Chanupu put down the pipe in his mouth and bowed his head to Ogata.

"Thank you for lending a helping hand to our fellow citizens."

Ogata quickly bowed in return.

"I can't take it seriously. I just did what I could."

"My wife and I should be the ones to say thank you."

"Thank you for letting my wife and I enter your land. It's been a great help to us."

"Hahahaha." Chanupu laughed loudly a few times, "This little thing is nothing."

Having said this, Chanup picked up his pipe again, brought it to his mouth and smoked twice more.

"I heard from Chepke before that you are looking for people everywhere."

"I will do my best to assist you."

"But - it's a coincidence."

Chanup put down his cigarette and puffed out two big eye circles.

"Just the day before yesterday, we just caught a weird Kazuto in the wild."

"We are temporarily keeping him in custody because we suspect he is a spy."

"Kazuto?" Ogata frowned slightly.

"Yes." Chanupu nodded, "He is a pretty old man. Do you want to go and see that Kazuto now? That Kazuto might be the person you have been looking for."

"If you can let us go and have a look, then of course we would like it." Ogata said immediately.

Kazuto caught in the wild - no matter what I think about it, it is full of necessity to go and see it.

Chanupu smiled and nodded, then shouted something in Ainu that Ogata couldn't understand outside the room.

The young men who were responsible for bringing Ogata, Chepke and others to Chanup's residence are still staying outside Chanup's house.

After Chanup's shouting ended, an ordinary-looking young man quickly entered the house.

"Mr. Majima, Miss Atachi, you should follow him to the prison where Kazuto is being held." Chanup said, "I will also have a good talk with Chepke and the others during your temporary absence.

Talk about moving into their village."

Ogata nodded.

…

…

Ogata and Atachi were led through one big and small road after another and turned into one intersection after another.

Naturally, there were still many people watching and discussing in low voices along the way.

On the way to the place where the "spies" were imprisoned, Ogata also learned more about the living environment of the Red Moon Fortress.

Ogata just saw a river.

This river is about 2 meters wide, flows relatively slowly, and has no ice in such a cold weather.

Not only was it wide, it seemed to be very long. When Ogata passed by the river, he could not see the head of the river whether he looked upstream or downstream.

The residents of Red Moon Fortress seemed to get their daily water from this river. Ogata saw many women carrying bottles and cans to this river to fetch water.

Ogata guessed that this river should be a tributary of the "several" shaped river outside the fortress.

The Red Moon Fortress was built on this tributary to facilitate the residents of the fortress to obtain and use water.

Red Moon Fortress is not a huge fortress, so it only took a few minutes for Ogata and the others to reach their destination - a shabby-looking hut.

Although the residents of the Red Moon Fortress occupy this advanced fortress, the life they live is still a tribal life, so naturally there are no facilities like prisons. So they only imprison people in an uninhabited hut.

.

There were two young men with bows and arrows guarding the outside of the hut.

The "guiding young man" who was responsible for leading Ogata and the others stepped forward and said something to the two guards, who nodded.

"Mr. Majima, Miss Atachi." The "guiding boy" opened the curtain of the window of this private house, "Please see if this person is the person you are looking for."

The doors and windows of the Ainu people are all made of a special kind of grass.

After the "guiding boy" opened the curtains of the window, Ogata and Amachi immediately stepped forward and leaned their heads towards the window where the curtains were opened.

A smell of dampness and mustiness came towards Ogata.

After unconsciously holding his breath, Ogata narrowed his eyes slightly and looked into the dim cabin.

This hut is a typical Ainu-style hut, converted into modern area units, it is about 10 square meters.

There was no furniture inside. Even without stepping into the house, Ogata could feel that the house was extremely humid and the air was filled with an unpleasant, pungent musty smell.

In the empty room, there was a person sitting cross-legged on the ground.

He is an old man.

He is probably in his early 50s, with mixed black and white hair and beard.

Tsukiyo's head is shaved, but because he hasn't taken care of it for a long time, some hair has grown on the top of his head.

Tsukiyo hair is such a troublesome thing, the top of the head must be shaved cleanly every once in a while, otherwise hair will grow on the top of the head, which will make the already ugly hairstyle even uglier.

In addition to the hair growing on the top of his head, the sideburns that did not need to be shaved and the bun on the top of his head were now messy. From a distance, Ogata could see a lot of dandruff on his hair.

He had a thick beard on his lips and chin that was unusual for this era.

During the Edo period, beards were not very popular among the samurai class or the common people.

Therefore, the probability of encountering a warrior or civilian with a thick beard on the street is not very high. The most common ones are various "white-faced and beardless" warriors or civilians.

An old man with a thick beard, which is rare in this era, is as messy as his hair.

Although the light in the room was dim, Ogata could clearly see that the old man's skin was darker, which meant that he had been associated with the sun for a long time.

Moreover, Ogata also found that this man's body was unexpectedly strong.

Even wearing thick clothes, Ogata could feel that this person's body was very strong, not the kind of body that could not help but frail.

At this time, he was sitting cross-legged on the ground, as if in a daze.

After the curtains were opened, he noticed the movement immediately, and then turned to look towards the window.

After discovering Ogata and Amachi who were looking into the house along the window, the old man was stunned for a moment, then hurriedly stood up, and then quickly rushed to the edge of the window, face to face with Ogata and the others.

"Kazuto?" The old man looked at Ogata and Omachi's faces full of Kazuto style with surprise, "Were you also caught as spies? Ah, it doesn't seem so."

After taking a look at Ogata's and his others' untied hands and the absence of escorts around them, the old man asked himself this question.

"Who are you?" The old man asked a new question like a barrage of questions, "Why can you, both Kazuto, look at me so arrogantly outside the cell, but I can only look at you inside the cell? Hello.

!It’s so unfair!”

The second half of the old man's words were addressed to the two guards responsible for guarding him.

The old man said this in Japanese, so the two guards did not understand what the old man was saying.

But after the old man finished speaking, the two guards showed a wry smile, then turned to say something to Ogata and A-Machi beside them.

After the two guards finished speaking, the "guiding boy" immediately translated for Ogata and the others:

"They said - this man is obviously quite old, but he is very...lively."

The "guiding boy" hesitated for a while, then uttered the word "lively" with a troubled expression.

"So they were both annoyed to death by the old man's quarrel, and they finally stopped for a while just now."

——I feel like he is a person with a strong personality...

After silently complaining in his mind, Ogata turned his head and looked at the old man again.

"This is the first time we meet, Majima Goro." Ogata said, "For some reasons, I and Uchiko are now guests of this Red Moon Fortress."

"This is Uchiko-Mashima Town."

"Gui'an." At this time, Ating also saluted the old man and said hello, "Just call me Ating."

"Guest?" A look of astonishment appeared in the old man's eyes.

After looking at Ogata and Omachi several times with astonished eyes, he cleared his throat and said seriously:

"This is the first time we meet, my name is Lin Ziping." The old man introduced himself, "I am a scholar. Although I prefer others to call me 'Mr. Lin', if you find it troublesome, just call me 'Lin'

it is also fine."

"Scholar?" Ogata raised his eyebrows.

Lin Ziping...that is, this old man nodded heavily.

"Have you ever heard of my name? I remember that I seemed to be respectfully called 'The Prophet of the North Gate' by some people."

Ogata and Atachi shook their heads at the same time in perfect agreement.

Ogata never paid attention to the academic world of this era.
To be continued...