I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

A pair of small, white feet, bare of socks, dangled in the air because they couldn't touch the ground; their pale pink toenails resembled ten tiny cherry blossom petals.

“Um…” Elodie replied casually to her maid, “I’ll read for a little longer and then go to sleep…”

A book as big as her entire face was spread on Elodie's lap.

The pages are still quite new, but there are already quite a few missing pages in the footer and other places.

Seeing Elodie engrossed in her book, Leroy opened his mouth, let out a silent sigh, and then smiled helplessly.

"Miss, is Mr. Alexandre Dumas's 'Robin Hood' really that good?"

"You've probably watched it more than 10 times, haven't you?"

"You've read it so many times already, why are you still reading it with such enthusiasm?"

Leroy had served Elodie for many years, and their deep friendship made the two women extremely close.

The relationship between the two women... is less like "master and servant" and more like that of "sisters" who can joke with each other and share their private thoughts. Their interactions in private are generally quite casual and friendly.

Robin Hood—a heroic figure in English folklore. Legends about Robin Hood have circulated among the people since the 12th century. He is a chivalrous outlaw who is skilled with a bow and arrow and often robs the rich to help the poor.

Later generations used the legend of Robin Hood as material to create a large number of popular stories.

The great French writer Alexandre Dumas built upon the work of his predecessors to create his masterpiece, "Robin Hood: The Thieves."

The book Elodie is currently reading is this popular novel that is currently a bestseller in France.

Hearing Leroy ask her this, Elodie's lips curled into a smile, and she said:

"Because Mr. Alexandre Dumas's 'Robin Hood' is really good! I can read it over and over again without getting tired of it!"

Elodie closed the book on her lap, her little hand stroking the delicate cover, her eyes shining with longing.

"Robin Hood is so cool for using all his skills to help the weak..."

Leroy's smile deepened slightly: "Miss, you really like these stories of 'capable people helping the weak and robbing the rich to help the poor'."

At this point, Leroy suddenly paused.

"Ah... speaking of 'robbing the rich to help the poor'... Miss, this afternoon I heard a rumor that you would find very interesting. Would you like to hear it?"

"Rumors?" Elodie, her attention piqued, looked up and winked at Leroy. "Miss Leroy, what rumors? Please tell me."

“Miss, we’ve always lived in Osaka and rarely heard of Edo. I only learned this afternoon that a phantom thief known as ‘Neko-zoo’ has recently appeared in Edo, specializing in stealing money from wicked people.”

A thief who specializes in stealing money from evil people... The moment Elodie heard these two sentences, her eyes immediately lit up with excitement and agitation.

"Cat Monk?"

Forget about reading "Robin Hood," Elodie casually placed it on the small table next to her, then jumped off the chair, her two little feet stepping on the soft carpet, facing Elodie, her delicate pink toes slightly raised.

“Miss Leroy, please tell me the story of this little cat monk in detail!”

"Miss, I don't know much about this person's deeds either."

"It's alright! Just tell me what you know!"

Seeing how eager Elodie was to hear the story of the Cat Monk, Leroy's eyes darted around, a thoughtful look appearing on his face, before he smiled and said:

"Miss, you can also hear me tell the story of Cat Monk."

"But you need to get into bed first."

"As soon as you are lying in bed and covered with a blanket, I will immediately tell you all the heroic deeds I know related to Cat Monk."

Hearing Leroy's words, Elodie was taken aback.

“What…” Elodie pursed her rosy lips. “Miss Leroy, you’re actually using this to blackmail me…”

“Miss, this is not coercion,” Leroy smiled slightly. “I am simply making a reasonable deal with you.”

"Alright, miss, hurry up and choose! Do you want to go to bed now? Or..."

Before Leroy could finish speaking, Elodie had already rushed to the bed next to her and pulled the blanket over herself.

"Okay, I'm already in bed!"

Pulling the blanket up to her neck, Elodie, clutching the edge of the blanket with her two little hands, urged Leroy urgently.

"Miss Leroy, please tell me the story of that cat boy!"

Seeing that Elodie had finally gotten into bed, Leroy, with a knowing look on his face, pulled over the chair Elodie had just been sitting in and sat down beside her bed.

"Okay, okay, I'll tell you now."

Leroy cleared his throat, then, mimicking the tone of a medieval bard reciting a story, slowly began to tell the tale of the great thief.

Leroy's speaking skills weren't very good; her clumsy storytelling made the story not particularly exciting.

Even so, Elodie listened with great interest, her expression growing more and more excited as Leroy recounted his story.

After recounting in detail all the known deeds of Nekozono, Leroy concluded with the rumor that "Nekozono is a female ninja."

"...It is said that the cat monk is a female ninja who is proficient in ninjutsu that is almost lost."

"She is a ninja who has been practicing ninjutsu since childhood, which is why she has such agile movements."

"A female ninja...?!" This exotic term made Elodie's eyes gleam with even greater excitement. "Can she use shuriken? Can she use illusion techniques that create hallucinations? Can she use a clone technique that splits her body into several parts? Can she breathe fire?"

