"I told you to drink less..." Asai said unhappily to Shimada who was currently lying behind him.
“Sorry…” Shimada, whose face was red as if blood was dripping out, stammered, “I’m sorry to trouble you to carry me back again…”
Converted to modern Earth time units, the three of Makimura drank in the pub until 11pm...
Even though they drank until so late, Asai, who only drank small amounts the whole time, and Makimura, who could drink a lot, were still in high spirits. Only Shimada was almost unconscious from drinking.
"Shimada, you have to practice your drinking capacity more in the future." Makimura joked.
"Uh... sorry... Makimura-senpai... what did you say just now? I wasn't paying attention... uh... "
"Hey! If you want to vomit, hold it back! If you dare to vomit on me, I will chop you to pieces!"
The three people from Mucun returned to their residence in a noisy manner.
As soon as I got back to my residence, I ran into Lin who was still awake.
"I say..." Lin, who was several heads shorter than Mucun and the others, put her hands on her waist and raised her head high, looking up at Mucun and the others, "I have no objection to you going out to drink, but when it comes to drinking, you should be moderate, right? What's the matter with drinking to the point of being unable to walk?"
Lin's words were obviously directed to Shimada who was still lying behind Asai.
“I’m so sorry…” Shimada’s face turned even redder due to embarrassment, “I shouldn’t have competed with Makimura-senpai in drinking capacity.”
"Ah..." Lin sighed, "Okay, you guys go down and rest."
After Lin finished this brief scolding, Asai, at Shimada's request, carried him to the bathroom on his back - their mansion, in modern terms, was a luxury villa, so naturally it had a private bathroom that ordinary people could not have.
"Hey, Shimada." When Shimada was carried to the bathhouse by Asai, Makimura said to Shimada, "Remember not to take too long. I want to take a bath tonight, too."
Mucun last took a bath three days ago.
He could already smell something on his body today, and in order to avoid being disliked by his companions for his body odor in the future, he decided to take a good bath tonight.
In order not to waste the time waiting for the bathroom to be free, Makimura sat in the middle of the living room and maintained his large sword.
Just as he drew out his large sword, Mamiya's voice suddenly rang out from behind him:
"Mucun, you're back."
"Oh, it's Mamiya." Makimura turned his head and looked at Mamiya who was walking towards him slowly with a smile on his face.
"I just happened to run into Asai carrying Shimada to the bathroom. How come Shimada is drunk again..."
"Sorry, it's my fault." Makura smiled bitterly, "I thought he could drink more this time. I will pay more attention next time and don't let him drink too much. Otherwise, it will be troublesome to carry him back every time."
Having said this, Makimura paused, then asked Mamiya:
"Mamiya, I'm going to go out for drinks tomorrow night. Do you want to come with me?"
"Still drinking?" Mamiya frowned slightly, "Makino, aren't you guys going out for drinks too often recently?"
"It's because we're leaving Edo soon." Makimura shrugged. "Once we leave Edo this time, I don't know when we'll be back next time."
"So it would be a waste if I don't experience the beauty of Edo before I leave."
"So, to experience the beauty of Edo, you mean to go to an izakaya and drink..." After muttering something in a low voice, Mamiya shook his head, "Sorry, I won't go."
Seeing that Mamiya rejected his invitation almost without thinking, Makura narrowed his eyes slightly and looked at Mamiya deeply.
Then, he said jokingly:
"… Mamiya, you've been very reluctant to go out since you came to Edo. Could it be that you have an old lover in Edo?"
"I don't have any old lovers." Mamiya responded calmly, "The reason why I don't want to go out is simply because I am a wanted person."
"Edo is a big city with a population of one million. It is also the ruling center of the shogunate. The government's spies are everywhere. If things go wrong, the shogunate might track down the whereabouts of a wanted criminal like me and come to find me."
"...Then I think you are worrying too much." Makimura sneered, "I used to be an official working for the shogunate. I know exactly what the shogunate is like now."
"In terms of how to maintain the Tokugawa family's rule over the world, the shogunate has various unique tricks one after another."
"But when it comes to issues that are closely related to the lives of the people, such as catching thieves, the shogunate is not very capable."
Having said that, Makimura opened the blade oil at his feet and officially began to apply oil to his large sword.
"Anyway, I think it would be a good idea for you to go out for a walk if you have the chance. After all, if I remember correctly, you haven't been out for a long time."
"Come to the izakaya with us and have a drink. Not only can you breathe in the fresh air outside, but you can also occasionally hear some interesting things to relieve your boredom."
