I formed the strongest swordsman group

"Mr. Makimura, welcome back!"

After a short period of surprise, Kinoshita Mai's pretty face was instantly stained with excitement.

She has a very good relationship with Yahachi Makimura.

Mucun treats her as his own.

And she also likes this amiable old man very much.

Among the many elders, Mucun is the one who loves her the most.

Her grandmother Kinoshita Rin was originally a serious person. Although she occasionally showed a gentle side in front of Kinoshita Mai, she usually showed a stern image to others.

As for Boss Kiryu...he is a kind and benevolent person. But besides this, he has another identity, that is, the tutor assigned by Kinoshita Rin to Kinoshita Mai.

In other words, Boss Kiryu shoulders the burden of teaching Mai Kinoshita.

Therefore, he can't let Kinoshita Mai's temperament do anything.

When necessary, he will still show a solemn face in front of Kinoshita Mai.

Only because Mucun does not have the pressure of "educating Kinoshita Mai" and because of his personality, he can exclusively favor Kinoshita Mai without any scruples.

After all, Kinoshita Mai is just a girl who is not even 16 years old.

The child's disposition of "I will be nice to whoever is nice to me" still has remnants in his consciousness.

Kinoshita Mai kicked off the red button wooden clogs on her feet, stepped on the wooden corridor with her cute little feet in clean white socks, and slid three steps in two steps to the front of Mucun.

"Mr. Makimura, have you finished your work in Yokohama?"

Mucun's height is close to 1.9 meters, nearly 40cm taller than Kinoshita Mai.

Affected by this, whenever she stood beside Mucun to speak, she would subconsciously tiptoe her tiny toes.

"Um."

Makimura smiled slightly.

"Good luck. It only took much less time than expected, and all the things that should be done and should be done have been dealt with. I just returned to Edo. I just finished greeting Kiryu on the front foot, and you came back on the back foot."

Mu Cun said just now that "it's been a long time"... This is actually not accurate.

After all, the last time he met Kinoshita Mai was only half a month ago.

Just at the beginning of this year, Mucun traveled thousands of miles from Osaka to Edo.

On January 6, he met with Qingdeng, and the two had a match.

After a brief stay in Edo, he set off for Yokohama, saying that he was going to deal with an errand assigned to him by Kinoshita Rin.

As for the errand... Once Kinoshita Mai asked, Kiryu and Mucun both kept secret.

Seeing this, Kinoshita Mai wisely didn’t ask any more questions—as the young master of Calabash House who was strictly protected, she had long been used to the feeling of “everyone around me seems to have secrets” and “people around me won’t tell me anything”.

Yokohama is a port city adjacent to Edo. It is located in the southern part of the Kanto region, facing Tokyo Bay to the east. It used to be just a small fishing village with less than 100 households.

The year following the outbreak of the "Black Ship Incident", that is, the first year of Ansei (1854), the fleet led by Commodore Matthew Perry of the United States Navy broke down forcibly in Koshiba Village, Liupu Domain. The shogunate sent envoys to negotiate, and the two sides held peace talks in Yokohama Village.

Afterwards, the two sides signed the Treaty of Kanagawa.

Four years later, the "Japan-U.S. Amendment and Trade Treaty" was signed, and the content of the treaty was to open the port of Kanagawa. This became the prologue to the development of Yokohama.

In the 6th year of Ansei (1859), Yokohama Port was officially opened to the outside world, and quickly became a raw silk trading port, commercial port, tourist port and industrial port.

Relying on its superior location advantages, Yokohama quickly found its own differentiated track, realized value transformation, found its own vertical field of expertise through unique starting points, and became a gateway to the outside world.

The embassies of Western countries are basically concentrated in Yokohama, and Yokohama has become a city where Westerners live together.

To the south of the Customs Customs is the area where foreigners live, and to the north of the Customs Customs is the area where Japanese people live.

Although it has only been a few years since it was officially developed, Yokohama has become a thriving and dynamic coastal new city.

Mucun has returned to Edo... This of course makes Kinoshita Mai very excited.

However, she still has quite urgent matters right now, and she needs to report to Boss Kiryu immediately.

So, when she came back to her senses, she quickly turned her head and said anxiously to the old man with glasses beside her:

"Mr. Kiryu, something is wrong! Qingdeng him..."

Before Kinoshita Mai said anything, Kiryu said with a calm expression:

"I know everything about what happened last night."

Kinoshita Mai was taken aback.

"Mr. Kiryu, you already know?"

Kiryu nodded slightly.

"Young master, there is no need to worry. Jun Ju is safe now. Even if he is as strong as the Qingshui clan, it will not be easy to find out his current hiding place."

When Kinoshita Wu heard this, she unconsciously bit her lower lip.

