I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

Anthony huffed and puffed as he followed closely behind Elodie and Leroy, casting a surprised glance at Qingdeng.

Saito, who was the first to fight alongside Aoto, knew Elodie and the others, while Nagakura, Harada, and Todo were meeting Elodie and the others for the first time.

“Mr. Tachibana,” Nagakura turned to Aoto and asked, “Do you know this pretty little girl?”

Elodie's appearance is significantly different from that of typical Western girls.

Although she also has deep-set features typical of Caucasians, the lines of her features are much softer than those of the average Western girl, and her frame is much smaller than that of the average Western girl.

This appearance, which combines both Western and Eastern beauty, made Yongcang, who was not used to Westerners' looks, have to admit that the little girl who had just called Qingdeng "Mr. Tachibana" was very pretty.

"Yes." Qingdeng nodded. "These are all people I know."

At this moment, Elodie finally ran up to Qingdeng.

"Mr. Orange, long time no see!" Elodie raised her little head and blinked her beautiful sky-blue eyes at Qingdeng. "What are you doing here?"

Before Qing Deng could answer Elodie's question, Anthony and Leroy both came to Elodie's left and right sides.

“Long time no see, Mr. Orange. What a coincidence to run into you here. What are you doing here?” Anthony asked the same question as his granddaughter.

Qing Deng smiled slightly and politely greeted Elodie and the others: "Mr. Angoulême, Miss Angoulême, Miss Leroy, it's been a long time."

"My colleagues and I are here to handle some official business."

After briefly addressing why he was there, Qingdeng countered with a question:

“Mr. Angoulême, are you... taking a walk around here?”

Qing Deng originally wanted to ask, "How did you end up here?", but just as he was about to say it, he suddenly realized that it was a rather foolish question. So he swallowed the question that was already on the tip of his tongue and asked instead, "Were you taking a walk around here?"

Elodie and his group were French and lived in this foreign settlement, so it wasn't surprising to run into them here.

Anthony chuckled a few times: "Yes, I finally had some free time today, so I went for a walk with Elodie."

"What a coincidence! I never expected to run into you at my doorstep on my way home from my walk."

"At your doorstep?" Qing Deng keenly noticed this word in Anthony's words, a word he couldn't ignore. "Mr. Angoulême, do you live around here?"

“Hmm? Yes.” Anthony nodded, then pointed, “That’s our home.”

Qingdeng looked in the direction Anthony was pointing.

Anthony was referring to a very new, three-story Western-style mansion.

Upon seeing the mansion, Qing Deng's eyes narrowed slightly, and his expression became somewhat strange.

Nagakura and Harada, two straightforward and somewhat stubborn individuals who didn't like to think, remained calm.

However, Saito and Todo, upon seeing the house Anthony pointed to, both remained expressionless, just like Aoto, and showed a thoughtful look.

The reason Qingdeng and the others acted this way was not because Anthony's house was particularly special in appearance.

Rather, it was because—Anthony and his family's house happened to be located diagonally opposite the pastry shop they wanted to monitor…

If you stand on the top floor of Anthony's house, you should be able to see everything happening in that pastry shop.

“…Mr. Anthony.” Qing Deng shifted his gaze from Anthony’s house back to Anthony himself, and said seriously, “I have a favor to ask…”

……

……

A moment later—

"Mr. Orange, welcome to my home!"

As soon as she led Qingdeng and the others into the entrance hall, Elodie shouted excitedly to them.

After passing through the exquisite gate and filing into Elodie's house, Nagakura and the others looked around with wide eyes, like Grandma Liu entering the Grand View Garden.

Every part of this house, both in its exterior and interior decoration, was a huge cultural shock for Nagakura and his companions.

Upon entering the house, Qing Deng, like Yong Cang and the others, widened his eyes in surprise. However, he was not shocked by the culture shock, as a time traveler would naturally not experience any culture shock. He was shocked by the exquisite and beautiful decoration of the house.

Upon entering the house, the first thing you see is a gray carpeted floor, a high grid ceiling with diamond-shaped arches, and white velvet walls covered with a considerable number of oil paintings, most of which are exquisite landscape paintings.

Led by Anthony, Elodie, and Leroy, as they headed up the stairs to the upper floor, Qingdeng and his companions passed through a spacious room that resembled a dining room.

Two chandeliers hang low above the long table in the dining room.

On the table covered with a white tablecloth, there were several candlesticks, mainly for decoration, and a few flowers that Qingdeng couldn't name—objects and places with exquisite arrangements like this long table were everywhere in this house.

The layout of this mansion felt "just right" to Qing Deng.

Everything was just right, neither too extravagant nor revealing the slightest hint of shabbyness.

—No wonder he's a businessman capable of conducting international business in this era…

Qingdeng silently praised Anthony in his heart for owning such a beautiful house.

Qing registered that Anthony, a merchant, specialized in what kind of business—reselling Japanese specialties back to the West.

Those who can conduct international business across oceans in this era are certainly not small businessmen lacking money, so it is quite reasonable for Anthony to own such a house.

“Mr. Angoulême,” Qing Deng couldn’t help but ask as they followed Anthony and the others up the stairs, “didn’t you hire any other servants?”

Qing Deng discovered that he hadn't seen anyone else since entering Anthony's house.

“I don’t have any other family members,” Anthony joked. “Currently, the family consists of just me, Elodie, and Leroy. I have no plans to add any new members anytime soon.”

"Leroy is very capable. She can keep this house and our clothes clean every day by herself, and she can also make sure that Elodie and I have delicious meals every day."

Upon hearing this, Qing Deng clicked his tongue in amazement, then secretly cast a glance of admiration at the taciturn maid whose face rarely showed any expression.

