I Was a Swordsman in Ancient Japan

,

Kii area, Kii Fan, Dahe Town.

It has been rainy here since 5 days ago.

And now, the rainy weather that lasted for many days is finally over.

In the early morning, it was gray, dark, and the sky was constantly raining. When it was approaching noon, the tangled clouds finally dissipated.

In the gap vacated by the clouds, the azure blue like the clear sea reappeared. The long-lost morning sun gently shines on every house in Dahe Town.

The nearby grass, green trees, and distant hillsides and fields are all glistening wetly.

Although there is still a lot of water on the road. The roads were also muddy due to standing water. But it is no longer like a while ago that there is almost no place to stay, which makes the residents of Dahe Town less painful to walk when they go out.

Dahe Town is just an ordinary town in the Kii Domain.

There are not many ordinary cities and towns like this in Japan.

Willow House—although it has such a literary name, it is actually just an ordinary bathhouse.

The Yanagi House is just like this Okawacho—the whole body exudes an aura called "ordinary", and it is also an ordinary bathhouse similar to this one, which is rare in Japan.

It's just after noon, and the bathhouse business is at its worst during the daytime. There are not many customers in Willow House, and the shopkeeper sitting at the counter is also bored admiring the ukiyo-e that he recently bought secretly without telling his wife.

The owner has recently become obsessed with ukiyo-e paintings by an artist named "Kinraku".

And the ukiyo-e he is looking at now is also Jinle's painting.

Every artist has his own subject matter that he is good at and not good at.

And the subject matter that Jinle is best at... To use more elegant words to describe it, it is "beauty paintings", and to use easy-to-understand words to describe it, it is "spring paintings".

The human bodies painted by Jinle are the best among so many body paintings that the owner has seen in his life.

Just a few simple strokes can outline the plumpness of the body.

I only glanced at Jinle's paintings,

Jinle is completely addicted to Jinle's paintings and cannot extricate himself.

Until now, the store manager has secretly collected several works of Jinle—it was only because of the store manager’s contacts that he was able to buy them.

The works of highly skilled painters—especially those who specialize in beauties like Jin Le—are always bestsellers.

Jinle's works have always been priceless and extremely difficult to buy.

If it wasn't for his connections, the store manager would really not be able to buy Jinle's paintings.

Because if his wife knew that he paid so much money to buy this kind of beauty painting, it would definitely be a catastrophe, so the store manager has been hiding from his wife and secretly using his private money to collect Jinle's paintings.

Just as the store manager was admiring the newly purchased Jinle's painting, his whole body was burning hot, when he suddenly heard the sound of the bathhouse door being opened in front of him.

The store manager hurriedly put away the painting in his hand, then looked up towards the entrance of the bathhouse.

After turning his gaze to the entrance of the bathhouse, the store manager's face immediately showed surprise.

The guests who opened the door of the bathhouse and appeared at the door of the bathhouse were three samurai.

The leader of these three warriors wore a pair of very rare Nanban glasses.

Standing on the left side of this "spectacled warrior" is an extremely tall and strong man, carrying a large sword.

The samurai standing on the right side of this "spectacled samurai" is relatively ordinary, and there is nothing worth noting. Although his figure is considered tall, compared with the samurai carrying a big sword, his figure is only small. It's unremarkable.

Although the appearance of these three people has its own characteristics, they have one thing in common.

That is - they are all dirty with all kinds of mud, and they look like they have been trekking in the wild for a long time and haven't taken a bath for a long time.

After the three samurai entered the bathhouse, they went straight to the store manager.

Before the store manager had time to ask the three samurai anything, the leader wearing glasses said directly to him:

"Go and tell Zhangsan—the people from Calabash House are here."

Hearing what the spectacled samurai said, the store manager's pupils shrank uncontrollably.

Who is Zhang San, of course the store manager knows - he is the leader of the Yakuza who is entrenched in their Dahe Town.

And the store manager is one of the many cadres under Zhang San's command.

This willow house is also one of the many stores owned by Zhangsan.

The store manager is the cadre who is responsible for managing the bathhouse for Zhang San.

