"Add our page to the history books!"
——Matsudaira Sadanobu/Before the Army Sets Out
…
…
At this time, Aisuma and the others had already whetted their appetites because of grandma.
Everyone looked at grandma expectantly.
The grandmother, who was sitting on a big rock, cleared her throat and spoke :
"Whether that Majima Goro killed 10 people or 100 people - this kind of thing is actually not important at all."
“There’s absolutely no need to worry about this kind of thing.”
After hearing grandma say "There's no need to worry about this kind of thing", Aisuma and the others were all surprised and didn't understand what grandma meant.
And what grandma said next answered their questions.
"The real strength of that Majima Goro is not how many people he killed on the night our village was attacked."
"It's not like he saved that many people."
"What was truly amazing about him was that he chose to rush into our village and lend us a helping hand."
My grandmother used to tell the young children in the village who sat around her knees about the heroic epics of the Ainu people, so she was also a very good storyteller. Both the tone and rhythm of her speech were just right.
Whether it was Aisuma and others, or the young man who had just followed his grandmother to move the dried meat, they were all fascinated by what was happening, watching and listening attentively.
"We have no relationship with him in this village. He didn't need to come to save us. He could have just stood by and watched, or just left."
"Even if he stood aside or ran away, no one would criticize him. After all, he really has no reason to lend a helping hand to our village."
“But he didn’t do that.”
"He chose to help our village, even though doing so might not benefit him in the slightest and might even put him at risk of injury or death."
"In my opinion, judging a man's bravery is not based on how many people he has killed."
“Even if a person is extremely skilled and has killed hundreds or thousands of enemies, there is a high chance that he is a coward.”
"Conversely, even if a person doesn't have the ability to kill a chicken, or even kill a single person, he may still be a true hero."
"From the moment Majima Goro chose to rush into the village and fight alongside us, he was a true hero."
"Compared to the way he rushed into our village without hesitation, how many people he killed and how many people he saved are just trivial matters that don't need to be discussed in detail."
Grandma's voice fell.
Aisuma and others, as well as the young man who had just accompanied grandma to deliver the meat, were now staring at grandma in a daze.
The young man who followed grandma to deliver meat now had his eyes wide open.
He just thought that grandma was going to say something like Majima Goro killed hundreds of people or something...
Grandma had a gentle smile on her face.
Asuma and the others were silent, with thoughtful expressions on their faces.
After a while, Asuma finally let out a sigh and broke the silence.
"...I feel like my head was hit hard by a sledgehammer." Asuma smiled bitterly, "Granny, you're right...It's really foolish for us to worry about how many people Majima Goro killed..."
"What we should pay more attention to is not how many people Majima Goro killed..."
Many people present, including Aisuma, looked guilty.
“Hahaha…” Grandma raised her head and covered her mouth with her hands, laughing softly, “Kids, there’s no need to make such expressions.”
"Okay, you still want to hear the detailed story of what happened to Majima Goro that night, right?"
"I'll tell you now, mother-in-law."
“It might be a little long.”
Grandma's words made Aisuma and the others immediately put away the shame on their faces, and they looked at Grandma intently as they did before.
…
…
At this moment——
"It's just like the rumors say..." Atachi said to Ogata beside her in a low voice while combing the hair of Grape, "The Ainu people in the Red Moon Fortress really have muskets... and they are flintlock muskets. I really want to borrow their muskets to see what their muskets look like..."
At this moment, Ating's heart that loved firearms was burning fiercely.
While Atachi was combing the hair of her grapes, Ogata was combing the hair of his radish.
"I think it's difficult." Ogata smiled bitterly, "I always feel that they won't lend us their muskets so easily."
"You can't know about this kind of thing unless you try it out," said A-Ting. "I think that girl named Asuma seems to have a good personality. Maybe she will be willing to lend us her muskets to try."
"Just now, I was a little worried that these people who suddenly visited the Red Moon Fortress might be a group of people who don't welcome us and others."
"Fortunately, my worries were unnecessary. They were quite kind to us."
"Especially the girl named Asuma."
As soon as Atachi finished speaking, Obe added:
"But not everyone is kind to us. I just noticed that some people looked at us in unfriendly ways."
"Do you remember what Chief Chepke told us before?"
"The Red Moon Fortress has recently taken in a group of Ainu people who lost their homes in the Battle of Kunasi Limenasi."
