Volume 5: Kyoto Summer Campaign Chapter 306: Rebel Ninja: Ating
"We should have gotten rid of that Kondo..." Atachi looked back a few times.
"I think so." After replying casually, Ogata adjusted his breathing while taking out his map to confirm their location.
"… We're almost there, A-Ming, let's go."
After stuffing the map back into his arms, Ogata looked around.
"…Is this the 'burnt area'…?"
Ogata now felt like he had entered another world.
Until about three minutes ago, he could still see beautiful houses and people walking on the streets.
And now, Ogata could only see fragments of ruins.
There were burnt wood and shapeless ruins everywhere, and some tiles and brick walls were burned blue-black, as if the fire had just been put out by rain.
At this moment, a gust of wind blew, and the broken walls made a humming sound, expressing the pain of being burned at the stake in its own unique way.
Looking around, I didn't see a single intact wall or a single living person.
Just by looking at it with his own eyes, Ogata could feel how horrific the fire two years ago was that burned 80% of Kyoto's buildings into ruins.
"...How miserable." Atachi, who was standing next to Ogata, sighed softly.
"…A-Ming, let's go."
…
…
Ogata and Atachi were jogging side by side on the deserted street.
After jogging for a while, the two finally saw a living person.
The first living people who appeared in Ogata and A-machi's field of vision were a pair of women huddled behind a brick wall that had been burned black.
The woman is one old and one young, and their facial features are somewhat similar. They should be mother and daughter.
When Ogata and Atachi ran past the mother and daughter, the mother and daughter immediately looked at Ogata and Atachi with fear.
Ogata noticed that the fear in the mother and daughter's eyes seemed to become more intense after they saw the knife at his waist.
Gradually, the two saw more and more residents living in the "burned area".
Without exception, the clothing and mental outlook of these people were no different from those living in the Enohara.
Even if no one explained it to Ogata, he could guess what was going on with these residents living in the "burned area" - the residents who once lived here.
Fengma had just told the two of them: the shogunate's financial situation has not been good in recent years, so not much funds were allocated to Kyoto Prefecture for disaster relief. As a result, large areas of Kyoto have not been rebuilt until now.
The fact that large areas have not been rebuilt means that many people are still left homeless.
"…Is it my illusion?" At this moment, Ating suddenly asked Ogata, "Why do I always feel that these people seem to be afraid of us…"
"...No, they are not afraid of us." Ogata said softly, "I feel like they are afraid of the sword at my waist... They are afraid of the samurai."
"Have the samurai of Kyoto ever done anything terrible to them?"
"Who knows..."
…
…
The two of them followed the route Fengmo drew on the map and finally arrived at the end of the route Fengmo drew for them - a three-story building that had also been devastated by a fire.
Although this small building was also destroyed by the Tianming Fire, the overall condition of the house is relatively good. It still maintains the appearance of a small building and has not collapsed. However, the exterior of the house has turned charred black.
Ogata and Atachi hid somewhere far away from the small building, constantly looking at it.
"…This should be it." As Ating said this, he took off the rifle on his back and began to load bullets into it with skillful techniques.
"A-Ming, you stay outside." Ogata said as he lifted the Daishakuten on his waist, "I can go in alone."
"Are you going in alone?"
"Yes. You can stay outside and help me keep watch."
"I understand." Without thinking too much, Ating nodded, then raised his head and looked around.
"There's no high place around here... Let's just use that tree. Hmm? Ayi, why are you looking at me like that?"
"I thought you would be unhappy if I asked you to stay outside." Ogata said in a half-joking tone.
"Don't be silly. I don't know if I ever told you my motto."
A-machi gave Ogata a sly smile.
"My motto is to do what is best for you and leave it to others to do what is best for them."
"With my close combat skills, accompanying you in would only cause you trouble."
"So the best thing for me to do is to stay outside and use this 'Izayoi' to keep you on guard."
After saying that, Ating raised the rifle in her hand.
"Izayoi?"
"I just named this gun. Giving weapons names makes it easier for us to call them. Because there is a red crescent moon engraved on the butt of this gun, I named it 'Izayoi'. How about it? It's a good name, right?"
"It's all right. Then--I'm in."
"Yeah." After A-Ming nodded vigorously, he quickly ran towards a big tree not far away.
bass.
Ogata pulled out the Daishakuten and walked slowly towards the three-story building.
