My Gang of Swordsmen

Chapter 208: Chapter 102: The Debut of the 24-Year-Old Virgin Widow!

Waiting is just waiting. While waiting for Chokata to finish ordering his noodles, to pass this little bit of free time, Aoto opened the system interface that he hadn’t thoroughly examined for some time—

[Name: Tachibana Aoto](?)

[Current Talents:]

[Night Vision, Sword Genius, Sleep God, Lone Brave, Eagle Eye, Left-Handed, Healthy Body, Skillful Hands, Healthy Tongue, Iron Waist, Steel Bone, Strong Muscle, Cat Form, Memory]

Aoto’s current system interface no longer looked as ”miserable” as it did when he had just time traveled.

He now had a total of 14 talents, and all these 14 talents were extremely practical.

Aoto’s gaze shifted to the end of the ”Talent List,” looking at the ”Strong Muscle,” ”Cat Form,” and ”Memory” talents he had copied during the match a few days ago, he couldn’t help but quietly sigh in his heart:

—These 3 new talents are really more monstrous than the other...

”Strong Muscle,” which prevents muscles from tiring easily... How useful this talent is, doesn’t need further explanation.

The ”Cat Form” copied from Sazanoko, its effect is ”excellent sense of balance.”

This talent might seem useless at first glance, but it has a great utility in reality.

How to fall in a fight is a science.

In martial arts, there’s a technique to teach you how to fall: Ukemi.

Ukemi: In short, it’s when losing balance from an opponent’s attack, using inertia to adjust the posture, reduce impact, preventing injury on rocky or uneven ground, and quickly regaining fighting stance.

If your sense of balance is excellent, it means you won’t easily lose balance in a fight and can quickly adjust your center of gravity when you do, effectively performing Ukemi.

Having a superior sense of balance gives you an advantage in combat.

As for the last one, ”Memory”... that goes without saying.

Exceptional memory—this should be one of the talents most people in this world dream of having.

In his previous life, when Aoto was still in school, he often envied such ”Memory” abilities; with such memory skills, you could excel in exams and learn other arts effortlessly.

And now—Aoto’s fantasy has come true.

That Yamanaka even had this divine-level talent... Aoto wasn’t really surprised, since Yamanaka looked like the scholarly type with strong learning abilities.

After Aoto roughly sized up his increasingly ”formidable” talent list, Chokata finally completed his custom ”exclusive noodles” order with Shodai.

”Those two people sitting next to us are so noisy...” After Shodai returned to the kitchen with the paper listing the noodles ordered by the four of them, Chokata turned his head towards Aoto, who was sitting next to him, and whispered with a wry smile, ”Chattering away...”

Aoto chuckled helplessly, nodded, indicating his agreement with what Chokata had just said.

Sitting at the table next to them were two middle-aged samurai with swords at their waists.

The noodles on their table had been slurped clean, and due to the alcohol, their faces were blushing with a rosy glow.

Throughout the ages, in any era, in any country, there are three major topics men always love: military, politics, and women.

These two middle-aged men were passionately discussing one of those topics: politics.

Although they tried to control the volume of their conversation, probably due to the alcohol diminishing their body control, their loud talk disturbed Aoto and his companions.

But fortunately, these rather noisy middle-aged men wobbled out of the noodle shop after chatting for a while—

”I heard... hic... that Ii Dairou had another argument with Her Highness Tenshōin recently...”

”Oh, it’s not an unusual thing for Ii Dairou to argue with Her Highness Tenshōin. Their disputes mean nothing; how could Her Highness Tenshōin compete with Ii Dairou?”

”Exactly. Her Highness Tenshōin is merely Duke Iesada’s legitimate wife and Duke Iemasa’s nominal mother. In terms of power, how could a 24-year-old young widow compare to the currently powerful Ii Dairou?”

”I guess Ii Dairou probably treats Her Highness Tenshōin with an attitude of ’teasing a child’ regularly.”

”Compared to merely a powerless woman, the Mito Domain is undoubtedly the real headache for Ii Dairou now.”

”Indeed, even if one day suddenly, a group of samurai from the Mito Domain hacked Ii Dairou to death on the street, I wouldn’t be surprised at all...”

”Hic... Hmm? We ran out of wine... shall we order two more cups?”

”No, let’s go to another place for more drinks.”

”Alright, let’s go.”

After watching this pair of middle-aged men leave the noodle shop, Chokata, who was forced to listen to their entire conversation, suddenly turned his face towards Aoto and asked:

”Mr. Tachibana, isn’t the Mito Domain one of the Shogunate’s closest three vassal states: the ’Three Royal Families’? Why did those two guys say the Mito Domain is Ii Dairou’s biggest problem?”

Aoto couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow: ”You didn’t know?”

Chokata shook his head: ”I rarely pay attention to such state affairs...”

”Well then...” Aoto stroked his chin, ”Where should I start explaining to you...”

The grievances between Ii Naosuke and the Mito Domain, Aoto knew quite well—because the memory of the ”Original Tachibana Aoto” contained quite detailed related content.