Shinagawa-shuku and Edo were only a stone’s throw apart. Last night Aoto had a hikyaku deliver his letter to the Edo Kita Bansho, and this morning the Kita Bansho’s reply was already in his hands.

Aoto opened the letter, which bore the Kita Bansho’s large seal and a handwritten signature from Magistrate Usui, and skimmed through it at a glance.

The lengthy reply essentially contained two points:

1. Expressing condolences to Aoto for being attacked again by the radical Expel the Barbarians faction.
2. Instructing Aoto to continue on to Fujisawa-shuku to investigate the case, while assuring him that they would take over handling the radical Expel the Barbarians faction.

These points were entirely within Aoto’s expectations.

The Magistrate’s Office was not Aoto’s family, and high-ranking officials like Usui were not his parents.

They would not suspend official business or case investigations simply because of some personal reason tied to him.

So they had been targeted by the radical Expel the Barbarians faction… and? Were they supposed to stop assigning him work from now on and treat him like a precious relic to be coddled and protected?

There was no way they would recall Aoto and wrap him in layers of security just because of this—honestly, in the eyes of Usui and the other high-ups, Aoto had not reached that level of importance yet…

Having long anticipated that the Kita Bansho would ask him to proceed to Fujisawa-shuku to investigate, Aoto quietly put the letter away after reading it and then led Saitō toward Fujisawa-shuku.

Because they had a recent attack as a lesson learned, Aoto and Saitō kept their guard at maximum when they resumed their journey to Fujisawa-shuku.

They were on high alert, keeping an eye on places by the roadside where someone could easily hide.

Now that the weather was cold and palms could numb, frozen hands would definitely affect drawing and swinging a sword.

Therefore, to ensure their hands stayed warm, Aoto and Saitō traveled with their hands crossed and tucked into the wide sleeves of their haori in the so-called “peasant pocket” fashion.

Aoto and Saitō were on full alert.

But no sign of the radical Expel the Barbarians faction appeared before or behind them.

Not only were they not attacked again by the radical faction, but the weather also favored them—no nasty conditions blocked their progress.

They reached their destination, Fujisawa-shuku, without incident.

The travel time to Fujisawa-shuku matched Aoto’s expectations—arriving on the afternoon three days after leaving Edo—this bustling post town was one of the busiest along the entire Tōkaidō.

If Fujisawa-shuku had a standout feature compared to other post towns, it was its tourist attractions, of course.

Fujisawa-shuku sat beside a river; following the river downstream would lead to the famous shrine on Enoshima island—the Enoshima Shrine dedicated to the Benzaiten goddess.

Many travelers and merchants passing through Fujisawa-shuku would take the chance to visit Enoshima Shrine.

If time and circumstances had allowed, Aoto would have liked to take a look, but he had official duties and was not there for sightseeing.

As soon as he arrived at Fujisawa-shuku, Aoto hurried straight to the toiya-basho.

When the head of Fujisawa-shuku’s toiya-basho learned that a dōshin sent from the Edo Kita Bansho had arrived to assist, he—an old man with hair all white—immediately came out in person to receive them.

After receiving Aoto and exchanging a few polite words, the head then told Aoto something that left him speechless…

…

“Those thieves wreaking havoc in Fujisawa-shuku were captured?!” Aoto widened his eyes and stared at the toiya in astonishment.

Saitō, who had accompanied Aoto and slogged alongside him for three days to work the case, couldn’t help but look a little stunned as well.

Aoto had rushed to the toiya-basho first thing upon arrival specifically to begin the investigation and to try to catch the band of thieves that had been terrorizing Fujisawa-shuku.

But just now, the toiya had told him awkwardly: dōshin-sama… those thieves have already been caught…

“Yes, yes.” The toiya, smiling awkwardly, gave Aoto a few more strained grins. “What a coincidence… it just happened yesterday that this gang who kept causing trouble were all caught.”

The culprits in the thefts had been captured?!

Aoto took a few breaths to steady the confusion that the toiya’s words had stirred.

“…Did your toiya-basho capture the culprits?” Aoto asked quickly.

“Uh… no…” The toiya’s awkward smile deepened. “Dōshin-sama, you might not believe it when I say this…”

“The ones who caught that gang of thieves… were the Cat Thief…”

“The Cat Thief?!” Aoto, assuming he had misheard, leaned his torso slightly forward toward the toiya to bring his ear closer.

The toiya nodded repeatedly. “We already interrogated those culprits once. Their statements were consistent—they all said the person who caught them was that Cat Thief who’s been so famous in Edo recently!”

“…How did this happen?” Aoto straightened immediately, frowning. “Explain it to me clearly.”

“Y-yes!” Facing a samurai who served in the Magistrate’s Office, the toiya dared not show any disrespect. He spoke in a somewhat disorganized but still comprehensible way to explain to Aoto.

Yesterday morning when the toiya-basho opened, they found four youths tied up and unconscious left at their gate.

Each of the four had a large paper bag over his head, and on each bag was written a line of large characters: These four are suspected to be the thieves who have been stealing here recently.

At first, the toiya-basho’s people thought it might be some prank played by someone.

Only when a sharp-eyed person recognized one of the four as a notorious highwayman who had been wanted for months and had not yet been caught did they start to take the matter seriously.

The toiya-basho, after all, only managed the post town and lacked authority to carry out torture on the four.

But there were still levers to pull.

While they couldn’t subject them to severe physical torture, they still had the right to “have a word” with them.

The toiya-basho’s people put the four youths in a room and interrogated them, throwing out all sorts of threats.

If you don’t tell us everything you know, we’ll send you to the Magistrate’s Office in Edo and let those officials there do whatever they please with you…

Three of the four were unmoved by the threats.

But one youngster, only about fourteen years old, was frightened.

Terrified by the toiya-basho’s threats, this youth, with a sincerity as if he would tear out his own heart to show them, confessed everything he knew.

He admitted that the four of them were indeed the gang that had been stealing money in Fujisawa-shuku.

Last night they planned, as before, to sneak onto the roof of an inn in the post town and break in to steal from travelers.

But just as they climbed onto the inn’s roof and were about to slip inside, a black shadow suddenly appeared from who-knows-where and leapt in front of them.

Startled, the four instinctively demanded of the shadow: Who are you?

“Then that black shadow said, ‘It is the Cat Thief!'” the toiya said.

After finishing, the old toiya spread his hands flat, palms up, and raised his arms high.

While lifting his arms he suddenly stood up and bent his right leg upward, balancing in a one-legged pose.

Silence…

Aoto and Saitō, sitting properly on the tatami, tilted their heads back to watch the toiya who had suddenly struck an odd pose.

The atmosphere fell to an absolute hush…

“Um… may I ask what exactly that pose is for?” Aoto, full of question marks, tried to ask in a calm tone.

“Uh…” The toiya awkwardly lowered his raised arms and sat back on the tatami. “That’s what the young man who confessed said: at that moment, the Cat Thief was doing that pose while announcing his name…”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep