[Hokage] Terukawa

After stepping out of the gate of the dungeon, Qing Ming had already become twilight.A figure leaning against the iron sill of the dungeon, who had been waiting for an unknown amount of time, followed behind me undisguisedly, whether it looked like a guard or a shadow.

"Yang Er," I tilted my head and smiled, "Just waited for me the whole time? Take me to meet Yang Yi, this man is interesting."

"Is there a big problem with the original content?How did you get it out? 』

"I broke one of his fingers, and after going back and forth a few more times, he honestly said it all. If I have to tell you a trick, it's probably because I kept a perfect smile the whole time."

"As expected of a foolish nobleman, you have to pick a service attitude even when you are being interrogated."Give me his finger so I can pick his nose in front of him. 』

"..." I hesitated to speak, and then hesitated, "...I have already taken it back to him."

"What? !How did you pick it up? 』

"Your hand is so good, that's how I picked it up for him. How about I check your hand injury again?"

Yang Er clenched his fist reflexively: "No, get out of here." 』

"Don't get me wrong, I'm not being soft-hearted, but to avoid offending people too much. Most of you have to rely on him for your safe life."

"What nonsense are you talking about, our happy life has nothing to do with him?" 』

"Oh, then who of you will go to the above-mentioned position, and who will manage the government below? Yang Yi, Yang Yi, or Yang Yi?"

I pretended to clap.

"Good guy, I'm a fucking good guy."

Yang Er did not respond this time.I'm not sure if his brain, which is constructing Jane... Yue, understood what I meant, but it doesn't really matter, because I have already grasped the knack of communicating with this group of people-be reasonable first when it doesn't make sense, and raise it when it doesn't make sense .

Mentioning "Yang Yi" to them is as effective as mentioning their hard-working parents to rebellious teenagers.

Teasing Yang Er to find Yang Yi, the atmosphere along the way was relaxed and happy. However, when we entered the courtyard and bypassed two dry mountains and rivers with drainage devices added with great joy, we couldn't laugh anymore.

The winter in the courtyard seems to be getting stronger again, which makes people feel chills down the spine.

I moved carefully to avoid the turned dirt all over the floor, and fanned the album page at the tip of my nose again, trying to dispel the extremely unpleasant smell—but failed.

This is……

Arranged in a rectangular shape in the open space in the courtyard are about forty stone urns about the width of an adult's arms. It seems so.

I don't want to actually touch it.It doesn’t matter if I’m cautious or sensitive, after all, I’m someone who just finished interrogating Watanabe Heybuemon, and I’m still sensitive to the noble’s tricks and tricks, plus the many incidents mentioned in the confession in my hand... …these weird stone urns make my eyelids twitch at first glance.

"Don't touch it," I stopped Yang Er's movement, and raised my chin towards several familiar figures in the direction of the atrium, "Go to Yang Yi first."

Yang Er was blunt and reckless, but he also listened to the persuasion in a down-to-earth manner. Hearing the words, he jumped up and walked towards the courtyard stepping on the rockery of dry mountains and rivers.

I am not in a hurry.The distance between people is not far, so instead of scrambling for a few steps just to see Yang Yi quickly, it is better to find out what these stone jars are as soon as possible, and where does the disturbing feeling come from.

Drenched in the remnants of the twilight sky in the west, the pitch-black stone urn seems to be covered with blood.I carefully looked at these weird things that I had never seen before, and vaguely found a few heavy-colored lines on the dirty and mottled cover-this is destined to be unusual.

When they walked to the atrium, Yang Er was following Yang Yi's instructions, pointing the surrounding stone lanterns with his fingers.

"This smell is too strong." I sighed, tiptoed and raised my chin, and glanced at the stone urn next to Yang Yi's feet from a distance - that was the only one that was opened, and the whole courtyard was almost suffocating The smell is from there.

...Are you mistaken, it really is... ah.

The stone lanterns were lit one by one, and the warm light gradually lit up around us.Yang Yi's blurred face gradually became clear, and the joy of a smooth journey has long since dissipated, leaving only the coldness and paleness remaining here.

