I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

Aoto pulled out the note with the four large characters "Kiryu Kazuma" written on it that Kiryu had just given him.

Before he could say anything, Kondo's eyes widened when he saw the note.

"This is...did you introduce me, Mr. Kiryu?"

“Yes.” Qing Deng nodded quickly. “It was Mr. Kiryu who introduced your establishment to me.”

"Was it Mr. Kiryu who introduced you...?"

A hint of conflict appeared between Kondo's brows.

After a long while, he finally let out a long breath and nodded vigorously.

"...Alright, since it was Kiryu-san who introduced us, let's make an exception this time."

"How about this—you pay your tuition today and write your information in the apprenticeship book. When your master returns later, you can pay the formal apprenticeship ceremony. What do you think?"

For Qingdeng, these introductory programs were fine as long as they allowed him to quickly learn swordsmanship and fight with others.

"Of course." Qingdeng nodded vigorously without hesitation.

"Then come in with me!"

Kondo turned around, picked up the bucket and rag he had just thrown on the ground, and led Aoto into the Shieikan.

The Shiwei Hall is a typical architectural style of this era—a house surrounded by an earthen wall, with a small courtyard between the house and the earthen wall.

As Aoto put the note Kiryu had given him back into his pocket, he asked Kondo curiously.

"Kondo-kun, is your establishment closely connected with Kiryu, the owner of Senjiya?"

“Well… to be precise, it’s because I have a very deep relationship with my father… ah, that is, with my master.” Kondo sighed. “Back then, when my master planned to build the Shieikan here, Mr. Kiryu helped us a lot.”

"Father?" Upon hearing Kondo's inadvertent slip of the word "father," Aoto raised an eyebrow.

He suddenly remembered—it seemed that Mr. Kiryu had mentioned to him earlier that the current headmaster and master of Shieikan was the third head of the Tennen Rishin-ryu school: Kondo Shusuke.

He happens to share the same surname as the man in front of him, Kondo Isami.

"I didn't expect you to be the young master of this sword club." Qing Deng laughed. "Being the young master of a sword club must be very hard, right? You have to help manage the sword club, and you also receive extra 'attention' when you practice swordsmanship."

“Yes.” Kondo sighed with a wry smile. “From childhood to adulthood, I’ve received more reprimands than my fellow students at the sword-making school… Sigh, I guess that’s a responsibility that people like us have to bear.”

After exchanging a few words, the atmosphere between the two became much more harmonious.

"Tachibana-kun, have you ever studied swordsmanship before?"

"I only learned a few unorthodox techniques from my deceased father, which is almost equivalent to not having learned swordsmanship at all."

"So that means you have some basic knowledge."

Kondo then lowered his gaze to the inro at Aoto's right waist.

"You have the official seal of the magistrate's office hanging from your waist. I wonder if you are currently serving in the Northern Barbarian Office or the Southern Barbarian Office?"

Qing Deng always carried this inro, which proved his official status as an employee of the municipal government, with him tied to his right waist.

“Yes.” Qing Deng nodded. “I serve in the Kitamachi Magistrate’s Office. I am a member of the same group as the one who returned to Sadamachi.”

"Return to Sadachi?"

Kondo seemed to have heard some incredible secret, and his expression suddenly froze.

A look of admiration slowly emerged in the burly man's gaze as he looked at Qing Deng.

"I never imagined you were Sadamachi Kai's confidant..."

"I'm not afraid to let you know—I have always deeply admired the 'Sanji' samurai who have worked so hard to maintain the security of Edo."

"Thank you all for your hard work in maintaining the safety of Edo all this time."

Having said that, Kondo stopped and solemnly bowed to Aoto.

“You’re exaggerating.” Aoto, looking helpless, stood to the side, refusing Kondo’s polite gesture. “We were just doing what we were supposed to do during our ‘three visits’.”

Edo, which will be renamed "Tokyo" in later generations, is currently the largest city in Japan.

To prevent the magistrate in charge of managing Edo from wielding too much power, two magistrate offices were set up in Edo—the Kitamachi Magistrate Office and the Minamiachi Magistrate Office, abbreviated as "Kitaban-sho" and "Minamiban-sho," respectively, and were respectively managed by the Kitamachi Magistrate and the Minamiachi Magistrate.

Simply put, Edo had two municipal governments and two mayors.

Aoto currently works at the Kitamachi Magistrate's Office.

The most shameless and greatest privilege possessed by the samurai class was their hereditary status and emoluments.

Japan during the Edo period did not have an imperial examination system; instead, it adopted a system similar to the hereditary system of official positions and stipends in pre-Qin China.

Those who held official positions in the government were the samurai class.

Only members of the samurai class could hold official positions; commoners were absolutely ineligible. Some official posts were even reserved for members of only a few specific samurai families.

Commoners can only live their entire lives within the three social classes of "agriculture, industry, commerce and trade," and it is absolutely impossible for them to hold official positions.

In modern terms, it means that samurai didn't need to take any civil service exams; they were born to be civil servants and officials for generations.

In Edo-period Japan, the political landscape can be broadly summarized as "father-to-son succession" and "higher-ranking officials taking turns among themselves, while lower-ranking officials taking turns among themselves."

