In Edo, in the Shimada family's mansion, in a room -
"Master, I have just informed the master that you are back. He said he wanted to see you before Yamada Asaemon starts his sword test." Hachibei said respectfully, "Please wait a moment. The master should be here soon."
"Yeah." Shimada nodded, "Yahbei, thank you for your hard work."
"Shimada." Makimura, who was sitting behind Shimada, gave a wicked smile, "Are you nervous now?"
"There's nothing to be nervous about." Shimada glanced at Makimura with a helpless look, "It's just to see my father whom I haven't seen for a long time, not to meet a blind date."
Wow.
As soon as Shimada finished speaking, the sound of the side door of the room being opened was suddenly heard - a middle-aged man with an expressionless face walked into the room through the opened side door.
As soon as the middle-aged man entered, Hachibei, who was kneeling behind Shimada, immediately put his forehead on the tatami and saluted the middle-aged man respectfully.
After the middle-aged man entered, Shimada immediately straightened his back and adjusted his sitting posture to a very standard one, as if it was a conditioned reflex.
The middle-aged man sat down opposite Makura and the others at a moderate pace. As soon as his butt touched the tatami, he said in a calm tone:
"…Long time no see, Katsurokuro. Looks like you're doing well out there."
"I have heard everything from Hachibei. Are you Inuko's friend?"
The middle-aged man turned his attention to Mucun.
"My name is Shimada Soichiro," the middle-aged man said, "Welcome to my house. I haven't had such a young guest for a long time."
——Is this Shimada’s father: Shimada Soichiro?
Makimura thought to himself as he bowed to Soichiro in a respectful and dignified manner:
"Nice to meet you. I am Shimada-kun's friend - Makimura Yahachi."
Makimura used to be a powerful official in Kyoto, and he was already very familiar with "how to show courtesy to different people".
"Since you are my friend, there is no need to be polite. Just raise your head."
After raising his head, Mucun silently looked at the middle-aged man sitting opposite him.
His hair and beard were a mixture of black and white. He had no beard on his chin, but had a short mustache on his lips, which was not very popular in that era. His eyes were big and bright. His old posture was very inconsistent with his energetic appearance.
If Makimura were to comment on Soichiro's appearance, he would say that he "looks like a very capable official."
Looking at Makimura's neither humble nor arrogant attitude, a hint of admiration flashed across Soichiro's eyes.
"Katsurokuro, it seems you have made a good friend."
"…I have gained a group of close friends who are worthy of my reliance—this is my biggest gain since leaving home." Shimada finally said the first sentence since Soichiro entered the room.
Soichiro looked Shimada up and down several times with sharp eyes that seemed to see through Shimada's entire body.
"I still have a lot of questions for you. But let's save them for later."
"I have already made an appointment with the Yamada Asaemon family to test the swords at this time. We can't let people wait too long."
"After the knife test is over, let's have a good talk."
"Katsurokuro, Makimura-kun, do you plan to wait for me in this room, or come with me to the courtyard to see how the famous Yamada Asaemon practices his sword?"
Makimura and Shimada raised their eyebrows at the same time, then looked at each other for a few seconds and began to discuss in a low voice...
…
…
Shimada House, Garden——
"Shimada." Makimura lowered his voice so that only he and Shimada could hear clearly, and whispered to Shimada beside him, "You are a native of Edo. Have you ever seen Yamada Asaemon test his sword before?"
"No," Shimada replied, "My family rarely invites Yamada Asaemon to test the sword. I have never taken the initiative to learn about this 'executioner family'."
Makimura and Shimada had long heard of the name of Yamada Asaemon, but had never seen how they tested their swords.
So the two of them just discussed it - instead of waiting in that room for Soichiro to return, they might as well try something new and see how the "Shogunate's official sword tester" they had heard of for a long time tested swords.
