I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

"It's a foreigner," the man said calmly.

"In that case, you can stay in this cage a little longer."

As soon as Fan Shi finished speaking, Kimura's face turned deathly pale, as if he had heard the whispers of a demon.

"Hey! Wait a minute! Wait a minute!"

Kimura spoke incoherently and in a panic.

"Please! Please! Let me out! I can't take it anymore! Please!"

From the time Kimura was locked in the specially made cage for "standing torture" until now, only a little over 5 hours have passed.

In such a short time, Kimura had completely lost all traces of his unruly nature.

In order to get out of the cage, he even humbled himself and begged the barbarian for mercy.

This shows just how powerful the "standing punishment" was.

Ignoring Kimura's pleas, Fan Shi strode out of the interrogation room without the slightest hesitation.

As the iron gate closed, darkness once again enveloped Kimura.

"hateful……"

Kimura gritted his teeth.

"Could it be... that we've really been exposed...? No way..."

He murmured in a voice only he could hear, his head drooping listlessly...

……

At this very moment, the interrogations of others are also taking place simultaneously.

……

The interrogation room where Tsuchida Masayoshi was held—

"I swear to God... I'm truly innocent... I don't know anything! I really don't know anything! Please! Please! Let me go!"

Tsuchida spoke in a low, almost tearful voice.

……

The interrogation room that houses Nobuyoshi Kazama—

"Gulp! Kill me! A scholar can be killed but not humiliated!"

Kazama raised his head, striking a pose of magnanimity, seemingly unafraid of death.

……

The interrogation room that housed Motozo Hisaka—

"Huff...huff...huff...huff...huff..."

His chest heaved violently like a bellows, he was sweating profusely, and his breathing was erratic.

Of all the squad leaders in the Fire Thieves' Reform, Hisaka has the worst individual abilities, being neither good at academics nor martial arts. He's an incompetent person to begin with, and to make matters worse, he's also jealous and resentful.

Even Kimura Kazuma, who regularly practices martial arts, couldn't withstand the torture of "standing punishment," let alone Hisaka, whose physical fitness was at best at the level of an "ordinary middle-aged person."

About two hours earlier, Hisaka's muscles were sore and trembling, and his face and lips were frighteningly pale.

"Hisaka Genzo, were you directly or indirectly involved in the arson case at the Kodenma Town prison, the theft of Tachibana Aoto's sword, and the massacre of the Akabane family? Is that right or wrong?"

"I...I...I don't know anything..."

"Hisaka said softly to his toes."

"I see..."

After coldly leaving behind this brief statement, Fan Shi turned to leave.

Seeing this, Hisaka quickly pleaded:

"Wait, wait a minute! I'm not lying! I really don't know anything! How could I possibly do something that knowingly breaks the law! Please, even just for a moment, let me out of the cage, my back and legs are about to break!"

Fanshi ignored Hisaka's pleas for mercy and continued walking out of the interrogation room.

Hisaka stared blankly at the retreating figure of the monk. Despair, pain, hesitation... a mix of negative emotions clung to his face.

—Do we want to stay in this cage any longer?!

Upon realizing this, Hisaka's body trembled violently like a withered leaf in the wind.

A light called "fear" flickered repeatedly in his eyes.

Just as Fan Shi was about to push open the iron gate and leave, all the negative emotions on his face mixed into a look of self-abandonment.

"Wait! Don't go! I'll confess! I'll confess! I'll confess everything!"

The gaze that had been fixed on the back of the man instantly fell to the ground. Then, his shoulders began to tremble, making him look like a defeated rooster.

“You… those cases you mentioned… I… Kazuma Kimura and I… were indirectly involved in them…”

……

……

Upon learning that Hisaka had confessed, Aoto, accompanied by Tenshōin, immediately rushed to the interrogation room where Hisaka was being held.

Upon arriving at his destination, he saw Hisaka being dragged out of his cage and slumped on the ground as if he had lost his soul.

To prevent Hisaka from recognizing him, Aoto covered his face with a cloth and kept his voice extremely low and deep.

"Hisaka Genzo, speak."

Qingdeng didn't waste any words and went straight to the point.

"How did you and Kazuma Kimura indirectly become involved in cases such as the 'Akabane family massacre'?"

