Ogata could tell - Inoue was quite nervous right now.

Ogata and the others are now standing outside the warehouse door of the salt warehouse, waiting for the arrival of Matsudaira Gennai.

Inoue has been taking out his handkerchief to wipe the cold sweat on his forehead since just now.

Inoue was already over 40 years old, an age that was already considered an old man in the Edo period.

Looking at Inoue's legs, which were trembling with nervousness, Ogata couldn't help but worry about him.

"Inoue-sama." Ogata turned to Inoue and asked, "Are you alright?" Why don't you try taking a few deep breaths? If you keep taking deep breaths, you may feel better. ”

"Nope." Inoue smiled wryly and shook his head, "No need. I've taken deep breaths until my chest hurts......"

Compared to Inoue's nervousness, Ogata is much more relaxed.

When Matsudaira Gennai came, he only needed to kneel on the ground.

Ogata didn't have to do anything other than kneel on the ground and greet the arrival of his lord.

So Ogata didn't feel nervous, and even hoped that Matsudaira Genuchi would come to inspect the salt warehouse sooner, so that they could be relieved sooner.

……

……

While Ogata and the others waited for Matsudaira Genuchi to arrive, a samurai hurried towards Ogata and them.

Ogata recognized the samurai—one of the treasury officers.

However, Ogata didn't know him well, he only knew him as one of his colleagues, and Ogata didn't even know his name.

The fellow treasury officer hurriedly ran to the front and back of Ogata and the others, and said urgently:

"The lord is coming! Hurry up and prepare! ”

As soon as the samurai's words fell, Inoue turned his head and said to Ogata and the others in an anxious tone:

"Quick! Get on your knees! The lord is coming! ”

With that, Inoue took the lead in getting down on his knees and buried his head deeply, his forehead almost touching the ground.

After Inoue fell to his knees, Ogata and others followed.

The air seemed to freeze at this moment.

Inoue and Ogata's colleagues slowed their breathing, not even daring to breathe.

Ogata couldn't help but feel a little nervous.

Gradually, Ogata heard footsteps and horses' hooves from near and far on his left.

Judging by the loudness of footsteps and horses' hooves - there are quite a few people coming.

With his hands on the ground and his forehead almost touching the ground, Ogata could only see the soil in front of the tip of his nose, and nothing else.

Therefore, naturally, I couldn't see the lord and his party walking slowly towards the Yanba warehouse.

Ogata can't see it.

At the same time, I didn't dare to look at it

In this day and age, looking up at one's own lord without permission is arrogant.

Xu Fang didn't dare to defy the law, and got into unnecessary trouble in order to see the lord.

……

……

Soon, the dense footsteps and horses' hooves finally stopped in front of Ogata and the others.

Da, da.

Ogata heard the sound of his feet hitting the ground.

Presumably someone on a horse jumped off the horse.

"Keep your heads up."

An extremely indifferent male voice that seemed to have no emotion in his tone reached the ears of Ogata and the others.

"Thank you, lord!" Under Inoue's lead, Ogata and others shouted "thank you" in unison.

After looking up, he saw a young man standing not far in front of them.

The young man wore a kimono with a light yellow color palette.

Ogata didn't know how to wear clothes, but he could tell that the cloth used in the young man's clothes was quite high-quality.

I don't know how many years it would take Ogata to buy such a suit.

In addition, the young man's waist is also very expensive just from the handle and scabbard.

The young man's face was extremely pale.

Ogata had thought that the young man's face was so pale because he had applied some makeup powder.

But after taking a closer look, Ogata realized that this was not the case.

The young man did not apply any makeup to his face.

His face was so pale.

His bloodless face looked terrifying.

His lips were thin, and they were as bloodless as his face.

The eyes are very thin, there is no look in the eyes, and they look careless.

At such a young age, dressed in such elaborate clothes, and with such a precious sword hanging from his waist, the identity of this young man is self-evident - it is none other than the lord of the Hirose Domain, the lord of Ogata: Matsudaira Gennai.

Behind Matsudaira Gennai stood an extremely tall and strong man.

Ogata recognized the strong man.

This strong man must be the number one swordsman of their Hirose Domain, Nanahara Matachiro.

The name of Nanahara is known to all the samurai of the Hirose Domain.

Nanahara's title of "the first swordsman of the Hirose Domain" is not touted.

Rather, he relied on his own sword and cut it out little by little.

Nanahara is the permission of Ito Ichito.

In the Edo period, various schools in the swordsmanship world began to award certificates or scrolls at different stages depending on the strength of their disciples.

Most of the swordsmanship schools award certificates or scrolls from low to high: paper cutting, catalog, and exemption are all transmitted.

The Sakakiwara Ichito-ryu that Ogata studied was based on this sequence of certificate levels, with the lowest certificate grade being "paper cutting" and the highest certificate grade being "Exemption from Transfer".

Regardless of the order in which the certificates are awarded by each school, the highest level of certificates is basically the same as that of a license.

What does it mean to have a free loan of such and such a genre?

It means that when you go out to fight with others in the future, as long as you take out your certificate of exemption, the enemy may directly scare your legs and tremble.

The value of a "free and passable" certificate is quite large, which means that it is quite difficult to obtain.

Take Sakakiwara Ichito-ryu as an example - the Sakakiwara Sword Museum, where Ogata is located, since the establishment of the museum, no one has successfully obtained the certificate of exemption from all transmissions.

Of course, this also has something to do with the fact that the Sakakibara Sword Hall is a young sword hall.

It has only been a few years since the museum was built.

Ogata himself was one of the first disciples to join the Sakakihara Sword Museum after it was established.

In short, no matter what genre it is, the people who can get the certificate of exemption from the genre are undoubtedly the top powerhouses.

This is the case with Nanahara, who has Ito's sword-like freedom.

It is said that Nanahara once fought with 10 people at the same time.

In this life-and-death struggle with an extremely large difference in the number of 1 to 10, Nanahara relied on his extraordinary swordsmanship to kill these 10 people one after another.

With 1 against 10, you can still win a big victory - just this battle, you can see how terrifying Nanahara's strength is.

Nanahara also relied on his extraordinary swordsmanship, won the appreciation of the previous lord, many years ago, he was sent to Matsudaira Gennai's side, serving as Matsudaira Gennai's personal guard, until today.

As a result, Nanahara became the object of longing for almost all the samurai of the Hirose Domain who aspired to support themselves by swordsmanship.

Nanahara belongs to the kind of existence that has risen to prominence just by relying on swordsmanship, and envies countless samurai.