Volume 5: Kyoto Summer Campaign Chapter 265 Red Dragon
Kii area, Kii Domain, Dahe Town.
It has been raining here since 5 days ago.
And now, the rainy weather that has lasted for many days has finally ended.
In the early morning, the sky was gray and dark, with raindrops falling continuously. As it approached noon, the tangled dark clouds finally dissipated gradually.
In the gaps between the clouds, the blue sky, as clear as the ocean, reappeared. The long-awaited morning sun shone softly on every house in Ohgawa.
The grass and green trees nearby and the hillsides and fields in the distance were all wet and shining.
Although there is still a lot of water on the road, and the road has become muddy due to the water, it is no longer like a while ago when there was almost nowhere to stand, so the residents of Ohgawa Town have less trouble walking when they go out.
Ohgawa-machi was just an ordinary town in the Kii domain.
There are countless ordinary towns like this throughout Japan.
Yanagiya - despite having such a literary name, it is actually just an ordinary bathhouse.
Yanagiya is just like Ohgawa-machi - it exudes an "ordinary" vibe, and it's one of the most ordinary bathhouses in Japan.
It was only a little after noon, and daytime was the slowest time for the bathhouse business. There were not many customers visiting Yanagiya right now, and the owner sitting at the counter was bored and admiring the Ukiyo-e prints he had recently purchased secretly without telling his wife.
The store owner has recently become fascinated by Ukiyo-e paintings by an artist named "Konraku".
And the Ukiyo-e painting he was looking at now was exactly Konraku's painting.
Every painter has his or her own strengths and weaknesses.
The subject matter that Jinle is best at...to describe it with more elegant words, it is "beauty paintings", and to describe it with easy-to-understand words, it is "spring paintings".
The human bodies painted by Jinle are the best human bodies the owner has ever seen in his life.
Just a few simple strokes can outline the fullness of the body.
After only taking a few glances at Jinle's paintings, the store manager was completely obsessed with them.
Until now, the store manager has secretly collected several works of Jinle - and he was able to buy them because of his connections.
The works of highly skilled painters, especially those who specialize in painting beauties like Konraku, are always bestsellers.
Jinle's works have always been in short supply and extremely difficult to purchase.
If it weren't for the relevant connections, the store manager would not have been able to buy Jinle's paintings.
If his wife knew that he spent so much money to buy such paintings of beauties, he would be in big trouble. So the store manager kept it a secret from his wife and secretly used his own private money to collect Jinle's paintings.
Just as the store manager was admiring his latest painting by Jinle and feeling hot all over, he suddenly heard the sound of the bathhouse door being opened in front of him.
The manager quickly put away the painting in his hand, then looked up towards the entrance of the bathhouse.
When he cast his eyes towards the bathhouse's door, the manager's face immediately showed surprise.
The bathhouse door was opened, and the guests who appeared at the bathhouse door were three samurai.
The leader of the three warriors was wearing a pair of very rare Nanban glasses.
Standing on the left side of this "bespectacled samurai" is an extremely tall and strong man carrying a large sword.
The samurai standing on the right side of the "bespectacled samurai" looks rather ordinary, with nothing noteworthy about him. Although he is tall, compared with the samurai carrying the large sword, his figure can only be considered mediocre.
Although these three people have their own unique appearances, they have one thing in common.
That is - they were all covered in all kinds of mud, as if they had been trekking in the wild for a long time and had not taken a bath for a long time.
After entering the bathhouse, the three warriors went straight to the manager.
Before the store manager could even ask the three warriors anything, the bespectacled leader said to him directly:
"Go tell Zhang San that the people from the Calabash House are here."
Hearing what the bespectacled samurai said, the store manager's pupils shrank slightly uncontrollably.
The store manager certainly knew who Jōzo was—he was the leader of the Yakuza that ruled Ohgawa Town.
The store manager is also one of the many cadres under Zhang San.
This Yanagiya is also one of the many stores under Jūzo.
The manager is the cadre who is specifically responsible for managing this bathhouse on behalf of Zhang San.
