Volume 5: Kyoto Summer Campaign Chapter 322: Ogata Ittosai comes out to confront!
Kyoto, Yonezuya.
Yonezuya - a very ordinary-looking rice shop in Kyoto.
It was evening now, and the Yamaboko Parade was about to begin, so the store was not busy at the moment, and no customers came.
The owner of Yonezuya, Magosichiro Ikeda, took advantage of the fact that there were not many customers at this time and sat at the counter to calculate the bills for the past few days.
At this moment, Chojiro, who had followed him for many years and was considered his old "retainer", suddenly walked to the counter in two steps and said to Sun Qilang urgently:
"Lord Ikeda! The people from the Gourd House are here!"
Hearing the term "gourd house", Sun Qilang raised his eyebrows and asked:
"Which master from Calabash House is here?"
"Yes, it's Miss Kinoshita herself who's here!"
Hearing these words from Chojiro, Sun Qilang could no longer remain calm and hurriedly said to Chojiro:
"Let them in!"
"yes!"
Chojiro, who hurriedly left Sun Qilang's sight, returned to Sun Qilang's sight again not long after.
Chojiro did not return alone this time.
Following behind him were Lin and Asai.
"Ikeda-kun, long time no see." A faint smile appeared on Lin's face.
Sun Qilang quickly stood up from behind the counter and bowed to Lin in a hurry.
"Ms. Kinoshita, it's been a long time since I last saw you! Chojiro, serve the tea!"
"yes!"
Yonezuya is an ordinary rice shop in Kyoto - of course, it is only an ordinary rice shop on the surface.
There is a close relationship between Mishouwu and their Huluwu.
Not long after Lin established Hulu House, he lent a helping hand to Sun Qilang, whose Mi Shou House was almost closed due to poor management, and lent him a large sum of money.
Thanks to the large sum of money lent by Lin, Sun Qillang was able to successfully revive Mishouya.
From then on, a deep bond was formed between Mishou House and Hulu House.
If Sun Qillang has any advantages, it should be that he has good relationships with people in Kyoto and has relatively wide channels for collecting information.
Plus, Sun Qillang himself is the kind of person who loves to hear all kinds of gossip and rumors.
So after deciding to check whether there was anything going on between Shiranui and the shogunate, the first thing Lin thought of was to find Sun Qilang.
After all, the counter was not a good place to talk, so Sun Qilang quickly walked out from behind the counter and led Lin and Asai to the inner room of Yonezuya.
When leading Lin and the other two to the inner room of Mishou House, Sun Qilang asked Lin:
"Ms. Kinoshita, why are you in Kyoto?"
"I came to Kyoto to do something. Just now, I heard some rumors from some passers-by that I have to pay attention to."
"The passers-by said: The shogunate and some ninjas have cooperated."
Hearing Lin's words, Sun Qillang, who was leading the way in front, became a little more serious.
"Ikeda-kun, have you ever heard similar news?"
"Yes." Sun Qilang nodded seriously, "I have heard of it. Let's talk about the details after we enter the room. Ms. Kinoshita, we are here."
After saying that, Sun Qillang slowly opened the door of the room in front of him.
This is a room specially used for receiving guests.
The tatami and the furniture in the room were all cleaned spotlessly.
Sun Qilang's younger brother named Chojiro is also very smart and quick.
As soon as Lin and Asai sat down on one side of the low table, he immediately brought them two cups of steaming hot tea.
Looking at the steaming tea on the table in front of her, Lin twitched the corners of her mouth.
After noticing the subtle change in Lin's expression, Sun Qilang said hurriedly:
"Ms. Kinoshita, please feel free to do as you please. You don't need to pay attention to any etiquette in front of me."
"Then...please excuse my impoliteness."
After saying that, Lin stretched out her hand, grabbed the cup of boiling hot tea, and blew air frantically on the surface of the tea.
Looking at Lin blowing on the tea, Sun Qilang couldn't help but smile and thought to himself:
——I almost forgot that Ms. Kinoshita can’t eat anything that’s too hot… I should have asked Chojiro to bring some tea that’s not too hot…
While Sun Qilang was secretly upset, Lin blew the tea in the cup and asked him:
"Ikeda-kun, please tell me in detail what you know."
