Chapter 443 Ogata: Take a Bath Together, Can It Be Cheaper? 【Eight Thousand Three Hundred Words】

Looking at Ogata who was slowly lowering the center of gravity of his body, the bald ronin was slightly taken aback.

Then the corners of his mouth pulled up exaggeratedly, as if he heard some funny joke.

"Then do I have to thank you for giving us a chance to live, and then leave obediently?"

After mocking Ogata, the bald ronin rushed towards Ogata with a knife in hand.

The other 8 ronin behind him followed closely behind.

Facing the nine ronin rushing towards him, Ogata's expression did not change at all.

He only silently looked at the 9 people who were getting closer to the circle he drew.

After the bald man rushing forward stepped into the circle drawn by Ogata...

choke!

The sound of the blade being unsheathed exploded.

Silver light popped out of the sheath, drawing an arc towards the bald rogue's neck.

Blood sprayed from the bald ronin's neck like a fountain, and splashed to the side, making the "plum blossom" appear on the snow in advance.

【Ding! Use Wugo Two Swords Raiqie to kill the enemy]

[Gain 80 personal experience points and 70 experience points for swordsmanship "Sakakibara Ichidou"]

[Current personal level: LV34 (14205200)

[Wuwu Two Swords Level: Level 11 (154012000)]

"Didn't I just say that?" Ogata said softly, "This circle is within my attack range, and I broke in so unsuspectingly... I really don't know whether to say you are big-hearted or stupid."

As a knife-drawing skill, Leiqie is not very useful in duels with masters, but it is quite easy to use against those guys who can't even grasp the distance between the enemy and ourselves.

Until the main artery in his neck was cut off by Ogata, the bald rogue showed an expression of astonishment and fear belatedly.

He opened his lips, as if he wanted to say something.

But the neck was cut,

He can't speak a word now.

When the bald ronin rolled his eyes and fell limply to the ground, Ogata ran towards another ronin behind the bald ronin.

Just by looking at the ronin's movements, he could see that the ronin's swordsmanship was as bad as someone who had never learned swordsmanship.

Ogata didn't wave his sword either.

He only stretched out his left hand like a pair of pliers to grasp his hands that were holding the knife handle and holding it high.

Converted to modern Earth units, the height of this ronin is only about 1.5 meters, not as tall as Atachi.

For such a dwarf, Ogata raised his hand a little, and he was able to catch his raised hands holding the knife.

After controlling the dwarf ronin's hands, Ogata stepped forward, clamped his head with the crook of his right arm, and then stretched out his left foot to trip over his feet.

Destroying the dwarf's center of gravity, causing the dwarf to fall heavily to the ground, at the same time, with his right hand, he twisted the dwarf's neck.

This is a very useful killing move in Shiranui Jutsu.

【Ding! Use Shiranui Ninjutsu Shiranui Jutsu to kill the enemy]

[Gain 60 personal experience points and 60 experience points for ninjutsu "Shiranui Ninjutsu"]

[Current personal level: LV34 (14805200)

[Shiranui Ninjutsu Level: 6th Stage (36204500)]

Ogata killed their boss and one of their companions in an instant, and the faces of the remaining seven ronin finally showed expressions as if they saw a wild tiger or a wild bear.

In this world, robbers are basically a bunch of guys who can only fight with the wind.

Encountering the weak is like a wolf like a tiger.

When encountering a powerful enemy, run away immediately.

After seeing Ogata lose his bald head and dwarf one after another, the remaining 7 people are not stupid, and they all know that they have encountered difficulties today.

So they immediately did what best suited their identities: turned and fled without the slightest hesitation.

The remaining 7 people fled to 7 different directions.

But only now did I realize that I had messed with the wrong person, and it was obviously too late.

Ogata had already warned them just now, telling them to leave obediently.

Since they didn't listen to the advice, Ogata naturally had no reason to show mercy.

After solving the bald ronin with Jiu-Jitsu, he raised his knife and killed the seven fleeing people.

No matter how strong Ogata is, he only has hands and feet. Chasing and killing the seven people who fled in different directions alone is always a bit difficult. After all, there is no such thing as a shadow clone technique in this world.

So there was no need for Ogata to say anything, A-Machi also acted very consciously, chasing down the 7 people who fled.