To single-handedly maintain the daily operation of this large house, which has a total area of ​​at least 300 square meters, and to take care of Anthony and Elodie's clothing and food... this ability is truly admirable.

After reaching the top floor of the house, Anthony led Qing Deng into a room with two bookshelves filled with various kinds of books.

"Mr. Ju, this is our study. Do you like this room?"

Qingdeng walked quickly to the window of the study and looked out—the pastry shop diagonally opposite was clearly visible.

“Hmm.” Qingdeng nodded in satisfaction. “This place is just right. Mr. Angoulême, thank you very much for your help.”

"Hahaha." Anthony waved his hand. "No need to thank me, it's just a small favor. Please make use of this room."

Just now, after discovering that Anthony's house was located diagonally opposite the pastry shop, Qing Deng asked Anthony: Could we borrow a room on the top floor of your house so that we could monitor the pastry shop?

After briefly explaining the general situation to Anthony, Anthony readily agreed, "No problem!"

Anthony was a man of great loyalty and affection. Faced with Qing Deng's request, which was not particularly difficult and for whom he had saved their lives, he nodded almost without hesitation.

After thanking Anthony, Qingdeng turned his gaze back to the pastry shop outside the window.

At that moment, Qing Deng suddenly heard Toudou's surprised sigh from his side and behind:

"Hmm? There's a ukiyo-e print hanging here."

Attracted by Todo's remark, Aoto and his group turned around.

On the east wall of the study, there was a ukiyo-e print the size of an A4 sheet of paper.

This ukiyo-e print is a landscape painting.

The background is a nighttime scene in Edo city.

Two men in black, one tall and one short, were speeding across a densely packed row of houses.

Of the two men in black, the shorter one wore a face mask, revealing only his eyes, while the taller one wore a black fox mask.

Upon seeing the two men in black depicted in the painting, Qing Deng's expression instantly became extremely strange.

“Oh, this one.” Anthony glanced at the painting hanging on the wall and smiled helplessly. “This is a painting that Elodie bought a few days ago.”

Qing Deng stood a little closer to the ukiyo-e print, carefully examining the two figures depicted in it: "Are these two people in the painting... Cat Monk and Fox Monk?"

As soon as Qingdeng finished speaking, Elodie quickly took two steps and stood beside him.

"Yes! It's Cat Monk and Fox Monk!"

After saying that, Elodie tilted her head back and looked at the painting on the wall with excitement. Her delicate face glowed with a rosy luster, and her skin had a fair and rosy color.

Qingdeng's expression became even stranger, but he quickly regained control of his facial expressions through self-discipline.

“Miss Elodie.” Qing Deng shifted his gaze from the painting depicting the fox monk and the cat monk… which was actually a painting of him and Kinoshita Mai, to Elodie beside him. “You… really like the cat monk and the fox monk?”

"Yes!" Elodie nodded vigorously, her eyes sparkling like twinkling stars, and her cheeks flushed even more. "I admire them both so much! I think they're amazing! They dared to stand up to those villains and maintain the peace of this city!"

Upon hearing the word "worship," Qing Deng's expression turned strange again. He couldn't help but twitch his lips. He quickly raised his hand, pretending to wipe the sweat from his lips, but actually trying to regain his composure after nearly losing control.

A few days ago, Aoto learned that merchandise featuring him and Kinoshita Mai had recently begun circulating in the streets of Edo...

As he and Kinoshita Mai, much like Batman in Gotham City, continued to strike down the villains of Edo, the popularity of "Neko-zo and Koko-zo" has soared to the point that many shrewd business people have started producing related merchandise, building upon Kinoshita Mai's existing popularity.

His signature mask, ukiyo-e prints depicting him and Kinoshita Mai... As far as Qing Deng knows, these items are selling very well.

Originally, Qingdeng didn't pay much attention to this matter.

He couldn't possibly swagger up to those merchants and say, "I am Fox Monk, pay me the copyright fee now."

Aside from being annoyed by these unscrupulous merchants who profit from his and Kinoshita Mai's names, Aoto didn't have the power to interfere with the merchandise related to him and Kinoshita Mai on the market.

To Aoto's utter surprise... he would find portraits of him and Kinoshita Mai at Elodie's house, who is also Kinoshita Mai's best friend, and even hear Elodie say that she admires them both...

At this moment, Qingdeng didn't know what kind of expression to wear.

Suddenly, Aoto really wanted to know if Kinoshita Mai knew about this, and what kind of expression she had when she first heard about it...

"I'm so sorry, Mr. Tachibana, you must have found this amusing."

Perhaps worried about the potential negative repercussions of loudly proclaiming his admiration for two phantom thieves who had recently become incredibly popular in Edo in front of a "sheriff" like Aoto, Anthony quickly walked over to Aoto's side while smiling apologetically.

"I don't know if it's because she's read too much Robin Hood, but Elodie really likes these two phantom thieves."

"While the recent deeds of Cat Monk and Fox Monk are indeed admirable, however..."

Anthony paused, considered his words, and then continued:

"Cat Monk has a very detailed record of thefts. He is a detestable thief who has stolen money from many people. He is definitely not someone worth admiring."

"Although there is no record of 'fox monk, who has only recently emerged, having participated in thefts with cat monk,' he is, after all, cat monk's partner. I guess that in cat monk's previous series of thefts, fox monk must have provided a lot of support behind the scenes."

As soon as Anthony finished speaking, Elodie, who had just been starry-eyed, immediately turned angry.

When Aoto heard Anthony call Kinoshita Mai a "hateful thief," a barely perceptible look of displeasure flashed in his eyes at the same moment, a look that neither he nor those around him noticed.

Qingdeng pursed his lips, then his lips moved as if he was about to say something to Anthony, but Elodie spoke first: