"Master Hasegawa." Makimura frowned slightly, "Why did you suddenly mention Ittosai?"
As he said this, Makimura became slightly wary.
"…Nothing." Hasegawa coughed softly a few times, "Anyway…I'll tell you about this in detail later…"
"Makino, let's stop here for now." Hasegawa sat up straighter. "I just heard from my subordinates that you came to my humble abode to have a good talk with me about the Sixth Division."
"Did you kill my Sixth Division?"
As soon as Hasegawa finished speaking, Makimura quickly raised his hands and said with a wry smile:
"It wasn't me. It was my friend who did it."
"I have a very good friend who is currently working at the Shirobei Club."
"Your Sixth Division entered Yoshiwara tonight, saying they wanted to capture a villain named Kiku-koseng."
"However, Kiku-kun was not caught by your subordinates, but by the officers of the Shirobei Club."
"Then the head of your Sixth Division was unreasonable and tried to forcibly take away Kiku-chan and steal the credit for the Shirobei Club. He was the first to use violence against the officers of the Shirobei Club."
"My friend couldn't stand it anymore, so he decided to use a simple but very effective method to calm your subordinates down a bit."
"My friend knows that I know you, so he asked me to talk to you about it."
"That's roughly what happened."
Mucun's eloquence was not very good, but he managed to accurately state the key points of the matter.
As soon as Makimura finished speaking, Hasegawa frowned.
"You mean... my subordinates stole the credit from the Shirobei Society? Makimura, can you tell me what happened in more detail?"
After Ogata asked Makimura to help him negotiate with Hasegawa, Ogata told Makimura the details of the conflict between Tonight's Shirobei Club and the fire thief Kai.
After hearing Hasegawa's request to explain the details of what happened, Makimura cleared his throat and began to explain what happened in more detail.
…
…
at the same time--
Ogata, who was waiting for the negotiation between Makimura and Hasegawa to end, was bored so he opened his personal system interface to check the experience points he had gained after defeating the group of officials of the fire thief Kai.
[Current personal level: Lv33 (15/5000)]
[Sakakibara Ittoryu Level: 11th Stage (5255/7000)]
[Remaining skill points: 1 point]
In the battle with the 20 or so fire thieves who were transformed into police officers, since Ogata only used Sakakibara Ittoryu against the enemy, only Sakakibara Ittoryu gained experience points.
The battle just now increased Ogata's personal level experience value by 1,750 points, and Sakakibara Ittoryu's experience value by 1,600 points.
His personal level thus increased by 1 level to level 33, and he gained 1 skill point.
As for this 1 skill point, Ogata plans to save it temporarily.
Currently, Ogata has three skills upgraded to the "master level": Bird Thorn of Sakakibara's One Sword Ryu, Flow and Blade Reversal of Muga's Two Sword Ryu.
Now that his two major offensive sword skills and one defensive skill have reached the "master level", Ogata's dodging ability seems a little weak.
Ogata plans to save up 4 skill points and then upgrade the step from "Advanced" to "Master".
After checking the experience points he had just gained, Ogata closed his personal system interface.
As soon as he closed the personal system interface, Ogata's stomach made a soft "gurgling" sound.
"…I'm a little hungry."
Ogata raised his hand and touched his belly.
Perhaps because he had to catch thieves and beat up the fire-breathing thieves tonight, Ogata was quite exhausted.
At this moment , Ogata could clearly feel the hunger burning in his stomach.
Makimura didn't know how long he would have to negotiate with Hasegawa, so Ogata planned to find something to eat nearby.
After leaving the alley and turning an intersection, Xu Fang came to a relatively popular street.
According to Ogata's estimation, the current time is around 9:30 p.m.
On modern Earth, nightlife is only just beginning at this point in time.
But in the Edo period, this time was considered late at night.
However, even though it was late at night, Edo was still lively.
It would be better to say that night is when Edo shows its other kind of vitality.
At night, many people who have been tired all day will call their friends and go out for a drink together.
Some tough guys will even go to the next izakaya after drinking in one, and go to multiple izakayas along the way and drink until dawn the next day.
One of the important reasons why Edo was still so vibrant at night was that many Edo people of that era were "daylight tribes".
During the Edo period, three types of currency were circulated: gold, silver, and copper.
