My Gang of Swordsmen-Chapter 87 - 69: Little Rich Girl Mukiwa

Fujisawa Inn, a certain inn, a certain room—

"All done." After tying a neat knot on the burlap wrapped around Aoto’s leg wound, Kiryu smiled and said, "The wound isn’t deep. With my special medicine applied, just rest for about ten days, and it’ll be as good as new."

Aoto stood up from the tatami, tiptoeing in place a few times.

When his injured right leg touched the ground, he still felt a faint pain, but after applying Kiryu’s special medicine—a brown ointment—he noticeably felt much more comfortable than before the treatment.

"Boss Kiryu, you know medicine too?"

"Yes." Kiryu smiled, adjusting the glasses on his nose, "I once studied some medicine in Kyoto."

"You know so much... repairing Gofuku, lip reading, calligraphy, and now you know medicine too..."

"Learning all sorts of new things is my hobby." Kiryu smiled humbly, "How is it? Does the burlap feel too tight?"

"No, no, it’s just right."

At this moment, this medium-sized double room had four people—Aoto, Saito, Boss Kiryu of Thousand Affairs House, and Shodai Mukiwa.

Saito sat kneeling beside Aoto, with a sword constantly hanging on his right waist, never taking it off.

While Kiryu was treating Aoto’s leg, Mukiwa sat attentively behind Kiryu, assisting him.

Tiptoeing a few times on the spot and confirming that the injury was not serious, Aoto then sat back down on the floor cross-legged.

And once Aoto returned to the floor, a faint voice of thanks floated into his ear.

"Mr. Tachibana... today... really, thank you..."

The owner of this thank you naturally was Mukiwa.

Perhaps, because of the unfamiliar presence of someone like Saito, Mukiwa, who was already afraid of strangers, was now extremely nervous and reserved.

The two small hands clasped on her legs, chin tucked to her collarbone, with shoulders drawn in.

Already petite, Mukiwa now appeared even smaller.

"Ah... no need to thank me, I didn’t do anything remarkable." Aoto raised his hand, scratching the skin at the back of his neck, "Instead of thanking me... why not talk to me?"

"Miss Kinoshita, I have so many questions I want to ask you..."

"I remember you mentioned before: you’re here at Fujisawa Inn to meet a friend of yours."

"The friend you’re talking about... couldn’t be that blonde girl, could it?"

Upon hearing Aoto’s question, the already shy Mukiwa became even more apprehensive.

The hands on her legs tightened, relaxed, and tightened again.

Her mouth opened and closed, stammering for quite some time, without saying anything conclusive.

Seeing Mukiwa so shy that she couldn’t utter a complete sentence, Kiryu, sitting in front of her, turned his head and gave her a helpless smile: "...I might as well say it."

"Mr. Tachibana, the girl you saved this afternoon is named Elodie de Angoulême from France."

"As you just asked, this Elodie is the friend the Young Master hurried to Fujisawa Inn specifically to greet warmly."

"As for the woman in the light yellow Gofuku, she’s the maid responsible for tending to Elodie’s daily needs, named Mary LeRoy."

...Elodie de Angoulême?

Hearing this name, Aoto immediately felt: why does this name sound so familiar...?

Feeling that this name was terribly familiar, Aoto pursed his lips, pondering deeply.

Soon, he recalled—it was the French girl whom Inagawa had mentioned to him before, rumored to be very beautiful...

Compared to the timid manner of Mukiwa, Kiryu’s behavior was much more natural and poised.

He leisurely said:

"Where should I begin..."

...

Kiryu’s narration was extremely orderly.

In just a few words, he dispelled most of the confusion clouding Aoto’s mind.

Five years ago, a French merchant named Anthony traveled across the sea to Japan and engaged in international business.

This Anthony was Elodie’s grandfather.

He brought Elodie to this faraway Asian country to settle and do business.

Anthony’s main business was buying and selling Japanese specialties back to Europe and America.

Prior to this, the grandfather and granddaughter had always lived in Osaka.

However, the area centered around Kyoto and Osaka, known as the Capital Region, has been the site of the fiercest "Anti-Foreigner Movement" in recent years, with a trend of escalating intensity.

Out of personal safety concerns and business considerations, Anthony decided to move his family to Edo, which was obviously much safer compared to the Capital Region.

For some reason—Anthony was unwilling to go to Edo by ship, insisting on taking a carriage, traveling by land to Edo.

Thus, a person with quite a good relationship with Anthony, the Osaka Castle Governor: Matsudaira Shigeaki, waved his hand and assigned his trusted subordinate: Oomura Choyichiro, to lead a total of 36 highly skilled private guards to secure the journey for Anthony and Elodie’s relocation.

Having an intimate relationship with Elodie, Mukiwa, upon hearing of their family’s arrival in Edo, prepared in advance to "go out of the city for ten miles" to meet her close friend at Fujisawa Inn as a warm welcome.

