My Gang of Swordsmen

Chapter 322 - 131: "Phantom Thief" Tachibana Aoto Has Arrived! [6400]

"Hieda, Test Sword"—Upon hearing these two words, Aoto’s brow instantly furrowed.

This country has long harbored a terrifying habit: testing swords on humans.

Certain mentally disturbed samurai, to test the sharpness of their swords, often lurked in the streets at night, ambushing passersby to test their swords on them.

This act of testing swords on people in the street is called "Tsujigiri."

Before the Edo Era, Tsujigiri was quite common.

It wasn’t until three hundred years ago, when the Edo Shogunate was established, that the Tokugawa family finally legislated to ban such insane behavior, with strict punishments upon discovery.

The Edo Shogunate’s legislation achieved notable results, significantly curbing this inhumane practice, but the term "Tsujigiri" was not entirely buried in the annals of history.

After all, regardless of time or place, there is never a shortage of mentally problematic lunatics.

Even three hundred years into the rule of the Edo Shogunate, even in Edo City, where the Emperor resides, shocking news of "someone being used for test sword last night" still occasionally surfaces.

And the most common victims of Tsujigiri were...the Hieda.

Hieda—in simple terms, means outcasts.

In Edo Era Japanese society, there were four hierarchical levels from top to bottom: Scholars, Farmers, Artisans, and Merchants.

Outside of "Scholars, Farmers, Artisans, and Merchants," there existed a floating "invisible class," the "Hieda class."

The name "Hieda" alone is enough to reveal the status of this group in society.

The origin of the Hieda group can be traced back thousands of years, before Japan fully adopted the advanced culture and systems of the Sui and Tang Dynasties, there existed a class in society specifically serving those of officials’ families—"servants."

Most of the Hieda in the Edo Era were descendants of these servants.

In addition to the servant class from a thousand years ago, the sources of the Hieda also included—

Those engaged in occupations associated with blood and filth, like leatherwork and slaughter.

Those infected with leprosy, who were thrown into the Hieda Residence Area yet survived.

Captured Ezo people who became war prisoners.

And so on, and so forth...

These individuals and their descendants collectively formed the "Hieda" class.

The Hieda, seen as outcasts, were heavily discriminated against.

The Edo Shogunate gathered the Hieda into a section of the city, or some remote rural areas, for centralized management.

All Hieda were hereditary, as long as you were Hieda, you and your descendants would forever be Hieda, never able to rise, never able to obtain citizenship.

The Hieda couldn’t own land, nor could they engage in agriculture or commerce, only able to perform jobs like cleaners, undertakers, butchers, or leather workers—seen as extremely filthy and unclean in the eyes of Edo Era people.

When the Hieda left their residential areas to go out, they often had to cover their faces, for people feared their speaking would bring "filth."

In some places, people even required the Hieda to walk backward when passing through, so they could wipe away their dirty footprints as they went.

With a status so lowly, the lives of Hieda were naturally seen as trivial as grass.

In the Edo Era, there was an unwritten rule: the lives of seven Hieda were equivalent to that of one commoner.

Precisely because the lives of Hieda were so worthless, those mentally disturbed lunatics often used them for test sword.

Using Hieda for test sword, even if one were caught, would result in a lighter sentence because the victim was Hieda.

When Aoto furrowed his brow upon hearing the words "Hieda" and "Test Sword," Mukiwa continued solemnly:

"In the past month, while patrolling various places in Edo, I frequently found victims on the streets of the Hieda Residence Area, savagely hacked to death."

"According to my current statistics, the number of victims has reached seven...the actual number should be higher."

"Such a high number of chopped bodies appearing on the streets in just one month strongly indicates that someone is engaged in Tsujigiri."

"Because each body bore numerous sword wounds, I suspect it’s not a single perpetrator, but an entire group madly testing swords on people."

"If it were just one person, it would be manageable, but if an entire group of armed samurai...I cannot be sure to subdue them."

"Therefore, Mr. Tachibana, I thought of you."

"I want to ask for your help, to confront these madmen recklessly using innocent people for test sword with me."

Upon hearing Mukiwa’s sincere plea, Aoto subconsciously questioned in a quick voice:

"Since you’ve discovered someone engaging in Tsujigiri, why haven’t you tried to report to the Magistrate’s Office?"

No sooner than asking, Aoto’s expression froze.

He quickly realized—he had asked a stupid question...

Sure enough, Mukiwa gave a wry smile.

"Mr. Tachibana, you’re the ’Three Times’ of the Magistrate’s Office, you should know better than I do, right? The Magistrate’s Office hardly cares about the lives of the Hieda..."

Aoto pursed his lips and said no more.

The Magistrate’s Office is perpetually understaffed.

Even with the aid of the Town Autonomous Organization in handling civil cases, allowing the Magistrate’s Office to focus on criminal cases, manpower is still extremely tight.

Regarding the order of handling cases, the Magistrate’s Office has always adhered to an unwritten rule.

First—the cases related to high-ranking officials are of the utmost priority.