"Those people who looked at us unfriendly just now might be the Ainu who were defeated by the Japanese."
"There may be many such people in Red Moon Fortress..."
"In short - don't take it lightly."
"I know about this kind of thing." A-machi stuck out her tongue at Ogata.
…
…
Matsumae Domain, Matsumae Castle——
Although it is a sunny day without snow today, the weather is exceptionally cold.
The cold wind was blowing.
At this moment, a sedan that looked very expensive was moving very fast on a street in Matsumae Castle.
Around this sedan chair, there were 33 horse-riding warriors following closely on both sides.
Among these 33 mounted warriors, only one was not wearing armor.
The man without armor had a young, handsome face, and only had a samurai sword on his waist.
The other 32 people were all wearing red helmets and red armor, holding long spears in their hands.
A gorgeous sedan chair and 33 mounted warriors closely guarding it on both sides - this naturally attracted a lot of attention.
The common people on the street moved to both sides of the street, looking at the team consisting of sedan chairs and cavalry, and discussing in low voices who was sitting in the sedan chair.
These 32 red-armored cavalrymen are the shogunate's elite cavalry - the Red-armored Cavalry.
The Red Armored Forces is one of the oldest troops in the history of the shogunate. At the end of the Warring States Period, the first shogun of the Edo shogunate, Tokugawa Ieyasu, formed the Tokugawa Red Armored Forces based on Takeda's Red Armored Forces.
Since its establishment, the Red Guards have continued to this day and have always been under the direct jurisdiction of the general.
When Matsudaira Sadanobu went north this time, Shogun Tokugawa Ienari specially dispatched 32 of the most elite knights from his Red Guards to serve as Matsudaira Sadanobu's personal guards.
The 32 red-armored cavalrymen who were responsible for protecting the old man's safety were guarding the sedan chair - the identity of the person sitting in the sedan chair was already clear.
…
…
“It’s really cold…”
Matsudaira Sadanobu, who was sitting in the sedan chair, let out a long sigh.
Every breath condensed into white mist.
Although the climate was cold, fortunately the weather was pretty good, the sun was high in the sky, and there was no rain or snow.
"Mr. Laozhong."
At this time, Tachibana's voice came from outside the sedan.
"We're already out of Matsumae Castle!"
Among the 33 mounted warriors who were closely guarding the sedan chair, the only one who was not wearing armor was Tachibana.
Although Tachibana was a nickname of Matsudaira Sadanobu, he was not qualified to ride in the same sedan chair with the elder Matsudaira Sadanobu, so he could only ride his horse closely around the sedan chair.
"Yeah." Matsudaira Sadanobu nodded gently and raised his hand to open the windows on both sides of the sedan.
Matsudaira Sadanobu looked out the window.
The people responsible for carrying his sedan chair were experienced veterans. They lifted the sedan chair at such a fast speed but it hardly shook, making it very comfortable for Matsudaira Sadanobu to sit in. At the same time, it also allowed Matsudaira Sadanobu to clearly see the scenery outside the window.
The snow, forests, streams on the fields, and mountains in the distance were receding at a very fast speed.
Because we were outside Matsumae Castle, no houses could be seen.
After confirming that he had really left Matsumae Castle, Matsudaira Sadanobu couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
——Finally, I won’t have to see the petitions and requests for audiences from the ruler and his ministers of the Matsumae domain anymore…
The ruler and his ministers of the Matsumae domain were terrified by the "naturalized Ezo riot."
At a time when the second-in-command of the shogunate was in Matsumae Domain, the naturalized Ezo people in the city actually rioted - there could be no worse scandal than this.
Therefore, since the riot broke out, from the lord of the Matsumae domain to the ministers of the Matsumae domain who were qualified to meet Matsudaira Sadanobu, all went to apologize to Matsudaira Sadanobu.
Japanese officials during this period were not as comfortable as modern Japanese officials.
When modern Japanese officials make mistakes, they often just need to bow and apologize to get away with it - officials in the Edo period did not have this treatment.
If a serious mistake is made, seppuku suicide is only a minor matter.
The most severe punishment was that not only would you commit suicide by seppuku, but your family would also be deprived of their samurai status and their entire family would be demoted to commoners.
In this era where samurai value honor, losing one's samurai status due to making a mistake is a humiliating thing that makes one unable to hold their heads up.
