I assembled the strongest swordsman group

So, without any hesitation, Qing Deng's sharp eyes left a blur as he sped along.

He used all his strength to rush towards the girls.

Seeing Aoto suddenly run towards the girl, Saito paused for a moment before quickly following.

When Aoto started running, he was 5 steps away from Kinoshita Mai and the others.

The distance between the two samurai and Kinoshita Mai and the others... was four steps.

The distance between the two sides and the girls was almost equal.

Whether Qing Deng rescued the girls first, or whether the two men's knives struck the girl first... the outcome would be clear in an instant.

After running to within two steps of the girls, Qing Deng pushed off with both feet, leaped into the air, and pounced on them.

At the same time, the two samurai moved to a position where their swords could strike Kinoshita Mai and the others, and brought their swords down heavily...

Qing Deng raised his left arm and pulled all three women into his arms.

Fortunately, both Kinoshita Mai and the masked girl were petite, so although it was a bit of a struggle, they could still hug all three of them in one go without any problem.

The unique suppleness and softness of the young girl's skin flowed continuously into Qing Deng's left arm and chest.

From Aoto's timely return to provide assistance to carrying away Kinoshita Mai and the others, only a little over a second had passed.

Because Aoto returned to help so quickly, and because they hadn't expected him to come back to help them, Kinoshita Mai and the others looked at Aoto who "carried" them away with surprise.

Because he was in a hurry to rescue the girls, Qing Deng used more force in his lunge.

The excessive force not only startled the girls, but also caused the masked girl's mask, which she had been wearing, to fall off her face...

A dark red tengu mask flew off the girl's face and flew towards the ground in the distance.

Also knocked off was the headscarf on the masked girl's head...

Using the momentum from his lunge, Qingdeng rolled to the side.

Of course, Qing Deng didn't just do nothing but lead the girls to escape.

The two samurai who ambushed the girls both had striking appearances that drew attention.

A person has five very noticeable moles on the corner of their mouth.

The other person had a large, ugly red birthmark on their left forehead.

As Qing Deng reached out his left hand and pulled the girls into his arms, he raised his right hand and slashed at one of the two samurai—the "big mole man" with many large moles on his face.

puff.

puff.

The sound of two blades slicing into flesh rang out simultaneously.

Qingdeng's timely rescue saved the girls from disaster.

The two samurai who launched a sneak attack on the girl, the "birthmark man" only managed to hit air with his sword.

The "big mole man's" knife did hit something—but not the girls; it struck Qing Deng's right thigh.

The knife tip pierced Qingdeng's right thigh, cutting a gash.

Beads of blood, the size of soybeans, seeped out from the opening.

Despite sustaining a leg injury, Qing Deng retaliated with a vicious blow.

As Qing Deng rescued the girl, his slash landed squarely on the man with the large mole.

Qing Deng's attack was much more ruthless.

The blade sliced ​​upwards into the "man with the big mole's" right knee, shattering his kneecap.

A piercing scream erupted from his throat.

Saito, who had just started running half a step ahead, arrived at this moment.

Saito attacked the "big mole man" whose leg had already been crippled by Aoto, with a dragging sword stance.

This person is quite capable.

Despite having his right knee shattered by Aoto and losing a leg, he still managed to block Saito's attack.

As Saito swung the knife upwards toward his abdomen, "Big Mole Man" swiftly parried Saito's attack with a horizontal slash, blocking the blade with a clang.

Unfortunately... he only demonstrated such a swift and precise defense once.

With only one leg left to exert force, he was no match for Saito.

Saito pushed forward forcefully, and the "man with the big mole" fell backward, clutching the knife that had been deflected.

The postures are already chaotic, the outcome is already decided.

Saito swung his sword horizontally, severing the "big mole man's" throat.

Back to Aoto—as Saito attacked the samurai whose right knee he had shattered, he and the girl landed safely.

"Hey, are any of you hurt...?!"

Qingdeng, who was holding the girl in his arms, landed back on the ground with his left shoulder touching the ground, and immediately asked the girls if they were injured.

As his gaze shifted downwards and landed on the girl, Qing Deng's remaining words immediately turned into a surprised exclamation.

Rolling...rolling...rolling...

The Tengu mask that had been knocked off by Qing Deng's lunge finally came to a stop after rolling a few times on the ground due to inertia.

The headscarf, which had been knocked away along with the mask, then fell back to the ground.

Without the Tengu mask and headscarf to conceal her face, Qing Deng was finally able to see the girl's hair and features.

Sky blue... The first thing that caught Qingdeng's eye was the extremely beautiful sky blue.

The girl's eyes were not black, but a clear sky blue like a sunny summer day.

A beautiful pale gold followed closely behind the sky blue and appeared in Qingdeng's eyes.

What had been hidden under the headscarf was a head of light golden curls that now cascaded down like a waterfall.

The girl's features were well-defined, with clear and deep lines at the inner corners of her eyes, and a straight and prominent nose bridge that extended from her brow...

Blonde hair, blue eyes, and sculpted features... these are not physical characteristics typically found in people from East Asia.

—Europeans and Americans?

Qing Deng stared in astonishment at the Western girl in his arms.

The Western girl in his arms also opened her sapphire-like eyes wide, looking at Qing Deng with a gaze that was a mixture of doubt, confusion and other emotions.