Blossoming blood splashed and turned into "plum blossoms" on the snow.

Whenever there is a new blood flower, the system sound that reminds Ogata to gain experience points will ring in Ogata's mind once.

The strength of this group of ronin is very poor, even A-cho, who is not good at melee combat, can easily defeat all of them.

It didn't take much time to kill them, but it took some effort to catch them up one by one.

It took nearly 7 minutes for Ogata and the two to catch up with the fleeing people one by one, and then let these ronin who clamored for Ogata to leave money and A-cho just now turned into corpses who did not vent their anger .

Among the 9 people, 6 of them were killed by Ogata, and the other 3 were killed by A-Machi.

"The Ou region really lives up to its reputation..." Ogata took out two pieces of paper from his bosom, and wiped off the blood and grease attached to the blade of the Dai Shiten. "It's a mess that lives up to its reputation..."

After the sound of emotion fell, Ogata opened his current personal system interface, checked his current personal system interface, and confirmed various experience items.

[Current personal level: LV34 (18205200)

Sakakibara One Swordsmanship level: 12 ranks (14659000)

Wuwu Two Swords Level: 11th stage (163012000)

Shiranui Ninjutsu level: 6th stage (37604500)]

Because he didn't count carefully, Ogata didn't remember how many robbers he and A-Machi encountered after they stepped into the snow-covered Mutsu area.

Ogata only remembered that there were a lot of waves of people coming back and forth, which gave him a lot of experience.

These robbers who came to trouble them were basically ronin who had nothing but a knife in their waist.

These robbers who came to trouble them naturally turned into experience points, allowing Ogata to gain 1340 experience points for personal level, 560 experience points for Sakakibara One Sword Style, 330 experience points for Wuwo Two Sword Style, and 550 experience points for Shiranui Ninjutsu .

After taking Da Shitian back into the scabbard, Ogata quickly walked towards the long wooden stick that he just casually threw aside.

When Masaogata picked up the long wooden stick again, A-Machi had just completed the search for the nine robbers.

"The money for tonight's meal has been paid." A-Ming walked back to Ogata's body with his hands in his arms, and then spread his hands to show Ogata that he had just returned from the nine robbers. The money looted from the bandits: a handful of copper coins.

According to Ogata's visual estimation, there are about a hundred of these copper coins.

In the past few days, after killing all the robbers who wanted to seek the fortune of the two of Ogata, and some of the robbers who even wanted to kill the two of them, Ogata gained a lot of experience points, At the same time, it also gave Ogata and A-cho some extra income-although not much.

The only valuable things on the robbers were undoubtedly their weapons.

But Ogata and A-Machi, who are rushing to Ezo now, obviously don't have the leisure and energy to carry these knives and sell them.

And the two of them are in this unfamiliar land, and there is no channel to sell knives.

Not every pawn shop has the guts to accept large quantities of weapons of unknown origin.

What's more, carrying so many knives can easily attract the attention of the government, and then cause trouble - a couple carrying so many knives into the city intends to sell them, and they don't want the officials to suspect that the two of them are reselling Stolen thieves are hard.

"Let's go, Ah Ding." Ogata straightened the bamboo hat on his head, "I was delayed by these robbers for nearly two sticks of incense, so I have to speed up my pace a little."

"okay."

A-Ming quickly put the copper coins he had just looted from the robbers into his purse, and then followed Ogata to continue walking along the snow-covered avenue under his feet.

Both Ogata and A-Machi have a long wooden stick in their hands. When they are on the road, they have a long wooden stick as a crutch to make their feet easier.

After walking all the way to the place where the bodies of the robbers just now could no longer be seen, A-Ming turned his head and asked Ogata next to him:

"Ayi, when you faced those robbers just now, why did you draw a circle to warn them?"

"When you faced the robbers before, didn't you just draw your sword?"

While talking, A-Machi tightly held the long wooden stick in his hand, imitating Ogata's movement of drawing circles on the ground just now.

When Ou faced these robbers who wanted to kill their money before, he never talked nonsense with these robbers, and directly drew his sword and rushed forward to kill them all.

But today was the exception. Instead of drawing the knife directly, he drew a circle on the ground to warn the robbers to leave quickly.