After being brought to the courtyard, Makimura found that there were quite a lot of people in the courtyard. These people were probably retainers of the Shimada family, who accompanied Soichiro to watch the sword test. They sat in various places in the courtyard according to their status.
Makimura looked around the courtyard and found that he couldn't tell who Yamada Asaemon was. He surrendered and asked Hachibei for help: "Mr. Hachibei, who is Yamada Asaemon?"
Hachibei was sent to serve Makimura and Shimada, so he was now kneeling behind Makimura and Shimada.
Hachibei was also an expert at gossiping. He whispered in a voice that could not be heard by anyone other than Makimura and Shimada:
"Yamada Asaemon hasn't arrived yet. He's still preparing."
"The one who came to test the sword this time was not the current head of Yamada Asaemon's family, but the son of the current head of the family."
"Because the Yamada Asaemon family has been beheading people and testing swords for generations. This is their family business. Therefore, their descendants will be trained as executioners since birth, and each of them is an expert in swordsmanship."
"Because there are so many people who come to request sword testing, the Yamada Asaemon family often asks their young descendants to do it instead."
"The Yamada Asaemon family has now reached the seventh generation. The current seventh generation Yamada Asaemon is named 'Yamada Asaemon Fumiaki'."
"Wen Xian has two sons. He often asks his two sons to test knives for others on his behalf. "
"But unfortunately - one of Wenxian's two sons has been missing for several years."
"It is said that Wen Xian's missing son had outstanding personal abilities. Since his disappearance, his family has been completely overwhelmed due to the shortage of manpower."
"Now when we ask Yamada Asaemon to come and test the sword, we often have to wait for a long time because they are too busy."
"We asked Yamada Asaemon to come and test the sword many days ago. But they were finally free today."
"One of the sons is missing?" Mucun frowned, "Why did he disappear? Was he killed by some enemy?"
"That... I don't know." Hachibei laughed awkwardly. "Wenxian seems to be very secretive about the reason for his son's disappearance. He rarely tells outsiders how and why his son disappeared... Ah, Master, Lord Makimura, please look over there. The young man over there is the one who came to test the sword today - Yamada Asaemon Yoshitomo."
Makimura looked in the direction where Yabei's chin was pointing: he saw an expressionless young man, as petite as Shimada, walking from the corner of the courtyard to the center of the courtyard at a leisurely pace.
Behind him were several people dressed as servants, pushing a cart with a large unidentified object wrapped in a straw mat on top.
"This young man is the son of the current Yamada Asaemon, Fumiaki Yoshitomo." Hachibei then introduced him to Makimura and the others, "He will be in charge of testing our swords today."
"Since one of Fumiaki's sons disappeared, Yoshitomo has become Fumiaki's only son."
"As long as nothing unexpected happens, Yoshitomo will be the next head of the Yamada Asauemon family, and will succeed the eighth generation Yamada Asauemon."
Shimada listened carefully to Hachibei's introduction and nodded from time to time.
After Yabei finished speaking, Shimada asked:
"Yahbei, what's on that cart that the waiters behind Yoshitomo are pushing? It looks very heavy."
"Those things wrapped in straw mats on the cart are corpses." Hachibei said calmly.
He ignored Shimada's surprised expression and continued:
"In addition to being the royal sword tester, the Yamada Asauemon family also served as executioners."
"Beheading the prisoners sentenced to 'decapitation' at the execution ground, serving as kaishakunin for the samurai who were ordered to commit seppuku... these tasks have always been the responsibility of the Yamada Asaemon family."
“The bodies of the people they killed were basically handed over to them for disposal.”
"The gallbladders of these corpses that can still be used will be taken out and made into the famous 'human gallbladder pills'."
"After the gallbladder is taken out, the body will be properly placed. If someone comes to ask them to test their knives, they will bring these corpses in stock to test their knives for people."
"Of course - 'Yamada Asaemon brings sword-testing materials to your door' is only available in Edo."
"If someone from outside Edo had asked Yamada Asaemon to test his sword, they certainly wouldn't have taken the corpse to a distant place."