After Saito killed the "man with the big mole" whose leg had been crippled by Aoto, the remaining "man with the birthmark" now seemed to have no will to fight.

He screamed in terror as he turned to run away.

Before he could even escape a few steps—

"Quick! Quick! Grab this person! Grab this person!"

Suddenly, a plump, fair-skinned samurai led a dozen or so men out from a nearby street corner.

The plump, fair-skinned warrior was wiping the sweat from his face with a towel in one hand, while waving his other hand to direct his men behind him.

The fat, white warrior split his warriors into two groups.

A group of people surrounded and captured the "birthmarked man" who was trying to escape.

Another group surrounded Aoto, Saito, and the three women still being held in Aoto's arms.

In the blink of an eye, the "birthmarked man" who had failed to ambush the girl and was trying to escape was pinned to the ground, letting out pig-like screams and pleas for mercy.

As this person was being pinned down, the encirclement of Qing Deng and his group was completed.

"If you don't want to die, put down your weapons! Let go of these three girls!" the chubby white warrior roared at Qing and Zhai.

*******

*******

It has been decided that this book will be available for purchase next Tuesday, May 24th at 12 noon.

Please be sure to give me a first order to support me! QAQ

Chapter 67 Hozoin-ryu Spear Technique, Suehiro Moritoyo

Saito gripped his sword tightly, frowned, and glanced left and right at the group of samurai who had surrounded him and Aoto.

Qingdeng's brows furrowed at this moment.

He raised his knife, helped the three women in his arms to their feet, and asked, "...Who are you people?"

The chubby samurai, who had been quite aggressive, immediately froze when he saw the Edo Magistrate's Office inro on Qing Deng's right waist and the jitte with a red tassel: "Hmm? Are you the 'Sanji' of the Edo Magistrate's Office?"

"Mr. Komuro!"

At this moment, Kinoshita Mai was the first to step forward.

She spread her arms and blocked Qingdeng's way.

"You've misunderstood! These two gentlemen are not bad people!"

The Western girl then pressed down on Kinoshita Mai, saying, "Yes! You've misunderstood! These two gentlemen just saved us! They're not bad people!"

The girl clearly has the face of a typical Western girl, yet she can speak such fluent and standard Japanese...

Her accent was so standard that, without looking at her face, it would be hard to imagine that this was Japanese spoken by a foreigner.

The plump, white samurai known as "Komuro" looked at Kinoshita Mai with surprise, then at the Western girl, before finally turning his scrutinizing gaze back to Aoto...

"...I'm sorry, it seems I misunderstood. I mistook you for thieves who were trying to harm Miss Angoulême and the others. I'm so sorry." Komuro apologized to Aoto in a deep voice while waving his hand to his subordinates around him.

Reminded by Komuro's hand gesture, the samurai who were surrounding Ao and Sai all sheathed their swords or removed their hands from the hilts.

The tense atmosphere that had been hanging in the air instantly dissipated.

Although Komuro and the others had put aside their hostility, Saito still held his sword and stood guard closely in front of Aoto.

"...Tachibana, is your leg alright?" Saito glanced at Aoto's leg, which he was protecting behind him, out of the corner of his eye.

"It's nothing, just a minor injury. When I was learning to cook, I cut my hand much deeper than this." Qingdeng lowered his eyes and looked at his right leg, which had just been slashed.

The wound wasn't deep, but it wasn't shallow either. Blood flowing from the wound had already trickled down his leg, onto the back of his right foot, and onto the ground.

The leg issue can be dealt with later.

The most important thing right now is to negotiate with these people speaking in Osaka dialect and figure out what's really going on.

Aoto transferred the sword from his right hand to his left, pressing his right hand against the wound on his leg: "I am Tachibana Aoto, from the Edo Hokuban-sho-cho Doshin. May I ask who you are?"

"I am Komuro Chuichiro, a servant of the Osaka Castle Governor." Komuro lifted the lower right hem of his haori, revealing an Osaka Prefecture inro hanging on his right waist.

People from Osaka Castle?

Qingdeng frowned slightly.

He opened his mouth, about to begin further negotiations with Komuro—

"Young Master, Miss Angoulême, Miss Leroy, we've finally found you."

An aged voice drifted faintly from a distance behind the small room.

An elderly man who looked to be 8 or 90 years old, wearing glasses, walked slowly towards Qingdeng and his group.

"Mr. Kiryu...?" Aoto murmured the old man's name unconsciously.

The old man was the one who introduced Aoto to the Shieikan, the job placement agency: the owner of Senjiya—Kiryu Kazuma.

"Whoa..." Kiryu then noticed Aoto and Saito within the encirclement. "I remember... you're Tachibana-kun, who visited our shop just a few days ago, right? What are you doing here?"

"Mr. Kiryu!" Kinoshita Mai's face immediately lit up with excitement upon seeing Kiryu.

However, after her initial excitement subsided, Kinoshita Mai seemed to remember something, her excited expression froze, and she shrank back.

"...Young Master." The eyes behind Kiryu's glasses looked at Kinoshita Mai with a meaningful gaze. "Later...you'll have to explain to me properly how you ran away with Miss Angoulême and Miss Leroy."

……

……

On an inconspicuous hillside not far from Fujisawa-juku—