"We heard a lot of interesting things at the izakaya today."
"Oh?" Mamiya raised his eyebrows, and then changed his tone to a half-joking one, "The interesting thing in your eyes... is that there is a beautiful girl in Yoshiwara?"
"So this is how I appear in your eyes..." Makimura looked at Mamiya with a resentful look.
"I was just joking." Mamiya smiled and waved his hand, "Tell me what the interesting thing is. I just happen to be free now."
"You, Mamiya, might also be interested in this matter." Makimura smiled, "Mamiya, do you know 'The First Swordsman of Edo' and 'Demon Sword·Zana'?"
"Eh? What is this?" Behind the glasses, there were Mamiya's eyes filled with doubt...
…
…
Makimura repeated to Mamiya the entire story he had heard at the izakaya today.
When he finished retelling the story, Makimura had just applied new blade oil to his Odachi.
"...Anyway, that's the story. After listening to it, I went back to Asai and the others to continue drinking."
"Although I have heard of Yamada Asaemon's name before, I didn't know until tonight that the current head of Yamada Asaemon is an extremely skilled swordsman."
"…This family is really creepy."
"Hmm?" Makimura turned to look at Mamiya who suddenly made a comment.
"This family is really creepy." Mamiya, expressionless, repeated his previous comment, "Relying on killing people and leaving corpses in exchange for fame and fortune... The more I think about it, the more uncomfortable I feel..."
"Yeah, I think so too." Makimura agreed, "Their family has been the 'Shogunate's Official Sword Tester' for hundreds of years. In the past hundred years, the number of people killed by their family should be thousands... no, tens of thousands."
"In addition to killing people, they also use human gallbladders to make medicine. This behavior of using human internal organs to make medicine also makes me very uncomfortable."
"How did they make human gallbladder into medicine..." Mucun sighed softly, "Although this medicine makes me feel disgusted, I still want to buy a human gallbladder pill to see what this medicine looks like and study its efficacy. How can so many people flock to it?"
"But this medicine seems to be very expensive, and it has always been out of stock." Mucun scratched his head, "And it is said that the quality of this gallbladder pill has suddenly improved a lot recently. I guess it will be even harder to buy it now. Even if I spend all my remaining money, I may not be able to afford one."
"The quality of human bile pills has suddenly improved a lot?" Mamiya raised his eyes and looked at Makimura in astonishment.
"Yes." Although he didn't know why Mamiya looked at him like that, Makimura still answered honestly, "But I also heard it from the construction workers who told me the story of Wen Xian tonight. I don't know whether it is true or not."
In the briefest possible sentences, Mucun summarized what he had heard from the construction workers about the "improvement in the quality of human bile pills."
"...they then started arguing about whether the human gallbladder pills were useful or not, but I had already returned to Asai and the others to continue drinking, so I don't know what the final outcome of their argument was."
"...I'm quite curious." Mamiya smiled, "How did they suddenly improve the quality of this medicine? Did they invent some new method of refining medicine?"
"I don't know about that." Mucun shrugged. "Anyway, I don't like this medicine. For me, even if the raw material for refining the medicine is the gallbladder of a dead person, I really can't accept it."
"Hey! Makimura!" At this time, Asai's voice suddenly reached Mamiya and Makimura's ears, "Shimada asked me to tell you that he has already taken a bath. You can take a bath anytime now."
"Oh! I'll go now!" Makimura picked up his well-maintained sword and stood up, "Mamiya, I'm going to take a shower now, and we can talk slowly later."
"Yeah." Mamiya nodded slightly.
Makimura, carrying a large sword, strode away from Mamiya.
Mamiya remained kneeling on the ground, not moving at all.
He looked down at the tatami in front of him, looking as if he was in a daze, but also as if he was thinking.
Even until Makimura had completely disappeared from his sight, Mamiya still did not make any movement.
It was not until an unknown amount of time had passed that the sound of Mamiya muttering to himself could be heard in the room:
"……Father……"
…
…
…
…
Jiulang stared blankly at the wilderness in front of him on the outskirts of Edo.
In the wilderness, there were densely packed people with their hands and feet tied and forced to kneel on the ground.
A rough count shows that there are at least hundreds of people.
Without exception, they all huddled together, with expressions of fear and anxiety on their faces.
These hundreds of people were surrounded by a similar number of fully armed warriors. They glared at the hundreds of people kneeling on the ground fiercely, demanding that they all kneel down and not move.
