I Was a Swordsman in Ancient Japan

"I was a swordsman in ancient Japan ()"

"Ayi." Ah Ding pointed to his neck, "Is your injury okay?"

"Hmm..." Ogata raised his hand and touched his neck, which had been re-wrapped in a thick white cloth, "Except for some pain due to the unhealed wound, there is no other discomfort..."

"Okay..." At this moment, Jian Gong looked around, "It should have made a big circle..."

Ogata looked around—the surroundings were all sea water, and there was no land to be seen.

"We have now circled a big circle in the sea along the southeast direction." Mamiya said softly, "Should be far away from the camp of the shogunate army, let's go back to land."

Having said that, Mamiya put the oars of both hands into the sea water again, drove the boat in a circle, and started heading straight for the land.

I have to say - Mamiya's boat handling skills are really top-notch, not like a ronin, but more like a fisherman from a fisherman's family.

"Do you need my help?" Asked Mucun, who was sitting next to Jiangong.

"No need." Gamiya said briskly, "I'm not so weak that I can't do it anymore, just sit still."

Speaking of this, Kamiya paused.

After being silent for a while, Mamiya turned his attention to Ogata and Atachi in front of him.

"We have successfully escaped from that ghost place now. After returning to the land, do you two have any plans for the future?"

"Is there any plan?" Ah-Ming shrugged helplessly, "Since the task has been completed, of course I will return to Shiranui."

"Although there are still many important things we don't know about the ogre, the information collected so far should be enough to communicate with the leader."

After A-cho finished talking about her next plan, Mamiya, Makimura, and A-cho all turned their attention to Ogata.

"Ayi." A-Ming said softly, "Do you...do you have any plans for the future?"

Speaking of this, A-Machi couldn't help but glance at Ogata's neck, which was wrapped in a thick white cloth.

Ogata did not immediately respond to the inquiring gazes of A-Machi and the others.

Instead, he silently took out from his arms the two prescriptions that Kazuyo and Kazuo had written to Konnosuke, and Konnosuke now handed him over.

"...I'm going to find the master-student pair He Shi and He Zhi." Ogata said softly.

After saying this, Ogata involuntarily pinched the two sheets of paper with his fingers that were holding the two prescriptions.

Hearing Ogata's words, whether it was Atachi, Mamiya, or Mucun, all showed more or less astonished expressions.

"...Do you want to find this pair of master and apprentice, and let them help you cure the poison of immortality in your body?" Although the sentence pattern of Jiangong's sentence is a question sentence, it has the tone of an affirmative sentence .

"Of course." Ogata said in a half-joking tone, "I don't want to die young at a young age."

"Even if you really want to die young, you should die on the grandest stage, instead of dying because of a so-called 'immortal poison' that you don't know whether it is a poison or not."

"The master and apprentice have possessed the medicine that can suppress the poison of immortality a few years ago."

"Now that several years have passed, they may have more and more powerful medicines that can target the immortal poison in their hands."

"I want to find them...to get rid of the immortal poison in my body."

"...That's true." Mu Cun shrugged and continued, "There is a poison in my body that will take my life at any time—this is indeed not something that can be ignored like this."

"Yeah." Ogata nodded, "That's right."

Ogata concealed some truths from Atachi, Mamiya, and Mucun.

Ogata concealed the fact that the immortal poison was a double-edged sword. After it entered the body, his body functions were enhanced.

The reason why he chose to conceal it was mainly because whether it was A-machi, Mamiya and Mucun, they were not close enough to Ogata to tell the whole story about him.

Especially Mamiya and Mucun—Ogata still clearly remembers that Mamiya said that the Gourd House they belonged to has been focusing on the investigation of "immortality" over the years.

When dealing with these two people, Ogata has to be more reserved about the introduction of his current physical changes.

"Then—" Mamiya Asaogata asked, "Japan is so big, where are you going to find this pair of master and apprentice?"

