I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

……

……

—Kano Tatsugoro…

Qing Deng silently recited the name of the samurai who was rapidly approaching him, someone he had met once before and fought with.

In the previous "Battle of the Foreign Documents Exchange Center", Qing Deng had fought against Jin Ye, so Qing Deng was very clear about Jin Ye's strength.

Not daring to be careless, Qing Deng took two steps back, retreating to outside of Jin Ye's attack range.

Jinno's participation in the war immediately boosted the morale of the surviving members of the Extermination Group.

Their leader and strongest warrior personally took to the field... nothing could be more inspiring!

The battlefield has once again become noisy and fraught with danger!

Clang! Clang!

As Qing Deng received the two slashes from Jin Ye who followed closely behind, he was about to retaliate when he suddenly felt the approaching aura of a sharp blade on his left side. He had no choice but to abandon his counterattack and retreat to a distance from his original position.

As soon as Aoto stepped back, Kamino immediately stepped forward, returning to Aoto's side...

With Jinno joining the battle, Aoto suddenly felt as if a "giant boulder was pressing down on his shoulders".

Jinno is very strong... I had already experienced his strength at the Banshu Investigation Office before. Qing Deng had to use his "Lone Courage" to fight him to a 60/40 split, with Jinno at 60 and Qing Deng at 40.

For Qing Deng, whose strength is now far beyond what it was back then, he is naturally not afraid of fighting Jin Ye one-on-one... But the problem is that Qing Deng is not fighting one-on-one now, but in a group battle.

Jinno clung to Aoto like glue, launching a fierce attack on him.

Jinno held Aoto back from the front, while the others seized the opportunity to attack Aoto from all directions—this was the situation Aoto was currently facing.

Danger lurked everywhere... Because he was concentrating on dealing with Jinno in front of him, Qing Deng's left shoulder was just grazed by someone's knife tip, but fortunately the wound was not deep.

Despite the increased pressure on Aoto due to Kamino's participation in the war, Aoto did not feel any fear or panic.

He silently gripped the Ghost-Stabilizing Sword in his hand, preparing to fight the enemy with all his might.

"Wa ...

At this moment, a strangely shaped breathing sound rang out behind Qingdeng.

Just as Qingdeng was about to dodge—

Tap tap tap tap tap tap...!

Further behind Qingdeng, the sound of wooden clogs stomping rapidly on the ground could be heard.

As soon as the sound of wooden clogs hitting the ground reached his ears, Qing Deng's expression froze slightly, quickly turning from a stunned silence into a faint smile.

This was the sound of footsteps he had grown accustomed to.

These are the footsteps that, whenever he hears them, inexplicably put him in a good mood.

"Haa!"

A spirited and charming shout.

A vibrant splash of bright red caught everyone's eye.

A young girl in a bright red kimono delivered a flying kick to the samurai who was about to launch a sneak attack on Qing Deng from behind.

The hard, flat-bottomed wooden clogs rested squarely on the samurai's waist.

The sound of bones breaking mingled with the warrior's howl.

The samurai, who intended to ambush Qingdeng, ended up being the one being ambushed. He was kicked away and crashed into someone standing two steps away in his "flight path" before falling to the ground.

"Ugh...ugh...ugh..." he groaned, trying to get up by supporting himself with his hands, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get up.

The intrusion of the uninvited guests plunged the battlefield into brief chaos.

"Who goes there?!"

"woman?"

"Who is this woman?!"

……

The sudden appearance of the mysterious woman whose background was unknown caused everyone to instinctively retreat and create distance. Jinye also temporarily stopped attacking Qingdeng and looked at the woman in red who was now standing next to Qingdeng with suspicion.

Qing Deng, still holding the knife in both hands, turned his head to look at the red-clad girl who was slowly walking to his left side... and the smile on his face immediately deepened.

Before Qing Deng could say anything, the girl in red took a deep breath and shouted in a loud voice:

"Tachibana-kun! The magistrate's office and the large force of the thieves are coming soon! Oh, and the nearby town thieves are also on their way!"

Hearing the girl in red shout loudly, Qing Deng was stunned for a moment, then couldn't help but laugh.

"Yes, thank you for your hard work... and thank you too, Ms. Kinoshita."

The red-clad girl who made a dazzling entrance with a flying kick just now is none other than Kinoshita Mai.

Kinoshita Mai did not respond to Aoto's words of comfort and praise... She nervously examined Aoto, who was covered in blood, from head to toe.

"Tachibana-kun, are you alright?"

"It's nothing," Qingdeng said without hesitation. "Just a few shallow wounds that barely draw any blood."

Kinoshita Mai opened her alluring red lips, about to say something more to Aoto, when someone shouted and beat her to it.

"What's the panic! The words of a woman whose identity and background are unknown have made you waver?"

