"...I am the one." Qingdeng said calmly, "Please give me your advice."

…

…

My grandson watched Qingdeng all the way until Qingdeng's figure had shrunk to the size of a mung bean, then he turned his attention back to the body in front of him.

"My grandson."

An old man, about 50 to 60 years old, with dark skin and wrinkles on his face, walked slowly over and crouched beside my grandson.

"Did you find any useful information from the body?"

"have."

My grandson nodded gently, raised his hand and pointed to the waist of the corpse with a calm expression.

"Mr. Utsumi, we are very lucky - this man has the official seal of the temple hanging on his waist. As long as he is from the government, it will be easy~~"

After saying that, my grandson closed his eyes, raised the index and middle fingers of his right hand tightly together, and put the two fingers close to the center of his eyebrows.

"Let me check who this person is..."

My grandson seemed to be petrified, silent and motionless.

To avoid disturbing my grandson's inner sea, I slowed down and breathed lightly while keeping my body still.

After a while, the tone at the end of my grandson's sentence would always be stretched out in a weird voice:

"Oh... I found it, I found it~~ This person is the inspector under the command of the temple: Shirahara Ginji."

My grandson opened his eyes and put down the two fingers that were holding his eyebrows.

"Mr. Utsumi, please go back to the office now and carefully investigate the behavior of Shirahara Ginji in recent years."

Utsumi: "Yes!"

"If he is the kind of scum who behaves badly and preys on the common people... then it is basically certain that the perpetrators are the 'Ghosts of Yangming'."

After saying this, my grandson took a deep breath and raised his hand to scratch his hair with a bitter look on his face.

"These guys who have given up their reputation as 'people' have become more and more active recently... but please don't let us have another 'Osaka Battle'..."

…

…

The next day, early morning——

Edo, settlement, home of the Angoulême clan——

Although Qingdeng was forced to end with a less than perfect ending last night due to the sudden appearance of an unidentified group of masked men, but now that the matter has passed, he still has to live how he will live the rest of the day.

Regarding this group of masked men, although Qingdeng was very concerned about their true identities...but he didn't care enough to find out their true identities.

Qingdeng only silently remembered the existence of this group of masked people from a mysterious association, and made no plans to seriously investigate them.

If one day in the future we are destined to suddenly learn their true identities, that would be the best. If there is no such fate... then it doesn't matter. Anyway, no matter what the situation is, Qingdeng has nothing to lose.

Today is the day to teach Elodie.

When the hour hand of the clock was still two thumbs away from reaching the number "9", Qingdeng arrived at Elodie's house on time.

"Master! Good morning!"

A petite figure carrying a bamboo sword skipped towards Qingden who had just entered the entrance hall.

"Elodie, good morning... hmm?"

Qingden responded to Elodie's greeting with a smile, but before he could say the last two syllables of "Good morning", the cordial greeting turned into a confused sound.

Elodie's steps and voice were no different from the ones Qingden was familiar with in the past, full of the unique vitality of a child.

However... her face was visibly haggard.

As if covered with a layer of red, the eye sockets were stained with a layer of redness and swelling that is unique to crying.

This red and swollen mark is still very "fresh"...at a glance, you can tell that it must have been from crying last night.

"Elodie, what's wrong with you?"

Qingden asked urgently while quickly squatting down so that his height and eyesight were shorter than Elodie's.

"What happened?"

"Huh?" Elodie blinked in surprise, then said at a loss, "No, nothing happened...Master, why do you ask that?"

"... Elodie." Qingden said in a deep voice, "Your eyes are so red and swollen, and you still say you're fine?"

"Gu..."

Elodie raised her hands and touched her eyelids and eyelids.

"This...this...ah ha ha ha..."

Elodie laughed dryly and forced a smile that made her look stiff.

"Really, nothing really happened...Okay, okay, master, let's start today's lesson!"

He obviously had a strange expression on his face, but his tone was the same energetic one as always... This strong contrast made Qingdeng's eyelids begin to sink slightly uncontrollably.

At this time, a figure appeared in the corner of Qingden's right eye - it was Elodie's personal maid: Leroy.

"...Good morning, Miss Leroy."

Qingdeng stood up, briefly greeted Leroy, and then went straight to the point:

"Miss Leroy, I would like to ask, what happened to your residence recently?"

"..." Leroy looked calm as if he expected Qingden to ask her this question.

She looked at Qingden... then at Elodie... and finally lowered her gaze to the ground in front of her toes, biting her lower lip with her upper teeth.

He looked like he was hesitating to speak and didn't know how to speak.

"master……"

Elodie's childish voice suddenly intervened in the "confrontation" between Qingden and Leroy.

Qingden followed the sound and saw Elodie's forced smile.

"Nothing really happened... Let's start today's lesson..."

Maybe she wanted to make her words more convincing... Elodie specifically raised the corners of her mouth higher, trying to make her smile look brighter.

The result was just the opposite, as her smile looked even stiffer.

Seeing this, Qingdeng fell silent.

After thinking for a moment, he slowly said:

"...I understand. Let's go, let's start today's class."

"Well! Let's go!"

Elodie and Qingden walked to their class venue one after another: a spacious corridor somewhere on the first floor of the school.

Before leaving, Qingden specifically turned his head and glanced at Leroy one more time - until Qingden could no longer see her, the woman kept staring at the ground in front of her feet and stood there...

"Master! I recently gained some new insights on the 'Sword of Ignorance' move! I will demonstrate it to you later!"

On the way to the class venue, Elodie had been consciously looking for some cheerful topics to chat with Qingdeng... However, Qingdeng's reaction was very dull and he only gave some simple responses.

After arriving at the spacious corridor used by Qingden and Elodie as a class venue, Elodie temporarily put the bamboo sword in her hand on the floor, preparing to warm up.

But before that, Qingdeng stopped her.

"Elodie."

"Um?"

Qingden lowered his waist again and crouched in front of Elodie.

"Elodie, it's just you and me here now. We can speak freely without any scruples. So... stop making such lame excuses and tell me in detail, what happened? What happened to make you

Is it a very aggrieved matter?"

After finishing speaking, Qingdeng raised his eyes to observe Elodie's expression - the girl's face still had that forced smile... But I don't know if it was touched by what Qingdeng just said.

The forced smile on his face had dissipated a lot at this moment, and the brilliance in his eyes gradually dimmed.

Seeing this, Qingdeng spoke again:

"...No matter how you say it, I am also your master for the time being."

"Although I am just a swordsman who only teaches you swordsmanship, I may not be able to provide you with much help in many things...but I still want to do my best to help the disciples who are in trouble."

"When a disciple encounters trouble, as a master, if I just sit back and ignore it, I will never be able to justify it."

"Elodie, don't let me be an unscrupulous master craftsman."

After saying this, Qingden showed Elodie a simple... but friendly smile.

"master……"
To be continued...