To use the language of modern Earth to make a vivid analogy, there are three completely different types of currencies circulating in the market at the same time: the Japanese yen, the US dollar, and the euro, and all three currencies can be used to buy things.
The exchange rates of the three popular currencies on the market, gold, silver and copper, fluctuate frequently.
That is to say, the 10 cents in your hand can buy 2 pieces of sushi today, but after a while you may only be able to buy 1 piece of sushi.
Because the value of currency fluctuates greatly and there is no means to preserve its value, coupled with the character of the Edo people, many Edo people choose to enjoy themselves in the moment and not save money at all in order to prevent their money from depreciating sharply in the future.
In addition, in this era, jobs that require you to work and get paid on the same day are very popular, so many young people who have no family pressure spend all their money tonight after receiving today's salary.
Hence the saying “Edo people don’t spend overnight money” was born.
In other words, the reason why Edo is so prosperous at night is thanks to the existence of these "daylight tribes".
After turning onto this relatively popular street, Oben saw two drunk samurai in front of him.
The two warriors' faces were as red as if covered in blood, and it looked as if half of their bones had been pulled out. They were "moving" forward bit by bit like two puddles of mud.
While "moving", the two warriors kept uttering some nonsense.
"It is said that...hiccup...Russia...hiccup...is going to send troops to conquer Ezo..."
"Lucia...? What country is that?"
The rest of the passers-by, when passing by the two warriors, stood far away from the two warriors as if they were avoiding some "giant filth". They lowered their heads and dared not even look at the two warriors.
The reason for doing this was very simple - they were worried that these two people who were so drunk that they were a little confused would draw their knives and attack them for inexplicable reasons.
A drunken samurai would draw his sword and slash people for inexplicable reasons - this was a very common occurrence in that era.
So before anyone knew it, everyone had developed a consensus to stay away from those drunk warriors and not even look at them.
One of Ogata's principles of doing things is to minimize unnecessary disputes and troubles - even though he had just fought with more than 20 officers of the fire thief Kai...
After keeping a distance from the two drunken samurai like other passers-by, Ogata looked for small shops and stalls selling food.
After a while, Ogata found a Japanese confectionery shop that was still open.
After casually buying a few daifuku, Ogata returned the same way carrying them.
When turning back, Ogata saw a clothing store located on the street on the right.
It is a women's clothing store.
Because the door of this women's clothing store was open, Ogata could see at a glance the clothes sold in the store.
Although it is a bit cool in Edo at night at this time of year, the heat in the air during the day, especially at noon, still makes the people of Edo very clearly aware that summer has not completely left.
Because of this, the clothes sold in this clothing store are still summer clothes, and they have not yet been replaced with autumn and winter clothes.
A middle-aged woman stood at the door of this clothing store, shouting and greeting passers-by to come and patronize her store.
After seeing Ogata passing by her shop and looking at her shop for a few seconds, the middle-aged woman immediately shouted to Ogata enthusiastically:
"Master Samurai, would you like to come and have a look at my store? I just got a batch of really great clothes!"
"Sorry. I don't have any need for this at the moment." Ogata smiled and declined politely.
If this clothing store sold autumn and winter clothes, Ogata would be very happy to go in and take a look.
After all, winter is approaching, and it is time to buy winter clothes for himself and A-Ming.
After seeing that this clothing store was still selling summer clothes, Xu Fang lost interest in going in to take a look.
After politely declining the offer from the owner of the clothing store, Xu Fang continued to carry the Daifuku he had just bought and walked straight back to the inconspicuous alley where he had just been.
…
…
Edo, the headquarters of the fire thieves——
"…Then the Sixth Division pushed my friend roughly, and once again used force against the officers from the Shirobei Club."
"My friend couldn't stand it anymore, and finally decided to let your subordinates be quiet for a while."
"But my friend still maintained considerable restraint, only using the back of the knife, and even showed mercy. Otherwise, even if he had used the back of the knife, some people would definitely have been seriously injured."
After he finished speaking, Mucun picked up the teacup beside him and drank the tea in the cup in big gulps to moisten his throat which was dry from talking too much.
When describing the specific events, Mucun spoke the truth.
