Volume 3 Buddha's Enemy Chapter 142: The Fire Thief Changes His Formation
Not long after Ogata entered the playground—
Tatsuno Domain, somewhere in Matsumachi——
Somewhere in Matsutsumi, there is a two-story house that seems a little inconspicuous because of its remote location .
Although this house is inconspicuous, it has a fairly large courtyard.
On the top floor of the mansion, Hasegawa and several of his subordinates, led by Imai, were sitting around a stove.
The stove was spewing flames, and Hasegawa, Imai and others placed their hands above the flames to warm themselves.
After inspecting the gambling house in Emoto Village last night, Hasegawa moved their fire thieves' temporary base to Matsumachi.
A large and remote mansion in Matsumachi was requisitioned from the Tatsuno clan's headquarters - this is the mansion where Hasegawa and the others are currently staying.
Last night, they found the clue about the "Buddha's enemy" they had been dreaming of in the gambling house in Emoto Village .
After discovering this rare clue, Hasegawa and others secretly made up their minds - they must not let this clue be lost.
The guy who killed everyone in the casino did it yesterday, so there is a high possibility that he is not far away now.
As early as last night, Hasegawa ordered the mobilization of all the fire thieves and officers under his command, and also conscripted some of the Tatsuno domain's allies and loyalists to search the Emoto Village and its surrounding areas.
Hasegawa relied on his intuition and instinctively felt that the guy who massacred the casino was most likely to have fled to Matsutsumachi, which is next to Emoto Village.
It was for this reason that Hasegawa chose to temporarily move their fire thieves' temporary base into Matsutsumachi.
Although Hasegawa and others started mobilizing people to search last night, however, the search has yielded no results so far.
But Hasegawa was still waiting patiently.
Great patience - this is one of the qualities that Hasegawa is most proud of.
And they are warming their hands now, not just to kill time, but to keep their hands warm so that they can draw their swords in the best condition at any time.
Just as Hasegawa and others were roasting the fire silently, anxious footsteps suddenly came from outside the door.
After the sound of dong dong dong footsteps, the paper sliding door was opened by a young officer who was transformed from a fire thief.
The moment after the paper sliding door was opened, the young officer shouted:
"My Lord! We have found information on the whereabouts of the 'Glasses Samurai'!"
As soon as the young officer finished speaking, Hasegawa immediately clenched his hands that were placed above the flames and warming them.
He turned his head and shouted to Imai beside him:
"Imai!"
"clear!"
Imai and Hasegawa have worked together for many years and have developed a deep understanding between them.
There was no need for Hasegawa to say more. Sometimes, just a shout from Hasegawa was enough for Imai to understand what Hasegawa wanted him to do.
Imai immediately stood up and took a map placed in the corner of the room.
As for the brazier that was still emitting flames, it was extinguished by the rest of Hasegawa's men and then placed in the corner of the room to make enough space to lay out the map.
The place where the stove was originally placed is now covered with the map that Imai had just brought over.
This map is exactly the map of Matsumachi.
After arriving at Tatsuno Domain, in order to facilitate their search, Hasegawa obtained all the maps of Tatsuno Domain from the domain's patriarch, Sano Munenori.
Includes city maps, rural maps, and outdoor maps.
"Orange!"
Hasegawa shouted to the young officer who had come to report the news.
"come over!"
"yes!"
This young officer was none other than Heitaro Tachibana, who had just joined the Fire Thieves Group not long ago.
This young man is not only highly regarded by Imai, but also by Hasegawa. He is one of the newcomers that Hasegawa focuses on training.
Tachibana quickly walked to Hasegawa's side and knelt down, leaning over the map of Matsutsumi.
"Just now, a fellow of the Tatsuno clan learned from a woman in Matsumachi that there was a bespectacled samurai traveling with another young samurai wearing a light green haori."
"They went to the local 'Yakuza' - the brothel run by the Negishi family."
Ju raised his finger and tapped a corner of the map.
"This is where the playground is located."
"According to what the woman said, the bespectacled samurai and his companion separated around the time they arrived at this playground."
"The young warrior who was accompanying the bespectacled warrior entered the yukata."
"As for where the warrior with glasses went after he separated from his companions, the woman had no idea."
Hasegawa and others listened quietly to Tachibana's report.
After Tachibana finished reporting, Imai took the lead and said in a deep voice:
"That guy... is he still with his companions... but why did he separate from his companions?"
"...Anyway." Imai had just finished speaking when Hasegawa said, "This is very valuable and rare important information."
"Though the woman didn't know where the fellow went after he separated from his companions."
"But - it's enough for us to know that the guy's companion is now in the roaming area."
Hasegawa directed his sharp eyes towards the location of the brothel that Tachibana had just pointed out on the map.
"Imai! Gather the men immediately! Set off immediately! Capture that guy's companions!"
"As long as we catch his companion, we might be able to get a lot of useful information from him."
"yes!"
…
…
In the Tatsuno Domain, in the recreational area where Ogata was—
Looking at Ajia who was apologizing to him, Ogata waved his hands quickly.
"No, you didn't do anything wrong! I'm just confused."
"In my imagination, I always thought that in places like this, girls would chat with customers for a while and warm up their feelings before they would start doing that kind of thing..."
After hearing what Ogata said, Ajia was stunned for a moment.
Then he laughed a few times.
"Sir! Is this your first time here ?"
"...Yeah." Ogata nodded silently.
At the same time, I added in my mind: This is also my first time entering a store like this...
"Sir, if this is your first time here, it's normal to have such a misunderstanding!"
"If it's a brothel somewhere else, maybe it's like this. The girls chat with the customers for a while, get familiar with each other, and then start doing that kind of thing."
“But that’s not the case here.”
"We are not allowed to spend too much time chatting with guests here."
"Because we usually have too many guests to receive."
"If every guest spends a lot of time chatting, it will be uneconomical."
"So 'don't chat with the guests any more, just do that kind of thing' has become our custom here."
"Dear guests, please finish your work quickly so that we can receive more guests."