Worried about letting Mukiwa leave Edo alone, Kiryu had no choice but to accompany her to Fujisawa Inn.

Kiryu and Mukiwa arrived at Fujisawa Inn the day before last.

The day following their arrival, yesterday, they successfully met up with Anthony and his group.

The intention of Anthony’s group was to rest for two days in the major post station of Fujisawa Inn before setting off again.

But who knew—an unexpected incident occurred today.

Elodie and her young maid, Leroy, suddenly disappeared from the inn this afternoon!

As for the reason for their "disappearance," it has now been found out—Mukiwa and that Leroy teamed up to sneak Elodie out of the inn...

Having heard of the famous "Ejima Shrine" for a long time, Elodie had been longing to visit the renowned "Ejima Shrine" in the Fujisawa Inn.

She had pleaded with her grandfather to take her to the "Ejima Shrine" even if it was just for a short visit.

But Anthony was very firm—he would not allow them to leave the inn casually while the so-called "Anti-foreigner Warriors" were still rampant!

Since she couldn’t persuade Anthony, Elodie’s little schemes began to stir.

Couldn’t leave the inn openly... then she would leave secretly!

Determined to visit Ejima Shrine, she teamed up with her close friend Mukiwa to make a bold and detailed plan to escape the inn.

To leave the inn, it was impossible without persuading her inseparable maid: Leroy.

So Elodie begged Leroy to make an exception just this once, to let her go to the shrine, just for a while.

Unable to resist Elodie’s pleading, Leroy finally softened and acquiesced to Elodie’s wish...

This marked the beginning of a series of unexpected events today...

After quietly listening to Kiryu’s explanation, Aoto couldn’t help but cast a surprised glance at Mukiwa beside him.

—Miss Kinoshita... is good friends with that Elodie...?

In this era, European and American merchants who had traveled across the sea to do business in Japan were generally not small-time traders with little power.

A working clerk in an employment agency being good friends with the granddaughter of a big-time cross-border merchant... the difference in their statuses didn’t seem likely for friendship.

Kiryu seemed to have seen through Aoto’s thoughts at that moment.

He smiled faintly:

"Well... Mr. Tachibana, you must be curious about how the young master and Elodie became friends."

"The reason is not complicated."

"Before I came to Edo and opened the "Thousand Affairs House" out of personal interest, I had been working at a satin merchant in Osaka called "Rin House", not too big, not too small."

"The owner of ’Rin House’... who is also my lord, is the young master’s godmother."

"Five years ago, after Anthony traveled across the sea to do business in Osaka, he established very close business ties with Rin House."

"This is how the young master and Anthony’s granddaughter, Elodie, came into contact and became friends."

As he said this, Kiryu cast a gentle look towards Mukiwa sitting behind him.

"Looking back now... time flies indeed."

"To nurture the young master, a year ago my lord allowed me to take him in as a shodai at the Thousand Affairs House, starting training and learning from the grassroots level."

"In the blink of an eye, the young master has been working under me for a year now..."

"I see..." Aoto looked at Kiryu, then at Mukiwa, "No wonder you always call Miss Kinoshita ’young master’."

—Miss Kinoshita is actually the daughter of a well-off merchant family...

—Being ’trained’ at the grassroots level... haha... quite similar to me...

Aoto couldn’t help but take a few more glances at Mukiwa.

Mukiwa’s family background and experiences gave Aoto a sense of affinity.

In his previous life, Aoto was also the son of a merchant.

His father ran a medium-sized department store, and the family was quite affluent.

When Aoto was still in middle school, during long vacations like winter and summer holidays, his father often used "training" as an excuse to throw Aoto into the most basic level of their family’s store, letting him do all kinds of ordinary, heavy labor alongside their employees.

At first, Aoto didn’t understand his father’s behavior.

He had aspired to be a police officer since he was little and had never thought about inheriting a store. Why was he frequently sent to the grassroots of the store to do these seemingly unskilled physical tasks?

It wasn’t until he grew up that Aoto realized his father’s intentions—not much deep meaning, just wanting free labor who didn’t require a salary.

What? You want a salary! There’s no share of the family’s business for you?! Helping with household duties and managing the family business is what you should do!—His father’s "earnest teachings" still echoed in his ears.

Kiryu’s explanation cleared most of Aoto’s doubts from his mind.

Along with it, the question of "why Kiryu always called Mukiwa the young master" was also answered.

While Aoto silently digested and sorted through everything he had just heard from Kiryu—

"Excuse me, may I come in?" a voice with an extremely strange accent suddenly asked from outside the door.

Aoto cast a puzzled glance at the door: "Ah... please come in."

Upon receiving Aoto’s permission, the door made of wood and paper was slowly slid open...

KFC?!

Aoto looked utterly shocked as a chubby white old gentleman entered his view once the door was opened...

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Thanks to the new alliance leader [I Actually Love the Rack 12]!

The book now has three alliance leaders in total, congratulations, congratulations!

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