After the riot, many important officials of the Matsumae domain wrote to Matsudaira Sadanobu, asking him to allow them to commit seppuku to apologize for their crimes.
The lord of Matsumae Domain also personally met with Matsudaira Sadanobu and asked him to allow him to apologize by abdicating.
The lord of Matsumae Domain was also frightened by this sudden riot.
At a time when the second-in-command of the shogunate was in the Matsumae domain, they couldn't even maintain public order - if the shogunate was interested, they could use this as an excuse to impose severe punishment on the Matsumae domain.
The lord of Matsumae Domain would rather abdicate and pass the throne to his adult son than let the Matsumae Domain suffer punishment such as land reduction or transfer of fiefdom.
Their Matsumae domain was not very wealthy to begin with. Because of its geographical location too far north, there were very few good farmlands and agriculture was extremely underdeveloped. The total number of koku in the domain was only 10,000 koku.
If it were not for the large-scale trade activities they could carry out with Ezo and the commercial transfusions they received, their Matsumae domain would have been able to compete with the famous "pauper domain" such as the Yonezawa Nitta domain for the title of the poorest domain in Japan.
Whether it was land reduction or transfer, it was a huge blow to the Matsumae domain, which was not very wealthy to begin with.
During that period, Matsudaira Sadanobu frequently received letters and requests for meetings from the ruler and ministers of the Matsumae domain.
It happened so frequently that Matsudaira Sadanobu couldn't help but twitch his lips just thinking back to those memories.
Matsudaira Sadanobu also thought for a long time about how to deal with the ruler and ministers of the Matsumae domain.
In the end, Matsudaira Sadanobu decided to cut the former feudal lords some slack.
The ruler and his ministers of the Matsumae domain all made verbal criticisms.
The feudal lord was confined to his house for two months.
Some ministers were fined three months’ salary.
House arrest in this era actually just means staying in your own room and not going anywhere else.
Apart from the lack of freedom, sleeping, eating, and entertainment - these things are all unrestricted.
Matsudaira Sadanobu's punishment can be described as extremely merciful.
Originally, even if Matsudaira Sadanobu asked the feudal lord to abdicate and some ministers to commit seppuku to apologize, no one would think it was wrong.
The reason why Matsudaira Sadanobu let off the leniency of the former feudal lords was that the riot they launched due to Maka had indirectly helped them, giving them more reasons to declare war on the Red Moon Fortress.
Secondly, the war was about to begin, and Matsudaira Sadanobu did not want to cause any trouble when the war was about to begin.
Therefore, under Matsudaira Sadanobu's amnesty, the ruler and ministers of the Matsumae domain were given extremely light punishments that they had never dared to imagine before, and they all cried for joy.
By the way, the captured Makanao and others were all beheaded in front of many ordinary people in Matsumae Castle three days ago.
Maca said that there was no value in keeping them alive anymore.
Perhaps their only remaining value is to be behead them and thus appease the public anger.
The perspective returns to the present - Matsudaira Sadanobu is now heading to a place outside Matsumae Castle.
There, a large army of 800 people was waiting for him.
Matsudaira Sadanobu closed the open window again, closed his eyes, and began to rest.
After half an hour, the sedan chair slowly stopped.
At the same time, Tachibana's voice was heard again outside the sedan:
"Master Laozhong, we are here."
As soon as Tachibana finished speaking, Matsudaira Sadanobu, who had been resting with his eyes closed, slowly opened his eyes.
"Open the sedan door."
Tachibana: “Yes!”
The sedan door was slowly opened.
The light shone through the open door into the dim interior, illuminating Matsudaira Sadanobu's face, which was already covered with wrinkles.
Matsudaira Sadanobu slowly walked out of the sedan chair.
Tachibana and the 32 red-armored cavalrymen who were responsible for personal protection had now dismounted and stood respectfully on both sides of the sedan chair.
In front of the sedan chair stood a dozen military generals fully dressed in helmets and armor.
Standing at the forefront of these generals was a middle-aged veteran with a sturdy build, like a towering giant.
And this veteran is none other than Inamori.
Seeing Matsudaira Sadanobu coming out of the sedan chair, Inamori and the other generals behind him immediately bowed to Matsudaira Sadanobu.
"Master Laozhong!" Inamori shouted in a full-throated voice, "Welcome!"
