I Was a Swordsman in Ancient Japan

Osaka, Shinmachi, Nanakusaya, and Satodaemon's office——

"...I understand the specific reasons."

Left and right Daemon glanced at the 4 people sitting in front of him, Ogata, Atachi, Hatsumitsu, and Shibata, and sighed softly.

After the incident of "Xingimura's attack" happened, Miura and the others were naturally not in the mood to hold any more banquets. The banquet ended hastily, and Ogata and the others escorted Hatsuko back to Nanakusa House, and at the same time reported to the right and left Daemon A dramatic sequence of events.

"I didn't expect so many things to happen tonight..."

"It's really hard for you tonight."

Speaking of this, Mashidaemon turned his attention to Ogata and Acho who were sitting behind Hatsune.

Emotions are mixed.

"...Chuguang, Shibata, you two should step back first."

Chuguang and Shibata: "Yes."

Neither of them said much, they said "yes" in unison, and left the room quickly.

Chuguang left without any hesitation.

As for Shibata, before leaving, he did not forget to look at Ogata and the others with admiration before leaving.

After there were only Sawaidaemon, Ogata, and Atachi left in the room, Sawaidaemon let out a long sigh.

"People who can be friends with that guy are indeed not ordinary people." The "that guy" mentioned by Satodaemon naturally refers to Fuma.

"I didn't expect... that Yukimura would humbly salute you two..."

"If you want to ask who the two of us are, please forgive me for not being able to comment." Ogata said in a half-joking tone at this time.

"I didn't even intend to ask. 'Sometimes, the ignorant is the happiest'—that's one of my mantras."

"What's more, you are still a friend of Lord Feng... Since you are a friend of that person... I don't want to ask who you are. After all, I have suffered from such things before."

After finishing speaking, Satodaemon took out a piece of letter paper from the cabinet next to him.

"For me—it doesn't matter who you are, I just need to know that you have helped me a lot. Thank you both for helping me tonight."

"If you two didn't show up in time, I really don't know where to find someone who can fill the vacancy of Chuguang's guard and assistant."

"Here, this is the agreed reward."

Sodaemon handed the letter paper in his hand to Ogata.

"The address written above is the residence of Yu Er, the sword maker."

"Thank you." Ogata took the letter.

"You've found the right person for Yu Erxiu Dao." Zuo Tianweimen said with a smile. "Although Yu Er is not well-known, his skills in casting and repairing knives can be described as being at the pinnacle."

"As far as I know—everyone around me who has found Yu Er to forge or repair knives, all of them are full of praise for Yu Er's skills."

"It is said that Yoji was a descendant of the well-known Hon-Ami family before, and the knife repairing technique he used is the grinding technique passed down from generation to generation by the Hon-Ami family."

"Honami?" Ogata raised his eyebrows in surprise, "Is he still from the Honami family?"

Honami - a famous family in the Edo period.

Their family has been grinding swords and appraising swords for generations.

It can be said that there are many people who want to find Ben Ami's sword repair and appreciation.

When it comes to sword grinding, the Benami family calls them second, and I am afraid that no other family dares to call them first.

"It's just a rumor. I don't know if it's true or not." Saitaemon shrugged, "But whether he is the descendant of the Honami family or not, his sword repairing skills are at the pinnacle—there is no doubt about it."

"It's a pity that although his skills are good, his temper is really too weird."

"He is a weirdo who doesn't like to deal with people, but only with knives."

"To put it simply, he is a 'sword idiot'."

"I don't pursue fame and fortune, and I never make or repair knives for fame and money, so I still don't have a good reputation until now.

And living in such a remote place, living a life like a hermit. "

"With his ability, living a wealthy life is an easy thing."

"Are you crazy about swords..." Ogata murmured, and turned his gaze to the letter paper in his hand with Yuji's residence written on it.

A faint smile appeared on his face.

Hearing what Sodaemon said just now, he couldn't help but become more interested in this unmasked swordsmith.

...

...

Ogata and A-Machi walked side by side to the first floor of Nanakusa House, preparing to leave Nanakusa House.

"When are you going to find that Yoji?" A-machi Asaogata asked.

"For things like knife repair, the sooner the better. So I plan to go to that Yuji tomorrow."

