Volume 5: Kyoto Summer Campaign Chapter 336: Ogata and Atachi's "Deteriorating Relationship"
Lin and her group all focused their attention on the young man - Xuan Ren.
He had an ordinary appearance, but with a scholarly air in his eyes and eyebrows - from the outside, Xuanren had a very standard appearance of a doctor.
“Then—” Shenshan said as he slowly stood up, “I have sent the person away. I will take my leave now.”
Lin and his group were not surprised that Shenshan left so quickly.
After experiencing a series of events including the "Nijo Castle Attack" three days ago, when Toda Tadahiro was forced to confine himself at home, all the major and minor events in Kyoto City fell on Kamiyama's shoulders.
The various scrolls and documents currently piled up on the desk of Shenshan have probably already piled up like a mountain.
Lin and his group were surprised that Shenshan could find time to meet Mucun despite his busy schedule.
He stood up and walked out of the room. When Shenshan was about to pass through the door, his feet suddenly stopped.
"…Makino."
Shenshan, standing at the door, turned around and looked at Mucun.
"Do I need to announce to the whole of Kyoto: The reason why we in Kyoto Prefecture were able to catch those lunatics who were planning to destroy Kyoto was all thanks to the 'Origin and Power' of a man named Makimura Yahachi?"
"No need." Makimura shrugged and answered without hesitation, "I didn't do so many things just to make the common people in Kyoto grateful to me."
"Besides, it's not all my credit that we were able to catch those lunatics."
Having said that, Makimura raised his left and right hands, hooked his right hand around the neck of Shimada who was sitting on his right, and hooked his left hand around the neck of Asai who was sitting on his left.
"Without the help of my companions, Lord Hasegawa, and the officers of the magistrate's office, I would not be able to catch those lunatics even if I had three heads and six arms."
"Instead of announcing my great achievements to the whole of Kyoto, Lord Kamiyama, you should use that energy to thank my companions, treat Lord Hasegawa to some good wine, and give the officials of the magistrate's office some generous rewards."
As soon as Makimura finished speaking, Asai, who was hooked by Makimura's shoulder, immediately said:
"I didn't do anything 3 days ago, don't thank me."
Asai finished speaking, Shimada, who was also being held by Makimura's neck, immediately said:
"I don't need that either. I didn't do anything remarkable three days ago, so you don't need to thank me or give me a reward."
Shenshan directed his gaze straight towards Mucun.
The emotions revealed in his eyes were quite complicated, making it difficult to see what Shenshan was thinking at the moment.
After a long while, Shenshan finally let out a few low laughs:
"Instead of thanking me, why not thank someone else...Haha, Makimura, this answer is really full of your style."
"I understand. Since your companions are unwilling to accept my thanks and you don't want everyone in Kyoto to know about your affairs, I won't force you."
"I will do as you said. I will treat Hasegawa to a good drink and give the officials in the magistrate's office sufficient rewards."
After saying that, Shenshan did not stop at all and walked out with big strides.
Only after the sacred mountain disappeared from everyone's sight and the sound of its footsteps gradually faded away until it could no longer be heard did Lin and her companions turn their attention back to Xuanren, who was still kneeling stiffly opposite them.
“Um…” Xuanren whispered softly, about to say something.
However, before Xuanren could finish his words, Lin interrupted him:
"We'll talk about it later. We still have plenty of time. Let's eat first."
Lin took out the pile of buns that Shimada had just bought.
"I can tell just by looking at your face - you must have not had a good meal for days?"
As if to confirm what Lin had just said, Xuanren swallowed his saliva frantically after seeing the bread that Lin took out.
"Katsurokuro."
"exist!"
"Go out and buy some more things."
"yes!"
…
…
That evening——
Kyoto, Fuma's residence.
Ogata, Atachi, and Fuma gathered in a room and had dinner together.
Ogata silently drank the hot porridge in his bowl, and from time to time he looked at Atachi who was sitting opposite him.
And Atachi seemed not to notice Ogata's gaze and just kept eating the food in her bowl silently.
