Don't pray!
——Final Volume·Foreword
…
…
About a month after the 10,000-man shogunate army was defeated—
Ezo, Red Moon Fortress, Kunoa's clinic—
"We have a rare guest today."
Kunoya raised her eyebrows and looked up and down at Chanup, who was sitting face to face with Ogata and A-Machi, with a look of surprise.
"I'm not a rare guest, really." Chanup said helplessly, "Didn't I come to visit Ogata-kun several days ago?"
"Really?" Kunoya shrugged. "Then it seems that I remembered it wrongly. I have no objection to you coming to visit Ogata-kun, as long as you don't mess up or make my clinic dirty."
After that, Kunoya picked up her pipe and walked out of the clinic quickly, leaving enough space for Ogata, Ating, and Chanup.
After watching Kunoya leave, Chanup immediately turned his attention to Ogata and Atachi.
"Ogata-kun, Ms. Atachi, how are your bodies recovering now?"
Ogata smiled, raised his right hand and patted his left shoulder: "Thanks to you, my wife and I have almost recovered. Mr. Chanup, how about you? How is your injury?"
"My injury wasn't particularly serious to begin with, and I've probably recovered more than half of it now."
"I heard that you have been busy with the reconstruction of the fortress recently." Ogata continued, "Don't delay your recovery because of your busy work."
"Don't worry about this." Chanup smiled bitterly and shook his head. "My daughter is always watching me. Once she finds out that I don't rest on time, she will yell at me..."
When Chanup was about to say something else, he suddenly raised his eyebrows and turned to look at the entrance of the clinic: "Ogata-kun, it seems that someone comes to visit you again."
Ogata and Chanup heard footsteps outside the clinic almost at the same time, so they looked towards the door together.
As soon as their eyes turned to the door, they saw Kunoya, who had just walked out of the clinic, coming back with a tall man.
"Ogata-kun." Kunoya smiled helplessly, "This red-haired guy is here to see you again."
"Ogata-kun, I'm here to see you again. Oh! There are a lot of people here today! Even the boss of this fortress is here!"
The tall man brought in by Kunoya was Skulucci.
If we were to ask who was the person who visited Ogata most frequently, it would undoubtedly be Skulucci.
Skulucci would come to chat with Ogata almost every day, and after a while, even Kunoya gradually became familiar with this red-haired young man.
After bringing Sculucci in, Kunoya quickly returned to the outside of the clinic. As for Sculucci, he sat down next to Chanup.
"Mr. Skulucci," Chanup said, "You came just in time. I had been planning to come visit you and your subordinates after visiting Mr. Ogata today."
"Oh? Really?" Sculucci grinned, "Thank you for your concern. My men and I are recovering well now. The doctor named Kunoya is really good at medicine."
Skulucci turned his head and looked at the entrance of the clinic. Unfortunately, due to the angle, he could not see Kunoya, who was smoking not far from the clinic and not intervening in the conversation between Ogata and the others.
The treatment of Skulucci and his group was also mainly handled by Kunoya.
Thanks to Kunoya's superb medical skills, Skulucci and his group recovered very well.
After praising Kunoya's medical skills, Skulucci shifted his gaze from the door to Chanup.
"Mr. Chanup, now that I think about it - this is the first time you and I have come to visit Ogata-kun at the same time."
"I come to visit Ogata-kun almost every day, but it seems that I miss you every time."
"Yes." Chanup looked helpless, "I didn't have time to come visit Ogata-kun today."
"But I had something urgent to tell Ogata-kun, and I haven't visited him for a while, so I squeezed out some time."
"Urgent?" Ogata gave Chanup a puzzled look.
"Mr. Ogata." Chanup looked at Ogata, "I came to see you today, not only to visit you, but also for another purpose - to tell you a good news on behalf of Mr. Lin."
"Mr. Lin?" Ogata's eyes flashed with surprise, "I'd like to hear more details."
The Mr. Lin that Chanup mentioned was naturally Lin Ziping.
Lin Ziping was undoubtedly one of the biggest contributors in the "Red Moon Fortress Attack and Defense" more than a month ago.
During this period, this great hero had been bedridden recovering from his injuries. On the last , when he was defending the inner city wall with Chanup and others, he was accidentally hit by two stray arrows. One hit his side and the other hit his right thigh. Fortunately, neither of them hit his vital parts.
Over the past month, Ogata has visited Hayashi Shiping several times at his home, where he has to stay in bed due to a leg injury.
It would certainly be impossible for Ogata not to be curious about what Chanup had just said, "I have a good news for Mr. Lin."
"Mr. Lin has helped us He Yezhe a lot. Without Mr. Lin's command, we might not be able to hold on until the day when you bring Mr. Skulucci and others to help us."
Chanup said slowly.
