I Was a Swordsman in Ancient Japan

Edo, the hiding place of Gourd House and his party——

"Where did Mamiya go..." Mucun murmured, lying on his side on the tatami.

"Who knows." Asai, who was sitting beside him, was oiling his saber, replied.

Yesterday morning, when they woke up, they found that Jian Gong had gone out at some time.

When asked where Lin Jiangong went, Lin only said "he went to do something", other than that, she didn't disclose any movements about Jiangong.

As of now, Mamiya has been missing for almost a day.

They were not very worried about the personal safety of the palace, after all, it was hard for them to imagine who else could threaten the life of the palace in this Edo city.

The biggest impression Jian Gong gave them was that he was reliable—no matter what he was asked to do, he could basically complete it with ease. When asked how he could complete this task so easily, he said lightly, "I used to I used to study ××".

Mucun and the others are now more curious about what Mamiya did to "disappear" so quietly.

"...Isn't Mamiya looking for a friend he secretly hid in Edo?" Mu Cun said in a joking tone.

"It's even more impossible." Asai replied without thinking, "Do you think Gamiya is the kind of person who would approach women?"

"That's true." Mucun nodded, "But there are no absolutes in the world. People will always change. Maybe after coming to the colorful world of Edo, Mamiya's originally dull heart began to move around, and then secretly I found a good friend in Edo."

"Then one day, he came back with a girl and said to us: Everyone, let me introduce you, this is my wife."

"Makimura. It's a pity that you don't want to become a Kabuki playwright." Asai complained skillfully about Mucun, "Mamiya suddenly brought a woman back? How could such a thing be possible?"

After all, Asai shrugged and let out a sneer.

"You are very confident in Mamiya's character." Mucun raised his eyes and looked at Asai.

"Of course." Asai nodded, "Usually, Gamiya and I have cooperated and partnered the most times. I don't know how unfeminine Gamiya is?"

Mu Cun: "It seems that you are really confident in Mamiya's character."

"That's right." Asai, who is usually expressionless, had a rare confident smile on his face, "Let me just tell you—"

Speaking of this, Asai solemnly picked up the knife oil beside him.

"I'm so confident in Jiangong's conduct that I can pat my chest and say to you: If Jiangong comes back with a woman one day, I'll drink this sword oil on the spot."

Boom, boom, boom!

Just as Asai finished speaking, footsteps of "dong dong dong" suddenly sounded in the corridor outside the room.

"Senior Mucun! Senior Asai!"

Shimada yanked the paper sliding door open.

"Shimada, why are you in such a hurry?" Asai cast a puzzled look at Shimada.

"Senior Mamiya is back!" Shimada shouted in astonishment, "You may not believe it—Senior Mamiya brought a young girl back!"

Shimada thought,

After he uttered such explosive news, whether Mucun or Asai, they would have stood up immediately in shock.

However... the real scene presented in front of Shimada was that the two looked at him in shock.

Then they silently turned their eyes to the bottle of knife oil in Asai's hand...

...

...

Jiangong came back with Azhu and Vairocana who were successfully rescued.

Including Yuan Yi who was still drinking silently until Mamiya came back, everyone in the gourd house gathered together to listen to Mamiya's explanation of what he did yesterday and what happened to the girl Azhu.

Since he had to explain what happened to the girl A Zhu, he naturally couldn't avoid explaining his own life experience.

At this moment, for the first time, Mamiya confessed his life experience to the rest of the gourd house partners except Lin: the eldest son of the Patriarch Yamada Asemon Yoshitsune Yamada Asemon Yoshitsune.

The person who was supposed to inherit the title of Patriarch and become the Patriarch of the eighth generation Yamada Senemon.

"Mamiya-senpai, so you...are from Yamada Asemon's family..."

Among the people present, except for Yuan Yi who was relatively calm, as if he had already expected where Gamiya was from, the rest of the faces were filled with unstoppable shock.

"I'm sorry, I kept it from you for so long." Mamiya smiled at Shimada, "After all——for me, although there are good parts in the past, there are also many places that are not worth remembering."

Shimada and the others were only shocked for a moment by Mamiya's true identity.

After all, beside the time palace, there is a more interesting A Zhu.