And Fuma also noticed the slightly weird atmosphere between Ogata and Atachi, and from time to time he raised his face from the bowl, looking at Ogata and Atachi at the same time.
Ogata originally thought that when A-machi saw him wake up, she would slap him and blame him for knocking her out three days ago and doing such a dangerous thing as "attacking Nijo Castle".
However——such a scene did not appear.
After Atachi bought ingredients for tonight and returned home this afternoon and saw Ogata who had woken up, Atachi's reaction was... very calm.
After saying "Great", he took the purchased ingredients to the kitchen to prepare dinner for tonight.
Atachi's overly calm reaction made Ogata feel... neither up nor down.
Probably to ease the strange atmosphere around him, Fuma suddenly cleared his throat and said to Ogata:
"By the way, brother Ogata, there is something I forgot to tell you."
"Kondo came to my house late at night three days ago and said that his master wanted him to wait for him here."
"Kondo?" Ogata raised his eyebrows.
——Yeah... I almost forgot about this...
After hearing the name "Kondo", Ogata suddenly remembered that he had an agreement with Kondo.
Ogata promised Kondo that as long as Kondo handed over the wife and daughter of Master Inaba and the rifle to Kamiyama or Hasegawa, he would give Kondo some swordsmanship guidance.
The place they agreed to meet was Fuma's home.
"Because you were still injured and unconscious at that time, I told Kondo: Your master was injured and is recovering, please come back after a while. I sent Kondo away temporarily."
"Lord Fuma, I'm really sorry to trouble you..." Ogata said with a wry smile.
"Nothing." Feng Mo waved his hand, "It's just a small matter."
Thanks to Fengma's interruption, the atmosphere around them became much better.
After silently finishing everything in the bowl and saying, "I'm full," Xu Fang quietly got up and returned to the room where he had been recuperating and resting these days.
Although Ogata was still a little unsteady when walking due to the various injuries on his body, he was still able to walk back to his room.
After returning to his room, Xu Fang walked straight to the knife rack in the corner of the room.
On the sword rack were placed Ogata's two precious swords - Daishakuten and Daijizai.
After taking down Daishakti and Daishizai from the sword rack, Ogata slowly drew the two swords out of their sheaths.
With the help of the candlelight beside him, Ogata carefully examined the blades of the two swords.
Looking at the blades of these two precious swords, Ogata frowned slightly.
Then he sighed softly:
"Even a great sword like this can get damaged..."
The blades of Dashitian and Dazhizai were no longer as intact as when they were just obtained on Die Island.
There were now notches on the blades of both knives.
Ogata counted and found that there were three notches on the blade of Daishikatsu.
There are as many as four gaps in Great Freedom.
Fortunately - these gaps are very small.
The extra gaps on these two swords were caused by the Battle of Nijo Castle three days ago.
Even a precious sword of this quality far superior to ordinary swords would not be damaged after such a fierce battle.
To a certain extent - the fact that the gap has only appeared now - just proves the extraordinary qualities of Mahakala and Mahadeva.
If it were an ordinary sword, in the fierce battle three days ago, I'm afraid it would have become useless after killing a few people.
However, Dashitian and Dazhizai were able to fight the entire battle, and after the battle, there were only a few gaps left.
After looking up and down the blades of the two swords several times again, Ogata put Daishikatsu and Daijizai back into the sheaths.
Although there were some damages, these damages would not have much impact on the sharpness of the two knives, nor would they affect Ogata's use of them. From a certain perspective, this was indeed a blessing in disguise.
Just as he put away Dashitian and Dazizai and put them back on the knife rack, a female voice suddenly sounded from outside the room:
"Ayi, it's me. I'm here to change the cloth for you."
It was Atachi's voice.
After learning that the person coming was A-Ming, Ogata raised his eyebrows and then hurriedly said:
"Come in."
Wow...
The paper sliding door was slowly opened.
A-Machi walked slowly into Ogata's room holding a few rolls of clean linen.