"What else could be the reason?" Ogata smiled wryly, "It's not because of that."

After finishing speaking, Ogata raised the long wooden stick in his hand and pointed it towards the western sky.

In the western sky, there are large dark clouds.

These large dark clouds form a "black current", which is in stark contrast to the rest of the white sky that has not been eroded by the "black current".

Although this piece of "Kuroshio" is still squeezed in the corner of the western sky, it has signs of expanding to all directions, occupying the entire sky above the heads of Ogata and Atachi.

"If it was normal, of course I wouldn't talk nonsense with those robbers." Although Ogata and A-Ming were chatting, their pace did not slow down at all, "But now the snowstorm is coming soon."

"If you fail to arrive at the inn before the snowstorm arrives, you will be in trouble."

"That's why I gave the gang of robbers a chance to leave quickly and don't waste our time."

"It's a pity that my warning didn't work." A look of helplessness flashed across Ogata's face, "Thanks to them, the two of us were delayed by almost two sticks of incense."

After all, Ogata looked up again at the "Kuroshio" in the western sky.

I don't know if it's Ogata's illusion, but he always feels that the expansion speed of the "Kuroshio" seems to be accelerating.

"'Blizzard'..." A-Machi muttered, "It is said that the snowstorm in the Ou area is particularly scary..."

"It's the north after all. Alright, Ah-cho, let's concentrate on our journey. The next inn shouldn't be far away."

...

...

It's the same as what Ogata observed - the expansion speed of the "Kuroshio" is indeed getting faster and faster.

Half an hour ago, the "Kuroshio" was still shrinking in the western sky.

But half an hour later, the "Kuroshio" directly occupied the entire sky above the heads of Ogata and Atachi.

Even though it was only around 4 pm, the surrounding area was already as dark as night.

The dark clouds were extremely low, as if they would fall over the heads of Ogata and Atachi at any moment.

With this situation, Ogata couldn't help but recall the famous ancient poem that he had memorized in his previous life: "Dark clouds overwhelm the city and make it ready to be destroyed".

Not long after the "Kuroshio Current" of massive dark clouds took over the sky, snow began to fall.

At first there were only a few flakes here and there.

But gradually, the number of falling snowflakes increased rapidly, and the falling speed increased rapidly.

In the end, more and more snowflakes fell, rolled into a mess, as if covered by a dense silver net, and the dense snowflakes turned into a whistling blizzard.

Ogata's sight was obscured by the dense snowflakes.

Looking up, everything around seemed to disappear in a chaotic white mist. Through the mist, goose feathers and heavy snow flew, and the sky and the earth merged into one color.

The cold wind rolled up the falling snowflakes and flew all over the sky, and at the same time, the black scarf around Ogata's neck was also tumbling with the wind.

Ogata and A-machi are just downwind of this gust of cold wind.

The cold wind with snow flakes hit Ogata's skin, making Ogata feel the pain as if he was being cut by a thin knife.

Ogata lifted his right hand holding the cane up, and put it in front of his face, shielding his face from the cold wind.

The left hand tightly held A-Machi's right hand, and led A-Machi to step on the snow that had become thicker due to the arrival of the blizzard, and continued to walk straight forward.

While leading A-Ming forward, Ogata specially let himself walk in front of A-Machi, so that he can help A-Machi block most of the oncoming wind and snow.

And A-Machi, who was walking behind Ogata, let Ogata lead her, clutching her own crutch tightly with her vacant left hand, and shielded her face with the vacant arm just like Ogata did.

Because Ogata, who was walking ahead, blocked most of the wind and snow for her, A-Machi was a little more relaxed than Ogata.

This sudden blizzard was bigger than Ogata imagined.

If it is an ordinary person, facing a blizzard of this intensity, it may be difficult to move an inch.

Just as Ogata kept turning his eyes, looking for a place that could shelter from the wind and snow, A-Machi behind him suddenly shouted at him:

"Ayi! Look! There is a fire ahead!"

—Firelight?

Ogata quickly narrowed his eyes and tried to look forward.

After Ogata concentrated all his attention and looked forward, Ogata finally saw a small blur of orange light in the layers of snow.

"Your eyesight is too good..."

