Chapter 252: Chapter 112: Aoto’s New Subordinates?

"Robin Hood has quite a few companions and followers to help him rob from the rich and give to the poor," Elodie added.

"Haha, maybe that Cat Monk might really start looking for companions, just as you said, Miss," Leroy chuckled, covering her mouth. "Well, the story is over, it’s time for you to go to bed, Miss."

"Miss Leroy, please tell me more about the Cat Monk’s story! I’m really interested in this phantom thief!"

"Miss, I’ve already told you all the stories about Cat Monk that I’ve heard."

Leroy raised her hand and gently stroked Elodie’s silky, light golden hair.

"Since Miss is so interested in Cat Monk’s story... I’ll focus on keeping an eye out for any news about Cat Monk and will inform you immediately," she promised.

"Really?" Elodie’s already wide eyes opened even wider, sparkling with a light that reminded one of stars.

Leroy nodded with a smile, "The condition is that you go to bed immediately when it’s sleep time from now on. Otherwise..."

"Miss Leroy! Please help me extinguish the candle, I want to sleep now!"

Having said that, Elodie tightly closed her eyes and pulled the quilt snugly around her.

Amused by Elodie’s cute antics, Leroy got up from the chair, extinguished the candle by the bedside, and gracefully left Elodie’s bedroom.

Tap, tap, tap, tap...

Outside the room, Leroy’s footsteps gradually faded away.

Elodie, who had been attentively listening to Leroy’s footsteps, cheekily opened one eye halfway after confirming Leroy was far away. She glanced at the tightly closed door and then opened both eyes wide.

"Cat Monk..." Elodie looked at the ceiling, which had turned light gray in the moonlight spilling through the window.

"I wonder if he’s a strong and elegant handsome man..."

Anticipation and yearning formed a smile at the corners of Elodie’s lips and eyes.

...

...

The next day—

In the morning, Hosoi and the others had just arrived at the North Guard Station when Aoto and Nishino, who had been on night duty at the station, immediately reported the news that "Cat Monk appeared at the North Guard Station last night."

Upon learning of this, Hosoi and the top officials at the North Guard Station were greatly shocked.

Previously, Cat Monk always appeared with the image of "only stealing from notoriously bad Yakuza, villains, and unscrupulous merchants."

Why did Cat Monk appear at the North Guard Station last night? What’s he planning to do? Was he there to steal something?

Under Hosoi’s orders, the group quickly investigated the inside and outside of the North Guard Station to see if anything was missing, and ultimately found nothing missing.

This left everyone even more puzzled.

Was Cat Monk originally not planning to steal anything at the North Guard Station... or was he forced to abort the theft because he was discovered by Aoto, who was headed to the restroom?

If he had no plans to steal, then why appear at the North Guard Station for no reason?

The extreme lack of information meant these questions might never be answered...

In the end—"Cat Monk’s sudden visit to the North Guard Station at night" became unresolved.

Without information, unable to capture Cat Monk, what can the Magistrate’s Office do?

Since nothing important was stolen, they decided to let the matter go.

Hosoi instructed everyone to pay more attention and strengthen nighttime vigilance from now on, and ordered Nishino, now fully responsible for capturing Cat Monk, to make more efforts to catch Cat Monk as soon as possible. Thus, the matter of "Cat Monk’s night raid" was put to rest.

In the following days, there were two major pieces of good news in Edo’s South and North Governor’s Offices.

The first piece of good news: everyone’s spring household salary, stipend, and offerings were finally distributed.

Generally speaking, the samurai’s income mainly consists of two parts: household salary and stipend.

During the Edo Era in Japan, they practiced a "rice currency" economic system, and both household salary and stipend were basically distributed in rice. After receiving the rice, samurai exchanged it for money with merchants.

Most samurai theoretically possess a piece of land granted by the lord they serve, inherited from family generations.

The rice produced on this land is the household salary of your family.

If your land can produce 100 koku of rice, then your household salary is 100 koku.

Regarding the land owned by their families, samurai only possess nominal ownership. The actual usage rights are held by the General and Daimyo.

Simply put: your land is managed by us. But not a single grain of rice owed to you will be deducted.

Generals and Daimyo, under the guise of "helping manage the land," hold the usage rights of samurai’s land under their command, distributing all rice produced on the land to the samurai owning it. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

Not all rice produced on the land is given to the samurai; it is taxed—in the Edo Era, both household salary and stipend tax rates are "four for the public, six for the people," meaning the government collects a 40% tax.

As a subordinate member of the Imperial Family, Aoto and the Tachibana Family have a household salary of exactly 100 koku.

After deducting the "four for the public, six for the people" tax, they annually receive 60 koku of household salary from the Shogunate.