I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

Not only were their clothes the opposite colors, but their shoes were also the opposite colors: Kinoshita Mai's straw sandals had red buttons, while the girl's straw sandals had blue buttons.

The girl had a women's headscarf wrapped around her head to keep warm, covering all her hair, and a dark red tengu mask covering her entire face.

The only exposed skin on the girl's body was her neck and her two hands.

Her skin was extremely fair, but not in a sickly or unnatural way.

The sunlight shone on her skin, making it appear even more radiant, smooth, and translucent.

Besides leading the girl in the sky-blue kimono, Kinoshita Mai was also accompanied by a very tall woman, about 1.6 meters in height.

The woman was wearing a pale yellow kimono, with a headscarf covering her hair and a dark red tengu mask covering her face.

Qing Deng noticed that the woman's skin, like that of the young girl, was a very natural and beautiful snow-white.

While talking to the girl she was holding hands with, Kinoshita Mai revealed a happy smile and cheerful expression that Aoto had never seen before.

She showed none of the shy, timid girl that Qingdeng knew.

After agreeing with the girl on which mochi to buy, Kinoshita Mai raised her head and looked at the snack stall owner—a middle-aged man with such a high hairline that one might think he would look better shaved.

"boss……"

Maintaining her cheerful smile, Kinoshita Mai began negotiating with the boss.

But... she had barely managed to utter the first syllable of "boss" when her expression suddenly changed...

Qing Deng saw the smile on Kinoshita Mai's face disappear at a visible speed, and she lowered her head slightly, pointing the whorl of her hair at the snack stall owner.

Replaced her previous smile was an expression of unease and nervousness...

“￥#@&（*￥%……”

Aoto couldn't hear what Kinoshita Mai was saying anymore...

"Huh? Miss, what are you talking about?"

Not only did Qing Deng not hear clearly, but the boss, who was only inches away from Kinoshita Mai, also did not hear clearly. He leaned one ear towards Kinoshita Mai with a puzzled look on his face.

The rather shy Kinoshita Mai that Aoto knew has "returned"...

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Chapter 64 Drawing the Sword! Then Hugging Three Girls (Part 3)

“￥#@&（*￥%@&#@@（…”

Kinoshita Mai said something else to the boss.

Qingdeng still couldn't hear clearly, but the boss seemed to have.

The shop owner gave Kinoshita Mai a meaningful look, nodded, and then turned around to take down three skewers of red, unopened glutinous rice balls wrapped in thin paper.

"Here, six coins."

Kinoshita Mai deftly took out a small cloth bag from her bosom, pulled out six copper coins from it, spread them out on the stall, and then took the string of red glutinous rice balls from the owner's hand and handed it to the girl next to her.

After handing the rice ball to the girl beside her, a cheerful smile reappeared on Kinoshita Mai's face.

The girl held a rice ball in one hand, while continuing to hold Kinoshita Mai's hand with the other.

Although Qing Deng couldn't see the girl's expression because of the mask, he could sense from her behavior that she must be smiling happily behind the mask.

Kinoshita Mai, holding the girl's hand, was happily preparing to leave.

But at this moment...

"Hey! Girl, you haven't paid enough. You're still 4 coins short."

The owner of the snack stand suddenly called out to Kinoshita Mai.

"Huh?" Kinoshita Mai turned around in surprise. "I paid enough money, six copper coins, no more and no less."

Perhaps because she was in a hurry, Kinoshita Mai's voice became much louder when speaking to the boss, a complete stranger.

"You didn't give me six coins," the shopkeeper said, pursing his lips. "You only gave me two coins."

"You're lying!" the masked girl shouted. "Miss Wu clearly gave you six coins just now! I saw it with my own eyes!"

"Young lady." The shopkeeper frowned, looking distressed. "You can't be so unfair! This is just a small business, and every penny I earn is hard-earned. You can't take advantage of an honest person like me."

The argument between the boss and Kinoshita Mai and others naturally attracted a large crowd of onlookers.

"What happened? What's going on?"

"do not know……"

"It seems that the three women wanted to leave before paying enough for their purchases."