Although he and A-cho have been together for a long time, Ogata can still be surprised by A-cho's powerful eyesight which is far beyond ordinary people.

After trying to increase the speed by a few minutes, Ogata led A-Machi and walked straight towards the blurred orange flame in front of him.

After getting close to the blaze, Ogata finally saw the face of the blaze - a post house.

In the "Five Streets" starting from Edo, there are a large number of post houses built on each street. These inns were funded and constructed by the shogunate.

This is also one of the important reasons why Edo is so prosperous-each of the "five streets" has post houses along the way, which is convenient for travelers and businessmen to stay, and it is convenient for people from all over the world to go to Edo.

There are 27 inns along the Oshu street that Ogata and Atachi are walking now. The inn in front of the two should be one of the 27 inns.

There is a big plaque hanging at the gate of this inn, with three big Chinese characters painted on the plaque: Xintian Su.

Ogata opened the door of the inn as quickly as possible, then rushed into the inn with A-Ming, and then closed the door.

After closing the door and keeping the wind and snow out of the house, Ogata finally breathed a sigh of relief.

There is a counter opposite the gate of the inn.

Sitting behind the counter was an elderly man in his 50s with half of his hair gray.

After the two of Ogata broke into the inn, the old man immediately cast a slightly surprised look at Ogata and Atachi.

"Both... May I ask if you want to stay here tonight?" the old man asked.

The old man had a rather heavy accent.

Since entering the border of the Mutsu region a few days ago, Ogata has always met people with this accent. This should be the accent of the Mutsu region.

"Yes." Ogata took off the bamboo hat on his head, shook off the accumulated white snow on the bamboo hat, and nodded, "Is there any room available? I want a room for two people to live in."

"Of course there are rooms." The old man smiled wryly, "You two should be the only ones staying with us tonight. There are plenty of rooms."

"Only the two of us?" Ah-Ming looked surprised.

"Yes." The old man walked out from behind the counter with a wry smile, "But this is a common thing. Come with me, and I will take you to your room."

The old man led Ogata and Atachi up to the second floor, and brought them to a paper sliding door deep in the second floor.

After the old man pulled the paper door, Ogata simply looked around the room where he and Ah-Ming lived tonight.

Overall, the room is not bad.

Spacious enough, clean enough, no smell.

Two clean quilts were stacked neatly in one corner of the room.

"This is a double room in our store." The old man introduced, "It costs 400 Wen per night."

400 Wen a night - quite a reasonable price.

This kind of clean double room is basically at this price.

"Benjuku provides meals and bathrooms." The old man continued, "Do you two need meals and bathrooms?"

"Stay in this room for one night, have dinner, and take a bath—how much will it cost?" Ogata asked.

"What do you two want to eat?" The old man asked back, "We provide different meals here, and different meals have different prices."

Ogata: "What kind of food do you sell here?"

After pondering for a moment, the old man said:

"Listen to your accents, are you from Kansai?"

"My wife is indeed from Kansai." Ogata smiled, "But I'm actually from Izumo. I just stayed with my wife for a long time, and my accent has changed into a Kansai accent without knowing it."

"That's it, that's really rude." The old man with an embarrassed face bowed to Ogata in apology.

Ogata waved his hand: "It's okay. No need to apologize."

After briefly apologizing to Ogata, the old man cleared his throat, and then continued:

"If both of you are foreigners, then I recommend you to taste our Mutsu specialties."

"We sell three specialties of Mutsu here: Wanzi soba noodles, bamboo leaf fish board, and edamame stuffed mochi."

"Since it's rare to come to Mutsu, why not just take this opportunity to taste our special delicacies in Mutsu, what do you two think?"

The old man's proposal moved Ogata a little.

Since entering the Mutsu area along the streets of Oshu, Ogata has not eaten the local food of Mutsu.

Ogata turned his head, and just after casting a questioning look at A-Machi, A-Machi, with a little excitement and anticipation in his eyes, nodded immediately.

"Then let's try Mutsu's local cuisine." Ogata said to the old man, "How much does it cost to stay in this room for one night, two people have dinner and take a bath?"

"Accommodation costs 400 ren, and dinner for two is 70 ren. The price of our bathroom here is 10 ren for 1 person, and 20 ren for 2 people, so the total is 490 ren."

