Ugorō, having served Katsu Rintarō for many years as an attendant, has gained so understanding of military science through Katsu Rintarō’s influence.
Without needing detailed instructions from Katsu Rintarō, just a few simple directives suffice for Ugorō to grasp the kind of fortifications Katsu Rintarō wants to build.
Simply put—Katsu Rintarō wants him to construct several tall walls to block the enemy; the more and higher the walls, the better.
As he and Ugorō arrived at the western corridor of the rooftop, Katsu Rintarō nodded with satisfaction at the sight of the defensive structures now spanning the corridor: "Very good... Ugorō, you’ve done well."
Ugorō did much better than he had imagined.
In such a short ti, Ugorō had organized the group to build three walls, each about 2 ters high. Although not particularly sturdy, they wouldn’t collapse with a single push.
The three walls provided deep defensive depth. If one wall was breached, they could fall back to the second wall and continue to hold.
Besides asking Ugorō to create fortifications, Katsu Rintarō also tasked Ugorō with making simple long spears.
Ugorō dismantled wooden furniture like doors and bookshelves, crafting four wooden spears with sharpened tips.
The four wooden spears are now held by the four most robust apprentices, who stand nervously behind the first tall wall, poking the spear tips above the wall and aiming outside.
"Mr. Katsu," Ugorō swallowed hard and stuttered as he asked Katsu Rintarō, "What should we do now?"
"Hold our ground! Wait for the Magistrate’s Office to send reinforcents!" Katsu Rintarō replied word by word.
"Wait, wait for the Magistrate’s Office to rescue us?" Ugorō was dumbfounded, "If the rescue from the Magistrate’s Office doesn’t co, what then?"
"... We have no other options but to hold on and wait for reinforcent." Katsu Rintarō’s expression was somber, "We can only hope the people from the Magistrate’s Office discover the situation here soon and rush to send reinforcents."
From the beginning, Katsu Rintarō had Ugorō build fortifications and craft wooden spears to hold their ground and wait for help.
The longer the weapon, the more likely even soone unfamiliar with spear technique could defeat an experienced swordsman who has studied swordsmanship for years.
By wielding long spears in the narrow corridor and relying on these simple fortifications, they could completely block this group of sudden attackers for a while.
The Foreign Language Research Institute’s periter has been thoroughly surrounded by these attackers, making escape impossible.
Tonight, the people staying inside the Investigation Office, except Katsu Rintarō who has so strength, are pure scholars without any martial power. Engaging the attackers head-on would be suicidal.
If they can’t fight and can’t flee, all that’s left is to hold firm and hope for the Magistrate’s Office to rescue them quickly...
Katsu Rintarō climbed to the rear of the first tall wall, then took out all the bullets stored in his pocket, counting the remaining ammunition.
Counting the bullets still in the handgun chamber... there are only 11 bullets left...
Katsu Rintarō’s already heavy complexion grew even graver.
...
...
Edo, Key-cho—
"Mr. Tachibana, it’s impossible!" Nagakura shouted to Aoto not far away, "Nothing is left here except fire and charred wood!"
Fujimura, now standing beside Aoto, also shouted to Aoto:
"Mr. Tachibana, step back a bit! The fire’s almost here!"
Bang!
As Fujimura’s voice just fell, so sparks drifted toward Aoto, exploding near his nose, with a faint burning sensation on his nose tip.
"Tsk..." Watching the growing fire, Aoto couldn’t help but click his tongue.
Suspecting this sudden fire as deliberate arson, he hurriedly led Nagakura and the others to Key-cho’s fire scene, hoping to catch anyone suspicious nearby.
However, perhaps because they arrived late, they found nothing but raging flas and charred buildings when they reached the surroundings.
The fire was at a small comrcial street in Key-cho.
Tonight is windless; lacking wind assistance, the fire spread slowly. Upon arriving, Aoto and the others saw only four shops consud by flas.
"Mr. Tachibana! Mr. Tachibana! I’ve brought the Town Fire Extinguisher people!"
Suddenly, the voice of Harada, whom Aoto sent to notify the Town Fire Extinguisher to co and extinguish the fire, sounded behind Aoto.
Aoto quickly looked towards the voice, frowning.
Only about thirty Town Fire Extinguisher mbers followed behind Harada.
"Why are there so few people?" Aoto shouted.
Before Harada could respond, a middle-aged man who seed to be at the captain level, running beside and slightly behind Harada, answered with a bitter face:
"We’re seriously understaffed! Not only is Key-cho on fire, but also Pan-cho, Yue-cho, West Mountain-cho... there’s a fire in many Castle Towns right now! We can’t spare more people to fight the fire!"
— Not only is Key-cho on fire?
Aoto was stunned, then his face fell.
— The fire situation is indeed strange!
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