Edo, Yoshiwara, somewhere.
"Stop! Don't run!"
"Quick! Stop that thief!"
The two shouts attracted the attention of Natori and others who were patrolling somewhere in Yoshiwara, looking for Kiku-komon.
Their Fire Thieves Kai Sixth Division consists of 25 people, including the team leader Natori Yoshinobu.
Natori divided his 24 subordinates into four teams, one of which was stationed at the gate of Yoshiwara to prevent Kiku-chan from escaping from Yoshiwara.
The other three teams scattered and searched for Kiku Xiaoseng from different directions.
One of these four teams was commanded by Natori himself.
Therefore, the team commanded by Natori himself was the largest one, with a total of 7 people including Natori.
After these two shouts were heard, Natori and the others looked in the direction of the voices.
The people who issued these two shouts were two club officials wearing the special haori of the Shirobei Club.
They waved long sticks in their hands and chased a middle-aged man.
Judging from the shouting of the two officers just now, the middle-aged man should have been stealing something and was unfortunately caught in the act.
This middle-aged man is very short. Converted into modern Earth's length units, his height should be just over 1.4 meters.
Although the thief was short, his small body actually played a significant role when he needed to escape.
Because of his short stature, he could pass directly under the armpits of many people.
Not only that, his pace was not slow at all, and he seemed to be very good at running in such crowded streets, making it impossible for the two officers chasing the thief to catch up with him for a while.
Not only was he unable to catch up, the distance between them was actually getting bigger and bigger.
Looking at the two officers from the Shirobei Club who were panting and chasing after the thief, Natori sneered:
"You're running really slowly. If anyone in our Fire Thief Kai ran at this speed, they would be severely criticized."
"But this speed should be considered a passable speed in a place like Shirobei Club."
As soon as Natori finished speaking, another subordinate standing behind him immediately echoed:
"I've always envied the people who work in the Shirobei Club. Not only is the work easy every day, but the thieves they face are just petty thieves. And they get to work among a bunch of beautiful women. It's really comfortable just thinking about it."
As soon as the man finished speaking, his colleagues around him laughed in agreement.
His colleagues around him also spoke up to discuss this topic.
"Now that you mention it, it's true. Working in Yoshiwara is really pleasant. Not only are there beautiful prostitutes around, but the work is also easy, and you don't have to face those murderous villains."
"I've always been curious. When the officials of the Shirobei Club go to the Yoshiwara brothels to play, will the people in the brothels give them a lower price for the sake of the Shirobei Club?"
"I'm really excited to hear that. I might as well apply to be transferred to the Shirobei Club in the future."
Until the thief and the two officers chasing him disappeared from the sight of Natori and others, the two officers were unable to catch the thief.
Seeing this, Natori and his colleagues burst into laughter again.
"Just as the rumors say, the level of the officials at the Shirobei Club is generally not very good." Natori curled his lips.
"After all, the Shirobei Association is just an organization that manages Yoshiwara." One of Natori's subordinates said, "It's really too much to expect their officers to be as elite as our Fire Thieves Kai."
"Just now that guy said he would send his subordinates to cooperate with us in hunting down Kiku-chan. His subordinates are of this caliber. How could they possibly cooperate with us? It's good enough that they don't cause us any trouble."
After everyone ridiculed the Shirobei Club, Natori waved his hand:
"Okay, stop chatting and don't forget the business."
"Let's quickly find Ju Xiaoseng and arrest him. This way we can go home and sleep and rest earlier."
"I hope the information is correct and that Kiku-chan is really in Yoshiwara."
At this point, Natori gave a wry smile.
"If the intelligence is wrong, then our trip tonight will be in vain..."
…
…
Edo, Yoshiwara, somewhere.
After leaving Shirobei Club, Ueyu led four colleagues and resumed patrolling Yoshiwara.
Although it has been a while since he left Shirobei Club, Uesugi still gets angrier and angrier when he thinks back to the attitude of the fire thieves who just changed their positions as police officers.
"It's really infuriating." Guasheng kicked a small stone on the ground in front of him, "What do you mean by 'outsider'..."
Just now, when Shirobei was negotiating with the fire thief Kai's officers in the club, Uekus was not there.
