I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

He is about 15 or 6 years old.

The cat she was holding was an orange tabby that was probably less than a year old.

In Qingdeng's eyes, this girl was on the shorter side, probably only a little over 1.5 meters tall.

She has delicate features, especially her eyes, which are bright and expressive with their dark pupils, and she has a scholarly air about her.

Judging from his appearance, he seemed to have just gotten up.

Her long, jet-black hair was casually draped behind her, her clothes were slightly disheveled, and she had two adorable, fair little feet bare.

Although she looked to be only 15 or 6 years old, her development was surprisingly good—even though she was wearing thick winter clothes, you could still clearly see that the fabric in her chest area was stretched bulging.

The girl who came out from the corner of the shop's back room froze on the spot as if she had been petrified when she saw Qing Deng.

After a brief eye contact with Qingdeng, she immediately hugged the cat in her arms and, with the speed of teleportation, hid behind the corner of the corridor she had just walked out of.

"I'm sorry." Kiryu gave Aoto an apologetic wry smile. "This child is a little shy, please forgive him."

As soon as Kiryu finished speaking, Aoto caught a glimpse of the girl reappearing from behind the corner of the corridor—though only half her face was visible. The rest of her body remained hidden behind the corner.

The half of her face that was visible was now flushed with a shy blush.

Girl: "@#￥%&*#..."

Qingdeng saw the girl's lips moving.

He could vaguely sense that the girl was talking to him, but Qing Deng couldn't hear what she was saying at all.

Listening to the girl's voice, which sounded like a mosquito's buzz, Qing Deng felt that she wasn't speaking Japanese, but rather chanting a spell.

As Aoto stared intently at the girl who was speaking to him out of politeness, Kiryu was also watching the girl.

After the girl finally finished reciting her incantation, Kiryu smiled and turned to Aoto, saying:

She said, "Welcome to Senjiya. She is the head waiter here: Kinoshita Mai."

[Note: Teshiro: a term used in the Edo period to refer to a shop assistant.]

After translating what the girl had just said to Aoto, Kiryu turned his gaze back to the girl.

Girl: "￥%&@#*#..."

Kiryu: "She said, 'This is her good friend: Toto.'"

As soon as Kiryu finished speaking, the girl picked up the orange cat she had been holding in her arms and carried it to the corner of the corridor.

meow~~

The orange cat, which had been carried out into the corridor, meowed at Qingdeng with remarkable agility.

After the orange cat greeted Qingdeng, the girl picked it up and carried it back to the corner.

Why do we need to introduce ourselves to a cat...?

As Qing Deng mentally complained about the girl's bizarre actions, the girl's "spell" continued.

Girl: "#￥&@#￥%*#&@#￥%*#&@..."

Kiryu: "She said, 'I was so rude just now. I didn't know we had guests, and I'm so sorry that you saw me behaving so rudely.'"

Girl: "&@#￥%*#..."

Kiryu: "She said, 'Please wait a moment while I make you some tea.'"

"...How exactly did you guys communicate?" Qing Deng's face was full of black lines.

“I used to study lip reading in the Omi region.” Kiryu Asahito smiled and then turned to the girl and called out, “Young master, I haven’t cooked breakfast yet. Please bear with me for a moment. I will start cooking after I have finished entertaining this guest. Today’s breakfast is your favorite boiled egg.”

As soon as Kiryu finished speaking, Qing Deng saw the girl's face, which was half exposed outside the corridor, light up with excitement. Then, the girl shrank back into the corridor and disappeared from sight.

"Young Master?" Qing Deng repeated the term Kiryu had used to address the cute girl, his face filled with confusion.

“That girl is both a hired hand who works for me in this shop and the adopted granddaughter of the person I serve,” Kiryu explained to Aoto calmly. “So my relationship with that child is both that of an employer and a master and servant.”

