Volume 5: Kyoto Summer Campaign Chapter 304 Ogata VS Kondo Kuransuke
Just as Ogata was carefully examining the red crescent moon engraved on the butt of the gun, a loud shout suddenly rang out from behind him:
"Hey! You guys can't be sincere when you apologize... Hey! What are you two doing?!"
This loud shout made Ogata and Atachi raise their eyebrows.
Following the sound, I saw a young man standing at the entrance of the alley, panting.
"Isn't this the Kondo Kuransuke we met today..." Atachi muttered in a low voice .
Atachi recognized the man at a glance as Kondo Uchisuke, whom they met by chance after leaving Sengakukan today.
Just when Ogata was about to ask Kondo why he came here——
"I just wanted to catch up with you and make you apologize more sincerely..."
Kondo said solemnly.
"I didn't expect to see such an incredible scene... Did you two kill that person?"
A person with blood oozing from his mouth fell at the feet of Ogata and Atachi - such a scene could easily lead people to misunderstand that this was done by Ogata and Atachi.
"We didn't kill this man." Ating said anxiously.
"I find it hard to believe your one-sided statement." Kondo said with a sullen face, "I'm sorry, both of you, please come with me to the magistrate's office."
"Someone is suspected to have been murdered by someone else. I can't just pretend I didn't see it when I encounter something like this."
"I'm sorry." Ogata said without hesitation, "I'm very busy now, and I won't accompany you to any magistrate's office."
“…Is that so?” Kondo seemed to have expected Ogata to say that. He placed his hand on the hilt of the katana on his left waist with an expressionless face and slowly pulled out his katana.
While assuming a standard mid-section stance, Kondo turned the blade so that the back of the blade faced Ogata.
"…A-Ming, please step back a little."
As Ogata spoke, he lifted up the Daishikuten on his left waist with his left hand, and then pulled it out of the sheath inch by inch.
While pulling the Daishakuten out of the sheath, Ogata also turned the blade, facing Kondo , and slowly adjusted his breathing to the "Origin Breathing".
[Ding! Use "Original Breathing", temporarily increase reflexes by 5 points, and improve concentration]
[Current reflex nerve value: 14 points]
【Increase concentration】
As the system sound faded, Ogata suddenly felt that the distracting thoughts in his mind had become much less.
This is the new ability of "Breath of the Source" after it is upgraded to a high level: improved concentration.
"... Now that I think about it, this is the first time I've drawn a real sword since I came to Luoyang."
Kondo suddenly said at this time.
"I came to Luoyang this time to test the power of my self-created swordsmanship and practice self-cultivation."
"Sir, I am very strong."
Speaking of this, Kondo's face showed a hint of pride.
"You still have a chance to turn back and choose to follow me to the magistrate's office."
Ogata turned a deaf ear to Kondo's suggestion and just quietly got into the middle position.
"…It seems that the negotiation has failed. Then——I will take action!"
After shouting loudly, Kondo ran towards Ogata quickly.
After using stepping steps to dodge Kondo's two sword techniques in succession, Ogata raised his eyebrows slightly.
Katori Shinto-ryu is one of the schools that Ogata is more familiar with. After all, when he was in Hirose Domain, he had many conflicts with the disciples of Ishikawa Kenkan who practiced Katori Shinto-ryu.
So Ogata could see at a glance that the swordsmanship used by Kondo had some shadows of Katori Shinto style.
But it is somewhat different from Katori Shinto-ryu.
Ogata recalled what Kondo had told him during the day today - he had developed a new sword technique based on Katori Shinto-ryu, but he had not yet given it a name. He left his hometown this time to test the practicality of his new sword technique.
——Is this the new swordsmanship that Kondo created?
After saying this in his heart, Ogata narrowed his eyes slightly and stared at Kondo's knife that was swinging towards him.
When Kondo's sword was about an adult's arm's length away from Ogata's chest, Ogata's eyes suddenly widened and he swung his sword towards Kondo's sword.
clang!
With a deafening sound of metal clashing, Ogata's Daishakuten and Kondo's katana collided heavily.
