I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

The infamous master thief suddenly appeared and informed them that "the foreign book is fraught with danger"... Their minds were still reeling from what was going on...

Even Saito, who always had a blank expression, was now slightly frowning.

Without prior arrangement, they all turned their attention to Qingdeng.

Qingdeng, still staring at the words on the paper, now had a furrowed brow.

The fog that's currently shrouding Aoto's mind is no less than that surrounding Saito and the others...

The sheer number of questions left Qingdeng at a loss for where to begin his thought process.

“Mr. Tachibana…” Harada slung his spear over his shoulder, “Now… what’s the plan?”

Nagakura picked up the conversation: "Should we believe... that cat-boy monk?"

Qingdeng pondered for a moment, then let out a long breath, solemnly folded the paper in his hand, and put it into his pocket: "...Let's go. Let's go to the Foreign Documents Survey Office."

"Mr. Tachibana," Toudou said in surprise, "are we going to believe that cat-boy?"

"...Let's try our luck," Qing Deng said in a deep voice. "Right now, I don't know what to do."

"The attack on the Fanshu Diaosu... it's not impossible."

"It's better to believe it exists than not to believe it doesn't. Besides... I really can't think of any reason why Cat Monk would give me false information for no reason."

"Anyway, even if we make a wasted trip to the Foreign Documents Collection Office, we won't lose anything."

"Let's go!"

Since Aoto had spoken, Saito and the others had no choice but to comply.

The group hurriedly fled the fire.

Just as they left the raging waves of fire behind, they suddenly bumped into a young man dressed as a local servant.

"Ah! Lord Tachibana?" The young servant greeted Aoto in surprise upon seeing him.

This area was one of the patrol areas that Qingdeng was responsible for on a regular basis, so the local guards in this area basically all recognized Qingdeng.

The man was carrying a large sledgehammer... Judging from his appearance, he probably wanted to go to the fire scene in Kagami Town to help demolish the houses around the fire and prevent the fire from spreading.

In Edo, a city prone to fires, there was never a shortage of brave warriors who dared to work alongside the town's fire-fighting officials to put out fires when they broke out.

After glancing at the brave laborer a few times, Qingdeng beckoned to him and asked, "What's your name?"

"Me? My name is Jiu Sanlang!"

"Sake Saburo, come with me."

"Huh? Is there... something you need?"

"Don't ask so many questions yet, just come with me."

"Okay, okay!"

Unaware of what was going on, Jiu Sanlang followed Qing Deng toward the Foreign Affairs Office.

With the group hurrying along, the huge shadow of the Fanshu Diao Suo (a type of official document) soon came into view of Qingdeng and his companions.

What also appeared in Qingdeng and the others' eyes were... the dark figures outside the investigation station.

With the night vision provided by the "cat's eye," Qingdeng clearly saw several corpses lying haphazardly at the entrance of the investigation center.

Qingdeng recognized all the corpses—they had seen these guards faithfully watching over the gate of the Tibetan Affairs Bureau as they patrolled past it that night…

Although Saito and his group did not have the night vision of Aoto, they could still make out the figures of the Exile Group members who were moving around outside the investigation office with the help of the dim moonlight.

Saito and the others stared in astonishment at the now-attacked Banshu Institute.

"This, this is...?!" Sakusaburo, who had been dragged over by Qing Deng, was dumbfounded, staring blankly at the Fanshu Investigation Office, which was surrounded by the Anti-Yi Group.

At first, Qing Deng was also stunned by the fact that "the information from Mao Xiaoseng was actually correct," but he quickly regained his composure.

"...Shusaburo." Qingdeng said to Shusaburo in a deep voice, "Go to the Northern Barbarian Office immediately and find Lord Usui. Tell him that the Barbarian Documents Office is under attack by a large number of unidentified people who are suspected to be members of the Extermination Group. Please send reinforcements immediately!"

This Sake Saburo is quite a clever and quick-witted character.

Upon hearing Qing Deng's order, he paused for a moment before quickly responding, "Yes, yes! I'll go to the Northern Garrison right now!"

Having said that, Sake Saburo threw aside the large mallet he had been carrying on his shoulder, lifted the hem of his hakama, and rushed towards the direction of the Northern Frontier Office as fast as a shooting star.

After Sake Saburo left, Aoto turned his gaze back to the distant Banju (foreign documents) office—

"...Prepare for battle."

As he calmly gave the attack order to his subordinates, Qing Deng straightened the Ding Guishen sword at his waist.

