“I’ve always been curious.”
Ogata, who had just put Atachi's kunoichi uniform back, asked.
"Why is the top half of your kunoichi's costumes so revealing... ah, no, so little fabric?"
"Don't underestimate our kunoichi uniforms." A-Machi picked up her kunoichi uniform and unfolded it. "The reason why there is so little fabric on the upper body is intentional."
"During the Warring States Period, the uniforms of female ninjas in our Shiranui were no different from those of male ninjas."
"Whether it's the upper body or the lower body, it's all tightly covered."
“Until later, something happened.”
"A certain female ninja was fighting with the enemy. Because she was not as strong as the enemy, she gradually fell into a disadvantage."
"When she was about to be defeated by the enemy, the kunoichi's upper body clothes were torn by the enemy's weapon, and the skin around her belly button was exposed."
"After seeing the white skin of the female ninja, the enemy seemed to have not touched a woman for a long time, so he was stunned for a moment and revealed his flaws."
"And the female ninja seized the weakness revealed by the enemy and successfully killed the enemy."
"The one in power in Shiranui at that time was the 10th Enma."
"Inspired by this incident, the 10th Enma realized that the kunoichi uniform could also be used as a weapon."
"Then start reducing the fabric of the kunoichi uniform."
"In the end, our kunoichi uniforms became what they are now."
"After changing the female kunoichi uniform to its current form, it really has a miraculous effect."
"Many female ninjas have reported that after wearing this female ninja uniform with less fabric, not only can they move more easily, but when they are fighting against men, they can also cause more or less interference to the enemy's mind."
"Of course, there are still some men who are completely unmolested."
"So there's such a serious reason for reducing the amount of fabric..." Ogata couldn't help but sigh out loud.
"We women's physical fitness is not as good as men's." Ating said helplessly, "So in order to increase our strength as much as possible, we can only use more tricks like this."
"I have a question." Ogata said in a joking tone, "Since the cloth is reduced so much in order to disturb those enemies with weak concentration, why not just not wear clothes at all?"
"If we just get naked, wouldn't that be more distracting to the enemy?"
"How can you be so perverted!" Atachi waved his fist in anger and hit Ogata's head. " When the 10th Enma decided to change the costumes of the young ninja girls, a guy made the same suggestion as you just said."
"Then there was strong opposition from all the female kunoichi in Shiranui."
"Although there are fewer female kunoichi, there are still some female kunoichi who hold a considerable status ."
"In order to avoid causing a riot among the female kunoichi, the Tenth Generation Enma can only reject this proposal."
"It turns out that someone has actually made such a suggestion..." Ogata rubbed his forehead which had just been hit by Atachi, and suddenly remembered something.
"Oh, I forgot to tell you."
Ogata took out his wages for today from his pocket - a small cloth bag filled with 40 taels of silver.
"I made a lot of money today. Today's wages are a total of 40 taels of silver. It's the bonus for helping the Shirobei Club catch Kiku-chan and for dealing with the fire-bearing thief who stole the credit."
When Asai returned to the inn first, he told everyone, including Atachi, how Ogata had assisted the Shirobei Society in capturing Kiku-komon and repelling the fire-breathing thieves and officials who had tried to steal the credit.
So Ah-Ming naturally knew what was going on with Kiku-koseng and the fire-breathing thief who stole the credit and became a government official.
"40 taels of silver?" After a small exclamation, Atachi took the small cloth bag handed to her by Ogata, opened it, and looked inside.
"It's been more than a year since I've earned money by working with my own hands." Ogata said in a half-joking tone, "I plan to buy winter clothes when the weather gets a little cooler..."
Before Ogata could finish his words, Shimada's voice suddenly rang out from outside the door:
"Sir Ogata, Makimura-senpai is back. Makimura-senpai said he has something important to tell everyone...especially you, Sir Ogata. He asked you to come over quickly."
"Important?" Ogata frowned slightly, "I see. I'll be there right away."
After saying that, Ogata winked at Atachi in front of him.
Atachi understood the meaning of Ogata's eyes, nodded slightly, and then stood up with Ogata.
When Ogata and Atachi arrived at the big room where the men lived, they saw Makimura who had just returned, and Lin who must have just left her room.
When everyone was present, Mucun said with a wry smile:
"Everyone, I just heard a lot of information about the shogunate from Lord Hasegawa. Come on, brother Ogata, sit down quickly. You are the one who should listen carefully."
"What did Hasegawa tell you?" Lin asked seriously.
