I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

……

After finishing their conversation with Shusuke and the others and leaving the hall, Kondo and Okita began to divide the work.

Kondo went to help Aoto and the others prepare bedding and other necessities.

Okita was responsible for taking Aoto and the others to their rooms where they would be staying for the next period of time, and giving them a brief tour of the house that was connected to the dojo.

Test Guard Hall, second floor—

"Tachibana-kun, this is your room from now on."

Okita, who led Aoto, Saito, and Kyubei up to the second floor of the Shieikan, pointed to two paper sliding doors in the corner.

Opening the door, I peered inside—it was an extremely spacious and empty room.

As soon as his gaze fell upon the room, Qingdeng couldn't help but click his tongue in amazement: "This room is really big..."

This is a large room with an area of ​​approximately 30 square meters.

If you squeeze in, it can comfortably house not only 3 people, but even 10 people.

“This room was originally intended for diners to stay in,” Okita said.

"Diners?" Qing Deng asked back.

“Hmm.” Okita nodded, then continued, “When Master was building this Sword Guard Hall, he considered that the Sword Guard Hall might attract some diners in the future, so he specially built this very spacious room to be used as a place for diners to stay.”

“However…” Okita’s face showed a helpless bitter smile, “As you can see… since the establishment of our Shieikan, we have never been able to attract any diners, so this ‘diners’ room’ has been abandoned for a long time…”

Sword-making halls during the Edo period always had a tradition of attracting diners.

Some wealthy sword masters often recruit highly skilled swordsmen to their sword shops, providing them with food, drink, and shelter—these people are called retainers.

Their nature is the same as that of the retainers kept in the mansions of wealthy and powerful families during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods of China—they are idle hangers-on when nothing is wrong, help out when something is wrong, chime in when arguing, and accomplices in fights.

In the beginning, the sword-fighting academy attracted customers purely to prevent those who came to challenge it.

If some challengers succeed in challenging the dojo, losing face is a minor issue; what's a major issue is the decline in the dojo's reputation.

Therefore, in order to prevent this from happening, they kept some highly skilled diners who were specifically responsible for dealing with challengers.

The practice of supporting diners spread in this way.

Today, the reasons why many sword club owners support their customers have become increasingly bizarre.

Some do it to enhance the reputation of the sword club and make it appear to have more people.

Some admire strong people and want to gather them all around them.

“A room specifically for diners to stay in…” Qing Deng smiled and turned his gaze back to the “diners’ room” in front of him. “From another perspective… the three of us who are going to eat and stay here for a while now seem to be diners of Shieikan as well.”

“Hmm…it seems so.” Okita smiled at Aoto. “The three of you are indeed among the first diners at our Shieikan.”

“This ‘diners’ area’ has been unused for a while, so it’s a little dirty. Let’s clean it up together later.”

After saying that, Okita, who was standing in front of the door of the "Diner's Room," pointed to the left.

"That room over there is Kondo's room. The room opposite is Master and Aunt's room."

Okita turned his finger and pointed to the right.

"Then... that room with a big patch on the door is Uncle Yuan's room."

"Uncle Yuan?" Upon hearing a name he had never heard before, Qing Deng was taken aback. "Who is that?"

Okita paused for a moment, then said, "Oh right...we haven't told you about Uncle Gen yet..."

……

Okita used the most concise language possible to introduce to Aoto who the "Uncle Gen" he had just mentioned was.

Uncle Gen—Full name is Genzaburo Inoue.

He was a senior member of their Imperial Guard and a very experienced elder.

Now 31 years old, he entered the Shieikan school in 1847 and studied the Tennen Rishin-ryu school. In terms of seniority, he is the senior brother of Kondo, Okita, and Seito.

Inoue Genzaburo, a highly respected senior figure at the Shieikan Academy, had a very close relationship with Kondo and his family, especially with Kondo himself—because they were from the same hometown. Both Kondo and Inoue Genzaburo were from Tama.

Inoue Genzaburo, a senior figure in the sword-making school, has always devoted himself to assisting Kondo and others in teaching swordsmanship and managing the school.

In order to better assist Kondo and others in managing the Shieikan, Inoue Genzaburo moved into the Shieikan long ago, before Okita even moved in, at Shusuke's invitation. He lived under the same roof and ate and lived with Kondo's family.

The fact that Shusuke and his family invited Inoue Genzaburo to stay at their home shows that Shusuke truly didn't consider Inoue Genzaburo an outsider.

According to Okita, Inoue Genzaburo went back to his hometown recently because of some trouble, and he won't be back in Edo for a while. That's why Aoto hadn't seen Inoue Genzaburo before.

After listening to Okita's explanation, Aoto nodded slightly: "Inoue Genzaburo, huh..."

After carefully chewing over the name "Inoue Genzaburo" and silently memorizing it, Qing Deng asked Okita with a half-joking tone:

"Since this Uncle Yuan is an old man with more than ten years of experience in our Shieikan and is capable of assisting Kondo-kun in teaching swordsmanship... then his strength must be very powerful, right?"

"Hmph." Okita put his hands on his hips, a proud expression on his face. "Of course."

