Volume 4: The Undead Chapter 225: A Pair of Brothers in Shiranui
However, Ogata did not tell the whole truth. For example, Ogata did not tell the fact that Sokai had known for a long time that there was something wrong with the river water but had concealed it from the islanders.
He just said it casually - based on the fact that his mentor did not turn into a cannibal, Zong Hai slowly deduced that there was something wrong with the water of the Linong River and that there was something wrong with the master and disciple He Shi and He Zhi.
After hearing this shocking , Chikanosuke murmured:
"He Shi, He Zhi... I have an impression of this master and disciple..."
"Two years ago, this master and apprentice suddenly came to this island and said they wanted to move here."
"We have always been in need of excellent doctors on Die Island. In addition, their medical skills are very good and their fees are very low, so this master and apprentice are very popular here..."
"I also had them help me treat my long-standing back pain, and their medical skills are really quite good . After their treatment, my back pain, which had been incurable before, was quickly cured."
"Chikanosuke." Atachi asked Chikanosuke, "Can you draw what they look like?"
Chikanosuke smiled bitterly and shook his head, "I don't have such good drawing skills to be able to draw their appearance."
Having said this, Chikanosuke paused as if he remembered something.
"…However, I have two items here that are related to the master and disciple pair of Kazuyo and Kazunao."
After saying that, Chikanosuke stood up.
"You two, follow me."
Ogata and Atachi, who were unaware of what was going on, stood up and followed Chinosuke, standing on Chinosuke's left and right sides respectively, allowing Chinosuke to lead them out of the room and go to the second floor.
Chikanosuke's target was the warehouse with three large lockers.
Although Chikanosuke's house is magnificent and luxurious, there don't seem to be many people living here. The way from Chikanosuke's room to this warehouse is smooth and there is no chance to encounter anyone.
As soon as he entered the storeroom, Chikanosuke saw the maid still lying in a corner of the room, sleeping soundly.
Without Ogata and the others saying much, Chikanosuke could guess why the maid was sleeping here just by looking at her.
After a wry smile, Chikanosuke walked to one of the lockers without any hesitation and pulled out a bucket, took out two pieces of paper and handed them to Ogata and Atachi.
After taking the two pieces of paper handed over by Chikanosuke, Ogata looked at them - they were covered with densely packed words.
Before Ogata could ask what the two pieces of paper were, Chikanosuke answered first:
"These two pieces of paper are the prescriptions that He Shi and He Zhi wrote for me when they were treating my back disease."
"They said that the few medicinal herbs they had in stock were not enough to treat my back pain, so they asked me to take these two prescriptions to go outside the island to collect herbs."
"I followed their instructions and sent someone to Osaka to buy all the medicinal materials written on the two prescriptions."
"And these two prescriptions from the master and apprentice are really effective. The medicine boiled and prepared with these medicines really cured my back pain."
"I thought that if my back pain relapses someday, this medicine might work again, so I kept these two prescriptions."
"I see..." Ogata lowered his head and looked carefully at the two prescriptions in his hand.
Looking at the densely packed handwriting above, Ogata narrowed his eyes slightly, wondering what he was thinking.
"Thank you both for telling me these things. It's a pity..." A trace of sadness appeared on Chikanosuke's face. "Even if I know that Kazuyo and Kazunao may be the culprits of all this turmoil, and that there may be something wrong with the water in the Linong River, it's useless..."
"We are now trapped here... We can't even leave this island. Even if we want to find the master and disciple to ask for an explanation, we don't know where they are now..."
"We get all our domestic water from the Linon River."
"Even though we knew that the water from the Linon River might have problems, we had no choice but to use it..."
"If you drink the water from the Linon River, you may be fine, but if you don't drink the water from the Linon River, you will die of thirst in a few days..."
At this point, Chikanosuke let out a long sigh.
"Although I don't want to admit it... but we who live inside the wooden wall... with no food inside and powerful enemies extorting us outside, we may not survive for much longer..."
"Is there a powerful enemy outside blackmailing us?" Ogata raised his eyebrows.
These few words in what Chikanosuke just said made Ogata pay attention.
Just when Ogata was about to ask Chikanosuke what "there is a powerful enemy outside who is blackmailing" meant, an anxious shout suddenly rang out from outside the warehouse door:
"Master Chikanosuke! Sotaro's gang is here again!"
As soon as this anxious shout came out, Chikanosuke's expression suddenly changed.
“Damn it…” Chikanosuke gritted his teeth and said, “Those guys… are here again…”
After saying that, Chikanosuke waved his sleeves and rushed out.
Another person whose expression changed was Ating.
When Atachi heard the loud shout just now... no, to be more precise, when she heard the name "Soutarou", the expression on her face changed suddenly like Chikanosuke.
When Chikanosuke rushed out, Atachi immediately followed behind him.
"Atachi, what are you doing?" Ogata, who didn't understand what Atachi was suddenly going to do, followed him with a confused look on his face, and casually stuffed the two prescriptions written by Kazuyo and Kazunao that Chikanosuke had just stuffed into his arms.
After rushing to the storeroom behind Chikanosuke, Atachi asked Chikanosuke urgently:
"Excuse me——Who is Soutarou?"
"He's a bastard." Chikanosuke said in a cold voice, "After being thrown onto this island by the shogunate, this Sotaro and his brother Aotaro gathered a large number of prisoners and took root on this island."
"With no source of food, they would ask us for rice every once in a while."
"If we refused to give them rice, they threatened to rush in and kill us all."
"They are the powerful enemies I just mentioned as 'powerful enemies outside blackmailing'."
"They have weapons in their hands. In addition, the brothers Aotaro and Soutarou are said to be ninjas born in that Shiranui. They are very powerful, so we have always been angry but not daring to speak out..."
"Shiranui?" Ogata couldn't help but ask back.
At the same time, his eyes subconsciously swept towards Ating, who had a gloomy face beside him.
"Yes. That's what Sotaro called himself." Kinnosuke said softly, "Although I don't know what that Shiranui is or where it is... "
"That's a ninja village. It's what you call a ninja village." As soon as Chikanosuke finished speaking, Atachi responded without hesitation, "It's similar to the Fuma-no-sato and Koga-no-sato ninja villages in the Warring States Period... It's... a very bad place..."