After finishing speaking, Ogata shrugged and added:

"I hope that Yu Er is a swordsmith who lives up to my expectations. I don't want to come all the way to Osaka to be happy."

"Mr. Mashima, Miss Mashima."

When Ogata and Atachi were talking and laughing, a beautiful young female voice suddenly sounded behind them.

"Miss Chuguang...?" Ogata looked behind him in surprise, and looked at the owner of the young female voice just now——Chuguang.

Chu Guang, who folded his white-gloved hands in front of him, smiled, and walked slowly towards them from behind the two of them.

"Tonight, I have really worked hard for you." Chu Guang bowed deeply to Ogata and the others, "Thank you very much."

"You're too much." Ogata had a good impression of the polite and gentle Chu Guang, so he immediately returned the courtesy politely, "We didn't do anything serious tonight."

Chuguang smiled and shook his head: "Let's not mention that you solved my urgent need of losing my assistant and guard. Just because you helped me deal with Mr. Yukimura tonight is enough for me to say thank you solemnly."

"I'm not very good at dealing with people like Yukimura-sama who are more domineering and powerful."

At this time, Chuguang smiled sweetly and changed into a mischievous tone.

"Just now, I was actually very scared when faced with Mr. Yukimura's invitation."

"I'm afraid that if Mr. Yukimura insists on me going to perform at their place, what should I do? Mr. Yukimura is terrible, and the rules and punishments of our Seven Grass House are equally terrible."

"Fortunately, with you here, this matter was able to end decently and safely."

"Please allow me to say thank you again."

Hatsune bowed to Ogata and Atachi again.

"You really flattered me. My wife and I did nothing in essence..." Ogata smiled wryly and returned the salute again.

Chu Guang was so polite that Ogata couldn't help feeling flattered.

"I heard from Mr. Satodaemon: You are only filling in the vacancies of my assistants and guards tonight, and you will not come again after that. Is this true?" Chuguang asked.

"Yeah. It's true." Ogata nodded, "For some reason tonight, I'm just helping Satodaemon."

"That's it..." A conspicuous look of disappointment appeared on Chuguang's face, but soon the look of disappointment turned into a smile again, "If you two need anything in the future, you can come to me Oh."

"I'm happy to meet friends and help them out."

"Haha, although I don't have any other specialties besides playing the piano."

Maybe it's because it's in private now, at this time Chuguang showed a completely different state from when he was playing the piano at the banquet just now.

If we say that Chuguang, who just played the piano at the banquet, is like a fairy who does not eat fireworks.

So now Chuguang is like an ordinary cheerful girl.

Looking at Chu Guang with a gentle smile on his face, the corners of Ogata's mouth unconsciously turned up slightly.

"Well. When you are free and have a chance in the future, my wife and I will visit again."

"Yeah! I welcome you anytime!"

Chuguang is now planning to go back to his room, while Ogata and the others are planning to leave the Seven Grass House. The two sides happen to be on the same road for a while, so the two of them naturally started to walk together.

"By the way, Miss Chuguang, I have a question that I've always wanted to ask you. I wonder if you are inconvenient to answer." When walking with Chuguang, Ogata asked Chuguang abruptly.

"Huh? Just ask. Anything I can answer, I'll tell you everything!"

"Not a big deal. I just wanted to ask—why do you keep wearing those gloves?"

Ogata turned his gaze to Hatsuguang's pair of gloved hands folded in front of him.

"When I saw you playing the piano at the banquet just now, you kept wearing these gloves and didn't take them off."

Playing the piano with gloves on - that's a bit of a rarity indeed.

Anyone who has studied string music knows that for instruments like shamisen that need to be pressed and plucked, wearing gloves and not wearing gloves are two different experiences. Generally speaking, it should be that the former is easier to exert its strength than the latter.

No matter in the previous life or in the present life, Ogata seldom saw people playing the piano with gloves on. I met such a strange person tonight.

"Oh, this, there's no particular reason for this. It's just because I was accidentally burned to the back of my left hand before, which resulted in an ugly scar on the back of my left hand. To cover this scar, I wore gloves."

"It felt weird to wear only one left glove, so I just wore two."

After all, Hatsumitsu, who had been smiling all the time, took off his left glove with his left hand turned away from Ogata and Machi.

