"Lord Tairō." Hosoi bowed, "I have brought Tachibana Aoto."
"Hmm." Ii Naosuke nodded, "Thank you for your efforts. You may withdraw for now."
Hosoi: "Yes, sir."
Rustle... After bowing once more to Ii Naosuke, Hosoi respectfully exited the room and closed the door.
"Mr. Tachibana." Ii Naosuke smiled with a playful tone to Aoto, who was left in the room, "We et again."
He gestured with his hand in front of him.
"Co, Mr. Tachibana, have a seat at your leisure."
Why did Lord Ii, whom I just parted with not long ago, summon here for a private eting?
With this question in mind, Aoto knelt in the spot Ii Naosuke had just indicated and placed the Ghost-Slaying sword to his right.
At this mont, Ii Naosuke wore a faint smile and sat cross-legged casually, appearing quite relaxed.
"Hahaha." Seeing Aoto sitting formally and properly, Ii Naosuke teased, "Mr. Tachibana, you don’t have to be so formal; you can relax a bit."
"I just wanted to have a simple chat with you, which is why I summoned you alone, so there’s no need to be so upright."
"Chat?" Aoto couldn’t help but softly question.
"Hmm... Since there are no outsiders here, I can speak frankly with you." The smile on Ii Naosuke’s face grew a bit more aningful, "The reason I decided to personally attend and host today’s assessnt eting was actually to see for myself what you look like."
"I ntioned to you earlier today at the assessnt, didn’t I? I’ve wanted to et you for quite a while."
"But throughout all of February, I was simply too busy and couldn’t find the ti."
"It wasn’t until today that I finally managed to free up so ti."
"Since I happened to have so free ti today, I figured I’d attend this assessnt, see you in person, and deliver the reward you should have received long ago."
"Ah, speaking of which, here’s a little secret: the decision on what kind of reward to give you was made more than half a month ago."
"But I specifically requested that these rewards be presented to you at today’s assessnt eting in front of the other officials from the ’Three Tis’ faction."
"When soone achieves such significant rits, it would be a waste not to use the opportunity to boost the morale of the ’Three Tis’ group."
"Seeing you receive such a fine sword in such a grand manner will surely inspire many people to strive harder."
The feeling Aoto got from Ii Naosuke now differed slightly from the impression he had during the assessnt eting earlier.
At this mont, Ii Naosuke seed... more "ordinary."
There was more warmth in his smile, and his speech was a bit rambling, more resembling an ordinary neighborhood elder.
After rambling a bit about household matters, Ii Naosuke suddenly shifted the conversation—
"Ah, not good, not good. It seems I’ve inadvertently rambled on about too many irrelevant trivialities."
Ii Naosuke leaned to the side, resting on a nearby armrest.
"Haha... When one is too relaxed, the old habit of rambling can easily resurface..."
"Let’s get back to the main topic."
Ii Naosuke cleared his throat.
"Mr. Tachibana, could you tell in detail... how you encountered and defeated that group of ’Anti-foreigner Faction’ insurgents that night?"
Aoto’s eyebrows couldn’t help but raise.
About what happened that night... Aoto had already detailed everything in a letter to the Edo Magistrate’s Office when he requested assistance as they dared not leave the Kanagawa Inn.
Upon returning to Edo, Aoto submitted a more detailed report at the first opportunity.
Everything he could say and knew was written in the report.
As Lord Tairō, it was impossible for Ii Naosuke not to have seen these reports.
Why bother calling him over to ask about things that could be understood just by reading the report?
Ii Naosuke seed to notice Aoto’s question and smiled:
"Although I have thoroughly read your detailed account of how you overca many with few, I still want to hear personally how you ca up with that strategy to defeat the enemy that night."
Though he still didn’t quite understand Ii Naosuke’s seemingly odd behavior, since this currently powerful middle-aged man had asked, Aoto dared not refuse.
Aoto recounted the detailed process of the "Snowy Night Chaos," which he had already narrated countless tis, to Ii Naosuke, clearly and thodically.
Having recounted it so many tis, Aoto had grown accustod to the story, so it took him less than 10 minutes to relay everything he could.
"Hmm..." As soon as Aoto finished speaking, Ii Naosuke let out a low murmur.
After that murmur, he didn’t speak for a while.
After so ti, he finally broke the silence in a gentle voice:
"Indeed... no matter how many tis I hear it, it’s truly unbelievable..."
With that, Ii Naosuke stretched lazily.
"Mr. Tachibana, thank you for making the trip; you may now withdraw."
Aoto’s eyes widened.
Just dismiss like that?!
Aoto was completely bewildered now.
Utterly bewildered.
He was summoned abruptly.
Then, after having him retell the "Snowy Night Chaos" that he had already detailed in reports, he was suddenly asked to leave...
User Comments
0 comments from readers