The sword technique used by Ogata is the "Blade Counter" of Muga Nito-ryu.
The two knives collided - the battle was decided in just a moment.
"Ouch..." Kondo let out a low cry of pain, then took a few steps back holding the knife that was blocked.
Just now, when Ogata was dodging Kondo's first few moves with stepping, he had already noticed that although Kondo was of a rather sturdy build, he was surprisingly a skill-oriented swordsman rather than a power-oriented one.
In terms of strength, Kondo is slightly inferior to Kinoshita Rin.
In the "Blade Counter" move just now, Ogata did not hold back at all and used all his strength.
If it comes to pure strength, even Kinoshita Rin is no match for Ogata, let alone Kondo?
Kondo had not had time to steady himself yet, and his whole body was full of flaws. Ogata would naturally not miss this great opportunity to decide the outcome.
After seeing that Kondou was now fully exposed, Ofang quickly moved in front of Kondou like a shark smelling blood.
Ogata pressed Kondo's shoulder with his left hand, crossed his feet, and used the defeating techniques from the Shiranui-ryu Jujutsu to throw Kondo heavily to the ground.
When Kondo was knocked down and saw stars, and his grip on the sword unconsciously loosened, Ogata snatched the katana from Kondo's right hand and threw it far away.
[Ding! Use Shiranui Style Ninjutsu and Shiranui Style Jujutsu to defeat the enemy]
[Gained 95 personal experience points, and 90 experience points for the Ninjutsu "Shiranui Style Ninjutsu"]
[Current personal level: Lv25 (205/3400)]
[Shiranui Style Ninjutsu Level: 2nd Stage (155/500)]
"hateful……"
Kondo struggled to stand up and reached for the wakizashi on his left waist.
However, before he could stand up or even touch the handle of the wakizashi sword on his left waist, the sharp blade was pressed against his neck.
Ogata placed the blade of Daishakuten against Kondou's neck and whispered to him:
"You lose."
“How could it be…” Kondo seemed to have not expected that he would be defeated so quickly. His face turned pale and he was filled with astonishment. “I actually… would be defeated so quickly…”
"Look carefully."
Ogata said as he sheathed the Daishakuten.
"This man bit his tongue and died. He was not killed by me and my companions."
After saying that, Ogata dragged the body of the murderer, who happened to be lying at his feet, to Kondo's side.
"It really is... He bit his tongue and committed suicide... This guy is really brave..."
As Kondo muttered this, Ogata waved to Atachi.
Atachi understood what Ogata meant and quickly threw the rifle in his hand towards Ogata.
"This guy used this cannon to attack the master of the Metaphysics Hall, Inaba, so my companions and I chased him. He was chased here by my companions and had nowhere to go. He bit his tongue and committed suicide. Then you chased him here - this is the truth of the matter."
"What's wrong with this iron cannon..." Kondo looked at the rifle handed to him by Ogata with a puzzled look on his face, "Why is there no matchlock?"
"This is the southern barbarian's new iron cannon." A-Ting said, "The southern barbarian's new iron cannon can fire without a matchlock."
"Hmm?" Kondo suddenly raised his head and cast a surprised look at Atachi, "Look carefully... Isn't this the woman who accompanied Lord Tengu today?"
After hearing what Kondo said, Ogata and A-machi both pursed their lips and looked as if they were "speechless".
The two of them looked at Kondo, as if they were both saying to him, "Did you just realize that?"
——What an honest person...
Ogata thought to himself.
Although he had just met Kondo today and they didn't have much friendship up to now, but through this brief contact, Ogata had some basic understanding of Kondo: he was a simple and honest person.
Because she felt his apology was not sincere enough, she took the trouble to follow him all the way.
Obviously, Ah-Machi had been talking to Kondo just now, and the light around him wasn't dim enough to make out her face, but I didn't recognize Ah-Machi until now...
After recognizing Atachi, Kondo's eyes gradually became excited.
"If she is the woman I met today..." Kondo moved his excited eyes to Ogata, "Then, are you Lord Tengu..."
Before Kondo could finish his sentence, another series of gasps came from the alley entrance.