Although I don't know what "Gourd House" is, the store manager has heard of this name.

A long time ago, the store manager had heard from Zhang San himself that if someone said he was from Calabash House, they should report it immediately.

Therefore, although he wondered who the three warriors in front of him were, the store manager, who remembered Zhang San's exhortation, still didn't dare to stand up, said "I'll go back", and hurried out of the counter. He jumped out from behind and rushed out of the bathroom.

...

...

After watching the store manager of this bathhouse rush out, Ogata turned his head and looked around.

The surrounding air is filled with the steamy atmosphere unique to bathhouses.

While visiting the bathhouse, Ogata asked Mamiya beside him:

"Who is Zhang San?"

"The leader of the local Yakuza." Jiangong replied, "the power is not small, but he is not bad. Because of the common people here, they are loved and loved by the people here."

"It's a veritable Ren Xia."

"Because our lord is kind to him, as long as people from Calabash House ask for help, he will do his best to help."

"In fact, he has indeed provided a lot of help to our Calabash House, and is one of the few allies of our Calabash House."

As soon as Mamiya's introduction was finished, the store manager of this willow house came back.

He didn't come back alone, and beside him was a short but very strong middle-aged man.

The middle-aged man raised his eyebrows after seeing Jiangong and Mucun.

"So it's Mamiya-sama and Mucun-sama."

"Do you need any help from us?"

The middle-aged man said this very directly and without euphemism.

"Please help us prepare clothes suitable for the three of us." Mamiya also directly stated his needs unceremoniously, "and help us prepare three horses that can be ridden. And dry food that can be eaten on the road."

"And—please provide us with a place to bathe."

After remembering all these requests made by Jian Gong in his heart, the middle-aged man nodded slightly.

"I see, I'll start preparing right away."

...

...

Now is the worst time of day for bathhouse business.

So the middle-aged man directly rented the whole willow house for Ogata and the three of them to take a bath.

The layout of the willow house is the same as that of most bathhouses - it is a two-story structure.

The first floor is the place to pick up guests, take a bath, and take a bath.

The second floor is for guests to rest and entertain after taking a bath.

And the structure of the first floor is also very common - the places for washing and bathing are independent of each other.

After washing the body in a large room, you can go to the bath.

Because Mucun undressed slowly, Ogata and Mamiya entered the washing room first.

After pouring hot water at just the right temperature on his body, Ogata instantly felt alive.

He almost forgot when was the last time he took a hot bath.

"This Zhangsan is really powerful."

While washing his body, Ogata casually chatted to Mamiya beside him.

"As a yakuza, can he even get horses?"

Horses were an extremely precious resource in ancient times—especially in ancient Japan.

It is really hard for Ogata to imagine that a Yakuza can get expensive horses, and there are still three.

"Did I just say that? Zhang San has a lot of influence." Jian Gong replied, "He has a very close connection with the government, and it is precisely because of this connection with the government that he gets the horses." It wasn't too difficult for him."

Just after the conversation between the two, Mu Cun, who had already taken off his clothes and was already naked, just strode into the washing room.

"You are really slow..." Jiangong cast a helpless look at Mucun.

"I can't help it." Mucun shrugged, "You also know that because of the thing behind me, I seldom come to the bathhouse, so I couldn't help but look at the structure and layout of the bathhouse a few more times when I undressed. Time to undress."

After that, Mucun walked slowly to Ogata's side, and sat beside Mucun.

As soon as Mucun sat down beside Ogata, a faint sour smell penetrated into Ogata's nostrils.

Just as Ogata showed a wry smile, he turned his head to look at Mucun beside him, and when he wanted to complain about Mucun who looked like a stinky salted fish, Ogata's pupils shrank suddenly.

"Makimura... your back...?"

"Oh, this." Mucun scratched his back calmly, "I got this tattoo with a friend of mine a long time ago."

Speaking of this, Mu Cun paused.

Then he turned his head, and Chao Ogata showed a helpless wry smile.

"Does my tattoo scare you?"

"No..." Ogata looked up and down the tattoo on Mucun's back several times, "Actually, he's quite handsome... Chiron..."