"Is your bathroom the kind where you bathe in a bathtub half the height of a person?" Ogata asked.

"Exactly."

"Then if the two of us take a bath in the same bathtub, can the bath fee be cheaper?" Ogata asked solemnly.

The old man raised his eyebrows, and his gaze towards Ogata and Atachi involuntarily became weird.

"If the two of you plan to take a bath in the same bathtub, then it's just 10 cash for the first one of you. The accommodation fee plus meal and bath money, a total of 480 cash."

"Deal." Ogata took out his purse, ready to pay.

...

...

Crash!

Ogata and Machi jumped into the big wooden barrel filled with warm water at the same time.

The hot water in the wooden barrel was immediately squeezed out by the two of them, wet the ground under the wooden barrel.

"Ah..." After jumping into the wooden barrel filled with warm water, A-Machi narrowed his eyes comfortably, "I feel alive..."

The service of this inn is quite comprehensive, and they also provided Ogata and A-machi with 2 towels soaked in cold water.

Ogata folded the two towels soaked in cold water and placed them on Machi's head.

Then fold another towel soaked in cold water and place this towel on your head.

The reason why the Japanese put towels on their heads when taking a bath or bathing in a bathtub is actually based on science.

This is actually to prevent cerebral hemorrhage.

Generally speaking, the towels placed on top of the head have to be wet and cold towels soaked in cold water.

As soon as you enter a bathtub or bathtub filled with hot water, your body will be under water pressure, blood will easily concentrate in your head, and there is a risk of cerebral hemorrhage.

So to cool your head, place a damp washcloth soaked in cold water over your head.

While straightening the wet towel on his head, Ogata asked A-Machi:

"When was the last time the two of us took a hot shower?"

"I remember it was like 2 days ago." A-Machi folded his arms on the rim of the tub, and then hooked the folded arms with his chin.

"I don't know that I haven't had a chance to take a hot bath when I arrive in Ezo." Ogata half-jokingly poured hot water on A-Machi's back, and then helped A-Machi wash his back.

"Two people take a bath together, and you can save one person's bath money" - this is a money-saving trick that Ogata and Atachi discovered after they left Edo.

Most of the bathing services provided by hotels are to provide you with a bathtub, and then prepare hot water for you, so that you can take a bath in this bathtub.

So if two people take a bath in the same bucket, isn't that equivalent to saving one person's money for renting a bucket and water money?

Ogata discovered this money-saving trick by accident.

As for why he was able to discover this money-saving trick...the reason is actually not very convenient to explain in detail.

Since leaving Edo, Ogata and A-machi have been using this method to save one person's bath money.

While saving money, you can also do many other things, killing two birds with one stone.

Of course, there are still some shops that insist on charging two people for the bath.

However, most shops will agree to only charge one person.

When Ogata was helping A-Ming take a bath, A-Machi Asaogata joked:

"Just now that person mistook you for being from Kansai."

Ogata smiled helplessly: "You have misled my accent, isn't it normal to be mistaken for a Kansai native?"

"Your Kansai accent was not very standard before." A-Ming continued, "Now your Kansai accent is getting more and more standard."

The official dialect of this era is naturally Kanto dialect.

That is, the standard Japanese of modern Japan in later generations.

Kanto dialect is similar to the "Mandarin" of this era.

And A-cho can't speak Kanto dialect, that is, he can't speak "Mandarin" of this era.

Amachi, who was born in Kansai, can only speak Kansai dialect.

Kansai dialect is the most spoken dialect in Japan. There are many differences with Kanto dialect.

For example: "What" in Kanto dialect is pronounced as "Nani".

And "what" in Kansai dialect is pronounced "Nanya".

Kansai is very large, so people from different regions speak different Kansai dialects.

According to different regions, Kansai dialect has quite a few branches.

These branches are called "XXX debate".

For example: Osaka debate, Nara debate...

Because he was born in Omi, Kansai, A-cho speaks "Omi Ben" in Kansai dialect.

After getting along with A-Machi for such a long time, Ogata's accent was gradually lost by A-Machi.

Now Ogata speaks with a strong Kansai accent.

