I was a swordsman in ancient Japan

Ogata: "Businessmen? Are you their guard?"

"No." Kondo shook his head, "I'm working in a shop called Kitafuya now."

"That store was short of a planner a while ago."

"And I happened to be good at abacus, so I was hired by the owner of Beifeng House to do abacus."

"You still plan to plan?"

"Master, don't think of me as an idiot who can only wield a sword, okay?" Kondo said angrily, "Although my brain is not very bright, I still know a lot of skills!"

"It is difficult for a person with few skills to roam around."

"About the abacus." Ogata's face flashed a bit of memory, "I used to make a living by abacus. Before leaving the feudal clan, my job was a treasury officer, and my daily tasks were abacus and bookkeeping."

"It's just that my abacus skills are basically useless, and I will definitely not have the opportunity to make money from this in the future."

"Why is there no use for it? Master," Kondo paused because he remembered something before he could finish his sentence.

Kondo remembered that his master is now the most wanted criminal in the shogunate.

Not to mention planning, Ogata was basically unable to do all the normal work.

"Master, don't you have a human skin mask now?" Kondo said after a moment of silence, "With this human skin mask, can't you live normally with the identity of Goro Mashima?"

"It's true to say that, but it's not a last resort. I don't want to live on a human skin mask and Mashima Goro's identity."

Ogata said in a flat tone.

"I'm the executioner Ittosai Ogata Yishi."

"It's not Goro Mashima."

Hearing Ogata's words, Kondo's expression became depressed.

"In this way, master, you will live a very hard life."

"I have already prepared." Ogata smiled calmly, "When I decided to assassinate Matsudaira Gennai, I had already prepared for the rest of my life that I would not be able to live like a normal person, and that I would die at some point. mentally prepared."

"Master, if you need anything in the future, you can come to me!"

After being silent for a while, Kondo raised his hand and patted his chest.

"Although I plan to continue to travel around in the future, after the experience, I plan to open a sword gym here in Edo to teach my natural spiritual flow!"

"At that time, if you need any help, master, you can come to my sword hall to find me!"

"It's not so easy to open a sword gym. Don't you even have travel expenses now?" Ogata showed a helpless expression, "When you open a sword gym, you don't know when."

"It won't be long." Kondo said heartily, "I plan to carry forward my natural mind flow! Therefore, I must open a sword gym that specializes in teaching natural mind flow."

"Pass down my natural mental flow from generation to generation!"

"So master, if you meet my disciple somewhere in the future, please take care of me by the way!"

"Well, I will." Ogata smiled slightly.

"Ah, Master, here we are, and the North Wind House is in front of us! It's also where I live now!"

Ogata looked in the direction Kondo's finger pointed.

I saw a very large shop in front of me.

There are 2 floors in total, and a huge plaque hangs above the gate, with the three characters "Beifeng House" written on it.

The open door, the light shining from the door and the window are all telling outsiders that the store is open.

After finally arriving at the place where Kondo lived, Ogata helped Kondo through the gate.

As soon as they entered the shop, a very young samurai immediately walked up to the two of Ogata.

"Welcome light? Kondo, are you back? What happened to your leg? And who is this person?"

"It's a long story." Kondo smiled bitterly, "In short, let me introduce you first. Chiba, this is my teacher, no, my friend Mashima Goro."

"Mashima, this is the only friend I told you about besides you, Chiba Koemon, who knew that I participated in the Gozen Trial and also participated in the Gozen Trial with me!"

"It's a pleasure to meet you. This is Chiba Koemon." Chiba bowed to Ogata.

"It's a pleasure to meet you. Goro Mashima." Ogata bowed back.

"Chiba is now working with me at the North Wind House." Kondo continued, "But his job is different. He is a doctor and is good at treating back injuries! So he was hired by the owner of the North Wind House to help him. A private doctor who treats the waist!"

"Are you a doctor?" Ogata asked in surprise, "I thought you were a samurai who wields a sword for a living."

There are two knives stuck in Qianye's waist, Kong Wu is powerful, and the forearms of both hands are extremely thick.

No matter how you look at it, you look more like a samurai with a sword than a doctor.

"Hahahaha." Qianye laughed heartily a few times, "I practice medicine as a profession, but I have a small hobby of swordsmanship, so when I have nothing to do, I will practice swordsmanship to kill time!"

After saying that, Chiba turned his gaze to Kondo next to him.

"Kondo, look at your appearance, have you caused trouble again? Just now when you left the martial arts test venue, if you came back with me obediently, there would be no such troubles. Come here, let me help you look at your What happened to the legs?"

When leaving the martial arts test venue just now, Chiba took the initiative to find his friend and invited Kondo to come back together.

But Kondo rudely refused, saying that he was in a bad mood and wanted to drink 2 cups.

It turned out that it was only such a short time of separation, and Kondo was supported back by someone.

Ogata and Chiba worked together to place Kondo Hirai on a certain piece of tatami next to him.

Chiba picked up Kondo's hakama and looked at Kondo's leg injury.

Ogata, on the other hand, scanned everything around him with curious eyes.

They are now in the halls of Northwind House.

The four sides of the hall are filled with large cabinets, and the products on the cabinets are dazzling.

Ogata looked around and found that the products here are mainly wool products and handicrafts.

Those handicrafts are all exotic, but they don't look like commodities from Western countries.

"Speaking of which, Kondo. I haven't asked you yet. What do you sell at Hokazeya? I always feel that your products here seem to be mixed. Wool products, handicrafts, and food"

"We mainly sell Ezo products here." Chiba, who was helping Kondo check his leg injury, replied on behalf of Kondo.

