I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

"I've never noticed you before."

"Looks like I'll have to be more careful from now on..."

"Besides having improved perception... my strength has also increased considerably."

"Hehehe, I never imagined... even I can hardly predict what level this young man will reach or what achievements he will attain in the future..."

After chuckling self-deprecatingly a few times, the mysterious man suddenly noticed that his Western-style cloak was covered in dust—it must have gotten there from somewhere while he was trying to escape Qing Deng and Kinoshita Mai's pursuit.

To make it easier to remove the dust, the mysterious man ripped off his cloak.

The cloak slipped off... and the mysterious man's face and figure were finally revealed.

Also visible beneath the cloak was the knife carried on the mysterious man's back.

A knife with a purple and black hilt and scabbard.

……

……

An unidentified group was found to be stockpiling large quantities of kerosene in Edo City… Such a shocking matter naturally received the magistrate's utmost attention.

With the help of Aoto and Kinoshita Mai, Inugaya and his gang arrested the people with birthmarks. The magistrate's office immediately threw them into the prison and ordered the prison guards in charge of interrogation to torture them severely without any leniency, so as to extract information from them as quickly as possible.

Thus, tortures such as stone-hugging, sea-head torture, and hanging torture, which would make the victim wish for death, were all inflicted on people with birthmarks.

These methods of punishment and torture are truly a perfect blend of human malice towards one's fellow human beings and human imagination.

In less than half a day, the people with birthmarks, who had been tortured to the point of wishing they were dead, revealed everything they knew.

It turns out they weren't members of the Expulsion of Barbarians Group at all, nor were they members of any "radical anti-barbarian" organization.

They were a group of smugglers.

They accepted a commission from a man who called himself "Saburo" to "help purchase a large quantity of kerosene." They acquired a large quantity of kerosene from Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, and other places in the Kansai region and transported it to Edo by sea.

The abandoned teahouse that Kinoshita Mai discovered was the "temporary warehouse" that the people with birthmarks had occupied specifically to store their goods.

As smugglers, the man with the birthmark has always adhered to the principle of "only caring about money" and "not asking customers any unnecessary questions".

So the man with the birthmark had no idea who Sanlang was or what he was planning to do with such a large quantity of kerosene—he only knew that Sanlang was giving him so much that he accepted the task of “helping to purchase kerosene” without hesitation.

The agreed-upon delivery method between him and Saburo was to exchange money and goods at the foot of a small hill in the eastern suburbs of Edo on April 25th.

Having obtained such important intelligence, the magistrate immediately organized a team and rushed to the delivery location agreed upon by the person with the birthmark and Saburo.

However... even after staking out the location until April 27th, they still couldn't catch any suspicious individuals...

Presumably, the forces backing that Saburo had received the news in time and learned that the people with birthmarks and others had been captured by the Magistrate's Office, so they stopped in time, leaving the Magistrate's Office empty-handed.

Since we couldn't catch Saburo at their delivery site... we'll have to change our pursuit methods!

The magistrate and the thieves, working together, swiftly made the following arrangements:

1. Investigate all oil merchants in Edo and find out if anyone has recently purchased large quantities of oil.

2. A citywide search is underway to determine if any other locations are still stockpiling kerosene, and the public is encouraged to report any suspicious sites.

Someone is buying large quantities of kerosene... This is enough to keep even high-ranking officials in the magistrate's office and the fire-fighting thieves' office up at night...

Qing Deng and his fellow "third-time" warriors were busy again.

Although both the magistrate's office and the fire-fighting thieves were taking this "oil purchase incident" very seriously and investing a great deal of effort and resources, the investigation was still progressing quite slowly...

The administration's management of its subordinates has always been quite poor.

The Edo South and North Magistrate Offices had to rely on the assistance of "townspeople's self-governing organizations" to barely manage Edo effectively... Regardless of anything else, the very system that required the assistance of other organizations to govern Edo meant that expecting the South and North Magistrate Offices to have simple and efficient administrative efficiency was simply asking too much of them...

More than ten days have passed, and the whereabouts of the kerosene in Edo are still unclear, as well as who exactly purchased large quantities of kerosene...

Although the people with birthmarks and others didn't provide the magistrate with much useful information, they did accomplish one thing—they made the names of Neko-sō and Koko-sō even more famous.

Recently, the common people of Edo have been discussing the pair of phantom thieves who, in a very short time, once again punished the wicked and made outstanding contributions to the peace of Edo.

Many people praised the righteous deeds of Cat Monk and Fox Monk. If it weren't for their help in finding and defeating the people with birthmarks, the inefficient magistrate's office might never have discovered that someone was hoarding kerosene.

Of course, some people were complaining: Although the cat monk and the fox monk both have the title of "phantom thief", their recent actions, such as cracking down on the human-slaying group and finding out that someone was hoarding kerosene, are completely unrelated to their "phantom thief" title!

This "Storing Kerosene Incident" marks the second time that the name Fox Monk has resonated in the city, and it also marks the second time that the phantom thieves, Cat Monk and Fox Monk, have appeared in the public eye in a cooperative manner.

The public naturally paid more attention to Fox Monk, this "newcomer".

Many people began to speculate wildly: what exactly is the relationship between this fox monk and the cat monk?

For a time, various opinions were rampant.

Some say that the fox monk and the cat monk are master and servant...

Some say that Fox Monk and Cat Monk are just like-minded comrades...

Some say that the fox monk and the cat monk are a married couple...

Qing Deng simply laughed off these ridiculous rumors.