"Yes." Sun Qilang responded respectfully and continued, "About half a month ago, I heard that the shogunate was going to cooperate with a group of ninjas."
"I was quite concerned about this matter, so after hearing the news, I started asking around."
"And I actually got some interesting news from some of my friends who were working in Kyoto Prefecture."
"The news that the shogunate is collaborating with a group of ninjas is true."
"The shogunate that cooperated with this group of ninjas was so bold as to let them guard Nijo Castle."
"Guarding Nijo Castle?" Lin frowned slightly.
"My friend said that the Owari daimyo Tokugawa Munemichi, who came to watch the Gion Festival, will hold a banquet at Nijo Castle tonight."
"The mission of that group of ninjas is to guard Nijo Castle and ensure the safety of this banquet."
"That's all I know. As for how many ninjas are guarding Nijo Castle , and how long this group of ninjas will defend Nijo Castle, I'm not sure."
"When I went out this evening, I took a detour to take a look at the Higashi-Ote-mon Gate of Nijo Castle."
"There really are two young men dressed in black guarding the Higashi-Ote Gate."
"What do their clothes look like?" Lin asked, "Can you describe them briefly?"
"This... I don't know how to describe it with just words ... I'll draw it for you."
Sun Qillang took the paper, pen and ink, and began to sketch on the paper according to his memory.
Although Sun Qillang's painting skills cannot be said to be superb, they are still passable. At least what he draws can be understood by people.
While Lin continued to blow on the steaming tea, she took the painting that Sun Qilang had drawn and began to examine it.
After looking at the painting for a few seconds, Lin narrowed her eyes slightly:
"…These are the decorations of Shiranui's ninjas. It seems that Shiranui is really cooperating with the shogunate…"
A place like Nijo Castle is not a place where just any Tom, Dick or Harry can serve as its guard.
The ninjas in Shiranui can actually guard the gate of Nijo Castle with great confidence - this contains a lot of interesting information.
"…My Lord, Shiranui has actually cooperated with the shogunate. This is quite troublesome."
Asai sat obediently behind Lin from beginning to end.
"Hmm... you're right." Lin, who was still blowing on the tea, said in a deep voice, "In my impression, the current Flame Demon in Shiranui is a vengeful person..."
"Um..." Sensing that Lin and Asai seemed to be talking about something serious, Sun Qilang hesitated and said, "Excuse me, should I step aside for a moment?"
"No need." Lin said without hesitation, "This is not a very confidential matter. The grudges between our Huluwu and Shiranui are well known to people in the underworld."
"Thanks to the uncle, the relationship between us and Shiranui is quite bad. It was only a hair's breadth away from 'all-out war' from the beginning to the end."
"My Lord, I remember..." Asai said softly, "When Master Genichi was young, he once had a life-and-death battle with the current Flame Demon in Shiranui, right?"
"That's right. That battle was also very dangerous. That battle with the Flame Demon was the first time that Bogong entered the state of selflessness."
"After entering the state of selflessness, Bogong instantly suppressed the Flame Demon, who was originally on par with him, and blinded the Flame Demon's left eye with one blow."
While blowing the tea, Lin raised her hand and stroked her left eye from top to bottom.
"It's a pity that we didn't defeat the Flame Demon in that battle. After blinding one of his eyes, he escaped."
"Ninjas don't have any other skills, but they are all very good at running away."
"This is the first time we have had a feud with the Fire Demon."
"Then there was a second feud 10 years ago."
"Ten years ago, Fuma-sama attacked Shiranui alone."
"Hakugong intervened in the all-out war between Fuma no Sato and Shiranui and mediated the war."
"At that time, Shiranui was in chaos because of Fuma-sama. Because of the intervention of the uncle and his casual words, Enma had to swear that he would never embarrass the people of Fuma Village again, and would not pursue the matter of Fuma attacking Shiranui."
"There is no way that the Flame Demon could endure such humiliation."
"The reason why Yan Mo doesn't dare to completely break off relations with our Hulu House is because he is still afraid of Bogong."
"As long as Grandpa is still alive, the Flame Demon will not dare to act rashly."