"So as early as when Mr. Lin lent us a helping hand, we all agreed that Mr. Lin is our friend. Therefore, we will never detain Mr. Lin again."
"And Mr. Lin asked me to tell you that the reason he was able to live until the day he regained his freedom was all thanks to Mr. Ogata."
"In order to repay the favor, Mr. Lin said that he is willing to take you to the village after he recovers. There may be clues about the doctor couple you are looking for."
"By the way, Mr. Lin can already walk today. He should be able to recover in a few days."
After hearing Chanup's words, Ogata was stunned at first, but after coming to his senses, he asked with joy:
"Did Mr. Lin really say that?"
Chanup smiled and nodded.
Ogata let out a long sigh as if a heavy burden had been lifted from his heart, and then said in a self-deprecating tone: "It was an extremely difficult journey to find that pair of doctors..."
When they first met Hayashi Ziping, he told Ogata and the others a piece of information that the couple was extremely concerned about - Hayashi Ziping had once seen a strange Japanese doctor in a village.
In a place like Ezo, it was extremely rare to find a Japanese living in an Ainu village, and this Japanese happened to be a doctor - which was even rarer.
After learning this information from Hayashi Shiping, Ogata reached a deal with Hayashi Shiping: Ogata would try to free Hayashi Shiping, and then Hayashi Shiping would take them to the village he mentioned to find the doctor He Ren.
The process of helping Lin Ziping regain his freedom was not without its ups and downs, but fortunately - despite the ups and downs, it was successful in the end.
"Mr. Lin, will he need some time to recover..." Ogata muttered, "Then it seems my wife and I will have to stay here for a while longer."
"It doesn't matter if you stay here longer." Chanup said with a smile, "You are the heroes who saved us. We welcome you to stay here for a while longer and let us entertain you well."
"Mr. Sculucci, you too. We also welcome you and your men to stay with us for a while."
"Mr. Chanup, thank you for your kindness." Skulucci smiled politely at Chanup, "But unfortunately, my men and I can't stay here any longer. We will have to leave in a few days."
"Are you and your men leaving?" Chanup looked surprised.
There was also a hint of surprise in the eyes of Ogata and Atachi when they looked at Skulucci.
"My superiors will be worried about us if we stay out for too long."
When saying "our superiors will be worried about us," Skulucci emphasized it with a weird tone.
"In order to prevent my superiors from worrying us too much, we can't stay here with you for too long."
"My men and I have recovered from our injuries. The remaining ones have recovered to the point where they can barely ride horses, so I decided it's about time we leave."
"Is that so..." A visible regret flashed across Chanup's eyes, "What a pity... I was thinking of entertaining you guys more..."
After sighing softly , Chanup took a deep breath.
"Then - before you leave, if you have any other requests, just tell us." Chanup said to Skulucci seriously, "We will do our best to do everything we can."
“Hahahaha.” Sculucci laughed heartily. “Thank you. But there’s nothing else we want.”
"but--"
Skulucci suddenly changed the subject.
"Although I don't want anything, I have always had a question. I have been holding this question in my mind for a long time, but I have never found a time to ask you. Now that we are alone here, it is a good time to ask this question. I wonder if you are willing to answer my question, Mr. Chanup."
"Questions? Just ask. I will answer everything I can." Chanup straightened his face and looked serious as if he was listening attentively.
"No need to be so serious." Skulucci smiled helplessly, "It's just a small question."
Skulucci cleared his throat:
"Mr. Chanup, I've always been curious: where did you get those muskets?"
Chanup's expression changed slightly.
After hearing Skulucci's question, Ogata and Atachi looked at each other tacitly, then looked at Chanup, waiting for Chanup's answer.
In fact, Ogata and his companions had always been curious about why Chanup and his men had so many advanced flintlock rifles.
During this period, they also asked some people this question, such as Kunoya, Aisuma and others, but they all said "I don't know".
Now that Skulucci had asked Chanup the question they had always been curious about, Ogata and A-Machi were also happy to hear the answer.
"Of course." Sculucci added, "Mr. Chanup, if you find this question difficult to answer, you don't have to answer it. I won't force you. I'm just curious about this question."
Chanup shook his head: "This is not something that should not be known. If you want to know, I can answer."
"We bought these muskets from Heye Zhe from a Japanese merchant named Kinoshita two years ago... no, it should be almost three years ago."
"Kinoshita?" Upon hearing this surname, Ogata couldn't help but frown as he thought of two of his acquaintances.
"That Muxia is... a very strange merchant." Chanup continued, "Three years ago, when he and his caravan passed by not far from our Heyezhe, he sent people to negotiate with us, saying that they were short of food and were willing to exchange a batch of muskets, a large amount of gunpowder and bullets, and teach us how to use muskets and how to store gunpowder and bullets for some food from us."
