"My Lord Gongji, the Yohei you just mentioned, is he that kid from the Kato family?"
At this moment, an elderly woman passing by Fengyi and Yae Miko overheard their conversation about Kato Yohei and his brother and couldn't help but lean in, her eyes brimming with gossip.
"Uh... yes, dear lady. Are the Kato brothers quite famous?"
Looking at the approaching elder, Fengyi felt a momentary daze, as if seeing the village grandmothers from his past life.
These grandmothers, sitting at the village entrance all day, gossiping about trivial matters, knew every little detail of the village, truly the 'village's top intelligence network'!
For young people working far from home, the first hurdle upon returning is the elders at the village entrance. Once you pass them, you're bound to be stopped and questioned...
Even a stray dog passing by would be pointed at and scurried away with its tail between its legs.
These experiences had left Fengyi with indelible psychological scars, and he saw the shadows of those grandmothers in this Konada Village elder.
"Oh my, you've asked the right person! There's nothing in this village I don't know, not even which dog got the village's big yellow dog pregnant..."
The elder gave Fengyi a look that said 'you've asked the right person' and then started boasting to him.
"After their parents passed away, the two Kato brothers were left completely unsupervised. They've been aimless and idle, never doing anything properly. They're already at marriageable age, but what young girl would even look at them?"
"According to reliable insider information, these two brothers are heavily in debt outside. Those debt collectors show up every other day, the scene is... tsk tsk..."
As she said this, the elder suddenly looked around. Seeing that the Kato brothers weren't present, she beckoned Fengyi and Yae Miko closer, cupped her hand over her mouth, and whispered:
"Shh, don't tell them I told you. The Kato brothers owe another debt, well... this debt has nothing to do with Mora. A few days ago, a debt collector showed up, a burly fellow. He took the two brothers into a room, and then there were ear-splitting screams from inside. Even the village's big black dog heard it and tucked its tail between its legs, hiding far away..."
Listening to the elder's revelations, Fengyi's mouth twitched. Truly the village's number one informant, knowing everything.
This wasn't the key point. The key point was that she blabbed about everything! How would the Kato brothers ever face anyone again? They had no face left!
Half an hour later, Fengyi and Yae Miko bid farewell to the elder, who was still somewhat unsatisfied.
The matter of the Kato brothers had actually finished long ago, but once the elder started talking, she wasn't so easy to stop.
She rambled on for another twenty-odd minutes, her stories becoming more and more irrelevant and outlandish. Fengyi's eyelids were twitching, and he desperately wanted to escape.
However, Yae Miko seemed very interested and insisted on chatting with the elder for quite a while.
When bidding farewell to Fengyi and Yae Miko, the elder still looked unsatisfied, feeling as if she hadn't performed her best.
"Hehehe, it's quite interesting to occasionally hear about such trivial village matters..."
Yae Miko said with a chuckle, planning to sneak down the mountain again next time and transform into an Inazuman woman to listen to village gossip at the entrance.
Following the elder's directions, Fengyi and Yae Miko, with nothing else to do, went to see the residence of the Kato brothers.
The house was a bit dilapidated. Due to neglect, a few sparse weeds grew in front of the door, making the entire residence look abandoned.
"Lord Yae Gongji! Are you also here to collect debts? Yohei said to tell you not to worry, he'll be able to repay the debt soon after taking on a disciple..."
As Fengyi and Yae Miko were surveying the house, an uncle emerged from the neighboring house, chewing on a freshly picked sweet melon.
The uncle was extremely shocked to see Lord Yae Gongji, forgetting to chew the sweet melon he had just taken a bite of.
He knew that the Kato brothers owed a lot of money, but they dared to owe money to Lord Yae Gongji too? The Kato brothers were truly audacious. Weren't they afraid of divine punishment?
However, out of consideration for the Kato brothers' mother, he still stepped forward to say a few words.
"No, no, uncle, you've misunderstood. We're not here to collect debts, just passing by. By the way, uncle, do you really think the Kato brothers can repay their debts?"
Fengyi waved his hand and then asked.
"It's good that those two Kato boys don't owe Lord Yae Gongji any money. Thank goodness, thank goodness! As for repaying the debt... alas, that would be like the sun rising from the west!"
Upon hearing that Lord Yae Gongji wasn't there to collect debts, the uncle quietly breathed a sigh of relief. Otherwise, if the Kato brothers suffered divine punishment, he wouldn't know how to explain it to their mother.
As for whether the Kato brothers could repay their debts, the uncle had no hope.
"Ever since their mother passed away, no one has been able to control these two Kato boys. They're always overconfident and underachieving, doing whatever they want on impulse. Before, there was a glimmer of hope when Nobuo wanted to become a disciple of Domon and practice swordsmanship..."
"Domon, unable to resist Nobuo's pleading, agreed to take him as a disciple. Everyone in the village thought Nobuo was a prodigal son returning to the fold, having a change of heart. But who would have thought that Nobuo's nature was unchangeable? He found such a powerful master, but instead of training diligently, he was lazy all the time..."
"Domon eventually couldn't stand it anymore and expelled him from the sect. But Nobuo held a grudge because of it, saying Domon was blind and even threatened to duel his disciples..."
The uncle had witnessed the whole thing. Being an outsider, he knew the temperaments of the Kato brothers well, which was why he had no hope of them repaying their debts.
"Heh, interesting. Is this what that Kato Yohei said, 'My brother was wronged in his heart, he trained diligently every day, and finally defeated Domon's beloved disciple not long ago, proving himself'?"
Yae Miko chuckled with a teasing tone.
"That's what that Yohei kid said? Diligent training? A joke! Lying there cursing all day, is that diligent training? Diligent training by talking? Battles aren't won with words!"
"However, Yohei did say Nobuo won, but I didn't go to watch, so I'm not sure. You can ask someone else..."
The uncle was utterly bewildered. Who in the village didn't know how poor Nobuo's swordsmanship was? But how did this guy win?
Could it be... he really won with his mouth?