Qing Dengyu showed up last night...he is still alive, and alive and well.

For Kinoshita Mai, this was really a great thing that almost made her cry with joy.

In the half month since Odenmacho suddenly caught fire and Qingdeng disappeared mysteriously, she has been cooperating with Kondo Isamu, Chiba Shigetaro, Katsu Rintaro and others, running around Edo, looking for Qingdeng everywhere.

As the "Phantom Thief Cat Monk" who shocked Edo, Kinoshita Mai not only possesses outstanding mobility, but also knows the complicated market conditions of Edo well.

She knows all about secret trails that even the locals don't know about.

The manpower of the Test Guard Hall and the "Beichen Family" Sword Hall, the contacts of Katsu Rintaro and Anthony Angoulême, Kinoshita Mai's ability to find people and objects... The power of the "Support Orange Alliance" must not be underestimated.

However...they are still unable to find a living person in the vast Edo in the absence of information.

After all, Edo is a metropolis with a population of one million.

Finding someone in a city of this level...although it would not be said to be extremely difficult, it could also be called finding a needle in a haystack.

Although Kinoshita Wu and the others have burnt the ointment, let alone found Qingdeng, they haven't even collected half of the relevant clues.

The "Supporting Tangerine Alliance" was already in short supply of manpower, who would have thought that just a few days ago, Okita Souji and Chiba Sanako disappeared without a trace.

However, compared to Qingdeng who disappeared without a trace, the "disappearance" of the second daughter is not too alarming.

Before they left, they left a farewell letter in their bedrooms, saying that they would leave home for a while, but they didn't mention where they were going or what they were going to do.

The two "run away from home" at the same time... For some reason, when Kinoshita Mai first got the news, such a guess suddenly appeared in Kinoshita Mai's mind——

Okita-kun and Chiba Sanako found Qingdeng, but because Qingdeng was running for a very urgent matter, he ordered him to "not reveal his whereabouts". Both Okita-kun and Chiba Sanako wanted to help Qingdeng, so they both "left home to become monks" and followed Qingdeng to deal with that "important matter".

Regarding why Qingdeng has been missing until now, Kinoshita Mai has long thought and guessed carefully.

Based on what she knew about Qingdeng, she dared to conclude with 100% confidence that if Qingdeng was still alive, he would definitely return to the testing hall as soon as possible to report to his relatives and friends that he was safe.

Qingdeng is a person who values ​​love and righteousness, he will never do something like "let relatives and friends worry" for no reason.

There were only two reasons why Kinoshita Wu thought about why there was no news from him.

Or he lost his personal freedom, such as being locked up somewhere.

Either... or he was in the middle of some troublesome affair! In order not to implicate the innocent, he consciously cut off contact with others!

Although this conjecture was born inexplicably and there is no ready-made evidence to support it, but it is strange to say that Kinoshita Mai always feels that the facts are very likely to develop as she guessed...

It's funny to say that the "Supporting Orange Alliance" took great pains to look for Qingdeng everywhere, but in the end he showed up by himself last night.

It's just that the way he returned... is really shocking.

Although Kinoshita Mai knew Qingdeng was a very restless "troubleshooter", she was still dumbfounded when she learned that he had kicked the Shimizu Clan 13 times in one night and offended the largest Yakuza group in Kanto to death, wondering if she had heard it wrong.

As far as Kinoshita Wu knew, Qingdeng and the Qingshui clan shouldn't have any conflicts.

If I have to say it... I am afraid that Qingdeng's late father owed the other party hundreds of taels of gambling debt.

Let's not mention for a moment that the Qingshui clan has written off the gambling debt in order to win over Qingdeng.

Based on Qingdeng's current status and financial resources, he can easily pay off the debt of a few hundred taels of gold without blinking an eyelid. How could this degree of holiday lead to a fierce conflict between the two sides?

All in all, no matter what, it is an indisputable fact that Qingdeng and the Qingshui clan have formed an endless relationship.

Just relying on the Qingshui clan's nature of vengeance...they will never let Qingdeng go easily!

The Qingshui clan is no better than the barbarian group.

The latter is just a group of rabble with no fighting spirit and no ability.

Looking all over the discussion group, only their leader, Shen Ye, is still a figure.

Therefore, after Qingdeng beheaded Shenye, the group of barbarians who lacked outstanding leaders and a mature organizational system fell apart in an instant.

On the other hand, the Qingshui clan, who have been cultivating in Kanto for many years, do not have these problems.

At first glance, Qingdeng won the battle last night very well.

The Yakuzas of the Qingshui clan, who were invincible on weekdays, were defeated like chickens and dogs.

But such a result of the battle can only bluff the eyes of the common people.