Hisaka's emotions were visibly unstable, and he spoke incoherently:

“More than four months ago… around the time when Tachibana Aoto officially took office as the new captain of the Third Division… Kimura suddenly approached me and said that he had partnered with a group that really hated Tachibana Aoto… He was going to join forces with that group to deal with Tachibana Aoto…”

"Then... Kimura asked me if I wanted to join in and work together to stop Tachibana Aoto from being so arrogant and rampant..."

"I really disliked Tachibana Aoto at the time... so I agreed without thinking too much about it..."

"So, just like that... that group that claimed to hate Tachibana Aoto so much... formed an 'alliance' with me and Kimura with the sole purpose of 'ruining Tachibana Aoto's reputation'..."

"However, not long after the 'alliance' was formed, that group went into semi-disappearance... They only occasionally sent people to contact me and Kimura, and they didn't mention much about the persecution of Tachibana Aoto..."

"One by one, until recently... on the day Tachibana Aoto was imprisoned, they suddenly approached Kimura and me, asking us to provide an interior map of the Kodenma Town prison residence."

"For Kimura and me, who are both captains of the Fire Thieves Division, getting an interior map of the Kodenma Town Prison House is certainly not a difficult task."

"But I find it strange: what would they need this kind of thing for?"

“I didn’t want to agree to their request… but Kimura took it upon himself to accept their demands in full, obtained an interior map of the Kodenma Town prison from the archives of the thieves, and then handed it over to them.”

"Then...that very night...the prison house in Kodenma Town caught fire..."

"Two days later, those people came to me and Kimura again... This time, they asked us to provide an indoor map of the Hokuban Police Station."

"Anyone with a sound mind should be able to tell that these guys are no good...!"

"On the very day they asked me and Kimura for the interior map of the Kodenma Town Prison House, the Kodenma Town Prison House caught fire... What a coincidence!"

"Now they're asking us for maps of the Northern Barbarian Garrison... God knows what they're planning to do next!"

"I do hate Tachibana Seiden, but I never intended to kill or commit arson because of it! I admit I'm a terrible man! But my character is far from being so wicked as to enjoy killing innocent people!"

"However... I never expected that Kimura would act on his own again! Without saying a word, he handed over the indoor map of the North Division to the other party."

"Then... on the very night Kimura presented the painting, Tachibana Aoto's sword, which was being kept at the Hokuban-sho (Northern Defense Post), was stolen..."

"After that, those guys never came looking for me and Kimura again..."

Although Hisaka's words were quite fragmented and difficult to understand, Aoto still managed to piece together the general outline of what had happened.

"I see... In short: there is a mysterious group that seems to have a deep-seated hatred for Tachibana Seito, and it is behind all of this."

Hisaka nodded vigorously.

"Yes! That's right! That's exactly it!"

As I suspected... I guessed right. There really is an unknown force secretly hunting me down. Qing Deng thought to himself.

Do you know where that mysterious group lives?

Hisaka shook his head vigorously.

"I have no idea……"

I think so too… Qingdeng thought to himself as he continued to ask:

"You just said that the mysterious group occasionally sends people to contact you and Kimura. If that's the case, you must have a regular meeting place or a common intermediary, right?"

"Yes, there are indeed commonly used meeting places..."

At this point, Hisaka paused.

As if ashamed to speak, an embarrassed look appeared on his cheeks at a visible speed.

"Since you have a regular meeting place, tell me quickly!"

Under the pressure of Aoto's sharp gaze, Hisaka finally stammered and spoke again:

"Our usual meeting place... is the Senka-ya in Yoshiwara..."

"Yoshiwara?" Qing Deng's brow twitched suddenly.

Tenshōin, who had remained silent since accompanying Aoto into the interrogation room, suddenly spoke:

"...You guys have a good eye for picking locations."

As he said this, Tenshōin curled his lips into a mocking smile.

Hisaka, whose face was filled with unbearable embarrassment, silently lowered his head, staring at the ground in front of his knees, too ashamed to look at anyone.

Yoshiwara—even the most rural villagers living in remote mountain villages know its famous name: "Edo's No. 1 money-burning den" and "Japan's No. 1 red-light district"!

"Yoshiwara...?" Aoto muttered, "Next... are we going to this place...?"

*******