"I said a lot of things..." Makimura smiled bitterly and continued, "I was taken to a room in the headquarters of the Fire Thieves..."
…
…
Time goes back to a period of time ago——
…
…
The quiet room where Makimura and Hasegawa are currently located is located in a remote and sparsely populated area of ​​the headquarters of the Fire Thieves.
Because there are not many people coming and going and it is extremely quiet both during the day and at night, Hasegawa is particularly fond of this quiet room. Whenever he feels tired on weekdays, Hasegawa will take a short rest in this quiet room.
It was precisely because there were very few people coming and going outside this quiet room that Hasegawa chose to have a secret conversation with Makimura in this quiet room.
Because the content of his conversation with Makimura must not be known to outsiders, Hasegawa informed his confidant Yamazaki before entering the room, and asked Yamazaki to inform everyone currently staying at the headquarters not to approach this quiet room.
After making all the preparations, Hasegawa entered the quiet room.
After a series of questions were thrown at Mucun like a machine gun, the quiet room fell into a quagmire called "dead silence".
Hasegawa said nothing and waited quietly for Makimura's answer.
Makimura also didn't say anything, but just fixed his astonished eyes on Hasegawa in front of him.
There is only one candle for lighting in this quiet room, which is placed in the center of the room, right between Makimura and Hasegawa.
Although the doors and windows of the quiet room were closed, there was still a slight breeze blowing into the room through the gaps between the doors and windows.
The flame of the candle placed between the two of them swayed in the breeze that blew into the room, and the shadows of Makimura and Hasegawa also swayed on the wall of the room.
After a while, Mucun clasped his arms across his chest.
"…Hasegawa-sama, it's hard for me to handle when you ask me such a random question."
"It's impossible for me to answer the series of questions you just asked without knowing anything clearly."
"Are you trying to capture Ogata Ittosai, who committed the heinous crime of attacking Nijo Castle and burning down its castle tower?"
Makimura cast a probing look at Hasegawa.
"I'm not trying to capture Ogata Ittosai."
Hasegawa shook his head.
"Rather--quite the contrary."
"I would like to ask Ogata Ittosai for help."
"No... To be more precise, I want you and Ogata Ittosai to help me."
"Help you?" Mucun's brows frowned even deeper.
"Makino..." Hasegawa paused when he said this.
Judging from his appearance, he seemed to be hesitating.
But the hesitation on his face slowly disappeared after a while.
"Do you know Shiranui or the Shiranui Village?"
After hearing the word "Shiranui" from Hasegawa's mouth, Makimura's pupils shrank slightly.
More than just knowing it, I hear this name almost every day during this period - Makimura really wanted to say this to Hasegawa.
But he finally resisted the urge to say this and pretended to be confused:
"I've heard a little bit about it. I heard it's a ninja village like Iga no Sato and Koga no Sato during the Warring States Period."
Hasegawa nodded slightly, and then continued:
"That's right."
"Shiranui is the last remaining ninja in our country."
"And this last ninja started cooperating with the shogunate some time ago."
"Of course, cooperating with the shogunate is just a nice way of saying it."
"To put it bluntly, the ninjas in Shiranui were recruited by the shogunate and became the shogunate's official ninjas."
Makimura pretended to know little about Shiranui and listened carefully, nodding from time to time.
"This summer, Shiranui received their first big mission from the Shogunate after cooperating with them."
"That is, when the Lord of Owari Domain held a banquet in Nijo Castle, he served as the guard of Nijo Castle."
"And the night when the Lord of Owari Domain held a banquet in Nijo Castle was exactly the night when we worked together to stop those lunatics from destroying Kyoto."
"You should know what happened in Nijo Castle afterwards, Makimura."
"Nijo Castle was breached by Ogata Ittosai single-handedly, and the castle tower was burned down. All the Shiranui ninjas guarding Nijo Castle that night were wiped out."
"The first major mission ended in such an unbearable way. Shiranui's ugly behavior in Kyoto this summer made almost everyone in the shogunate, including the shogun, extremely dissatisfied."
"There are many people in the shogunate who are extremely dissatisfied with the Shogun's appointment of the Shiranui ninja."
"After Shiranui's disgraceful behavior was exposed in Kyoto, the call for 'letting Shiranui's ninjas go back to where they came from' immediately became much louder."
"The first time they carried out a major mission assigned by the shogunate, they ended in failure, and it was a disgraceful failure. The ninjas in Shiranui were getting anxious."