The skin on the back of Chuguang's left hand... In a word, it is difficult to look directly at.

The skin on the back of her left hand was like a mass of wet toilet paper that had been roughly rubbed. Valley

The dark red ugly skin was in stark contrast to the delicate and fair skin elsewhere in Chuguang.

The burnt back of Hatsumi's left hand made Ogata and A-Machi's eyes sparkle with surprise.

"Uh... sorry." Ogata apologized to Chuguang almost without thinking, "I seem to have asked some unnecessary questions, I am very sorry."

"It doesn't matter." The smile on his face never dissipated, Chu Guang put on the glove on his left hand again, "I don't really care about the injury, but after all, I am an artist who makes a living by playing the piano. No matter what, I have to pay attention to my image, so I can only wear these gloves all the time.”

...

...

Ogata and Chu Guang only had a short corridor on the same road, so in a blink of an eye, it was time for the two to part ways.

Ogata and A-machi watched Chuguang walking towards the stairs not far away, and they didn't look away until they could no longer see Chuguang, and continued to walk outside Nanakusa House.

When he was about to pass through the gate of Nanakusa House, A-Machi suddenly said in a tone of admiration:

"What an excellent girl... It's not without reason that she can become the number one entertainer in Osaka."

Chuguang's polite and gentle appearance was also impressed

"If I have a chance in the future, I would like to ask Miss Chuguang—how her parents raised her."

At this time, Machi changed into a half-joking tone.

"I want to learn how other people raise their children. When we both have our own children, we will raise our children so well."

"You think so far." Ogata laughed dumbly, "We don't even have a child now, so you just think about how to raise offspring."

"It's called planning for a rainy day." A-machi gave Ogata a blank look, and then patted her flat stomach and slender waist.

"Don't you want our children to be as polite and gentle as Miss Chuguang?" After inexplicably bringing up the topic of children, A-Ming seemed not to want to skip this topic so quickly.

"A child..." Ogata touched the back of his neck, "For me, as long as the child can grow up safely and healthily, that's fine."

"It's best to have your own achievements."

"I don't care if I'm just an ordinary person without any achievements."

"Would you ask your child to become a certain kind of person in the future? For example, he also wants to be a samurai with excellent swordsmanship." A-Machi still did not skip the topic of "children".

"I haven't thought about this problem... But rather than being a samurai with great sword skills, I would rather my child can study more, and then become a teacher, a doctor, and open a school in Kyoto or somewhere else." Private schools, medical clinics, etc., this one is more promising."

"Hey..." A-cho's beautiful eyes were full of surprise, "I thought you would pass on your sword skills to your descendants..."

Hearing Ah-Machi's words, Ogata smiled wryly.

——Learning swords or something... has no future...

Ogata is not familiar with Japanese history, and does not know what will happen to Japanese history in the future.

But he knew that it would not be long before sword skills would be eliminated by the times.

Compared with learning swords, it is better to read books and delve into knowledge... especially the study of Lanxue (the collective name for Western scientific and cultural knowledge in the Edo period) is more promising.

While they were talking, the two had already left the gate of Seven Grass House.

As soon as they left the gate, the two heard a loud shout——

"Oh! You two finally came out!"

Just now, Mucun, who had been squatting and waiting by the gate of the Seven Grass House with his big sword on his shoulder, stood up quickly and faced Ogata and the others.

"Sorry." Ogata smiled apologetically at Mucun, "I kept you waiting."

After the banquet ended hastily, Ogata and the others left Xutian House and returned to Nanicao House, Mucun also followed. He had been waiting quietly for Ogata and A-Ming outside Nanicao House just now.

"It's all right." Mu Cun let out his signature hearty laugh.

"Let's find a place to have a good chat." Ogata said, "I have a mountain of questions to ask you."

"Me too, I also have a lot of questions to ask about you." Mu Cun said, "Then let's go to the place where we live now. It's not too far from here, let's talk slowly."

...

...

Not long after Ogata and the others left the Seven Grass House——

Osaka, Shinmachi, Seven Grass House——

"Miss Chuguang, good evening!"

"Good evening, Miss Chuguang!"

The two maids in the seven-grass house greeted Chuguang who was walking towards them, and bowed in salute.

