I Was a Swordsman in Ancient Japan

"I was a swordsman in ancient Japan(

"A Yi." Ah Ding pointed to his neck. "Your injury does not matter, right?"

"Hmm..." Ogata raised his hand and touched his neck, which had been wrapped in a thick white cloth. "Except for the pain because the wound hasn't healed, there is no other discomfort..."

"Okay..." At this moment, Mamiya looked around, "It should have been in a big circle..."

Ogata looked around-it was already full of sea water, and no land was visible anymore.

"We have now followed the southeast direction and circled a big circle in the sea." Mamiya said softly, "It should be far away from the camp of the shogunate army. Let's go back to land."

After that, Mamiya stretched his two-handed oars into the sea again, drove the boat around in a circle, and started to head straight towards the land.

I have to say-Mamiya’s boat-handling skills are really superb, not like a ronin, but more like a fisherman from a fisherman’s family.

"Do you need my help?" asked Makimura, who was sitting next to Mamiya.

"No," Mamiya said readily, "I can't do it before I'm so weak, you just need to sit firmly."

Speaking of this, Mamiya paused.

After being silent for a while, Mamiya swept his gaze to Ogata and Amachi in front of him.

"We have successfully escaped from that ghost place now. When we get back to land, do you two have any plans next?"

"What's the plan?" Ah Ding shrugged helplessly, "Since the task has been completed, of course I must return to Shiranui."

"Although there are still many very important things about ogres that are still unknown, the information collected so far should be enough to communicate with the leader."

After Amachi finished her plan for the next step, Mamiya, Makimura, and Amachi all turned their attention to Ogata.

"A Yi." A Ding whispered, "Do you... have any plans next?"

Speaking of this, Amachi couldn't help but sweep his gaze to Ogata's neck, which was wrapped in a thick white cloth.

Ogata did not immediately respond to the inquiries from Amachi and others.

Instead, he first silently took out from his arms the two prescriptions written by the master and apprentice, Kazuki and Kazuki, who had written to Kinosuke, and Kinosuke now passed them on to him.

"...I'm going to find the pair of master and disciple Kazuyo and Kazuo." Ogata whispered.

After saying this, Ogata's fingers holding the two prescriptions involuntarily pinched the two pieces of paper tightly.

Hearing Ogata’s words, whether Amachi, Mamiya, or Makimura, they all showed more or less amazement.

"...Do you want to find this pair of masters and disciples, and let them help you heal the undead poison in your body?" Although the sentence pattern of Mamiya's sentence is an interrogative sentence, it is a positive sentence. .

"Of course." Ogata said in a half-joking tone, "I don't want to die young at a young age."

"Even if it is really going to die young, it should be dying on the grandest stage, not because of a so-called ‘immortal poison’ that you don’t know whether it is a toxin or not."

"This pair of masters and disciples had the medicine to suppress the undead poison a few years ago."

"Now that several years have passed, they may already have more and more powerful medicines that can target undead poison."

"I want to find them... get rid of the undead poison from my body."

"...That's right." Mucun shrugged, and then said, "There is a poison in his body that will take his own life at any time-this is indeed not something that can be ignored like this."

"Yeah." Ogata nodded. "That's right."

Ogata concealed some facts from Amachi, Mamiya, and Makimura.

Ogata concealed the fact that Undead Poison was a double-edged sword. After it entered the body, his bodily functions were increased.

The reason why they chose to conceal was mainly because Amachi, Mamiya and Makimura, for Ogata, were not yet intimate enough to fully tell their details.

Especially Mamiya and Makimura-Ogata still remembers clearly that Mamiya said that the gourd house to which they belonged has been focusing on the investigation of "immortality" over the years.

For these two people, Ogata must have reservations about the introduction of his current physical changes.

"So--" Mamiya asked Ogata, "Japan is so big, where are you going to find this pair of masters and disciples?"

