I Formed the Strongest Swordsman Group-Chapter 39: Please Call Him “Nobita·Ju Qingteng·Da Xiong”

Having just completed his "work " before Usui and the others, Aoto was immediately grabbed by Arima and taken to his office.
"Tachibana-kun, I'm so pleased to see such transformation in your thinking! That you've recognized the weight of responsibility on your shoulders and possess such sharpness of spirit!"
After pulling Aoto into his office, Arima immediately seized his hands and began earnestly offering words of encouragement and praise, one after another.
As Aoto's elder and superior, Arima felt genuinely happy from the bottom of his heart to see this young junior and subordinate finally showing some ambition.
Although Aoto's solving of today's case was somewhat less than honorable—acting alone without informing Nishino, seemingly trying to steal credit—but screw that!
While Arima's behavior might be somewhat rigid, his thinking wasn't inflexible.
Between Nishino, who wasn't under his command, and his own subordinate—who should he favor? Was that even a question?
Tachibana-kun said he acted alone because he was worried that taking time to persuade Nishino to arrest the culprit together might allow the criminal to escape! He wasn't stealing credit! My subordinate did nothing wrong—Arima engraved these words deep into his bloodstream, almost like self-hypnosis...
Arima was so excited that his words kept flowing endlessly.
He held Aoto's hand, praising and encouraging him in various ways, and only released him after a full half-hour.
For these Dōshin officers, handling cases didn't end with just apprehending the criminal.
After bringing back the culprit, they still had piles of tedious procedures to handle.
They needed to hand over the prisoner to the Dōshin responsible for managing inmates, to the administrative office to the Dōshin in charge of criminal records...
By the time they finished all these messy chores, evening had arrived before they knew it.
The Magistrate's Office adhered to a strict "6 AM to 6 PM" system.
It opened at 6 AM and closed at 6 PM. After closing, no one was permitted to remain inside—if you wanted overtime work, do it at home.
Judging by how the Magistrate's Office absolutely didn't allow people to stay and work overtime after closing time... the Edo Period Magistrate's Office might actually be more humane than some modern workplaces.
The sun was already beginning to sink below the horizon, meaning—Aoto's rather lengthy "first day at work" could finally come to an end...
......
Working at Edo's Magistrate's Office came with a benefit that was fantastic whether in ancient or modern times—the government allocated you land.
Yes, not a house, but land!
Yoriki-level officials like Arima could receive 200-300 tsubo of land, while Dōshin-level officials like Aoto and others could get around 100 tsubo.
After bringing back the culprit, they still had piles of tedious procedures to handle.
Since the land allocated to the Magistrate's Office Yoriki and Dōshin was all located in Hatchobori, people during the Edo Period often habitually referred to "Hatchobori" as a substitute for the Magistrate's Office.
For example: "Let's get the Hatchobori people to help" meant asking the Magistrate's Office for assistance.
"The Hatchobori masters have arrived" meant the Yoriki and Dōshin of the Magistrate's Office were here.
By the time they finished all these messy chores, evening had arrived before they knew it.
After Aoto's father, Tachibana Takayuki, became a Dōshin of the Teimachi squad at Kita Bansho, the Tachibana family moved entirely to Hatchobori.
The land allocated to Aoto's family wasn't too much nor too little—exactly 100 tsubo.
40 tsubo had been used for building their house, while the remaining 60 tsubo was originally intended for a vegetable garden. Unfortunately—neither Tachibana Takayuki nor their old servant Kyūbei knew how to grow vegetables.
Everything they planted died, so the small garden in Aoto's household had been lying abandoned since a year ago.
After successfully completing the series of handover procedures regarding Xun Sanlang, Aoto dragged his somewhat tired body back to his Hatchobori home in the twilight.
As soon as he entered, Aoto smelled the aroma of soybeans.
"Ah, young master, you're back!" Kyūbei, as usual holding a vegetable spoon, hurried from the kitchen to the doorway to greet Aoto, "I followed your instructions from last night and bought lots of soybeans and yellow beans at the market today! I've made soybean soup for tonight! Please rest in the main room for now! Dinner will be ready soon!"