This three-story cottage is surrounded by a row of stone walls. The original owner of this small building must have been from a very wealthy family.
Ogata did not go through the main gate of the building's wall - after all, who knew whether the person who occupied the building had set any traps at the gate.
So to be on the safe side, Ogata decided to climb over the wall directly.
Ogata held Daishikatsu in his mouth, and when he was still a dozen steps away from the wall, he suddenly ran up and accelerated.
While running to speed up , Ogata switched his breathing to "Original Breathing".
[Ding! Use "Original Breathing", temporarily increase reflexes by 5 points, and improve concentration]
[Current reflex nerve value: 14 points]
【Increase concentration】
After running to the base of the wall, Ogata jumped up, grabbed the edge of the wall, and then nimbly climbed over it.
With the help of the "elementary" Shiranui-style stealth technique, Ogata's movements are much lighter than those of ordinary people.
If you don't listen carefully, you won't be able to hear the sound of Ogata running or climbing over the wall.
After his feet landed on the ground, Ogata immediately hid in a bush nearby.
I looked around - there was no one in the yard.
After confirming that there was no danger around, Ogata took Daishikuten out of his mouth, slowly walked out of the bushes, opened the paper sliding door in front of him, and entered the house.
After entering the house, a pungent musty smell immediately penetrated Ogata's nostrils.
"Okay..." Ogata muttered softly, "Where are Inaba's wife and daughter being held captive by these bastards..."
…
…
When Ogata broke into the three-story house alone, Atachi was sitting on the thickest branch of the tree.
In order to facilitate her movements, A-machi had already lifted the hem of her yukata and tucked it into her belt.
Spread your legs and bend your knees, place your arms on your knees, hold Izayoi in your right hand, and place Izayoi on top of your left arm.
The left hand pinched the wrist of the right hand, and the right hand grasped the handle of Izayoi's gun. The right index finger near the trigger was stretched out, and the finger was in a state where it could pull the trigger and shoot at any time.
Ating has excellent eyesight and night vision. The only regret is that the tree under Ating's butt is not high enough, and Ating cannot perfectly monitor all the movements of the small building.
"Although it's a rare item, it doesn't work very well..." After taking a look at the Izayoi in his hand, Atachi grumbled unhappily, "I'll find a chance to make another cannon that's more suitable for me later..."
After muttering this, Ating returned his gaze to the small building not far away and continued to monitor the entire building carefully.
However - at this moment, A-Ming suddenly heard footsteps coming from the southeast direction.
After looking in the direction of the voice with a confused mind, Ating's pupils suddenly shrank.
To the southeast of Ating, four young men wearing strange black uniforms were seen walking slowly towards the big tree where Ating was.
After noticing that A-Cheng had noticed the four of them, the one walking in the front row grinned, showing his yellow teeth at A-Cheng and let out a sinister laugh.
"I finally found you... you... traitorous ninja! Atachi, you should know the consequences of betraying Shiranui without me telling you, right?"
"...Of course I know."
A look of surprise and shock flashed across Atachi's face before returning to calm. He then jumped down from the tree holding Izayoi in his arms.
"Then do you know that female kunoichi should not be underestimated?"
…
…
Ogata searched the first floor of the small house inch by inch.
After searching, Ogata found nothing.
There was no sign of Inaba mother and daughter, nor was there any human figure at all.
After seeing that there was nothing found on the first floor, Ogata carried Daishi Tian and walked towards the second floor.
Just as Ogata reached the stairs, he suddenly noticed out of the corner of his eye that there was a figure swaying in the depths of the corridor on the left side of the stairs.
Ogata quickly lowered his center of gravity, slowly raised the Daishikuten in his hand, and pointed the tip of the knife at the end of the corridor.
Deep in the corridor, figures kept swaying.
Finally - the figure revealed his form.
After seeing the figure clearly, a look of surprise uncontrollably appeared on Ogata's face.
“Kondo…?”
"Tian...Tengu-sama...I finally caught up with you..."
Ogata now looks as if he has seen a ghost.
The owner of this figure is Kondo Uchisuke.
After Kondo came up to him, panting, Ogata frowned and asked Kondo:
"How did you follow us? And - how did you get in here?"
"Hehe..." Kondo grinned a few times, "Just now when Master Kotaro was drawing the route for you on that map, I took a sneak peek and quietly wrote down the destination."