"Moreover, the master and apprentice may not be in the country yet, and the possibility of fleeing abroad is not impossible."

"There are clues for the time being." Ogata whispered, "Munkai and Kinosuke have both said-this has a very strong Kyoto accent for the master and apprentice."

"So—I plan to go to Kyoto next."

Ogata, who was focusing on telling his next plan, didn't notice—when he vomited the place name "Kyoto", Makimura raised his eyebrows, and his eyes flashed with strange light.

Of course, the light that flashed in his eyes was only fleeting. In an instant, his eyes became calm again.

"Kyoto... Ogata-kun, are you planning to find this pair of master and disciple by yourself?" Mamiya said.

"Of course." Ogata rolled his eyes at Mamiya.

The look in Ogata's eyes seemed to say to Mamiya: Are you talking nonsense?

"I'm a homeless, unreliable ronin. Of course I went to Kyoto by myself."

Speaking of this, Ogata turned his gaze back to the two prescriptions in his hand.

"Let's go to Kyoto first, and then ask them one by one to see if anyone in Kyoto recognizes these handwritings..."

"...Ogata-kun." A faint smile hung on Mamiya's face at this time. "I have a small suggestion. Are you interested in listening?"

"Oh? What advice?"

"Would you like to join our gourd house?"

Mamiya returned the oar he was holding with his right hand to the boat, and then stretched out his right hand toward Ogata.

"I should have told you before? Our Calabash House has been investigating'immortality' all these years."

"You want to find the pair of masters and disciples to remove the'undead poison' from your body."

"And we want to investigate'immortality.' Our next goal is also the suspicious pair of masters and disciples who may know a lot of information related to'immortality.'"

"Our goals are now the same."

"We who have the same goal are the best partners."

"It just so happens that our gourd house is currently short of manpower."

"Although we don't have many members in Calabash House, our Calabash House has a huge network of people all over Japan."

"If you cooperate with us, you will have cooperation with us."

"The pursuit of that pair of mentors and apprentices will surely get twice the result with half the effort."

"How? Do you want to join our gourd house?"

Ogata didn't expect Mamiya to throw an olive branch at him.

After looking at Mamiya several times with stunned eyes, Ogata asked in a joking tone:

"Is it really okay for you to invite people into the group without discussing it with the leader?"

"I'm the second master of the gourd house for the time being," Mamiya said with a smile, "I still have the right to get people into the group without the master's consent."

"Second master?" Ogata raised his eyebrows, and cast an inquiring look at Makimura on the side.

After feeling Ogata's questioning gaze, Makimura nodded gently.

"If the lord is considered the master of our gourd house, that palace is indeed our second master."

"In the gourd house, apart from the lord and Yuan, I only listen to what Mamiya said."

"...If Mamiya is the second master, who is Genichi Kinoshita?" Ogata couldn't help asking.

"Yuan Yi Da is an exception." Mu Cun smiled bitterly, "Yuan Yi Da Ren doesn't care about things, he is very free, he is actually more like a guest of our gourd house... When you are in a good mood, he helps us with some tasks. When I'm in a bad mood, I stay at home drinking and having fun."

After learning more about the mysterious organization of Gourd House, Ogata nodded gently.

Then he turned his gaze back to Mamiya's right hand, which was spreading towards him.

"Join your gourd house..."

A faint smile appeared on Ogata's face.

"You make a lot of sense..."

"Our current goals are the same."

"If you work together, there are indeed many benefits."

"I can enrich the combat power of your gourd house."

"And you can also help me find the pair of masters and disciples."

"It is indeed a very good and very worthwhile cooperation."

Hearing Ogata's words, she thought that Ogata was Mamiya who agreed to cooperate with them, and her face was overjoyed.

Just when Mamiya was ready to step forward and embrace this new companion--

"But I refuse."

Ogata said this word by word in a firm tone.

The expressions on Mamiya, Makimura, and Amachi sitting next to Ogata froze.

