Volume 5: Kyoto Summer Campaign Chapter 286: City-wide search for Ogata Ittosai!
Under the guidance of Ating, the two slowly left the crowded downtown area and came to a remote and sparsely populated residential area.
"We're here." Ating said, "Master Fuma lives in seclusion here."
Ogata looked around.
The sparsely populated scenery around him formed a stark contrast with the prosperous scenes he had just seen in other parts of Kyoto. It was hard to imagine that these contrasting scenes appeared in the same city.
However, one advantage of this remote and sparsely populated place is that it is quiet.
It is quite suitable as a place for seclusion.
"Remember to be polite when you meet Lord Fuma later ." As Atachi led Ogata towards Fuma's residence, he turned his head and said this to Ogata behind him.
"I know this without you telling me." Ogata said helplessly.
"Ah, here we are."
A-Ming stopped in front of an ordinary house.
Ogata looked up at the house in front of him.
The word to describe this house is - ordinary.
It is extremely ordinary, exuding an ordinary atmosphere from top to bottom. No matter from which angle you look at it, it is just an ordinary house.
"Sir!" Atachi stood on tiptoe, put her hands to her mouth, and shouted loudly, "Are you there? It's me, Komachi!"
"Komachi..." Ogata repeated in a low voice the way Atachi had just referred to herself, and couldn't help but burst out laughing.
"Hey..." A-Machi turned her head with a bad look and glared at Ogata fiercely, "Only elders can call me like that. If you dare to call me 'Komachi', I will strangle you to death."
After warning Ogata like this, Atachi turned his head and shouted into the house again:
"My Lord! Are you here?"
After shouting loudly several times, an old male voice finally came from the house:
"Here it comes..."
As the old man's voice fell, a sound of footsteps came from behind the door at a leisurely pace.
Crash...
The wooden door was opened.
"Oh! Komachi! You're here! I thought I heard it wrong!"
"Master Fuma, long time no see."
A-Ming walked forward and hugged the old man in front of him.
"Oh? Komachi, who is this?" The old man turned his gaze to Ogata who was standing behind Atachi.
"Nice to meet you." Ogata bowed to the old man and said respectfully, "I'm Ogata Yisei, a friend of A-Machi."
"Oh! It's Komachi's friend!"
The old man looked at Ogata with curiosity.
"Since you are Komachi's friend, you should know who I am. Nice to meet you. I am the 17th Fuma Kotaro."
While the old man, the 17th Fuma Kotaro, was looking at Ogata, Ogata was also looking at Fuma.
Fuma is about the same height as Atachi, which is only about 1.55 meters when converted into modern Earth length units.
But because of his slightly hunched waist, Fengma seems to be shorter than Ating.
There are many age spots on the exposed skin, and due to his old age, the muscles on his body look shriveled.
Although he had a shaved head, the beard on his face was very thick. He had a big beard that hung down to his chest.
Fengma's appearance is just like the house he painted - his whole body exudes an ordinary, commonplace aura.
Looking at the ordinary-looking old man in front of him, Ogata couldn't help but secretly thought:
——Is he the last Fuma Kotaro?
On the way that Atachi brought Ogata to Fuma's residence, Atachi had already given Ogata a brief introduction to the 17th generation Fuma Kotaro.
Through A-machi's introduction, Ogata already knew that Fuma Village had been disbanded 10 years ago under the order of the 17th Fuma Kotaro.
Knowing that the 17th Fuma Kotaro has decided not to rebuild the Fuma Village and not to teach the ninjutsu passed down from generation to generation by their Fuma clan to others, he is determined to be the last Fuma Kotaro in history.
We also learned that the last Fuma Kotaro in history was a master with extraordinary skills. Ten years ago, he created the feat of "breaking into Shiranui alone at the age of 62, turning Shiranui upside down and escaping unscathed."
"Hmm... you are Ogata Ittosai." After looking at Ogata several times, Fuma suddenly murmured, "He does look very strong. Komachi, you really made an incredible friend."
Ogata was not surprised at all that upon hearing his name, Fuma immediately realized that he was the executioner Ittosai.