"...Your name is Azhu, right?" Lin, who was sitting right in front of Gamiya, turned her gaze to look at the 15-year-old girl sitting behind Gamiya.

After noticing Lin's gaze, Ah Zhu subconsciously hid behind the person who rescued her last night, his eyes were full of panic.

Now she was wearing the new clothes Yoshitomo prepared for him, which made her look a little better, but the panic in her eyes was not so easy to get rid of after she just escaped from hell.

Looking at Azhu who was full of horror, Lin pursed her lips, and after thinking for a moment, she said loudly to the people around her:

"You all go out first, so many people gather here, it will make her feel scared. Ah, Gamiya can stay."

Lin purposely kept Azhu's most trusted Gamiya, so that she would have a sufficient sense of security.

Everyone who knew Lin's intentions filed out, leaving only Lin, Jiangong, and Azhu in the room.

"Senior Asai, what's the matter with you?" As soon as he left the room, Shimada asked Asai next to him with a puzzled expression, "Why is his face so solemn all the time? Is there something wrong with your body?"

Shimada noticed it from just now—Asai's complexion was very bad, as if he was feeling unwell somewhere.

"...Shimada."

Asai asked in a low voice.

"If you drink a bottle of knife oil, will you die?"

Shimada:? ? ?

...

...

After Yuanyi, Mucun and others left, Lin turned her gaze back to Azhu.

"Well, there's no one else here now. Just the three of us."

Lin is not a person with expressive expressions. Ninety percent of her expressions are expressionless throughout the day, but at this moment, she is trying her best to lift the corners of her mouth up, showing what she thinks is a friendly smile as much as she can.

"You don't need to be afraid. We are not bad people, and we will never do anything to you."

"I promise you: we will definitely escort you all the way home afterward."

"But before that, can you please tell me - what happened to you before, how did your body become amazingly resilient?"

Perhaps it was because Lin and she were both female, and she was relatively petite, so Lin gave A Zhu a sense of intimacy and security, and the uneasiness and fear in her eyes dissipated a little.

She raised her eyes and glanced at Gamiya who rescued her from hell last night, and the panic in her pupils dissipated slightly again.

"I, my name is Azhu... from Osaka..."

As soon as Ah Zhu opened his mouth, he spoke standard Kansai dialect.

With a trembling voice, she slowly explained her past.

Her past was not complicated, but it made Lin's brows slowly frown.

According to Azhu, she is the daughter of an ordinary craftsman in Osaka.

When returning home one evening, she suddenly heard hurried footsteps behind her. Before she could turn her head to see what was going on, she felt a heavy blow to the back of her neck and passed out. .

When he opened his eyes again, he found himself locked in a dark, prison-like place alone.

Not long after she woke up, two people entered the prison and forced-fed her a piece of meat the size of a fingernail. Because Ah Zhu never ate meat, she couldn't tell what kind of animal it was. of meat.

After force-feeding her the piece of meat, she was forced to stuff a pill with a strong medicinal taste into her mouth, forcing her to swallow it.

After being fed this piece of meat and that medicine, Ah Zhu felt very hot in his body, so hot that he felt as if his whole body was being burned on a fire.

After the hotness in his body faded away, A Zhu was surprised to find that his body possessed a frightening resilience.

No matter what kind of injury occurs on the body, the injury will recover very quickly. When the injury recovers, the wound will not feel any pain, no pain, no itching, and the injury will recover silently.

Since eating the weird meat slices and pills, she hasn't been fed any strange things, nor has she been done anything.

Just like that, she was locked in the prison all the time. Occasionally, a few people would come and cut wounds on her body with knives, as if they were observing the recovery of her wounds and the speed of recovery.

The prison is dark and dark. I don’t know if it’s day or night. I can’t tell what time it is. Even if I cry and howl and beg to let her go home, no one cares about her. If she is too noisy, she will even be beaten severely. Fan, was warned not to make any more noise.

I don't know how long I was imprisoned, how my body became like this, and how long I will be imprisoned.

The only thing she knew was that the people in the prison called her "Ding Ling Er San".

Until one day, Ah Zhu smelled the smell and smell of thick smoke.

This is the characteristic thick smoke and stench after the flames are raging everywhere...

