My Gang of Swordsmen

Doing this kind of dance… Aoto really must respectfully decline.

Seeing Aoto unwilling to dance with them, Harada didn’t force him—he turned instead to Saito.

“Saito! It’s a rare banquet, why are you still so quiet! Come and join us! Let’s dance together!”

“That’s not necessary for me…”

It was expected, even Aoto was unwilling to join Harada, Nagakura, and the others in this “out-of-era” dance, let alone the solitary Saito.

As Harada enthusiastically invited Saito to dance with them, Aoto suddenly noticed that Harada’s steps seemed somewhat unsteady.

Aoto naturally raised his gaze to look at Harada’s face.

Harada, who had a very good tolerance for alcohol, had already emptied several bottles of sake.

Although his energy was still good, his face was flushed red.

Even so, a subtle hint of weak “pale” was faintly visible beneath the “blushing” veil.

Seeing this, Aoto couldn’t help but think:

—Hijikata’s “collectibles” are indeed impressive…

Recently, on the night Aoto discovered Toshisuke’s “true form,” to cover for Aoto taking the dazed Toshisuke away, Hijikata used “I want to give away some of my unwanted ‘collectibles’ to you” as the excuse to lead Nagakura, Saito, and Harada out of the bathhouse.

All or nothing in performance… Hijikata indeed had been collecting something very special, and he indeed gave parts of these “collectibles” to Nagakura and the others.

What Hijikata had collected… was the personal information of Edo courtesans.

Courtesans: namely prostitutes.

In the Edo Era, people called the women involved in the business “courtesans,” and the brothels were called “courtesan houses.”

Due to Japan’s unique cultural customs, and in this highly stratified society, the need for energetic young men to have an outlet to release excess energy, courtesans and courtesan houses had always been recognized as legal professions and legal shops by the Edo Shogunate.

For convenience in control, the Edo Shogunate only established a legal red-light district in one place in Edo, which was located behind Asakusa Temple on Japan Embankment—Yoshiwara.

A millennia-old ancient temple and the nation’s largest red-light district are neighbors… Who knows what the Japanese were thinking.

From another perspective… this seems to conveniently achieve a special “one-stop service”—after letting go in Yoshiwara, a few steps and a turn could lead one to Asakusa Temple to confess one’s inability to control lower-body sins.

The Edo Shogunate strictly mandated: only Yoshiwara could have courtesan houses. Setting up courtesan houses outside Yoshiwara was illegal.

Of course — someone as excessively amorous as Hijikata, with enough current and former girlfriends to form several soccer teams for group matches, could hardly not be a frequent visitor of Yoshiwara, right?

Out of personal interest and to make his own leisure convenient, Hijikata collected information on all the courtesans he interacted with, compiling them into a “Hijikata Edition·Yoshiwara Guidebook.”

To facilitate the visitors’ enjoyment in Yoshiwara, a semi-annual publication, enduringly popular, had been widely circulated: “Yoshiwara Guidebook.”

Simply put, “Yoshiwara Guidebook” was a specially made guidebook for tourists heading to Yoshiwara.

Initially, the book titles varied widely.

There were “Yoshiwara Sleeve Mirror,” “Yoshiwara Sparrow,” “Yoshiwara Shopping Song,” and so on, before the titles gradually unified to “Yoshiwara Guidebook.”

The book thoroughly detailed Yoshiwara’s map, the Tea House directory, courtesans’ floral names, ranks, costs, and other information.

Hijikata’s personally crafted “Hijikata Edition·Yoshiwara Guidebook” not only contained the basic information like courtesans’ floral names, ranks, costs but also personal characters, mastered skills, any notable attributes in appearance or figure… and such detailed information that could excite only the lustful.

Furthermore, the “Hijikata Edition·Yoshiwara Guidebook” didn’t just consist of Yoshiwara courtesans’ information but also collected data on licensed pleasure quarters’ courtesans.

The so-called licensed pleasure quarters were underground courtesan houses unlicensed by the Edo Shogunate.

Though Yoshiwara claimed to have 3000 courtesans, Edo’s population numbered millions indeed. Many monks and little porridge.

Severe supply and demand imbalance, high costs to open a shop in Yoshiwara, insufficient courtesans to justify a large shop, not wanting to pay taxes to the Edo Shogunate… These varied reasons led many people to take risks and secretly establish licensed pleasure quarters, despite Edo Shogunate’s strict enforcement against illegal courtesan houses.

In Edo, licensed pleasure quarters were mainly located in Shinagawa, Chiyoda, Itabashi, Naito Shinjuku, and other densely populated places.

A mere Yoshiwara surely couldn’t satisfy the astonishingly energetic Hijikata’s appetite.

While often mingling in Yoshiwara, Hijikata frequently visited various licensed pleasure quarters to diversify his tastes.

What Hijikata gave Nagakura and the others as “collectibles,” were a few “Hijikata Edition·Yoshiwara Guidebooks” that hadn’t been touched for a long time, as the information inside was outdated, eventually tossed in the wardrobe.

As far as Aoto knew—upon seeing that Hijikata’s “collectibles” were such things, Harada’s eyes directly lit up, treating it cautiously like a fragile treasure, he held it tightly in his arms without any hesitation.

Nagakura’s actions belied his words; although he said “how could this be appropriate,” he also ended up slipping it into his arms “half-heartedly.”

Only Saito politely declined Hijikata’s goodwill, entering the Hijikata family empty-handed, and eventually leaving empty-handed.

In recent times, Nagakura and Harada frequently left early and returned late, occasionally tagging along with Hijikata, sometimes not returning to Shiwei Hall until dawn.