Makimura has a large tattoo on his back.

This large tattoo almost covered Mucun's entire back.

Unlike ordinary yakuzas who have a lot of messy tattoos on their bodies, Makimura only has one thing tattooed on his back.

Or a creature—a dragon.

Send you a cash red envelope! Follow the vx public to receive it!

Red dragon.

The black lines are strong and powerful, outlining the figure of this red dragon.

Blood-like bright red covered the dragon's entire body.

The red dragon lay and circled on Mucun's back. The dragon's head was lifted up, aiming at Mucun's right shoulder, with its bloody mouth open.

With its head raised, its teeth and claws bared, and its roaring towards the sky, the dragon seemed about to fly out from Mucun's right shoulder at any time, leap into the sky, and transform into a real dragon.

Although Ogata didn't have much research on tattoos, but counting past and present lives, Ogata has seen quite a few people with tattoos on their bodies.

But none of the tattoos on these people can compare with the tattoo on Mu Cun's body.

Those tattooed people Ogata saw before, to put it bluntly, those tattoos on their bodies have always been filled with a certain sense of cheapness.

The reason is mainly because the tattoo artist responsible for tattooing them is too low-level.

Even a person like Ogata who has no understanding or research on tattoos or painting can see that the person who tattooed this red dragon on Mucun's back must have extremely superb skills.

The red dragon on Mucun's back couldn't be described as lifelike anymore, it was really like a real dragon hovering on his back.

But Mucun seems to have tattoos only on his back, and the rest of his body is completely clean.

After seeing enough of the red dragon behind Mucun, Ogata couldn't help asking Mucun:

"Makimura...were you a Yakuza before...?"

"Is it Yakuza..." Mucun smiled, "I guess..."

"Why did you, a samurai, become a Yakuza...?" Ogata couldn't help being curious about Mucun's past.

Hearing this question from Ogata, Mucun raised his eyebrows and cast a strange look at Ogata.

"Brother Ogata, you seem to have made a mistake... Although it's also my fault and Mamiya's, the two of us have never told you about it."

"I'm not a warrior."

"I'm different from you and Mamiya. I'm not actually a samurai. I was just an ordinary person living in Kyoto before."

"Huh?" Ogata's pupils shrank slightly in surprise, "Makimura, you were not a samurai, so?"

"Yeah." Jian Gong nodded, "Mukun is the only member of our Gourd House who came from a commoner background."

"Do you think I look like a samurai?" Mucun also asked Ogata in a half-joking tone at this time.

Hearing Mucun's rhetorical question, Ogata immediately paused, not knowing how to respond.

Because thinking about it now——Ogata realized that Mucun really didn't look like a samurai from head to toe.

He didn't wear his hair in a bun like he and Jian Gong did, but only combed his long hair behind his head, tied it up with a thin rope, and dragged it behind him.

There is no Dadachi or Wakizasa on his waist, only a big sword on his shoulders.

No matter how he speaks or how he behaves, there is also the kind of roughness unique to the villagers of the stock market.

There is no school or school under his tutelage, and the sword technique he uses is the "Wo Liu knife technique" created by himself.

"I was born in Kyoto, and my parents are ordinary carpenters."

"When I was 12 years old, my parents and family members died of the epidemic."

While Mucun scooped up the hot water in the basin in front of him to wash his body, he talked about his past in a calm tone.

"After becoming an orphan, I wandered in Kyoto."

"Under various chances and coincidences, I started to live together with a fellow orphan."

"That person has also become my brother-like existence."

"Both he and I have some talent in swordsmanship. Together with him, we have created our own swordsmanship."

"With this bravery, I gradually became famous in Kyoto together with him, and became a pair of yakuzas that are well-known in Kyoto."

"Later, due to various chances and coincidences, the bravery of my brother and I was admired by a certain big shot in Kyoto."

"The big man intends to recruit us. And the conditions he offered us are very interesting."

"Not only will he use his contacts and rights to help us tamper with our household registration, changing our household registration from civilians to samurai. He also promised us—as long as we accept the recruitment, let us be the capital of Kyoto."