"After the 'Nijo Castle Incident' this summer, many shogunate officials criticized the Shiranui ninjas for being too weak to be of any use."
"In order to restore their lost reputation, Shiranui decided to send a ninja named Gokutaro under their command to participate in the 'Imperial Trial' that is about to begin."
"Win the first place in the 'Imperial Trial' and prove the strength of Shiranui to those shogunate officials who criticize them."
Hearing this, Mucun's eyebrows raised slightly.
The information he heard from Hasegawa exactly matched the information he and Asai learned from Gokutaro at Shikiya tonight.
While Hasegawa was swallowing his saliva to moisten his somewhat dry throat, Makimura took advantage of this gap to interrupt:
"I now understand what happened in Shiranui."
"But is there any connection between this Shiranui and what you just said, 'I need a favor from me and Ogata Ittosai'?"
“There really is a connection.”
After saying this lightly, Hasegawa cleared his throat.
"I have mentioned this before, right? Many of the shogunate officials are quite opposed to recruiting Shiranui as a royal ninja."
"After learning that Shiranui was planning to use the 'Imperial Trial' to redeem their reputation, the shogunate officials who were against Shiranui were naturally not going to sit idly by."
"And the method that these shoguns who opposed Shiranui came up with to prevent Gokutaro from getting a good ranking in the '''Gozen Trial'' was to send experts to participate in the ''Gozen Trial''."
"If we send a master to defeat Gokutaro in the 'Gozen Test', then Gokutaro will naturally not be able to get the first place in the 'Gozen Test' martial arts test."
"So - the shogun who came up with this idea came to me, who is in charge of the fire thieves."
Hasegawa raised his right index finger and pointed at himself.
While pointing at himself, Hasegawa gave a wry smile.
"My members of the Fire Thieves Kai are among the few elite in Japan who have both superb skills and rich combat experience."
"It can even be said that the army currently stationed around Edo and defending Edo is not as strong as my Fire Thief Kai."
"Except for the unknown Shiranui, my Fire Thieves Kai is the strongest armed force in Edo at present - I am very confident about this."
When Hasegawa said this, there was a hint of pride in his tone.
"A common problem among today's samurai is that they have only wielded the 'dojo sword' and rarely wielded a real sword."
"I've seen many cases where a 'Menkyō Kaiden' holder who had only swung a real sword at the air due to lack of actual combat experience was defeated by a 'Directory' holder who had tried to swing a real sword at a human being."
"Those shoguns who opposed Shiranui also know that my Fire Thieves Kai is the most powerful armed force in Edo, and the members have actual combat experience that most samurai currently lack."
"So they came to me and asked me to send the most elite men under my command to participate in the 'Imperial Trial'."
"They told me that if I can't find suitable subordinates to participate in the 'Imperial Trial', I can ask for help from trusted and capable friends."
Hearing this, the tangled ball of wool in Mucun's mind straightened out one strand at a time, forming clear parallel lines.
Makimura finally understood what Hasegawa meant when he said at the beginning, "I have something to ask of you, Ogata Ittosai."
"So that's how it is..." Makimura let out a long sigh, "You're planning to ask me and Brother Ogata to participate in the 'Imperial Trial'..."
"That's right," Hasegawa nodded solemnly, "I've seen your skills in Kyoto, Makimura."
"I have also seen several experts who use the Odachi."
"But the few masters of Ōdachi that I have seen are far inferior to you in strength."
"And Ogata Ittosai is the most skilled swordsman I have ever seen in the past 45 years."
"Mucun, I won't hide it from you."
"I plan to use the 'human wave tactic'."
"At present, most of my elite members of the Fire Thieves Kai are not in Edo because they are heading to the Tohoku region to capture a vicious thief."
"Although most of the elite troops have left, there are still some people with decent strength left in Edo."
"Among the subordinates currently staying in Edo, there are about four who are quite capable, have no important tasks to attend to recently, and are capable of passing the first literary test of the 'Gozen Exam'."
Hasegawa held up four fingers.
"I intend to have all four of my subordinates participate in the 'Imperial Trial'."
"At the same time, I will ask some friends who are capable and can be trusted to participate in the 'Gozen Trial'."
"In a word - I will mobilize all the people I can to participate in the 'Gozen Test'. I will make sure that Gokutaro cannot get the first place in the 'Gozen Test' martial arts test."
When Hasegawa finished speaking, Makimura couldn't help but show a look of doubt on his face.
