"fighting spirit" tactics.

From beginning to end, he relied on "feeling" to win that battle... If you ask Qingdeng to use specific words to explain how he micro-managed that night, he really can't explain...

After Qingdeng answered him with "it depends on my feelings" again, Xiaoshi's face showed some reluctance.

Just when he wanted to ask more questions——

"Orange."

Saito's voice sounded together with a slightly rough knock on the door.

"Ah, Saito, you're back." Qingto turned to look at Saito who was coming back from the toilet.

Saito, who was also wrapped in a lot of linen at this time, glanced at Kiryu and Komuro in the room, and said sternly to Qingden:

"Tachibana, a large team of people from the Edo Administrative Office are here to meet us."

Qingdeng was startled, then stood up quickly: "It's finally here..."

…

…

Qingdeng quickly changed his clothes, put on his monastic seal, and then ran to the first floor of the dormitory.

As soon as he left the dormitory, Qingdeng saw a large group of people parked outside the gate of the dormitory, attracting passers-by to stop and watch.

In terms of the manpower we can mobilize... this is truly a large team worthy of the name.

Carriage, 6 vehicles.

Horseback warriors, 4.

There are 40 ashigaru people who can only walk.

Counting some handymen...the number of the entire team is close to a hundred.

Looking at the large team in front of him, which was much larger than he imagined, Qingdeng couldn't help but be surprised.

At this moment, a male voice that was extremely familiar to Qingdeng sounded from beside Qingdeng:

"Tachibana-kun!"

"Arima-sama?"

Follow the sound - Arima, who has not been seen in the past ten days, is riding a chestnut horse, quickly approaching Qingden. He is responsible for helping Arima to carry the spear, and the "carrier" responsible for helping Arima carry the luggage.

"Zhi" and others quickly followed.

Even when riding a horse, the horse's back is still at a perfect 90 degrees to the ground.

Seeing the acquaintance arriving, Qingdeng felt a sense of intimacy in his heart and hurriedly greeted him.

"Arima-sama, it turns out that you are leading this team?"

"Yes. After receiving the order from the Lord, I immediately mobilized my troops and came to meet you."

After saying that, Arima dismounted and stood in front of Qingden.

"Tachibana-kun..." Arima looked at Qingden up and down several times with an expression that was mixed with relief, joy and other emotions, and then asked urgently, "You're not hurt, are you?"

"If I were seriously injured, I wouldn't be able to stand in front of you and talk to you like I am now." Qingden joked.

Arima chuckled softly a few times, then raised his hand and patted Qingden's shoulder with moderate force: "It's okay that you're not seriously injured, it's okay that you're not seriously injured..."

Thousands of words have been spoken with this gentle tap on the shoulder.

…

…

Edo, a certain spacious mansion, a certain room——

This is a very plainly furnished room.

There was almost no furniture, and there was only a huge screen for decoration in the empty room.

There is an extremely hideous picture painted on the screen: A Hundred Ghosts Walking at Night.

In the picture, there are evil ghosts with hideous faces, teeth and claws.

Rakshasa, with a faint smile on his face, sat in front of this screen with a carefree attitude.

A sword with a red sheath and a red handle lay quietly on the left hand of the Rakshasa.

A middle-aged man with a huge burn mark on his left cheek sat upright behind the Rakshasa.

If there was someone here who knew enough about the "underworld" of Edo, he would definitely be surprised to see this middle-aged man.

This person was the one Aonto owed money to, the leader of the most powerful Yakuza group in Edo: the "Shimizu Clan": Eiichi Shimizu.

In the "underground world" of Edo, Shimizu Rongichi, who definitely has the power to move the wind and rain, is like a "good baby of his parents" at this moment, sitting respectfully behind Rakshasa, who is only in his early 20s...

Wow...

At this time, a sliding door on the east side of the tea room was suddenly opened.

"Oh... Kamino-kun." Rakshasa followed the sound and turned his head, showing a bright smile towards the opened door, "You came very quickly. Come on, sit down quickly."

Rakshasa pointed in front of him.

Standing outside the opened sliding door was Kamino, whose face was very pale.

After Kamino glanced at Rakshasa who was sitting in the main seat in the tea room, and Shimizu Eiichi who was sitting behind Rakshasa, he quickly followed the opened sliding door, entered the tea room, and walked to the second floor.

in front of the person.

"Lord Rakshasa, Lord Qingshui."

Kamino did not sit down immediately, but bowed respectfully to the two of them at a 90-degree angle before sitting down with his knees bent at the place pointed by Rakshasa just now.

"Lord Rakshasa." Kamino asked Rakshasa softly, using the honorific that had reached the full level, "I wonder why you called me here?"

"Nothing." Rakshasa stretched out the little finger of his right hand and took out his right ear, "I just want to see how you are doing now."

"I've heard it - your campaign to seize the heads of Anthony and Elodie's grandson failed."

"Not only were no one killed, but Suehiro, Yamada and more than 60 other people were killed."

As soon as Rakshasa finished speaking, Kamino's already ugly face became a little more gloomy, and his hands that were originally resting on his legs were clenched subconsciously.

"...Lord Rakshasa, I really don't have the face to see you."

Kamino closed his eyes.

"You revealed to me the whereabouts of Anthony's gang of national thieves, and also sold us a batch of matchlock guns."

"As a result, our anti-barbarian group turned what should have been a sure-fire operation into a huge defeat..."

"Hahaha, there is nothing to be sorry for." Rakshasa smiled generously, "It doesn't matter if we lose the battle. In the 70 years since its establishment, our Law and Punishment Party has lost countless battles.

"

"There were even times when our entire organization almost disappeared into history."

"Failure is not scary. Not knowing why you failed and not knowing what to do to avoid making the same mistakes again is the scariest thing."

After that, Rakshasa changed to a more comfortable sitting position.

"Kamino, have you found any clues about how your operation failed?"

"I have questioned those who escaped in detail." Kamino replied, "We have investigated clearly. The reason why our anti-barbarian group suffered such a disastrous defeat was all because of the appearance of one person."

"Alone?" Rakshasa raised his eyebrows slightly.

"A samurai named Tachibana Aoden."

"Tachibana Aoden...? Is it the Tachibana Aoden who returned to the town designated by Edo Kitaban?"

"Lord Rakshasa, do you know him?" Kamino looked at the Rakshasa in front of him with a strange expression in surprise.

"...I guess I know this person." The strange look on Rakshasa's face faded away and returned to the expression with a faint smile, "Kamiye, tell me in detail, what is this Tachibana Qingden?

What caused your operation to fail so badly?"

Kamino nodded his head vigorously a few times, and then explained to Rakshasa in an orderly manner what he had heard about the "whole story of the battle" from his subordinates who had escaped.

Qingdeng had been on the "assassination list" of their anti-barbarian group for a long time, so many people in their anti-barbarian group recognized Qingdeng's face.

When Qingteng stood up and began to lead Komuro and others to launch a counterattack, many people recognized him on the spot as the "national traitor" whom their anti-barbarian group organized three assassinations but failed to kill him.

”.

It was through the confessions of these survivors who recognized Qingdeng that Kamino learned what exactly happened that night.

Kamino's narration was not too long. It only took him about half an hour to tell Rakshasa everything he knew.

"Oh..." Rakshasa, who had been quietly listening to the audience, let out an inexplicable laugh after Kamino's narration, "I see... the guards who commanded that Anthony defeated you.

Yet……"

"...That Tachibana Aoden's command level and personal force are very good."

"First try to secure the defense line and consume your momentum."
To be continued...