This old servant who had worked for the Tachibana family most of his life had a characteristic—he rarely took the initiative to ask about work matters concerning the father and son.
Diligently doing his own duties, immediately serving delicious meals when the master and young master returned from official duties without asking unnecessary questions—this was how Kyūbei had lived for decades.
"Good." Aoto smiled as he untied the sword from his waist, "These soybeans and yellow beans shouldn't be expensive, right?"
"Not too expensive. Soybeans 25 mon, yellow beans 20 mon. Here, young master, let me take your sword."
Since deeply realizing at Shieikan yesterday how weak his current body was, Aoto had determined—to improve his physical fitness as quickly as possible!
If he allowed his body to remain this weak, he might only become like those modern "traditional martial arts masters"—posing beautifully but delivering punches that deal 0.5 damage.
To improve physical fitness, besides having scientific training methods, adequate nutritional intake was essential.
If you wanted to build a strong physique, sufficient protein was absolutely necessary.
If asked which ingredient was richest in protein... naturally nothing beat meat.
However... meat in this era wasn't just ordinarily expensive...
During this time, whether men or women, heights were generally short.
Besides genetic factors, the main reason was dietary issues.
Since the land allocated to the Magistrate's Office Yoriki and Dōshin was all located in Hatchobori, people during the Edo Period often habitually referred to "Hatchobori" as a substitute for the Magistrate's Office.
Buddhism was introduced to Japan around the mid-6th century AD. With its powerful vitality, Buddhist culture integrated with Japan's native culture at astonishing speed and began influencing all aspects of life.
In AD 675, Emperor Tenmu, deeply influenced by Buddhist culture, issued the "Meat Prohibition Edict" for various reasons, forbidding people from consuming meat.
This "Meat Prohibition Edict" completely changed ancient Japanese eating habits.
Not long after entering the shogunate era when samurai began ruling, the "Meat Prohibition Edict" had become virtually meaningless, but the custom of not eating meat continued to be passed down, persisting until the current Edo Period.
The Edo Shogunate didn't prohibit people from eating meat.
But because the idea that "meat shouldn't be eaten" had become deeply ingrained in people's minds, until now people still didn't eat much meat. The only meat consumed daily was seafood.
Although pork, beef, venison and other meats were sold in markets, all were prohibitively expensive.
With Aoto's current financial means, he naturally couldn't afford outrageously expensive meat.
Since he couldn't afford meat, he had to settle for the next best thing.
There was an ingredient whose protein content rivaled meat.
That was legumes, especially soybeans.
Soybeans contain about 30-40% protein, are nutritionally rich, and not expensive—even Aoto's family could afford them.
Therefore, Aoto specifically told Kyūbei last night: starting tomorrow, add more legumes like soybeans and yellow beans to their daily meals.
Kyūbei didn't seem very skilled at legume-related cooking. His soybean soup, while not exactly unpalatable, was far from delicious.
However, Aoto wasn't particularly strict about food choices either. As long as something was edible, he wouldn't be picky.
After successfully completing the series of handover procedures regarding Xun Sanlang, Aoto dragged his somewhat tired body back to his Hatchobori home in the twilight.
In his previous life, as a fitness-loving muscle hunk, he had naturally maxed out all fitness-related skills!
Anyone who loves fitness knows—those fancy gym equipment only serve as icing on the cake.
If you genuinely want to exercise, even in a narrow prison cell without a single piece of gym equipment, only simple furniture, you can still train your body quite effectively.
Since he needed to work at the Magistrate's Office during daytime, Aoto's plan was to dedicate at least half an hour every evening to physical exercise.
Even in this Edo Period without any modern fitness equipment, he remained fully confident he could train himself into the muscle hunk he was in his previous life!
This old servant who had worked for the Tachibana family most of his life had a characteristic—he rarely took the initiative to ask about work matters concerning the father and son.
"Young master, what are you doing now?" Kyūbee blinked confusedly as he watched Aoto gripping the doorframe and practicing pull-ups.
