My Gang of Swordsmen

Chapter 39: Chapter 26: Mr. Chokata Is an Idiot and Major Crimes Arrive!

A handsome appearance, smooth black hair tied into a soft and slender high ponytail with a purple ribbon at the back, a soft smile always hanging on his cheeks, except for wearing different clothes than yesterday, everything else is the same as yesterday — It was the beautiful youth Chokata Toshisuke whom I met by chance at Shiwei Hall yesterday.

As Aoto cast a surprised glance at Chokata, who was now holding a bun in each hand and also looking at Aoto in amazement.

”Mr. Tachibana, why are you here?”

”I was patrolling around here just now, saw a tea house nearby, and thought I’d take a break and settle my lunch here.”

”Oh, oh! That’s quite a coincidence!” Chokata smiled and waved to Aoto, ”I still have a spare seat here, if you don’t mind, you can join me at my table!”

The table Chokata was sitting at was the kind that only accommodates two people.

Sitting alone at the small table, across from Chokata was an empty seat.

It’s lunchtime now, one of the busiest times for tea houses, restaurants, and such places.

The tea house Aoto was in was also almost out of empty seats.

Seeing Chokata’s invitation to share a table, Aoto respectfully accepted and quickly sat across from Chokata.

”Mr. Chokata, what brings you here then?” After ordering a cheap cup of tea from the Shodai, Aoto asked Chokata.

The beautiful youth, now stuffing his mouth with red bean stuffed Japanese buns, had cheeks puffed up like a hamster storing food for winter.

[Note: Japanese buns are stuffed like dumplings]

”There’s not much going on at Shiwei Hall today, so I took the rare chance to get some fresh air.”

”This tea house is my recent ’treasure spot’.” After swallowing the bun in his mouth in one go, Chokata smiled, ”The buns sold at this tea house are sweet and soft, very much to my taste.”

”Just a few pieces of buns from here can lift any gloomy mood!”

With that, Chokata pushed the plate with 3 buns left in front of him towards Aoto.

”Mr. Tachibana, would you like to try?”

Aoto quite enjoys sweet food too.

Faced with the buns pushed by Chokata, Aoto did not hesitate and generously took a bun from Chokata’s plate.

Upon putting the bun into his mouth, Aoto’s eyebrows raised slightly in surprise.

The taste was indeed quite good.

The softness and sweetness were just right.

Having paid close attention to Aoto’s expression, Chokata eagerly asked:

”Mr. Tachibana, do you like sweet food as well?”

”Hmm? Yes, I’m the kind of person who feels uncomfortable all over if I don’t eat anything sweet for a few days.”

”I love sweet food the most!” Chokata’s radiant smile formed two crescent moons with his eyes, ”I’m even more severe; if I don’t have some sweets every day, I feel all uneasy.”

”That’s why I always carry this with me.”

Chokata reached into his bosom and pulled out a half-eaten piece of gold flat sugar.

Gold flat sugar is a small, star-shaped candy, sweet and one of the most favorite snacks for children of this era.

”By the way— Mr. Tachibana. Since you were just patrolling around here, why didn’t I see your undercover informant?” Chokata asked with curiosity, glancing left and right.

”I don’t have an undercover informant.” Aoto casually replied, ”Our family owes the Yakuza an incredibly large gambling debt, so there’s no spare money to hire one.”

”Gambling debt?” Chokata’s eyes widened in shock.

The undercover informant system — the second extraordinary system that allows the South and North Guard Stations to maintain order in Edo with such a small police force.

Undercover informants, also known as ’Mokumei’, have various names, their role similar to modern auxiliary police.

The Shogunate knew that relying solely on such a small police force to maintain order in such a large-scale city was a complete fantasy.

Thus, with the Shogunate’s tacit approval, the Dōshin from the South and North Patrols ”Three Times” can use their private finances to hire others to work for them.

These individuals hired with Dōshin’s private funds to assist in maintaining order were called ’undercover informants’.

In modern terms, they are basically personnel without formal establishment.

No... not even as good as off-establishment personnel; to be precise, they are merely working for Dōshin receiving wages.

Since they were not official authorities, Undercover informants could either be samurai or civilians.

Once you become an undercover informant for a certain Dōshin, you can receive a jitte from the government as proof of your informant identity.

The recruiting of undercover informants has no restrictions; it depends solely on Dōshin’s personal preferences.

If you wish, you could even hire a beggar on the street as an undercover informant.

Occasionally, extremely capable informants could assist the Yoriki and Dōshin in investigating and solving cases, but such informants were rare.

The vast majority of undercover informants basically can only do minor chores; the main investigative work still falls to the Dōshin themselves.

The ”undercover informant system” that helps share the workload and the ”townsmen’s self-governing system” that helps reduce the workload — Edo’s ”Three Times” successfully maintained Edo’s order with these two systems and such a small police force.

The night before last, during the crusade against the ”Righteous Group,” those who rushed into the house together with Arima, Aoto, Inagawa, and Ushiyama were the undercover informants of Inagawa and Ushiyama.