"So people from outside Edo who come to ask Yamada Asaemon to test their swords have to bring their own corpses and other materials for the test - this is also an unwritten rule."
"...I've heard before that the house of Yamada Asaemon's family is full of corpses." Shimada twitched his lips, "So this is true?"
"It's true that the Yamada Asaemon family stored a large number of corpses, but they probably wouldn't keep them at home." Hachibei laughed dryly. "I'm not sure where they kept the corpses, but I guess they had a special place to store them, and they didn't keep all the corpses at home."
While Makimura and the others were listening attentively to Hachibei's introduction, Yoshitomo was already in the center of the courtyard, ready to test the swords with his servants.
They first used mud and other tools to prepare the "earth altar" to place the bodies. Then they untied the straw mat covering the cart, revealing the scene under the straw mat - seven bodies.
He hadn't looked at him carefully just now, but after taking a closer look at Yoshitomo, Makimura discovered that this man was really young.
He seemed to be less than 20 years old, but at such a young age, he was very familiar with the process of sword testing. He prepared for the test with ease, completed the necessary rituals, and then took the sword handed to him by the attendant beside him - this was probably the sword that Soichiro wanted Yamada Asaemon to test its performance.
After Yoshitomo took the sword, two attendants placed a corpse on the newly built earthen altar with extremely skillful movements.
Seeing that the knife test was about to begin, Makimura opened his eyes wide and began to watch attentively.
Testing a knife on human flesh involves a rather complicated process. In order to fully grasp the performance of the knife, the corpse is constantly placed in various positions, and then various parts are cut.
Yoshitomo first chopped the first body in half at the chest with a vertical strike.
The blood in this body was probably drained in advance, so not a drop of blood flowed out after being cut in half.
After Yoshitomo completed the first chop, the waiter beside him immediately came forward and placed a new body, which was placed in a sitting position to make it easier for Yoshitomo to chop its shoulder.
They kept repeating these steps.
The waiter adjusted the position of the body while Yoshitomo was responsible for chopping it.
Soon, they came to the last step - the waiters stacked the seven bodies they brought together, and Yoshitomo raised the sword in his hand high and chopped it down hard on the stacked "meat mountain".
The sword cut through three bodies in one go, and stopped when the blade embedded itself into the fourth body.
"Samido," Yoshitomo said softly, "Not a bad sword."
Yoshitomo wiped the blade clean, sheathed it, and then saluted Soichiro and others, announcing to everyone with his actions that the sword test was over.
After Yoshitomo paid his respects to Soichiro, the retainers of the Shimada family who had come to watch the sword test exclaimed in admiration, praising Yoshitomo's exquisite swordsmanship.
Mucun is also a swordsman, so he naturally understands the tricks of sword testing.
In the eyes of people who don't know swordsmanship, it would probably seem that Yoshitomo was just casually slashing a few times.
But in the eyes of knowledgeable people like Makimura, Yoshitomo's series of sword-testing moves just now were of extremely high standard.
Anyone who has swung a real sword knows how heavy it is and how difficult it is to swing such a heavy sword to accurately chop objects.
However, Yoshitomo held such a heavy sword, but there was not the slightest tremor in the sword's movement when he swung it. He could cut wherever he wanted. Even the chest, which was very difficult to cut due to the many bones, was cut in half by his sword like tofu.
Just from the incredibly precise way he swung his sword and the way he could easily break bones, it was enough to tell that this young man was no ordinary person.
Makimura recognized Yoshitomo's final sword-testing action - this was a very classic way of testing the sharpness of a sword.
"Mido" means the ability to chop three human bodies into pieces.
It is said that the highest record so far is the "Nanado-giri" created by Jurobei Nakanishi in 1681.
"Shimada-sama!" Yoshitaka said loudly.
Perhaps because of his young age, Yoshitomo's voice still had a hint of childishness.
