Volume 3 Buddha's Enemy Chapter 137 Bathhouse
"Anyway - I will report this to Lord Omotsuke after returning to Edo."
"Knowing that the Tatsuno Domain has become so corrupt, Lord Omotsuke will not sit idly by."
"As for whether the lord of the Tatsuno Domain is innocent and who is most responsible - we can only know after the Lord Omotsuke sends someone to investigate."
"Mr. Hasegawa." Imai said to Hasegawa in a half-joking tone, "If you do this, you will offend many people in the Tatsuno Domain."
The corners of Hasegawa's mouth curled up slightly.
"Compared with the sufferings of the common people, my criticisms are nothing. Well, let's stop talking about this topic. Let's start talking about the mission we are currently carrying out."
Hasegawa swept his sharp gaze across the faces of his capable subordinates in front of him.
"We're lucky."
"We originally came here to see if we could find any interesting clues or information because we learned that someone had been killed here. We didn't expect that we would actually find it."
"There is no mistake. The casino guard who died from the sword-drawing technique was killed by that guy's sword-drawing technique - 'Divine Light'."
"Only that guy's 'divine light' can inflict such a wound."
"From now on, send all your men out."
"Start the search with this village of Erebune as the center."
"I will also ask Lord Sano to help organize the forces and hearts of the Tatsuno clan to cooperate with us later."
"We have only one target - the young warrior wearing glasses!"
…
…
A few hours before Hasegawa Heizo led the fire thieves and their officers to Emoto Village—
Just as Mamiya said, the two of them traveled at a normal pace and arrived at the town called "Matsu" just as it was getting dark.
Matsumachi is not particularly large and is more prosperous than Ogata had imagined.
Ogata turned his head and looked around with interest, and said to Mamiya beside him in a half-joking tone:
"When I first learned that I was wanted by the shogunate, I thought I might never be able to enter the city town in my life. Once I entered the city town, I would be hunted down by countless people who recognized me."
"Then I realized that I was worrying too much. There are very few people who would seriously remember which new wanted criminals there are in the world."
As soon as Ogata finished speaking, Mamiya responded with a smile:
"Of course. Only those wanderers who plan to live on bounties and government officials will seriously keep track of which new wanted criminals have appeared."
"Ordinary people just want to live their current lives well. Who would bother to remember which new wanted criminals there are and what they look like?"
Having said this, Mamiya paused.
Then, the corners of his mouth curved up, and he continued to speak to Ogata in a meaningful tone:
"Besides anything else - Ogata-kun, don't you also not look at the wanted poster?"
"You're right," Ogata said casually, "I really never look at wanted posters. I've only seen my own wanted poster so far."
"Where did you see your wanted poster?"
"Before, there was a fool waving my wanted poster and saying '300 taels are mine'. The artist who was responsible for drawing my face was really bad. He drew me so ugly. I have always been curious about how those people recognized me based on that wanted poster..."
…
…
Ogata and Mamiya casually walked around Matsumachi for a while and found a ramen restaurant.
After having a quick dinner at this ramen restaurant, the two began to look for an inn to stay.
Of course - because Ogata's purse was stolen, it was naturally Mamiya who paid for Ogata's ramen tonight.
Not only the dinner money, but also the accommodation money for tonight was paid by Mamiya.
Just as the two were looking for an inn with vacancies, Mamiya suddenly poked Ogata with his elbow.
"Ogata-kun, look."
Mamiya said this while sticking his chin forward .
Ogata looked forward.
In front of me, I saw a magnificent mansion covering a large area.
Steam billowed from the top of this magnificent mansion.
A large banner was erected above the house.
There was a big Chinese character written on the banner: Tang.
"Bathhouse..." Ogata muttered.
"Ogata-kun, let's go."
"Leave? Where to?"
"Do I even need to ask?" Mamiya cast a questioning look at Ogata. "Since we've come across a bathhouse, we can't miss it."
"Besides—don't you want to take a bath after a long absence?"
"I see, Ogata-kun, you haven't taken a bath in a while, right?"
"You stink."
After hearing what Mamiya said, Ogata was stunned, then he raised his left and right arms and sniffed back and forth on the upper arms.
“Does it taste good…?”
"Let's go, Ogata-kun." Mamiya walked straight towards the bathhouse not far away with firm steps, "I'll pay for your bath, too."
After hearing what Mamiya said, Ogata realized that he hadn't had a good bath for a while.
Probably since the beginning of winter, Ogata hasn't taken a bath since.
It was a rare opportunity to find a bathhouse now, and someone invited him to take a bath, so Ogata did not refuse or act pretentiously. He took a few quick steps to walk side by side with Mamiya again, and then walked straight towards the bathhouse where hot steam was emitting continuously.
There are two gates to this bathhouse.
There was a curtain hanging on each of the two doors.
One curtain said "Men's Bath" and the other said "Women's Bath".
It can be seen that this bathhouse is not a mixed bathing area, but is strictly divided into men's and women's bathing areas.
Mamiya and Ogata lifted the curtain with "Men's Bath" written on it and stepped into the men's bathing area.
As soon as they entered the bathhouse, a passionate male voice came from the right side of Ogata and Mamiya:
"welcome!"
The accounting counter is located on one side of the entrance and exit of the bathhouse.
When the young man sitting behind the counter saw the two Ogatas entering the bathhouse, he immediately put on a familiar and formal smile and warmly entertained them.
"Sir! Are you two?"
"That's right." Mamiya said as he threw a large gold coin towards the counter.
"okay!"
The young man sitting behind the counter quickly changed the money with neat movements and gestured to the back of the bathhouse.
After leaving the accounting desk, the first place Ogata and Mamiya stepped into was the dressing room.
In the dressing room, a bathhouse staff was walking back and forth.
Upon seeing Ogata and Mamiya, the staff member immediately approached them with a smile.
"Sir! Do you need your clothes washed? I can wash your clothes clean with just these copper coins!"
"You can wash clothes in your bathhouse?" Mamiya raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Your bathhouse is pretty good, Ogata-kun, do you want to wash clothes?"
"I'd certainly be more than happy to put on clean clothes."
"Okay, then I'll leave my clothes and his to you."
After saying that, Mamiya threw a handful of copper coins at the staff member.
The staff roughly counted the coins and confirmed that the amount was sufficient. Then, they said to Ogata and Mamiya with a smile on their faces:
"Then - gentlemen, please give me your clothes."