Immediately afterwards, Ah Zhu saw a woman suddenly coming outside his prison door.

The woman covered herself tightly, only her eyes were exposed, so Ah Zhu couldn't see her face clearly, only from her voice, she could tell that she was very young.

The mysterious woman only said "Let's go" coldly to A Zhu, and then opened the prison door.

This young woman secretly released her... no, it should be said that she released many people who were imprisoned in other prisons, including her.

Only then did Ah Zhu realize that there were so many people like her who were imprisoned in such a dark place.

If Ah Zhu remembered correctly - at that time, including her, there were about a dozen people who were rescued by the mysterious woman.

When they were first rescued, the mysterious woman gave them a small cloth bag one by one, and each cloth bag contained two hundred pennies.

Then, after escaping with the help of the mysterious woman, Azhu and the others found flames and thick smoke everywhere. Under the cover of the fire and led by the mysterious woman, they escaped from this dark place.

Ah Zhu remembered very clearly—they came out of a cave at the beginning. As soon as I got out of the cave, I saw layers of mountains.

Before they had time to be happy, pursuers came behind them.

"You run separately, keep walking in that direction and you will reach a place where there are people. I will save you some trouble, and I will try my best to lure your pursuers away." ——This is what Ah Zhu heard from the mysterious woman The last sentence, when she said this sentence, the mysterious woman pointed in a certain direction.

Azhu and the others obeyed the order of the mysterious woman and ran away separately. Since then, Azhu has never seen the mysterious woman again.

Ah Zhu ran desperately until she couldn't even move a toe.

She was lucky - when she was too tired to move, there was no sound of any pursuers behind her.

She was unlucky—when she first started running, there were a man and a woman about her age running in the same direction as her. But when Ah Zhu was too tired to move, the man and woman had disappeared.

It is not known whether they were exhausted, fell behind halfway, or ran to another road halfway.

In short, since then, Azhu has been walking aimlessly in this mountainous mountain by himself.

Although the mysterious woman gave them directions before, Azhu, who had fled to a place where he couldn't even tell which direction was south, east, and north, unfortunately forgot which direction the mysterious woman was pointing at that time... …

So, she could only move forward aimlessly.

Then, a lucky thing and a bad thing happened to Ah Zhu.

The lucky thing is that she walked aimlessly and managed to get out of the mountain. Just after she got down from the mountain, she found a village. After asking around in that village, she realized that she was in Jiyi. The port is not far from here.

Azhu was just an ordinary 15-year-old girl. She didn't know what to do or where to go except to go home.

In order to get on the boat to Osaka, Azhu resolutely went to that port.

The current public security situation is generally not very good, but Azhu, who is alone, actually managed to get to that port smoothly.

The unfortunate thing is - after coming to that port, she met unscrupulous ship merchants.

The ship merchant said that their ship was bound for Osaka, and they would let Azhu board the ship as long as they gave enough money.

A Zhu was not very experienced in the world, so she couldn't tell the difference between good and evil, so she foolishly gave most of the money that the mysterious woman gave her to this unscrupulous ship merchant.

This mouth claims that his ship is a ship merchant going to Osaka, but the destination of his ship is actually Edo...

Azhu arrived in Edo in such a daze.

She has no culture and doesn't know how long it will take from Kii to Osaka. She didn't realize that she was deceived until she arrived at Edo Port...

She also didn't have the guts to argue with the vicious ship merchant, so she could only swallow the bitter fruit silently.

She wants nothing more than to go home.

Unfamiliar with life and place in Edo, she had nowhere to go, so she could only pin her hopes on the government. I hope that people from the government can help her go home, or help her recover her money from that unscrupulous ship dealer.

As a result... she was entangled by two hooligans before she reached the door of the Edo Prison Office.

And then...he ran into Wen Xian and Yi Chao who happened to be passing by here.

What happened after that need not be repeated.

The above is what happened to Azhu after he was kidnapped in Osaka.

The expressions of Lin and Jiangong are very complicated now - the tragedy of Azhu's experience makes them both don't know what kind of expression to show...

As for Azhu, who was recalling and telling her own story, her eye sockets had been red from just now.

The tragedy of her experience made even listeners like Lin feel moved.