"It's easy to ask your subordinates to participate in the 'Imperial Trial'. You are their boss. As long as you give the order, they will definitely not dare to disobey."
"But if I ask my friends to participate in the 'Gozen Trial', I might end up owing them a debt of gratitude."
"You're willing to go to such lengths to prevent Gokutaro from winning the first place in the 'Gozen Kiku' martial arts test... Lord Hasegawa, are you also one of the shogunate retainers who are 'opposing Shiranui'?"
"…I am not part of the shogunate that 'opposes Shiranui' ."
Hasegawa shook his head.
"To be honest, I have always stayed away from this kind of political struggle."
"I don't care what happens to Shiranui."
"The reason why I was willing to go to such lengths to stop Shiranui's attempt at the 'Imperial Trial' was simply because those 'opposed to Shiranui' shogunate officials offered me a reward that was hard to refuse."
"What?" Mucun changed his tone to a half-joking one, "Did those people give you an unbelievable amount of money?"
"I didn't get any money." Hasegawa smiled helplessly, "Makimura, do you know the Renzuki Station I founded?"
"I know." A serious look appeared on Makimura's face. "Before I gave up on being the Yoriki of Kyoto...about three years ago, I heard about the Human Footprints you founded, Hasegawa-sama."
"To be honest, I have always thought that the Hitoshiyori Field you built, Master Hasegawa, is really great. There must be countless criminals who have been redeemed by your Hitoshiyori Field."
"Three years ago... That was when I became the leader of the Fire Thieves and started building the Hitoshiyome."
"What a pity." Hasegawa gave a wry smile, "The operation of the Renzukuri Station has been quite difficult these days."
"Mr. Lao Zhong believes that the revenue from my human foot delivery station is far lower than the cost, and it is a complete waste of money."
"So they put pressure on me in various ways, hoping that I would shut down the Renzukuri Station and invest the money used to operate the Renzukuri Station into the construction of the fire thieves."
"I don't want to close the Renzu Post, and I am also distressed by the pressure from the senior Chinese people."
"And the shogun who's against Shiranui promised me that if I can successfully prevent Gokutaro from getting the first place in the martial arts test of the 'Gozen Test', they will lend a hand to me and help me run the Hitoshiyome Field."
"There are many powerful people among these retainers. If I have their help, my pressure will definitely be much less."
"In order to allow the renzuyichang to continue to operate smoothly, I decided to risk it all."
After saying this, Hasegawa chuckled a few times at himself.
"...I now understand the details of what happened." Makimura, who still had his arms folded across his chest, nodded, "Does this have to be the way to stop Gokutaro from getting the first place in the martial arts exam?"
"Isn't there another way?"
"For example, tampering with the 'Imperial Trial' or something like that."
"As far as I know, the 'Gozen Trial' consists of two rounds, right?"
"First the literary test, then the martial arts test."
"Only those who pass the literary test can take the martial arts test."
"You can try to use some tricks in the written test."
"For example, deliberately giving Gokutaro some difficult test questions."
"If he fails the literary test, he won't even be qualified to take the martial arts test."
As soon as Makimura finished speaking, Hasegawa shook his head.
"The 'Imperial Trial' was personally conducted by Lord Matsudaira Sadanobu, who was also the senior councilor."
"Matsudaira Sadanobu holds a neutral attitude towards Shiranui."
"Although I haven't paid much attention to this 'Imperial Trial', from what I know, Lord Elder takes this 'Imperial Trial' very seriously. He won't allow anyone to mess up the 'Imperial Trial'."
"With Lord Rochu in charge, it is impossible to tamper with the 'Gozen Test' to prevent Gokutaro from getting a good ranking in the 'Gozen Test'."
"Is that so..." Makimura raised his hand and scratched his hair with a helpless smile, "Lord Hasegawa, you actually want me to participate in the 'Imperial Trial'..."
"I definitely won't be able to participate in the 'Imperial Trial'."
"I haven't even read the Four Books and Five Classics in their entirety."
"I'm sure I won't even pass the first essay test."
"So I definitely can't help."
"As for Brother Ogata..."
Having said this, the expression on Makura's face became quite strange.
"Master Hasegawa, what can I say to you... You are actually planning to ask Brother Ogata to help you..."
"You are the leader of the Fire Thief Kai."
"And Mr. Ogata committed the serious crime of attacking Nijo Castle and causing its castle tower to burn down three months ago."
"As the leader of a fire thief, you actually want to ask the most notorious criminal in the country for help... Should I say you are bold... or should I say you are abnormal..."