"Exchange for food?" Skulucci's eyes widened. "So many muskets are worth a lot of money. How much food did they exchange from you?"
"Not much," Chanup said. "Just enough food for 50 people for 20 days."
"Is this just a small amount of food? Wouldn't that mean we will lose everything?" Skulucci frowned tightly.
Although he was not a professional businessman, he knew how much money nearly a hundred flintlock rifles, plus a large amount of gunpowder and projectiles were worth - even if he exchanged all the grain in Heyezhe's inventory, he might not be able to get that much.
What's more, in addition to delivering these dead objects, that "Kinoshita" was also willing to teach Chanup and others how to use muskets and how to preserve gunpowder and bullets.
"Yes. That's why I said that Kinoshita was quite strange." Chanup sighed softly, "At first, I was skeptical about this transaction that was obviously a huge loss for Kinoshita and his team."
“But later I gradually realized that they were serious about this deal.”
"I have traveled in Japan before, so I know how powerful a musket is."
"Although I don't know why Kinoshita wanted to make such a loss-making deal, I finally decided to give it a try and made the deal with him."
"After the transaction, Kinoshita took his men away, and I haven't seen him since then."
"...Mr. Chanup." Ogata, who had been silent until now, suddenly said, "What does that Kinoshita look like? Have you ever seen him?"
"I have only met Nakishita a few times," Chanup said, "He was a very young man, probably around the same age as you, Ogata-kun."
"He has a pretty face and looks very gentle and polite."
"He wore a very beautiful katana with a purple handle on his waist."
After seeing that the Kinoshita mentioned by Chanup did not match the two Kinoshitas in his impression in any way, Ogata's frown slowly relaxed, but the confusion on his face did not disappear - Ogata was puzzled as to why Kinoshita made such a loss-making transaction.
…
…
In a remote house in Edo, inside the courtyard——
"Mamiya! Here I come!" Makimura raised the large wooden sword in his hand high up, preparing for a high-level attack.
"Mamiya-senpai, please give me your guidance." Shimada clenched the wooden sword and took a proper mid-section stance.
As for Asai - he didn't say much, just silently grabbed the knife and held it.
If you connect the points where Makimura, Shimada and Asai are standing with a line, it will form a standard equilateral triangle.
And in the middle of this equilateral triangle──stood Mamiya, who was slowly tying up his sleeves with a cuff.
After tying up both sleeves at a leisurely pace, Mamiya picked up the wooden sword at his feet and said, "Come over here."
As soon as Mamiya finished speaking, Makimura took the lead in making a loud Qi He and rushed towards Mamiya with a sword in hand.
He aimed at Mamiya's head with three powerful downward strikes, but Mamiya dodged them all with his light steps.
Just as Mamiya dodged Makimura's attack, Asai and Shimada's swords came flying in with the wind.
The angles of their attacks were both quite tricky, but their attacks were still powerless against Mamiya.
Mamiya swung out two swords at an extremely fast speed. Although he only had one sword, the high speed created the effect of "Mamiya holding two swords". Asai and Shimada's swords were hit and blocked by Mamiya's blade almost at the same time.
After deflecting Shimada's sword, Mamiya quickly adjusted the blade and slashed at Shimada's left shoulder.
"Ahhh!" Shimada, feeling the pain, subconsciously took several steps back and then fell to the ground.
After killing Shimada with one sword, Mamiya's feet slid on the ground, and he dodged to Asai's side at a speed that Asai had difficulty reacting to. Then, just like the blow that knocked Shimada down just now, he slashed at Asai's shoulder and knocked Asai to the ground.
Makimura, who had to fight alone, had no intention of retreating or surrendering. He bravely stepped forward, ready to attack Mamiya again.
He only had time to take a step forward.
He had just taken a step forward when he saw Mamiya approaching him.
Snap! Snap! Snap!
There was a dull sound of hitting flesh.
Mamiya slashed at Makimura's sturdy upper body three times, two times on Makimura's left shoulder and one on his right shoulder.
"Ugh..." Makimura endured the pain and took three steps back to increase the distance between himself and Mamiya.
"Do you want to come again?" Mamiya asked Makimura.
“No need…” Mucun let out a long sigh, “I’ve died three times just now, the victory and defeat are decided.”
“Senior Mamiya is so strong…” Shimada covered the spot where he was stabbed and stood up with a wry smile, “The three of us attacked together, but we still couldn’t even touch a corner of Senior Mamiya’s clothes…”
Mamiya just smiled at Shimada's compliment, then raised his hand to adjust his glasses that had slipped down his nose: "Let's take a break. We've played a lot of games just now, and I'm a little tired. It's time to take a break."