Jinno raised his head and shouted so loudly that several veins bulged on his neck.

Kinoshita Mai's shout just now was like a bolt from the blue for everyone in the Exile Group... including Kanna.

The magistrate's office and the large force of the fire-fighting thieves are coming soon... The former is alright, but the latter is truly intimidating.

The name "Fire Thief" is incredibly dangerous.

With the Edo Shogunate's rule weakened and samurai generally becoming useless, the Fire-Taken Thieves were one of the few remaining armed forces in the Edo Shogunate that still possessed some fighting power.

Regarding the combat power of the Fire Thief Modified... there's no need to say much else, just one point is enough—unlike the Magistrate's Office, which can only use cold weapons, the Fire Thief Modified is equipped with a large number of bows and muskets, and its ranged firepower alone is far superior to that of the Magistrate's Office.

Such an armed force is coming... Many people are now showing obvious signs of fear.

And this is exactly what Kinoshita Mai hoped to see.

Kinoshita Mai deliberately shouted "The Magistrate's Office and the thieves are coming!" at such a loud volume just now, precisely for this effect, to demoralize Jinno and the others.

Qing Deng couldn't help but laugh because he understood Kinoshita Mai's intentions.

As expected of the cat-boy who has caused headaches for the Southern and Northern Magistrates of Edo to this day, he has a mischievous heart beneath his shy and timid exterior.

Judging from the current situation, Kinoshita Mai has achieved her goal, and achieved it quite well.

Despite Kamino's stern rebuke, some people still wore expressions of surprise and uncertainty.

Qing Deng lowered his voice and asked Kinoshita Mai in a low voice, a voice only he and Kinoshita Mai could hear:

"Ms. Kinoshita, are the magistrate's men and the fire-fighting thieves really coming soon?"

"Hmm." Kinoshita Mai gently tapped her head. "I rushed to the North Camp as fast as I could and found that Inoya Hanjiro's men. I only came here after confirming that the government and the Fire Thieves Bureau were allocating manpower to prepare to go to the settlement."

At this point, Kinoshita Mai paused, then gave Aoto a reproachful look.

"Tachibana-kun, you're being way too reckless! Taking on so many people all by yourself... Aren't you afraid of dying?"

Upon hearing this, Qingdeng blurted out his thoughts without hesitation:

"Leaving aside the past, I'm no longer afraid of dying."

"Eh?"

Kinoshita Mai winked.

Her gaze conveyed to Qingdeng the meaning of "'Now you are no longer afraid of death'".

Sensing the message in Kinoshita Mai's gaze, Aoto smiled calmly.

"My reliable partner is here to help, so other people's knives shouldn't have any chance of touching me anymore."

Kinoshita Mai stared blankly at Aoto for a moment, then her expression turned to one of happiness, and finally she broke into a wide grin with her eyes crinkling into crescent moons.

Kinoshita Mai's smile added a warm touch to this blood-soaked battlefield.

Unfortunately, this bright spot didn't last long.

"Stop standing there like idiots! Follow me! Kill the traitor Tachibana Aoto and this woman!"

With a forceful swing of his sword, Kanno launched a new attack on the man and woman in front of him.

Seeing that Shinno had arrived, the surrounding crowd hesitated for a moment before rushing towards Aoto and Kinoshita Mai from all directions.

Regarding what Kinoshita Mai had just said... Jinno actually knew in his heart that it was very likely true!

As soon as he saw Qing Deng appear, Jin Ye had already predicted that the government was likely aware of the changes in the settlement.

However, in order to maintain morale, Jinno could only pretend to be stupid and loudly announce to his subordinates that "this woman is exaggerating."

Jinno himself remained unmoved by Kinoshita Mai's shout.

In any case, regardless of whether the government officials were coming or not, his plan to "kill Ju Qingdeng" would not change.

Aoto and Kinoshita Mai both turned their gazes away from each other and looked at the enemies surging towards them.

"Ms. Kinoshita."

Qingdeng quietly placed the "Stabilizing Ghosts and Gods" formation in front of him with the force of a rosy cloud.

"Could you please protect my back?"

Kinoshita Mai did not respond to Aoto's request.

She simply raised her gaze, smiled sweetly at Qingdeng, then turned around and stood behind him in a position where she was "back to back with Qingdeng." She then spread her legs, made a fist with her right hand in front and a palm with her left hand behind, and assumed a fighting stance.

Because their backs were pressed tightly together... Aoto could clearly feel the elasticity of Kinoshita Mai's skin and the heat of her body on his back.

The warmth emanating from Kinoshita Mai's back spread throughout Aoto's body, giving him a strange sense of security.

No.

To be honest... just now, when his field of vision was filled with bright red yukatas fluttering as he stood up and kicked, Qing Deng felt a strange sense of security.

Along with this sense of security came a... tingling, itchy feeling in my chest.