Volume 4: The Undead Chapter 264: Red Moon Fortress and the Kingdom of Lu Moving South (Part 2)
After saying this, Mamiya turned and walked towards Makimura.
"Mucun, I see there seems to be a stream there. Let's go and get some water."
"Filling water? Can't you just do it by yourself?"
"Stop talking nonsense and just follow me."
"yes……"
Mamiya led Makimura towards a stream not far away. After watching the two for a while, Ogata turned his gaze back to Atachi in front of him.
"Ayi... I wish you good luck in martial arts. Let's... meet again in the future if we are destined to do so."
In the end, it was A-machi who first whispered this to Ogata.
But Ogata did not immediately respond to what Atachi said.
Instead, he fixed his gaze on Ating in front of him for a long time before finally speaking slowly.
"A-Machi... Where is your location in Shiranui?"
"Hmm? Why are you asking that?"
Ogata shrugged. "If I don't even have your address, then no matter how destined we are, it's unlikely that we'll ever meet again, right?"
"I can't possibly tell you where our Shiranui is." Atachi smiled helplessly, "Telling outsiders about our exact location is a serious crime in our Shiranui."
"But... I can tell you which area our Shiranui is in. Our Shiranui is in the Omi region."
"Omi region... Omachi, do you know how big Omi is?"
"That's all I can tell you."
At this point, Ating paused.
Then, a hint of cunning appeared on Ating's face.
"If you really want to come find me, then go and slowly look up the exact location of the fire yourself."
"But I'll be frank with you - if you ever find out where Shiranui is, you won't be able to enter it."
"Shiranui won't allow outsiders like you to come in and out as you please."
"We'll talk about this later." Ogata said without hesitation in a joking tone, "If the ninjas in your Shiranui won't let me in, then I'll have to force my way in."
"Don't say such big words." Ating smiled helplessly, "There are so many experts in Shiranui. You can't get through it alone."
After saying that, Ating raised his head and glanced at the sky which was beginning to darken.
"……I have to go now."
"Um……"
"Ayi... these days... I really appreciate your care..."
"You're welcome... I've received a lot of care from you, too."
"Ayi... let me tell you the truth... actually when I first approached you, I just wanted to use you. After using you, I will abandon you without hesitation. Just like those respected jonin in our village, they are cold-blooded and ruthless, and they always put the mission first..."
"I've known about this for a long time. Team building is all about mutual benefit."
"You're right. But - in the end, I'm just a low-level Genin."
A gentle smile slowly bloomed on Ating's face like a beautiful flower.
"I didn't even do the most basic thing for a ninja, which is not to put your personal feelings into the mission."
"Goodbye, Ayi."
After saying that, Ating turned around and ran towards the forest in the distance that was about to become pitch dark due to the loss of sunlight.
When Ating's figure was about to disappear in the woods, Ogata vaguely saw that Ating looked back at him.
Only when she could no longer see him did Ating look away.
…
…
"how?"
Mamiya and Makimura came back with several bamboo tubes filled with fresh water.
"Did you say goodbye to Miss Ating?"
Ating has already left.
But Ogata still stood there, his eyes still fixed on the direction where Atachi's figure disappeared.
“…I feel a little lost.”
Ogata raised his head, looked at the sky above which was almost completely dark, and let out a soft sigh.
This slight feeling of loss reminded Ogata of the day when he left Hirose Domain alone a few months ago.
"You'll get used to this feeling." Mamiya said in a tone that was neither salty nor bland. "Life is like this, a constant repetition of encounters, separations, and reunions."
"I just vaguely saw that there seems to be a cave there. The three of us will spend the night in the cave tonight."
"Yeah." Ogata nodded slightly in response to Mamiya's suggestion.
"Ogata-kun, what are your plans for tomorrow morning? Are you going to set off for Kyoto right after dawn?"
"Yeah." Ogata nodded without hesitation.
"Why are you in such a hurry to go to Kyoto?" Mamiya shrugged. "Before you go to Kyoto, why don't you come to our Hulu House as a guest?"
"A guest?" Ogata frowned slightly.
"Although it is a great pity that you, Ogata-kun, are not joining us at Huluwu, our door is always open to you, and you are always welcome to visit us and take a look around."
"You invited me to your gourd house for no reason...you shouldn't have any bad intentions, right?" Ogata asked in a joking tone.
"I don't have any bad intentions." Mamiya smiled slightly, "But inviting you to our gourd house is indeed for a small purpose."
"I want my lord and Mr. Genichi to see that there is a third person in the world who has mastered the sword technique of 'Muga Nito-ryu'."