"Inamori." Matsudaira Sadanobu put his hands behind his back and forced a smile, "How is the troop assembly going?"
"Ready to go!" Inamori's answer was concise, clear and powerful.
"Take me to see it," Matsudaira Sadanobu continued.
"yes!"
Under the guidance of Inamori, Matsudaira Sadanobu came to a hillside not far away.
Standing on the top of the hill, looking down.
The cold wind swept through the sky and also passed by the sides of the soldiers in helmets and armor at the foot of the hill.
At the foot of the hill, 800 shogunate soldiers formed a dense square formation.
Long spears emerged from the formation and pierced straight into the sky, forming a dense forest of spears.
The armor on his body flashed coldly under the sky.
Large flags painted with "three-leaf sunflower" fluttered in the wind.
All of the 800 shogunate soldiers had solemn expressions, and the temperature of the air around the military formation seemed to have dropped by several degrees because of their solemn appearance.
These are soldiers from their shogunate.
These are the soldiers who are about to march north to pacify the Red Moon Fortress.
Standing on the hillside, looking down at the army, Matsudaira Sadanobu slowly had a satisfied and confident smile on his face.
The military formation at the foot of the hill was just a formation of 800 men, just one of the troops of their 10,000-man army.
Although their 10,000-strong army is still scattered everywhere, they have all begun to gather towards the north without exception.
The fastest vanguard troops have crossed the northern border of Matsumae Domain and entered the territory of Ezo to the north of Matsumae Domain.
"The troops are in good order." Matsudaira Sadanobu said softly, "Well done, Inamori. It seems that choosing you to guard the north and making you the general of the entire army was indeed the right choice."
"This is not just my own achievement." Inamori, who was standing behind Matsudaira Sadanobu, said hurriedly, "With the full support of Lord Rochu and the full support of my generals, I, Inamori Masaya, was able to train the troops successfully."
As a military commander, Inamori is a rough man who is not good at speaking in a literary way, and he cannot flatter others in a subtle and advanced way.
Listening to Inamori's simple and direct flattery, Matsudaira Sadanobu smiled faintly.
As a practical man, Matsudaira Sadanobu did not like people under him flattering him.
But Inamori was his confidant after all, so Matsudaira Sadanobu didn't say much.
Matsudaira Sadanobu is in a very good mood now.
Looking at the 800-man army in front of him, he now felt his heart surging.
After some time, when the 10,000-strong army is fully assembled, what will appear before his eyes will no longer be a small army of 800 people.
Instead, it is a truly boundless army that stretches from one end of the earth to the other, as far as the eye can see!
The heroic spirit is surging and the ambition is lofty.
"Inamori, let's go!"
Matsudaira Sadanobu waved his hand with great enthusiasm.
"Add our page to the history books!"
…
…
“Haha…haha…haha…haha…”
Grandfather Jiang leaned against a big tree, breathing heavily .
He now felt as if his chest was about to explode. His lungs had completely turned into a bottomless pit. No matter how much air he inhaled, it never felt enough.
My throat was dry and my mouth was filled with the peculiar smell of blood after running hard.
After his chest felt a little more comfortable, Grandfather Jiang took off a bamboo tube filled with drinking water hanging around his waist and drank the drinking water in the tube into his throat which was so dry that it felt like it was about to split.
As the clear water flowed down his throat, Grandfather Jiang felt that not only his throat but also his soul was moistened.
Given his current level of thirst, he could easily drink up all the water in the bamboo tube in one breath.
A little man named "Desire" deep in Grandfather Jiang's mind kept saying to Grandfather Jiang: Drink quickly, drink to your heart's content.
Although the words of this villain are full of temptation.
But reason eventually triumphed over desire.
After drinking only half of the water in the bamboo tube, Grandfather Jiang resisted the urge to drink any more, put down the bamboo tube in his hand, covered the lid, and hung it back around his waist.
The current environment does not allow Grandfather Jiang to drink as much water as he wants.
He was now in a completely unfamiliar environment. He had no idea where this place was or where there was drinkable fresh water.
So every drop of water is very precious, and you should avoid drinking it if you can.
The reason why Grandfather Jiang was now sweating profusely and leaning against a big tree, gasping for breath until his lungs were about to fall out of his throat was all because - he had just encountered a bear.
Just about half an hour ago, Grandfather Jiang found a lot of mushrooms near the roots of a big tree.