Looking at the red-eyed A Zhu, who seemed to be crying at any moment, Lin sighed softly, then walked up to A Zhu, and then opened her arms like a mother bird opening her arms to protect her chick, and held A Zhu into the arms.

"It's all right." Lin gently patted the back of A Zhu's head with one hand, and gently stroked A Zhu's back with the other hand, "You have finished all the hardships you should have suffered now, and you will be fine from now on. "

Lin's consolation made Azhu's already fragile psychological defense slump in an instant.

"Whoa whoa whoa whoa—!"

Azhu hugged Lin tightly, put her face on Lin's shoulder, and cried loudly.

Lin didn't shy away from the tears and snot that Azhu wiped on her clothes, but continued to hug Azhu silently and pat the back of Azhu's head and back.

It wasn't until Azhu's mood gradually stabilized and she stopped crying that Lin let go of Azhu in her arms.

"Azhu, do you still remember the cave where you were imprisoned, and where is it?" Lin asked suddenly at this moment, "Or—you have a way to lead us along your escape route and return the same way, Did you find the cave?"

"I...don't remember..." Ah Zhu shook his head, "After escaping, I ran aimlessly regardless of direction...so I can't take you back the same way...and I don't remember the cave Probably where..."

"That's it... forget it." Lin smiled slightly at A Zhu.

Lin's smile at this time was far softer than the friendly smile she forced out just now.

"Thank you for your hard work. Do you want to go down and rest first? Is there anything you want to eat?"

...

...

Lin actually still has a lot of questions to ask that child.

For example, the taste and color of the meat and pills she was forced to eat.

But she also didn't want to exhaust the child with questioning in one go, so she decided to take her time and eat the meal one bite at a time.

Lin asked Jiangong to take A Zhu down to rest first, and asked Jiangong to go to the kitchen later to count how many ingredients were left. She wanted to make some delicious food at noon today to replenish the poor girl's long-tortured body.

After Jiangong left with Azhu, Lin got up and left the room.

As soon as he left the room, he saw Yuanichi, Mucun and others waiting outside the room for news.

"My lord." Mucun asked first, "How was the result? Did you ask anything? I just heard that girl crying loudly."

Lin did not answer Mucun's question, but first said in an unquestionable tone:

"Our next itinerary has to be changed. We will not return to Owari for the time being. After that, we will go to Osaka in Kansai first."

After finishing speaking, Lin turned her head and looked westward.

Her sharp gaze seemed to penetrate thousands of miles to see Osaka in Kansai.

"I didn't expect it..." Lin whispered in a low voice that only she could hear clearly, "I actually got information about 'immortality' in such a muddle..."

...

...

About a month later—

Owari, somewhere——

"Then, in order to practice holding our breath, we have to stick our face into a washbasin filled with water every day, and use this silly method to train."

"Is it actually using a washbasin for training?" A Zhu complained very timely.

"After all, it's convenient." Ah Ding said, "Training also requires cost. It's a waste of time to go to the river to practice holding your breath."

"Hey, you two don't chat for now." Ogata, who was sitting on the radish, said to Acho and Azuki, who were sitting on the grapes next to each other, "The ground in front of you is full of potholes, be careful not to bite Tongue."

Don't talk while the horse is walking over potholes, as long as you want to keep your tongue from getting bitten by your teeth - it's common knowledge that every horseman knows.

It has been more than a month since it landed in northern Oshu.

For more than a month, Ogata and others headed south all the way, heading straight to Owari.

For more than a month - calm,

Although there is no human skin mask, Ogata has been using bamboo hats and other things to cover his face, and he has not encountered any troubles caused by the exposure of his true identity.

And along the way, I didn't meet any of Iga's remnants...

With Ogata's permission, Azuki followed Ogata and Ading along the way, and sold the straw sandals and "Lucky Strength" training manual wherever he went as always.

However, so far, Ogata has not encountered half of the remnants of Iga who were attracted by Azuki...

Azhu is a cheerful child, and at the same time, she is also a good child. Whatever Ogata asks her to do, she will do it. She has never disobeyed Ogata, and has never caused any trouble for Ogata.

In simple terms - she was a rather reassuring child.

This long journey of more than a month also made Ogata, A-cho and Azuki gradually get acquainted.

