Volume 1: Re:Zero -Starting Life as a Samurai Chapter 64: The God Sacrifice Competition is advanced! (Part 2)
Of course Ogata knew who the family elder was.
As long as there is a normal-minded samurai of Hirose Domain, there is no one who does not know who the family elder of Hirose Domain is.
As soon as the term "family elder" came into my mind, the name "Kurasaga Zaemon" instantly popped up in my mind.
After hearing Hanbei's words that were like a bolt from the blue, Ogata's expression became the same as Mikami's, with his eyes wide open and a look of astonishment.
"The festival competition will be held tomorrow morning?!" Ogata couldn't believe his ears.
The conversation between Ogata, Mikami, and Hanbei attracted the attention of the other fellow disciples in the dojo.
The rest of the people in the dojo gathered around with curiosity, and then gasped when they learned that the sacrificial competition would be moved up.
"Master!" Mikami on the side asked anxiously again, "How could this happen? This is too sudden. Why did the elder of the family bring forward this year's festival competition for no reason?"
"I don't know either..." Hanbei said in a deep voice and shook his head.
Hanbei briefly recounted to everyone the entire process of how he had just received the summons from Kuranaga.
Just now, Hanbei and the owner of Ishikawa Sword Hall, Ishikawa Heima, both received summons from Kuranaga.
The two entered Kuranaga's residence with full of doubts. As soon as they sat down on the tatami in Kuranaga's room, Kuranaga said to them directly:
"Move the sacrificial contest forward! Move it forward to tomorrow morning!"
After hearing Kuranaga's words, both Hanbei and Heima were stunned for a long time before they gradually regained their senses.
The next moment they regained consciousness, the two of them hurriedly asked Kuranaga why he gave such a sudden order.
However, Kuranaga did not seem to have the intention to explain to the two.
He simply rudely reprimanded the two with a sentence "Don't ask so many questions", and then asked them to go down and prepare for the sacrificial contest to be held tomorrow morning...
After listening to Hanbei's summary of what happened to him just now, Ogata raised his hand and rubbed his forehead, then smiled bitterly:
"When did the elder of the family become so interested in the contest of offering sacrifices to the gods..."
In Ogata's memory, Kuranaga, the patriarch of their Hirose Domain, always seemed to be ignorant of the nature of their sacrificial competitions.
Since the establishment of the god-worshiping competition, Cang Yong has never come to watch the competition.
Ogata couldn't figure it out - why was Kuranaga suddenly interested in their festival competition? And he even moved up the time of the festival competition to the morning of the next day.
"How could this happen..." Mikami's face was grim, "Time is really too tight..."
It wasn't just Mikami who looked unhappy .
The expression on the face of Ogata, the contestant in this festival competition, was equally grim.
He silently summoned his personal attribute interface.
Current personal level is——Lv10 (540/900)
Sakakibara Ittoryu Level: 6th stage (560/1500)
Wu Ge Dual Swords Level: 1st Stage ( 180/300)
Looking at his own personal interface, Ogata's already ugly expression became even uglier.
The advancement of the festival competition completely disrupted Ogata's plans.
Ogata's original plan was simple - since there was still about a month left before the festival began, he would use this month to practice madly, accumulate as many skill points as possible, and strive to improve his personal attribute values and sword skills before the festival began.
But who would have thought that the family elder would give the order to advance the festival competition, and Ogata's plan would be disrupted in an instant.
Currently, the skill that requires the least experience points to upgrade is the dual-sword style.
With just 120 experience points, the level of the dual-wielding skill can be upgraded from level 1 to level 2.
However, Ogata no longer has time to gain these 120 experience points.
Today, Ogata has already had many sparring matches with Mikami.
My body is tired and my limbs feel a little limp.
Ogata no longer has the strength to compete with others today.
If Ogata gritted his teeth and forced himself to continue sparring with others today even though he was already exhausted, he might hurt himself or make his body too tired, which would affect the progress of tomorrow's festival competition.
As for proposing to Kuranaga to postpone the time of the festival competition - such a plan would definitely not work.
Kuranaga was second only to the emperor in Hirose Domain and above everyone else.
How could small characters like Ogata dare to disobey the orders of the family elders?
Therefore... the time of the sacrificial competition can no longer be changed... it is destined to be held tomorrow morning.
"...Ogata." Hanbei asked Ogata hesitantly, "What are your plans?"
"...What else can we do?" Ogata gritted his teeth, "...Let's just do it tomorrow morning!"
"Let's settle the feud between Yuanshan and me tomorrow morning!"
…
…
What a coincidence - Toyama and Ogata learned the news that the festival competition would be held earlier at almost the same time.
When he learned the news, Yuanshan was drinking alone at home.
It was one of his fellow apprentices who rushed to his home and told him the news.
Upon learning that the sacrificial competition would be moved forward to tomorrow morning, Yuanshan was slightly stunned at first.
Then a look of ecstasy appeared on Yuanshan's face at a terrifying speed visible to the naked eye.
If we were to ask who in the entire Hirose domain most wants the festival competition to be held as soon as possible, that person would definitely be Toyama.
After learning that this was great news for Yuanshan, Yuanshan casually stuffed some copper coins as a reward to the junior brother who had come to tell him the news, and then let his junior brother leave his home first.
After this junior fellow student left and Yuanshan was the only one left in the huge room, Yuanshan silently took his katana off the rack.
Draw the sword from its sheath.
The cold light reflected from the snow-white blade covered the pupils of the distant mountains.
After looking his sword up and down several times, Yuanshan took out the whetstone and the other tools needed to sharpen the sword.
After removing the eye nail with skillful techniques and separating the blade from the handle, Yuanshan held the blade with a white cloth and sharpened the knife, which was already very sharp, on the whetstone again and again.
As Yuan Shan kept sharpening his knife, a hideous and terrifying shadow gradually appeared on his face.
…
…
The next morning,
Hirose Domain, Hachiman Shrine.
Hachiman Shrine is quite lively today.
There were many people standing or sitting on an open space made of fine white sand and gravel in the Hachiman Jingu Shrine.
The news that the festival competition would be held earlier came too suddenly, not only catching the people at Sakakibara Sword Hall and Ishikawa Sword Hall by surprise, but also those who were interested in swordsmanship and came to Hachiman Shrine to watch the competition every year.
However, even though it was very sudden, some high-ranking officials in the domain who liked to watch the annual festival competition urgently adjusted their schedules and successfully arrived at Hachiman Shrine on time, waiting for the festival competition to begin.
This year, many high-ranking officials from the domain came to watch the Shinto festival competition.
Even some high-ranking officials in the domain who had little interest in swordsmanship and had no interest in this kind of swordsmanship competition came excitedly to watch the fight.
The reason why these people, who had never come to watch any sacrificial competitions in previous years, were so active this year was not because they suddenly fell in love with swordsmanship and developed a strong interest in swordsmanship competitions.
It’s because they received news: their family elder, Kuranaga Saemon, will come to watch this year’s festival competition!
Even the order to hold the sacrificial competition in advance was issued by Cangyong himself.
Although no one knew why Kuranaga, who had never watched the Shinto competition before, suddenly showed such a strong interest in it this year, the high-ranking officials in the domain who had never watched the competition before still hurried to Hachiman Jingu Shrine.
After all - this is a great opportunity to curry favor with Kuranaga.
