The shopkeeper, with a sparse beard on his chin, picked up an old black iron oil lamp, then took out a fire fold from his bosom and blew it on fire. Then he stood on the side of the aisle, tilted his head, and motioned for the three to follow.

He didn't close the door, and he was very comfortable leaving his store empty.

This self-confidence further proves that he is in charge of Lao Cai's side. Obviously, even if the owner is not there, the people in the other shops around will help take care of it, and will not let the thieves and dogs and rats from where they come in.

There is an ancient saying in the country of the moon called "small hidden in the wilderness, big hidden in the city", which translates into the Lamanite language to mean that the lower level of the hermit will live in the mountains and forests away from the noisy crowd, while the higher level will be integrated into the city and still be idle.

Although this proverb refers more to open-mindedness, it is equally useful when applied to topics such as such spheres of influence.

It is indeed a reasonable way to display one's own force, with bright armor and fine weapons, and to deter outsiders with majestic elite guards—to deter unscrupulous people with high-profile armed forces, and to prevent them from happening.

But there is a way to make a big move, as a subordinate of Xinjing, even if Qingzhi does not have the intention of rebelling because of the developed business, and really uses samurai troops on a large scale, it will inevitably attract suspicion.

Being a man with his tail between his legs and hiding his strength is what a person in power with a city government should do. The cards in your hand won't be fully played, but they'll not be all hidden either.

Since no one would believe that the lord of a city really didn't have any military power, it seemed more reasonable to show some of it.

There will be brightly armored samurai stationed near the main mansion, but many of the troops loyal to the castle lord of Aochi hidden in the secret are presented as ordinary people.

The accumulation of thousands of years of history in the Land of the Moon is not to be underestimated, and the people here are no worse than the Empire in their tricks of trickery.

After entering the tunnel, the three of them clearly felt that the temperature had dropped slightly, and the skylight, which had no light to enter, and the oil lamp in the hand of the shopkeeper who had not declared his home became their only source of light. This is clearly some kind of tunnel escape system, about two meters high, allowing two people to walk side by side, and bluestone walls are used for added strength.

It is not uncommon to dig tunnels or store goods in the dry and cold northland, and the reason why Qingzhi wants to lay bricks here is because it is closer to the water's edge and the terrain is relatively low.

The masonry is used to increase strength and prevent the passage from being flooded by groundwater or collapsing due to wetting and softening.

"Stompping-" The sound of shoes stepping on stagnant water sounded one after another, and the soaked soles of the feet were a little annoying, but for now they could only endure it. The cold droplets of water that fell from the top of the passage were not yet big enough to affect the structure, perhaps that was why they were not maintained. Although it was a bit annoying, Henry and the others also wore cloaks, and even if water drops fell on them, they would only slide down the surface of the wool.

They walked through many places quickly. It sounds like a big deal for a newcomer to be led into a place that is supposed to be a secret passage, but the sophisticated shopkeeper's roundabouts prove that it is accessible in all directions, and with the low visibility in the dark, the candlelight can only illuminate a distance of three or four meters, and most people will get lost and starve to death if they break in.

— and that's not all the obstacles.

"Be careful not to step on there, it's a trap. The shopkeeper walked to one side, and then held a candle to warn the crowd not to touch a stone on the ground.

Mira shuddered, and Sakura swallowed, and they didn't ask what the mechanism was, because it obviously wouldn't be a good kind.

The silence continued for a while, and when a little moss appeared on the wall lit by the candle in the old shopkeeper's hand, Henry frowned, and then slowed down and motioned for Mira and Sakura to slow down as well.

"Tsk. The manager noticed this and let out a slightly appreciative smack, but didn't say anything. He stepped forward and walked over to a staircase with an airtight wooden door at the end.

"Knock, knock. He knocked on the wooden door with a certain rhythm.

"Who's coming? Someone up there shouted through the plank.

"It's the old man. The shopkeeper opened his mouth, and after a while, the door above squeaked open, and the light came through, followed by a series of footsteps.

The dazzling daylight illuminated the front of the passage for a moment, and the old store manager's eyes narrowed to readjust to the bright environment, and Mira and Sakura realized the reason why Henry stopped them when they saw this scene - if the three of them still followed the store manager to the bottom of the door panel at this time, they would be instantly blinded by the suddenly brighter environment, and naturally they would completely lose their ability to resist.

It's one thing to slow down a few steps and not be directly hit by the light, and with a certain distance, the buffer time for the eyes to adapt to the light is also available. This way, you won't be overwhelmed by the light for a moment and then surrounded by heavily armed soldiers - this is the cautious instinct of a combat professional, even if the opponent is not hostile, and finally to avoid losing the initiative.

"Always grasp the surrounding environment" The sage always teaches the various details of the Luo'an girl, but she is still a little unprepared, but she often forgets these things when she fights.

Even if Mira does have some actual combat experience, it does not mean that she is a real elite fighter.

After going through actual combat and surviving, it will not make people change dramatically in an instant. Because there are many factors that determine victory or defeat in battle, sometimes you are physically stronger than the opponent or a little luckier and win. The point is that after defeating the opponent, you must learn to reflect, think about which wrong move you will end up in, reflect on those wrong moves, and then learn from the success to become more proficient.

People who don't reflect or don't notice their own problems at all won't go far on the path of a swordsman.

Luckily, our Luoan girl is never such a person.

"Who are these?" The soldiers who came down from above immediately formed a formation to block the exit of the road, and although they confirmed that the leader was indeed their own family, they did not let down their guard.

Because his own family may have been coerced, the samurai who walked into the tunnel directly put on a position and reconfirmed the situation with the old store manager.