*******

*******

A bespectacled man named Kiryu Kazuma runs a shop called Senjiya in Edo and lives with a girl—the sheer number of elements is overwhelming!

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Chapter 9 The Testament Hall of the Natural Rishin-ryu School

—It's both an employer-employee relationship and a master-servant relationship... What a mess of a relationship...

Although he felt strange about the relationship between Kiryu and the girl named Kinoshita Mai, it was ultimately their private matter, so Aoto didn't feel comfortable asking too many questions.

“Sorry for interrupting us. Okay, let’s get back to our topic.” Kiryu cleared his throat. “There are three reasons why I recommend the Shieikan of the Tennen Rishin-ryu school to you.”

"1: The Natural Rishin-ryu style is not some fancy but impractical style. It fits your condition of 'wanting the swordsmanship you want to learn to be highly practical'."

Kiryu raised his first finger.

"This school of swordsmanship was founded 70 years ago during the Kansei era by a swordsman named Kondo Naizōsuke."

"Kondo Naizaki was initially a swordsman of the Katori Shinto style. After mastering his swordsmanship, he added his own understanding to the Katori Shinto style and eventually created a completely new school, namely the Tennen Rishin-ryu."

Katori Shinto-ryu is a renowned school of swordsmanship in Japan. It boasts a long history, dating back 400 years. In Japan, every swordsman is familiar with Katori Shinto-ryu.

"The philosophy pursued by the Tennen Rishin-ryu school is 'a single, decisive blow'," Kiryu continued his explanation. "It aims to defeat the opponent in the shortest amount of time, making it a school of swordsmanship with a very aggressive style."

"The Shieikan is the head family of the Tennen Rishin-ryu school, and the current head of the Shieikan is the third head of the Tennen Rishin-ryu school: Kondo Shusuke."

"Oh, oh..." Qingdeng listened attentively, nodding slightly from time to time.

"2: Although the Natural Rishin-ryu school is a highly practical school of thought, it has not yet gained widespread fame due to various reasons such as bad luck."

"Therefore, Shieikan is still a small school and can hardly be considered a great sword school. As a result, the tuition is not expensive. The monthly tuition is only 3 monmoku silver. Your current financial resources are more than enough to support your studies at Shieikan."

"As for the third reason, it is the main reason why I recommend you go to Shiweiguan."

Kiryu raised his third finger.

"At the Shieikan, your desire to spar with as many masters as possible will be fulfilled to the greatest extent."

"Hmm?" Qing Deng frowned slightly. "Mr. Kiryu, didn't you just say that the Shieikan is a small sword-making school? If that's the case, shouldn't the number of students in the Shieikan be very small?"

Kiryu nodded slightly.

"That's right, the number of apprentices at the Shieikan is indeed very small."

"But once you enter the Shieikan, you will be able to spar with the people from the Genbukan and the Chibakan."

"Xuanwu Hall and Xiaoqianye Sword Hall?" Qing Deng's eyes widened in astonishment.

Even Hara Tachibana Aoto, who had no interest in swordsmanship or sword-making schools, had information about Genbu-kan and Kochiba-kan in his mind.

Today, Edo boasts three renowned sword-making schools. These three schools are—

The training hall that teaches the Shinto Munen-ryu style.

The Shigakukan (a school for scholars) teaches the Jingxin Mingzhi School.

The Genbu School, which teaches the Hokushin Itto-ryu style.

These three sword-making halls are collectively known as the "Three Great Sword-Making Halls of Edo," a name that resonates throughout Japan.

The three kendo schools teach the most popular and famous styles in Japan today.

These sword styles are actually like the martial arts sects in Chinese wuxia novels. Different sects have different characteristics in their martial arts.

The status of the three sword schools—Renbeikan, Shigakukan, and Genbukan—in the Japanese swordsmanship world of this era is similar to that of the Shaolin, Wudang, and Emei schools in the martial arts world.

