After staying at Shiwei Hall for over a month, Aoto had come to understand Aunt Abi’s personality to a certain extent.

In a word—she is a rather strong-willed, spirited mistress of the Sword Dojo.

She tends to be quite serious, and thinking about it, Aoto probably hasn’t seen Abi’s joyful smile more than ten times during his stay at Shiwei Hall.

He couldn’t remember exactly when, but Aoto had heard a bit about Abi’s past from Chokata.

Abi came from a well-off Military Family, and could be considered a Miss in her own right. Her strong-willed nature might have been fostered by her family’s background.

With such excellent upbringing, Abi received a very good education from a young age.

Purely in terms of knowledge, Abi, who was well-read, was naturally far superior to Zhouzhu, who was merely a Martial Artist and couldn’t even recognize many Chinese characters.

So after Shiwei Hall was established, all the financial work within the hall was entrusted to Abi.

Zhouzhu managed the Sword Dojo’s operations, while Abi handled the finances of the dojo, as well as the livelihoods of their whole family. The husband and wife had a clear division of labor.

Therefore, as long as one knew what Abi was responsible for in Shiwei Hall on a daily basis, it wouldn’t be hard to understand why she had become so gentle after seeing the "revenue" of Shiwei Hall steadily rise.

"Ah, by the way, speaking of Aunt... Mr. Tachibana, you need to be informed quickly," Chokata suddenly said, "The Master, Aunt, and Brother Kondo just left, and they probably won’t be back until around 8 p.m."

"The Master went out?" A touch of confusion climbed up Aoto’s cheeks, "What are they doing going out at this time?"

"It’s no big deal," Chokata replied, "This morning, a relative of the Master living in the North Suburb of Edo accidentally injured their leg, so the Master and the others went to visit their relative."

"So they went to visit relatives. They won’t be back until about 8 p.m.... which means that tonight’s dinner will have to be resolved by us four—me, you, Saito, and Kyūbē."

After Chokata nodded firmly, he enthusiastically suggested, "Mr. Tachibana, why don’t we skip cooking at home tonight and go out to eat soba noodles instead?"

"Hmm? Mr. Chokata, do you want to eat out?"

"Yes!" Chokata nodded vigorously once more, "I haven’t had soba in a long time, and I feel like tasting it again. What do you think, Mr. Tachibana?"

"Soba noodles, huh..."

—Now that you mention it, I haven’t had noodles in a long time either...

Remembering that he, too, hadn’t tasted the flavor of noodles in a while, Aoto thought for only a moment before nodding slightly:

"I have no problem with it."

...

...

Aoto asked Kyūbē and Saito for their opinions.

Kyūbē, the loyal old servant of the Tachibana Family, unhesitatingly expressed that he had no preference for where to eat, as long as they avoided dangerous areas with poor security.

As for Saito, it went without saying.

No matter what Aoto asked him about food preferences or where to eat, this man would always respond expressionlessly: "I’m easy."

Since everyone agreed unanimously, there was no time to lose—Aoto and the group of four locked up Shiwei Hall and headed towards a noodle shop that wasn’t far away, which Chokata had heard was quite good.

It was just about mealtime then.

As they lifted the curtain marked with a large "noodle" character and entered the noodle shop, the aroma of sauces, the smell of sweat, the sound of slurping noodles, and chatting voices... these scents and sounds rushed towards Aoto and his companions like a surging "wave."

"Welcome!" A young girl dressed like a Shodai with an apron tied around her waist delivered a bowl of noodles to a customer at her side while greeting Aoto and the others warmly in a heavy Kyoto accent.

"Four of us!" Chokata raised four fingers towards the Shodai, "Are there any seats available?"

"There are, there are! Please follow me!"

The Shodai led Aoto’s group to an empty table in a corner of the noodle shop that could seat six people.

Once everyone was seated around the empty table, Aoto glanced up at the menu hanging on the nearby wall.

Although this noodle shop wasn’t large, it had quite a variety of dishes.

Clear broth soba, 16 mon Coins. Miso soba, 18 mon Coins. Tempura soba, 32 mon Coins... Aoto quickly skimmed through the dish names listed on the menu.

The menu was very thoughtfully written.

For some noodles, a small note followed the name describing the dish’s characteristics.

For instance—following the Miso soba was the note "extra sauce."

Aoto’s taste in food usually leans towards the heavy side, preferring dishes full of salt and soy sauce.

Therefore, he ordered the "Miso soba" without hesitation.

Saito, too, ordered without hesitation.

Without even looking at the menu, he directly ordered a regular and cheapest clear broth soba, priced at 16 mon Coins.

After glancing at the menu a few times, Kyūbē also ordered the cheapest clear broth soba.

After everyone else had ordered their desired noodles, Chokata, who had been browsing the menu, turned to the Shodai next to him and asked:

"Can I order a Miso soba with added Tempura?"

"Of course!" The Shodai smiled warmly, "You can let us know how you’d like your noodles!"

"So how much would it be to add two Tempura to the Miso soba in total?"

Chokata and the Shodai discussed the details of his "custom soba" in detail.