"It's not an enemy, maybe you can conspire with it. It has some connection with the Lord's guests, and it is up to the Lord to decide. The old shopkeeper said this in a slow and logical tone, and the samurai leader glanced at the people through the lower edge of his helmet, and nodded after a while.

"Spread out. As soon as he gave the order, the samurai with short spears gathered their weapons in unison and stood on either side.

"Can you understand the language of our country?" he said, speaking directly to the man he considered to be the leader of the band, our Sage.

"Understood. Henry nodded.

"Then come with me. Don't listen to indecent behavior, don't look at indecent behavior, and if there is any misconduct, don't blame us for being ruthless. It didn't seem to be the first time something like this had happened, the leader expertly explained, and then gave a color to the two samurai next to him: "Collect your weapons." ”

He said this, and Mira resisted slightly, but the sage gave her a color.

"Click-" Several weapons were unloaded, and the sage's greatsword felt some unintended weight when it fell into the hands of the samurai, and the other glanced at it, but Henry, wrapped in cloth, did not unfold it as well.

“....... Please take off your armor, too. Just when the Roan Maiden thought it was all over, the samurai leader narrowed his eyes and observed the sage's Brigundy-style plate armor before saying this.

"......" Henry shrugged, then loosened his coat, unfastened the belt around his waist, and opened the belt buckle one by one.

The dark blue velvet plate armor with fancy rivets looked luxurious but not lightweight, because of the sage's large physique, this body armor weighed more than 10 kilograms.

Curious, the samurai leader beckoned his men to hand over the armor, then turned it over to look at the overlapping pieces of solid armor inside.

"The tortoiseshell gold in the shape of my country is true, and what the Lord says is true. He nodded: "The so-called Nanban, no matter how contemptuous it is, the richness of culture is actually no less than that of our country. ”

"Let's go. The samurai, who had collected a few people's equipment, walked out first, and finally the three Henry walked out of the passage, surrounded by heavily armed warriors.

The old store manager did not follow, and seemed to have returned to the store alone from the passage.

The girl glanced at the sage, then at the samurai leader in front of her, who was about the same height as her, and stopped talking.

"Like Rigal, there are all kinds of people here. From the point of view of benefits, the lord of Qingzhi is not blindly rejecting foreign things. Henry noticed his disciple's doubts and spoke this, but in the language of the Land of the Moon instead of Rigal, in order not to arouse unnecessary doubts in the other.

"Don't listen to indecent things, don't look at indecent things. The girl nodded, and then habitually wanted to observe her surroundings, but the leader in front of her said as if she had eyes behind her back.

The samurai's team surrounded several of them, and the human wall was supposed to be airtight and blocked the line of sight, forcing them to follow along, but the height of Henry's group of three had an overwhelming advantage in the face of these warriors, so it could only be emphasized verbally.

But what the samurai leader said was a bit of a crepe Mira and couldn't understand it, so Sakura in the back had to say to the girl in plain language when he reminded him for the third time: "He's telling you not to look and don't listen." ”

"Ahh The girl nodded a little embarrassedly, and the group continued to walk forward, and after crossing a wall with a circular doorway, the captain suddenly "tsk", and then whispered: "Please speed up-"

But as soon as he finished speaking, a voice rang out on his right.

"Oh, is this a new guest coming to see Father?"

The voice sounded very young, and with a hint of hubris, which could be heard just by listening to the tone, and the group stopped, and Mira, Sakura, and Henry all turned their heads.

A young man about 1.7 meters tall, with long blue hair representing an adult, and a wooden knife in his hand, stood on the other side of the courtyard, and next to him a man dressed as a samurai was sitting on the dirt floor with his bruised arms and not daring to squeak.

"Well, the people of the Nanban are so tall for both men and women—" He walked over and said this, and the hats on Mira and Sakura's heads were removed, but he didn't look closely, so he regarded Oiran, who was rare among the Wajin, as a foreigner.

"Young master. The young man's identity was immediately verified by the samurai leader's mouth—he bowed, and then said, "This is the lord's guest, and the young master—"

"I can't hear what you're saying, I can't hear clearly. The long-haired boy gouged out his ears and walked over with an impatient expression: "Get out of the way." Then he brutally pushed away the samurai in front of him.

"Huh. He walked up to the sage and looked him up and down.

"You guy, can you understand Japanese?"

"Hey, I'm asking you. The young man, who looked very arrogant, asked one after another, and the sage glanced at the embarrassed appearance of the samurai leader next to him and nodded.

"Well, that's not bad. To give. The young master of Qingzhi threw the wooden knife in his hand to the sage.

Henry didn't reach for it, and let it fall to the ground.

"The last guy who was so tall had a shelf in the air, but he didn't have any ability at all. ”

"My father said don't underestimate Nanban's swordsmanship, but I don't think it's a big deal. He turned around and picked up another wooden knife.

"See if you can prove me wrong?"

"Young master, please—" Shut up. ”

"How?" he said to the sage with a provocative expression.

"What to do. And Mira looked at her teacher, who said that the previous tall empty shelf was Galeva, perhaps because the defeat of such a big man gave him inflated confidence, but the girl was even more suspicious that this person was born like this.

Henry is naturally not at the same level as Kaleva's stunned youth, but here's the problem-

This is the son of the city lord, and they are going to negotiate with the city lord that their teammates should be held in a certain place here, and this is the other party's territory.

So the question is not whether you can win the fight, but whether you should fight or not.

"Tsk, hey Sakamoto, if that guy doesn't fight me, kill those two women. The young man gave the order to the samurai captain.

"This—" The captain was a little embarrassed, but then he replied respectfully: "Yes, young master." ”

"......" Mira frowned, and Sakura sighed.

And Henry bent down in silence and picked up the wooden knife.

.。 m.