"You're here," Yang Yi came over, "why don't you come any closer?"

"...I am too old to look at the things in this urn."

Yang Yi forced a smile, he didn't seem to take my words to heart—the conscience of heaven and earth, this is the most sincere sentence I said today.

"Do you know what's in there?"

I pinched the album page and held it in front of my body: "At the beginning of July last year, the former civil servant—or Buwensuke Ohata refused to hand in the official seal, and refused to write a public notice for the fake city lord five times within a week. From the refusal From the first article of "The new castellan Ito takes office today" to the fifth article of rejection "The original castellan Hasunuma's treason will be executed today", after which the Ohata clan was directly killed by the new castellan and brought disaster to the whole family. Unusual What's more, after beheading the heads of 7 members of the Dahata clan, the new city lord did not burn them according to the usual practice, but tied them with hemp rope and hung them under the eaves of the fifth floor of the Tianshou Watchtower. The head was exposed to wind, sun, dew and rain for three days."

Yang Yi's movements froze: "...there are exactly 38 stone urns here."

"At that time, Watanabe Heibuemon was just Watanabe Heibu, an ordinary student in the government school. Benefiting from the family, he respected Dahata as a half teacher. He didn't know anything about it until the day of ' Ohata's face can be discerned from the wind chime under the eaves of the watchtower."

I pursed my lips. Retelling this story was more uncomfortable than I thought.

"He had nightmares all night, and he visited the Tenshu with the idea of ​​'Why should a man take his anger on a corpse', but he accidentally broke the secret and was imprisoned here...Unfortunately, it seems that he wants to bury the Ohata clan with dignity The wish can no longer be fulfilled."

"..." Yang Yi's complexion became extremely ugly. He pressed his temple, and the space between his brows could kill a fly. "So he didn't resist when we broke in... He has been waiting for this day for a long time. .”

I nodded: "He did say something similar."

"What's the matter with that fake castellan, Ito? ——No, sorry, please tell me what he explained."

I nodded again, which was exactly my original purpose.

To put it bluntly, the core of the change in Xingshou City is to show nonsense in simplicity and rudeness.

The management of the former owner of the city, the Hasunuma family, is not very good, but in this position, it is rare to have no merit or demerit.All announcements other than the last one on the bulletin board are from this time.

As a matter of course, this simple and peaceful life for Watanabe Heibo dissipated like a cloud of smoke after the Ito clan replaced the Hasunuma clan without a sound. When exactly did they come to Xingshou City—when, where, and in what way?I don't know anything.Before the incident, he had only heard a few words from his wife and gossip from his servants in Ohata’s mansion—such as guessing that Mrs. Ito was a distant relative who had come to seek refuge with Mrs. Hasunuma—his mission at that time was just Learn calligraphy and poetry.

"There was a premeditated plan, and there were all omens."

At first, it was just that the Dahata family thanked customers behind closed doors without warning, no matter who came, they were all gone; then the introduction of various new taxes and the increase of tax rates caused the merchants on the street to change one batch after another in just a few weeks. In the blink of an eye, Xingshou City, which was originally considered stable and prosperous, turned into a dim bubble with no phantom light left; finally, and the most outrageous thing—one day, when the government school was in class, the guarding warrior group fenced yard.

Yang Yi frowned even tighter, raising his hand in a "pause" motion: "Guarding the samurai group? The samurai also changed their surname to Ito?"

"I know what you want to ask, and he really said it. Watanabe Heibuemon conducted an investigation after the incident, and concluded that the 'unknown armed force' raised by the Ito family severely injured the group of samurai—— They must have died enough, and enough, so bad that [-]% of the survivors committed suicide in the next few months. The ones that were dropped."

I pointed to the inner hall, and I don't know if the bodies of those warriors have been dragged away for disposal.

"So that's how it is... No wonder the number of samurai is so small," Yoichi thought thoughtfully, "But what is the 'unknown armed force', did Watanabe Heibyoemon find out?"

"His exact words were 'no trace at all.'"

