I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

After entering the room and taking his seat in the main seat, he immediately asked Bo Jing:

"Bo Jing, what brings you here so late at night?"

Bo Jing lowered his head, respectfully responded with a single sentence, and then said in a deep voice:

"My lord, I just received an urgent letter from my subordinates: a French merchant and his family were attacked by a large-scale 'anti-foreign' mob on their way to Edo."

"What?" Ii Naosuke's expression changed. "French merchants attacked?"

Ii Naosuke clenched his fist tightly and pressed for an answer:

"How is the French merchant who was attacked?"

“He…he and his family are all safe.” Bo Jing’s expression turned strange at this moment. “One of my subordinates…the one who sent me this urgent letter, led more than twenty guards and repelled nearly two hundred ‘anti-foreign’ thugs, protecting the Frankish merchant and his family.”

"...What?" Ii Naosuke, doubting that he had misheard, tilted his ear slightly towards Usui. "Usui, say it again."

……

……

Tokaido, Kanagawa-juku—

Kneeling before Aoto, whose upper body was bare, Kiryu examined Aoto's wounds and then said softly in an approving tone:

"Wow... Tachibana-kun, your injuries are healing very quickly."

"Hmm." Qingdeng nodded and said casually, "I've been like this since I was a child; my injuries heal very quickly."

After giving Kiryu a perfunctory reply, Aoto lowered his head, glanced at the wounds on his body, and thought to himself:

—The newly copied talent is much more effective than expected…

After successfully defeating Suehiro Moritoshi, Aoto successfully copied a new talent from him: "Bodybuilding," whose wound healing speed far exceeds that of ordinary people.

It has to be said that this new talent came at the perfect time, just right for Qingdeng, who was suffering multiple injuries after a major battle.

That "chaotic battle on a snowy night" happened 6 days ago.

With just over 30 men, they confronted more than 200 "anti-foreign" rioters, killing more than 60 of them and routing the attacking enemy. Judging from the ratio of the two sides' numbers and the results of the battle, this was undoubtedly a resounding victory.

However, the price paid was also quite high.

After the battle, a count of the dead and wounded revealed that only 18 of Komuro's group of guards were still alive, and almost all of them were injured.

Despite the great victory, it would not be surprising if those "anti-foreign" thugs were to launch a counterattack at any time.

God knows how many of them there are, or if they might immediately gather a large group and attack again.

Therefore, we cannot stay in the wilderness any longer, nor can we go to Edo.

So, after a brief discussion, Qing Deng and the others decided to go to the nearest post station to take refuge, and then send a letter to Edo requesting that Edo send people to pick them up.

Anthony's horses were either dead or had run away; not a single one remained.

Without horses to pull the cart, Anthony, Elodie, and Qingdeng had no choice but to walk through the night to the nearest post station: Kanagawa-juku.

After arriving safely in Kanagawa-juku, Aoto immediately instructed the Kanagawa-juku's magistrate, Toshiba, to send a letter to Edo, co-authored by himself, Anthony, and Komuro, informing the magistrate of their situation and requesting reinforcements.

At the same time, he also asked the Kanagawa-juku's yaba to help transport back the bodies of the fallen guards who had to be temporarily left on the battlefield due to a lack of transport capacity.

It's impossible for Edo not send someone over.

After all, Anthony was a Westerner, and a Frenchman at that.

In recent years, the cooperation between France and the Edo Shogunate has been quite close, so during this period, the Edo Shogunate will pay more attention to matters related to the French.

As soon as Anthony's Western identity is revealed, Edo will definitely take it seriously and immediately send a large force to bring them back to Edo.

After sending the letter, Qing Deng and the others waited for reinforcements from Edo to arrive while quietly healing their wounds.

In the past few days, it has been mainly Mr. Kiryu who has been treating their injuries.

Previously, Kiryu's boss had humbly told him that he only knew a little bit of medical skills.

But after observing for the past few days, Qing Deng discovered that Boss Kiryu's medical skills seemed to be far more than he claimed to "only know a little"...

He seems to be able to treat any kind of injury—external, bone, internal—and he treats them all very well.

In that "snowy night battle", Qing Deng was wounded in five places, all of which were superficial wounds. The more serious ones were the knife wound to his right shoulder after breaking into the enemy group and the cut to his chest by the tip of Suehiro's Kazegiri spear.

Incidentally, the knife wound that Fujisawa Suku received in his leg while saving Kinoshita Mai and the others was reopened during the "snowy night battle" due to Aoto's vigorous activity.

But thanks to the newly copied "physical fitness" talent, Qing Deng's injuries were healing at a rapid pace.

Normally, it would take Qingdeng at least ten days to two weeks to recover from these injuries.

However, thanks to his "physical" talent, Qingdeng estimated that his wounds should heal in just a few more days of rest.

"Hahaha..." Kiryu chuckled a few times, then picked up a box of ointment from beside his leg and began to apply new medicine to Aoto's wound. "Your amazing recovery ability reminds me of an old friend of mine."