"If one day in the future, the great uncle dies, the Enma guy will definitely lead all the forces of Shiranui to attack us happily."
"So there will be a battle between us and Shiranui sooner or later..."
"Now that Shiranui is cooperating with the shogunate, it is not good news for us at Huluya no matter what."
"Now that we are cooperating with the shogunate and our strength has greatly increased, it's not surprising that Enma does anything..."
"Maybe they will take advantage of this moment to attack us..."
"… …Lord." Asai said in a deep voice, "If Shiranui attacks our Hulu House, how should we fight back?"
"How else can we fight the enemy..." Lin, who was still blowing on the tea, chuckled a few times. "Of course, we have to face the enemy head-on. I will let Enma and his ungrateful ninjas see how I, Kinoshita Lin, and my retainers can defeat a thousand enemies at once."
"Face the enemy head-on..." Asai muttered.
"What? Are you scared, Shichibei?"
"Heh." Asai, who had a very expressionless face like Lin , actually smiled. "If the ninjas from Shiranui attack me, I'll let them know why people often say 'You can't take the sword of a swordsman who practices Satsuma Shigen-ryu head-on.'"
"Well said." Lin nodded slightly, "Of course - if one day in the future I have to go into full-scale confrontation with Shiranui, I won't foolishly wait for Shiranui to attack."
When she said this, Lin's eyes flashed with coldness.
"Take the initiative and strike first - this is in line with our style at Hulu House."
Boom boom boom!
Just then, loud footsteps suddenly sounded in the corridor outside the room.
"Lord Ikeda!"
The voice of Chojiro, Sun Qilang's shop assistant, was heard outside the door.
"Oh no! Something big happened outside!"
"Big news?" Sun Qilang frowned, "Come in and tell us in detail!"
"yes!"
Chojiro opened the paper door, rushed to the table where Lin and the others were sitting, knelt on one knee, and said urgently:
"The masters of the six major sword halls and a large number of disciples were killed!"
Just one sentence from Chojiro made Lin and the others' faces change.
And Chojiro continued:
"The surviving disciples of the six major sword schools claim that they suspect that it was Ogata Ittosai who massacred their schoolmasters and fellow disciples."
"They demanded that Ogata Ittosai come to Nimukai to confront them!"
"Currently, quite a number of disciples from the six major sword halls have gathered in Nixiang Town!"
After Chojiro finished speaking, Sun Qilang looked horrified.
Only Lin and Asai slowly regained their composure.
But judging from the changes in the expressions in their pupils, they were not too calm.
"...How many people are currently gathered in Nimukai Town?" Lin asked.
"It is said that there are already more than fifty people, and the number is still increasing!"
"...My Lord." Asai said in a deep voice, "What do you think?"
"I don't think Ogata would do such a thing." Lin said bluntly, "No matter how powerful Ogata is, it is impossible for him to kill so many people in such a short time."
"But... since these people from the six major sword halls are now threatening to ask Ogata to come and confront them, Ogata is now in a difficult situation..."
"The disciples of the six great sword halls have been assisting the officers in hunting down Ogata tonight."
"In a situation where the masters of the six major sword halls and a large number of disciples were inexplicably killed, Ogata is indeed the biggest suspect..."
"If Ogata doesn't confront them, people will think he's a coward, afraid... and suspect he has something to hide..."
"If I go... I don't believe that if Ogata goes to confront them, the confrontation will end peacefully..."
"No matter which option it is, it's not a good option..."
Lin paused and asked:
"Are all the masters of the six great sword halls dead?"
"It doesn't seem so... The head of the Metaphysics Hall, who is currently recovering in some medical clinic, seems to be fine. However, many disciples of the Metaphysics Hall were also killed."
"Because the head of the Xuanxue Pavilion, Inaba, is recovering from his injuries, the Xuanxue Pavilion is now leaderless."
"In order to find out the truth behind the murder of their master and fellow apprentices, the surviving disciples of the Xuanxuekan also responded to the call and gathered with people from other sword halls in Nimukai-cho. They are waiting for Ogata to come and confront them."
"...Tonight is such an eventful night." Lin sighed after being silent for a while.
