I formed the strongest swordsman group

"Director, what would you like to drink and eat?"

"Ordinary green tea is fine... I'm not hungry, so I won't order anything."

"Then I want a cup of green tea too. Excuse me, we want 2 cups of green tea."

"Okay~~! Please wait a moment! The tea will be ready soon!"

The energetic voice of Ms. Tedai is in stark contrast to the calm dialogue tone of the Okita siblings, who are neither sad nor happy.

To have such a chance encounter with the Okita siblings in this tea house, Qingdeng originally wanted to go over to say hello, but whether it was the expression on the director's face at this time or the tone of the siblings' speech, there was a sense of "I don't want to Just approach them casually" aura.

The siblings look weird... Qingdeng hesitated for a while, and decided to hold back for now, observe the situation first, and then make a decision.

The general manager and Hikaru Okita ordered the most common green tea, and in the blink of an eye, Miss Tedai returned to the Okita siblings' table with two cups of lukewarm tea.

While waiting for Miss Tedai to bring tea, the siblings were silent and did not speak.

Hikaru Okita folded his hands on the table, watching his nose, nose and heart.

The general manager rested his right arm on the table, supported his head with his right palm, and pulled the ponytail at the back of his head to his body with his left hand. While playing with curling his hair with his fingers, he stared at the end of the hair in a daze.

"Guest officers 2! Your tea is here~! If you need anything else, you can call me again!"

Ms. Tedai's vigorous voice also failed to dispel the stiff atmosphere that permeated the two.

"Thanks."

It can be seen that Hikaru Okita has no interest in the cup of tea that is now in front of him.

From politely saying "thank you" to Miss Dai, to watching Miss Dai leave, she never looked at the cup of tea she ordered.

At this time, when Ms. Tedai put down the tea ordered by the two of them and returned to the kitchen with the tea tray in her arms, the strange silence between the siblings was finally broken by Okita Hikaru's voice.

The first sentence she uttered made Qingdeng almost spit out the sweet water that happened to be in his mouth.

"Okay, Chief, let's continue the topic just now. What exactly are you going to do to give up learning swords?"

—Give up on sword learning?

Qingdeng's eyes were wide open, and relying on brute force and perseverance, he forced the sweet water that was almost spewed out from the corner of his lips back into his mouth and swallowed it hard.

--what happened?

At this moment, Qingdeng couldn't care less about sweet water and dorayaki.

"God Gathering" starts immediately! Gather your whole body and mind, and listen carefully to the conversation between the chief executive and Hikaru Okita.

"elder sister……"

Qingdeng heard the chief executive sigh heavily.

"I don't want to give up the sword..."

"Hey, you kid, don't you really want to make a living with swordsmanship in the future?"

"...It has nothing to do with whether you can rely on swords to make a living in the future. I like swordsmanship, so I don't want to give up swordsmanship. The reason is as simple as that."

"You... oh..."

In Okita Hikaru's sigh, there was a breath of "hate that iron cannot be made into steel".

"Boss, how many times do I have to say it before you understand? I've done a serious investigation. No matter how good swordsmanship is, there are very few people who can rely on swordsmanship to make a living. What's more, you are still..."

"elder sister!"

The chief executive suddenly interrupted Okita Hikaru with an extremely high-pitched tone.

The pitch was so high and the sound was so loud that it directly overwhelmed all the conversations in the teahouse.

All the shopkeepers in the teahouse turned their heads one after another, and cast doubtful glances at the pair of siblings who both had extremely good looks.

Suddenly became the focus of the audience... This made Hikaru Okita feel at a loss.

While looking around with an embarrassed expression, she hurriedly said to the chief:

"Boss, Chief, what are you doing?"

"Sister, can you stop talking about this topic now?"

The boss frowned, and pouted hard.

"It's rare to go out to play and buy things together, so stop talking about such heavy-hearted things."

At this time, Qingdeng realized that there was a boxy brocade box on the lap of the general manager, on which was engraved a mark that most people in Edo were familiar with—this was a famous Wu of Edo. The family crest of the clothing merchant.

