I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

They gathered outside the cordon formed by the bodies of the magistrates and their own men, craning their necks and peering intently into the cordon.

"Hey! What's going on at Sakurada Gate?" a citizen asked.

"I don't know!" one of the guards on the perimeter shouted impatiently. "I don't know what happened either! Everyone disperse! Disperse! There's nothing to see!"

Upon seeing this, Qing Deng's brows furrowed instantly.

The police tape... is it stretched that far? It's still quite a distance from Sakurada Gate...

A bad feeling began to well up in Qingdeng's heart...

"I am Doshin from Hokuban-sho-cho! Make way!" Aoto shooed away the citizens blocking his way, and after verifying his identity with the officers who formed the cordon, he entered the cordon with Saito.

After running a distance towards Sakurada Gate, Qing Deng's expression began to uncontrollably turn serious.

He slowly began to smell... the air was filled with the stench of blood.

The closer one gets to Sakuradamon, the stronger the nauseating stench of blood becomes...

Finally—Aoto arrived at the Sakurada Gate.

The scene outside Sakurada Gate at that moment caused Aoto to be momentarily stunned by extreme shock.

Snow stained dark red and black with blood, scattered and mangled limbs, dead bodies with open eyes, broken blades...

Many familiar faces to Qingdeng were moving back and forth on this bloody battlefield with extremely ugly expressions.

"Lord Arima! Mr. Inoya! Mr. Ushiyama!" Aoto hurried toward the three seniors who were standing not far from him.

"Tachibana-kun, you've arrived..." Arima, still wearing his grand formal attire, had a face so gloomy it looked as if black water was about to drip from it.

Qingdeng asked urgently, "What exactly happened?"

"...The Ii family's entourage was assassinated on their way to Edo Castle." Arima said, taking deep breaths to keep himself calm. "Lord Ii... has been killed..."

"What...?!" Qing Deng's eyes snapped open.

He quickly raised his head and scanned his surroundings.

A short while later, he found a headless corpse next to a palanquin with the "orange flower pattern" of the Ii family not far from him.

Although the body was headless, Qing Deng recognized it at a glance just by looking at the torso—it was Ii Naosuke, who had been chatting and laughing with him just the day before…

The dazed feeling that had just subsided returned.

Looking at Ii Naosuke's corpse, Aoto felt a little dizzy, as if it were all unreal...

Just the day before yesterday, Ii Naosuke was still chatting and laughing with him.

The precious sword that Ii Naosuke personally gave him still hangs at his waist...

died?

That old man, Ii... just died like that?

(Ii Dai-ro was like a demon-piercing arrow, suppressing countless demons and monsters.)

For some reason, the words Shannan casually said to him yesterday kept popping into Qingdeng's mind.

Unable to contain his shock, Qing Deng stared blankly at his colleagues bustling around outside Sakurada Gate, at the corpses strewn across the ground, at the sky still thick with dark clouds, and at the seemingly endless snow...

Qing Deng murmured involuntarily in a voice only he could hear:

"The demons and monsters are about to come out..."

……

……

Edo Castle, Ooku——

"What did you say?!"

Tenshōin, who usually speaks in a soft voice, let out a rare, sharp shout.

The female official, kneeling before her and trembling, repeated what she had just said.

After repeatedly confirming with the female official, Tenshōin's body seemed to have lost its support, and he staggered back several steps, almost falling to the ground.

……

……

Tokugawa Iemochi learned of the "murder of Ii Naosuke" at almost the same time as Tenshōin.

"Ii... is dead...?" Tokugawa Iemochi's pale face made even the snow falling outside the palace seem insignificant.

……

……

In a dilapidated house on the outskirts of Edo—

"Everyone! You should all know by now, right?!"

The leader of the Expeditionary Force, Kanna, spoke loudly and confidently to the dozen or so officers of the Expeditionary Force kneeling before him, who were also beaming with pride.

"More than ten retainers of the Mito Domain successfully executed Ii Naosuke, that traitor!"

"This is the consequence of bowing down to barbarians and forcibly opening a country!"

Jinno unfastened the sword from his waist and held it in front of him.

"We also have knives!"

"Our swords are no duller than those of the Mito Domain samurai!"

"What the samurai of the Mito Domain can do, our Extermination Group can do too!"

"Our swords, like those of the Mito Domain samurai, can protect this country!"

As soon as Jinno finished speaking, the members of the Extermination Group, whose morale had soared to unprecedented heights due to the "Sakurada Gate Incident," shouted in unison—

“喔喔喔喔喔——！”

……

……

Mito Domain, a certain place—

"Ii Naosuke is dead..."

The Rakshasa, shirtless and revealing the "Rakshasa Demon" tattoo covering his entire back, stands by the window with his hands behind his back, gazing at the scenery outside.

“Yes,” a young man kneeling behind Rakshasa said loudly, “It’s confirmed. The samurai of the Mito Domain took the head of Ii Naosuke outside Sakurada Gate.”

“…Well done! Mito Domain samurai.” Rasetsu grinned. “Is that Ii Naosuke dead… Ha… Hahaha… Hmph hahahahaha—!”

Rakshasa laughed wildly, looking up at the sky, his two hands stroking each other repeatedly.

"Well... that annoying guy is finally dead..."

"The world is about to become more interesting!"

"Hahaha... I really want to know how Lord Orochi will react after he finds out about this..."

"The era of punishing the party with the law has arrived!"

A fierce red light emanated from the Rakshasa's eyes.

……

……

Edo, the Thousand Things Shop—

Kiryu silently tossed the piece of paper he had been staring at into the fireplace beside him.

The paper that Kiryu had been looking at for so long actually only had one simple sentence written on it—Ii Naosuke was killed.

Kiryu sighed heavily as he watched the pieces of paper gradually turn to ashes in the stove.

"The real chaos is coming..."

*******

*******

Today's chapter is a rare long one, a full 10,000 words!

The author is quite satisfied with this chapter, both in terms of pacing, content, and theme.

For this chapter, the author researched an enormous amount of historical material. Please give the author some monthly votes in recognition of such dedication! (Like a leopard crying.jpg)

Chapter 107 The Blonde Loli Comes Knocking [7200]

In the first year of Wanyan (the seventh year of Anzheng, 1860), March 19th——

Edo, Kouryucho, a fabric shop—

The shop owner, a balding middle-aged man, sat cross-legged behind the counter, using an abacus in his left hand and constantly scribbling on the ledger with his right.

After a moment, he sighed deeply, closed the ledger with a weary expression, and pressed his right thumb hard against his furrowed brow.

"Father," the shop owner's young daughter said, walking over with a cup of hot tea. "The tea is ready."

"Oh..." The shop owner forced a smile at his daughter. "Thank you."

The shop owner took the hot tea from his daughter, blew on it gently for a moment, and then sipped it.

Seeing the lingering sorrow on her father's face, the daughter hesitated and said:

"Father...is business at the shop still not improving lately?"

"Ah...hahaha..." The shop owner paused in his tea-sipping motion, then chuckled and put the teacup on the counter. "There's been some improvement...it's gotten a little better than last month."

After saying that, the shop owner sighed heavily.

"Sigh... How did those barbarians manage to weave such fine cloth while keeping the price so low..."

Since the country was forced to open its doors under the threat of Western countries and a large influx of Western goods into the country, the shop owner's cloth shop has become increasingly difficult to run.

The shop owner still doesn't understand why those foreigners could weave such good cloth while keeping it so cheap.

Upon first seeing the cloth sold by the barbarians, the shop owner was so astonished that he almost forgot to blink.