Grandfather Jiang also recognized all these mushrooms. They were all edible mushrooms.
He was so excited that he ran happily to pick mushrooms.
However, as he was picking, he suddenly heard a strange sound of footsteps in the snow coming from beside him.
He turned his head and looked in the direction of the sound - he saw a big brown bear standing upright not far away, with its two front legs leaning on a large rock. It poked its upper body out from behind the rock and looked at him with its small black eyes.
If there were an experienced hunter present, he would never move rashly after encountering a bear.
However—Grandfather Jiang was not an experienced hunter.
Grandfather Jiang, who was startled, screamed and drew his sword.
The bear, which was watching not far away, was not sure whether it was frightened by Grandfather Jiang's scream or the knife in Grandfather Jiang's hand. In any case, the bear roared at Grandfather Jiang.
Then he rushed towards Grandfather Jiang like thunder.
There is no way that my grandfather Jiang Na, who is mediocre in skills, could be a match for the bear.
Grandfather Jiang didn't even have time to draw his knife before he was knocked down by the bear.
When he was knocked down, the knife in his hand fell to the side.
The bear opened its mouth wide and pointed its sharp teeth at Grandfather Jiang's head. Grandfather Jiang could even smell the fishy stench from the bear's mouth.
Perhaps it was because of the desire to survive that took effect at this time. Grandfather Jiang suddenly remembered that when he was panning for gold with his companions, a gold-mining companion who used to be a hunter once told him how to save himself after being knocked down by a bear.
The self-rescue method that the hunter friend mentioned was very simple - put your arm into the bear's mouth to block its throat, and it would be best to grab its tongue and pull it back and forth.
According to this hunter friend, once a bear's throat is blocked, it will feel very uncomfortable and lose its strength. Not only will it be unable to bite your arm, but it will also run away because it realizes that this human is not someone you can easily mess with.
(Author's note: This self-help method is not made up by the author, it is a real and reliable self-help method. Please see the end of the chapter for details)
Ever since he heard about this method of self-rescue after being knocked down by a bear from his hunter friend, Grandfather Jiang has always doubted whether this method is true and reliable.
After all, putting your arm into a bear's bloody mouth - it's pretty dangerous no matter how you think about it...
However, at this moment, Grandfather Jiang no longer had the time to think about other things.
If he didn't do something quickly, his head would be bitten off by the big brown bear that was pressing on him.
So Grandfather Jiang gritted his teeth and prayed to all the gods and Buddhas he could, praying that the self-rescue method that the hunter friend said was really useful. Then he clenched his right hand into a fist and punched it straight into the bear's bloody mouth that was wide open and biting towards Grandfather Jiang's head.
A wonderful warm touch enveloped Grandfather Jiang's entire right arm.
After shoving his right arm into the bear's bloody mouth, Grandfather Jiang felt something soft - it was the bear's tongue.
After touching the bear's tongue, Grandfather Jiang immediately did as the hunter friend told him, grabbed the tongue tightly, and then pulled it back and forth with force.
“Ooooo…!”
The bear roared in pain as his throat was blocked by the big, thick arms, his tongue was grabbed and pulled back and forth.
The man and the bear fought on the snow for a long time before the winner was finally decided - the bear jumped off Grandfather Jiang's body.
Seeing that the bear seemed to want to leave, Grandfather Jiang let go of the bear's tongue and pulled his arm out of the bear's mouth.
After its throat and tongue were freed, the bear immediately fled.
After the bear ran away, Grandfather Jiang didn't even bother to wipe the bear's saliva off his right arm, and ran in the completely opposite direction of the bear.
He kept running until the bear was about to explode and his legs began to tremble, then Grandfather Jiang finally stopped.
So, we now have this scene where Grandfather Jiang is leaning against a big tree and catching his breath.
Although he had drunk nearly half of the water in the bamboo tube, Grandfather Jiang was still very thirsty.
But he didn't dare drink any more.
——Damn it…
Grandfather Jiang cursed in his heart.
In his heart, he cursed madly the group of Ainu who suddenly appeared a few days ago.
The reason why he has fallen to this point is because of the sudden appearance of the Ezo people a few days ago.
Before that, Grandfather Jiang was a member of the gold mining team led by Busukawa.
However, just a few days ago, when their team was resting in a forest, a group of Ezo suddenly rushed out from all directions.