"...Father..." Jiulang looked at his father beside him, "Who are these people kneeling on the ground? Why are we here?"
"Jiulang," said the father in a tone that showed neither joy nor sorrow, "Come with me to kill these people and take their gallbladders."
"Kill, kill? Why?" Jiulang couldn't help but look again at the hundreds of people who were forced to kneel on the ground - there were men and women among them, but without exception, they were all extremely young, most of them were only in their teens, and the oldest should be no more than 20 years old.
No matter how you look at it, they are not the kind of people who would be sentenced to beheading.
It is also impossible that there would suddenly be so many young death row inmates.
"Her Majesty the Empress has contracted lung disease. She needs urgent treatment." My father had already taken out his cuffs and tied up the sleeves of his kimono. "So she needs a large amount of the highest quality human gallbladder made from young, fresh livers to treat her. Stop talking nonsense and get to work."
"Wait! Father! These people don't look like death row inmates, do they?!"
"They are healthy and young enough people that the government has collected from all over the place."
"Does that mean they were just helping innocent people? They killed all these innocent people just to treat the Empress?"
"Jiulang, watch your tone." His father said in a very obvious tone of displeasure, "What you just said was very disrespectful to His Majesty the Queen Mother."
"These people are just gangsters. How can they be compared with the life of Her Majesty the Queen Mother? Her Majesty the Queen Mother has the important responsibility of ruling the country. Her survival is far more valuable than letting these gangsters survive."
"Using the lives of these Eta to exchange for the life of His Majesty the Lord - Jiulang, is there anything wrong with this?"
"Father! This is ridiculous! How can a person's life be exchanged in this way?"
"...Jiulang, it seems...I really shouldn't have brought you here. Well, if you don't want to do it, just go to the side and rest. I can finish this job by myself."
"Hey! What are you arguing about? Why don't you start fighting?" At this time, a pot-bellied warrior strode towards Jiulang and the others.
"My lord, I am very sorry." The father bowed to the warrior and apologized. "We will start now."
Seeing that a high-ranking official from the government seemed to have arrived, Jiulang hurriedly wanted to report to him - taking the lives of more than a hundred people to save the Empress was simply too absurd.
However… before he could open his mouth, he felt a sharp pain in his side.
He looked to his side with difficulty - his father, who was standing next to him, hit him in the side with the base of the knife handle.
He had no defense against his father. He did not expect that his father would attack him by surprise...
This powerful blow made Jiulang's limbs go limp, and when Jiulang completely lost the ability to resist, his father chopped at the back of Jiulang's neck with a knife.
The pain from the back of his neck made Jiulang's eyes go dark, and the intense dizziness caused Jiulang's eyelids to slowly droop, making it difficult for him to open them.
Before he completely lost consciousness, he saw his father, who still had no expression on his face, and said to him coldly: "I told you, if you don't want to do it, go to the side and have a rest."
…
…
…
…
Mamiya suddenly opened his eyes and sat up.
"Ha ha ha ha……"
In the empty room where he was alone, the only sound was his low breathing.
Mamiya was somewhat thankful that each of them had a room to themselves, otherwise the noise he made when he got up would surely have woken up one or two people.
This luxurious mansion has so many rooms that even if the number of people in Huluwu doubles, everyone will still have a room to spare.
Because everyone had their own private room, Mamiya's sudden standing up did not disturb or wake anyone up.
Mamiya raised his hand and touched his back - the clothes on his back were already wet with sweat.
He didn't have nightmares.
He had just recalled an event from the past in his dream - although this event was no different from a nightmare.
——Now... what time is it...
Mamiya turned his head and looked towards the window next to him - the sky outside the window was still pitch black. Mamiya made a simple estimate and found that it was still a long way to dawn, probably more than an hour away.
(Using the lives of these Eta to exchange for the life of His Majesty the Chuu-kun - Jiulang, is there anything wrong with this?)
Even though he had woken up from the dream, he could still hear the words that the person he had just recalled in the dream had said to him.
In his mind, the words of that person had just fallen into his mind, and the words that another person - Makimura had said to him before he went to sleep tonight, as if they had their own consciousness, automatically rang in Mamiya's mind:
(It is said that the quality of this person's gallbladder has suddenly improved a lot recently.)
Mamiya turned his head again and looked at the sky outside the window again.
At this moment, Mamiya himself did not notice that his eyes slowly changed from confused to sharp.
…
…
The next morning,
Everything about this luxurious mansion was good except for one thing that made Lin extremely dissatisfied—the stove was built too high for some reason.
