I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

*******

Please vote with monthly tickets! Please vote with recommendation tickets! (Leopard crying.jpg)

P.S.: Leopard has been in great form ever since starting the new volume! This chapter is another one I'm very satisfied with! In just a few thousand words, it presents the tragic end of "Man-Slaying Yi-Zang," which is truly heartbreaking!

Historically, Takechi Hanpeita always looked down on Okada Izo. Of course, Okada Izo himself was partly to blame; he was a womanizer, violent, and utterly hopeless.

The fact that Leopard spent so much ink writing about Okada Izou must have had a specific purpose.

Many readers know that Leopard is preparing to write the "Sword and Halberd Trilogy," with all three works sharing the same world view.

The first part is the previous work.

The second part is this work.

The third and next installment is set in the United States in the 1920s.

Okay, that's all for now, Leopard.

Chapter 874 The French Lolita with a Childlike Face and Huge Breasts! [5300]

The first year of Yuanzhi (1864), December 15th——

Qinjin Fan, Dajin, somewhere——

The dry, cold wind characteristic of autumn howled past, tightening the hems of pedestrians' clothes.

All sorts of vehicles were driving recklessly through the streets in an endless stream.

The calls of vendors rose and fell, adding to the lively atmosphere of the town.

With the financial support provided by Huluwu, Otsu's development, while not exactly rapid, can certainly be described as thriving.

Today's Otsu is vastly different from what it used to be.

Although it cannot yet be compared with the "Three Capitals" (Edo, Kyoto, and Osaka), it is definitely one of the most dynamic and fastest-growing castle towns in Japan today!

Suddenly, an unidentified person wearing a black cloak, a low-brimmed straw hat, and a face mask walked out slowly from an inconspicuous dark alley with quiet, silent steps.

Judging from his physique, this person should be a man.

It's already autumn, so his conservative attire isn't unusual on the street.

After leaving the dark alley, the man strode eastward.

After a while, he suddenly stopped and stood at the intersection of the two streets, raising his eyes.

His gaze was fixed on the absolute center of Ōtsu: the Tachibana Residence.

……

……

At this very moment—

Qinjin Fan, Dajin, Judi, a certain courtyard——

The autumn wind blew rustling, scattering the yellow leaves from the trees.

Souji and Elodie sat side by side on the veranda, enjoying the autumn scenery, tasting the konpeito that Souji had brought, and chatting enthusiastically.

Elodie joined the Shinsengumi and became the head of the finance department—it feels like ages ago now.

As the saying goes, "Among a hundred people, there are all sorts of people," let alone a large army of six thousand.

In fact, many people within the Shinsengumi (New Sengoku Group) agreed with the "expulsion of foreigners" movement.

While they weren't as quick to oppose anything Western as the patriots who championed the West, they had absolutely no goodwill towards Westerners.

Everyone has witnessed how the shogunate and various domains have changed since Westerners landed on this land.

To reiterate, "expelling the barbarians" is the most politically correct stance in Japan today.

Back when Elodie donned the light blue haori representing the Shinsengumi, many people complained – a Westerner, and a Western woman at that, daring to ride roughshod over us? How outrageous!

Even today, many members of the Shinsengumi still hold negative views of Elodie.

Her ability to remain active and safe to this day is entirely due to her master-disciple relationship with Qing Deng.

In the Shinsengumi, you can hate foreigners, but you cannot disrespect Aoto.

With Qingdeng's protection, who would dare to cause trouble for Elodie?

Moreover, Elodie is not someone to be trifled with.

Now, Elodie has become an important executive under Qing Deng.

Compared to the past, it is now much more convenient for the master and student to meet, spend time together, and teach each other.

Qingdeng was able to rekindle their old "master-disciple relationship".

Whenever they both had free time, Qingdeng would carefully teach her swordsmanship, imparting all his knowledge to her.

Elodie already possessed considerable talent in swordsmanship.

While he can't compare to a monster like Souji, he's definitely much stronger than an ordinary person.

Under Qing Deng's personal tutelage, Elodie's skills improved by leaps and bounds, and ordinary people were no match for her.

Anyone who has met Elodie knows that she is a sensible and good child.