The items contained in this exquisite brocade box should be the clothes sold in the famous Wufu shop.

Okita Hikaru seemed to want to say something more, but the gazes of the people around her made her feel as if a heavy hammer was pressing on her body, and she was unable to say a word for a long time.

In desperation, Okita Hikaru could only give in and make a compromise.

"Okay... I see." Hikaru Okita shrank his neck and looked around the circle cautiously, "Then let's not talk about this for now, and I will find time to talk to you slowly later."

The general manager showed Qingdengzi's first smile after meeting them in this teahouse.

But his smile quickly disappeared.

"Then let's change the subject, let's talk about your marriage. Director, you are already 16 this year, it's time to think about it..."

Director: "Aoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!"

Before Okita Hikaru finished speaking, the chief executive closed his eyes tightly, raised his hands to cover his ears tightly, and yelled "Aoaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa".

"This kind of topic is also very heavy!"

"No no!"

"I don't listen, I don't listen!"

The chief executive, who closed his eyes tightly and covered his ears tightly, was like a Tyrannosaurus rex, opening his mouth wide and howling "Awwhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" while shaking his head vigorously, the slender ponytail on the back of his head fluttered up and down.

Okita's roar and behavior attracted more eyes and attention.

Okita Hikaru, who didn't like the feeling of disturbing others, suddenly had a strong embarrassment written on his face.

"Director, don't shout! Okay, okay, I'm not here to talk about this anymore. I'm sorry to disturb you, please forgive me."

After Okita Hikaru quickly dissuaded the chief executive from the "tyrannosaurus roar", he hurriedly apologized to the people around him, so he was in a hurry.

After hearing Okita Hikaru say "don't talk about this in this place", the general manager immediately quieted down.

The change of expression is so fast, it's like juggling.

Director: (=￣ω￣=): "Okay, then I won't argue."

Qingdeng faintly found a mischievous smile in the half-closed eyes of the chief executive and the slightly raised corners of his mouth.

Okita Hikari also noticed the smile on the chief executive's face.

I saw Hikaru Okita with his hands on his hips, and said angrily:

"Boss, you are not young anymore, why do you still look like..."

"Aoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo..."

"Okay, okay!"

Seeing that the general manager was about to switch to "tyrannosaurus rex mode" again, Okita Hikaru hurriedly interrupted it.

"Stop shouting, stop shouting, oh...really..."

Okita Hikaru let out a long sigh, picked up the tea on the table and took a sip.

Although Qingdeng couldn't see the expression of Okita Hikari because his back was facing him, but from Okita Hikari's sigh, Qingdeng vaguely felt that the elder sister seemed to have aged several times at this moment. age.

At this time, the general manager showed a blunt mischievous smile, and laughed happily "hehehe", like a naughty child who succeeded in pranking.

Seeing this, Qingdeng couldn't help laughing.

This is the Chief Secretary that Qingdeng is familiar with... a child who seems to never grow up.

The serious face he saw just now didn't match the chief executive at all.

After being made such a fuss by the general manager, Hikaru Okita seemed to have no intention of staying in this tea house for a long time.

When she hurriedly drank the tea in the cup, she hurriedly led the chief secretary away.

Although the general manager had fooled all the topics that Okita Hikari mentioned just now by playing tricks, Qing Deng still firmly remembered the words that Okita Hikari said just now.

"Give up on swordsmanship..."

Qingdeng muttered slowly as if chewing every word

The chief executive is being urged to marry by his sister... Qingdeng had heard about this from the chief executive before, so he wasn't surprised.

But the eldest sister of the chief executive is trying her best to persuade the chief executive to give up learning sword... This is the first time Qingdeng knows about this.

Qingdeng raised his head, and cast his pensive gaze in the direction where the Chongtian siblings left.

This kind of thing...Qingdeng can't put it to the back of his mind...

...

...