"Yeah." A gentle smile bloomed on Chuguang's cheeks. While responding to the question marks of the two maids, Chuguang also bowed back, "Good evening, too. Are you going to wipe the floor?"

Chu Guang looked at the buckets and rags in the hands of the two maids.

"Yes." A certain maid nodded, "Lady Lan asked for leave today, so our task tonight has become a lot heavier."

"That's it...that's thanks to you." Having said that, Chuguang suddenly put on a sly face, and then said in a low voice, "I still have some Jinpingtang left in my room, and I can't finish it by myself. If you don't mind, would you like to come to my room later and 'mop up' these Jinpingtang together?"

"Jin, Jinpingtang?" A maid exclaimed in a low voice.

Afterwards, the two maids nodded vigorously, as if they were afraid that Chuguang would change their words.

Kopeito, a candy introduced to Japan by Portuguese missionaries at the end of the 15th century, is extremely attractive to those who like sweets.

"Then it's okay." Chu Guang covered his mouth and smiled, "I'll wait for you in the room later."

After finishing speaking, Chu Guang walked away from the side of the two maids, and continued to stride towards his room.

After brushing shoulders with Chuguang, the two maids did not hurry to move on, but stood where they were, looking at Chuguang with admiration and admiration. Chuguang turned a corner and completely disappeared from sight Finally, the two maids chirped excitedly:

"Miss Chuguang is really amazing. Even though she is already the number one artist in Osaka, she is still so humble, polite and easy-going."

"Yeah, yeah. No airs at all."

"I really hope that some people who are just a little bit popular and want to point their nostrils up to the sky can learn more from Miss Chuguang..."

...

...

As a well-known entertainer and one of the cash cows of Nanakusa House, the generous Satodaemon not only gave Chu Guang a piano practice room, but also divided a room in Nanakusa House that was impeccable in terms of size and orientation. Give the first light.

Although the room is impeccably good, the decoration and layout in the room are unusually plain.

There are only a few furniture such as bookcases and dressing tables.

clatter...

Chuguang slowly opened the door and returned to her room.

After entering the room and closing the door with his backhand, the expression on Chuguang's face...had a dramatic change as if by magic.

Chu Guang, who had been wearing a soft smile just now, disappeared in an instant after entering the room and closing the door.

Chu Guang lighted the candles in the room expressionlessly, and then sat down in front of the desk.

He took out a piece of letter paper from under the desk, and after laying it neatly on the table, Chu Guang took off the white glove on his right hand.

On the right palm under the glove, there are thick and round calluses...

With the right hand that took off the glove, Chuguang picked up the writing brush placed on the pen mount, dipped it in enough ink, and began to quickly write something on the laid letter paper.

After fluffing and dancing on the laid out letter paper, Chu Guang put down the brush and gently blew on the ink on the paper.

When the ink was dry, Chu Guang rolled up the letter paper, took a bamboo tube next to it, and stuffed the letter paper into the bamboo tube.

"Shibata."

Chuguang raised his head and shouted towards the ceiling.

Rumble...

There was a sound from the ceiling above Chuguang's head.

Kara.

The ceiling in one corner of the room was pulled away.

Then, a person dressed as a samurai jumped into the room along the pulled ceiling—it was Chuguang's guard who was partnering with Ogata just now: Shibata.

Shibata, who had previously told Ogata with a smile on his face that he was the "lonely man" left after his original partner eloped with Chuguang's former assistant, knelt on one knee in front of Chuguang with a stern face.

"Send this to the old place." Chu Guang handed the bamboo tube containing the letter paper to Shibata.

"Yes." Shibata took the bamboo tube with both hands, then jumped back to the ceiling.

The room returned to silence, Chu Guang was the only one left.

"call……"

Chu Guang let out a long breath, and then slowly lay on his back on the ground as if all the strength in his body had been exhausted.

"Mashima Goro and Mashimacho..." Chuguang looked at the ceiling above his head and whispered out the names of the two people, "Today... I really had an unexpected harvest..."

*****

*****

I don't think any readers have noticed the description of her wearing gloves when Chuguang first appeared.

The Honami clan, who has practiced sword grinding and sword appraisal for generations, is still passed down to this day. See "Writer's Words" below for details.