Turning back time not long ago——

"Is this the meeting place agreed upon by the sacred mountain and you?" Asai said as he looked up and down at the tea house in front of him.

"This is the tea house where Lord Kamiyama often comes," Makimura said. "Kamiyama-sama sometimes works in this tea house to change his mood. Let's go."

Makimura led Shimada and Asai towards the tea house in large strides.

Among them, Lin was the only one who found it difficult to show her face.

If Hasegawa discovers that Lin wears "Yama" on her waist, Lin's identity as an "enemy of Buddha" will be destroyed.

Therefore, Lin hid somewhere some distance away from here, and only three people from Makimura came to negotiate with Shenshan.

Opening the sliding paper door of the teahouse, Makimura saw Kamiyama and Hasegawa sitting at the low table facing the door.

A younger young man stood respectfully beside the mountain, seeming to be his assistant.

"Makimura, you're back." Kamiyama looked at Shimada and Asai, "Are these two your companions?"

"Lord Kamiyama, I can assist you." Makimura said bluntly, "But I have a condition - when the matter is completed, please release a prisoner currently detained in Kyoto Prison and hand it over to us."

"Prisoner?" Shenshan frowned slightly, "Which prisoner do you want me to release?"

"A doctor named Xuanren. I heard that he is a doctor who knows Nanman medical skills. I need his medical skills to treat a friend of mine."

"I came back to Kyoto this time just to invite him, but unexpectedly he was imprisoned."

What Makimura said is undoubtedly a lie.

After Shenshan pondered for a while, he turned his head and whispered to the assistant beside him:

"Go and check to see if there is such a person in prison."

"yes."

The assistant left quickly.

Not long after, he quickly returned to the sacred mountain.

"Master Shenshan, there is indeed such a person. He is currently being detained in prison because he was suspected of prescribing the wrong medicine and killing someone."

"...He should be just an ordinary doctor, right?"

"Indeed, he is just an ordinary doctor." The assistant said, "Except for being slightly famous among the people because of his superb medical skills, there is nothing special about him."

"...I understand." Shenshan nodded to Mucun, "When the matter is completed, I will release Dr. Xuanren and hand him over to you."

"Grateful."

"Besides this, Makimura, do you have no other requirements?"

"Tell me the location of the latest victim."

"It seems that there are no other requirements... I have asked people to mark the places of death of all the victims on this map and indicate the time of death."

Shenshan pushed forward a folded map placed on the low table beside him.

"In order to facilitate the contact between the two of us, I will stay in this teahouse until I go to Nijo Imperial Palace to attend the banquet hosted by Lord Tokugawa Munemu tonight."

"If you need any help from me, you can come to this tea house and ask me."

"Thank you. I don't need your help at the moment, Lord Shenshan."

…

…

After leading Asai and Shimada back to Lin's hiding place, Makimura reported to Linhui:

"Lord, the deal has been reached."

"Very good." Lin nodded gently, "In this way, we can get Dr. Xuanren in the gentlest way possible."

"So - Mihachi, the rest will be hard on you. Now that you have taken on the job of assisting Kamiyama in investigating this murder case, do you have any plans now?"

"Let's go to the latest victim's murder scene first to check for any clues. But before that - I want to find Ogata-san first."

"What are you looking for him for?" Lin frowned slightly.

"I just heard from Mr. Kamiyama that just now, some officials found someone who looked like Ogata Ittousai in a ramen shop. I suspect that the person they found was not someone who looked like Ogata Ittousai at all.

The person is Ogata Ittousai himself..."

"Brother Ogata, he is not a native of Kyoto. He is not familiar with Kyoto. If he is allowed to run away on his own, it will only be a matter of time before he is surrounded by officials."

"Brother Ogata is my friend. He is in trouble now. I can't just sit back and ignore it."

"...If you want to help Ogata Ittousai first, I have no objection, but where are you going to find him?"

As soon as Lin finished speaking, an unusually noisy noise suddenly sounded from a street not far away:

"Hey! Someone just saw Ogata Ittosai's figure! He fled in that direction!"

"Okay! You guys go search that alley!"

"yes!"

"You guys, just go there!"

"yes!"

After listening to the noisy noise for a while, Makimura smiled at Lin:

"It seems that we have found a clue about Brother Ogata."

…

…

"...That's just the way it is."

Makimura, who was leading the way at the front, continued to speak to Ogata behind him.

"In terms of familiarity with Kyoto, there are probably few people in the world who can surpass me."

"I know exactly where the places suitable for Tibetans are in each neighborhood."

"After I learned that you had just escaped into a nearby neighborhood, I immediately followed the alleys in this neighborhood that are suitable for Tibetans and found you."

"Brother Ogata, you should be glad that I am no longer a force in Kyoto, and I am not responsible for hunting you down."

A faint smile appeared on Makimura's face at this time.

"If I were responsible for hunting you down, you would have been heavily surrounded by now."

After quietly listening to Makimura's explanation of the ins and outs of all events, Ogata sighed softly:

"Makimura, you actually helped the government..."

"It's just mutual use." Makimura shrugged, "I help them, and they give us what we want. It's just a transaction. Ah, we are out of the alley."

A little candlelight shines from the alley ahead.

After rushing out of the alley along the entrance, Ogata and his party came to a rather deserted path.

After listening carefully and confirming that there were no official sounds around him, Ogata slowly lowered his hand that was originally resting on the handle of the Daishiten sword.

"My lord, Asai, Shimada." At this moment, Makimura suddenly said to Lin and the others, "You three should go back and rest first."

"Do you want to act alone?" Lin frowned slightly.

"To be honest - it would be easier for me to move around alone." Makimura smiled bitterly, "And... to put it in a slightly ugly way: when it comes to investigating a case, if there are too many laymen around you, it will be a problem.

It’s more of a hindrance.”

"...I understand." Lin did not make any rebuttal to Makimura's somewhat unpleasant words just now, "But--it's better to leave someone by your side to help you. Shimada, you follow Makimura."

"Ah, yes!" Shimada said loudly.

Makimura opened his mouth, as if he wanted to reject Lin's proposal.

But after hesitating for a while, he slowly closed his mouth. He nodded and said softly:

"I understand. If Shimada is the only one following, then it doesn't matter."

"Asai and I will wait for you to come back at the hotel. You two remember to pay attention to your safety."

"My lord..." Makimura suddenly hesitated and said, "I have a merciless request."

"Say it."

"Before returning to the hotel, could you please take a detour to a place? I want you to bring a message to an acquaintance of mine in Kyoto."

"Acquaintance?" Lin asked doubtfully.

"Yes." Makimura nodded vigorously, "He is the only acquaintance I have in Kyoto."

"...I understand. This small favor is not a big deal for me."

"Grateful."

After Makimura quickly announced a place name to Lin, the newly formed team immediately parted ways.

Lin took Asai to send a message to this acquaintance of Makimura.
To be continued...