit", Shirobei temporarily put aside all the affairs at hand, and hurried to the reception room where the two mysterious people were. .

After sitting down in front of these two mysterious people, Shirobei frowned slightly and asked:

"Excuse me—who are your Excellencies?"

These two mysterious people were still wearing the wide-brimmed bamboo hats and bowed their heads, so Shirobei couldn't see the appearance of these two people at all.

"It's me, Shirobei. Long time no see."

The mysterious man sitting on the left opposite to Shirobei raised his hand while saying so, and slowly untied the bamboo hat on his head.

Before the mysterious man could take off the hat on his head, Shirobei widened his eyes in shock.

He recognized the voice.

Shirobei, who was so frightened that he almost collapsed to the ground, screamed:

"old……"

However, Shirobei's scream was interrupted by the mysterious man who was taking off the bamboo hat before he could utter it.

"Calm down, Shirobei. I'm traveling in a modest suit this time."

After being interrupted by the mysterious man and receiving his reminder, Shirobei swallowed heavily, and then slowly sat up straight again.

"My lord, why are you here?"

This time, Shirobei's voice was much quieter.

At the same time, the tone should be more humble and respectful.

As soon as Shirobei's voice fell, the mysterious man who had been taking off his hat and interrupting Shirobei's conversation from just now finally took off the hat on his head.

Then he showed a face that all the senior officials of the shogunate knew.

The face of Mr. Matsudaira Sadanobu.

Looking at Matsudaira Sadanobu in front of him, more cold sweat broke out uncontrollably on Shirobei's forehead.

"Don't be nervous, Shirobei." Matsudaira Sadanobu smiled slightly, "I came to Yoshiwara for some... more relaxed things."