The members of the Fire Thieves Kai Sixth Division who were determined to take credit for the work took the initiative to use violence and pushed down a certain official of the Shirobei Club, Uone, injuring her face.
He then became violent towards Makimura's friend, Ogata, and pushed him.
The officers of the Fire Thief Kai used violence against the people of the Shirobei Society twice in a row, and only then did the Shirobei Society start to fight back.
Of course, Mucun still carried out some "artistic processing".
For example: exaggerating Gua Sheng’s injuries.
According to Makimura, Ueo, who was pushed down by the fire thief Kai, climbed up with tears in his eyes while covering his injured face - in short, the people at Shirobei Club were portrayed as very pitiful and weak.
And Mucun's "artistic processing" did work.
After learning that his subordinates had actually made a female servant of the Shirobei Club cry, Hasegawa's already deeply frowned brows even deeper.
When Makimura finished speaking and drank tea to quench his thirst, Hasegawa said in a deep voice:
"Makino, is everything you said true?"
"It's absolutely true." Mucun put down the teacup in his hand and nodded vigorously. "There were many passers-by watching at the time. You can find many witnesses to corroborate my words."
After a moment of silence, Hasegawa quickly stood up and walked to the door.
After opening the door in one go, Hasegawa shouted outside the room:
"Yamazaki!"
As soon as Hasegawa finished speaking, Yamazaki, who had been waiting not far away, quickly ran to Hasegawa and knelt on one knee, waiting for Hasegawa's instructions.
"Is Natori still recovering from his injuries?"
"Natori-kun, he just woke up."
"That's perfect. You can come with me and bring my name."
"yes!"
After accepting the order from Hasegawa without any hesitation, Yamazaki quickly shrank from Hasegawa's field of vision with a quick pace that was inconsistent with his age, and finally disappeared.
Not long after, Yamazaki's figure reappeared in Hasegawa's field of vision and quickly grew larger.
And Natori followed closely behind Yamazaki.
Natori, who was knocked unconscious by Ogata's attack, has just woken up.
Because Ogata showed mercy, Natori did not feel any discomfort except for some redness and swelling where he was cut.
As soon as he woke up, he learned from Yamazaki that Hasegawa was calling him over.
When he learned that Hasegawa was calling him, a bad premonition arose in Natori's heart.
After meeting Hasegawa and seeing his gloomy face, Natori's ominous premonition became even stronger.
"Natori, come in with me. Yamazaki, you step back first."
"Yes!" After saluting Hasegawa, Yamazaki retreated to a distance away from the room.
As for Natori, he followed Hasegawa into the room trembling with fear.
After entering the room, Natori saw a strange burly man.
"Natori."
Hasegawa sat cross-legged in front of Natori.
"You wanted to rob the monk Kiku who was captured by the officers of the Shirobei Club tonight, and you took the initiative to use violence against the officers of the Shirobei Club. Am I right?"
Hearing Hasegawa's question, Natori immediately responded quickly, as if by reflex:
"I don't."
As soon as Natori finished speaking, Hasegawa immediately said:
"Natori, if you insist on saying that you did not take credit for the incident, I will personally investigate the incident that happened in Yoshiwara tonight."
Hearing Hasegawa's words, Natori's expression changed slightly.
"If I find out that you really didn't steal the credit, then I will help you and hold the servants of the Shirobei Club who beat up my subordinates accountable."
"But if I find out that you did steal the credit and you lied to me... you should know what the consequences will be, right?"
The light from the candle behind Hasegawa shone on Hasegawa, making his shadow very long.
The shadow elongated by the candlelight pressed down like a mountain on Natori who was standing in front of Hasegawa.
Although Hasegawa was sitting and Natori was standing, the atmosphere around them made people feel that Hasegawa was standing and Natori was sitting, and that Hasegawa was looking down at Natori.
Under the pressure of Hasegawa's momentum, drops of cold sweat began to appear on Natori's forehead.
"Natori, I'll give you another chance."
"Answer me, did you steal the credit tonight? Did you take the initiative to use violence against the officers of the Shirobei Club?"
A strong look of struggle began to appear on Natori's face.
His hands, hanging naturally, were clenched tightly.
After an unknown amount of time, Natori finally knelt on the tatami with a sad face in the dogeza posture.
"Lord Hasegawa! I'm so sorry! I, I, I was bewildered!"