"That girl in the red kimono, she's quite pretty."

……

"Hmm..." Looking at the boss with an innocent expression, Kinoshita Mai's face slowly turned red with anxiety.

She wanted to have a proper debate with her boss.

But she was naturally shy.

Normally, I can't even have a proper conversation with a stranger like my boss.

Now, as more and more onlookers are drawn over, Kinoshita Mai becomes even more nervous and finds it difficult to utter a complete sentence.

The masked girl was not intimidated; she argued fiercely with the boss.

However, her eloquence was not particularly good, and she was no match for the cunning and shrewd boss.

The woman who had been silently standing behind Kinoshita Mai and the masked girl was now constantly looking around at the growing crowd.

However, for some reason, she didn't say a word for a long time.

Ah... it seems that tourist attractions always seem to "produce" these unscrupulous merchants who love to rip people off, no matter the era...

Qingdeng speculated: The owner of this snack stall probably saw that Kinoshita Mai was shy and easy to bully, which is why he chose to extort money from them.

Qingdeng hates these unscrupulous merchants at tourist attractions the most.

Because in his past life, he suffered many, many losses at the hands of these beasts...

This directly led to him disliking traveling for a long time.

So—Qingdeng walked briskly toward the snack stall without much hesitation.

"Boss, you're the one who's being dishonest, aren't you?"

"Everyone! Don't be fooled by this swindler's sweet talk! I clearly saw that the girl gave him six coins! This swindler is just trying to extort money from her!"

Qingdeng's shout naturally drew everyone's attention.

"Tachibana...-kun...?" Kinoshita Mai looked at Aoto, who had suddenly appeared, with a look of astonishment.

"Huh? You're saying I'm extorting money? Hey, you can't just make baseless accusations... *gulp*"

When the boss first heard Qingdeng shout, he was initially very aggressive.

But upon seeing the jitte with a red tassel on Aoto's right waist and the inro from the Edo Magistrate's Office, he immediately let out a strange cry, like a duck whose neck had been grabbed.

“It’s Edo ‘Sanhui’…” After muttering this in a volume that only he could hear, the boss gasped wildly.

"Oh? Did I say you were trying to extort money? Was I wrong?"

Qingdeng leaned against the snack stall.

"Then I'm all ears."

"Tell me—where exactly did I go wrong just now?"

"Remember to think carefully before you speak."

"Lying to Edo 'three times'...that's a serious crime."

After saying that, Qing Deng deliberately rested his right hand on his katana, making a loud noise on purpose.

at the same time--

Click.

Saito, who was standing behind Aoto, suddenly placed his right hand on the hilt of his sword, making a loud noise.

Aoto raised an eyebrow and cast a smiling glance at Saito behind him.

Saito, still expressionless, stared straight at his boss.

Noticing Qing Deng's smiling gaze, he lowered his head, nodded slightly to Qing Deng, and then continued to stare intently at the snack stall owner.

—Will you help me build momentum...?

Although he didn't exchange a single word with Saito, Aoto instantly understood that Saito wanted to "build momentum" for him and put more psychological pressure on his boss.

It was only then that Qing Deng suddenly realized that his aloof bodyguard did not seem to be a completely "wooden man".

Under the combined psychological offensive of Aoto and Saito, large beads of cold sweat appeared on the boss's forehead.

After stammering for a moment, he plastered a fawning smile on his face.

"Lord Tongxin! I'm so sorry, so very sorry! I was blinded by greed! I was blinded by greed!"

Faced with the Edo "three rounds," the boss, who had absolutely no courage to argue or bargain, kept apologizing to Aoto.

"These are for you! Please, have some! Please forgive me this time!"

The boss grabbed four glutinous rice balls and four neatly wrapped steamed buns and handed them to Qingdeng.

Qingdeng glanced indifferently at the snacks the shopkeeper handed him.

Noticing Qingdeng's gaze, the shopkeeper gritted his teeth and painfully grabbed out two more glutinous rice balls and two steamed buns.

"Lord Tongxin..."

"The person you should apologize to isn't me, is it?" Qing Deng interrupted his boss in a nonchalant tone.