"Ezo goods?" A faint surprise appeared on Ogata's face.

Ezo, a derogatory term for the aborigines in Hokkaido and other places in Japan.

At this time, there is no such name as "Hokkaido".

At this time, people call the big island in the north of their country "Ezodi".

"Yeah." Chiba nodded, "We sell Ezo goods here, mainly animal fur and Azo handicrafts."

"Although our location is a bit remote, there are only a handful of shops selling Ezo goods, so the business is pretty good on weekdays."

"By the way, Chiba." Kondo asked, "Where is the boss? Isn't the boss here now?"

"It seems that I went to have dinner with some big shots." Qianye said, "As far as I know, I went to have dinner with some local snakes in the Edo business world."

"The owner told me before that he wants to transform and no longer sell Ezo goods."

"So now it's time to plan ahead and establish a good relationship with some big names in the Edo business world in advance."

"No more Ezo products?" Kondo exclaimed, "Why?"

"Because the land of Ezo is not flat right now." Chiba said softly, "The cost of purchasing Ezo goods is getting higher and higher, so the owner doesn't want to sell Ezo goods anymore."

"The land in Ezo is not flat?" Ogata raised his eyebrows, "Did something happen?"

"I'm not too sure about the specifics. It seems that the country of Lucia has recently sent expeditions to Ezo land frequently."

"And the shogunate is also adding troops to Ezo."

"It always feels like a war is coming."

"So now some people who have settled in Ezo are returning home in a hurry."

Ezo is not flat

While Ogata said this in his heart, he frowned silently.

at the same time

Edo, the base of Shiranui

"So that's it. Is this the Ru village? Seeing is worth seeing." Hannosuke sighed softly while looking around.

"Hannosuke-sama, let me remind you first." A young man standing next to Hannosuke said blankly, "There is nothing to see in the village."

The young man's name is Shutaro, and he is one of the Jonin in Shiranui.

After the Iga ninjas headed by Hannosuke arrived, Shutaro was sent to act as a caller between Hannosuke and others and the Balrog, and to act as the "steward" of these Iga ninjas.

Of course, Hannosuke knew that Shutaro still had a mission.

That is to monitor them.

Hannosuke felt that it was very normal for Balrog to send people to plant beside them and monitor their behavior.

If the Balrog didn't send someone to monitor them, Hannosuke would feel very strange instead.

At this moment, Hannosuke is visiting Shiranui with several of his subordinates under the leadership of Zhou Taro.

And the place where they are now is "Foul Village".

In order to show their friendship in Shiranui and to facilitate mutual cooperation, after reaching a cooperation agreement with the Iga ninjas headed by Hannosuke, Balrog borrowed an empty mansion in Shiranui for them to live in. , allowing them to temporarily live in Shiranui.

Living in Shiranui, it is convenient to communicate with the ninjas in Shiranui in time, so Hannosuke and others happily accepted Balrog's "living invitation".

However, although Balrog allowed Hannosuke and others to stay in Shiranui for a period of time, Balrog did not allow Hannosuke and others to approach certain areas in Shiranui.

Hannosuke and the others are very understanding of Balrog's behavior of restricting their range of activities in Shiranui, so they don't have any complaints.

These days, Hannosuke and others searched for Kinoshita Genichi in Edo day and night.

Early this morning, Hannosuke led his subordinates out and returned to Shiranui until just now.

Today, as usual, nothing was gained, and no information related to Kinoshita Genichi was found.

Although there is still no harvest today, Hannosuke and the others are not impatient.

When they came to Edo to find Kinoshita Genichi, they already had a bit of a gamble, so they had long been prepared for a "protracted battle" and "return without success".

Since living in Shiranui for a while, Hannosuke has not visited Shiranui.

Therefore, after returning to Shiranui just now, on a whim, Hannosuke made a request to the "butler" sent by Balrog to take care of and monitor them, that is, Shutaro, to let Shutaro take them around wherever they can. visit.

While visiting Shiranui, you can also relax your body and mind after working hard to find Genichi Kinoshita.

Balrog had previously informed Zhou Taro in advance: If these Iga ninjas request to visit, just take them to some insignificant places for a stroll.

Because the Balrog had notified him in advance, after Hannosuke and the others made this request, Shutaro nodded happily and agreed.

Shutaro led Hannosuke and others through the places that can be visited one after another.

And now, they came to the last stop "Gu Village".

Hannosuke smiled wryly after hearing Shutaro tell him that "Kuu Village" was nothing to look at:

"It seems that there is really nothing to see. There are not many pedestrians on the road."

At this moment, Hannosuke saw 2 youths appearing not far ahead.

The two young men had disheveled faces, sunken cheeks, and almost pale lips. It was obvious at first glance that their usual meals must not be much better.

The clothes he was wearing were also tattered, and he didn't even have a pair of shoes on his feet.

Remarkably, both of their feet were shackled.

Seeing Hannosuke and others approaching from a distance, the two youths immediately rushed to the side of the road as if reflexively, and then knelt down on the ground, pressing their foreheads tightly to the ground.

After glancing at the two young men, Hannosuke asked Shutaro beside him:

"Are those two people Kuu?"

"That's right." Zhou Tailang nodded, "Anyone with shackles on their feet is dirt."

Hannosuke has been admiring the name of "Kuu" in Shiranui for a long time.

Each ninja has a different system.

Compared with other ninjas, Shiranui has the most obvious institutional difference, that is, in addition to the three levels of upper ninja, middle ninja, and lower ninja, they also have the slave class of "gu".