But anyone who has a little understanding of the background of the Qingshui clan knows that a considerable part of the reason why Qingdeng was able to win the battle last night so happily was because he had an advantage of "surprise".

The unshakable dominance has long made the Yakuza of the Qingshui clan accustomed to a peaceful life where no one dares to make trouble, and they have neglected to take precautions.

Therefore, when Qingdeng attacked, they were in a hurry.

Although Luo Sha, Shimizu Eiichi and others made a remedy later and urgently sent reinforcements to various important venues, the timing was still a bit late.

Wearing the vest of a "cat monk", Kinoshita Mai, who takes robbing the rich and helping the poor as her own responsibility, has long wanted to attack the Qingshui clan and steal all the ill-gotten wealth accumulated by the other party over the years.

However...however, the various strongholds of the Qingshui clan, especially their headquarters, all have extremely strict security measures.

If you want to enter the stronghold of the Qingshui clan, unless you enter from the front like Qingdeng, there is no way to start.

Therefore, Kinoshita Mai has a much clearer and more intuitive understanding of the energy of the Qingshui clan than ordinary people.

Due to the rigidity of the system, the rise of the commodity economy, and the gradual disintegration of the small-scale peasant economy, many years ago, a large number of middle and lower-level samurai fell into a predicament of being on the verge of bankruptcy or already bankrupt.

There are too many bankrupt samurai who have turned and devoted themselves to the yakuza in order to make a living.

Among them, there are many outstanding talents with superb skills and even Yunwen Yunwu.

No one can tell how many top-notch warriors the Qingshui clan has recruited over the years.

When the Qingshui clan completes their mobilization, Qingdeng will no longer be able to attack their stronghold like last night.

God knows what cruel revenge the Qingshui clan will have on Qingdeng next.

As Qingdeng's lover, Kinoshita Mai has 100% confidence in Qingdeng's skills and abilities.

But... no matter how powerful Qing Deng is, he only has one pair of feet, one pair of hands, and one head...

One party has perfect organizational capabilities, tens of millions of manpower and material resources.

On the other side, there are very few helpers, and perhaps they are still alone.

The strength gap between the two sides is clear at a glance.

Thinking of this, Kinoshita Mai couldn't help biting her lip harder.

Between the slightly pale cheeks, joy and worry...the two emotions were beautifully mixed together.

At this time, Kiryu's calling brought her consciousness back to reality.

"Young master, go down and rest first. I have something to say to Mucun now. We will talk about Mr. Ju in detail later."

Kinoshita Mai was startled, and immediately raised her gaze, and cast a surprised look at Kiryu.

For Kinoshita Mai, she naturally hopes that Kiryu can put down all the work at hand as soon as possible, and discuss with her "how to find Qingdeng who finally appeared" and many other matters.

However, Kiryu said, "Let's talk about it in detail later"... This really puzzled her.

However, she quickly sorted out her emotions.

In Kinoshita Mai's eyes, Kiryu is an omnipotent superman.

No matter what, as long as you listen to Kiryu's instructions, everything will go smoothly, and if you don't listen to him, things will go wrong.

Over time, Kinoshita Mai has absolute trust in Kiryu's words and deeds.

Besides, when it comes to the depth of affection for Qingdeng, Kiryu is not inferior to her.

Qingdeng was a personal disciple that Kiryu had spent decades to find with great difficulty.

Kiryu must also want to find his lover as soon as possible.

He didn't do that... probably because he was going to have an extremely important secret talk with Mucun next!

With this thought in mind, Mai Kinoshita stopped being awkward.

She quickly gathered her mind, suppressed the slight unhappiness in her heart, bowed her head and answered "Yes, I see", then walked quickly past Kiryu and Mucun, and went straight to the back room.

After Kinoshita Mai's footsteps gradually faded away, Kiryu turned his gaze back to Mucun.

"Mr. Mucun, sit down."

Kiryu made a "please" gesture to the empty seat beside him.

Mucun was also polite, and sat down directly.

As soon as he sat down, he let out a long sigh.

"Ah...Mamiya, I never thought I'd be away for so long, and there would be such a big mess in Edo..."

Because there was no one else around, Mucun changed back to Kiryu's last vest name, which was also his most frequently used before: Kuro Mamiya.

On the way back to Edo, Mucun had already heard about the cause of "Qingdeng's disappearance" from other people.

He also heard a little about the shocking incident that happened last night.

Kiryu smiled wryly, said "I'll talk about this later", and said seriously:

"Mr. Mucun, did you gain anything from your trip to Yokohama?"

Seeing Tongsheng straight to the point, Mucun didn't hesitate much, and responded straightforwardly:

"Mamiya, I have found the workshop for making phantom deposits."

*****

*****

There is a typhoon in Guangzhou... The wind is so strong today...