"If Master Genichi knew that someone had successfully learned the Muga Nito-ryu with the sword manual he wrote, he would definitely be very happy."
"Ogata-kun, don't you want to take this opportunity to come and see our gourd house?"
"Look at the heroic figure of the second-generation direct descendant of Muga Nito-ryu."
"And... the undisputed world's best - the heroic figure of the 'Sword Saint' Kinoshita Genichi."
Hearing Mamiya's words, Ogata raised his eyebrows slightly.
After thinking for a while——
"...Okay." Ogata nodded. "If I'm just visiting your Hulu House, I'd be happy to go. Your Hulu House base shouldn't be far away, right?"
"Not far." This time it was Makimura, who had been silent since before, who spoke up, "Our base at Huluya is in the Owari area. We can get there quickly if we ride a horse."
"Horse? Where did the horse come from?"
"I told you about half an hour ago, right? Our connections at Calabash House are all over Japan."
"Anyway..." Mamiya said as he turned and walked towards the cave he had just seen, "Let's have a good rest tonight, and then we'll set off tomorrow to find someone who can provide us with horses and a place to take a bath. Then we'll go back to Owari!"
After Mamiya turned and left, Makimura immediately followed behind him.
Looking at the backs of the two people, a smile with a hint of helplessness appeared on Ogata's face.
After raising the Great Indra and Great Freedom hanging on his waist, he quickly followed.
…
…
at the same time--
The shogunate army camp, Matsudaira Sadanobu's tent.
"Mr. Laozhong..."
There were only Matsudaira Sadanobu and Inamori in the tent.
Because I want to confirm something with Matsudaira Sadanobu, I have come here specifically to bother him.
"Are we really going to let the residents of Butterfly Island off the hook?"
This is what Inamori wanted to confirm with Matsudaira Sadanobu.
"That's right."
In response to the question raised by Inamori, Matsudaira Sadanobu, who was sitting behind the desk flipping through something, answered without hesitation.
"If this series of disturbances on Butterfly Island is really man-made, then we will have to change our approach to Butterfly Island and the cannibals again."
"I have just ordered Master Hanjing to immediately resume his research on the cannibal ghosts."
"Since we have decided to restart the research, these islanders will become precious experimental observation subjects, and their lives must be saved."
"Anyway, they can't escape from our grasp now. If we want to kill them in the future, we can kill them all at any time."
"Besides—what the monk said makes sense."
When he said this, a chilling light flashed in Matsudaira Sadanobu's eyes.
"If there really is an unknown power that turns people into cannibals... then this power can only be controlled by our shogunate! We cannot allow other people or other forces to possess this power!"
"Even if I can't possess this power, I must destroy this terrible power!"
"I have sent people to look for the suspicious master and apprentice named Kazuyo and Kazunao."
"It's just that it's very difficult to find them."
A hint of bitterness appeared on Matsudaira Sadanobu's face.
"This name is most likely a pseudonym. There are too few clues. It's like looking for a needle in a haystack. I don't know how long it will take to find these two people."
"Let's not talk about this anymore, let's talk about something more important."
After saying that, Matsudaira Sadanobu gathered and aligned the papers he had been flipping through, and then handed them to Inamori.
"Inamori, you came just in time. I was planning to come to you for something."
“What is this…?” Inamori took the papers handed to him by Matsudaira Sadanobu with a puzzled look on his face.
"This is the latest information about Ezo that was just delivered to me."
"It's related to Lu Country and Red Moon Fortress."
When he heard the two words "Lu Country" and "Red Moon Fortress", Inamori's pupils suddenly shrank, and then he quickly flipped through the papers in his hand that were filled with densely written words.
As Inamori was flipping through the papers filled with the latest information about Ezo, Matsudaira Sadanobu whispered:
"The Russian Empire has recently dispatched several new expedition teams to Ezo."
"These new expedition teams from the Kingdom of Lu engaged in battle with the bandits of the Red Moon Fortress in early March this year."
"With their overwhelming superiority in manpower and weapons, the bandits of Red Moon Fortress successfully drove back these expedition teams from the Lu Kingdom."
"But this battle was not easy for the bandits of Red Moon Fortress."
After Matsudaira Sadanobu finished speaking, Inamori had just finished reading every word on the pieces of paper in his hands.
"...Has the frequency of Russia sending expedition teams to Ezo become more and more frequent in the past two years?" Inamori frowned and expressed his concerns.
"I think so too." Matsudaira Sadanobu frowned slightly at this time, "It seems that the ambition of the Lu Kingdom is not small. They may be planning to swallow up the Ezo land."
