I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

As for what Qing Deng just said, such as "thanks to Lord Usui" and "I will also work hard for the sake of the Northern Frontier Office," Usui and Arima and the others all believed that these were just official words and flattery.

However—although they all thought that Qingdeng's later statement about "for the sake of the Northern Barbarians" was nonsense, they all thought that Qingdeng's earlier statement about "realizing the weight of the responsibility of the 'Three Returns'" was the truth.

After all, if not for this, they really couldn't think of any other reason to explain why Qing Deng suddenly seemed like a different person.

When a person makes a firm decision, gains a certain awareness, and their mindset changes, it can indeed transform them completely.

"Good! Very good!" Usui's eyebrows relaxed, revealing a happy smile. "Tachibana-kun! It's excellent that you've undergone such a transformation!"

Although he knew that Qing Deng's earlier "thanks to Lord Bo Jing" was just flattery, Bo Jing still enjoyed it!

He stood up, strode over to Qingdeng, and patted Qingdeng's shoulders forcefully.

"Tachibana-kun, I'm really impressed with you now!"

The faint look of annoyance that had been present when Bo Jing spoke with Qing Deng at the meeting that morning was no longer there in his eyes.

"Keep this spirit and drive you have today! Do you understand? The shogunate is desperately needing young people like you who realize the magnitude of their responsibilities!"

"Keep up the good work! Keep it up!"

—I used to be a bit of a simpleton and they would call me "Orange," but now that I've become more mature, they call me "Orange-kun"...

Although he was internally complaining, "This is so realistic," Qing Deng's actions on the surface were not slow at all. He quickly bowed to Bo Jing in front of him.

"Yes! This humble official will do his utmost!"

……

……

At this very moment—

In Edo, inside an inconspicuous abandoned house—

An extremely young man knelt on a moldy tatami mat, wielding a brush as large as a bowl, writing something on a sheet of rice paper laid out in front of him.

The young man was shirtless, his upper body exposed.

His strong, broad back was covered with a huge tattoo that covered his entire back.

Anyone familiar with ghost and monster culture would immediately recognize the large tattoo on the young man's back—it depicts a very famous evil spirit.

Rakshasa are swift and terrifying demons that devour human flesh and blood, and can fly or walk on the ground!

A slightly short middle-aged man opened the door, walked slowly behind the young man, and then knelt down on one knee.

"...Lord Rakshasa."

"What is it?" the young man called "Rakshasa" asked without turning his head.

"The murder case in Koyanagi-cho, the 'third time' has caught the culprit, an old man named Jinzaburo."

“Oh…” Rakshasa’s brush continued uninterrupted. “This ‘three-times’ operation was quite swift… They caught the culprit so quickly. Who is so capable that they could solve the case in less than half a day? Could it be that Nishino Hosoejiro?”

"According to my investigation... the person who solved the murder case in Koyanagi-cho seems to be Tachibana Takayuki's son: Tachibana Aoto."

"Tachibana Takayuki's son?" Rakshasa's brush finally stopped. "...As far as I know, Tachibana Takayuki's son has always been a disappointment..."

After a moment of silence, Rakshasa once again wielded the brush in his hand.

"...Kawa Shiro".

"exist."

"Keep an eye on that Ju Qingdeng for me. I'm really curious, why does this tiger father's son suddenly look like a tiger?"

"Yes."

"Also, check with that Xun Sanlang later to see if he's a regular customer who buys our 'painkillers'."

"Yes."

“If that Xun Sanlang really is a regular customer who often buys our ‘painkillers’…” A mocking smile appeared on Luocha’s face, “then this is rare good news. After so many improvements, our ‘painkillers’ can finally be put to some use.”

"Yes."

"He Shilang, is there anything else you need to report to me? If not, you may leave now. I need to focus on practicing my calligraphy."

"...Lord Rakshasa, there is another...bad news for you."

"explain."

"Our search team in Ou... found nothing; we couldn't find Shura."

Rakshasa stopped writing with her brush again.

"...Another fruitless search... Just as expected, this man who made history is indeed not so easy to find."

"Keep searching. Even if we have to search every inch of this country, we must find Shura."

"Yes!"

Rakshasa then put down the brush in his hand.

On the Xuan paper he had just been writing on, he wrote only two large Chinese characters—

Punished according to the law.

[Japanese History Mini-Lesson Begins!]

"Issou no kamikazu" is a Japanese idiom.

Originally, it meant warriors fighting to the death to defend a territory passed down from their ancestors; later, it came to mean fighting desperately or risking one's life.

In Old Japanese, samurai often used "issho-kakeme" to express their determination to fight to the death, and this phrase became widely circulated among the common people. However, as it was passed down, the short vowel "sho" was transformed into the long vowel "sho"; later, the samurai class disappeared, and only the long vowel "issho-kakeme" remained in common usage, becoming a word in modern Japanese, while "issho-kakeme" became an Old Japanese word and a rare term.

Chapter 39 Please call him "Nobita, Tachibana Aoto".

Having just finished his "work report" in front of Usui and the others, Aoto was dragged to Arima's office by Arima.

