I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

One of the four Okabiki who he had brought along to investigate the case suddenly came to Nishino's side and whispered something.

"Although they are behaving themselves for now, it's still not a good thing that so many people are gathered together. If a stampede or other accident happens, it will be a real problem."

"The people in their own faction alone probably don't have the ability to drive them away."

"Lord Nishino, why don't we go and persuade them to disperse quickly?"

“The crowd outside…” Nishino paused, then turned to look in the direction of the door. “…That makes sense…we can’t let the crowd just keep gathering like this.”

Due to the large population and limited usable land, every city in the Edo period had an extremely high population and housing density. The houses were densely packed together, making most streets and intersections quite narrow.

Similar incidents have occurred before—too many people gathered outside the crime scene to watch the commotion, resulting in a stampede that killed three people and injured more than a dozen others.

"Tsk..." Nishino smacked his lips and clicked his tongue. "Where did that blockhead Deng go? Didn't he help maintain order and disperse the crowd outside? Or did he run off somewhere long ago..."

"Tsk...what a useless guy..."

"This is clearly his jurisdiction, and so many people are gathered around the crime scene, yet he doesn't care at all...?"

As a member of the "East City Group," he naturally disliked the "Arima Group," who often competed with them for cases.

However, it's only because they belong to different "camps" that they don't like each other.

Personally speaking, Nishino doesn't dislike Arima, Inoya, and Ushiyama from the "Arima Group".

But Qingdeng was the only exception!

Nishino just couldn't stand this idiot Deng!

As a dignified samurai, as a member of the "Sanhui," how could he be so incompetent!

What kind of behavior is this!

Nishino doesn't dislike incompetent people; after all, there are strong and weak people in this world.

But he hates people who occupy positions without fulfilling their responsibilities!

To hold ***** in the strongest contempt—this has always been Nishino's principle.

Therefore, Nishino has never given Aoto a friendly look.

She couldn't even be bothered to look at him properly, and didn't want to say another word to him.

Nishino was certain that with Daitou Deng's current character, he would definitely not pass the "Big Boss Test" in a month and a half.

He's now eagerly awaiting the "Big Boss Assessment" so he can weed out all the slackers, including Qing Deng.

In this way, their habit of "returning three times" should also be revitalized.

Just as Nishino was about to go outside himself and drive away the people gathered outside—

Splash splash splash splash...!

Outside, it suddenly became unusually noisy.

—What happened?

Nishino was stunned for a moment, then quickly took three steps at a time and walked towards the door.

Before they even reached the door, a local official excitedly flung the door open with a "whoosh."

"Lord Nishino! Good news! Good news! The culprit who killed Granny Hibi has been caught! The culprit has been caught!"

quiet……

Nishino stood frozen in place.

"The culprit has been caught?" After a moment of stunned silence, Nishino asked loudly in response, his face filled with shock.

"Yes! It was Lord Tachibana who caught the culprit!"

"...Tachibana-sama?"

Nishino was taken aback again.

"Which Lord Tachibana?!"

"It's Lord Tachibana Aoto!"

quiet……

The silence inside contrasted sharply with the hustle and bustle outside.

*******

*******

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Chapter 37 Daitou Deng's Counterattack (Part 2)

After binding and tightly securing Xun Sanlang with hemp rope, Qing Deng immediately escorted Xun Sanlang back to the Northern Frontier Office.

He had just escorted Xun Sanlang back to the North Camp when, as Qing Deng had expected, he was immediately summoned to Usui's office.

Entering Bo Jing's office alone, Qing Deng raised an eyebrow in surprise at the arrangement of people inside.

The furnishings in Usui's office were truly luxurious.

Town Magistrate Usui, two temporary leaders, two permanent leaders from the town, Arima and Tojo from the town… In short, all the leaders of the three districts of the Hokuban-sho were gathered together.

All of them were now looking at Qingdeng as he entered the room with a gaze that was a mixture of shock, doubt, and surprise.

Especially Arima.

When Arima learned that "Aoto solved the case in Koyanagi-cho," his first reaction was to roar at the Doshin who came to report: What nonsense are you spouting!

I don't know what level of case-handling ability Ju Qingdeng currently possesses.

After confirming with Tongxin several times that he had not made a mistake in his report and that he had not misheard, Arima's already large and round eyes, which were like those of an owl, widened even more.

Tachibana-kun, who has never been able to stand on his own... solved a murder case in less than an hour?

Is there something wrong with my ears, or something wrong with my brain?