A hint of reminiscence flickered in Kiryu's eyes at that moment.

"Mr. Kiryu, is your old friend also incredibly resilient?" At this moment, only Aoto and Kiryu were in the room where Aoto was staying.

Saito just went to the restroom and won't be back for a while.

Aoto had always had a good impression of the gentle old man who had helped him get into the Imperial Guard, so he was happy to chat with Kiryu to pass the time during his boring dressing changes.

"Yes. My old friend... his physical recovery ability is extraordinary." Kiryu smiled slightly. "Come to think of it, it's been quite a while since I've seen my old friend."

"At this time of day... he's probably lazily sunbathing on the street with his wife right now."

Kiryu applied the medicine quickly, and in no time, he had evenly applied the ointment to all of Aoto's wounds.

As he took out the burlap sack to bandage Aoto's wounds, Kiryu suddenly abruptly changed the subject, jumping to a bizarre topic completely unrelated to what they had just been discussing:

"...Tachibana-kun, looking at these wounds on your body, I can't help but admire you: you are really brave."

"Huh? What's wrong? Why are you suddenly asking that?"

“I saw the battle six days ago clearly,” Kiryu said calmly. “You stepped on the tip of that man’s spear, jumped onto the shaft, and then leaped up the shaft to the man, delivering a devastating blow to his left shoulder.”

"This kind of playing style...you can't do it without a lot of courage."

"If you fail to see the spear thrusting at you and fail to step on the tip of the spear, your foot may be injured."

"If you fail to stand firmly or run steadily after jumping onto the opponent's gun barrel, or if the opponent reacts quickly enough and throws you off the gun barrel, then you will surely die."

"The time it takes to fall from the gun barrel to the ground, get up and stand firm... is more than enough for your opponent to stab you to death several times over."

"Tachibana-kun, when you decided to use this fighting style, which could lead to your demise if you're not careful, to deal with that guy wielding the spear... weren't you scared?"

After speaking, Kiryu raised a curious gaze at Aoto in front of him.

“Ah… this…” Qing Deng smiled with a strange expression. “To be honest—I didn’t think that much about it at the time.”

"...Didn't think that much about it?"

Qingdeng nodded.

“At that time… I was only thinking about defeating Suehiro Moritoyo,” Aoto said softly. “At that time, this was the only way I could think of to get close to Suehiro.”

"Because this was the only method I could think of, and I felt confident in my success, I didn't think much about it and just put it into practice."

As he finished speaking, the scenes of his fierce battle with Suehiro six days prior flashed through Aoto's mind.

My heartbeat quickened a little at that moment.

Even though several days had passed, the experiences of the fierce battle with Suehiro were still clearly etched in Aoto's mind—

My blood felt like it was burning, and I felt a unique sense of exhilaration.

If I think of a tactic that seems effective, I use it boldly without any fear or worry about failure, injury, or death.

Only one thought remained in my mind: fight, and then win!

Hearing Qing Deng's answer, Kiryu lowered his head slightly, his eyes flashing with a deep and inexplicable light.

"...Tachibana-kun, are you interested in sword-drawing techniques?"

*******

*******

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

I've noticed that many readers seem to have a misunderstanding about Qingdeng's name.

Although Qingdeng's surname is "Tachibana", his "Tachibana" has absolutely no relation to the "Tachibana" in the four ancient Japanese clans that everyone is familiar with: "Minamoto, Taira, Fuji, and Tachibana".

The orange in Qingdeng's name has the character "苗" (miao), while the orange in the latter's name has the character "氏" (shi), and the two concepts are completely different.

Later, the author will release a separate free popular science chapter to introduce the "name culture" of ancient Japanese samurai.

By the way—Ju Qingdeng is not Qingdeng's full name.

Samurai in ancient Japan all had very long full names.

Take, for example, prominent figures in Japanese history: Tokugawa Ieyasu and Oda Nobunaga.

Tokugawa Ieyasu's full name was: [Minamoto no Asomi Tokugawa Jirozaburo Ieyasu]

Oda Nobunaga's full name is: [Taira no Tomotomi Oda Saburo Nobunaga]

Although Qingdeng's full name wasn't as exaggerated as Tokugawa Ieyasu's or Oda Nobunaga's, it wasn't short either.

Qingdeng's full name has a total of 6 characters.

As the story progresses, Qing Deng's full name will be revealed.

Chapter 83 made Ju Qingdeng's name known to everyone!

Recalling the fragments of memory evoked by Kiryu's question, Aoto couldn't help but ask himself the question he had silently recited countless times over the past few days:

Am I... awakening my hidden "battle maniac" personality?

In the time since the end of the great war, every time Aoto recalls the beginning and end of his battle with Suehiro, he can't help but feel astonished.

When did I become this kind of person...?

I've never experienced this feeling of getting more and more excited as I fight, and it feels like I'm floating on clouds, when I've sparred with other people before.

Could it be because the previous battles were too "low-level," not the kind of deathmatch where you have to be fully tense to die, so they didn't arouse my emotions?

That seems a bit like being a pervert...