Chapter 490 - 170: Aoto Squad Assault! The Pursuit in the Settlement!

Chapter 490: Chapter 170: Aoto Squad Assault! The Pursuit in the Settlement!

Aoto tilted his head slightly and gave a look to Nagakura beside him.

Receiving Aoto’s signal, Nagakura solemnly nodded back at him.

After completing a silent and brief exchange, the two simultaneously drew the swords from their waists.

Holding his Ghost-Slaying sword, Aoto took a big step and with a "swish," pulled open the door of the wagashi shop—

"We are officials from Edo North Guard Station! In the name of public duty, we are conducting a search!"

The ground floor of this wagashi shop was almost empty.

A quick scan over the entire floor revealed only a middle-aged man with salt-and-pepper hair sitting behind the counter.

Seeing the intimidating Aoto and Nagakura rushing in with swords, the middle-aged man immediately collapsed to the floor in fright, stammering and rapidly asking what happened and what was going on.

Aoto ignored the middle-aged man.

His eyes scanned every corner of the first floor like lightning, but after spotting no man with a bushy beard, he quickly dashed toward the second floor.

This wagashi shop had two floors.

The ground floor was used for receiving customers, while the second floor was a dining area for guests to sit and have meals.

At this moment, on the second floor of the wagashi shop, groups of guests were seated around small tables, sipping warm tea and tasting wagashi, some of whom had foreign faces.

Aoto rushed up to the second floor with lightning speed and quickly located their target—a samurai with a very thick beard sitting in a corner.

The bearded man was sitting across from someone, who was a young Yamato person dressed rather unusually.

The young Yamato’s attire was deemed unusual because he wore no kimono, but a full set of western clothing—vest, tie, leather shoes—and even had a pair of heavy black-framed glasses perched on his nose.

Currently, as Japanese society had not yet fully accepted Western styles, it was still uncommon to see Yamato people wearing western suits.

Aoto and Nagakura, charging upstairs with gleaming swords, naturally drew all eyes on the second floor.

The expressions of the bearded man and the man with glasses changed instantly upon seeing Aoto and Nagakura... or more precisely, upon seeing Aoto’s red-tasseled jitte on his right waist and the magistrate’s seal cage hanging there!

Like a reflex action, the two men jumped from their seats and fled in opposite directions!

The bearded man fled to the eastern window.

The man with glasses fled to the western window.

Seeing officials and running away... these two were absolutely suspicious!

The direction in which the man with glasses was escaping led directly toward the back door guarded by Saito and his team.

Aoto immediately leaned out the west-facing window nearby and shouted to Saito and his group outside:

"Saito! Catch the man in the suit and glasses!"

Even before Aoto shouted this order, Saito and his team, stationed outside the back door, had already spotted the man with glasses jumping out the window.

The man with glasses, from his clumsy demeanor, clearly lacked any martial arts training; his limbs were extremely stiff.

He awkwardly landed on the awning of the wagashi shop’s first floor after lifting his leg over the window, then scurried timidly along the awning before jumping to the ground.

He nearly tumbled to the ground when his feet landed, as he hadn’t adjusted his balance properly.

Saito Ichiro, true to his reticent and terse style, did not respond to Aoto’s shout. He simply steadied the sword at his right waist and pursued the panicking man with glasses.

Fujimura huffed and puffed, keeping close to Saito.

However, it was Harada who held his long spear aloft, shouting, "Mr. Tachibana! Leave it to us!"

Aoto left the glasses-wearing man to Saito’s team and took on the task of chasing the bearded man fleeing in the other direction, by himself and Nagakura.

"Nagakura, follow me!"

"Okay!"

To facilitate running, Aoto momentarily sheathed his Ghost-Slaying sword before sprinting towards the nearest east-facing window, vaulting out of it and landing directly on the street outside.

Looking up— the bearded man was running towards the northern street corner.

Compared to the man with glasses, the bearded man’s skills were evidently more agile; it was clear he was a trained practitioner.

After telling the slightly later-vaulting Nagakura to "keep up," Aoto pursued the bearded man’s back, initiating a chase on the streets of the settlement, seemingly as if he were racing the wind.

The bearded man charged forward like a bull, knocking aside all obstacles, whether people or objects, in his path.

In no time, cries and curses from various languages echoed all around.

"Shit!"

"Hé! Tu m’as frappé!"

"Сукаблядь!"

...

Nagakura had no shortage of strength or stamina, but speed was his weakness.

Before long, Nagakura, being slower than Aoto, lagged behind, and the distance between him and Aoto widened increasingly.

Aoto could not afford to worry about Nagakura now.

The bearded man was very swift, and possessed great stamina, his speed not slowing down a bit so far.

Even someone with the gifts of "Strong Muscle" and "Take the Lead" like Aoto found it hard to catch up with him in a short time.

The bearded man kept running.

As Nagakura had fallen behind, Aoto had no choice but to pursue him solo relentlessly.

In the relentless chase that ensued, both the bearded man and Aoto dashed out of the settlement, entering a certain district north of the settlement.

The bearded man led Aoto on a wild chase through the various alleys, like a headless fly.

Aoto gritted his teeth, stayed alert, and refused to let the bearded man out of his sight, even for a moment.

Upon following the bearded man into a secluded alley... suddenly, Aoto saw several figures blocking his way ahead.

Simultaneously, more people appeared behind Aoto...

In front, there were 9 people, and behind, another 9... a total of 18 people, trapping Aoto in the alley.

*******

*******

Ah, the long-lost real sword battle...

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