Although the store manager didn't know what "Hulu House" was, he had heard of the name.
A long time ago, the store manager heard Zhang San say in person that if someone said he was from Huluwu, he should report it immediately to his superiors.
Therefore, although he was wondering who the three warriors in front of him were, the manager, who remembered Zhang San's instructions, did not dare to delay and stood up. After saying "I'll be back soon", he quickly slipped out from behind the counter and rushed out of the bathhouse.
…
…
After watching the manager of the bathhouse rush out, Ogata turned his head and looked around.
The air around was filled with the unique moisture-rich scent of a bathhouse.
While touring the bathhouse, Ogata asked Mamiya next to him:
"Who is Zhang San?"
"He is the local Yakuza leader," Mamiya replied. "He is quite powerful, but he is a pretty good person. Although he is a Yakuza, he is loved by the local people because he is righteous, does not oppress ordinary people, and helps people in trouble from time to time."
"He is truly a knight-errant."
"Because our lord has done him a favor, so as long as the people of Calabash House ask for help, he will do his best to provide assistance."
"In fact, he has indeed provided a lot of help to our Hulu House. He is one of our few allies."
Just as Mamiya finished his introduction, the manager of Yanagiya came back.
He did not come back alone. There was a short but very strong middle-aged man following him.
The middle-aged man raised his eyebrows when he saw Mamiya and Makimura.
"So it's Mamiya-sama and Makimura-sama."
"Can we help you in any way?"
The middle-aged man said this very directly and without any euphemism.
"Please help prepare clothes suitable for the three of us." Mamiya also stated his needs directly without any hesitation, "and help us prepare three horses to ride. And dry food for us to eat on the road."
"And - please provide us with a place where we can take a shower."
After taking into account all of Mamiya's requests, the middle-aged man nodded slightly.
"I understand. I will start preparing immediately."
…
…
This is the busiest time of the day for the bathhouse.
So the middle-aged man directly booked the entire Yanagiya for Ogata and the other three to take a bath.
The layout of Yanagi-ya is the same as most bathhouses - a two-story structure.
The first floor is a place for receiving guests, taking showers and bathing.
The second floor is for guests to rest and entertain after taking a bath.
The structure of the first floor is also very ordinary - the areas for washing and bathing are independent of each other.
You have to wash your body in a large room before you can take a bath.
Because Makimura was slow in taking off his clothes, Ogata and Mamiya entered the bathing room before Makimura.
After pouring the hot water of perfect temperature on his body, Ogata instantly felt like he was coming back to life.
He almost forgot the last time he took a hot bath.
"This Zhang San's power is really great."
While washing his body, Ogata chatted casually with Mamiya beside him.
"As a Yakuza, he can even get a horse?"
Horses were an extremely precious resource in ancient times, especially in ancient Japan.
It was really hard for Ogata to imagine that a mere Yakuza could get three expensive horses at that.
"Didn't I just say that? Jōzō has considerable influence," Mamiya replied. "He has close ties with the government. Thanks to this connection, it's not difficult for him to get horses."
The two had just finished their conversation when Mucun, who had already taken off his clothes and was naked, strode into the bathroom.
"You're so slow ..." Mamiya cast a helpless look at Makimura.
"I can't help it." Makura shrugged. "You know, because of that thing behind me, I rarely come to the bathhouse, so when I was taking off my clothes, I couldn't help but take a few more glances at the structure and layout of the bathhouse, which delayed the time of taking off my clothes."
After saying that, Makimura slowly walked to Ogata's side and sat next to Makimura.
As soon as Makimura sat down next to Ogata, a faint sour smell entered Ogata's nostrils.
Just as Ogata gave a bitter smile and turned his head to look at Makimura beside him, wanting to complain about Makimura who was now like a stinky salted fish, Ogata's pupils suddenly shrank.
"Makimura...your back...?"
"Oh, this one." Makimura scratched his back calmly, "I got this tattoo with a friend of mine a long time ago."
Having said this, Mucun paused.
Then he turned his head and gave Ogata a helpless smile.