"..." Yang Yi was silent, "Ninja?"

"This is my current thinking," said this, just now Watanabe Heibuemon's eyes flashed in my mind, "... probably also Watanabe Heibuemon's idea .”

"But from the city gate to the tower, no ninja has ever come forward to fight against us."

My thoughts turned back and forth in my mind a few times: "What about Yidong, and Yidong himself?"

Yang Yi's expression became extremely astonished, but he still quickly answered: "Ito is just a fifteen-year-old cub...youth, he looks about the same size as you. He was still on the couch when we broke in Before getting up, just..."

"..." I beg you to correct this "little bastard" fault.

But counting the time, it should be around five in the morning when Yang Yi and the others broke into the castle tower, and it's normal that they didn't wake up at this time: "Just?"

"He screamed very loudly and kept calling a name, and when I saw his face, I thought of you who were about the same age. Do you know what I thought at the time?" Yang Yi grinned, " I thought, how can the gap between people be so big.”

"I just stabbed him across the face, like this! 』

Sensing the movement of Night Breeze, I subconsciously moved sideways to give up a position - it turned out that Yang Er, who had lit the stone lamp in the distance, flashed over directly with the instant body technique.

He first made a "stab" movement, and then quickly turned his wrist to form a "twist" - of course there was no knife in his hand at this time, but I could see it clearly - burst out in those eyes The light called "Excitement".

"Okay, okay, I see," I didn't want to know the details of these murders at all, there were more noteworthy things in Yang Yi's narration, "Who did he call, and did you come to rescue him later?"

"No, but something is wrong."

Yang Yi started rubbing his temples again.

"After Ito-san yelled that name a few times, he calmed down inexplicably. I thought he was going to hold back a big one, so I prepared the servants, retainers, Zaemon Youemon, etc. to guard the door. We were mentally prepared for things to rush in... But we guarded the door until Ito died, but no one came in. Later, we broke through from the inside to the outside, but found a secret compartment in the outer closet. A man with his hands cut off. Qingyi is a perceptual type. I looked at him a few more times, but the man just kept shaking, and he didn’t fight back when he was beaten, and he didn’t answer when we asked him. We simply beat him unconscious and locked him in I entered the dungeon to the west... No, wait," his movements stopped suddenly, "Wait... Could it be him?"

I widened my eyes: "'Could it be'? Why didn't you say so earlier?"

"As I said, only the one named Watanabe didn't resist so he stayed. The rest were either killed or locked up in the dungeon." Yang Yi also widened his eyes, "Do you still think that such a hand was chopped off?" Is it worth interrogating a person suspected of being insane?"

"...You never thought that the name Ito called might be him?!"

"Outrageous," Yang Yi's face was full of excitement, "His hands were chopped off, and the tourniquet hasn't been removed yet!"

The tourniquet hasn't been removed yet?

After the words came out, Yang Yi was obviously taken aback.I looked at him and stared at each other.

Good guy, Ito himself hasn't gotten used to it yet.

When was that hand chopped off?The tourniquet wasn't even removed, it felt... maybe even yesterday.

For a long time, Yang Yi looked at me, and I also looked at Yang Yi, until he suddenly let out a long sigh, and tapped his forehead again: "I want to be with you during this interrogation."

"...Then come on, I am also curious about this person's thoughts."

"Is there anything else in Watanabe's statement?"

"Yes, not many, but it is basically enough to explain why so many new 'retainers' in the outside world pretend to be deaf and dumb about the death of Ito."

I chased a few steps to catch up with Yang Yi's footsteps, and directly stuffed the album into his hand.

"After being besieged that day, Guanxue followed in the footsteps of the guarding samurai, and Watanabe Hirayoshi, one for survival, and the other for...revenge? Then he returned to the Ito clan. Unfortunately, the Ito clan didn't know where it came from. Knowing that Watanabe Heiho is a student of the Ohata family, and knowing that he is full of admiration for some officials, so..."

"so?"