It is day, evening——

Edo, Koishikawa Kohinata Yanagi-cho, Shouweikan——

The setting sun that was falling in the west disappeared behind the ridge of the roof, and under the reflection of the afterglow of the setting sun, the clouds in the sky were covered with a layer of golden halo.

These golden clouds piled up on the distant mountains, dyeing the mountains and the sky with magnificent colors.

The setting of the sun and the coming of the dark curtain finally brought a little bit of coolness to the largest city in Japan.

Occasionally, wisps of cool wind blow from the distant sky, and there is a refreshing and pleasant meaning in the wind.

Sitting cross-legged on the veranda adjacent to the courtyard of the testing hall, the Chief Secretary was reading the arithmetic book in his hand in the bright sunset light while enjoying the cool evening breeze.

In his spare time, the chief executive often reads arithmetic books and studies arithmetic alone.

But even though he studied arithmetic so diligently, the chief executive's arithmetic is still very bad - but that's another story.

I saw the chief executive facing the yard ahead, sitting cross-legged on the floor of the veranda without moving, with his head hanging on his chest. An open arithmetic book was spread across her lap.

Although he looked like he was reading with his head down seriously, he hadn't been seen turning the pages of the book for a long time.

His motionless, out-of-focus eyes seemed to have passed the same page a hundred times.

His heart was already in a distant, unknown place.

At this time, someone's sudden shout made the chief executive's heart return from afar.

"Okita-kun!"

"Uh...huh? Tachibana-kun?"

Frightened by Qingdeng's sudden shout, the chief shuddered a few times, then hurriedly turned his head following the sound, and looked at Qingdeng who was striding towards him.

"Okita-kun, do you have time now? I have something I want to talk to you about."

Qingdeng asked the director directly.

"Huh? Something?"

The boss blinked hard with a blank face.

"I have time now... What do you want to tell me?"

"It's good if you're free."

Qingdeng looked around.

"Come with me, what I want to tell you... It's better not to let anyone know."

"What's the matter? It's so mysterious."

"You'll know when you come with me."

For some reason, the general manager put away the arithmetic book in his hand, and followed Qingdeng to a very remote corner of the test hall.

Qingdeng stretched his neck to look around, and listened carefully with his ears straight. After confirming that there were no outsiders around, he cleared his throat vigorously.

"Okita-kun, today... I ran into you and your eldest sister in that tea house that you often took me to visit."

The chief's eyes widened instantly.

"Mr. Ju, were you in that tea house at that time?"

"Well, I'm sitting not too far away from you. Then... I accidentally heard the conversation between you and your eldest sister."

Having said that, Qingdeng's voice couldn't help but pause.

A trace of hesitation appeared between his brows at this moment.

The general manager can be regarded as the person who has the closest relationship with Qingdeng in the whole examination hall.

The best friend I talked about was forced to give up swordsmanship by my own sister... Qingdeng really couldn't turn a blind eye to this kind of thing.

No matter what, the reason must be clarified—Qingdeng, who had deepened his determination, took a deep breath after hesitating for a moment, and said in one breath:

"Okita-kun, your eldest sister asked you to give up your swordsmanship... What is going on here?"

"Well……!"

The chief groaned in astonishment.

There is a height difference of 20cm between the two sides, you hold your head high, I look down; you look at me, I look at you...

Under the silent eyes of the four, time passed bit by bit.

Qingdeng was not in a hurry, he just kept looking at the general manager silently, waiting for the general manager to respond.

After a while, the astonishment on the chief's face slowly dissolved.

"How could it be such a coincidence..."

The general manager smiled wryly and stretched his hands behind his head, playing with the ponytail behind his head.

"It just happened to let you hear the conversation between me and my sister..."

The chief executive let out a short sigh.

"All right……"

"Since Mr. Ju heard the conversation between me and my sister...then I will give you a general account of the ins and outs of the matter."

"I'm going out with my sister today to play and go shopping."

"On the way back to the examination hall, I suddenly felt a little thirsty, so I took my sister to the tea house, and I also recommended this shop that I like very much to my sister."