Despite having Aoto's protection, in order to avoid unnecessary trouble and to reduce Aoto's burden as much as possible, she consciously lived a secluded life after joining the Shinsengumi and rarely appeared in public.

For this reason, coupled with the limitations of age and gender, she did not make many friends in the Shinsengumi.

The only people she was close to were Aoto's three wives: Sanako, Omai, and Souji.

A-Wu was her best friend of many years, and the depth of their friendship goes without saying.

If A-Mai is Elodie's best friend, then Sanako is her idol.

In her eyes, Sanako, who is beautiful, intelligent, elegant, and graceful, is a role model for women and someone she should emulate for life.

Sanako's tall figure was something she greatly envied.

It's worth mentioning that because Sanako's aura is so strong, it always makes Elodie feel nervous, so she always acts very reserved in front of her.

Therefore, apart from Omai, Souji and Elodie are the best friends.

Because they were close in age, both had cheerful and outgoing personalities, and shared similar interests (both loved sweets), they quickly became close friends who could talk about anything.

Just now, Souji, who had nothing to do and was wandering aimlessly around the Tachibana residence, happened to run into Elodie, who was also having a leisurely day.

Thus, the two women, who hadn't seen each other for a long time, got together and chatted happily.

"Hmm? Elodie, have you grown taller?"

Upon hearing this, Elodie immediately perked up, her eyes lighting up.

"Miss Souji, do you really think I've grown taller?"

Both Sanako and Souji are older than Elodie, so she likes to call Souji "Miss Souji" and Sanako "Miss Sanako".

To give Souji a better view, she jumped down from the veranda, stood in the courtyard, put her feet together, straightened her back, stretched out her arms, and looked at Souji expectantly.

The commander, who had just been so confident, suddenly froze, his facial features hardening, and his expression becoming incredibly strange.

After a moment, she chuckled awkwardly.

"Uh... how should I put it... it must have been the angle just now, I misjudged it. Elodie, you don't seem to... have grown taller..."

Upon hearing this, Elodie was struck dumb, her entire body suddenly stiffening.

Immediately afterwards, the initial excitement turned into frustration, the expectation into dejection, and the petite body leaned forward, with her palms and knees on the ground, her whole body turning into the shape of "orz".

"Am I still not growing taller... even though I've been eating shrimp shells so diligently..."

Elodie was French.

Although the French are not known for their height, they are still much taller than the Japanese.

However... perhaps it's just genetics. Even though Elodie is at the age where she should be growing, she hasn't grown an inch in all these years.

When Qingdeng first met her, she was only twelve years old.

At that time, she was only 1.42 meters tall, not even as tall as A-Wu.

In the blink of an eye, four years have passed, and she has blossomed into a beautiful young woman.

Despite her age, her height has remained unchanged at 1.42 meters.

What's even stranger is that not only has her height remained the same, but her facial features haven't changed much either; she still has that baby face.

If others saw this, they would probably think that Qingdeng was employing child laborers.

Elodie is very concerned about her height.

She desperately wanted to have a tall figure like Sanako.

To this end, she tried all sorts of "weight gain methods" circulating in the market.

Her mentor, Qingdeng, even gave her a special tip: eat more shrimp shells.

Qingdeng knew nothing about nutrition, but based on his experience watching TV commercials in his previous life, he knew that supplementing with calcium was beneficial for growing taller.

When it comes to calcium-rich supplements, milk is undoubtedly the best choice.

Milk could be obtained under the rule of the Edo Shogunate, but the cost was too high.

Qingdeng wanted to buy her milk, but didn't know where to buy it.

Therefore, we had to settle for second best and eat shrimp shells instead.

After receiving Qingdeng's advice, and trusting Qingdeng, Elodie began to eat shrimp shells voraciously, almost replacing her staple food with shrimp shells.

Ultimately, despite her tireless efforts, her height remained unchanged...

However, despite her still short stature, certain parts of her body are well-developed—or rather, excessively well-developed!

She truly deserves to be called the owner of the "plump bear breast" gift.

Four years ago, she was still an unassuming "flat-chested" woman.

Unexpectedly, she has become this "eye-catching" figure today... The so-called "baby face and huge breasts" is nothing more than this.

It's worth mentioning that although some parts of her body are well-developed, they don't appear deformed.