It's June.

Cicadas are chirping, the sun is scorching, and the scorching summer seems to have come early.

Mochizuki Chiba walked alone in the mountains of Kita-Shinano, raising his hand to wipe his sweat from time to time, he wore a hat and a gray coat, only the two swords on his waist, one long and one short, flaunted his identity.

Although he is a samurai, Chiba's appearance is too down, his clothes look very shabby, the hem and armpits, and the waist have already been patched, and under the gray fabric, a miserable white background is revealed, as if a layer of floating soil has fallen.

The hat he wore had long since been soaked in sweat and turned yellow to the color of dead leaves.

His clothes were soaked with sweat and then steamed dry, and so on, leaving circles of salt stains on his gray clothes.

But the pace of Mochizuki Chiba has not changed in the slightest.

His steps were still so steady, as if the distance of each step had been precisely calculated, neither long nor short, and impartial.

His body was still as straight as it was, like a sharp rock standing on the top of a mountain, and the rock did not shift even though the wind and rain came.

Following the Chikuma River to the southeast side of Kawanaka Island, Mochizuki Chiba looked at the people and samurai who were building the castle in front of him, and a trace of doubt flashed in his eyes.

A month ago, Kansuke Yamamoto, the military advisor of the Takeda family, was in charge, and plans to build a castle in this place began.

At that time, Mochizuki Chiba had just come out of the mountains on the border of Ueno and Shinano.

After returning to the Mochizuki family in Kita-Shinano, he realized that the Mochizuki family had undergone great changes, and everything was different.

His uncle, Sheng Hui, the governor of the Mochizuki family, died in battle, and he naturally became the first heir to the Mochizuki family as a nephew.

But that's just "for granted".

Born in troubled times, a wealthy family like the Mochizuki family has a fate like duckweed on the water, drifting with the waves.

The reason is that Harunobu, the governor of the Takeda family, intends to make his nephew Takeda Nobuya join the Mochizuki family and inherit the name of the Mochizuki family.

Chiba doesn't know who Nobuya Takeda is, but these days in the residence of the Mochizuki family, he often sees Nobuya Mochizuki walking with the support of the maid.

- It turns out that Nobuya Mochizuki is a cripple.

Although Nobuya Mochizuki succeeded the governor of the Mochizuki family, Chiba's aunt Chiyo Mochizuki disappeared.

To this day, Chiba still remembers playing around with his aunt, who was two years younger than him, on his back when he was a child.

Although more than ten years have passed, he has long forgotten his former residence and the fields between the valleys, but the scene of running between the ridges with Chiyo on his back is still as clear as a brand.

Until ten days ago, Chiba heard that Chiyo Mochizuki appeared in Echigo Sakado Castle as a concubine.

The lord of Sakado Castle is the famous Echigo general Sasa Narumasa, when did his aunt get involved with the Uesugi family?

With this doubt in mind, Chiba Mochizuki accepted a summons from Takeda Nobuhiro three days earlier.

Xin Fan's stature is medium to tall, with two mustaches, and he has a king-like bearing when he sits on the top seat, so that when Chiba saw Xin Fan, he couldn't help but bow his head and said:

"Meet His Royal Highness."

As soon as the words came out, he realized that he was wrong...... It's just because the person in front of him is Takeda Nobushi, not the Takeda family's family governor Harunobu.

"Get up...... You were supposed to be the heir of the Mochizuki family, but at this time, you can only work for Xinya, can you complain? ”

"Nope."

Chiba's answer was concise and neat, and from his slightly reserved look, Shinshigeru couldn't tell if he was too nervous or really not good at words.

"Soga? I've heard that you aspire to be a swordsman, but it's true. ”

"Hay."

"I want to give you a task, would you like to do it?"

"Your Excellency, please command."

"You have to listen well, although the other party is not a sword master, but he has powerful swordsmanship, this task is very dangerous!"

Chiba was slightly stunned, and her eyes burned with inexplicable excitement.

…… Hooked.

A smile tugged at the corners of Takeda's mouth.

"Your mission target is Echigo Ueda, and his name is ...... Sasa Narumasa. ”

Sasa Naruma?

What kind of person is Sasa Narimasa?

As she walked past the construction site of Kaizu Castle, Chiba was still pondering this question.

He was very fast, and he left the Haijin City construction site behind him in a short time, and he also saw two figures in front of him.

Chiba narrowed her eyes and noticed that the two men in front of her had stopped.

…… A samurai, a ninja.

Mochizuki Chiba continued to observe, his footsteps did not stop, his eyes did not squint, even as he gradually approached, he was like a passerby.

In other words, he was a passerby.

Chiba Mochizuki has no interest in the pair of master and servant who appeared on the border of Kitashinano Takeda and Uesugi on the border, although they are suspicious.

But Chiba is not interested, it does not mean that the two are not interested.

"It's so strange that this swordsman doesn't take his eyes off when he walks."

"So what?"

"Do you need to test it, if it's dangerous......"

The diminutive ninja made a throat-slitting gesture, but the samurai shook his head and sighed.

"It's better to be cautious now that you're in danger."

"Hay!"

Mochizuki Chiba's tense muscles relaxed, and although he couldn't see the gesture made by the ninja, he could feel the killing intent that pierced him.

It is undeniable that this ninja is very strong, strong enough to be stronger than many upper ninjas.

If their master and servant join forces...... Chiba really doesn't have the certainty of retreating.

Of course, retreating with all body is retreating with all body, and winning a fight is winning a fight, these are two different things.

Two days later, Mochizuki Chiba finally came to Sakado Castle and caught up with Sasa Narumasa's wedding.

The scene was crowded with people, together in the shade, sweating like rain, pedestrians were rubbing shoulders, and the cars and horses were jammed on the road and could not turn back.

In a word, there are a lot of people.

Chiba Mochizuki was a little puzzled.

What he was puzzled about was not that there were many people, in fact, although Sazuo Chengzheng was only a concubine this time, this "concubine" was the sister of the governor of the Uesugi family, needless to say, the status was high, that is, she was older, an old woman.

What puzzled Mochizuki Chiba was that Sasa Naruma deliberately held a wedding outside the city.

With the dignity of Sasa Naruma and Ayagozen, why did he put Sakado Castle on the side, but why did he want Rausch to "have fun with the people" and put the wedding and wedding banquet outside the city?

Even if you have fun with the people, can you really let people sleep with you?

Mochizuki Chiba complained happily, and suddenly felt a trace of the breath of a beast, and his heart sank.

Not again.

The ninja he met in Kita-Shinano reappeared nearby.

Mochizuki Chiba observed carefully, and sure enough, he found the pair of master and servant in the crowd, but the samurai seemed to be very sad......

When Sasa Narumasa and Ayahime, who were in the center of the crowd, began to drink a glass of wine, Chiba saw that the young samurai was silently crying.

…… What's going on here?

The public way is a very popular thing between the daimyo and the wealthy families, but the public way cannot have children, and of course it is impossible to replace the marriage of wives and children.

Since it was a stirring base, why did this young man shed tears because of Sasa Chengmasa's wedding?

As Chiba was pondering, she suddenly noticed two sharp gazes...... He looked up and saw that the ninja had squinted his eyes and locked his form.

Chiba took a slight sideways step and pressed the handle of the knife.