"Does my tattoo scare you?"
"No..." Ogata looked up and down at the tattoo on Makimura's back several times, "It's actually quite handsome... Red Dragon?"
There is a large tattoo on Mucun's back.
This large tattoo almost covers Mucun's entire back.
Unlike ordinary Yakuza who have a lot of messy tattoos on their bodies, Makumura only has one thing tattooed on his back.
Or rather, a creature - a dragon.
Red dragon.
The black lines are strong and powerful, outlining the shape of the red dragon.
A blood-red color covered the dragon's entire body.
The red dragon lay horizontally and coiled on Mucun's back, with its head raised up, aiming at Mucun's right shoulder, and its bloody mouth open.
The dragon head was raised up, with its fangs and claws bared and roaring at the sky, as if it would fly out from Mucun's right shoulder at any time, leap into the sky and transform into a real dragon.
Although Ogata doesn't know much about tattoos, he has seen many people with tattoos in his past and present lives.
But none of the tattoos on these people can compare with the one on Mucun.
To put it bluntly, the tattoos on the people with tattoos that Ogata had seen in the past always had a cheap feel to them.
The main reason is that the tattoo artists who were responsible for tattooing them were of very poor quality.
Even someone like Ogata, who had no knowledge or research on tattoos or paintings, could see that the person who tattooed the red dragon on Makimura's back must have had extremely advanced skills.
The red dragon on Mucun's back is so lifelike that it really looks like a real dragon hovering on his back.
However, it seems that Makimura only has tattoos on his back, and the rest of his body is clean.
After looking at the red dragon behind Makimura enough, Ogata couldn't help but ask Makimura:
"Makimura...were you a Yakuza in the past...?"
"Yakuza?" Makimura smiled, "I guess so..."
"How did you, a samurai, fall to the level of becoming a Yakuza...?" Ogata couldn't help but become curious about Makimura's past.
Hearing Ogata's question, Makimura raised his eyebrows and gave Ogata a strange look.
"Brother Ogata, you seem to have made a mistake... Although this is also my and Mamiya's fault. We have never told you about this."
"I'm not a samurai."
"I'm different from you and Mamiya. I'm not actually a samurai. I was just an ordinary person living in Kyoto."
"Eh?" Ogata's pupils shrank slightly in surprise, "Makimura, aren't you a samurai?"
"Yes." Mamiya nodded, "Makino is the only member of our Huluya who is of commoner origin."
"Do you think I look like a samurai?" Makimura asked Ogata in a half-joking tone.
Upon hearing Makimura's question, Ogata paused and didn't know how to respond.
Because now that he thought about it carefully, Ogata discovered that Makimura really didn't look like a samurai from head to toe.
She didn't wear her hair in a bun like he and Mamiya did. She just combed her long hair back, tied it up casually with a thin string, and let it hang behind her.
He had no katana or wakizashi hanging from his waist, only a large sword.
Whether it was his speech or his behavior, he exuded the kind of roughness that is unique to ordinary people.
He did not learn from any school or sect, and the sword technique he used was his own "my style sword technique".
"I was born in Kyoto, and my parents are ordinary carpenters."
“When I was 12, my parents and family members died of an epidemic.”
Mucun scooped up hot water from the basin in front of him to wash his body while talking about his past in a calm tone.
"After becoming an orphan, I wandered around Kyoto."
"By chance and coincidence, I started living together with a fellow orphan."
"That person has become like a brother to me."
"He and I both have some talent in swordsmanship. Together, we have created our own swordsmanship."
"Thanks to this bravery, he and I gradually made a name for ourselves in Kyoto, and we became a well-known Yakuza couple in Kyoto."
"Later, by chance, my brother and I's bravery attracted the attention of a great man in Kyoto."
"That big shot is planning to recruit us. And the conditions he offers us are very good."
"Not only will he use his connections and power to help us tamper with our household registration and change our household registration from civilians to samurai, but he will also promise us that as long as we accept the amnesty, he will let us become Kyoto's yoroki."