"The Ezo area is not so easy to take over." Daosen twitched and sneered, "With those bandits from the Red Moon Fortress here, how can the Ezo area be so easy to occupy?"
"Don't be careless, Inamori." Matsudaira Sadanobu stood up and straightened his clothes. "In two days, I will leave for Edo."
"Come back to Edo with me in two days."
"It's a waste of talent to have a tiger general like you stay here to monitor the cannibals."
"I will send a new general to take over Kii later."
"When you come back to Edo with me, I will persuade the Shogun to send more troops to the Matsumae Domain."
"At that time, you will lead the newly added troops to garrison the front line in the north of our country and monitor all movements of Lu Country and Red Moon Fortress."
"Yes!" Inamori nodded solemnly.
"If the Kingdom of Lu sends a large-scale army to Ezo... I don't need to tell you, Inamori, you should know what to do, right?"
A cold light flashed in Matsudaira Sadanobu's eyes.
"I know." Daosen grinned, "We'll wait until they and the Red Moon Fortress' bandit army are both defeated before we talk about it."
"That's right." Matsudaira Sadanobu nodded with a smile, "The bandits in the Red Moon Fortress neither obey the shogunate nor submit to the Kingdom of Russia. Let them fight the Kingdom of Russia until both sides suffer losses."
"We can just sit back and watch the fire and reap the benefits."
"Master Rochu," Inamori asked, "If the country of Goro really sends a large-scale army to invade Ezo and fights the bandit army of the Red Moon Fortress to a draw, should we wipe out the already weakened Red Moon Fortress in one fell swoop?"
"… Let's talk about this kind of question later. " Matsudaira Sadanobu waved his hand.
"yes!"
…
…
In the Omi region, deep in the mountains—
In a certain mountain in the Omi region, a village was built abruptly.
Although it is a village, this village does not exude the vitality and popularity that a human settlement should have, inside and out. There is not even much smoke from cooking fires.
In an ordinary wooden house in this "village", an old man with all his hair turned gray and a huge vertical scar on his left cheek was writing something on a scroll.
The vertical scar on the old man's face extends from his left forehead to his left cheek, running through his entire left eye, leaving him with only his right eye to see.
"Master Flame Demon."
A handsome young man walked slowly to the old man's desk and knelt on one knee.
"Gitaro is here to report."
"Oh! Gokutaro, you're back after completing your mission! Thank you for your hard work."
After saying that, the old man whom Gokutaro called "Flame Demon" put down the pen in his hand and handed the scroll on the table to Gokutaro.
"Gitaro, since you are here, please do me a favor."
"Help me give this list to Heitaro, and have him deal with everyone on it later."
“What is this…?” Gokutaro took the scroll with a puzzled look on his face.
"These are the Genin who will be demoted to Sakagusuku next." Enma said in a casual tone, "Gokutaro, if you are interested, you can take a look at who is on the list."
"Then...I am sorry for being rude."
After straightening the scroll in his hand, Gokutaro's eyes slid over each name written on it one by one.
When he slid to the last name, Gokutaro raised his eyebrows slightly.
"A-Cheng? I remember she's out on a mission now, isn't she? Lord Enma, aren't you going to wait for A-Cheng to come back and report back before deciding whether to demote her based on how well she's done with her current mission?"
"No need." Yan Mo waved his hand and then showed a sinister smile, "I have wanted to demote Ating since the end of last year."
"The reason why I gave Ah-Ming a task to do was purely because I wanted to make good use of her. If we let her continue to be degraded to a state of failure, it would be a waste of all the time we have spent training her."
"No matter how well she performs her current mission, I will reduce her to dirt - that has always been my intention."
"Master Enma...you are so evil."
Although Gokutaro said this, there was no trace of regret on his face.
…
Volume 4: "The Immortal"——The End!
…
Volume 5 "Kyoto Summer Battle" trailer:
…
"Kyoto is very lively now. After all, the annual Gion Festival is coming."
…
"There is a murderer in Kyoto right now. Old lady, you must be careful. The murderer's name is Ogata Issei. If you find any clues, please inform the authorities in time."
…
"Brother Ogata, the Yoriki and Doshin in Kyoto, the officials of the Fire Thief Kai, all the samurai of the six major sword halls, and the common people of Kyoto... these people are all your enemies now. You are the enemy of the whole city. You should leave Kyoto as soon as possible."
…
"Brother Ogata, are you planning to go to the six great sword halls alone?"
"That's right."
"They must have set up a trap by now. If you go to fight them, you will play into their hands."
"So what?"
"You may never come back if you go!"
"Then I won't come back !"