“Uh…” Leroy chuckled awkwardly, “I don’t know… In the end, ‘Neko-sō is a female ninja’ is just a rumor, and no one knows whether it’s true or not.”

Not receiving a positive answer from Leroy, Elodie's face showed a faint disappointment, but it was only fleeting.

"A phantom thief who specializes in targeting the most wicked and evil people... isn't that just like Mr. Robin Hood...?"

Elodie stared at the ceiling above her head with an air of longing, as if gazing at the heavens.

Then, as if she had remembered something, she turned her gaze back to Leroy.

"Hey, Miss Leroy, do you think this cat monk has any companions?"

“I don’t know about that…” Leroy shook his head. “As far as I know—Cat Monk seems to have always been working alone.”

“I think Cat Monk must have companions!” Elodie said with certainty. “Even if he doesn’t have any now, he probably will in the future.”

"According to what you just said, the Magistrate's Office is now intensifying its efforts to capture Nekosō."

"Then Cat Monk's subsequent actions will inevitably not be so smooth."

"To ensure he can continue to uphold justice in the future, even if he doesn't have a companion now, Cat Monk will definitely find one later!"

Chapter 113 Qingdeng's New Subordinates? [5600]

“Mr. Robin Hood had many companions and followers who robbed the rich to help the poor,” Elodie added.

"Haha, maybe that little cat monk will actually find some companions for himself, just like you said, Miss." Leroy covered his mouth and chuckled. "Alright, the story is over, Miss, it's time for you to go to sleep."

"Miss Leroy, tell me more about this Cat Monk! I'm very interested in this phantom thief!"

“Miss, I have told you all the stories of Cat Monk that I have heard about.”

Leroy raised his hand and touched Elodie's soft, light blonde hair.

“Since you are so interested in the story of Cat Monk, I will keep a close eye on all kinds of news related to Cat Monk and inform you of them as soon as possible.”

"Really?" Elodie's already large eyes widened even more, and the light in her pupils was reminiscent of starlight.

Leroy smiled and nodded: "On the condition that, from now on, Miss, you will obediently go to bed immediately when it's time to sleep. Otherwise..."

"Miss Leroy! Please turn off the candle for me, I'm going to sleep!"

After saying that, Elodie closed her eyes tightly and pulled the blanket over herself even tighter.

Amused by Elodie's adorable appearance, Leroy covered his mouth and laughed again. He stood up from his chair, extinguished the candle lamp placed beside the bed, and leisurely left Elodie's bedroom.

啪嗒，啪嗒，啪嗒，啪嗒……

Outside the room, Leroy's footsteps gradually faded into the distance.

Elodie, who had been carefully listening to Leroy's footsteps, playfully half-opened one right eye after confirming that Leroy had gone far away. She glanced at the tightly closed door before opening both eyes wide.

“Cat Monk…” Elodie looked at the ceiling, which had turned pale gray under the night and the moonlight streaming in from the window.

"I wonder if he'll be some kind of handsome man who's both powerful and elegant..."

A smile of anticipation and longing appeared on Elodie's lips and in the corners of her eyes.

……

……

The next day—

Early in the morning, as soon as Usui and the others arrived at the North Station for work, Aoto and Nishino, who had been on the night shift at the North Station all night, immediately reported the important news that "Neko-sō appeared at the North Station last night."

Upon learning of this, the high-ranking officials of the Northern Frontier Bureau, led by Bo Jing, were greatly shocked.

Previously, Cat Monk had always presented himself as someone who "only stole money from Yakuza, villains, and unscrupulous merchants with extremely bad reputations."

Why did Cat Monk appear at the Northern Barbarian Temple last night? What was he doing there? Was he there to steal something?

Under Bo Jing's instruction and organization, everyone quickly investigated the North Zone Office inside and out to see if anything was missing or overlooked, and finally found that nothing was missing.

This made everyone even more puzzled.

Did Cat Monk never intend to steal anything from the Northern Frontier... or was he caught by Qing Deng, who was about to go to the toilet, and had to stop stealing before he even had a chance to do so?

If he had no intention of stealing anything from Beifan, then what was his purpose in appearing there out of nowhere?

The extreme lack of information means these questions may never be answered...

Ultimately, the matter of "the cat monk suddenly visiting the Northern Frontier Office late at night" could only end without any resolution.

They had no intelligence, and they couldn't catch the cat-monk even if they wanted to. What else could the magistrate's office do?

Since nothing important was stolen, let's just let it go.

Usui asked everyone to be more careful from now on and strengthen their nighttime defenses. He also ordered Nishino, who was now in charge of capturing Nekozo, to work harder so that once Nekozo was captured, the "Nekozo night raid" incident would be considered closed.

In the following days, two great joyous events occurred in the Southern and Northern Magistrate Offices of Edo.

The first great joy: everyone's spring allowance, salary, and offerings have finally been distributed.

Generally speaking, a samurai's income consisted of two main parts: family stipend and salary.

During the Edo period, Japan followed a rice-based economic system, where stipends and salaries were primarily paid in rice. Samurai would then exchange this rice for money with merchants.