Time slipped away little by little.

April has passed in the blink of an eye.

May has arrived.

……

……

The first year of Wanyan (1860), December 5th——

Edo, Koishikawa Kohinata Yanagi Town, Test Guard Hall——

The Shie-e-gwan (Test Guard Hall) is quite lively today.

Outside the hall, Okita pried open the paper sliding door beside him a little more, and then, together with Aoto, the two of them carried a huge shelf into the hall.

Because the shelf was only slightly narrower than the paper sliding door, Aoto and Okita moved it very carefully to avoid damaging it.

After carefully placing the shelf at the north end of the hall, Okita put his left hand on his hip and raised his right hand to wipe the fine sweat from his forehead: "Alright... let's arrange the dolls, armor, and weapons now. Tachibana-kun, wait here for a moment, I'll go get the dolls."

Before he finished speaking, Okita rushed out of the hall and returned shortly afterward with a large box.

Inside the box, neatly arranged were all sorts of strange dolls, as well as a set of miniature armor and a miniature katana.

Okita beckoned to Aoto, gesturing for him to come over and help arrange the items from the box onto the shelf one by one, while grinning and asking Aoto in return:

"Ju-kun, would you like to go to the kitchen later and help your auntie wrap zongzi?"

“Sure,” Qingdeng laughed without hesitation. “Anyway, I’m on vacation today and have plenty of free time.”

Today is May 5th, the Dragon Boat Festival.

Japan also celebrates the Dragon Boat Festival. During the Edo period, the Dragon Boat Festival was one of the most important festivals, and together with the Human Day Festival, the Shangsi Festival, the Tanabata Festival, and the Double Ninth Festival, it was collectively known as the "Five Festivals".

The Dragon Boat Festival was introduced to Japan from China after the Heian period (794-1192).

Upon its introduction, it quickly integrated with Japanese culture, developing various customs unique to Japan.

Since ancient times, an important activity of the Dragon Boat Festival has been to place calamus, which is believed to ward off evil spirits, at the door.

Placing calamus at the door is one of the most important customs of the Dragon Boat Festival, so the Dragon Boat Festival is also known as the "Calamus Festival".

In Japan, calamus has other meanings besides warding off evil spirits.

Because the pronunciation of calamus in Japanese is similar to "martial spirit," and the leaves of calamus also resemble samurai swords, the Dragon Boat Festival holds special significance in the eyes of samurai families.

Gradually, the Wu family associated the Dragon Boat Festival with celebrating the growth of the family's boys.

By the time of the Edo period, the Japanese Dragon Boat Festival had acquired additional characteristics as a "boys' festival," and its customs were completely different from those in China, making it essentially a separate event from the Chinese Dragon Boat Festival.

On the Dragon Boat Festival, samurai families would set up shelves inside their homes that resembled decorative dolls, displaying figurines of Sakata Kintoki, Emperor Jimmu, Zhong Kui from China, small suits of armor, weapons, and flags. They would also offer rice dumplings and kashiwa mochi (a type of rice cake) to pray for the healthy growth of the boys in their families and for them to achieve great things on the battlefield in the future.

On this day, real flags and carp flags symbolizing success and leaping over the dragon gate are also hung outside the house and in the courtyard.

Within five days starting from the Dragon Boat Festival, women would also make flower balls filled with fragrant herbs to ward off evil spirits. These sachets, called "medicinal jade," would all be hung on the duck-shaped roof of the house.

However, although the Dragon Boat Festival in China and Japan are now completely different festivals, there are still a few customs that are shared.

For example, people will wrap and eat zongzi on this day.

The family has a big boy named Kondo Isami, and they hold a grand celebration every Dragon Boat Festival.

The Test Guard Hall is closed for the day today, and everyone is mobilized to start decorating it.

The Edo Shogunate had a rule that all government officials were entitled to a day off during the "Gogo Festival".

However, after the "oil storage incident," an extremely tense atmosphere permeated the entire bureau.

It's rather inappropriate to give all staff of the Fengxing Office three days off before the "oil storage incident" has been fully investigated.

After much deliberation, the higher-ups decided to use a lottery system to give half of the staff a day off on the Dragon Boat Festival, while the other half would be given a later arrangement.

Qing Deng was quite lucky: he drew the fortune slip that said "take a day off for the Dragon Boat Festival", so he got a long-awaited day off today.

At the urging of Shusuke and Abhi, Aoto, Saito, Nagakura, Harada, and the other guests currently living at Shieikan also joined in decorating Shieikan.

Aoto and Okita were in charge of setting up the display stands and the dolls in the hall.

Kondo, Saito, Nagakura, and Harada were responsible for planting irises, hanging flags, and carp streamers on the gate of the Shieikan.

By the way—Hijikata didn't come to the Shieikan today.

According to Okita, during these important holidays, Hijikata is always busy with his girlfriends, so he is rarely seen.

While Aoto and Okita were meticulously placing the dolls on the shelves in the hall, the area outside the Shieikan was bustling with activity.

"Nagakura, stand back a little more. It should look a bit better if you hang the carp streamers there," Harada, who was standing outside the gate of the Shieikan, ordered Nagakura.

"Here?" Nagakura, who was standing inside the gate, held three carp streamers and took a half step back.

"Hmm...we need to stand a little further back."

"here?"

"...Move a little more to the left."

"The left side? Here?"

"I feel like you need to stand a little further back."

"Where exactly are you going to stand?! Are you even capable of this?!"