Volume 4: The Undead Chapter 241: Swords Studded the Corridor (Part 2)
As soon as Chikanosuke finished speaking, voices of agreement rose one after another:
"Master Kinnosuke is right! Calm down, all of you!"
"There are so many shogunate soldiers outside. Even if you have three heads and six arms, you are no match for them!"
"What do you want to do? Are you planning to open the gate and fight to the death with the shogunate's soldiers?"
"Don't go looking for death!"
…
Ogata listened quietly to the criticisms of the people around him.
After their criticism died down a bit, he quietly repeated what Chikanosuke had just said to him:
"How can we possibly be their opponent...?"
After repeating what Chikanosuke had just said to him, Ogata smiled at Chikanosuke:
"You are right."
"The opponent is nearly a hundred fully armed and strictly trained elite soldiers of the shogunate."
"Even with the help of Mamiya and Makimura, two people whose strengths I don't know, I'm not sure I can defeat them."
"But——"
Ogata suddenly changed the subject.
"Master Chikanosuke, do you know when a person is finished?"
"Huh?" Chikanosuke looked confused when he heard Ogata's question.
"A man is finished only when he has given up the fight."
Ogata's tone and expression gradually became serious.
"As long as you keep fighting, there is still hope of victory, and you haven't lost yet."
"Even if the odds are against me, I will never put down my sword."
"After all..." When he said this, Ogata's face returned to a faint smile, "I am a ronin who lives and dies by the sword."
After saying that, Ogata seemed too lazy to say any more words to Chikanosuke and the others. He hugged the bundle of swords tightly in his arms and walked away.
Before they had taken two steps, a girl standing not far behind Ogata looked at their backs with a puzzled look on her face and asked:
"What's the point of this kind of battle where you are bound to die?"
"After the shogunate's soldiers rushed in, you might not even be able to kill one person, and then you would be stabbed to death!"
"Was he stabbed to death by the shogunate's soldiers? Maybe."
As soon as the girl finished speaking, Oben answered without turning his head or thinking.
"It's just that - there are two kinds of the highest level of courage in human beings."
"One is to face the unknown and move forward courageously."
"The other is to face the tragedy ahead without hesitation."
"When the sky collapses and the earth breaks, there will always be a few brave people like this who stand up."
"If no one steps forward, I will be the vanguard!"
"Master Chikanosuke, please take the villagers up to the second or third floor."
"You staying on the first floor will affect our battle."
…
…
At Ogata's request, the villagers led by Chikanosuke, including the young men who had been blocking the door, all fled to the third floor of the mansion.
Without those young men blocking the door, the creaking sound of the door becoming louder under the heavy weight.
From the increasingly loud creaking sound, it is not difficult to judge that this door will not last much longer.
Before long, nearly a hundred soldiers of the shogunate army will break down the gate of the mansion, rush in, and rush into the mansion with their fangs and claws bared.
Ogata and the other three were now standing in the corridor facing the main entrance of the mansion.
After looking at the door that was being banged against, Mamiya smiled bitterly and asked Ogata:
"Well then - Ogata-kun, we have followed your instructions and brought all the swords we have collected so far. Can you please tell me your brilliant plan for repelling the enemy?"
Just now, after learning from the maid on the third floor that the shogunate army was attacking, Ogata thought for a while and then said to Mamiya and others:
"Take all the swords we have collected so far. If my plan goes well, we may be able to rely on the terrain and kill all the attacking shogunate troops."
Ogata did not tell them what his plan was on the spot, but only asked Mamiya and the others to bring all the swords they had collected so far.
After beheading Soutarou and his group just now, Ogata and the others, adhering to the concept of not wasting, collected all of Soutarou and his group's swords.
After replenishing the swords that Soutarou and his companions could still use, Ogata and his crew now had a considerable number of swords: 29 katana and 36 wakizashi.
Although they didn't understand why Ogata asked them to bring so many swords, Mamiya and others decided to believe in the plan Ogata mentioned and took all the swords with them as he instructed.
"Mamiya, Makimura, Atachi." After Mamiya finished asking, Ogata threw the knife in his arms to the ground at his feet and said to the three people, "The layout of Chikanosuke's mansion is very special."
"There is no back door. The only entrance and exit is this door on the first floor."
"After entering the door, you must first walk through this corridor that is neither long nor short before you can go to other places on the first floor or reach the stairs leading to the second and third floors."
"so--"
Having said this, a meaningful smile appeared on Ogata's face.
"Do you remember how the 'Swordsman General' Ashikaga Yoshiteru fought against an entire army on his own?"
As soon as Ogata finished speaking, Mamiya raised his eyebrows and then chuckled a few times: "I see..."
"Help me set up a position to meet the enemy." Ogata said softly, "I don't know what the shogunate has done all of a sudden to send troops to kill people."
"But since they are here to take my life, I will take their lives back without hesitation."
"I will stay here and give the shogunate army a head-on blow."
" After you help me set up the position, it's up to you whether you want to follow me to fight the shogunate army or take refuge on the second or third floor."
"Ogata-kun." Mamiya shrugged helplessly, "Stay here and help you or go upstairs to take shelter? Isn't your question useless?"
…
…
boom!
After commanding the soldiers to launch a new round of attacks on the gate in front of them, the officer finally saw that the gate in front of them had been obviously deformed.
Looking at the gate that was finally about to collapse, both the officers and other ordinary soldiers showed joy on their faces.
"Push harder!" the officer yelled, "This door is almost broken! One more push and we'll break it open!"
Encouraged by the officers, the soldiers, whose morale was already high because the gate had finally been transformed, became even more eager to fight and their fighting spirit was even higher.
"one two three!"
After shouting the slogan in unison again, the dozen or so soldiers responsible for ramming the wall once again put all their strength into ramming towards the door in front of them.
boom!
Bang!
This time, it wasn't just the sound of the door slamming.
There was also the sound of a door being knocked down and falling heavily to the ground.
The dozen or so soldiers who were responsible for breaking down the door finally fell to the ground due to the heavy weight of the wooden door. Behind them, the remaining soldiers who had been ready for action immediately stepped over the dozen or so comrades who fell to the ground along with the door and rushed into the house through the opened door.
However, as soon as they rushed into the house, the soldiers were all frightened by the scene before them. They stopped in their tracks and stood there in a daze.
Behind the front door of the mansion is a corridor of neither long nor short.
At this moment, the floor of the corridor and the walls on both sides were filled with katanas and wakizashi, with a total of dozens of them.
Dozens of swords are densely scattered throughout the corridor, making it look like a forest - a "steel forest" with swords as trees, flowers and plants.
In the center of this "forest", there are three people standing.
3 people...seemed to be waiting for their arrival.