As soon as Makimura finished speaking, Hasegawa chuckled a few times.
"Makimura, I am the chief of the Fire Thieves Group, and I have arrested countless criminals."
"But don't think of me as someone who is old-fashioned, inflexible, and intolerant of any dust."
"You probably don't know what kind of person I was when I was young, right?"
"When I was young, I was a person who liked to eat, drink, gamble and whore, and I was always fighting with people on the street."
"Do you think I could be a rigid and inflexible person?"
"'Be upright when you should be upright, and turn a blind eye when you should turn a blind eye' - this is my motto."
"I can't imagine the consequences of not having enough people on the field."
"For the sake of the people's livelihood, I can't care so much."
"Anyway, this isn't the first time I've joined hands with Ogata Ittosai. I've already fought alongside Ogata Ittosai once in Kyoto three months ago."
"Besides... asking Ogata Ittosai to help is nothing..."
"I need to build the Hitomi Bandits' Kai and operate the Hitomi Station. The funds the shogunate has allocated to me are simply not enough."
"In order to have enough money to run the Hitoshiyome field, I did something more daring than asking Ogata Ittosai for help."
“And I’m still doing that now.”
Hasegawa put on a self-deprecating smile.
"What I'm doing to raise money is really bold."
"If the high-ranking officials of the shogunate find out what I am doing now, immediately dismissing me would be the least of my punishment. I might even have to commit seppuku to apologize."
"But I have already been aware of this and prepared for it."
After hearing what Hasegawa said, shock and astonishment appeared on Makura's face.
"Lord Hasegawa, what have you done? You've even gone to the extent of having to commit seppuku if you're caught... Are you trafficking in people?"
"Who do you think I am? I would never do such a despicable thing." Hasegawa said unhappily, "What I did was not such a heinous thing."
"But it's not something to brag about. So I don't want to tell you what I've been doing to raise money."
"Let's leave this topic at that."
"Let's get back to the topic, Makimura."
"Although some people say that Ogata Ittosai has died in Nijo Castle, there are still various opinions about whether Ogata Ittosai is dead or alive."
"But I think a man like Ogata Ittosai, who can defeat a thousand enemies with one man, would never die like this."
"Is Ogata Ittosai still alive?"
Although Hasegawa's sentence is in the form of a question, its tone is that of an affirmative sentence.
"Did Ogata Ittosai come with you to Edo? Or is he in the Kanto region now?"
"If Ogata Ittosai is in Edo or the surrounding area, can you help me contact Ogata Ittosai so that I can talk to him?"
Looking at Hasegawa with a sincere face, Makimura, with complicated emotions on his face, was silent for a while and then sighed softly.
"…Lord Hasegawa, you are right. Brother Ogata is not dead. He is still alive and well."
"Maybe after a while, you'll hear news that Ogata Ittosai is active somewhere."
"But he is not in Edo, nor in the Kanto region."
"I don't know where he is now."
"I haven't seen him since we parted in Kyoto."
"He said he wanted to travel to the north. He might have already reached the Aizu Domain."
Mucun made up a lie casually.
After hearing Makimura's answer, Hasegawa's face showed obvious disappointment.
"Isn't Ogata Ittosai nearby right now... Well, whatever."
"Then... Makimura, are you willing to lend a hand to me and participate in the 'Imperial Trial'?"
"Master Hasegawa, didn't I just say that?" Makimura gave a wry smile, "I haven't even read all the Four Books and Five Classics."
"Even if I take part in the Imperial Examination, I, who haven't even read all the Four Books and Five Classics, will definitely not pass the literary examination."
“I see… ah…”
After letting out another long sigh, Hasegawa leaned over and bowed to Makimura.
"I'm really sorry to have taken up so much of your time tonight."
"Of course not." Mucun quickly returned the greeting, "I have plenty of time anyway."
"Please don't tell anyone else what happened tonight. After all..."
Before Hasegawa finished speaking, Makimura immediately responded:
"I understand. I won't say anything nonsense. Even if I do, I don't have anyone to talk to..."
Hasegawa stood up slowly.
"Makimura, I'll take you to the door of my Fire Thief Kai headquarters."
"Ah, thank you very much. The headquarters of your Fire Thieves is quite large. If no one leads the way, I might really get lost."
After saying this witty remark, Makimura picked up his large sword and slowly stood up following Hasegawa.
…
…
Timeline returns to the present -
"Good fellow."