Hokushin Itto-ryu is a relatively young school of swordsmanship, founded over 30 years ago by a swordsman named Chiba Shusaku.

After establishing the Hokushin Itto-ryu, Chiba Shusaku opened a sword-making school in Edo called Genbu-kan to teach him this new style.

Chiba and his family all possess excellent swordsmanship genes.

Chiba Shusaku's younger brother, Chiba Sadakichi, was also a swordsman with exceptional swordsmanship talent. Under his brother's tutelage, he mastered the Hokushin Itto-ryu style at an extremely fast pace.

After his brother Chiba Shusaku established the Genbukan in Edo, Chiba Sadakichi also opened a sword-making school in Edo to teach the Hokushin Itto-ryu style.

To distinguish it from Chiba Shusaku's Genbukan, the sword-making school opened by Chiba Sadakichi was commonly known as "Little Chiba Sword-Making School".

Due to various reasons such as fortune, the Hokushin Itto-ryu school has produced many talented individuals. Since its founding, it has only taken a little over 30 years for Hokushin Itto-ryu to open its sword schools all over Japan. It is now showing signs of becoming the "number one swordsmanship school in Japan".

All the sword schools in Japan that teach the Hokushin Itto-ryu style undoubtedly revere the Genbu-kan and the Kochiba Sword School.

After all, one was a sword-making school built by the founder of the school, and the other was a sword-making school built by the younger brother of the founder of the school. Both were undoubtedly the main families of Hokushin Itto-ryu and held a transcendent position in the Japanese swordsmanship world.

This is why it is extremely difficult to study at these two sword schools. Not to mention the tuition fees, there are also certain requirements for the strength of the beginner disciples. Not just any Tom, Dick, or Harry can enter the Genbu School and the Chiba Sword School to learn swordsmanship.

At the Shieikan, one can spar with disciples from the Genbukan and the Chibakenkan... Kiryu's words just now were as if he were saying to him, "At a third-tier university, one can have academic exchanges with students from Tsinghua and Peking Universities..."

Kiryu had anticipated Aoto's reaction. He smiled slightly and said:

"This story begins 70 years ago during the Kansei era."

"Seventy years ago, Kondo Naizaki, the founder of Tennen Rishin-ryu, was a close friend of Chiba Kōemon, the father of Chiba Shūsaku, the founder of Hokushin Ittō-ryu."

"The two of them even worked together in Edo."

"The friendship between their two families has been passed down to this day."

"When Chiba Kōemon's son, Chiba Shūsaku, founded the Hokushin Ittō-ryū and Genbu-kan more than 30 years ago, Kondo Shūsuke, the third head of the Tennen Rishin-ryū main family, also established the Shiei-kan in Edo around the same time."

"The friendship between the two families, which has lasted for 70 years, has made Shiwei very close to Genbukan and Kochiba Kenkan. People from the three kendo schools often get together to exchange sword skills."

"In other words, if you enter the Shiwei Hall, you will have the opportunity to spar with people from the Shiwei Hall, Xuanwu Hall, and Xiaoqianye Sword Hall at the same time."

"Really?" Qing Deng couldn't help but let out a low exclamation.

Kiryu nodded with a smile: "Every word I have said is absolutely true."

"You even know that the fathers of the founders of Tennen Rishin-ryu and Hokushin Ittō-ryu once worked together in Edo... "

"After all, this is how I make a living. If I didn't know more information that ordinary people don't, my job placement agency, which relies on introducing people to jobs and sword clubs, wouldn't be able to stay afloat."

Qingdeng pursed his lips, his mind racing.

According to Hara Tachibana Seito's memory, both Genbukan and Kochiba Kenkan were large kendo schools with hundreds of students, making them the leading schools in Edo in terms of the number of students.

If what Kiryu just said is indeed true... then this Test Hall is indeed the most suitable place for Aoto, who is eager to spar with as many people as possible in order to make the system work. There is no other like it.