"Besides, the master-student pair may not be in the country yet, and the possibility of escaping abroad is not out of the question."

"There are still clues for the time being." Ogata said softly, "Both Zonghai and Kinnosuke have said it—the master and apprentice have a very strong Kyoto accent."

"So——I plan to go to Kyoto next."

Ogata, who was concentrating on telling his next plan, didn't notice—when he spit out the place name "Kyoto", Mucun's eyebrows raised, and a strange light shone in his eyes.

Of course, the gleam in his eyes was only fleeting. In an instant, his gaze returned to calm.

"Kyoto... Ogata-kun, are you planning to find this pair of master and apprentice by yourself?" Mamiya asked.

"Of course." Ogata rolled his eyes at Mamiya.

Ogata's eyes seemed to be saying to Gamiya: Aren't you talking nonsense?

"I'm a homeless ronin with no one to rely on. Of course I went to Kyoto by myself."

Speaking of this, Ogata turned his attention back to the two prescriptions in his hand.

"Let's go to Kyoto first, and then ask them one by one to see if anyone in Kyoto can recognize these handwriting..."

"... Ogata-kun." A faint smile appeared on Mamiya's face at this moment, "I have a small suggestion, would you be interested in hearing it?"

"Oh? What advice?"

"Do you want to join our Calabash House?"

Mamiya put the oar he was holding on to in his right hand back on the boat, and stretched out his right hand towards Ogata.

"I should have told you, right? Our Calabash House has been investigating 'Immortal' all these years."

"You want to find that master-student pair to remove the 'immortality poison' in your body."

"And we want to investigate 'Immortal'. Our next target is also this suspicious master and apprentice who may know a lot of information related to 'Immortal'."

"Our goals are aligned now."

"We have the same goal, but we are the best partners."

"It just so happens that our Calabash House is currently short of manpower."

"Although there are not many members in our gourd house, our gourd house has a huge network of contacts throughout almost the whole of Japan."

"If you cooperate with us, you will cooperate with us."

"The pursuit of the pair of masters and apprentices will definitely get twice the result with half the effort."

"How? Do you want to join our Calabash House?"

Ogata did not expect Mamiya to throw an olive branch at him.

After looking at Gamiya several times with astonished eyes, Ogata asked in a joking tone:

"Is it really okay for you to randomly recruit people into the gang without discussing with the leader?"

"I can be regarded as the second head of the gourd house." Jian Gong smiled, "I still have the right to recruit people into the gang without the master's consent."

"Second Master?" Ogata raised his eyebrows, and cast a questioning look at Mucun.

After feeling Ogata's questioning gaze, Mucun nodded slightly.

"If the lord is the head of our gourd house, that palace is indeed our second head."

"In the gourd house, apart from the lord and Mr. Yuan, I only listen to the words of the palace."

"...If Mamiya is considered the second master, then Kinoshita Genichi is regarded as the second master?" Ogata couldn't help asking.

"Master Yuan is an exception." Mucun smiled wryly, "Master Yuan never cares about things, he is very free. He is actually more like a guest of our gourd house... When he is in a good mood, he helps us with some tasks. When I’m in a bad mood, I just stay at home drinking and having fun.”

After getting a better understanding of the mysterious organization of Gourd House, Ogata nodded slightly.

Then he turned his gaze back to Mamiya's right hand that was outstretched towards him.

"Join your gourd house..."

A faint smile appeared on Ogata's face.

"You make a lot of sense..."

"The current goal between us is consistent."

"If we work together, there are indeed many benefits."

"I can enrich the combat power of your gourd house."

"And you can also help me find the pair of master and apprentice."

"It is indeed a very good and very cost-effective cooperation."

Hearing Ogata's words, he thought that Ogata was Mamiya who agreed to cooperate with them, and his face showed joy.

Just when Kamiya was ready to step forward to hug this new companion——

"But I refuse."

Ogata said that word by word with a firm tone.