After Makimura finished telling the details of his secret conversation with Hasegawa, the first person to express his thoughts was Asai.
"Hasegawa would have asked you to keep the details of tonight's spy secret confidential, right? You just came back from the Fire Thieves headquarters and you leaked the secret to us."
As soon as Asai finished speaking, Makimura said unhappily:
"Hasegawa did tell me to keep it a secret."
"I also promised Hasegawa at the time that I would never say anything careless."
"My promise is 'I won't say anything nonsense'."
"I told you the secrets. Doesn't that count as 'random talk'?"
As soon as Makimura finished speaking, Mamiya said:
"You actually concealed the fact that Ogata-kun was in Edo from Hasegawa."
Makimura shrugged and said, "I will not disclose Mr. Ogata's whereabouts without his permission."
"Lord Hasegawa actually wants Lord Ogata to participate in the 'Imperial Examination'..." Shimada murmured, "Without disguise, Lord Ogata will not be able to participate in the 'Imperial Examination' at all."
"As long as you say the name of 'Ogata Yoshisei', you will definitely be surrounded by a group of officials."
"Lord Hasegawa must have understood this, but he actually planned to let Lord Ogata participate in the 'Imperial Trial'. Could it be that he has some means to help Lord Ogata disguise himself?"
"Probably." Mamiya responded, "After all, Lord Hasegawa is the chief of the Fire Thieves Kai. It's normal for him to have one or two tricks to help people disguise themselves."
"Um... I've been wanting to ask this since a while ago." Atachi suddenly asked cautiously, "What is this 'Human Footpath'?"
"That was something that Mr. Hasegawa built three years ago... It's something really amazing."
Makimura replied.
"Three years ago, when Lord Hasegawa took office as the new chief of the fire thieves, he built the Hitoshiyome field against all odds."
"The Renzukijiba specializes in detaining those prisoners who were caught by the fire thieves and thieves and whose crimes were less serious. They then teach these prisoners how to use an abacus and how to keep accounts... In short, they teach these prisoners skills so that they can have a skill."
"As far as I know, Lord Hasegawa's original intention of building the Renzokujiya was to give these prisoners a skill to survive. This way, when they are released from prison, they can make a living by relying on the skills they learned in the Renzokujiya without having to commit crimes again."
"Eh..." Ating exclaimed, "What a great idea..."
"I also think Hasegawa's idea of ​​letting criminals acquire a skill so that they don't have to rely on crime to make a living in the future is great." Lin, who had been silent since a while ago, suddenly spoke up.
"In this world where many samurai do not regard ordinary people as human beings, there are officials like Hasegawa who can sympathize with prisoners."
“This can be considered a miracle.”
At this point, a faint smile appeared on Lin's face for the first time in a long time.
As Lin finished speaking , Jiulang, who was sitting next to Lin, continued:
"Although I always find Hasegawa annoying for always chasing after my lord and me."
"But I still have to give him high praise for his behavior of building and operating the human foot mail field."
As soon as Mamiya finished speaking, Lin cleared her throat.
Then he said seriously:
"Yahachi, thank you for your hard work."
"We all know the details of what happened."
"Many of the shogunate officials dislike Shiranui... Well, that's to be expected."
At this time, Asai suddenly interrupted:
“…I think this might be a good opportunity.”
A thoughtful look slowly appeared on Asai's face.
"Hasegawa holds a high position in the shogunate."
"If we cooperate with him, we can get some useful information from him."
"For example - where is Shiranui?"
"Hasegawa is a high-ranking official in the shogunate. He might know the exact location of Shiranui."
"If we can learn the exact location of Shiranui from Hasegawa, it would save us a lot of trouble."
"Oh? Asai." Genichi smiled, "Are you going to agree to Hasegawa and let Ogata-kun participate in the 'Gozen Test'?"
"It is not necessary to let Ittosai participate in the 'Gozen Test'." Asai said, "Hasegawa's goal is just to let as many powerful people as possible participate in the 'Gozen Test' to minimize the chances of Gokutaro getting the first place in the martial arts test."
"In that case, we can just send other people."
"We will cooperate with Hasegawa on the condition that we can send other experts."
"Let Hasegawa tell us everything he knows about Shiranui."
As soon as Asai finished speaking, Mamiya and others present nodded in agreement.
And at this moment, a faint voice sounded.
"...I actually don't mind participating in the 'Gozen Trial'."
The person who spoke was Ogata, who was sitting cross-legged next to Atachi with his hands crossed in the sleeves of his haori.