This group of Ezo people were all wearing bright red clothes.
If they were just ordinary Ezo, it would be fine, but the terrible thing is that these Ezo had muskets in their hands.
After they rushed out from all directions, gunfire broke out immediately. In just one encounter, many of Grandfather Jiang's companions fell under the gun.
Grandfather Jiang and his men were attacked by surprise, and their numbers were far less than the other side.
So the battle was over as soon as it began.
Grandfather Jiang and his men were defeated.
Grandfather Jiang actually doesn’t have much memory of the attack.
All he remembered was that he kept running, running, running... running for his life.
The last time he ran away so desperately was in Kyoto last summer, when he climbed up the tower of Nijo Castle and discovered that Ogata Issey was a monster, and then he fled the castle in a panic.
And Grandfather Jiang's luck was really good - he managed to escape the encirclement of this group of Ezo people and even escaped being hunted down.
Red clothes and muskets - the two main characteristics of the Ezo people living in the Red Moon Fortress.
The ones who attacked them were undoubtedly the Ezo from the Red Moon Fortress.
Before the attack, Grandfather Jiang had just discussed the Ezo in the Red Moon Fortress with his leader, Busikawa.
Before the Ezo from Red Moon Fortress attacked, the leader of the Busikawa told him firmly: It is not so easy to encounter the Ezo from Red Moon Fortress in the wild...
Whenever Grandfather Jiang thought of the leader of the Undying River, he felt extremely sad.
When attacked, Grandfather Jiang was only concerned with escaping and had no energy to check whether the leader of the Busikawa and other companions had escaped successfully.
Now that he has successfully escaped, he does not have the ability to look for other people because he is unable to protect himself.
Although he successfully escaped the attack of the Ezo people in the Red Moon Fortress, because of his hasty escape, Grandfather Jiang fled to a place he was completely unfamiliar with.
I had no map, no idea where I was, no idea where to go to get some water - in short, I was lost.
Getting lost in such a desolate wilderness is a very dangerous thing.
These days, Grandfather Jiang has been trying to get rid of the dilemma of being lost, trying to return to a familiar place, or return to Matsumae Domain.
Grandfather Jiang didn't have much knowledge about survival in the wild.
He only knows the direction by the position of the sun.
All he could do now was to head south.
If we go south, if we are lucky, we might be able to return to Matsumae Domain smoothly.
Grandfather Jiang leaned against a big tree and rested for a while. After making sure that his body, which was exhausted from avoiding the brown bear just now, had recovered a little, he whispered to himself: "Okay... let's go...!"
Grandfather Jiang stood up straight, figured out which direction was south through the sun, and then walked slowly towards the south.
He wants to live.
He didn't want to die young so soon.
Grandfather Jiang raised his hand and wiped a cloth bag in his arms.
This cloth bag contains the gold sand that has been saved from following Busei Kawai on his gold-panning adventure.
When running away from the guns and bows of the Ezo people in the Red Moon Fortress, Grandfather Jiang threw away everything he could in order to run faster.
The only thing that was not thrown away was this bag of gold sand.
He wants to survive.
Return alive to human society.
Use this bag of gold sand to exchange for a brand new life.
…
…
After some time——
Ogata stopped counting the days several days ago.
I didn't remember which day it was since I set out for the Red Moon Fortress.
Every day I just follow the team and move forward slowly, forward, forward...
The weather today is not very good.
Thick clouds separate the sky from the earth, and it feels like snow may fall at any time.
Today's weather is bad.
But what happened today was a good thing.
Just now, when Ogata was riding his horse side by side with A-machi as usual, Ayizan ran towards them with an excited look on his face.
While running towards Ogata and the others, he shouted excitedly:
"Mashima, Atachi! We're here! We can already see He Ye Zhe!"
Ogata raised his eyebrows: "Is He Yezhe just ahead?"
Ayizan nodded vigorously.
Ogata pulled the reins and urged the carrot under his crotch to stop.
Then Ogata took his feet out of the stirrups, stood on the saddle, took out the telescope he had won from Vasili before, and looked forward.
Through the telescope, Ogata saw - just in front of them, there was a row of towering wooden walls.
Ogata only saw one side of the wall.
But the size and height made Ogata couldn't help but let out a low exclamation the moment he saw the wall.
"We've finally arrived... Red Moon Fortress..."