"As expected of the name 'California Sumifujishima Mataju'! It's been a long time since I've cut through three bodies so easily. It's worthy of the name 'treasure sword'."
"Yamada-kun, thank you for your hard work." Soichiro also stood up with a smile, "As expected of the Yamada Asaemon family, you have such superb swordsmanship at such a young age. I have to admire you."
Soichiro walked over and exchanged pleasantries with Yoshitomo. Soichiro hoped that Yoshitomo could stay at their house for a while so that they could continue to perform the hospitality of the host, but Yoshitomo politely declined.
Seeing that Yoshitomo had no intention of staying at their house for long, Soichiro did not force him to stay or make things difficult for him.
Yoshitomo said that he would prepare the appraisal report as soon as possible and send it to your residence, then he asked his servants to load the body that had been tested with the knife onto the cart and prepare to go home.
Yamada Asaemon also had another "label" in Edo, which was that his service was very good.
Not only will they bring their own materials such as corpses for knife testing, but they will also take these materials back after testing the knives.
After trying each sword, Yamada Asaemon would write an appraisal report for it, stating the year, month and day the sword was appraised, and its specific performance.
With this certificate of appraisal, the owner of the knife can prove to outsiders that this sword has been inspected by the "Shogunate's official sword tester" and is undoubtedly a precious sword.
…
…
Makimura and Shimada returned to the room where they had first met Soichiro.
After Soichiro personally escorted Yoshitomo away from the Shimada family's residence, he led Makimura and Shimada back to this room.
There were only three people in the room at this time: Soichiro, Shimada, and Makimura.
"Okay, Katsurokuro. Let's have a good chat first." Soichiro's tone was very calm, as if there was no emotion hidden in it. "You have been away from home... for nearly two years."
"Two years ago, you told me that you wanted to make a name for yourself without relying on the power of your family."
"Now that two years have passed, have you succeeded in making a name for yourself?"
“…I haven’t achieved anything remarkable yet.” Shimada said calmly.
"Then can you tell me what you have been doing outside for the past two years?"
Shimada was silent for a moment, then shook his head: "…Sorry, please allow me to keep this a secret. The only thing I can tell you is that I have never slackened in my self-improvement."
"You don't want to tell me... Never mind."
Soichiro looked at Shimada's eyes carefully and said, "It seems that you are not bragging. Your eyes have become a little sharper than before."
"What are you doing here to come back to see me?"
"I just came to see my father whom I haven't seen for a long time." Shimada replied, "To be honest: if no one persuaded me to come back, I actually had no intention of coming back."
"I see..." Soichiro smiled a few times, "So what are your plans for the future?"
"I will continue to walk my own path." Shimada's tone was sonorous and powerful. "'Not relying on the power of the family, but relying on my own efforts to achieve great success' - my original intention has never changed."
"I see..." Soichiro nodded gently, "Then you should work hard."
After saying that, Soichiro turned his head and looked out the window.
Then he asked a question that had nothing to do with the previous topic:
"It's almost noon now, do you want to stay for lunch?"
Shimada had not expected Soichiro to ask such a question. After a pause, he replied, "No. I don't plan to stay for lunch."
"Are you planning on leaving before noon?"
"Yeah. That's what I planned."
"..." Soichiro was silent for a while, then nodded, "Okay then. Since you want to leave, I won't keep you here."
"Katsurokuro, I won't ask you what you do outside. Just don't do anything that is against the law."
"Then..." Soichiro paused, and after hesitating for a long time, he continued, "If you are tired of working outside... just come back."
Shimada looked at his father in front of him with surprise and astonishment.
After a while, he came back to his senses.
"Yeah...I will."
…
…
Shimada and Makimura walked out of the Shimada residence side by side.
As soon as he stepped out of the mansion, Makimura couldn't wait to say to Shimada:
"I always thought you had a very bad relationship with your father, which is why you were so reluctant to come home."