The old man just now was not the first person who mistook Ogata for a Kansai native.

After leaving Edo, Ogata has met several people who thought he was from Kansai...

...

...

Ogata and Machi did other things together besides taking a bath, so it took a while to come out of the bathroom.

After returning to the double room they opened, they happened to bump into the old man who was walking towards their room with two tables full of meals.

"You two guest officers, it's just right for you to come back."

The old man smiled at Ogata and A-Machi.

"Dinner is just about ready."

Although the old man is old, his arm strength is astonishing. He holds a table full of food in each hand, which is not only able to move but also very stable.

Ogata and A-Machi returned to the room and sat upright on the tatami mat in the room.

After Ogata and A-Machi sat side by side on the tatami, the old man placed the two tables full of meals in front of Ogata and A-Machi respectively.

"Come on! Two guests, please use it!"

The smile on the old man's face was somewhat proud.

"These are the delicacies that we are proud of in Mutsu! Wanzi soba, bamboo leaf fish board, and edamame mochi!"

Ou bowed to the old man to thank him.

But he didn't immediately pick up chopsticks to eat.

Instead, he asked the old man first:

"Excuse me, I would like to ask, do you know where there is such a businessman who can travel to and from Ezo?"

"A businessman who can travel to and from Ezo?" The old man raised his eyebrows, "Why do you ask this?"

Ogata briefly told the old man the reason.

"Oh...you want to go to Ezo..." The old man nodded lightly, "Indeed, if you don't have any connections or financial resources, the best way to go to Ezo is indeed to go with those It’s a tailwind for our business.”

"Then you can continue to walk north along Oshu Street tomorrow morning." The old man raised his hand and pointed to the north, "Going north from here is Nishino Town."

"I remember that 'Original Tachibana House' in Nishino Town is a store specializing in Ezo products."

"The owner of Yuan Tachibana House is an incredible businessman. He owns two merchant ships."

"He usually uses these two merchant ships of his own to go to the Ezo land, buy furs and other Ezo goods from the Ezo land, and then bring these goods back to sell."

"Go and ask the people from Yuanju House if they would like to give you a ride."

"If your footsteps are fast enough, you might be able to reach Nishino Town tomorrow evening."

Having collected very valuable information, the faces of Ogata and Atachi showed joy.

"Thank you." Ogata bowed again to thank the old man, "You have helped us a lot."

The old man smiled and waved his hands: "It's okay, this little busyness is nothing to worry about."

After all, the old man suddenly put on a more solemn face.

"Guest officers, although I don't know why you are going to Ezo, but if it's not because of something very important, then I advise you that it's better not to go to Ezo right now."

"In recent years, the Ezos have not been very peaceful."

"The Azou just broke out in a riot in Kunasi Limenasi last year."

"At the moment when the atmosphere between the two races is so tense, I advise you not to go to Ezo now, but try not to go to Ezo."

As soon as the old man's words fell, Xu Fangfang smiled slightly:

"Thank you for your reminder. But we happen to have very urgent matters, so we must go to Ezodi now."

"Since you really have something important to do, then I won't say anything more." The old man sighed softly, "Let me remind you again."

"After arriving in Ezodi, you should pay attention to the 'Red Moon Fortress'."

"'Red Moon Fortress'?" A-Ming looked confused, "What is this?"

"That is a place that must not be approached." The old man smiled wryly. "I don't remember when, a group of Lucians came to Ezo. Then they built a small fortress with wood."

"However, not long after the fortress was built, these Lucians left suddenly without knowing why, leaving only the already built fortress behind."

"Not long after the Lucians left, a group of Ezo lived in the fortress left by the Lucians."

"For some reason, this group of Eizo who has occupied the fortress has a lot of iron cannons."

"Their cannons all have a red crescent engraved on them."

The old man compared his fingers and drew a crescent shape in the air with his fingers.

"So gradually, we used to call this fort 'Red Moon Fortress'."

*****

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Let me show you the profile picture that the author found.

This is "Five Streets". Ogata and A-machi are now on the streets of Oshu→

This is the seat of the Matsumae Domain, Japan's northernmost domain in the Edo period→

This is the location of Deyu and Mutsu. The two areas are collectively referred to as "Ouyu area", or "Northeast area"→