It was only after she heard the stories told by Kei'emon and the others that she found out what the fire thieves and the police had said.
Even though he was not at the scene and only heard his colleagues' retelling, Guasheng still felt indignant.
Looking at Ueo who was still sulking in front of them, the four colleagues who followed Ueo and patrolled around Yoshiwara with him all smiled bitterly.
"Ms. Ueyu." One of the four laughed softly. "Although the group of officers from the Fire Thief Kai just now clearly looked down on our Shirobei Club, they were not actually wrong..."
"The Fire Thieves Kai are recognized as the strongest armed security force of the shogunate."
"They basically have all the equipment that the military has."
"They fight and kill those vicious criminals all day long. In terms of combat effectiveness and fighting will, many armies may not be as good as them."
"Perhaps only a few troops, such as the Northern Army stationed in the north to monitor Russia and Ezo, and the Red Guards directly under the general, are stronger than them."
"In terms of experience in catching those vicious criminals, they are indeed far better than us who can only catch thieves and bad people who don't pay back their debts..."
Guasheng opened his mouth, wanting to say something to refute what his colleague had just said.
But after thinking for a moment, Guasheng couldn't think of anything to refute.
Because what her colleague said just now was not wrong...
Although they were reluctant to admit it, in terms of experience in catching vicious criminals, the officers of the Shirobei Club were indeed far inferior to those of the fire thieves Kai...
When it comes to "catching vicious criminals", the fire-fu thief Kai is indeed an expert in this area...
Guasheng felt even more depressed because he was unable to refute his colleague's words.
After a cold snort, he kicked the small stone at his feet away again.
"Forget it. Let's not talk about the fire thief change anymore." Guess made a heavy "snort" sound through his nose again, "They do their thing, and we do ours."
"We continue to focus on patrol."
"That vicious criminal named Kiku-koseng may be somewhere in our Yoshiwara now."
"So you all buck up."
"It is said that the monk Kiku was short, had a bald head, and carried a wakizashi with him."
“Pay attention to people who fit these characteristics.”
"This little monk Kiku can also use the small Juzujutsu."
"So if you run into someone who looks like Kiku-chan, remember to be extra careful."
"Small Juzujutsu?" The officer walking at the back looked puzzled, "What is this?"
"It is a martial art that spread during the Warring States Period and combines bare-handed and wakizashi techniques." Ueyoshi introduced, "Because it was born on the battlefield, it is very powerful. If you encounter a master of Kogubajutsu, you must be careful."
"I see..." The colleague who had just asked what the small Juzujutsu was nodded and was silent for a while before chuckling a few times, "It would be great if we could catch this little monk Kiku."
"If we can capture this little monk Kiku, our Shirobei Club will definitely receive a lot of rewards from the shogunate in the future."
Institutions related to public security, such as the Shirobei Club, all have something similar to an indicator.
Once a particularly heinous criminal is caught, a large reward will be given.
The reward is tied to the criminal's viciousness and fame.
Kiku-no-san is considered to be a relatively well-known villain in Edo in recent times. Not only does he frequently kill and rob, he also specifically robs women who have weaker resistance abilities.
If they, as officials of the Shirobei Kaisha, could arrest Kiku-kousan and bring him to justice, they would indeed receive a considerable reward, and at the same time, other organizations and other bureaucrats of the shogunate would also look up to their Shirobei Kaisha.
Hearing what his colleague said, Guess smiled slightly:
"That would require meeting Kiku-chan."
"Don't forget, our Yoshiwara is quite big."
"Besides, whether that Kiku-chan is in our Yoshiwara or not is a question."
"Don't even think about capturing Kiku-chan alive. We just need to focus on patrolling... huh?"
Guasheng, who was just passing by an alley at a leisurely pace, suddenly stopped.
Then he slightly frowned his beautiful eyebrows and turned to look at the alley on the side.
Uesugi and his companions are currently located somewhere west of Yoshiwara.
Because this place is quite far from Nakano-machi, it is considered a relatively quiet area in Yoshiwara, and there are not many pedestrians on the road.
Because Guasheng stopped, the four colleagues following closely behind him had to stop as well.
