Looking at the hundreds of Hirose samurai who wanted to take his life in front of him, Ogata recalled the days of practicing swordsmanship in Sakakibara Dojo.

It was a happy, carefree time.

Just recalling it, Ogata couldn't help but smile.

"Ogata Yisei!"

A loud shout suddenly rang out.

The owner of the voice was Nanahara, who was guarding Matsudaira Gennai closely at this moment.

"Put your knife down!"

One after another, loud shouts spread out with Nanahara's tall and strong body as the center.

"Don't think that just because you have a certificate for Sakakibara Ittoryu's Menkyo Kaiden, you are unrivaled in the world!"

"No matter how great your swordsmanship is, can you really be so skilled as to fight against hundreds of people at the same time?!"

Nanahara's loud shouts gradually pulled Ogata's thoughts away from his memories.

Ogata raised his eyes and let his gaze slide across the faces of the hundreds of samurai in front of him one by one.

Looking at the hundreds of enemies in front of him, Ogata's face showed no sadness or joy.

Ogata slowly raised the knife held tightly in his right hand.

The tip of the knife was pointing at Matsudaira Gennai and Nanahara who were protected by the hundreds of samurai in front of them.

Ogata answered Nanahara with his actions.

Looking at Ogata's action, Nanahara felt that all the blood in his body was rushing to his head, and his face turned crimson at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"Ogata Yisei!"

Nanahara, whose face turned red with anger, shouted again.

"You are such a traitor! As a vassal of the Hirose Domain and a samurai, you actually want to assassinate your own lord!"

"I gave you a chance out of kindness, but you don't even appreciate it!"

"Do you still have any sense of shame as a samurai?!"

Ogata listened quietly to Nanahara's outburst.

Then he said in a calm tone:

"I am not here as a warrior today."

"Today, I stand before you as a man."

After saying this, Ogata slowly raised his left hand which was hanging naturally.

It is placed on the wakizashi inserted at the left waist.

bass!

Then he pulled the wakizashi out of the sheath in one go.

The katana in Ogata's right hand and the wakizashi in his left hand reflected a sharp cold light under the light of the sky.

After pulling out the wakizashi, Ogata slowly assumed the stance of "Muga Nito-ryu".

Looking at Ogata holding two swords, Matsudaira Gennai's face was full of curiosity, while Nanahara's pupils shrank slightly and he took a breath of cold air.

Nanahara saw accurately that Ogata was taking the opening stance of some kind of two-sword sword technique.

Although he didn't recognize which school of two-sword style this was.

"Ogata Issei!" Nanahara continued to shout, "You can actually use the two-sword style?!"

"When did you develop the illusion that I only knew the Sakakibara Ittoryu sword technique?"

"I must take off Matsudaira Gennai's dog head today."

Ogata, who had been expressionless from the beginning, finally showed a shadow of murderous intent on his face.

"Let me see who has the guts to stop me!"

As if frightened by the aura exuded by Ogata at this moment, many of the hundreds of Hirose samurai standing in front of Ogata involuntarily took half a step or even several steps back.

"Hmph." Nanahara snorted coldly, "You are stubborn! Do you think your strength will double just because you use an extra knife?! Hirose's warriors! Cut this traitor into pieces!"

As Nanahara's order was given, hundreds of samurai from the Hirose clan roared, raised their swords and charged towards Ogata.

Ogata was not afraid either, holding the long and short swords tightly in his hands, and slowly walked towards the hundreds of enemies in front of him...

…

…

…

…

4 months ago——

May 3rd, 1789.

Hirose Domain, Sakakibara Dojo.

"Ogata-senpai! Ogata-senpai!"

Xu Yi heard someone calling him.

"Ogata-senpai! We are sparring! Why are you daydreaming?"

The volume of the male voice just now suddenly rose, making Xu Yi feel that his eardrums began to hurt.

Suddenly opened his eyes.

The first thing that caught his eye was a young man with a shaved head and a wooden sword standing in front of him.

The person who had been calling Xu Yi just now was this young man.

——Where is this place...? Shouldn't I be reading in my study at home?

While Xu Yi was secretly saying this in his mind, he turned his gaze and looked around him.

A Japanese-style dojo, rows of wooden swords placed on the side of the dojo, and a group of people kneeling at the edge of the dojo, looking at him with puzzled eyes.

And the young man standing in front of him holding a wooden sword.

The man holding a wooden sword and standing in front of Xu Yi frowned again and said in an unhappy tone:

"Ogata-senpai! What's wrong with you today? Why are you in a daze the whole time? If this was a life-and-death duel, you would have been dead!"