Even after listening to what Ogata had just said, Amachi thought that Ogata was going to agree to join Mamiya and their gourd house.

"I'm just a ronin born with a sword."

Ogata smiled slightly.

"Although my ronin career has only been less than 3 months from beginning to end..."

"After being a Ronin for less than 3 months, I was caught on this broken island."

"The time is short, but I am used to this kind of unfettered life."

"I don't want to join any more organizations, and I don't want to have another lord on top of my head."

"So--Mamiya, thank you for your kindness and invitation."

"Although I will not join your Calabash House, I can be friends with your Calabash House."

"If you encounter any trouble in the gourd house in the future, and I can help you in this trouble, I will do my best to help you."

Although Ogata's remarks were lightly playful, whether it was Amachi, Mamiya, and Makimura, they all heard a strong and firm color from Ogata's remarks.

Mamiya sighed silently, knowing that he could not persuade Ogata to change his mind.

"Well... if that's the case, then I won't force you."

"Ogata-kun, if you change your mind at any time, you can come to us at any time. We at Gourd House welcome experts like you to join us at any time."

"Yeah." Ogata nodded and said casually, "I will."

Ogata’s words were really just casual talk.

After finishing this sentence, he had no idea of ​​joining other organizations at all, so he just threw Mamiya’s suggestion that "you can come to them at any time"...

...

...

When the sun was about to sink to the horizon, the boat on which Ogata and his party were riding finally made it to the shore.

After the boat arrived, Ah Ding couldn't wait to jump off the boat.

As soon as his feet stepped on the ground, Ah Ding let out a long, comfortable sigh, stretched his waist vigorously, and said with emotion:

"It's better to stand on the ground..."

Immediately after Amachi came ashore, Ogata looked around.

Looking up, it was a large area of ​​gravel-although I don't know where they landed, there were no shogunate soldiers around, so they should have moved away from the camp of the shogunate.

"Let’s find a place to spend the night tonight." After jumping off the boat, Mamiya glanced at the sun that was about to disappear from the horizon, "Wait for tomorrow to dawn."

Regarding Mamiya's proposal, Ogata was uncomfortable.

However, Ah Ding said at this time:

"No, I will leave now."

"Now?" As soon as Ah Ding's voice fell, Okinawa took the lead in surprise, "A Ding, haven't you seen that it's getting dark now?"

"Walking at night~www.wuxiahere.com~ is a piece of cake for a ninja like me." Ah Ding shrugged, "In our Shiranui mission completion assessment, there is a very important one. The standard is time."

"The shorter the time it takes to complete the task, the higher the evaluation they can get."

"So I want to go back to Shiranui as soon as possible, so that it can make my task look more beautiful."

"...Amachi." After hesitating for a while, Ogata asked Asamachi, "After handing in your task...are you still going to be demoted?"

"Yeah..." A Ding muttered for a while, "it shouldn't be. I wonder whether you're downgraded or not depends on whether you have completed the task beautifully."

"Only those Xia Ren who have been unable to complete the task will be downgraded to scum."

"I have collected a lot of information related to ogres, and this task should be completed beautifully."

"Once you have a successfully completed task, you won't be reduced to dirt."

Knowing that Amachi would not be reduced to dirt, Ogata immediately felt relieved, as if a big rock in his heart fell to the ground.

"That's it... that's good."

After such a mumble, Ogata wanted to say something like "I wish you good luck to you" to see Amachi off.

But his mouth opened and words rushed to his lips, but there was no way to spit out these farewell words.

For some reason, when I thought that Ah Ding was about to leave, Okinawa felt a sense of emptiness in his heart...

At this moment, Mamiya, who had been standing next to Ogata, said softly to Ogata with a volume that only he and Ogata could hear clearly:

"Ogata-kun, although there are always banquets in the world, one day there may be someone who will meet again at some time and place."