"Ju-kun, I am very pleased that your thinking has undergone such a transformation, that you have realized the weight of the responsibility on your shoulders, and that you possess such vigor!"

After bringing Aoto to his office, Arima immediately took Aoto's hands and spoke to him earnestly, offering words of encouragement and praise.

As Aoto's elder and superior, Arima was genuinely happy to see that this junior and subordinate had finally become more promising.

Although Qing Deng solved the case today in a somewhat dishonorable way, acting alone without informing Xi Ye seemed to be trying to steal credit.

But—who cares!

Arima may be a bit old-fashioned in his behavior, but he is not old-fashioned in his thinking.

Between Nishino, who is not under his jurisdiction, and his own subordinates—whom should he side with? Is there even a question?

Tachibana-kun already said that he was worried that spending time persuading Nishino and himself to arrest the culprit would lead to the culprit's escape, so he acted on his own! He wasn't trying to steal credit! My subordinate did nothing wrong—Arima, in an almost hypnotic way, had deeply ingrained this statement into his very being…

Arima was very excited, which made him talk much more.

He held Qingdeng's hand, praising and encouraging him in various ways, and only released him after a good half hour.

Their collaborative approach to handling cases goes beyond simply bringing the perpetrators back to their homes.

After the criminals are escorted back, they still have a lot of tedious procedures to go through.

You need to hand over the prisoners to the comrade in charge of managing the prisoners, and you need to go to the office to report to the comrade in charge of managing the arrest records...

After dealing with all these miscellaneous tasks, evening arrived before we knew it.

They adhere to a strict "6 am to 6 pm" system.

The office opens at 6:00 AM and closes at 6:00 PM. Once the office is closed, no one is allowed to linger inside. If you want to work overtime, you must go home first.

Judging from the fact that the magistrate's office never allowed anyone to stay inside to work overtime once it closed... the magistrate's office in the Edo period might have been more humane than some modern jobs.

The sun was almost setting below the horizon, which meant that Qingdeng's rather long "first day at work" was finally coming to an end...

……

……

Serving in the Edo Magistrate's Office comes with a perk that would be great in both ancient and modern times—the government would allocate land to you.

Yes, not houses, but land!

Officials of the Yu-Li rank, such as Arima, could be allocated 200-300 tsubo (approximately 330-630 square meters) of land, while officials of the Tongxin rank, such as Aoto, could be allocated around 100 tsubo (approximately 660 square meters).

[Note: 1 ping = 3.31 square meters]

Because the land allocated to the magistrates and their associates was located in Hatchobori, people in the Edo period often used "Hachibori" as a synonym for the magistrates' office.

For example, "Go find the people of Hatchobori to help" means to go find the people of the Magistrate's Office to help.

"The lords of Hatchobori have arrived" means that the magistrates and their allies from the magistrate's office have arrived.

For the large plot of land they were allocated, most people only used a small portion to build houses, leaving the majority of the land as a yard, for growing vegetables or transforming it into a training ground for practicing martial arts.

After Aoto's father, Tachibana Takayuki, became the head of the Hokuban-sho-cho town, the Tachibana family moved to Hatchobori.

The land allocated to Qingdeng's family was exactly 100 pings, neither more nor less.

40 tsubo (approximately 13.3 square meters) of the land has been used to build a house, and the remaining 60 tsubo was intended to be used as a vegetable garden, but unfortunately, neither Tachibana Takayuki nor their old servant, Kyubei, knows how to grow vegetables.

Everything they planted died, so Qingdeng's small courtyard had been abandoned for a year.

After successfully completing the handover of the series of tasks concerning Jinzaburo, Aoto, dragging his slightly tired body, returned to his home in Hatchobori under the twilight.

As soon as he entered the house, Qingdeng smelled the aroma of soybeans.

"Ah, young master, you're back!" As usual, Kyubei grabbed a ladle and scurried from the kitchen to the door to greet Aoto. "Following your instructions last night, I went to the market today and bought a lot of soybeans and yellow soybeans! I've made soybean soup for tonight! Please rest in the main room for now! Dinner will be ready soon!"

This old servant, who had worked for the Ju family for most of his life, had one particular characteristic—he rarely took the initiative to ask Qing Deng and his son about their work.

He diligently performed his duties, and when the master and young master returned from their duties, they didn't ask any questions about what had happened or not, but immediately served him delicious food—this was how Kyubei had lived for decades.

"Alright." Qing Deng smiled and unfastened the sword from his waist. "These soybeans and yellow beans shouldn't be expensive, right?"

"Not too expensive, 25 coins for soybeans and 20 coins for yellow soybeans. Here, young master, give me your knife."

After realizing how weak his body was yesterday at the test hall, Qing Deng made up his mind to improve his physical fitness as quickly as possible!

If he continues to let his body remain so weak, he will likely only become one of those modern "traditional martial arts masters"—possessing a beautiful stance but only managing to inflict 0.5 damage with a single punch.

To improve physical fitness, in addition to scientific training methods, adequate nutrition is also essential.

Sufficient protein is essential for building a strong physique.