"So he gave Watanabe Hirayaki the official position of 'Youweimen', and asked this young student to 'guard' the door on the right side of the inner hall every day, listen to and watch with his own eyes as he ordered the old staff Scenes of execution one by one."

"hiss--"

There was a slight inhalation sound next to my ear, and when I looked over, I saw a look of shock mixed with disgust appeared on Yang Er's face.

"nausea.Scum. ’ said his hands, ‘I’m beginning to sympathize with that guy.He can only sit by the door every day, how...』

Human nature has been suppressed for too long, but now it seems to be gushing out... It's a good thing, probably.

He did not "perform" the remaining sentences, but the 38 stone urns in front of him were neither buried nor peaceful, and everyone present knew what he wanted to express.

After a moment of silence, Yang Yiwu said: "Yang Er, I am afraid that we will have to spend a long time with that person... We must be more careful when we get along with people who have experienced that kind of change. His thoughts are different from ours... Later, you call Shangjingyi and Qingyi together, I have something to tell you."

A rational choice, Yang Yi knew exactly what to do.

On the issue of "how to deal with Watanabe Heybuemon", I have a natural understanding with him. As long as I tell him the "stay" word game I played privately, he will be able to further improve his thinking... As expected Is the disgusting "kind".

Frankly speaking, after spending a few hours with Watanabe Heibyuemon, apart from those slightly exaggerated performances, my most vivid impression of him is... forbearance.

Enduring the killing of people around him, enduring the new city lord showing off his might, enduring the bustling and peaceful hometown turning into a depression, enduring the humiliation of "Emon"—enduring for half a year.

Probably even he himself hadn't noticed the dark fire burning in his eyes—is it true that people like this belonged to the Ito clan just for the official position?

Maybe, maybe not.Out of optimism I hope for the former, but out of caution I lean towards the latter.Now that Ito is dead and Watanabe Heibyuemon has lost his target, no matter what he wants to do now, it is always right to be on guard, even those words that seem to be separating me and Yoichi... …

I lowered my head to think, and when I looked up again, the sun had completely sunk, and the soft but icy night wind was blowing on my face.

The moon climbed up to the sky, but the light was not yet complete, so Yang Er moved his fingers together to swipe away one by one. All the stone lanterns he pointed to were lit with warm and bright light, and soon melted away the accumulated light. Snow on top of stone sculptures.The snow water flowed and dripped drop by drop, and then merged into a stream on the solid ground, and the wet path was like a short river of mourning.

...Yang Er is like a child, no wonder Yang Yi treats him like his own younger brother.

The footsteps fell on the beautifully repaired gravel path in the courtyard, and the snow here was very thin.Our steps are not fast or slow.

If it is a summer night, there should be insects singing at this time.

"I made a plan to kill you in partnership with Watanabe Heibuemon."

It was at this moment—the moonlight was quiet and the snow was beautiful, as if everything was on the right track.

I heard my own voice sound calmly.

The other two stopped in their tracks, their different eyes fixed on my body.

"As agreed, I will open the dungeon pretending to be unintentional three days later, and after reuniting with the former site of the official school, I will help him escape to find the guardian ninja of the daimyo of the river country, and then..."

I smiled faintly.

My hearing is very good - Yang Er's hand on the right has pressed the weapon at his waist, the steel cable that cut me and caused self-injury.

He hasn't shot yet because he's waiting for someone's order.

At this moment, the only person who is qualified to give orders to him just looked at me indifferently, his tone was as calm as mine: "Then?"

"The old site of the official school, at three o'clock in the morning. I suggest that you surround the dungeon at midnight, and you may really be able to catch him," I said with a smile. "Of course, of course, if he's smarter... I'm more inclined Try to persuade Yang Er to meet you alone in the past three days? Maybe he will personally leak our 'escape agreement' to you, and if it goes well, he will just borrow a knife to kill someone."

"I see." Yang Yi said calmly.

"? 』

"Then let's go and see that... poor man whose hands were cut off."

Yang Yi was calm, Yang Er was confused, but I felt in a good mood, even the moonlight and cold wind were much cuter.