Mamiya, Makimura, and Atachi who was sitting next to Ogata, their expressions all froze at this moment.

Even after hearing what Ogata said just now, A-Machi thought that Ogata was going to agree to join Mamiya's gourd house.

"I'm just a ronin born with a sword."

Ogata smiled slightly.

"Although my ronin career has only been less than 3 months from the beginning to the end..."

"Being a ronin for less than three months, he was caught on this broken island."

"It's been a short time, but I've gotten used to this unfettered life."

"I don't want to join any organization anymore, let alone have another lord on top of my head."

"So - Mamiya, thank you for your kindness and invitation."

"Although I won't join your gourd house, I can be friends with your gourd house."

"If you encounter any trouble in the Calabash House in the future, and I can help you with this trouble, I will do my best to help you."

Although Ogata's words were slightly teasing, whether it was A-Machi, Mamiya, or Mucun, they all heard strong determination from Ogata's words.

Mamiya, who knew he couldn't persuade Ogata to change his mind, sighed silently.

"Okay... If that's the case, then I won't force you."

"Ogata-kun, if you change your mind at any time, you can come to us at any time. Our gourd house welcomes experts like you to join us at any time."

"Yes." Ogata nodded, and said casually, "I will."

Ogata's words were really just casual words.

After finishing this sentence, he didn't have the idea of ​​joining other organizations at all, and he directly threw the proposal of "you can come to them at any time" to the back of his mind...

...

...

When the sun was about to sink into the horizon, the small boat that Ogata and his party were on finally landed successfully.

After the boat landed, Ah-Ming couldn't wait to jump off the boat.

As soon as his feet stepped on the ground, A-Machi let out a long and comfortable sigh. While stretching vigorously, he said with emotion:

"It's still comfortable standing on land..."

Ogata looked around after going ashore right after A-Machi.

Looking up, it was a large area of ​​gravel—although they didn't know where they landed, but there were no soldiers of the shogunate army around, and they should have successfully left the camp of the shogunate army.

"Let's find a place to spend the night tonight." After jumping off the boat, Jian Gong took a look at the sun that was about to disappear from the horizon, "We will start after dawn tomorrow."

Regarding Mamiya's proposal, Ogata was noncommittal.

However, Atachi said at this time:

"No, I'm leaving now."

"Now?" As soon as Ah Ding finished speaking, Ooja was the first to show surprise, "A Ding, don't you see that it's getting dark now?"

"Traveling at night is a piece of cake for a ninja like me." A-Ming shrugged, "In the evaluation of the completion of our mission in Shiranui, a very important criterion is time."

"The person who can complete the task in the shortest time can get the higher evaluation."

"So I have to go back to Shiranui as soon as possible, so that my mission can be completed more beautifully."

"...A-Machi." After hesitating for a while, Ogata asked A-Machi, "After handing in your task... Is it possible for you to be downgraded?"

"Hmm..." A-Machi pondered for a while, "Probably not. Shiranui judges whether you are downgraded or not based on whether you have completed the task beautifully."

"Only those ninjas who have been unable to complete the task will be downgraded to dirt."

"I've collected a lot of information about ogre-related ghosts now, and this task should be considered beautifully completed."

"With a successfully completed mission, you won't be reduced to dirt."

After learning that A-Machi will not be reduced to dirt, Ogata immediately felt relieved, like a big stone in his heart fell to the ground.

"That's it... that's good."

After muttering like this, Ogata originally wanted to say something like "I wish you good luck in martial arts" to see off Machi.

But he opened his mouth, and after the words came to his mouth, he couldn't spit out these farewell words.

For some reason, when thinking of A-Ming's imminent departure, Ooman feels a sense of emptiness in his heart...

At this moment, Mamiya, who had been standing beside Ogata, spoke softly to Ogata at a volume that only he and Ogata could hear clearly:

"Ogata-kun, although there is always a banquet in the world, there may be a day when I will meet someone again at a certain time and place."