This made Lin, who was only 1.45 meters tall, feel particularly uncomfortable.
So every time she cooked, Lin could only find a small wooden box and then stand on it to cook.
"Hehehe~~Cooking~~Hehe~~Boil the soup~~Hehehehe~~Add salt~~"
At this moment, in the kitchen, Lin was standing on a wooden box with her bare white feet, stirring the miso soup in front of her with a large spoon, humming a song she had just come up with on the spur of the moment and composed and written by herself, her small and well-proportioned toes wiggling with the rise and fall of the tune.
Although the tune was the same over and over again, and the lyrics only contained a few words like cooking, making soup, and adding salt, Lin still hummed it happily.
When she is in a good mood, Lin will hum a song while cooking, like she is doing now.
Since Lin is the only one who prepares three meals a day for everyone, she is usually the first one to get up every morning.
Just as Lin was concentrating on cooking today's breakfast, suddenly, Mamiya's voice sounded behind her.
"My Lord."
Mamiya's voice suddenly came from behind her, which frightened Lin so much that her whole body shook.
Lin quickly turned her head and looked behind her - behind her was Mamiya, who was dressed neatly and holding a brand new hat in his hand.
"Jiulang?" Lin looked at Mamiya from head to toe with a surprised look, "Are you... planning on going out?"
Mamiya nodded: "I have something I need to do. I will skip breakfast today."
"...How long will you be out for?"
"I don't know." Mamiya answered honestly, "But I will finish my work and come back as soon as possible."
“…I understand.” Lin turned her gaze back to the miso soup in front of her, “Then go quickly and come back soon.”
"My lord,... aren't you going to ask me why I suddenly want to go out?" A trace of doubts that was difficult to conceal emerged on Mamiya's face.
"How long have you been working under me? I've already figured out some of your behaviors." Lin said calmly, "You didn't tell me why you were going out right away. You only told me that you were going out. This means it's not convenient for you to tell me the reason for your going out now."
"In that case, I won't ask any more questions. Just tell me when you want to."
"...Yes." A smile slowly bloomed on Mamiya's face, "I understand."
…
…
Mamiya pulled his hat very low and walked straight forward along the street at a leisurely pace.
Because it was just dawn, there were not many pedestrians on the street.
In order to prevent people around him from seeing his face, Mamiya not only pulled his hat down, but also lowered his head.
Although this meant that he could not see the road ahead and could only see the road under his feet, Mamiya continued to walk without any pause. He walked straight when he should and turned when he should. He looked very familiar with the road conditions nearby, as if... he had walked this road under his feet thousands of times.
Mamiya, who had been walking non-stop all the way, finally stopped in front of a mansion in a remote area of ​​Edo.
Although it is still early in the morning and there are not many people on the streets, this is Edo, a city with a population of one million. No matter how few people there are, there should be at least one or two pedestrians on each street.
But the street in front of this mansion is not like this - the street in front of this mansion is empty.
No one passed by - making this street, and even this mansion, shrouded in a somewhat eerie atmosphere.
--arrive……
Mamiya lifted the hat on his head slightly and looked at the mansion in front of him.
Knock knock knock.
He knocked on the door of the mansion.
The sound of "knock knock knock" on the door broke the tranquility of the dead silent avenue and became the only sound in this avenue.
Squeak.
After a while, the side door next to the main gate of the mansion was opened, and a very young servant walked out through the opened side door, looking up and down at Mamiya with a suspicious look.
"Who are you?" the young man asked, "What are you doing in front of my house, Yamada Asaemon? If you want to ask for gallbladder pills, please leave. We have sold out of the medicine."
"You don't recognize me?" Mamiya asked back, "That's right, I haven't seen you before, you must be new here."
"Please inform the inside and say, 'Kuro Yoshitsune' is visiting."
The suspicion in the young man's eyes became more serious.
He was just a low-ranking attendant, but the man in front of him was a samurai, and a samurai who dared to say calmly, "Please inform the inside," which made him dare not neglect him at all.
"Please wait a moment." The young waiter unconsciously changed his tone to honorifics and returned to the mansion through the side door.
Mamiya stood there, waiting quietly.
He didn't have to wait long.
It wasn't long before he saw the side door being yanked open.
Then, a black shadow rushed out of the side door at a dazzling speed and threw itself into Mamiya's arms.
"Brother!"
"Yoshitomo..." Mamiya smiled and touched the head of the person in his arms, "Long time no see, you have grown a lot taller."