Since everyone is currently in a companion relationship, it is naturally impossible for Ah-machi to keep his identity as the "Hara Shiranui Rinin" a secret.

When A Zhu first joined the group, A Ding told A Zhu that she was also a ninja.

After learning that A-Machi and her are both female ninjas, Azuki expressed his excitement: Regarding Shiranui, she said that she only heard a few words from her grandfather, so she didn't know much about this ninja.

Azuki, who is very curious about A-Machi, who is also a female ninja, and Shiranui, often chats with A-Machi about various issues related to Shiranui along the way just like before.

Although A-Machi didn't have a good impression of Shiranui, she didn't keep secret about her previous experience in Shiranui.

After Azuki asked various questions related to Shiranui, Acho would patiently answer them one by one, occasionally telling stories about his life in Shiranui.

And Ah-Ming is indeed very talented in storytelling...or water stories.

We have been traveling together for more than a month, and Ah-Ming's "Once Upon a Time in Shiranui" hasn't finished yet... She seems to have just talked about the story when she was 12 years old...

Although A-cho told her past for a long time, she also told her past in a tortuous and wonderful way while she was telling the story, so that A-Zhu still wants to stop her past.

Now, Azuki pesters Acho almost every day, asking Acho to tell her past stories quickly.

After Ogata told A-Machi and Azuku not to speak, the two obediently kept their mouths shut.

It wasn't until after passing through the potholes that Azhu seemed to have just held his breath in the water. He opened his mouth and took a long breath, and then asked Ogata:

"Master Yidaozhai, how long will we have to go before we reach the village where your friend is?"

"Soon." Ogata replied, "I'll be there in a while."

When Azhu just joined their team, Ogata told Azhu what they were going to do next—go to Owari, find his friends with a lot of connections, and ask if they know where there are powerful swordsmiths .

Ogata and the others are now heading towards the village that has received the favor of the gourd house and has a close relationship with the gourd house.

The headquarters of the Gourd House is located on the mountain behind the village, and the village is somewhat similar to the outpost of the Gourd House.

Ogata had been to that village twice before. The first time was after leaving Butterfly Island, at the invitation of Jian Gong and Mu Cun, to visit their Hulu House headquarters.

The second time was when I was invited to rest with them before leaving Kyoto for Edo.

The two visits to the Calabash House headquarters are of great significance to Ogata.

Being a guest for the first time, Ogata got acquainted with Genichi, Lin and others.

As for the second visit, let alone. The second time as a guest, both for Ogata and for A-Machi, has extraordinary meaning.

After passing through a very familiar mountain dirt road, finally - a village like a paradise appeared in front of Ogata.

"We're here!" Ogata shouted to Azhu who was beside him, and then lightly knocked on the horse's belly to speed up Radish's horse slightly.

...

...

"Master Ogata, why are you here?" The head of the village who went out to greet him looked at Ogata who had just dismounted in front of him in surprise.

"Village Chief." Ogata took off the bamboo hat on his head and said with a smile, "Long time no see."

Ogata has been here twice before and after, so almost everyone in the village knows Ogata and knows that Ogata is a distinguished guest of Gourd House.

After a brief exchange of greetings with the village chief, Xu went straight to the point:

"Village Chief, Miss Lin, are they here?"

"Master Kinoshita and they are not here." The village head shook his head, "Since you went to Edo together, they haven't come back."

"Haven't come back?" Ogata asked in surprise.

All kinds of doubts floated in Ogata's mind——

How long has it been since they went to Edo together to deal with Shiranui?

Have they been in Edo all this time? Or did you go somewhere else?

"Master Ogata, do you need to talk to Mr. Kinoshita and the others?" the village chief asked back.

"Hmm..." Ogata scratched his hair, "It is true that I need to find them..."

After hesitating for a while, Ogata tentatively asked the village chief, "Do you know where there is a good swordsmith?"

The result—as expected, the village chief shook his head.

The main duty of this village is to help the gourd house to look after the house, so Ogata also expected that most of them would not know any important information, so he was mentally prepared for the village chief's shake of his head.

- Trouble...

Ogata thought to himself.

——Lin and the others are not here... Where can I find a good knifesmith...

*****

*****

Before you know it, it's almost December, and 2021 is almost over...

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