Qing Deng took his father's place and became the leader of the Hokuban-sho-cho in Edo.

The two major magistrate offices of Edo managed Edo, a city with a population of one million. Many people might assume that the Edo magistrate offices, which bore such heavy responsibilities, must have an enormous number of staff.

But in reality... the current situation is appalling.

Take the Kitaban-sho, to which Aoto belongs, as an example—excluding the janitors responsible for sweeping, the Kita-machi-bugyō-shō had a total of officials: 1 town magistrate, 25 assistants, and 120 comrades.

The town magistrate is similar to the mayor, the power officer is similar to a middle-level manager, and the comrade is a grassroots staff member.

These are all the officials of the Northern Garrison... a total of 146 people...

The Southern Garrison Office had the exact same organizational structure as the Northern Garrison Office, so the total number of staff in both offices combined was a paltry 292...

As an important government organization responsible for managing the entire city, the Fengxing Office naturally has many departments, each with its own tasks.

For example, the "Health Preservation Center" has one member named Yuli and two members named Tongxin. They are responsible for supervising the condition of the poor people receiving treatment at the health preservation center.

The "Sadahashi-gaku" unit consists of one Yoriki and two Doshin, and is responsible for patrolling and inspecting all the bridges in Edo City.

The departments responsible for catching thieves, solving cases, maintaining public order in Edo, and fulfilling modern police functions were collectively known as the "Three Departments": the Stable Department, the Temporary Department, and the Secret Department.

Aoto's department was the Sadamachi branch.

The daily work of the officers in the town of Teicho is to patrol various parts of Edo and to handle and solve cases when they come in.

The temporary branch selects elites from those who have worked in the town for a long time to form the department, which is responsible for guiding and assisting the town.

The secret agents were responsible for intelligence activities, disguising themselves and patrolling various districts of Edo to gather intelligence for their colleagues in the town and temporary agents.

In the event of any crackdown on large-scale criminal organizations, such as the operation to apprehend "Renyi Zhong" last night, the entire operation is handed over to "Sanhui" to handle.

The office staff of the entire Fengxing Office was already very small, so naturally there wouldn't be many people available to be assigned to the "Three Returns".

Whether it is the Northern Frontier Office or the Southern Frontier Office, the town of Dingcheng only has 2 Yuli and 6 Tongxin under its jurisdiction.

The temporary district is organized the same as the fixed town district, with 2 units of power and 6 units of unity under its command.

The Hidden Mirror is the smallest department in the entire Magistrate's Office—it has only two members, no middle-level managers, and all members are directly commanded by the Town Magistrate.

In other words, the combined police force of the two magistrates' offices in the south and north, responsible for catching thieves and maintaining order throughout the city, totaled only 8 officers and 28 comrades-in-arms, a total of 36 people...

If a novel were to introduce a setting where "a city of a million people has only this many regular police officers," there would surely be self-righteous readers who think they are masters of city management but are actually just ignorant and think they are smart, grumbling about things like, "The author is an idiot. How could a city of a million people have only this many regular police officers? If you can't write it, don't write it."

However, it is an undeniable fact that Edo only had this many regular police officers.

Because the "Sanhui" samurai were responsible for protecting the city's security, it was only natural that they were welcomed and respected by some people.

Judging from Kondo's current appearance, he should belong to this type of person.

After Aoto revealed his identity, Kondo's attitude towards him became noticeably more enthusiastic.

He enthusiastically introduced the Shiwei Hall to Qingdeng, the new disciple.

“Our Shiwei Hall usually opens at 5:00 AM and closes at 6:00 PM.”

"It's usually in the afternoon that more apprentices come to practice swordsmanship."

"Because many people like to sleep in late in the morning, there are usually not many apprentices who come to practice swordsmanship in the morning."

"For example, right now—there's only one apprentice practicing swordsmanship in the dojo right now, and you'll see him soon."

At this point, Kondo suddenly paused, then gave a meaningful smile and whispered to Aoto:

"You'll be very surprised when you see the only apprentice currently practicing swordsmanship in the dojo."

"Let me give you a heads-up—that person is a boy."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Qingdeng asked, puzzled. "Does that person have a very feminine face?"

"Well... you'll find out soon enough." Kondo smiled mysteriously.

While Aoto and Kondo were talking, they unknowingly got very close to the Shieikan dojo.

call……

call……

At this moment, Qingdeng faintly heard the sound of bamboo swords being swung through the air coming from inside the dojo.

The dojo's gates are now open.

Kondo, who was leading the way, quickened his pace slightly and looked into the dojo from the entrance.

"Look, that's the only apprentice I told you about who's currently practicing swordsmanship in the dojo. He's practicing, let's go in later."

Aoto, who had been closely following Kondo, looked towards the dojo after hearing Kondo's words—

"Well……!"

The moment his gaze fell upon the figure in the center of the dojo, the overwhelming impact caused Qing Deng to instinctively let out a low gasp.

In the center of the dojo stood a... beautiful boy who was beyond description, except for cute.

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New book launch! Nearly 1 words updated today!

Posting this many words during the new book launch period is incredibly generous QAQ