Volume 1: Re:Zero -Starting Life as a Samurai Chapter 27: The Teachings of Hanbei Sakakibara
“Ah?” Muye’s face turned pale and he lowered his voice, “My lord actually killed someone for this reason…”
"Yeah..." Ogata nodded with a wry smile, "It's ridiculous, isn't it?"
Ogata knew that Matsudaira Gennai was a very cruel person.
But after all, Ogata had only heard about it before, and had never had any real sense of the extent of Matsudaira Gennai's brutality.
It was not until today, after witnessing the brutality of Matsudaira Gennai with his own eyes, that he realized firsthand how brutal Matsudaira Gennai, who ruled this land and them, was...
Killing someone just because they bumped into you accidentally is really... ridiculous...
"Ah..." Makino sighed softly, "Forget it, Senior Ogata, let's not talk about this topic anymore. He is our lord after all. No matter what he does, the fact that he is our lord will not change."
"No matter what, we cannot criticize the Lord in private or say bad things about him."
The etiquette and morals of ancient China are centered on "benevolence".
The core of ancient Japanese ethics was "loyalty".
This feature of ancient Japanese etiquette reached its peak in the Edo period.
In the Edo period, the most noble virtue of the samurai was "loyalty", followed by "bravery".
Loyalty is not a crime, and regardless of right or wrong, one must swear allegiance to one's lord until death - this is the common value of the samurai of this era.
Therefore, no matter what their lord does, all the warriors who are loyal to this lord cannot have any complaints. They must swear allegiance to the death, risk their lives to protect the lord, and complete all the orders issued by the lord.
If one shows any disloyalty to his lord, he will be despised by everyone.
Ogata, whose soul comes from modern Earth, naturally sneers at the values of the samurai of this era.
But he really didn't have the leisure to discuss topics related to Matsudaira Gennai.
After sighing along with everyone else, Ou Fang continued:
"That's true. Let's not talk about this topic anymore. Let's hurry up and practice swordplay."
"Yeah, okay... ah! That's right!"
Makino seemed to have suddenly remembered something, and after saying "Ah", he asked Ogata:
"Ogata-senpai ! I heard that you dueled with Toyama from Ishikawa Kenkan a few days ago! Is this true?"
Makino did not deliberately lower his voice when asking this question.
His voice spread across most of the dojo.
At this time, several other brothers who were practicing sword in the dojo were attracted by the question that Makino asked Ogata. They stopped what they were doing and gathered around Ogata and Makino.
Ogata raised his eyebrows when he heard Makino's question.
"how do you know?"
"'Ogata from Sakakibara Sword Hall and Toyama from Ishikawa Sword Hall had a duel a few days ago, and it ended in a draw' - this rumor seems to be spreading everywhere these days! I just learned about this rumor today!"
Ogata scratched his hair.
——Who spread this news...
——Are they the fellow disciples from Yuanshan?
——Or the crowd of onlookers at that time...
Ogata thought about it for a long time, but couldn't figure out who spread the news, so he simply stopped thinking about it.
Although the competition that night was forced to be interrupted at the last minute due to the arrival of like-minded people, judging from the result, it was indeed a draw.
"Ogata-senpai!" Makino asked again, "Excuse me, is this rumor true?"
"Yeah." Ogata hesitated for a while and nodded. "A few days ago, I did have a duel with Toyama from Ishikawa Sword Hall, and the fight ended in a draw."
As soon as Ogata finished speaking, his fellow disciples, led by Makino, who were surrounding Ogata, immediately burst into exclamations.
Just as Ogata was startled by the exclamations of Makino and others, Makino asked in an excited tone:
"Ogata-senpai! You are so strong! You can even fight Toyama from Ishikawa Sword Hall to a draw! Is Toyama very strong?"
"Yes." Ogata openly admitted that Toyama's swordsmanship was superb. "Toyama's swordsmanship was very strong . That night, Toyama and I actually had two duels. I lost to Toyama in the first duel. It was not until the second duel that I was able to fight Toyama on equal terms."
"It's already very strong to be able to tie with Toyama from Ishikawa Sword Hall!"
"Yes, yes! It's already very powerful to be able to match that Yuanshan!"
"Now it seems that the strongest person in our Sakakibara Sword Hall has become Ogata-kun!"
"I never expected that... Ogata-kun has become so strong without me noticing."
"Ogata-kun you are so amazing!"
…
The fellow disciples surrounding Ogata were all praising him.
Ogata couldn't help feeling a little embarrassed at the exaggerated praise from his fellow apprentices.
“Ah…” Makino scratched his hair, “When will I be able to become as strong as you, Ogata-senpai…”
As soon as Makino finished speaking, an old voice suddenly sounded from behind him:
"If you continue to chat in the sword hall like this, you will never reach the strength of Ogata in your lifetime."
The sudden sound of this old voice startled everyone, including Ogata.
Everyone looked in the direction of the voice.
An old man who was not very tall was walking slowly towards them with his hands behind his back.
Looking at the old man walking slowly towards them, Ogata and the others quickly stood up straight, then bowed to the old man and said respectfully in unison:
"master!"
This old man was none other than Ogata and his companions’ master, the first master of Sakakibara Sword Hall – Sakakibara Hanbei.
Hanbei glanced at Makino and the others:
"What are you still standing here for? Why don't you practice swordplay? Or do you think you already have the strength to master Menxu Kaiden, so you don't need to practice swordplay anymore?"
"Master! Please forgive us! Let's practice sword right now!" Makino shouted first.
After Makino finished speaking, everyone immediately dispersed.
Ogata was also preparing to take a wooden sword from the sword rack to practice swordplay.
However, before Ogata could even get to the sword rack, Hanbei called out to him:
"Ogata!"
"Here!" Ogata responded loudly.
"Come with me."
After saying that, Hanbei continued to walk out of Sakakibara Sword Hall with his hands behind his back.
Although he didn't know why Hanbei suddenly called him out, it was his master's order after all, and he had to obey. Therefore, Ogata could only straighten his clothes, follow Hanbei closely, and accompany Hanbei out of Sakakibara Sword Hall.