"But now it seems that this is not the case. I always feel that your father has not been too bad to you."
"To be honest... I was also shocked." Shimada turned his head and looked at the Shimada residence behind him. "My father two years ago was not so easy to talk to..."
"Two years ago, I had a big fight with my father."
"When I told my father that I wanted to go out and make a career without relying on the family, he scolded me."
"They told me that I would never succeed and told me to stay at home and prepare to inherit the Shimada family business in the future."
"My father and I had such a quarrel that we almost drew our knives... I ended up escaping from home by almost forcing my way out..."
"Want to make a name for yourself..." Mucun grinned. "Although I knew you had this goal when you first joined us, I never asked you why you wanted to do this. Have you ever been stimulated by something and decided to leave the protection and support of your family?"
"There's nothing particularly complicated about it..." Shimada raised his hand and scratched his hair. "Many people have had this idea - they want to achieve great things on their own without relying on the power of their family."
"I am not only one of these people, but I also happen to be very proactive. When others only dared to 'think' about it, I had already done it. Two years ago, I explained my ambition to my father, had a big fight with him, and then left home despite his dissuasion, starting my own journey."
"You are also a person with rich life experience." Makura shrugged, "Want to make a name for yourself by your own strength...Haha, this should be a worry that only rich kids like you would have."
"Don't call me a rich kid." Shimada said unhappily, "You should know that I don't like this name."
"Ah, sorry, sorry." Makura laughed, "But are you really going to leave like this? At least stay and have lunch with your father after a long absence."
Shimada shook his head and said, "Two years ago, after I left home, I made a vow to myself: I would never go home and never spend a penny from home unless I made a name for myself and made my father, who had said I could never succeed, see it clearly."
"If it weren't for the Lord persuading me to go home, I wouldn't have planned to come back today."
"Why do you have to make such a troublesome oath..." Makimura said helplessly.
Shimada turned around again and glanced at the Shimada family residence which was almost disappearing behind him.
"Actually, now that I think about it, I was too reckless when I decided to leave home two years ago..." Shimada said with a wry smile, "In order to show my determination to 'not rely on my family', I left home without a penny."
"After leaving Edo in a hurry, we soon ran into the dilemma of having no money to eat."
"I was also lucky - when I was so hungry that I was about to pick up garbage to eat, I happened to meet my lord who was about to come to Edo to do some business."
"The lord did not give me money or food directly."
"Instead, she asked me to help her carry the luggage. If I helped her carry the luggage to Edo, she would pay me 100 wen."
"I remember very clearly that I used the 100 coins to buy two red bean paste buns - they were the most delicious red bean paste buns I have ever eaten in my life."
"And just like that - I met the lord who almost saved my life, and before I knew it, I became a member of the Calabash House."
"Your experience of joining Calabash House is quite similar to mine." Makimura smiled, "When I gave up my official position in Yoriki and left Kyoto, I ran out of money and almost had to pick up garbage to eat."
"Fortunately, I met the lord in time, and just as you said, the lord gave me a job that pays, so I finally had a full meal after a long time."
“Then, without even realizing it, I became a part of the Calabash House.”
"I see... I didn't expect that the process of you joining Calabash House was very similar to mine." Having found a similar person, Shimada smiled brightly, "By the way... I never knew how all of you seniors joined Calabash House."
"Why did Asai-senpai join the Gourd House? Was he also saved by the lord?"
"His process of joining the Hyakusha was quite ordinary." Makimura shrugged. "He was originally a low-ranking samurai in the Satsuma domain. Because his salary was so low that he couldn't make ends meet, he left the domain and became a ronin, intending to go out and fight for his fortune."
"Not long after he left Satsuma, he met the lord. Because the lord offered him a high salary, he joined the Gourd House."
"The process of him joining Calabash House was really ordinary..." Shimada said, "What about Mamiya-senpai?"
"Mamiya..." Makimura twitched his lips, "I don't know."