"It's been a while since our Sixth Division has caught a criminal of sufficient weight."
"In order not to lose to the 1st, 2nd, and 5th groups that have repeatedly made great achievements, my subordinates and I put all our efforts into tracking down Kiku-chan!"
"My subordinates and I spent so much energy and time trying to catch Kiku-chan, but in the end, we were caught by the officers of the Shirobei Club."
"I feel very unwilling, so, so..."
"So you decided to forcibly seize Kiku-chan, who was captured by the officers of the Shirobei Club?" Hasegawa answered the rest of Natori's unfinished words for him. "Natori, you should know that forcibly seizing the credit of other organizations or departments is absolutely not allowed."
"I'm so, so sorry! I was bewildered!"
As Natori apologized to Hasegawa at the loudest volume he could muster, confusion filled Natori's mind.
In fact, tonight was not the first time that he had taken credit for the work of other departments or organizations.
This kind of thing of stealing credit from other departments and organizations has actually been done many times before by Mingdori.
But Hasegawa had not discovered what he had done before.
One of the important reasons is that the parts and organizations that Mingdori robbed were just small departments.
It is totally incomparable to the Fire Thief Kai he belongs to.
Because he is responsible for catching vicious thieves and arsonists, the fire thief Kai has a high status.
There are so many privileges alone.
Because the status of the Fire Thieves Kai was very different from that of these small departments and there was no intersection between them, even if the people in these small departments wanted to complain, their voices would hardly reach Hasegawa's ears.
The reason why Natori seized the credit for Shirobei's club tonight was actually just to repeat his old trick.
The Shirobei Association, which is only responsible for the management of Yoshiwara, is a small department or organization with little say.
Natori originally thought that he could easily snatch the credit from Shirobei Club tonight just like he did before.
But unexpectedly, accidents happened one after another...
First, all the members of his Sixth Division were chopped down by a little-known servant from the Shirobei Club.
And now Hasegawa discovered his attempt to steal the credit...
It had been just over half an hour since his entire Sixth Division was wiped out. Even if Hasegawa had gone to Yoshiwara in person to investigate what had happened after learning that the Sixth Division had been wiped out, he would definitely not have been able to find out in such a short time that the cause of the incident was that he had stolen the credit.
In other words, someone must have informed Hasegawa, allowing him to learn the truth in such a short time.
Just when Natori was wondering who had the ability to "hear directly from heaven", he suddenly remembered that there was a strange strong man sitting in the room.
While pressing his forehead tightly against the tatami and loudly apologizing to Hasegawa, Natori glanced at the burly man who was sitting not far away and drinking tea leisurely.
——Is this the person who informed Hasegawa-sama? Who is this person? Is he an official from the Shirobei Club?
Just as Natori was guessing the identity of the strong man, Hasegawa's voice reached Natori's ears again.
"…Natori, go down and get ready. Come with me to Yoshiwara later to apologize to the people at Shirobei Club."
"As for your punishment...I will give it to you later."
"Yes..." Natori was like a defeated rooster, his body seemed to have shrunk.
"Makimura." Hasegawa cast his gaze on Makimura beside him, "Where is your friend now? Is he in Yoshiwara now?"
"My subordinate pushed your friend, so I want to apologize to him in person."
"At the same time, I also want to see with my own eyes what kind of hero is the one who can single-handedly wipe out my Fire Thief Kai Sixth Division."
"He..." Mucun shrugged with a playful look on his face, and then made up a lie, "He is quite shy, so he didn't come with me to see you."
"I'll slowly ask him if he's interested in meeting you later."
After hearing the conversation between Hasegawa and Makimura, Natori's face suddenly turned paler.
Then, stronger emotions called "frustration" and "fear" spread across Natori's face.
Through the conversation between Hasegawa and Makimura, Natori finally understood everything...
He had roughly guessed what had happened.
It should be that the guy who wiped out his entire Sixth Division with just one sword asked his friend, the strong man, to tell Hasegawa...
Although he had guessed the general course of events, a greater confusion arose in Natori's mind.
He didn't understand why a seemingly ordinary young man who worked in a small place like Shirobei Club not only possessed such powerful strength, but also had a way to get in touch with Hasegawa, the leader of the fire thieves...