Volume 3 Buddha's Enemy Chapter 119: Executioner Itosai
"good!"
There was constant cheering from the audience, and students were throwing coins onto the stage.
Looking at the copper coins that were falling like a rainstorm, Tan Le smiled happily.
"But - it would be useless even if the real sword Tokujiro didn't come to Kanto!"
"Lord Hasegawa Heizo has always hated evil!"
"Once we find the thief's tracks, we will lead the fire thieves to chase him even if he is at the end of the world!"
"I will not stop until the thieves are brought to justice!"
The Fire and Thieves Office, a government office that specializes in catching arsonists and vicious thieves, has a new chief in recent years: Hasegawa Heizo. His legendary stories have become the favorite of the townspeople and samurai in Edo Castle in the past two years.
Everyone likes to listen, so storytellers like Tan Le naturally also like to tell the stories.
It's not just storytellers who love to tell this story. It's said that even some well-known Rakugo masters have begun compiling various jokes based on Hasegawa Heizo.
Today, he successfully made a fortune again with the story of "Hasegawa Heizo chasing the real sword Tokujiro", making Tan Le laugh so hard that his eyes narrowed into slits.
At this moment, a question suddenly came from the audience:
"Tan Le! You just said that among all the thieves in the world, the only one whose swordsmanship can surpass Shintokujiro is the 'Executioner Ittosai'. Is this true?"
The person who asked this question was an ordinary young man dressed as a craftsman.
Hearing his question, Tan Le was slightly stunned.
Recall every word he just said.
I found myself actually saying this.
"Of course!"
Tan Le said loudly.
"Although Shinto Tokujiro's swordsmanship is very strong, he is far inferior to 'Executioner Ittosai'!"
"Just comparing the number of people they killed is enough to show the difference between them!"
As soon as Tan Le finished speaking, low whispers of discussion were immediately heard from the audience.
"'The Executioner Ittosai'... who is that?"
"I have never carefully inquired about what powerful thieves have appeared in the world."
"He's called 'The Executioner'... Is he another murderer?"
"You guys don't even know that person... How secluded are your daily lives..."
"It would be fine if people in remote areas didn't know who 'Executioner Ittosai' was, but you, the townspeople living in Edo, don't even know... Don't you usually leave your homes?"
…
Looking at the audience discussing "The Executioner Ichidasai" below the stage, Tan Le licked his lips.
If possible, he would like to tell everyone the story of "The Executioner Itosai" now.
After all – the story of “The Executioner Ittosai” is full of drama.
This kind of dramatic story is the favorite of storytellers like Tan Le.
But - Tan Le dare not tell the story of "The Executioner Yi Daosai"...
Some listeners were not clear about what "The Executioner Yidaosai" did, but Tan Le knew it clearly.
" The Executioner Ittosai" murdered his lord and beheaded the lord of Hirose Domain, Matsudaira Gennai, and more than a hundred of his guards - although this story is full of drama, as a novelist, he dare not tell it openly.
The person killed by "Ittosai" was the lord of the Hirose domain and a close daimyo.
If someone with ulterior motives found out that he, as a storyteller, was spreading the heinous deeds of "Ittosai" in public, he would probably get into a lot of trouble.
Therefore, Tan Le could only laugh it off, say a few polite words, and pass over the topic of "The Executioner Itasai".
In fact, when he was telling the story of "Hasegawa Heizo chasing the real sword Tokujiro" just now, he said the sentence "Among all the thieves in the world today, only 'Executioner Ittosai' can defeat the real sword Tokujiro" - this sentence was said casually when he was excited.
He didn't take the time to carefully study who are the most skilled thieves in the world today.
Whether the skills of "Executioner Ittosai" are better than those of the real sword Tokujiro, and whether any more powerful thieves - Tan Le has no idea about the answers to these questions, nor is he interested in finding out.
…
…
That evening——
Kinki region, Tatsuno Domain——
In a remote area of the countryside of Tatsuno Domain, there is an ancient temple that has been abandoned for some time.
Inside this ancient temple, which was neither too big nor too small, there gathered five travelers who planned to spend the night.
These five travelers are without exception - they are all ronin with knives on their waists, but they have no place to go and no one to serve .
Four of the five ronin were sitting together and chatting.
The other ronin did not join in their chat.
Instead, he sat in a corner of the ancient temple, holding his katana and wakizashi, covering his face with a bamboo hat, and wrapping himself tightly around the dirty light green haori, his chest rising and falling rhythmically.
Judging from the appearance of this ronin, he should have fallen asleep.
The other four ronin who were sitting not far away looked at the ronin who seemed to have fallen asleep with the knife in his arms.
The body shapes of these four Ronin are very distinctive.
A tall man.
A short man.
A fat man.
A thin man.
"Hey." The thin wanderer said, "Should we wake him up and ask him to come over and chat with us?"
"No." The tall ronin shook his head. "They've already fallen asleep. It would be really rude to wake them up."
"That's right." The short ronin also said, "Besides, don't rashly provoke others before you understand their temperament. They might be the kind of people who really hate others disturbing their sleep. Let him sleep well, he sleeps, and we chat about our own things."
call--!
A cold wind blew into the temple through the tattered paper windows.
"Well……"
“It’s so cold…”
"What a lousy weather..."
"Hiss...my teeth are starting to chatter..."
The four ronin tightly covered their clothes, rubbed their hands, or blew air into their palms.
It is now January of the second year of Kansei (1790).
It was the middle of winter.
The Tatsuno Domain in the Kinki region was already covered in snow.
It is snowing tonight, and white snow is floating outside the temple.
Looking through the broken window at the white snow outside, the tall wanderer muttered:
"Luckily, we found this abandoned ancient temple tonight... If it weren't for this ancient temple, we would probably have frozen to death here tonight."
"There's no need to express such sentiments." The fat ronin said unhappily, "Hurry up and think of a way to block up all these windows."
"We don't have the tools or materials to paste paper, and there are no wooden boards or anything like that here." The thin wanderer smiled helplessly, "It's impossible to block it. Just bear with it for a while tonight. Let's get closer together, so we can stay warmer."
