My Gang of Swordsmen

Chapter 31: Chapter 19: "I’ll Show Those Bastards!" (Part 3)

The number of apprentices was sparse, so naturally, there weren’t many people who came to practice swordsmanship daily.

Today, up until the Shiwei Hall closed, only 14 apprentices, besides Chokata, came to the Sword Dojo to practice swordsmanship.

Aoto’s only regret today was that, aside from Chokata, he couldn’t copy any talents from anyone else.

With the mentality of "maybe I can copy some amazing talent," he tried various ways and excuses to invite each senior he met for a friendly duel.

Aoto was undoubtedly the focus of today’s Shiwei Hall.

Everyone who came to the Sword Dojo today knew — they now had a junior with high talent, heavily praised by Kondo, and even Chokata the "Demon Coach" found it hard to find faults in his swordsmanship training.

Faced with this new genius junior, some were enthusiastic, while others were indifferent.

Therefore, regarding Aoto’s invitation to spar, some people eagerly agreed, while others coldly declined.

Out of the 14 apprentices who came to the Sword Dojo today, only 8 agreed to spar with Aoto.

Even though he couldn’t spar with all the seniors he met in one go, Aoto didn’t care much, as his mindset was "let’s gather as many people as I can for sparring."

Because his current swordsmanship skills were quite lacking, the sparring results with the 8 seniors did not look good — 3 wins and 5 losses.

In the 3 matches he won, Aoto mainly relied on step techniques and fighting skills accumulated from his past life to secure victories.

In all 8 battles, without exception — he couldn’t copy any more talents...

But fortunately — being able to acquire the "Sword Genius" talent today was a huge surprise.

Compared to this great surprise, such a small regret seemed insignificant.

Besides the "Sword Genius," Aoto actually gained another realization today: through today’s sword practice, he deeply felt that his current physical condition urgently needed improvement.

Such a light bamboo sword, after swinging it a few times, his arm started to ache, and his breath became unstable.

Whether it was endurance or the muscles in his hands and feet, in Aoto’s eyes, they could only be described as "intolerably bad."

Measured by ordinary standards, this body’s physical condition was still passable.

But for Aoto, whose personal and property safety were currently unprotected, this physical condition was really inadequate to handle the threat from the Anti-foreigner Faction and the Yakuza.

Training martial arts without practicing conditioning is futile in old age — this saying, Aoto had always regarded as a wise truth.

No matter how well your techniques are practiced, if your strength and speed don’t improve, you may not even touch the enemy once.

——From now on... time must be set aside to hone physical conditioning...

——Who knows, maybe there will be a chance to gain some talent related to physical conditioning...

Aoto thought to himself as he massaged the muscles in his right arm.

...

...

His steps were swift, and before long, Aoto returned to his home at Hachidori-bori.

"I’m back."

Just at the doorstep, Aoto smelled the faint aroma of food.

After shouting "I’m back" and opening the door, Aoto saw his old servant Kyūbē coming out of the kitchen with a wooden spatula.

"Young Master, you’re back. Why did you come back so late today? How was it? Did you find a suitable Sword Dojo at the Thousand Affairs House?"

"Yes." Aoto nodded and smiled as he removed the samurai sword from his left waist, "Today was quite fruitful."

Aoto briefly recapped everything that happened today to Kyūbē.

After hearing Aoto’s "one-day report," Kyūbē first let out a low exclamation, and then said with a worried tone:

"Young Master, you spent the whole day practicing swords at that Shiwei Hall? No wonder you look so tired..."

Having said that, Kyūbē picked up his spatula and returned to the kitchen.

"Young Master, rest for a while in the sitting room."

"Dinner will be ready soon."

"After dinner, please rest early."

"You have to report back to the Magistrate’s Office tomorrow to serve."

"You must rest early and replenish your energy."

"Don’t let today’s fatigue affect your duties tomorrow."

Upon hearing "serve" from Kyūbē’s mouth, Aoto couldn’t help but twitch his mouth and let out a silent sigh.

——Serving, huh...

The short one-day holiday was over.

Tomorrow, he would return to the North Guard Station and resume his "corporate slave" state.

In his past life, he had just graduated from police school and hadn’t had the chance to enter the workforce before traveling to this unfamiliar era.

The civil service meal he never got to taste in his past life, he now had to eat...

Starting tomorrow, Aoto is deemed to officially begin his official life after traveling to this Edo Era.

About this, Aoto felt somewhat apprehensive and nervous.

Yet also slightly expectant.

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