"Tachibana Aoto?" Nagakura Shinpachi widened his eyes, then quickly scanned Aoto with his gaze, "Are you the madman Tachibana Aoto who led twenty or thirty n to defeat over three hundred ’Anti-foreigner Faction’ mbers?"
Nagakura had heard of his na, which didn’t surprise Aoto.
During this ti, his na and deeds had already spread through the streets and alleys of Edo.
If Nagakura hadn’t heard of his na, Aoto would actually have been surprised.
However... a small part of what Nagakura just said made Aoto frown involuntarily.
"Did you just say I defeated how many ’Anti-foreigner Faction’ rioters?"
"Over three hundred," Nagakura blinked in puzzlent, "Hmm? Did I say sothing wrong?"
...When did I ever defeat that many enemies...?
...
Aoto simply asked Nagakura where he had heard this inexplicably exaggerated rumor.
Nagakura said he heard it a few days ago while drinking in an izakaya from a few custors at the next table.
Because those custors spoke with such certainty, claiming Aoto had defeated as many as three hundred enemies, Nagakura believed it to be true.
After listening to Nagakura’s explanation, Aoto couldn’t help but twitch the corner of his mouth...
He recalled how after solving Granny Ping’s murder case, public opinion had inexplicably beco more exaggerated, turning him into the "reincarnation of Zhuge Kongming"...
Aoto speculated: Perhaps it’s because when people passed around his deeds, soone made a mistake or deliberately exaggerated during the retelling...
—Hopefully, this ti they won’t turn into the reincarnation of "Guan Yunchang or Lü Fengxian"...
Not particularly fond of this feeling of being overly praised, Aoto couldn’t help but shrink his neck.
With the mindset that "if rumors can be stopped, they should be stopped," Aoto patiently debunked the rumor to Nagakura, stating that the number of enemies he faced that night wasn’t so large.
After listening to Aoto’s debunking, Nagakura grinned, "Actually, it’s not much different! Defeating over two hundred people isn’t much different from defeating over three hundred, is it?"
With that, Nagakura, naturally familiar, lifted his hand and patted Aoto’s shoulder:
"Wow, I never thought I’d run into the famous Tachibana Aoto here!"
"After hearing about your deeds, I felt extrely delighted! Haha! I’ve long found those mad ’Radical Anti-foreigner Faction’ people to be eyesores!"
Faced with Nagakura’s straightforward and unabashed complint, Aoto politely gave a humble smile.
For so reason, Aoto felt that this Nagakura Shinpachi would get along well with Kondo Isami, Chiba Shigetarou, and the others. They all seem to be straightforward, straightforward people.
At this mont, Nagakura suddenly rembered — standing beside him was Boss Kiryu.
"Ah, sorry, sorry." Nagakura said, while ruffling his ssy hair, apologetically smiling at Boss Kiryu, "I seem to have been focused on chatting with Aoto..."
"It’s alright." Kiryu smiled nonchalantly, "Mr. Nagakura, with your swordsmanship skills, there are many jobs you can take."
"I just happen to have a rather good job at hand."
"The Mukai Sword Dojo in Hidou-cho is currently recruiting sparring partners with sufficient swordsmanship skills."
"Mr. Nagakura, are you interested in trying out this job?"
"Oh? A swordsmanship sparring partner?" Nagakura’s eyes lit up, "Hahaha, it sounds pretty good."
"It seems like you’re interested in this job." Kiryu turned around with his hands behind his back, "Then — please co with , and we’ll move to the reception area where I can slowly introduce this job to you in more detail."
...
...
Kiryu led Nagakura back to the reception area.
anwhile, Aoto, Chokata, and Saito were arranged by Kiryu to follow Mukiwa into a spacious room on the second floor of the Thousand Affairs House specifically used to entertain guests, waiting for Kiryu to finish dealing with Nagakura.
While quietly waiting for Kiryu to complete these business matters, Aoto chatted with Mukiwa, who was staying with them in the guest room.
Mukiwa briefly introduced the Thousand Affairs House to Aoto.
This Thousand Affairs House is not only her and Kiryu’s workplace but also their ho.
The Thousand Affairs House has 2 floors in total; the first floor is for business, while the second floor is Kiryu and Mukiwa’s residence.
After casually chatting and killing about 20 minutes with Mukiwa and Chokata, they finally saw Kiryu open the door and enter the room.
"Boss Kiryu." Seeing Kiryu’s return, Aoto quickly straightened up his sitting posture, "Did that Nagakura Shinpachi leave?"
Kiryu nodded while sitting opposite Aoto: "Yes. I recomnded quite a few suitable jobs to him, and he’s left cheerfully."
"That’s good... I’m glad he found a job he likes." Aoto smiled.
Although he only had brief contact with this Nagakura Shinpachi, based on the behavior displayed, Aoto found Nagakura Shinpachi quite interesting.
He seed like soone who is straightforward, without too many twists in his mind.
Sitting down in front of Aoto, Kiryu first thanked Aoto for being willing to help assess Nagakura’s skills earlier, exchanged a few simple pleasantries, and then got to the point: asking what brought Aoto and the others here so suddenly.
Aoto and Chokata proceeded to detail their purpose for coming.
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