"Ms. Guasheng?" The colleague closest to Guasheng asked, "What's wrong?"
"...There's a smell of blood." Guasheng said in a deep voice.
“Blood?”
Hearing what Guasheng said, the four of them sniffed hard.
But they smelled nothing.
"Ms. Guasheng, there is no smell of blood."
"Have you forgotten? I am very sensitive to the smell of blood." Guasheng said in a deep voice, slowly pulling out the wooden sword from his waist, "Follow me."
After saying that, Guasheng picked up the wooden sword in his hand without hesitation, slowly walked through the alley on his side, and headed towards the depths of the alley.
The four Guasheng colleagues looked at each other in bewilderment.
Although they could not smell the blood in Guasheng's mouth, they still clenched the long wooden sticks in their hands and quickly followed Guasheng's pace.
This is a fairly long alley.
There is a lot of garbage and sewage on the ground.
Guasheng ignored the garbage and sewage on the ground. He just clenched the wooden sword in his hand, stared at the darkness in front of him, and went deeper into the alley little by little.
It's not a sunny night tonight.
The moonlight passed through the clouds that were neither thin nor thick, and hit the ground weakly.
Although the moonlight was not very bright, Guasheng could still see the things in front of him through this faint moonlight.
This alley is not only deep, but also very winding.
After turning two corners in succession, just like a spring gushing out from the cracks in the rocks, Guasheng gradually and bit by bit saw a strange bulge in front of him.
As Guasheng and others approached, the strange bulge on the ground in front of them gradually revealed its specific appearance under the outline of the moonlight.
is a person.
There was a man squatting on the ground in front.
However, before Guasheng could see the face of the man squatting on the ground , he suddenly ran away.
Seeing the man suddenly run away, Guasheng hurried over.
While chasing this man, Guasheng suddenly noticed that there was another person lying where this man had just squatted.
Is a woman.
Judging from her clothes and decorations, this woman should be a prostitute from some prostitute house.
The prostitute's head seemed to be injured. A lot of blood flowed out from her head, dyeing her beautiful face bright red.
Although his chest was still rising and falling, the amplitude was quite small.
The clothes she was wearing were a bit unremarkable. Next to her lay a beautiful cloth bag with some coins scattered out of it.
—Robbery?
Guasheng said this in his heart with a heavy tone.
Having caught countless thieves, Guasheng could tell what was going on at a glance.
The man who escaped just now attacked the poor prostitute, then dragged her to this hidden place and searched her body for money.
"Saburo! Seunghachi! You two take care of this woman!"
"Torsuke! Heisaku! You two follow me!"
After quickly giving instructions to his four colleagues, Uesugi clenched the wooden sword in his hand, lowered his center of gravity, increased his speed to the maximum, and chased after the thief who had just escaped.
However, the thief ran abnormally fast. Even though Guasheng ran at the fastest speed he could reach, he could not shorten the distance between himself and the thief at all.
After a short while, the thief and Guasheng ran out of the alley one after the other.
After leaving the alley, the light around us suddenly became brighter.
Thanks to the brighter environment, Guasheng finally saw the thief's appearance clearly.
A short middle-aged man with a big bald head.
She was wearing a tattered kimono and her dirty feet were barefoot.
The kimono she was wearing was so dirty that you couldn't even see its original color.
There was a wakizashi attached to the belt, and the handle and scabbard of the wakizashi were covered with disgusting dirt, just like the man's clothes and body.
Looking at this man's appearance, a name emerged in Guasheng's mind.
——It’s the little monk Ju!
No matter from which angle you look at it, the thief's appearance is exactly the same as that of Ju Xiaoseng.
After following Kiku Xiaoseng to the main road outside the alley, Guasheng noticed two colleagues standing guard at the intersection not far ahead.
At this time, the two colleagues also noticed the middle-aged man and Guasheng who were running towards them one after another.
There must be no one in the Shirobei Club who doesn't know Ueo.
After seeing the melon student chasing a middle-aged man, the two officials of the guild subconsciously thought that the middle-aged man might be a thief who had committed a crime, so they raised the long wooden sticks in their hands and rushed towards the thief who was running towards them.