"Although Uncle Yuan has an innocent-looking face, he is one of the top experts in our Shiwei Hall."

“Uncle Yuan recently received the ‘Permission to Transmit All’ from his master.”

"If we exclude Master, among all the members of the Shieikan, Uncle Gen's strength is second only to mine and Brother Kondo."

"A Mandate of All Rights Reserved...?" Qing Deng exclaimed in a low voice, "To be able to obtain a Mandate of All Rights Reserved... that is indeed quite remarkable..."

Qing Deng silently memorized the name "Inoue Genzaburo" even more.

Okita then continued to explain the structure of the house to Aoto.

"Next to Uncle Yuan's room is a storage room, which is filled with many unidentified objects that look older than me."

"Then next to the storage room... that is, the room at the very end of this corridor, is my bedroom."

"Kid Tachibana, if you ever need to come to my bedroom for anything, remember to knock before you enter."

"Oh, okay." Qing Deng glanced at Okita's room and nodded. "Okay, I will."

Saito and Kyubei, who were standing beside Aoto, also nodded.

"Remember, always knock before you enter my room." Okita, who is usually all smiles, had a rare serious expression on his face. "I hate it when people enter my room without my permission."

“Okay. Don’t worry, Okita-kun.” Aoto nodded to Okita again. “I have a habit of knocking before entering someone’s room.”

Having said that, Qingdeng thought to himself:

—This child values ​​their privacy very much…

Aoto didn't think much of Okita's request for them to greet him before entering his room—because he thought it was quite normal.

Qingdeng also disliked others trespassing on his private space without his permission. It was precisely because he disliked this behavior that Qingdeng developed the habit of knocking before entering other people's rooms.

"Well, it's good that you're keeping an eye on things." Okita regained his cheerful smile. "Let's go get some buckets and rags, and clean this 'diners' room' properly together."

*******

*******

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[About Qingdeng's full name]

I know that many people who are not familiar with the naming culture of ancient Japan must be wondering – isn't Aoto's full name "Tachibana Aoto"? What's the deal with "Minamoto Tachibana Aoto Moriharu"?

The name "Tachibana Aoto" is actually just an abbreviation of Aoto's real name; "Minamoto Tachibana Aoto Moriharu" is his full name. In official documents and other formal paperwork, Aoto's signature is never "Tachibana Aoto," but rather "Minamoto Tachibana Aoto Moriharu."

The name Qingdeng can be arranged in 4 different combinations.

You can call him "Yuan Qingdeng", "Yuan Shengqing", "Ju Qingdeng", or "Ju Shengqing". All four names are correct and refer to Qingdeng.

All the samurai who have appeared in this book so far have a long real name. The names you see so far are just abbreviations of their real names.

Take Okita as an example—according to historical facts, Okita's real name was "Fujiwara Okita Souji Fusaburo".

You can call him "Okita Souji", "Fujiwara Souji", "Fujiwara Fusayasu", or "Okita Fusayasu". All four names are correct and refer to Okita.

Why are their names so long?

What's the connection between "Yuan" and "Sheng Qing" in Qing Deng's real name?

Why is it that, so far in this book, no one has introduced themselves by their real name?

The author will release a free science popularization post to explain this in detail to everyone later.

Chapter 87: Gaining 3 Talents in a Row: Skillful Hands, Eloquent Tongue, and Iron Waist

After moving into the Shieikan, Aoto's days became leisurely for the first time in a long time.

Qing Deng originally thought that since such a serious matter as "the rise of anti-foreign rioters and their open attacks on foreign merchants" had occurred, within a few days, someone from higher up would summon him, who could be said to be the most important person involved, to inquire in detail about the various details of the "snowy night battle".

But to everyone's surprise, the government offices were unusually quiet.

They haven't summoned Qingdeng yet, nor have they made any major moves.

There has been no official response to the public regarding this incident, which has already caused a great stir throughout Edo.

Everything was proceeding as usual... as always.

Although he didn't know why the government was so quiet, Qing Deng was happy to have some peace and quiet since the government hadn't summoned him yet.

February is the month when the Southern Bureau is in charge of managing Edo. The officials of the Northern Bureau do not need to go to work this month. As long as nothing unexpected happens, Aoto and his colleagues can leisurely spend a month on paid leave until they return to work in March.

By February 1st, Qingdeng's body, aided by his innate talent for "physical fitness," had finally fully recovered.

All the wounds on his body had healed, leaving only shallow scars.

With his injuries fully healed and currently on paid leave, Qing Deng is finally able to concentrate on his training and improve his current strength.

The destruction of his own residence served as a wake-up call for Qing Deng: the "mysterious force" that failed to assassinate Anthony and others would certainly not let him off so easily.

The fat man captured by Aoto and Okita was taken to the magistrate's office and imprisoned in a dungeon. The officials of Ginmi immediately subjected him to severe torture and interrogation.

Yinweifang: The department responsible for investigating and deliberating on the cases.

Regardless of the country or the period, all feudal regimes share a common characteristic: they possess an extraordinary imagination in devising methods of "how to torture human beings".

The authorities possess a wide range of torture methods that can make people wish they were dead.