Volume 4: The Undead Chapter 176: Cooperation Begins (Part 1)
Ah-machi took the wooden barrel handed to him by Ogata generously, and then drank all the rainwater in the barrel.
After drinking all the rainwater in his barrel, Atachi discovered that Ogata was looking at the wooden barrel in his hand with a complicated look, with no sign of wanting to drink it.
" Yi Shi, what's wrong? Don't you want to drink?"
"...No, I just realized that you made this wooden barrel for holding water. You might have put drugs or anesthetics in it."
"You are more suspicious than I thought..."
After giving Ogata a helpless look, A-Machi stood up, took the wooden barrel from Ogata's hand, and took a big sip.
"how?"
A-machi said as she handed the wooden barrel, which still had about half of the water left, back to Ogata.
"This should prove that I didn't put drugs or poison in the wooden barrel, right? Didn't I say it all? I sincerely want to be your partner. How could I possibly harm you?"
After seeing that nothing happened to Ating after drinking the water in the wooden barrel, Ogata finally put aside his doubts, took the wooden barrel that Ating handed back to him, and began to drink it with confidence.
As Ogata was drinking water, Atachi looked toward the cave entrance.
"It's raining so hard..." Ating murmured, "It's raining so hard, and I don't know when it will stop... We might have to spend the night here."
"Let's spend the night here." Ogata said, "This cave is quite comfortable to live in anyway."
"Ah..." Ating sighed, "It's really troublesome that I can't light a fire..."
"Please bear with it for a while." Ogata said, "If you light a fire, it will easily attract outsiders to approach. You probably want to sleep peacefully, and don't want to fight with the enemy who suddenly attacks you in the middle of your sleep, right?"
"I know..." Ating sighed helplessly, "I'm just complaining..."
…
…
Crash, crash, crash…
The only sound left in the surrounding space was the sound of rain.
Ogata and Atachi, unable to think of anything else to talk about, remained silent and neither of them said a word.
Two people sat face to face, neither of them spoke - such a scene should have been very awkward.
But the strange thing is that Ogata didn't feel embarrassed.
Although he and Ating didn't speak, the atmosphere between them was strangely harmonious.
Judging from the relaxed expression on Ating's face, she didn't seem to find the current silence between the two of them awkward.
A-machi silently wiped the cannon in her hand with a clean cloth, while Ogata silently watched A-machi wipe her cannon.
Looking at the cannon in A-Machi's hand, Ogata softly broke the long-lasting silence:
"You're holding a rare thing... This kind of iron cannon should only be possessed by the southern barbarians now, right?"
"It seems that you really understand Dutch studies." A-Machi cast a surprised look at Ogata, "Just as you said - this type of iron cannon is currently only possessed by the Nanman."
"But the iron cannon in my hand is different from the iron cannon of the southern barbarians."
"This iron cannon of mine was improved by my father based on the new iron cannon of the southern barbarians, that is, the flintlock rifle."
"Your father?" Ogata asked doubtfully.
"Yeah." Atachi nodded gently, a look of nostalgia on his face, "My father is also a ninja from Shiranui."
"He has no achievements in assassination techniques, stealth techniques, or other ninjutsu, but he is extremely interested in the manufacture and use of firearms, and he has a talent for it."
"Before I was born, my father, by chance, got a new type of iron cannon from the Nanman."
"Then, based on the Nanman iron cannon, I transformed it into this brand new iron cannon in my hand."
"The iron cannon in my hand can shoot farther, more accurately, and with greater power than the iron cannons of the southern barbarians."
Speaking of this, Ating's face was filled with pride and satisfaction.
"And this iron cannon is detachable."
"I disassembled this cannon into various parts and secretly brought it to this island."
"I hid the most conspicuous gun barrel in a hollow pistol barrel, so that the officials would mistake me for an ordinary female prisoner who used a pistol, wakizashi and kunai as weapons and carried all kinds of scrap metal."
"This way, I can bring my cannon to this island with confidence."
"By the way, this cannon in my hand was made by me."
"You can also make cannons?" An undisguised look of surprise appeared in Ogata's eyes.
"Yes. I am very fortunate that I am very interested in the making of firearms like my father, and I also have a talent for it."
"I inherited my father's skills in making iron cannons at an early age."
"The iron cannon in my hand is the new iron cannon I made at the beginning of this year ."
"So this is the new cannon you made earlier this year... No wonder it looks so new."
Having said this, Ogata paused.
Then he changed his tone to one of sincere praise:
"Your father is really amazing. His skills in making iron cannons are so advanced that he was able to use the iron cannons of the Nanman as a basis to create a completely new iron cannon that is far more practical than the Nanman iron cannons."
Hearing Ogata's praise, Ating's face did not show any excitement.
On the contrary...his expression darkened...
"…No matter how powerful the iron cannon is, what's the use?"
"Firearms and the like are considered gimmicks that no one in our Shiranui world really cares about."
"No one looks down on the iron cannon, and no one looks down on the people who use the iron cannon and make the iron cannon..."
"Father has never been respected by others..."
At this point, Ating's fingers subconsciously clenched the cannon in her hand and she bit her lower lip with her pearly teeth.
However, at this moment, Ogata heard something wrong in Atachi's tone and subconsciously said:
"That's because those people in you Shiranui are brainless!"
"What era is this? Do you still look down on firearms?"
"If I were the ruler of your Shiranui, I would have treated you and your daughter like treasures and provided you with endless funds and helpers."
"By the way, I will provide you with a large research site so that you and your daughter can study and make cannons to your heart's content."
"When the time comes, have all the ninjas in Ri-nee replaced with the iron cannons made by you and your daughter. From now on, we will rely on iron cannons to do our work, and say goodbye to things like kunai that are outdated."
After hearing what Ogata said, Atachi was slightly stunned.
Then he laughed out loud:
"Yishi, you are more interesting than I thought."
While wiping the tears from her eyes due to laughter, Atachi said in a joking tone:
"Why don't you overthrow our leader after we leave this island and become our new leader in Shiranui?"