There was no such thing as bandages in this era. People of this era used linen or fine cloth to bandage patients.
"Turn around." Atachi, who was kneeling in front of Ogata holding a clean linen cloth, said this to Ogata in a concise manner.
"Oh, okay."
Ogata turned around as Atachi ordered and took off his kimono, revealing his upper body which was almost completely wrapped in linen.
When A-machi was helping Ogata take off the old linen cloth on his upper body, Ogata asked back:
"Didn't Master Fengma just change my dressing with clean linen this afternoon? Why do you want to change it again now?"
"This is what Master Fuma asked for," Ating said softly, "He said that the linen should be changed more frequently than the medicine."
“I see…”
The two fell silent...
The only sounds in the room were the sound of Atachi unfolding the new linen and wrapping it around Ogata's body.
The atmosphere between the two became a little awkward due to their silence.
In order to avoid making the atmosphere around him any more awkward, Ogata racked his brains to think of a topic.
"Um..." Ogata, who couldn't think of any good topic, said casually, "I heard from Master Fuuma that he was responsible for changing the medicine and linen, and you were responsible for cooking and washing clothes. How come you are the one changing the linen for me now?"
"Because Master Fuma asked me to come here." Atachi answered, "Master Fuma said that he suddenly wanted to wash the dishes tonight, so he asked me to change the linen for you."
Ogata was slightly stunned when he heard Atachi's answer.
——So... that's what happened... Master Fuma, I owe you a favor...
After realizing Fuma's good intentions, Ogata cleared his throat and said to Atachi behind him:
"A-Ming... I always thought that when you saw me wake up, you would be very angry and slap me, and then scold me for doing such a dangerous thing..."
"Why?" Ating changed his tone to a half-joking one, "Do you really want to be beaten by me? If you really want to be beaten by me, I can satisfy your small request."
"I'm sorry, I don't have this weird habit of liking to be beaten..."
"...I actually..." Atachi said slowly after a long silence, "Three nights ago, when I woke up after being knocked unconscious by you, I was thinking that when you came back, I would give you a good beating and teach you a lesson for being a brain-damaged bastard who acted without considering the consequences and dared to attack Nijo Castle."
"But... when I saw Master Fuma carrying you back, covered in blood and unconscious, all my thoughts and anger disappeared."
"I only had one thought in my mind: It's great that you came back alive."
“……” Hearing what Atachi said, Ogata couldn’t help but purse his lips.
I want to say something, but I don’t know what is the most appropriate thing to say at this moment.
While Ogata was still thinking about the words, Atachi behind him continued:
"Are you a fool? When you attacked Nijo Castle that night, you offended both the shogunate and Shiranui at the same time."
"Have you never thought about the consequences? You are in the same situation as me now! You will be hunted down by Shiranui to the ends of the earth!"
"Then I can only follow you and fight against Shiranui to the end." Ogata responded without thinking.
"Puchi..." Atachi chuckled, "How dare you say that. Do you know how powerful Shiranui is and how many hidden masters she has? It's amazing that you can say that you want to fight against Shiranui with me."
"If I were alone, I wouldn't have the confidence to fight Shiranui to the end."
As Ogata spoke, he turned back to look at Atachi behind him.
"But when I'm with you, I feel like I can do anything."
"That's enough." Atachi patted Ogata's uninjured right shoulder in annoyance, "Stop saying such flattering words."
Although Ating said this, there was no trace of displeasure in her tone.
"…Does this mean we have reconciled?" Ogata asked back.
"What do you mean by reconciliation? Has our relationship become bad?"
"You've been very cold to me since I woke up this afternoon. I thought you were deliberately ignoring me to show your dissatisfaction with me for knocking you out without permission and going into Nijo Castle alone..."
"You're right. I did this on purpose. I wanted to ignore you and make you angry."
"Please don't do this..."
"Well... I'll talk about it when I feel better."
After saying that, A-machi winked at Ogata and gave him a sly smile.
“Aaaaaaaa——!”
At this moment, both Ogata and Atachi heard screams.