Although the young man was speaking Japanese, Xu Yi could understand what he was saying without any difficulty.

It was not until then that Xu Yi discovered that he was also holding a wooden sword in his hand.

She was also wearing a kimono with dark blue as the main color.

—Ogata? Sword fighting?

——What kind of sword competition?

As soon as he thought of this, Xu Yi suddenly felt a large number of memories that were both familiar and somewhat unfamiliar emerging in his mind.

His name is Ogata Issei, and he is 20 years old.

An ordinary samurai of the Hirose domain, his job was as a treasury officer who only received a meager salary of 50 koku per year.

In a kendo hall called "Sakakibara Dojo", he practiced the one-sword style swordsmanship - "Sakakibara Ittoryu".

After work every day or when I have free time, I come to Sakakibara Dojo to practice sword.

And now he is fighting with his junior fellow apprentice, Makino Fumushiro.

Learning from each other with fellow apprentices is one of the daily compulsory tasks at Sakakibara Dojo.

Just as Xu Yi was slowly digesting the memories that suddenly appeared in his mind, an old voice suddenly sounded at one side of the dojo:

"Ogata, cheer up."

Xu Yi looked in the direction of the voice.

The person who spoke was an old man with gray eyebrows, beard, and hair.

This old man was none other than Sakakibara Hanbei, the master of the Sakakibara Dojo and Xu Yi’s master.

After Xu Yi's gaze turned to him, Sakakibara continued in a dignified voice:

"You were distracted during a sword fight. That's really unlike you."

"Master, I'm sorry..."

Xu Yi dared to guarantee that he had never learned Japanese.

But as if it was innate, fluent Japanese kept coming out.

Xu Yi slowly raised the wooden sword in his right hand, and then tightly grasped the hilt with both hands.

The tip of the sword pointed directly at the center of the eyebrows of his fellow apprentice brother Muye in front of him.

Holding the hilt of the sword, an extremely familiar feeling continuously emerges from the palm of the hand.

Seeing that Xu Yi was no longer distracted, Muye grasped the sword again and stretched all his nerves to the extreme.

After the two stood facing each other for a while,

Makino took the lead in launching the first attack.

Muye turned the direction of the wooden sword in his hand and stabbed straight towards Xu Yi.

Although it was the first time for him to hold a sword and compete with others, Xu Yi felt that he knew how to hold a sword and how to compete with others.

His body dodged Makino's sword nimbly as if by reflex.

Then he chopped horizontally towards Makino's chest.

When the wooden sword was about to hit Muye's chest, Xu Yi stopped the force in time and only hurt Muye without injuring him.

"Well……"

Makino let out a muffled cry of pain and fell to the ground.

[Ding! Use Sakakibara Ittoryu·Ryubi to defeat the enemy]

[Gain 20 points of personal experience and 20 points of swordsmanship "Sakakibara Ittoryu" experience]

[Current personal level: LV7 (570/600)]

[Sakakibara Ittoryu Level: 3rd Stage (420/500)]

A strange voice sounded in Xu Yi's mind.

--What is this?

The inexplicable voice that sounded in his mind made Xu Yi, who was already confused about his current situation, even more confused.

"That's a beautiful Dragon Tail move, Ogata."

Sakakibara, who had been sitting at the side of the dojo and watching the fight, now praised out loud.

"It's just that - are you not feeling well today? Why are you distracted and dazed the whole time?"

"No...I'm not feeling unwell..."

Xu Yi rubbed his face.

"Master, I'm sorry... Can I go wash my face first? I may not have slept well last night, and I feel a little sleepy now..."

Xu Yi made up a lie.

And Sakakibara said very cheerfully:

"Go quickly and come back soon."

"yes."

…

…

He walked out of the Sakakibara Dojo with ease and came to a stream beside the dojo.

Xu Yi scooped up some stream water and rubbed his face vigorously.

Through the clear water, Xu Yi looked at his current appearance.

There was no shaved top on her head, her hair was combed straight and pinned in a bun.

The facial features are pleasing to the eye, yet both strange and familiar.

There is a sense of confusion, as if it is my own face, but it is not my own face.

"I actually... came to Japan's Edo period..."

Xu Yi murmured while touching his face.

"And he became a Hirose samurai named Ogata Noriyoshi..."

"Ogata Issei..."

Xu Yi kept muttering his new name.

"It seems I need to spend some time getting familiar with this new name..."