After all, he had been famous for a long time.
"...What a pity." Feng Mo said suddenly.
"Regret?" Ogata tilted his head, puzzled.
"It's a pity that you're just Komachi's friend..." Fuma curled his lips, "When I saw a man following Komachi just now, I thought you were Komachi's husband."
"I was just happy that Komachi found a handsome husband, but in the end, he turned out to be just Komachi's friend..."
"Master Fuma!" Ating's face flushed slightly and he said hurriedly, "What are you talking about..."
For a moment, Ogata didn't know how to respond to what Fuma had just said, and could only smile helplessly.
Fuma stroked his beard and looked at Ogata again.
This time, Fuma's look at Ogata was more meaningful.
"Hmm... the more I look at them, the more they look alike..."
"Hmm?" Ogata raised his eyebrows in confusion, "Like?"
"You look like an old friend of mine..." A hint of reminiscence appeared on Fengmo's face.
"Okay, the door is not a good place to chat, come in."
Fengma walked into the house with his hands behind his back.
Following Fuma through the door, Ogata and A-machi took off their shoes in the dirt room of the house and then stepped into Fuma's home.
As soon as Ah-ching's sockless feet stepped on the wooden floor, her expression froze.
Noticing the strange expression on Atachi's face, Ogata turned his head and asked quietly:
"A-Ming, what's wrong?"
A-Machi did not respond to Ogata's question.
She just smiled bitterly and raised her right foot, letting Ogata look at the sole of her right foot.
The soles of Ating's feet, which were originally white and rosy, were now covered with a layer of black dust.
Just by stepping once in Fuma's house, Atachi's originally clean soles turned black.
And on the floor where Ating originally stood, a small footprint appeared because the dust on the floor was stepped on.
Looking at Ating's feet covered with a thick layer of dust, Ogata was stunned, then lowered his head to look at his feet.
After moving his right foot away, a footprint appeared at the place where Ogata's right foot had just stepped, due to the dust being stepped on.
Because Ogata was wearing socks, he did not immediately feel that the ground was very dirty like Atachi did.
"I'm sorry... I made your feet dirty." Fuma, who was walking in front, turned back and said to Ogata and the others with an apologetic look, "I forgot to tell you... my home... is a little dirty..."
"Master Fuma..." A-Ming's face was filled with surprise, "When I came to see you last time, your house wasn't this dirty..."
"Recently, my body has become weaker and weaker, and my energy has also been declining."
Fengmo smiled bitterly.
"My health and energy have deteriorated, so I have become more and more...lazy when it comes to cleaning. As a result, I haven't cleaned the house for a long time..."
…
…
at the same time--
At a corner of an ordinary street in Kyoto, four Okabiki were chatting idly.
We started chatting about the beautiful lady I saw by chance while walking on the street yesterday, and continued on to a restaurant with delicious food that I recently found by accident.
In the Edo period, excluding special security organizations such as the fire-fu thieves and bandits, the city's security forces were roughly divided into three levels: Yoriki, Doshin, and Okabiki.
If we use the modern police system on Earth as an analogy, Yili is similar to the chief of the police station, Tongxin is similar to an ordinary policeman, and Gangyin is similar to an auxiliary policeman.
Compared with force and concentricity, Gangyinhe is quite special.
Both the Yoriki and the Doshin were directly under the magistrate's office and took orders from their superiors, headed by the town magistrate.
Gangyin were usually recruited by their own forces or their like-minded people among the people. They were not formally affiliated with the government and only obeyed the own forces or their like-minded people who recruited them.
To put it in the words of modern Earth, Yuli and Tongxin are both members of the system, but Gangyin and others are not.
Since there was nothing to do at the moment, the four Okamotos were able to sit in the corner of the street and chat idly.
However - at this moment, a sharp-eyed Okaji noticed that the person who recruited them to become Okaji was walking towards them quickly with a few pieces of paper.
Seeing Tongxin walking towards them, these Gangyins immediately realized that there might be work to be done.
Therefore, they put away their playful intentions and stood up straight.
"Master Tongxin! Good afternoon!"
