I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

"Mr. Ju...have we met recently? You seem somewhat familiar to me."

Qing Deng raised an eyebrow and laughed, "When I went out for lunch today, I passed by the gate of the Martial Arts Academy. I brushed past you, Mr. Sheng, who was coming out of the academy. That's probably when you saw me, so you remember me."

Katsura Rintaro looked like he had just realized something: "Yes, yes, I remember now, you are one of the tall guys I saw outside the Military Academy at noon today."

"Haha, it seems we two have a strange connection."

After making a few lighthearted remarks in a half-joking tone, Katsurin Taro turned his head and glanced with a touch of sadness at the nearby Banshu Investigation Office, which was half-burned down.

“Mr. Ju, you not only saved us tonight, but also this Foreign Documents Collection Office.”

"If it weren't for your timely arrival, this academic center, built with the countless efforts of countless people, would have been completely destroyed by those lunatics..."

"You have done me and all of us in the Fanshu Tuan community a great favor."

Katsurin Taro shifted his gaze from the Banshu Investigation Office back to Aoto's face, revealing a grateful smile.

"Mr. Ju, if you ever need any help in the future, please feel free to come to us. We will do our best to help in any way we can!"

"I'll do my best to help..." Qing Deng smiled gently, "...What a coincidence, Mr. Sheng, I happen to need your help right now."

Katsurin Taro paused for a moment, then quickly said, "What is it? Please speak."

"Actually, it's nothing, I just have a question I'd like to ask you."

Qingdeng raised his hand and made a trigger-pulling motion.

"Mr. Sheng, how did you get that revolver?"

While fighting fiercely with the "encirclement team" of the "Extermination Group" outside the mediation center, Qing Deng could faintly hear gunshots coming from inside the mediation center.

After the war, he asked around and learned that the gunshots all came from a revolver owned by Katsura Rintaro.

"Hmm? Mr. Tachibana, why are you asking this?"

"I was just a little curious," Qing Deng said casually.

“Oh…” Katsura Rintarou nodded slightly, then, without suspecting anything, reached into his pocket and pulled out a black revolver. “I received this gun from an American friend of mine when I went to the United States two months ago.”

"Although it is very powerful, loading and aiming are troublesome. Without hard training, whether you can hit a distant target depends entirely on luck."

“I see…” Qing Deng murmured, “A gun given to me by a friend…”

—So you didn't buy it yourself...

Qingdeng couldn't help but feel a little regretful.

He had been hoping to find out some way to buy guns from Katsura Rintaro...

For Qing Deng, whose soul comes from the 21st century, he has long coveted firearms.

If it weren't for the fact that he couldn't find a way to buy a gun, he would have given up swordsmanship long ago and gone to buy a handgun instead!

Although Aoto was disappointed that he couldn't get what he wanted from Katsura Rintaro, he wasn't in a hurry.

Well... a pistol... well, let's just leave it to fate...

Qingdeng comforted himself in this way.

……

……

Tonight will be a sleepless night for many people in Edo.

Needless to say, the "three-times" officers of the Magistrate's Office have been working tirelessly since daytime to hunt down the Extermination Group.

People fled the fire, dragging their families along, to safety.

The officials in charge of extinguishing the fire had their faces blackened by soot from the flames as they worked to prevent the fire from spreading.

After nearly an hour of fighting, the fires in various parts of Edo were finally extinguished.

The fire was extinguished so quickly thanks to two things.

First: The cooperation of the heavens.

Although there was a slight night breeze, the wind was not strong overall. Without the help of the wind, the spread of the flames was greatly slowed down, giving the officials in charge of extinguishing the fire in the town enough time to remove the firebreaks.

Second: The mobilization of the Shogun... namely Tokugawa Iemochi.

Tonight is not only a sleepless night for the townspeople, the magistrate's office, and the officials in charge of suppressing the fires in the town.

The supreme ruler residing in Edo Castle is also still awake...

……

Edo, Edo Castle, Fujimi Turret—

"Shogun, the fire in Edo city has been basically extinguished." One of Tokugawa Iemochi's page knelt on one knee behind him and reported respectfully to Tokugawa Iemochi, who was now standing by the window.

At this moment, Tokugawa Iemochi, standing by the window, is leaning on the windowsill with both hands, his lips tightly pressed together, gazing solemnly at the world outside.

Beside him stood the "Empress Dowager": Tenshōin—she stood side by side with Tokugawa Iemochi, gazing out the window together.

Outside the window, in the town of Edo, the thick smoke that had been billowing just moments before had mostly dissipated.

The firelight that had illuminated half the sky had now almost disappeared.

As night fell, the town of Edo was once again plunged into darkness.

Seeing that the town was finally free of fire, and listening to the report from the page behind him, Tokugawa Iemochi's tense face finally began to relax.

"It's finally out... I need the town's fire department to quickly compile statistics on the damage, how many people died, how many houses were burned down, I need to get an accurate number."

"Yes!"

"Alright, you can leave now."

The young woman lowered her head, then loudly replied "Yes," before quickly but politely leaving the room.

As soon as the young man left, Tenshōin, who had been standing next to Tokugawa Iemochi, smiled slightly.