Shimada: “Huh?”
"You know that Mamiya has always been very mysterious." Makimura shrugged. "He never talks about his past. He is also very secretive about how he joined Calabash House."
"The only thing I can be sure of is that he was the first one to follow the lord, and he was very trusted by her."
"Could it be that Mamiya-senpai was doing some shady job in the past?" Shimada said in a half-joking tone, "That's why he has always been like this and doesn't want to tell us anything about his past."
"Who knows." Mucun shrugged again, "Anyway - he doesn't want to talk more about his past, so we shouldn't ask too much."
"When Mamiya decides to talk about his past, he will naturally tell it."
"Okay, let's walk faster. I'm starving. Let's go back and eat the lunch that the lord prepared."
…
…
Ezo, somewhere in the north——
"Look! There are lights ahead!" Lin Ziping, who was sitting behind Ogata, pointed forward.
Because of the low temperature, every breath Lin Ziping exhaled turned into white mist.
"The Tuohe Village is just ahead!" Lin Ziping continued shouting loudly.
"We're finally here..." Ogata murmured softly, then silently increased the speed of his horse.
It was now evening, the sky had turned a dull dark blue, and lights were lit in the Ainu settlements in the distance.
Since the severe snowstorm two days ago, Ogata and his team have not encountered any accidents and arrived at Tohe Village smoothly.
According to Lin Ziping, after arriving at Tuohe Village, they are very close to Kantou Village where the strange doctor lives.
After Ogata and his group quickly ran towards the distant Tohe Village, the villagers of Tohe Village quickly discovered this uninvited guest. Ogata caught a glimpse of many men holding various weapons pouring out of the village.
"It's me! Hayashi Shiping! (Ainu language)" Hayashi Shiping shouted loudly to the men who rushed out of the village with weapons.
Afterwards, the villagers who rushed out of the village made a small commotion, and then slowly put away their weapons.
To show courtesy, Ogata and his companions dismounted and walked when they were about ten steps away from the village.
As they were leading their horses closer to the villagers who were blocking them from the village, an extremely old man walked out from among the villagers and slowly walked towards Ogata and the others.
Lin Ziping: "Olowa! Long time no see! (Ainu language)"
"Lin Ziping, it's been a long time." The old man called Orova by Lin Ziping nodded with a smile.
…
…
Ezo Land, Tohe Village, the home of the village chief (Olowa)——
The old man called Olova by Lin Ziping is the village chief of Tohe Village.
After being declared harmless due to Hayashi Shihei's relationship, Ogata and the others were taken to Orlowa's home.
"The method of making fire... This is definitely the greatest discovery in human history..." Shivering slightly from the cold, Ating put his hands close to the flames that were simmering the thick soup and muttered like a madman.
I don't know if it's because the weather is getting colder as they go north, or because there's been another cold wave recently, but anyway - after the severe snowstorm two days ago, the temperature has dropped to the point where people want to hold fire in their arms.
While Atachi was warming himself by the flames, Ogata and Hayashi Shiping were negotiating with Orova.
"Well... I understand the details." Olova nodded. "You want us to take you to Kanto Village... (Ainu)"
"That's right." Lin Ziping nodded. "Because it's been so long, I can't remember the exact location of Kantou Village, so I have to trouble you to send someone to lead us. (Ainu language)."
"…I can draw a map for you. But I can't send anyone to lead you. (Ainu)" Olowa shook his head.
"Huh? Why? (Ainu language)" Lin Ziping asked puzzled.
"Because things haven't been peaceful here lately." Olova said slowly, "Pirates have appeared here recently. (Ainu)"
"Huh? Pirates? Here?! (Ainu)" Lin Ziping exclaimed.
"Mr. Lin, what did Mr. Orova say just now?" Ogata asked.
"Olova said that pirates have appeared here recently."
"Huh? Pirates? Here?!" Ogata made the same exclamation as Lin Ziping just now.