"Mamiya's biggest weakness is indeed his lack of physical strength." After teasing Mamiya in a half-joking tone, Makimura took the lead in striding to the eaves not far away, and then sat down on the stairs under the eaves. Mamiya and the other two followed closely behind him and sat side by side with Makimura.
"We have been in Edo for quite a long time..." Makimura looked up at a tree in front of him that was faintly showing tender green leaves, "winter is almost over before we knew it."
After seeing off Ogata and A-machi and leaving Edo, the group of people from Huluya moved to a new home - a luxurious house in Edo that Lin rented using her own connections. In this luxurious house, he continued to recuperate peacefully.
Except for Makimura who has a special physique of "quick recovery from injuries", Lin and the others are all ordinary people. Unlike Ogata, he has extremely abnormal recovery ability due to his "vitality".
Except for Genichi and Mamiya who were basically uninjured, everyone else was injured, and Lin and Asai's injuries were not light.
In the past few months, Lin and his family have been living in seclusion in this house, recuperating from their injuries.
About a month ago, everyone in Huluwu finally recovered and began their physical "rehabilitation".
Their "rehabilitation" was quite simple and crude - just fighting each other.
The house that Lin rented was a mansion with a spacious courtyard, and Lin and his friends fought each other in this courtyard.
"I'm a little tired of staying in Edo..." Asai interrupted, "Although there are many fun, beautiful and delicious places in Edo, I've been here for several months and I'm a little bored..."
"We should be able to leave soon." Makimura said, "After all, our injuries have healed, and there is no reason for us to stay in Edo any longer."
Shimada: "Are we going back to Owari afterwards?"
"I don't know." Mucun shrugged, "But if nothing unexpected happens, we should go back to our base camp next. After all, we haven't been back for a long time."
"Speaking of Owari..." Asai suddenly muttered, "Have you heard about that incident? The 'disappearance incident' that seems to be quite popular now."
"'Disappearance incident'?" Makimura asked, "What's that?"
Not only Makimura, but Mamiya and Shimada also cast puzzled glances at Asai.
"I heard this from several samurai at the next table when I went to a nearby pub with Master Genichi late last night." Asai said slowly, "It is said that there have been many 'disappearances' in the area from Owari to Osaka during this period."
"According to the descriptions of those warriors, this 'disappearance incident' is quite bizarre. It seems that at least hundreds of people have suddenly disappeared without a trace."
"Among the hundreds of missing people, there are men and women, young and old. There is no pattern in the characteristics of the missing people. And among the missing people, there are also some warriors."
"Hundreds of people..." Makimura frowned slowly. "So many people disappeared. It can't be a coincidence. There must be some powerful group kidnapping these people. Has the shogunate intervened to investigate this matter?"
Asai shrugged: "I don't know about that."
Shimada seemed to be completely intrigued by this "disappearance incident." He turned his head and looked at Makimura: "Senior Makimura, do you think there is a big group that is kidnapping those people?"
Makimura used to be a yorikui in Kyoto who made a living by solving cases, so Shimada subconsciously wanted to ask Makimura's opinion on this matter, as he should have some experience in this area.
"Of course." Makimura said seriously, "I never believe in 'disappearance of gods' or being abducted by gods or Buddhas. It's pure nonsense."
"Hundreds of people disappeared - I can't think of any other possibility other than they were abducted."
"From what Asai just described, disappearances are a common occurrence in this large area from Owari to Osaka."
"From Owari to Osaka - this is a huge area. It covers the entire Kansai area."
"The fact that they can kidnap people all over the vast Kansai proves that this 'kidnapping group' is quite powerful."
"But there is one thing I don't quite understand."
After a moment's silence, Mucun continued:
"Asai just said that the missing persons include men and women, young and old. I don't quite understand this."
"When I was a yoriki in Kyoto, I also handled several 'human trafficking cases'."
"The people who were abducted were mostly children and young girls."
"Kidnapping men and old people... this is quite rare. What do you do with men and old people?"
"'Disappearance incident'?" Mamiya, who had been silent from the beginning, suddenly spoke up, "Even Owari was affected... The world is really not peaceful."
At this moment, a female voice that was very familiar to Mamiya and others suddenly came from behind everyone.
"Katsurokuro, so you are here. I finally found you."
Shimada turned back and said in surprise, "My Lord, do you have something to ask me?"
The owner of this female voice that was extremely familiar to Mamiya and others was naturally Lin.
"Yeah. It's true that I have something to talk to you about, but it's nothing serious."
Lin said as she continued to walk slowly towards Shimada.
"I have just received news that Shimada Soichiro, the temple and shrine magistrate, returned to Edo a few days ago."
After hearing the name "Shimada Soichiro" from Lin's mouth, Shimada's expression froze.
"Katsurokuro." Lin's tone softened, "You've been away from home for a long time. It's time to go see your family."