"...Shogun." Tenshōin asked in her beautiful, ethereal voice, "That's wonderful, the fire in the town has finally been extinguished."

Tokugawa Iemochi gave a weary, bitter smile: "What a long night..."

Edo Castle, the residence of the shogun, was located in the center of Edo. No major disturbances in the town of Edo could escape the watchful eyes of Edo Castle.

When flames rose from various towns and cities in Edo, such as Fumio, Edo Castle was the first to detect this anomaly.

Although Edo Castle was surrounded by a wide moat, no one could be careless in the face of a fire.

Two hundred years ago, the "Meireki Fire," which burned two-thirds of Edo to ruins, reached Edo Castle, destroying the castle tower, which was the tallest in the country at the time.

Although there was little wind tonight, and there was a good chance of stopping the fire from getting out of control if we acted quickly, the simultaneous fires in so many places were still quite alarming. As a precaution, the officials in Edo Castle who were responsible for serving Tokugawa Iemochi ultimately decided to escort him to a safe place.

At that time, Tokugawa Iemochi had already fallen asleep. His servants urgently woke him up, intending to take him through the tunnels to temporarily escape from Edo Castle.

After waking up groggily and figuring out what had happened, Tokugawa Iemochi's face hardened.

“How ridiculous! As the Shogun, how could I flee in disarray before the fire in the castle town was even completely out of control? Wouldn’t that make me a laughingstock?” After sternly rebuking those who advised him to leave Edo Castle temporarily, Tokugawa Iemochi insisted on staying.

Tenshōin also requested to stay in Edo Castle: "The fire is so small, it's far from the point where we need to leave through the tunnels."

After dressing, Tokugawa Iemochi and Tenshōin climbed the Fujimi-yagura, the tallest building in Edo Castle, which, on a clear day, offers a panoramic view of Mount Fuji and the entire Edo city.

While monitoring the firefighting efforts in real time from inside the tallest building in Edo Castle, he also personally issued a mobilization order: conscripting fire-fighting thieves and other troops to participate in the firefighting.

Tokugawa Iemochi's mobilization order played a significant role.

Although the Fire Thieves and other units do not have very professional firefighting skills, they are still capable of helping guide the townspeople to safety and helping to demolish houses.

The addition of personnel brought in by Tokugawa Iemochi greatly reduced the pressure on the town firefighters in Edo.

With the help of both favorable timing and favorable human factors, the town fire was finally extinguished.

The tension that had been building up finally eased... Tokugawa Iemochi suddenly felt a wave of exhaustion wash over him.

But now is not the time to relax and rest.

Tokugawa Iemochi raised his hand, pressed hard on his temples, and said in a deep voice, "Afterwards... we need to have the people from the Fire Thieves Bureau investigate thoroughly who is so bold as to dare to set fire to the town..."

Fire-treasure Thieves – A special security force in Edo.

The initial function of this special unit was to specifically arrest thieves and arsonists.

However, as time passed and after several reorganizations, their actual function gradually evolved into handling various serious and major cases, and arresting vicious criminals on behalf of the Edo Magistrate's Office who were no longer cases that the Magistrate's Office could handle on its own.

In short—they catch the criminals that the officers of the magistrate's office can't catch! They crack down on the criminal gangs that the officers of the magistrate's office struggle to crack down on! They can handle what the magistrate's office can't, and they can handle even more of what the magistrate's office can.

Under his command was the Sentegumi, a crucial armed force in the Shogunate's military system.

The Vanguard Group was a long-established vanguard force, primarily equipped with ranged weapons such as bows and arrows and muskets. They fought for the Tokugawa clan on numerous occasions and made countless contributions to the Edo Shogunate.

In other words, the combat power and equipment that the Fire Thief can utilize are far superior to those of the Magistrate.

The magistrate's office can only use various cold weapons, while the fire-wielding thieves can gather a large number of bows and arrows, firearms, and even warhorses.

Therefore, the actual role of the Fire Thief is similar to that of the 21st-century police force.

Nominally a law enforcement organization, it was actually an army, one of the most important and powerful standing armies of the shogunate.

Even a fool could see that tonight's fire was definitely arson!

How could it be such a coincidence that so many towns and cities caught fire at the same time!

Tokugawa Iemochi is really getting popular now.

Setting fire to Edo... outrageous! It's utterly disregarding the lives of millions in Edo!

If the tragedy of the Mingli fire were to repeat itself, who knows how many people would perish in the flames!

At this moment, Tokugawa Iemochi had secretly made up his mind—no matter what, he must find and severely punish the thieves who set fire tonight!

Standing beside Tokugawa Iemochi, Tenshōin's expression turned serious after hearing Tokugawa Iemochi's resolute murmur.

Like Tokugawa Iemochi, she was quite angry about the fact that someone had set fires all over Edo tonight.

Just then, an announcement suddenly rang out from outside the room:

"General! There is an urgent order from the magistrate's office!"

The person who made the announcement was none other than the young man who had just left the room.

"An urgent order from the magistrate's office?" Tokugawa Iemochi frowned. "Come in!"

With a whoosh, the door was opened, and the young man returned to Tokugawa Iemochi and his men.