I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

Kiryu, who had been carefully observing Aoto's expression, reached into the drawer at the bottom and pulled out a piece of white paper.

"It seems you're quite interested in Shieikan now."

After saying that, Kiryu picked up a calligraphy brush that was placed on the corner of the counter, soaked the tip in ink, and wrote a line of characters in a flamboyant style on a piece of white paper.

"This is the address of that test site."

"If you are interested in that sword-testing hall, you can go there now and see it for yourself."

Qingdeng accepted the paper with the address of Shiweiguan written on it with both hands.

Upon seeing the words written on the paper, Qingdeng couldn't help but praise them:

Wow, your handwriting is so beautiful!

"Thank you for the compliment." Kiryu smiled modestly. "I used to study calligraphy in the Echizen region. It's just a trivial skill."

"With this level of skill, she could probably teach calligraphy..."

"You flatter me." After giving Qing Deng a modest smile again, Kiryu picked up his pen once more. "Since you are a new customer of our shop, I would like to offer you something else to welcome your first visit."

"I have a close relationship with the Shieikan."

"If you've made up your mind to join Shieikan, you can give this to someone at Shieikan and say that you were introduced by Kiryu Kazuma."

"In this way, when the Shiwei Hall accepts you into the school, it will provide you with some conveniences."

After speaking, Kiryu handed Aoto a note that he had just written with the four large characters "Kiryu Kazuma" written on it.

Aoto solemnly accepted the note from Kiryu, folded it together with the piece of paper containing the address of Shieikan, put it in his pocket, and then bowed respectfully to Kiryu in front of him.

"Thank you for the recommendation!"

"You're welcome." Kiryu bowed in return.

"How much is the referral fee?" Aoto, who was already very interested in the test hall, asked Kiryu directly about the referral fee.

"30 coins," Kiryu stated without hesitation.

"Here you go." Qing Deng readily took out 30 copper coins from his money pouch, then stood up and bowed respectfully to Kiryu again. "Thank you so much for your recommendation, boss. You've been a great help!"

"You're welcome." Kiryu smiled faintly. "If you have any further questions, please feel free to come to me again."

Having already learned what he wanted to know, Qingdeng excitedly prepared to turn around and leave the workplace—

Squeak, squeak...

Suddenly, the sound of soft footsteps echoed from the back of the shop.

Qing Deng looked closely—it turned out to be the little girl named Kinoshita Mai.

The girl who called herself Kinoshita Mai was no longer the disheveled girl who had just gotten out of bed.

At this moment, she was dressed neatly, wearing a bright red kimono and white socks, and holding a tray with a cup of steaming tea on it.

With her head bowed low, she took small, quick steps and brought the tea to Qingdeng.

Besides the footsteps, Qing Deng also heard a "clattering" sound—the sound of Kinoshita Mai's hand holding the tray trembling slightly, causing the teacups to keep hitting the tray.

"Um...um...um...please, please have some tea..." Kinoshita Mai gently handed the tray in her hand towards Aoto's direction.

Her voice was so faint that Qingdeng almost couldn't hear what she was saying.

Although the girl had her head down and her face was not clearly visible, Qing Deng could vaguely see that the girl's cheeks were flushed with shyness and nervousness from head to toe.

—This child is so shy... He gets so nervous when serving tea to guests that he can barely hold the tray.

After silently remarking this to himself, Qing Deng tried his best to give Kinoshita Mai a gentle smile.

"Yes, thank you for the tea."

Qingdeng picked up the teacup, drank it all in one gulp, and then solemnly placed the teacup back on the tray.

"Thank you for the hospitality! Boss, I'll be going now, but I'll definitely come again if I have the chance!"

"Yes." Kiryu bowed to Aoto as he saw him off. "Please take care."

After saying goodbye to the boss, Qing Deng strode out of the Thousand Things Shop.

After watching Aoto leave, Kiryu turned to Kinoshita Mai and smiled.

"Young Master, you've made progress. Now you dare to serve tea to your guests."

"Hehe..." Kinoshita Mai chuckled foolishly, seemingly very happy with Kiryu's praise.

“But there are still many things to be careful about.” Kiryu’s smile suddenly disappeared. “When serving tea to someone, don’t put the teacup and tray in their face; that’s very impolite.”

"Yes, yes! I'll be more careful in the future!"

*******

*******

New book launch! Please vote with monthly tickets! Please recommend! Please add to your favorites!

Other authors' new books get 4000 words a day before they're released, but mine gets 6 or 7000 a day—that's incredibly generous! So, in consideration of how conscientious the author is, please give this book more monthly tickets and recommendation votes! QAQ

Chapter 10 Yamanami Keisuke

The Shieikan that Kiryu just recommended really appealed to Aoto.

However, Kiryu's final words, "I have a close relationship with Shieikan," still made Aoto somewhat worried.