Kyūbee felt the young master had been acting strangely these past few days, suddenly displaying many odd behaviors.
The night before last, he was lying on the ground, repeatedly pounding the tatami mat. (Push-ups)
Now he was gripping the doorframe, repeatedly thrusting toward the ceiling... (Pull-ups)
"Hmm? This is like the push-ups I practiced the night before last—another method recommended by a friend for effectively exercising the body."
"I have a friend" was truly an incredibly useful excuse.
The simple-minded Kyūbee wasn't someone who liked to split hairs or probe deeply into matters.
This diligent old workhorse simply asked what Aoto was doing before stopping his inquiries, silently assisting his young master with various logistical tasks—handing towels and water to the sweat-drenched Aoto.
After nearly an hour of physical training, Aoto went to their courtyard to practice swordsmanship.
Entertainment options were scarce in this era. Besides fitness training and swordsmanship practice, Aoto had little else to do in the evenings.
After working muscles in his arms, legs, back, chest and other areas until they began aching, judging it unsuitable to continue training, Aoto excitedly called Kyūbee to prepare water for washing up, planning to go to bed after cleaning himself.
For Aoto, his greatest gain today wasn't winning immediate success, solving a murder case beautifully on his first work day, dramatically improving his previously terrible reputation.
Rather, it was copying that incredibly useful-looking talent from Xun Sanlang: Sleep God!
Far better sleep quality than ordinary people, easy to fall asleep, not prone to insomnia, requiring much less sleep time than normal... wasn't this one of the skills Aoto most desired in his previous life?
Aoto hadn't been very interested in Japanese anime and manga culture in his previous life.
The only Japanese animation he'd watched was "Doraemon."
While watching "Doraemon," Aoto had always envied Nobita Nobi.
Because Nobita Nobi possessed the divine skill of falling asleep in 0.96 seconds.
As a child, he didn't think this skill was particularly impressive.
Only after growing up, no longer able to be carefree like childhood, often kept awake all night by trivial matters, did Aoto realize how amazing Nobita's "quick sleep" skill truly was.
In high-pressure modern society, being able to fall asleep quickly and sleep soundly anytime, anywhere could be considered a kind of happiness.
Since copying this talent, Aoto had been anticipating nightfall all day.
He urgently wanted to test this talent's effectiveness.
After simply wiping his sweat-drenched body with clean water, changing into pajamas, and crawling into bed, Aoto turned to look at the night sky outside the window, estimating the current time from the darkness.
—Now... should be around 10 PM.
Buddhism was introduced to Japan around the mid-6th century AD. With its powerful vitality, Buddhist culture integrated with Japan's native culture at astonishing speed and began influencing all aspects of life.
—According to the system introduction, one effect of this "Sleep God" is making me fall asleep much more easily than ordinary people.
In AD 675, Emperor Tenmu, deeply influenced by Buddhist culture, issued the "Meat Prohibition Edict" for various reasons, forbidding people from consuming meat.
—Well, probably impossible... to...
This "Meat Prohibition Edict" completely changed ancient Japanese eating habits.
......
Not long after entering the shogunate era when samurai began ruling, the "Meat Prohibition Edict" had become virtually meaningless, but the custom of not eating meat continued to be passed down, persisting until the current Edo Period.
......
Whoosh!
Aoto suddenly threw off the blanket covering him, a trace of alarm in his expression.
—I fell asleep...?!
He raised his hand to touch his face.
—When did I fall asleep...?!
He couldn't remember at all when he had fallen asleep.
Only recalled that after crawling into bed, before he could even react, he had unknowingly drifted into dreamland...
Aoto quickly turned to look at the night sky outside the window.
Now... at most just past 1 AM.
After checking the time, Aoto raised his hands to massage muscles in his arms, legs and other areas.
Aoto now felt... incredibly good condition!
His mind extremely clear, incredibly energetic, every pore on his body seemed to have opened up.
The soreness from last night's thorough exercise had almost completely disappeared!
Looking at the night sky showing just past 2 AM outside the window, then looking down at his body, Aoto remained speechless for a long time due to extreme astonishment.