"But who knows, as soon as I sat down at the dining table in the tea house, my sister started talking to me about the topic of 'giving up swordsmanship' that I don't want to talk about... It made me lose my good mood."

The boss let out a sigh again.

"My eldest sister...has never supported me in learning swordsmanship..."

"Since many years ago, my sister has tried various methods to persuade me to give up learning swords."

"Maybe it's because I'm getting older, and it would be too late if I don't switch to other skills... Anyway, since last year, the frequency of my sister persuading me to give up swordsmanship has become much higher."

"Now, sister, she's trying to persuade me completely."

"As long as I get the chance, my sister will definitely jump over and give me a good lecture... It makes me a little annoyed..."

Qingdeng, who had been quietly listening to the chief executive's explanation, finally couldn't help but say:

"Okita-kun, why is your sister so opposed to your sword learning? This feeling doesn't make sense."

"You are so talented in swordsmanship. If you don't learn swords, you can learn other things... This is simply a waste of everything."

"According to what I heard today, your eldest sister stopped you from learning swords because she felt that there were very few people who could rely on sword skills to support themselves... It is true that her view is not wrong, people who can rely on sword skills to make a living People are indeed rare, but I always feel that it is too far-fetched to use this reason to prevent you, who is so talented, from learning swords."

Anyone who has had a little contact with Zongsi knows that Zongsi is an undoubted swordsmanship wizard!

Not only has the swordsmanship talent far beyond ordinary people, but also has the innate excellent physical talent.

Talented and good material for sword practice, the whole person seems to be born for the sword...

Such a genius actually forced him to change careers, not allowing him to give full play to his talents in the fields he was good at, as if God was chasing him and stuffing food into his mouth... Qing Deng really couldn't understand such an operation.

"Ahahahaha..."

The director general laughed a few times, and slightly increased the strength of his fingers playing with the ponytail.

"Actually... worrying that I won't be able to support myself with swordsmanship in the future is just a secondary reason for my sister's objection to my learning swordsmanship."

"Secondary reason?" Qing Deng was stunned, "Then what is the main reason?"

"Uh... this..."

The director's eyes suddenly wandered, his mouth faltered, and he couldn't say a word for a long time.

Qingdeng waited for a long time before he received a vague answer from the general manager:

"What's the main reason... It's not convenient for me to say. Mr. Ju, if there is a chance later, I will tell you..."

After all, the chief executive closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

After expelling the air inhaled into the lungs with a "huh", the chief commander opened his eyes.

At the moment when the bright eyes opened, they were dyed with the lively light and cheerful smile that Qing Deng was familiar with.

"Mr. Orange, don't worry about me."

With a smile on his face, the chief executive put his left hand on his hips, and patted his flat chest with his right hand with neither light nor heavy force.

"The testing hall is my second home. To me, the natural mind flow is my second life. No matter what my sister says, I will never leave the testing hall and give up swordsmanship."

"I will properly handle these trivial matters between me and my sister, so you can rest assured, Mr. Ju!"

Seeing the smile on the chief's face, Qingdeng couldn't help showing a faint smile too.

Since the chief executive didn't want to go into details of his sister's reasons for opposing him to learn swordsmanship, it was inconvenient for Qingdeng to ask further questions on this issue.

After all, this matter is someone else's private matter. Since the director-general has clearly stated that it is up to him to solve it, it is better to respect other people's wishes as much as possible.

"...That's fine. If you don't want to give up learning swords, then you have to communicate with your sister."

"of course."

The boss nodded vigorously without thinking.

At this time, the director seemed to be recalling something, his expression was startled, and he said quickly:

"That's right, Mr. Tangerine."

"I have never told everyone, including my master, Kondo-san, and Hijikata-san, that my sister asked me to give up learning swords."

"So please help me keep it a secret, don't tell anyone about this matter."

"Why didn't you tell them?" Qingdeng asked suspiciously.

"I don't want them to worry." The chief executive smiled shyly, "If I tell them that I was forced by my sister to stop learning swords...they will definitely be like you and won't just sit idly by."

"This matter is not a major event worth fighting."

