Chapter 205: Chapter 101: Recommending Tachibana Aoto to Lord Shogun! [7,000 Words] (Part 3)

"Lord Tairō." Hosoi bowed, "I have brought Tachibana Aoto."

"Hmm." Ii Naosuke nodded, "Thank you for your efforts. You may withdraw for now."

Hosoi: "Yes, sir."

Rustle... After bowing once more to Ii Naosuke, Hosoi respectfully exited the room and closed the door.

"Mr. Tachibana." Ii Naosuke smiled with a playful tone to Aoto, who was left in the room, "We meet again."

He gestured with his hand in front of him.

"Come, Mr. Tachibana, have a seat at your leisure."

Why did Lord Ii, whom I just parted with not long ago, summon me here for a private meeting?

With this question in mind, Aoto knelt in the spot Ii Naosuke had just indicated and placed the Ghost-Slaying sword to his right.

At this moment, Ii Naosuke wore a faint smile and sat cross-legged casually, appearing quite relaxed.

"Hahaha." Seeing Aoto sitting formally and properly, Ii Naosuke teased, "Mr. Tachibana, you don’t have to be so formal; you can relax a bit."

"I just wanted to have a simple chat with you, which is why I summoned you alone, so there’s no need to be so upright."

"Chat?" Aoto couldn’t help but softly question.

"Hmm... Since there are no outsiders here, I can speak frankly with you." The smile on Ii Naosuke’s face grew a bit more meaningful, "The reason I decided to personally attend and host today’s assessment meeting was actually to see for myself what you look like."

"I mentioned to you earlier today at the assessment, didn’t I? I’ve wanted to meet you for quite a while."

"But throughout all of February, I was simply too busy and couldn’t find the time."

"It wasn’t until today that I finally managed to free up some time."

"Since I happened to have some free time today, I figured I’d attend this assessment, see you in person, and deliver the reward you should have received long ago."

"Ah, speaking of which, here’s a little secret: the decision on what kind of reward to give you was made more than half a month ago."

"But I specifically requested that these rewards be presented to you at today’s assessment meeting in front of the other officials from the ’Three Times’ faction."

"When someone achieves such significant merits, it would be a waste not to use the opportunity to boost the morale of the ’Three Times’ group."

"Seeing you receive such a fine sword in such a grand manner will surely inspire many people to strive harder." 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

The feeling Aoto got from Ii Naosuke now differed slightly from the impression he had during the assessment meeting earlier.

At this moment, Ii Naosuke seemed... more "ordinary."

There was more warmth in his smile, and his speech was a bit rambling, more resembling an ordinary neighborhood elder.

After rambling a bit about household matters, Ii Naosuke suddenly shifted the conversation—

"Ah, not good, not good. It seems I’ve inadvertently rambled on about too many irrelevant trivialities."

Ii Naosuke leaned to the side, resting on a nearby armrest.

"Haha... When one is too relaxed, the old habit of rambling can easily resurface..."

"Let’s get back to the main topic."

Ii Naosuke cleared his throat.

"Mr. Tachibana, could you tell me in detail... how you encountered and defeated that group of ’Anti-foreigner Faction’ insurgents that night?"

Aoto’s eyebrows couldn’t help but raise.

About what happened that night... Aoto had already detailed everything in a letter to the Edo Magistrate’s Office when he requested assistance as they dared not leave the Kanagawa Inn.

Upon returning to Edo, Aoto submitted a more detailed report at the first opportunity.

Everything he could say and knew was written in the report.

As Lord Tairō, it was impossible for Ii Naosuke not to have seen these reports.

Why bother calling him over to ask about things that could be understood just by reading the report?

Ii Naosuke seemed to notice Aoto’s question and smiled:

"Although I have thoroughly read your detailed account of how you overcame many with few, I still want to hear personally how you came up with that strategy to defeat the enemy that night."

Though he still didn’t quite understand Ii Naosuke’s seemingly odd behavior, since this currently powerful middle-aged man had asked, Aoto dared not refuse.

Aoto recounted the detailed process of the "Snowy Night Chaos," which he had already narrated countless times, to Ii Naosuke, clearly and methodically.

Having recounted it so many times, Aoto had grown accustomed to the story, so it took him less than 10 minutes to relay everything he could.

"Hmm..." As soon as Aoto finished speaking, Ii Naosuke let out a low murmur.

After that murmur, he didn’t speak for a while.

After some time, he finally broke the silence in a gentle voice:

"Indeed... no matter how many times I hear it, it’s truly unbelievable..."

With that, Ii Naosuke stretched lazily.

"Mr. Tachibana, thank you for making the trip; you may now withdraw."

Aoto’s eyes widened.

Just dismiss me like that?!

Aoto was completely bewildered now.

Utterly bewildered.

He was summoned abruptly.

Then, after having him retell the "Snowy Night Chaos" that he had already detailed in reports, he was suddenly asked to leave...