“Hu…Hu…Hu…Hu…Hu…I finally…caught up with you guys…”
"Master Fuma?" Ogata raised his eyebrows. "You can actually keep up..."
The owner of this series of panting was none other than Fuma, who had fallen behind because he could not keep up with the speed of Ogata and Atachi.
"Don't underestimate me." Fuma walked slowly towards Ogata and the others while adjusting his breathing. "Although I am old, my original abilities have not completely degenerated... Hmm? Isn't this Kondo?"
Fuma looked at Kondo as if he was seeing an old friend.
"Huh? Lord Kotaro?"
And Kondo also looked at Fuma with the eyes of seeing an old friend.
…
…
In order to facilitate Mucun's communication with him, Shenshan stayed in the teahouse he often visited.
Because the teahouse was reserved by Kamiyama, there were only two customers in the store - Kamiyama and Hasegawa.
Hasegawa, who was sitting opposite Kamiyama, looked at the tea on the table in front of him, looking thoughtful.
"Hasegawa, what's wrong?" Kamiyama suddenly asked, "You look very disturbed."
"...Shenshan, can your old subordinate be trusted?"
"He's reliable." As soon as Hasegawa finished speaking, Kamiyama answered without hesitation, "Although...some unpleasant things happened between him and me."
"I don't know what he thinks of me."
"But I always regarded him as the best player I have ever seen in my life, who was my coach for five years."
"While you and I are chatting here, he may have found some clues."
Shenshan paused when he spoke this.
He raised his eyes, looked at Hasegawa with a meaningful look, and said softly:
"Hasegawa, I know what you are thinking."
"You really want to help Makimura investigate this case - am I right?"
"I advise you not to do that."
"For those of us in office, the thing we hate most is to meddle in other people's affairs."
"You are the chief of the Fire Thieves, in charge of arson and theft."
"While chasing arsonists and thieves, you catch a few murderers you encounter. And actively intervening in cases like murders that are not your business - the nature of these two things is completely different."
"If you take the initiative to intervene in this murder case, it will be easy for people to talk about you."
"Just stay here with me."
"...I understand." After saying that, Hasegawa let out a long sigh.
As he let out this long sigh, his hands resting on his legs slowly tightened...
…
…
In an alley in Kyoto.
"… I say, Makimura-senpai, you 've been squatting there for a long time… What on earth are you doing?"
Shimada squatted at the foot of the alley wall, bored.
"As you can see—squatting and looking at something."
Mucun, who was squatting not far away, buried his head and stared at the soil in front of him.
From last night till now, 45 people in Kyoto have been harmed by someone who looks like Ogata or has disguised himself as Ogata.
At this moment, Makimura and Shimada were at the scene of the 43rd victim.
From the time they left Eihara to now, Makimura led Shimada to run through the crime scenes of the latest victim and the 44th victim at an extremely fast speed.
The victim's body had been taken away long ago.
Because people had died at these three crime scenes, no one dared to approach them except the first officers who came to check the situation and the people who came to collect the bodies.
After arriving at the crime scene, Mucun only did one thing - squatting on the ground and looking at the ground.
Although he didn't understand what Makimura was doing, Shimada still remained patient. Adhering to the belief that "Makimura-senpai should not be disturbed, Makimura-senpai must have his reasons for doing this", he stayed aside obediently and did not disturb Makimura in any way.
But after running to three crime scenes in a row and seeing Makimura doing the same strange thing at all three crime scenes, Shimada finally couldn't hold back his curiosity and asked Makimura what he was doing.
After Makimura replied, "I was squatting and looking at something," Shimada, who was even more confused, asked:
"Look at something? Look at what?"
"See if you can find anything valuable. Shimada, don't underestimate the crime scene. As long as you observe the crime scene patiently and carefully, you will always find some new clues. For example - this."
Makimura raised his finger, rubbed it on the soil at his feet, then stretched his muddy finger towards Shimada, motioning Shimada to come over and look.
“What… is this…?” Shimada came closer and found that Makimura’s fingers were not only covered with mud, but also some strange powder.
"Fragrant powder," Mucun answered, "something women use to rub on themselves to make their bodies smell good."