"Master Tongxin! You still look very energetic today!"
…
In response to the greetings from his subordinates, Tong Xin simply nodded slightly, then stuffed the papers in his hand into their arms.
"There's work to do. Post this wanted poster in several places in our jurisdiction where there will be a lot of traffic."
"You don't need to post all of these wanted posters. Leave one to go door to door to warn people to beware of the thief on this wanted poster."
"Master Tongxin...what is this wanted order?"
"You all should know this, right? We have a murderer in Kyoto. From last night till now, more than 30 people have been killed by him."
"We have now found out who this man is. He is the thief on this wanted poster - the executioner Ittosai, Ogata Issei."
"Lord Soshidai of Kyoto has issued an order - a city-wide search. Even if we have to turn Kyoto upside down, we must find Ogata Issei."
"It's just to catch a murderer..." a Gangyin muttered, "Is it necessary to make such a big fuss..."
"You don't understand this, do you?" Tongxin's face showed a meaningful smile, "Do you know why Lord Kyoto Soshidai wanted to arrest Ogata Issei with such a big fuss?"
The four Okamotos shook their heads.
"Because - today is the day when Lord Tokugawa Munemichi, the Lord of the Owari Domain of the 'Gosanke', is holding a banquet at the Nijo Palace."
"Lord Tokugawa Munemichi loves our Gion Festival in Kyoto the most."
"Every year when the Gion Festival is held, Lord Tokugawa Munemichi will definitely come to our Kyoto to watch the Gion Festival if he has time."
“This year is no exception.”
"Lord Tokugawa Munemichi, who has time to come and watch the Gion Festival this year, has arrived in Kyoto three days ago."
"Not only that - Lord Tokugawa Munemichi also received special permission from the Shogun this year to use the Ninomaru Garden in Nijo Palace."
Tongxin raised his finger and pointed to the ground.
"Tonight, Lord Tokugawa Munemichi will hold a grand banquet in the Ninomaru Gardens to entertain all the dignitaries in Kyoto and the surrounding areas."
"Kyoto Governor Toda Tadahiro-sama, temple minister Ota Shiai-sama, Osaka joshiro Hota Masjun-sama, Kyoto town minister Kamiyama Koshinosuke-sama... These big names will attend the banquet held at Nijo Imperial Palace tonight."
"In order to please Lord Tokugawa Munemitsu, our Kyoto chief, Lord Toda Tadahiro, has been bragging to Lord Tokugawa Munemitsu about how good the public security in Kyoto is and how any criminals can be quickly arrested and brought to justice."
"Just think about it - if we can arrest this murderer who has killed more than 30 people before the end of today's banquet."
"Then Lord Kyoto Soshidai can boast to Lord Tokugawa Munemichi and other dignitaries at the banquet about how much better the security in Kyoto is under his supervision, and that the murderer who appeared last night was successfully arrested ."
After hearing this, the four Okamotos all understood.
Tong Xin then said:
"The reason why Lord Kyoto ordered the capture of Ogata Ittosai with such fanfare was not only to brag in front of Lord Tokugawa Munemichi, but also for a more important reason, which was to ensure that the Gion Festival would not be affected in any way."
"If the man who killed countless people, Zhan Yishi, continues to be at large, the people of Kyoto will be in a state of panic, which will indirectly affect the holding of the Gion Festival."
"If the Gion Festival is affected, it will ruin the pleasure of Tokugawa Munemichi coming all the way to watch the Gion Festival."
"If Tokugawa Munemichi's interest is affected, the Kyoto officials, led by Lord Shoshidairo, will certainly be criticized."
"So, whether it is to keep Lord Tokugawa Munemitsu's interest intact or to give myself a chance to brag in front of Lord Tokugawa Munemitsu, Lord Kyoto Soshidai must arrest this murderer who has killed countless people as soon as possible."
"Now that you have understood why Lord Kyoto Soshidai has issued such a high-profile order to arrest Ogata Ittosai, all of you should take action! Quickly post these wanted posters! Leave one to inform the people in our area to be on the lookout for the executioner Ittosai!"
