Volume 2 The Executioner Chapter 96 Wishing you good luck in military affairs (Part 1)
The next morning,
Hirose Domain, Nagaya——
Ryuya has two floors. The first floor is the izakaya where Asaki and his friends make a living, and the second floor is where they live.
As soon as Fuku got up from the bed, he saw Asaki leaning over the desk, drawing something.
"Ms. Azaki..." Afu walked towards Azaki and asked, "What are you writing?"
After he pressed his chest against Asaki's back and rested his chin on Asaki's right shoulder so that he could see past Asaki's back and shoulders, Fuku realized that Asaki was not writing anything.
But drawing a picture.
Although Asaki's drawing skills were not very good, Afu could barely recognize that Asaki was drawing a young samurai with two swords on his waist and a perm.
"I'm drawing Lord Ogata." Asaki said, "With Lord Ogata's portrait, it should be much easier to find him..."
Asaki's simple words immediately made the atmosphere in the whole room heavy.
Ah Fu lowered his eyes and said, "Where on earth did Lord Ogata go..."
One month ago, not long after Ogata "disappeared", Asaki and Fuku learned a shocking news: something happened at the Sakakibara Sword Gym where Ogata practiced sword.
Although the news of this incident was blocked, Asaki and the others still learned from various channels that the masters and apprentices of Sakakibara Sword Hall were massacred for unknown reasons...
This news undoubtedly made Asaki and the others even more uneasy...
But what Asaki and the others should be thankful for is that Ogata should still be alive. But they just don't know where he went.
Because after the incident at Sakakibara Sword Hall, Ogata also sent a farewell letter to their Ryuya.
"alright!"
Asaki blew all the ink off the paper, then raised the paper in her hand and looked it up and down several times with satisfaction.
"Afu! What do you think of my painting?"
"Well...it's okay..." Ah Fu almost squeezed out all the words in this sentence from between his teeth.
After all, the picture drawn by Asaki, apart from the three points that are similar to Ogata, such as the sword on the waist, the long hair, and the more symmetrical body shape, there is no other similarity with Ogata ...
Looking at the portrait that Asaki had painstakingly drawn, Fuku pursed his lips.
"Miss Asaki...if we can't find Master Ogata...what should we do?"
"Of course we'll keep looking." Asaki said without hesitation, "No matter how long it takes, we'll keep looking."
"Lord Ogata is the only samurai willing to help us."
A faint look of reminiscence appeared on Asaki's face.
" Before Lord Ogata showed up, I found countless samurai... I hoped that these samurai could help us guard the Ryuya."
"But each of these warriors is extremely arrogant."
"They all despise my Ryuya because it's just a small, shabby izakaya. They think it's beneath their status as samurai to guard such a shabby izakaya. They would rather work as thugs for some casinos than come to our Ryuya."
"Only Lord Ogata is willing to come."
"And Lord Ogata is the only one who doesn't have the airs of a samurai and won't discriminate against us because of our civilian status."
"Just for this quality of his, it's worth my effort to get him back."
"What's more - he has done us a favor."
Asaki looked at Afu with a smile.
"At that time, after the people from Ishikawa Sword Hall came to cause trouble for us, Lord Ogata went to the Ishikawa Sword Hall alone and beat up many of the disciples of the Ishikawa Sword Hall, helping us vent our anger."
"Just because Lord Ogata helped us vent our anger, we should repay him. Fuku, don't you agree?"
"Yeah!" After hearing what Asaki said just now, the dark clouds that had originally covered Afu's face gradually dissipated, and a bright smile gradually appeared on Afu's cheek.
at this time--
"Excuse me, is anyone there?"
A strange male voice suddenly sounded outside the door on the first floor.
Hearing the male voice, both A's eyebrows were furrowed.
"Who is it..." Asaki muttered as he stood up and walked towards the first floor.
It's just dawn now.
Azaki has been running the Ryuya for many years, and this is the first time that a customer has visited at dawn.
Slowly open the door of the stream house.
Standing outside the main door of the Ryuya was a young samurai with a clean-shaven head, dressed in decent attire, and two swords on his waist.
When the young warrior saw Asaki, he immediately asked her:
"Excuse me——Are you Miss Asaki?"
"Well, I'm..." Asaki was sure that she didn't know this person. "May I ask who you are?"
"I'm here to give you something."
After saying that, the young warrior took out a small cloth bag from his arms and handed it to Asaki.
After taking the small cloth bag from the young warrior with a lot of questions in her mind, a familiar sound and touch were transmitted from the cloth bag to Asaki's palm.
“What is this…?!” Asaki’s eyes widened.
Asaki quickly opened the small cloth bag.
Sure enough - there was a large amount of gold in it.
"This is what Ogata Nosuke asked me to give you," the young samurai said, "He also asked me to bring you a message - use this money to buy a new Wufu for Ah Fu, and hire a samurai who is more reliable than him."
"Then - I'll take my leave."
The warrior, who had successfully completed the two tasks of delivering money and delivering the message, turned around and wanted to leave.
However - just as he turned around, Azai and Afu rushed to him with their arms open.
"Wait a minute! You just said that this money was given to us by Lord Ogata, right?" Asaki asked anxiously, "Let me ask you - where is Lord Ogata now?"
"Your Excellency..." The young warrior said with a bitter smile, "You are making things difficult for me... I don't know where Mr. Ogata Issei is now... I am just a person who comes to deliver money and bring a message..."
…
…
The young warrior was not lying.
He really didn't know where Ogata was now .
Kuranaga gave Ogata and others a large sum of money.
This money is considered as resettlement expenses and... pensions for Ogata and others.
Ogata has no relatives, and his master and fellow apprentices have all passed away. Now the only people in this world who can be considered Ogata's relatives and friends are Asaki and Afu.
So, Ogata asked Kuranaga to arrange someone to help him deliver the money to the stream house and help him convey a message to Asaki and the others.
When the young samurai entrusted by Ogata was being entangled by Asaki and Afu, Ogata was in the cemetery in the backyard of Genshinji Temple.
Together with Kuranaga and other patriots, they burned incense in front of a new tombstone in the Xuanzhen Temple cemetery.
“Please rest in peace…” Kuranaga, who was the last one to burn incense, closed his eyes and clasped his hands together.
Ogata and others standing behind Kuranaga clasped their hands together and murmured, "Rest in peace."
Under this new tombstone are buried the poor women of Myoharu Village who were poisoned by Matsudaira Gennai.