Harada blinked hard at Aoto: "Mr. Tachibana, are we... going to attack with so few people? Shouldn't we wait for reinforcements from the magistrate's office?"

“There might still be survivors inside the Foreign Affairs Bureau,” Qing Deng said calmly. “If we just wait here for reinforcements from the magistrate’s office, the few survivors left inside might not even have survived long enough to be dead.”

"If we attack now, we might be able to save a few people."

"and--"

At this point, Qingdeng switched to a joking tone.

“We officials, who bear the important mission of ‘protecting Edo,’ may face impeachment in the future if we do not rush to the aid of the enemies who are destroying Edo.”

Upon hearing this, Harada grinned and said with a simple smile, "Alright, you're our leader now. You tell me what to do, and that's how we'll do it."

"No need to wait for reinforcements, let's just attack directly... Haha, that sounds exciting!" Nagakura revealed an expectant and excited smile, rubbing his hands together in anticipation.

Young and inexperienced, Toudou looked nervous, but there was no sign of fear on his cheeks.

Saito remained as calm as ever—he simply drew his sword silently.

Seeing that his subordinates showed no sign of backing down, Qing Deng's lips curled up slightly.

"In that case, you all need to stick close to me!"

He tossed his haori aside and led the group like tigers descending a mountain, charging straight toward the distant battlefield.

……

……

After listening to Aoto's account, Usui and Arima all showed the same expression—speechless and dumbfounded.

After a long while, Bo Jing's consciousness finally returned to reality.

"Ju-kun, what you said... is it all true?" he asked, slightly stammering.

“Of course it’s true.” Qingdeng pulled out the note that Mao Xiaoseng had thrown to him, which he had kept carefully. “This is the note that Mao Xiaoseng threw to me.”

"Then my subordinates, as well as the officials from the town who were also present at the time, can testify that what I said was not false."

Usui took the paper from Aoto and unfolded it to examine it carefully.

After Bo Jing turned his gaze to the piece of paper with only a simple sentence written on it, his expression became even more strange and complicated.

“This cat monk… what does he mean by this?” Usui murmured. “How did he know that the Foreign Documents Bureau was under attack…? And why did he tell us this information…?”

"Maybe it was just a moment of kindness," Qingdeng joked.

These questions... I'm afraid we'd have to ask Cat Monk himself to find out the answers.

Usui was still holding the paper, seemingly deep in thought.

At this moment, a slightly urgent call rang out from behind Qingdeng:

"Tachibana-kun, Tachibana-kun!"

Qingdeng turned around in confusion and saw a temporary colleague he wasn't very familiar with striding towards him.

This temporary returnee was one of the reinforcements that Bo Jing had brought with him. He had just led his men to clean up the mess at the investigation center under Bo Jing's orders.

"What's wrong?" Qingdeng asked.

"Someone wants to see you." Temporarily, he straightened his right thumb and gestured backward. "What did you say? Are you free now? Do you want to go see that person?"

"Someone wants to see me?" Qing Deng's gaze went over the senior's shoulder and looked behind him.

Behind him stood a middle-aged man whose face showed deep fatigue, but whose back remained remarkably straight.

It is Katsura Rintaro.

********

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Chapter 125 Qingdeng Promotion! Increased Salary by 400 shi!

"Mr. Tachibana, thank you so much for tonight..."

Katsurin Taro bowed almost 90 degrees to Aoto with sincere respect.

“Mr. Katsu, there’s no need for such formalities.” Qing Deng raised his hand to help Katsu Rintaro up, and said modestly, “I was just lucky for a moment, and I did what a ‘three-time’ samurai should do.”

After learning that Katsura Rintaro wanted to see him, Aoto guessed that Katsura Rintaro probably wanted to thank him in person.

Since he happened to be free at the moment, Qing Deng took the initiative to greet Sheng Lin Taro.

As Qing Deng had expected, upon seeing him arrive, Sheng Lin Taro immediately bowed respectfully and thanked him earnestly.

Katsu Rintaro was older than him, and in terms of official rank, Katsu Rintaro was many ranks higher than him. So even though he had saved Katsu Rintaro's life, Aoto did not treat Katsu Rintaro with any casual or disrespectful attitude, and always used polite language when speaking to him.

After thanking Aoto several times in one breath, Katsu Rintaro straightened up and showed Aoto a complex expression.

“Mr. Ju, I’ve heard of you before.”

"Truly living up to his reputation... He truly deserves to be called a rising star among young talents."

"Ok?"

At this moment, Katsurin Taro suddenly opened his eyes even wider and carefully looked Aoto up and down.