Koishikawa Kohinata Yanagi Town, Test Guard Hall, Dojo——
Today's test hall is quite deserted.
Until now, no apprentice has come to practice the natural flow.
Kondo Isamu sat cross-legged alone on the edge of the dojo, wiping with a rag and cleaning the bamboo swords in the hall.
After wiping another bamboo sword until it was as shiny as new, he put down the rag in his hand, held the bamboo sword in his palms with both hands, and raised it high.
His eyes were fixed on the blade of the sword, with a thoughtful look on his face.
After a long while, a faint sigh came out of Kondo's mouth:
"……well……"
"Huh? Yong, why are you sighing here? Hey, hey, hey, I heard you sighing here as soon as I came back. This is not good. As a man, how can you sigh long and short?"
Very suddenly, just after Kondo sighed, an old voice suddenly sounded from behind Kondo.
Hearing these words, Kondo's eyes widened slightly in surprise, then he quickly turned his head and stood up.
"Father! Mother! Are you back?"
I saw an old man and an old woman standing behind Kondo at the door of the dojo.
This old man has a very common height for men of this era, and his height is around 1.55 meters.
Even if he is not tall, his back is slightly stooped, which makes him look even shorter.
The skin is covered with traces of time, and the wrinkles on his face are so thick that it feels like they could trap a mosquito to death.
His unshaven hair was covered with hoarfrost, his chin was smooth, and he had no beard.
He has a pair of small, squinting eyes, so small that even his pupils are difficult to see clearly, so it is difficult to tell whether his eyes are open or closed.
To be called "Father" by Isamu Kondo, the young master of the Imperial Guard Hall, the identity of this old man can be easily revealed - he is the third generation head of the Tenurishin-ryu clan and the current head of the Imperial Guard Hall.
:Shusuke Kondo!
As for the old woman standing behind Shusuke now, she is naturally Kondo Isamu's mother: Kondo Pen.
Abi looks younger than Zhouzhu, about 60 years old.
Its overall appearance...can only be described as "ordinary".
But she is quite tall.
As a woman of this era, she is actually 1.65 meters tall, 10 centimeters taller than her husband.
The only eye-catching thing about her face... is probably her pair of red phoenix eyes.
The reason why her eyes are eye-catching is not that her phoenix eyes are so beautiful, but that her eyes are very sharp.
Her eyes were neither sad nor happy, and together with her pursed mouth, she looked calm and confident.
Kondo greeted his parents warmly and quickly walked towards his parents.
Facing Kondo's greeting, Shusuke responded enthusiastically with a warm smile.
But Abi didn't say a word, and only nodded slightly to Kondo in a very unfamiliar manner.
"Father, Mother, it must have been hard after traveling all the way, right? Come on, give me your luggage."
"Yes, it is indeed very hard." Zhou Zhu smiled bitterly and hammered his waist, "Traveling for so many days...it really breaks my old bones..."
"...What?" A deep female voice that reminded people of ice cubes made Zhousuke's body tremble slightly, "I asked you to accompany me back to my parents' home. Am I wronging you?"
"No, no!" Zhou Zhu quickly waved to Ah Bi behind him and smiled, "How could I feel aggrieved? I'm just complaining that my old bones are useless."
"Hmph." Abi snorted coldly through his nose.
"Eh...ah, by the way, where is the chief? Why don't you see the chief?" Zhouzhu abruptly changed the subject.
"The Souji went to buy ingredients for today's lunch and dinner. He will probably be back in a while."
"While your mother and I were neither here, nothing happened in the trial hall, right?"
"Nothing happened except Ah Sui. He got injured in a fight in Tama and won't be able to come back to the training camp for a while."
"Hijikata was injured in a fight with someone? Is he not seriously injured?"
"It's just a minor injury. I went back to Tama to visit him the day before yesterday. The injury is not serious. It will heal after a while of rest."
"Since nothing happened, then why did you sigh with worry just now? Did you encounter something troublesome?"
Zhou Assistant smiled and patted his chest.
"If you encounter any troubles, just tell me as a father."
"I didn't encounter any troubles." Kondo smiled helplessly.
Kondo raised his eyes and looked at the empty dojo around him.
"It's almost four o'clock in the morning (10 o'clock in the morning), and there are still no apprentices coming to practice swordsmanship..."
"As a teacher-training student, I am full of enthusiasm and have nothing to do... so I feel a little depressed..."
"Since the desertedness of the Sword Hall makes you feel depressed, then you should quickly find a way to make the Trial Guard Hall lively."
At this time, Kondo's mother raised her head slightly, looked at Kondo through her nostrils, and coldly interrupted Kondo's words.
"You are the heir to the Kondo family, the future fourth-generation head of the Natural Rishin-ryu clan and the head of the imperial examination hall, aren't you?"
"It is your responsibility as the young master to make this sword hall prosperous."
"What's the use of sighing here? If you have this time, you might as well use it to think about how to recruit more apprentices and how to make this sword hall prosperous."
"We adopted you as the adopted son of our Kondo family, and we didn't just bring you here to sigh."
"Madam, what you say is too..." Zhou Zhu extended his hand to A Bi with hesitation.
"What for?" A Bi gave Zhou Zhu a hard look, "Am I wrong?"
"It's okay..." Zhou Zhu silently took back the hand he extended to A Bi...
Facing his mother's reproach, Kondo did not respond or refute, he just lowered his head with a bitter look on his face and quietly accepted Abi's scolding.
But at this moment, after hearing what Abi had just said about "thinking about how to recruit more apprentices," Kondo seemed to have remembered something, and his brows jumped sharply:
"Ah, right!"
Kondo put on an excited tone.
"Father! The day before yesterday, we recruited a very powerful newcomer!"
"Extremely awesome?" Zhou Zhu raised his eyebrows, "What? Is it because you have outstanding talent?"
"That person is not as simple as 'outstanding talent'." Kondo smiled even more happily, "According to my judgment, that person's swordsmanship talent should not be inferior to Souji!"
Zhou Zhu's playful words were slightly opened at this moment.
Two surprised glances burst out from the slits of his opened eyes.
A Bi, who had always put on a stinky face, changed his expression at this time.
"...Yong, tell me carefully about this newcomer you are talking about."
…
…
Kitabansuo, Arima's office——
"Arima-sama. I have already contacted Saitoichi for you. He said he is free tonight."
"Well, okay." Arima nodded to Inotani, "Please help me inform him: Come to my house tonight, and I will personally tell him the details of the work."
"yes."
After respectfully saying "yes", Inoya smiled wryly and raised his hand to scratch his hair.
"This Saito Kazuma is the most expensive bodyguard I have ever seen... 3 taels of gold a month, which is 36 taels in a year... In order to protect Mr. Tachibana, we really spent a lot of money..."
"Although it's a bit expensive." Arima smiled slightly, "But Saito is really worth the price."
"After all, he is a person who has no leaks and is not allowed to spread."
"Getting one of him is like getting the strength of ten people."
"I will have a detailed discussion with him tonight about the specifics of his new job."
"Try to let him stay at Mr. Ju's house before tomorrow night and protect him personally."
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New book sets sail!
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