"Be careful!" Guasheng shouted to his two colleagues, "This guy is Kiku-chan!"
Guasheng’s reminder came at a timely moment.
Just now, after Shirobei learned that Kiku-komon might be hiding in Yoshiwara, he immediately sent people to notify the officers patrolling and standing guard in various places in Yoshiwara to be on guard against Kiku-komon.
The two officers had just learned that there was such a vicious criminal who might be hiding in their Yoshiwara.
After learning that the thief was none other than Kiku-komon who had alarmed the fire-fu thieves and turned to run to their Yoshiwara, the two officers perked up and tightened their long wooden sticks.
Although these two people have been nervous.
But... the gap in strength between them and Kiku Xiaoseng is really too big.
After Ju Xiaoseng entered their attack range, the two men hurriedly swung the wooden sticks in their hands and swept towards Ju Xiaoseng.
Facing the two long wooden sticks sweeping towards him, Ju Xiaoseng simply lowered his body and avoided the sweep.
After dodging the attacks of the two officers, Kiku-no-Seng quickly drew out the wakizashi from his waist and swung out two consecutive swords.
Kiku-chan was covered in dirt, but the blade of his wakizashi was as clean as new.
The two sword lights swung by Monk Ju swept across the two officers in front of him one by one.
The knife flashed past, and the two officers screamed and cried out in pain, then fell limply to the ground.
Perhaps because they were in a hurry to escape and did not have time to aim properly, Ju Xiaoseng's two sword strikes missed the vital parts, so the lives of the two officers were not in danger for the time being.
Of course, there is only a temporary lack of life-threatening danger.
If the bleeding is not stopped in time and allowed to flow, death may still occur.
After seeing that this young monk Ju had injured her two companions, Guasheng's face darkened, and he clenched the wooden sword even tighter, and his joints began to turn slightly white.
After chopping down the two guild officials who were blocking the way, Monk Ju turned and took a rather deserted path.
And the place where this path connects to... is the Rashomon Riverbank.
…
…
at the same time--
Edo, Yoshiwara, Four Seasons House.
"Keitaro, have you heard about the feat Zentaro performed yesterday?"
"I haven't heard anything about what happened to Zentaro?"
"Zentaro's body is very soft. He has been trying to lick his elbow recently. He finally succeeded last night."
Although Asai was responsible for talking and pretended to be "the woman was the more talkative one in the couple, while the man was the more taciturn one", he would occasionally listen to what Gokutaro was talking about with his followers.
Gokutaro has a very loud voice and he doesn't try to control the volume of his voice, so even though his eavesdropping skills are not as good as Makimura's, Asai can clearly hear what Gokutaro is saying.
Listening to the conversation between Gokutaro and his henchman, Asai couldn't help but frown, then lowered his voice and whispered to Makimura in a voice that only he and Makimura could hear clearly:
"Why do they always talk about such boring things...?"
"That's normal. Just keep listening patiently. Maybe they'll say something interesting later."
After saying that, Mucun drank the wine in the glass in his hand in one gulp.
Because he had drunk a lot of wine, Mucun's cheeks began to turn slightly red.
"Did you drink a little too much?"
"Don't worry, I won't get drunk no matter how much I drink."
After saying that, Makimura handed the empty wine glass in his hand to Asai again.
After pouring wine for Makimura for such a long time tonight, Asai's wine pouring skills improved rapidly.
At the beginning, a few drops would always spill, but now he can pour the wine accurately into Mucun's glass with a very steady hand.
"Wow, I just realized how strong your forearm muscles are!"
At this moment, the girl sitting next to Gokutaro suddenly screamed.
"Of course!" Gokutaro said in a proud tone, "I have been learning swordsmanship since I was a child! These muscles are the result of my years of hard training!"
"Oh, by the way, I'm going to participate in the 'Imperial Trial' later. Are you interested in coming and watching?"
"Then I'll let you see how advanced my swordsmanship is!"
"The swordsmanship I use is completely different from the 'dojo sword' used by those samurai!"
As soon as Gokutaro finished speaking, the faces of Makimura and Asai changed.
At this moment, the two of them had the same thought - their work tonight was finally not in vain.