My Gang of Swordsmen

Chapter 365: Chapter 141: The Swordsmanship Competition Begins!

The person walking on Chiba Dingji’s left side had a faint, elusive smile at the corner of his mouth.

It’s hard to say why... Upon seeing this young man with a smiling face, a thought automatically floated through Aoto’s mind: This man is the one hailed as ”Skill of Chiba,” Chiba Eijiro!

— Chiba Eijiro... I heard that this person isn’t serving at the Mito Domain now? Has he recently returned to Edo...?

Just as Aoto was puzzled about why the famous Chiba Eijiro suddenly appeared in Edo, a series of noisy sounds pulled Aoto’s consciousness back to reality.

After the Chiba family led Xuanwu Hall and Little Chiba Sword Dojo to emerge... No, to be precise, after seeing Chiba Eijiro appear, waves of cheers and sighs erupted from the audience stands, as if they were going to lift the sky.

The noise was far louder than when the Training Hall and Shixue Hall entered!

Aoto was somewhat shocked by the current situation.

Kondo noticed the astonishment on Aoto’s face and smiled: ”Mr. Tachibana, you have only recently been introduced to the field of ’swordsmanship,’ so you probably don’t understand Chiba Eijiro’s skill and his prestige in Edo’s swordsmanship world.”

”Simply put... excluding those master swordsmen who have gone into seclusion, Chiba Eijiro is recognized as ’Edo’s Swordsmanship First’ and ’Edo’s Strongest.”

”Although Saito Mijuro and Taojing Chunzang are nominally as famous as Chiba Eijiro.”

”But in actual prestige, these two can’t compare to Chiba Eijiro.”

After speaking, Kondo returned his gaze to Chiba Eijiro, his eyes once again showing admiration.

Hijikata’s attitude was as usual—he pursed his lips and looked at the Chiba family indifferently, as if he didn’t think Chiba Eijiro and others were anything special.

The entrance of the Chiba family could provoke this series of intense reactions on the audience stands, partly thanks to Miss Sazanoko.

Today, Miss Sazanoko didn’t dress in her usual kendo uniform with a high ponytail when practicing sword.

Today, she wore a white and blue patterned female kimono, her jade feet clad in pure white cloth socks stepping on blue-strapped flat wooden clogs, her three thousand dark strands elegantly bundled into a Shimada Bun.

This attire was less brave like a female warrior, but added a touch of elegance like a Yamato Nadeshiko and the nobility of a daughter from a famous family.

With hands folded in front, carrying a perfectly lined swan neck, Miss Sazanoko followed Chiba Dingji with unhurried steps, attracting no fewer gazes and sighs than Chiba Eijiro.

A countless number of eyes were staring directly at Miss Sazanoko’s captivating beauty, and sounds of swallowing could be heard from time to time.

After entering the arena with Chiba Dingji and others, Chiba Shigetarou stretched his neck and looked around.

Soon, his gaze locked onto the group from Shiwei Hall.

After finding the group from Shiwei Hall, Chiba Shigetarou turned his head and whispered something to Chiba Dingji and Chiba Eijiro alongside him.

Only to see Chiba Dingji nodding lightly, turning direction with the Xuanwu Hall and Little Chiba Sword Dojo teams, walking straight toward Aoto and the others.

Chiba Dingji: ”Hahaha, Zhouzhu.”

”Hohoho, Dingji.” Zhouzhu rose to greet him.

Aoto and Chokata stood up with Zhouzhu, welcoming the group from Xuanwu Hall and Little Chiba Sword Dojo with whom they had a special relationship with Shiwei Hall.

After Zhouzhu had exchanged greetings with Chiba Dingji for a while, he turned to look at Chiba Eijiro next to Chiba Dingji: ”Hohoho, Eijiro, I didn’t expect to see you here and now, it gave me quite a shock. When did you return to Edo?”

Chiba Eijiro bowed slightly, then politely replied softly: ”Mr. Kondo, long time no greetings...”

...

In such a scene, being a regular disciple of Shiwei Hall, he couldn’t join in the conversation, so he quietly stood behind Zhouzhu.

Next to Shiwei Hall’s seats, there happened to be many vacant seats, after Zhouzhu led the people to exchange courteous greetings with Chiba Dingji’s group, he directly invited Chiba Dingji to sit with them, which Chiba Dingji readily agreed to without hesitation.

Just as Aoto was about to return to his seat, he suddenly heard Chiba Shigetarou’s loud voice:

”Hey! Mr. Tachibana! Hahaha, long time no see!”

Upon hearing Chiba Shigetarou’s greeting, Aoto couldn’t help but show a wry smile: ”Mr. Shigetarou, it hasn’t been that long since we last met, has it? Over half a month ago we saw each other.”

Aoto looked toward Chiba Shigetarou and saw Chiba Shigetarou leading Miss Sazanoko, striding towards him.

”Mr. Tachibana, greetings.” With hands folded in front, Miss Sazanoko bowed gracefully to Aoto.

Indeed, Aoto hadn’t seen Miss Sazanoko for a long time.

”Miss Sazanoko, long time no see.” Aoto bowed and returned the greeting to Miss Sazanoko.

”Mr. Tachibana.” Chiba Shigetarou raised his hand and fondly patted Aoto’s shoulder, ”How is it? Feeling nervous about participating in such a large-scale competition for the first time?”

”Nervousness... to some extent, there’s still a bit of it.” Aoto replied half-jokingly.

”Hahaha! You are much calmer than I imagined!”