He worried that the Kiryu boss might be deliberately exaggerating the attractiveness of the Shieikan to lure him into joining, just to cater to the business of the sword-making school he was familiar with.

This kind of behavior of helping a friend's business is not uncommon.

Therefore—just to be on the safe side—he decided to first check whether the Shieikan was really as good as Kiryu had said.

How can we verify the truthfulness of Kiryu's description of Shieikan?

Qingdeng happens to have a very good testing method.

He just happened to... or rather, "Yuan Tachibana Aoto" just happened to have a close friend studying at the Chiba Kenkan.

……

……

Qingdeng sped through the streets, and many civilians along the way quickly moved aside to make way for him.

Commoners making way for samurai was a very common occurrence in Edo-period Japan.

During the Edo period, apart from the special class of court nobles, society could be broadly divided into two groups of people: the ruling class of samurai and the ruled class of commoners.

As the ruling class, the samurai, whose social status was above that of the common people, could be said to have had a considerable number of shameless privileges.

One of the most shameless privileges possessed by samurai was the right to "punish without being polite."

The so-called "disrespectful punishment" means that when a samurai with the "right to carry a sword" feels that a commoner has insulted him, the samurai can draw his sword and kill the commoner without incurring any criminal liability.

For this reason, many commoners were afraid of samurai, and when they encountered samurai on the street, they would usually make way for them to avoid trouble.

In the eyes of many commoners, a samurai running through the streets was like a running bomb.

If someone accidentally bumps into a samurai, knocking his sword askew or dirtying it, the samurai might yell, "You rude person! You have defiled my soul!" and then draw his sword to kill the civilian who bumped into him. After killing the person, the samurai would be completely unharmed and might even be praised, "Well done, that's the spirit of a samurai! That's how a samurai should be!"—such things were commonplace in the Edo period.

The ruling class in feudal times could be so unreasonable.

……

……

Qingdeng ran straight to a samurai settlement, then skillfully turned onto a side road, finally stopping in front of a seemingly ordinary hut.

"Yamanan! Yamanami! Yamanami Keisuke! Are you there?"

"They're here, they're here."

As soon as Qingdeng finished speaking, a calm and unhurried baritone voice rang out from behind the door.

A moment later, the slightly worn door was slowly pulled open.

The one who opened the door was a very young samurai.

He had slightly fair skin, narrow eyes, and two beauty marks at the corner of his right eye, which stood out against his fair skin.

He was a little shorter than Qing Deng, about 165cm tall, with a slender build. If one had to describe this young warrior in one word, there would be no word more suitable than "refined".

He wasn't particularly handsome, but he had a face that would attract many girls.

Besides his good looks, this young samurai had another outstanding feature – he had an exceptionally good temperament and a quiet demeanor.

A faint smile always graced his face, his eyes and brows exuded a scholarly air, and his every gesture revealed a gentle and refined demeanor.

This man must be a highly learned and talented person—many people would have this thought upon first seeing this young samurai.

"Qingdeng, what's wrong? Why are you looking for me so early in the morning?" The young warrior stepped aside, making way for the doorway. "Anyway, come in quickly."

"Shannan, I'm here to ask you some questions. I'll leave after I've finished asking them and won't stay long."

This young samurai, whom Aoto calls "Yanan," is named "Yanan Keisuke." He is a friend whom Aoto Haraju met a year ago through various coincidences.

Although they hadn't known each other for very long, for some reason the two got along remarkably well, and in just one year, he and "Haratsuki Aoto" became very close friends.

"You have something to ask me?" A hint of doubt appeared on Shan Nan's face. "Go ahead and ask."

"Yamanami, you're currently training at the Chiba Sword Academy, right?"

"Yes."

"Then I'd like to ask you: Do the Chiba Sword Hall and the Genbu Hall often exchange sword techniques with the Shiei Hall, which teaches the Tennen Rishin-ryu style?"

The friend of Qing Deng who was studying the Hokushin Itto-ryu style at the Chiba Sword Hall was none other than Yamanami Keisuke.

"Shieikan?" Yamanami raised a slight brow. "Why are you asking about that?"

Explaining everything step by step would take too much time, so Qingdeng gave a vague answer, once again half-truthfully saying:

“The world has become increasingly turbulent lately, and it’s become more and more difficult for officials like me who are responsible for catching thieves. So I’ve decided to seriously study swordsmanship, so that I won’t be accidentally killed by some villain one day.”

"I just heard from someone that the Shieikan is a good choice. Not only is the swordsmanship they teach not just for show, but the school also has a good relationship with the Genbukan of the Hokushin Itto-ryu and the Kochibakan. The three schools often get together to exchange sword techniques."

"So I thought I'd come to you to confirm whether these things are true."

"Oh, I see." Shan Nan nodded with an air of elegance, then a gentle smile appeared on his face as the corners of his mouth turned up slightly. "These things are all true."