Volume 2 The Executioner Chapter 78 "Are You Willing to Be the Executioner?"
Ogata could not refuse Kuranaga's invitation.
After all, this was an invitation from the second-in-command of Hirose Domain.
Ogata's highest superior besides Matsudaira Gennai.
Plus - Ogata also had a lot of questions he wanted to ask Kuranaga.
And this sudden was a great opportunity to ask Cangyong all his questions in person.
So——Obara accepted Kuranaga’s invitation.
Before coming to Kuranaga's residence, Ogata did not forget to take a detour to Sakakibara Sword Hall to tell his fellow apprentices that he would attend the banquet later tonight.
"Ogata-kun, I'm so sorry."
Kuranaga suddenly leaned over and apologized to Ogata.
"I've just heard that you have a rather important banquet to attend tonight , right?"
"Because of me, you have to postpone your banquet. I am really sorry."
As early as yesterday, Kuranaga learned from Tobizaru that Ogata would attend a very important banquet tonight.
But for his own selfish reasons, Kuranaga decided to proceed as planned and summon Ogata to his house tonight, to inconvenience Ogata and force him to postpone his attendance at the banquet.
Ogata sighed silently.
"Master, you don't need to apologize."
"If you have anything important to tell me, please do so. I am all ears."
Cang Yong stood up and straightened his clothes.
"Since you have an important banquet to attend tonight, Mr. Ogata, I will not waste time and will get straight to the point."
Kuransaga raised his eyes.
With an extremely serious look, he looked directly into Ogata's eyes.
"...Ogata-kun, are you willing to be the executioner?"
…
…
The room was immersed in an eerie silence for a long time before Ogata's "Ha" finally broke the silence.
"...Huh?" Ogata looked at Kuranaga, who still had a serious expression, with a surprised look.
Kuranaga's serious expression declared that what he just said was not a joke, he was quite serious.
Executioner - although this word is unfamiliar to Ogata, he also understands the meaning of this word.
"Executioner... do you want me to kill someone?"
"That's right." Cangyong nodded.
"Who do you want me to kill?"
"Matsudaira Gennai."
"… …ha?"
This was the second "haha" sound uttered by Ogata, containing complex emotions mainly of surprise and shock.
Of course Ogata knew who Matsudaira Gennai was.
At this moment, Ogata was wondering if he had heard it wrong.
"... Elder, who do you want me to kill?" Ogata repeated the question in a cautious tone.
And Cangyong also repeated his previous answer:
"Matsudaira Gennai."
As if to assure Ogata that he had heard correctly, Kuranaga paused and added:
"I hope you can help us to assassinate the Daimyo of Hirose Domain, who is also our lord, Matsudaira Gennai."
…
…
Hirose Domain, in a dense forest somewhere within the domain.
"I'm so unlucky today..."
A young man with a pale and somewhat creepy face said in a calm and indifferent tone.
"At the end of the day, I didn't even kill any prey."
The young man was sitting on a warrior.
The warrior placed his hands and knees on the muddy ground, turning his back into a "chair".
And this pale young man just sat on the warrior's back so carefree.
Even though the warrior under his crotch was sweating profusely due to exhaustion, and his hands and legs were trembling slightly, the pale-faced young man sitting on his back showed no intention of sympathizing with him.
The young man was sitting on the back of a warrior.
In front of him and on both sides, warriors knelt on one knee one after another.
These warriors are the young man's personal guards.
There are 113 people in total.
Every time he went out hunting, the young man would bring out his 113 guards and have them protect him closely while he was hunting.
This young man is none other than the current daimyo of Hirose Domain, Matsudaira Gennai, who came here for hunting today.
After hearing Matsudaira Gennai's complaint about not being able to catch any prey, many guards began to break out in cold sweat on their faces.
At the same time, they were also afraid that their heads, which were already drooping, would bury themselves even lower.
It looks as if it wants to shrink itself into the soil.
Because they have seen too many times how Matsudaira Gennai took his anger out on others because of his unsuccessful hunting...
In order to avoid being spotted by Matsudaira Gennai, they had to keep their heads down and shrink their bodies as much as possible...
“…My Lord.”
A burly warrior who was also kneeling on one knee on the ground but was closest to Matsudaira Gennai spoke.
"It's getting dark now, so let's stop hunting today."
This burly samurai was none other than Nanahara, the number one samurai of the Hirose clan and the personal bodyguard of Matsudaira Gennai.
At the same time, he was one of .
After hearing what Nanahara said, Matsudaira Gennai raised his head and looked at the sky which was almost dark.
"……Let's go back."
After saying that, Matsudaira Gennai stood up and walked towards the horse tied next to him.
Seeing that Matsudaira Gennai was finally going to go back, most of the guards, especially the guard who served as a "chair" for Matsudaira Gennai, breathed a sigh of relief...
…
…
"Assassinate... Matsudaira Gennai...?"
Ogata uttered each word of this sentence with difficulty.
"… Elder, let me confirm this - were you joking when you said that just now?"
"I'm not kidding." Kuransaga said seriously, "I'm quite serious."
Due to the impact of the huge amount of information, Ogata now feels that his head is a little swollen.
As Ogata raised his hand to rub his forehead, trying to relieve his brain which was a little tense from the impact of the huge amount of information, Kuranaga said:
"Ogata-kun, although you don't have much chance to meet the lord on weekdays, you must have heard about his cruelty to some extent, right?"
"...I have heard of it a little bit. I have also seen it with my own eyes..."
Ogata's mind flashed back to the scene where Matsudaira Gennai was inspecting the warehouse and killed Inoue with a single sword when he accidentally bumped into his arms...
"Although you have heard of and occasionally witnessed the lord's cruelty, you have not yet experienced his cruelty in a real way - I can guarantee this."
"In order to explain to you my motive for assassinating the Lord, I decided to let you meet someone first."
After saying that, Cang Yong turned his head and shouted outside the room:
"Flying monkey!"
As soon as Kuranaga finished speaking, a short, plain-looking young man pulled open the paper sliding door on Ogata's left.
"My lord." The young man called Feiyuan by Cangyong knelt on one knee on the ground.
"Bring me Reggie."
"yes!"
After Feiyuan responded loudly, he closed the paper sliding door that he had just opened and disappeared from the sight of Ogata and Kuranaga.
Not long after, Feiyuan came back.
The flying ape that returned did not come back alone.
Instead, he came back with a thin young boy.