"After all, I have lived in Kyoto for quite some time, so I know Kyoto quite well."
"As for how he got in... he just came in like that. He just climbed over the wall and walked in with such bravado."
——What is A-Machi doing? She said she would keep an eye on me...
Just as Ogata silently complained about Atachi's dereliction of duty in his heart, Kondo, who had adjusted his breathing, stood up straight and said to Ogata sternly:
"Lord Tengu, please accept me..."
"Alright, alright..." Ogata raised his hand to stop Kondo, "I'm busy saving people right now...Just stay here and I'll talk to you later."
After saying that, Ogata no longer paid attention to Kondo, and strode towards the second floor of the small building carrying Daishakuten.
"Master , where are you going?"
"Go save people, and—I'm not your master."
…
…
In a room on the third floor of the small building——
"So boring..."
In the corner of this room sat four samurai holding swords.
"I really want to go to Shimabara..."
The four warriors were chatting idly, and the topic unknowingly turned to the eternal topic among men no matter how the times change: women.
"Me too... I've been in Kyoto for so long, but I still haven't played with any women in Kyoto."
There are not only these four warriors in this room, there are a total of 13 warriors in this fairly spacious room.
"I heard that women in Kyoto are very arrogant and look down on people other than those in Kyoto."
In addition to these 13 warriors, there are 2 women in this room.
"I've also heard that women in Kyoto are very arrogant. Not only women in Kyoto are arrogant, but men in Kyoto are also arrogant. I heard that in the eyes of Kyoto people, the world is divided into two parts: 'Kyoto' and 'the place outside Kyoto'."
The two women, one old and one young, who were huddled in a corner of the room, were tied up with thick hemp ropes. There were only two emotions on their faces: fear and anxiety.
"Tsk... Why are people in Kyoto so arrogant... "
"Because Kyoto is the capital of the kingdom, people in Kyoto have always felt that it is a great thing that they live on the land of the king."
"It's ridiculous. What's the difference between the soil in Kyoto and the soil in Edo?"
"Alas... why do we have to stay here and guard these two women... Guarding these two women is fine, but we don't even need to play with this mother and daughter... It's really annoying..."
"I've always wondered - is it necessary to send so many people to guard these two women?"
"Don't be careless. I don't think the head of the Metaphysics Hall will ignore his kidnapped wife and daughter. The head of the Metaphysics Hall has already found out where his wife and daughter are imprisoned, and has already found a master to rescue him - this possibility is not impossible..."
Before the warrior could finish his words, the paper sliding door of the room was opened with a "whoosh".
A samurai wearing a light green haori and a shorter samurai stood behind the opened paper sliding door...
…
…
Pulling open the paper sliding door in front of him, Oufang saw that the room was full of people - 13 warriors with swords, and two women, one old and one young, who were tied up and huddled in the corner of the room.
At just one glance, Oba recognized that the two women were Inaba's wife and daughter.
Because of the appearance of that young woman, who was probably only about ten years old - especially her nose, which looked very much like an inari leaf.
Before Ogata could even utter a word, he felt a strong wind blowing towards his side.
When everyone in the room saw two strangers, Ogata and Kondo, break in, they all took action.
The samurai closest to Ogata immediately drew his sword and slashed at Ogata.
As if by instinct, Ogata immediately ducked his body to avoid the knife that was coming towards his head, then swung the Great Shiten in his right hand upwards in the direction of the previous slash.
The familiar feeling of the blade cutting into flesh passed through the handle to Ogata's palm.
The feeling of hitting someone was strong, and Ogata knew without even looking that he was going to give the person who had ambushed him a fatal blow.
But to be on the safe side, after knocking the man down, Ogata immediately pounced over and stabbed him again in the neck.
The system sound of gaining experience points sounded in Ogata's mind.
Just as Ogata dealt with this enemy, he caught a glimpse of another person rushing towards him aggressively from the corner of his eye.
After glancing expressionlessly at the enemy rushing towards him, Ogata slowly sheathed the Daishakuten into the scabbard and lowered his center of gravity, leaning forward.
When the two bodies were about to pass each other, the sword flashed out from Ogata's sheath and swept across the enemy's abdomen.
Muga's Two Swords Style: Raikiri!
The enemy's body rushed forward a few steps due to inertia, and then slowly fell to the ground...