"Just let me solve it slowly."

"Can you promise me not to spread this matter?"

The chief raised his eyes, blinked his eyes like a puppy, and cast a begging look at Qingdeng.

The request made by the general manager is reasonable and not too troublesome.

So Qingdeng nodded lightly without thinking:

"Okay, I will."

...

...

3 days later -

In the first year of Wanyan (1860), August 15——

It was afternoon, and it was the time when the test hall had the most people of the day.

Logically speaking, at this time period, the dojo should be filled with the shouts of disciples and the sound of bamboo swords clashing.

But at this time, the dojo in the test guard hall is quite quiet.

There are but not many sounds of apprentices practicing their swords and bamboo swords clashing with each other.

The reason is that most of the disciples are now gathered in the northeast corner of the dojo, watching a certain pair of people's discussion.

"Haha!"

The chief took a quick step forward, and with a deep shout, he swung his sword and slashed down towards Qingdeng's chest.

However, as soon as Zongsi's sword was drawn out, Qingdeng had already disappeared from the place where his sword pointed - Qingdeng took a step to his left front, and dodged to the side of Zongsi.

With such an excellent counterattack opportunity, there is no reason not to launch a counterattack.

Qingdeng, who started from the lower right section, used the move of reversing cassock to hit the Zongsi's side. The potential energy wrapped in the sword was so strong that it was a posture that wanted to cut the Zongsi's body in half.

The chief commander who was on the offensive just now switched to the defensive in the blink of an eye.

I saw that the general manager retracted his front foot slightly, stepped on his feet, lowered the bamboo sword in his hand and the center of gravity of his body, the bamboo sword body was firmly blocked at the place where Qingdeng's bamboo sword had to pass, and there was a "snap" With a precise sound, he picked up the imposing slash in mid-air, as if he was about to split him in half diagonally.

This group of Qingdeng and the chief executive's fast-paced offensive and defensive exchanges that contained a lot of delicate skills aroused the spirits of the surrounding spectators, and they all watched the fierce "Qingdeng vs. Okita" more attentively. fight.

You can learn a lot by watching the battles of masters.

Therefore, whenever Qingdeng, Zongsi and other top experts in the test hall are practicing duels, Zhou Zhu and Kondo will encourage the weak disciples in the hall to observe and learn more.

Right now, there are only a few people in the whole examination hall who can be Qingdeng's study subjects, such as the chief director, Kondo, Hijikata, and Yongcang and Saito who live here.

And the person who practiced against Qingdeng most often was the chief secretary.

"Qingdeng vs. Director General" - this scene is played out in the test hall almost every day.

With the continuous improvement of his own swordsmanship, Qingdeng felt more and more how powerful the chief commander was.

It's not just that the general's swordsmanship ability is 50 times that of ordinary people.

Qingdeng dares to conclude—the chief must possess multiple top talents! In addition to "Sword Talent", he has other powerful talents!

If Qingdeng were to describe the chief's body in one sentence...it would be that every part and every muscle of his body seemed to be loaded with springs, full of explosive power!

Those who are not familiar with Zouji, after seeing Zouji's slender body, must not have imagined it at all - Zouji is the kind of swordsman with full "strength" and "sensitivity".

The explosive power that is different from ordinary people brings to the chief division, a slash that neither lacks in attack speed nor strength; it is a moving speed as fast as thunder; 75's jumping ability of jumping over the head of Qingdeng...

In addition to the "explosive power" talent, the chief executive also has a "reaction speed" related talent.

The director's reflexes are extremely developed, just like his explosive power, to an unbelievable level.

One day, the chief executive showed Qing Deng playfully his reaction speed: he threw 7 plates from the kitchen into the sky at the same time, and he easily rushed to the ground before the 7 plates hit the ground. , catch them all.

Not only has powerful explosive power, but also has an incredible fast reaction speed... In a word: the chief commander is the kind of swordsman who can make opponents feel desperate, with both offensive and defensive skills.

On attack? With a wave of the chief commander's hand, it is an astonishingly destructive slash.