Upon learning that Usui planned to summon Aoto to personally listen to Aoto's "work report," Arima immediately volunteered, expressing his desire to be present and listen to how this previously unremarkable junior had suddenly become so assertive.

Similarly, Dongcheng and the two temporarily returned members of the group were also very curious after hearing that the simpleton Deng had suddenly made a great achievement, so they signed up to listen in on Qingdeng's "work report".

Upon entering the room, Qingdeng followed the proper etiquette, respectfully bowing and greeting the leaders inside.

"Hmm... Tachibana-kun." With a complicated expression, Usui had been scrutinizing Aoto with the same look he had been giving him since earlier, as if he were a stranger. "You did a good job today."

Whether it was Usui, Arima, or the others, they all wanted to hear how the usually incompetent Seito had solved the case today, which is why they hurriedly called Seito over to report on his work.

Therefore, after exchanging a few official and platitudes with Qing Deng and exchanging brief pleasantries, Bo Jing went straight to the point—questioning Qing Deng about how he had managed to find the culprit today.

—Of course, they couldn't possibly not ask me how I solved the case…

Having anticipated that the magistrate's office would ask him these questions, Qing Deng had already prepared his answer on the way to escort Xun Sanlang back to the Northern Frontier Office.

Qing Deng cleared his throat and then began his half-truthful report.

While drinking tea at a teahouse, I happened to hear about the incident in Mokuyanagi-cho and immediately rushed there to report this part of the story.

When asked why he went into Granny Ping's house, Qing Deng started making things up.

After all, you can't just openly say that "you're planning to steal the credit."

Although it's perfectly normal to take credit in this day and age, these kinds of things are generally not something that can be brought into the open or discussed publicly.

Qingdeng's reason for going inside was that he planned to check the crime scene before Tongxin, who was in charge of the case, arrived, to see if the scene had been damaged by the person who found Granny Ping's body.

"My original intention was simply to take a quick look at the crime scene and then leave."

"Generally speaking, there are only three types of home invasion murder cases, excluding extreme cases such as random killings."

"Kills of revenge, murders for money, murders of passion."

“The victim’s house was quite clean, with no signs of ransacking or looting, so robbery was ruled out first.”

"Of the two remaining options, revenge killing and crime of passion, I initially thought that Granny Ping must have died in a revenge killing."

"After all, Grandma Ping is quite old, nearly 70 years old, and doesn't seem like the type to be a victim of a crime of passion."

"But after I entered the house and inadvertently saw something at the crime scene, I realized that it seemed more likely to be a crime of passion than a revenge killing."

"Things? What things?" Bo Jing, who was already quite engrossed in listening, quickly asked.

“The candles were placed in a corner of the crime scene,” Qing Deng replied.

"Candles?" Usui was taken aback.

"Candles aren't something ordinary townspeople would casually take out and use," Qing Deng said calmly.

As if struck by lightning, Bo Jing and the others realized what was happening, and their expressions changed.

Due to various reasons such as insufficient manufacturing technology, candles were never cheap during the Edo period, and most households used lamp oil instead of candles!

"Although candles provide good light, they are quite expensive, and only wealthy families can afford to burn them without any worries."

"The vast majority of people could only afford lamp oil with poor lighting, but it was cheap. They would only use candles occasionally."

"For decades, the victim's family has been known far and wide as great philanthropists, generous and charitable. Because they often treated poor people for low or no cost, the family was certainly not very wealthy."

"The victim's clothes were patched in several places, and the home was furnished very simply, with only a few ordinary pieces of furniture and no luxury items."

"When I inspected the victim's home, I found that the victim had a large amount of lamp oil stored up, but only a few candles."

“These clues strongly prove that the victim’s family was not the kind of family that would casually take out candles to burn. In the past, they used lamp oil the most, and candles were only used on certain special occasions.”

“The victims were usually victims of lamp oil, but in the corner of the crime scene there was a candle that had burned down to a small stub—this seemed very unusual no matter how you looked at it.”

"The clumps of solidified wax at the base of the candle are quite fresh; they've only been solidified for a short time."

"This means that the candle was taken out and used last night, and it was used for a long time, at least half an hour, to accumulate such a large amount of solidified candle wax."

“Candles are a luxury item, but besides holidays, there is another situation in which most people are happy to use them—when outsiders come to petition.”

"Therefore, based on all the clues above, I conclude that the perpetrator and the victim knew each other and had a rather unusual relationship, most likely being very close."

"The perpetrator visited the victim's home last night and was then invited inside by the victim."

"To entertain the perpetrator, the victim brought out candles that he wouldn't normally use."