On defense? In front of the director's reaction speed, all your actions are invisible.

Just relying on the explosive power and reaction speed of the chief executive... just imagine how strong a person can hit the chief executive?

Top-notch swordsmanship talent plus this "God's gift" body... The so-called "martial arts wizard" refers to someone like the chief executive.

In terms of combat power alone... the chief is currently the undisputed number one expert in the Weiwei Hall.

Zhou Zhu, who is already getting old, and his shoulders will start to hurt after a little strenuous exercise, has long admitted that he is no longer the opponent of the chief executive.

Zongsi, who started practicing swords at the age of 9, has already practiced swordsmanship for 7 years. Qingdeng, who has practiced sword for less than 1 year, is still far behind Zongsi.

The most powerful evidence that can be used to prove that Qingdeng's strength at this stage is not as good as that of the chief commander is that when Qingdeng is fighting against the chief minister now, "Gudan" will still be automatically activated.

Qingdeng had to use his "solitary courage" fully to be able to barely fight to the balance with the chief commander who had practiced the sword for more than 6 years than him and whose body function was as strong as a reformed person.

But such a strong chief executive also has two rather obvious flaws: lack of physical strength and not being good at fighting many with one.

The general's fighting style is "single-point outbreak".

In a very short period of time, the opponent is violently attacked like a storm, and the opponent is killed in one go.

If you can't kill your opponent in a very short time... then the chief executive will be in trouble.

Physical strength is not the director's forte. Once the battle is dragged into a protracted war and a war of attrition, the director will be exhausted.

As for the second flaw of the chief commander... For some reason, the chief minister is good at singles, but it is quite difficult for group battles with one enemy and many.

Once there are multiple enemies attacking the chief commander, the chief minister will often be in a hurry, and it is difficult to exert his due strength.

Qingdeng speculates that this may have something to do with the chief's clumsy head...

This is not to say that the IQ of the head office is not enough, but that the "information processing ability" of the head office's brain is not enough.

Judging from the general manager's extremely messy arithmetic level, which can't be learned well, the general manager is not good at that kind of precise calculation.

If you only fight against one person, then the director's brain can still operate with ease.

But if there are multiple enemies attacking... the enemy on the front right is approaching, the enemy on the front left is attacking with cassocks, and the enemy behind is waiting for an opportunity... In such a complicated situation, the head of the chief may be on the edge of his head. Can't handle it.

Of course, the above are all Qingdeng's conjectures, whether it is true or not remains to be studied.

After waving his sword to block Qingdeng's inverse cassock slash, the chief commander's figure changed—he took a big step back, and while backing up, he swung the tip of the knife, switching his stance from the middle section to flat blue eyes .

Seeing the posture of the general manager, Qingdeng knew: the general manager is about to show his special skills!

Among all the sword skills of the natural Li Xinliu, the move that Zongji is best at is the stabbing skill: Wuming Sword.

The Wuming Sword is originally a move from the middle of the stance, but the chief commander likes to use the flat blue eyes to start the stance.

Is this a coincidence?

The sword skill Qingdeng is best at is also the Wuming Sword.

And Qingdeng also doesn't like to use the traditional middle section to start his moves, but prefers to use the Xia section to start his moves.

Qingdeng pondered for a moment, then lifted the bamboo sword in his hand vigorously, and Yixia Duan put the bamboo sword in front of him.

The spectators who are familiar with the two's swordsmanship style and skillful use of moves are all excited-these two are going to have a unique attack!

They stretched their necks one after another, wanting to have a complete panoramic view of the good show that was about to be staged in front of them.

It's just... not everyone showed interest and excitement about this "unique trick".

Zhou Zhu, Kondo, Inoue, Yongcura who were standing not far away watching the battle, and Hijikata who did not go on a date with a girl today but came to the sword gym to practice swords, all of them stared at the chief with solemn faces.

The same is true for Qingdeng who is training with the chief executive.

Qingdeng half-closed his eyes, and cast a thoughtful look at the chief executive through the mask.

*****

*****

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