Umegorō, having served Katsu Rintarō for many years as an attendant, has gained some understanding of military science through Katsu Rintarō’s influence.

Without needing detailed instructions from Katsu Rintarō, just a few simple directives suffice for Umegorō to grasp the kind of fortifications Katsu Rintarō wants to build.

Simply put—Katsu Rintarō wants him to construct several tall walls to block the enemy; the more and higher the walls, the better.

As he and Umegorō arrived at the western corridor of the rooftop, Katsu Rintarō nodded with satisfaction at the sight of the defensive structures now spanning the corridor: "Very good... Umegorō, you’ve done well."

Umegorō did much better than he had imagined.

In such a short time, Umegorō had organized the group to build three walls, each about 2 meters high. Although not particularly sturdy, they wouldn’t collapse with a single push.

The three walls provided deep defensive depth. If one wall was breached, they could fall back to the second wall and continue to hold.

Besides asking Umegorō to create fortifications, Katsu Rintarō also tasked Umegorō with making simple long spears.

Umegorō dismantled wooden furniture like doors and bookshelves, crafting four wooden spears with sharpened tips.

The four wooden spears are now held by the four most robust apprentices, who stand nervously behind the first tall wall, poking the spear tips above the wall and aiming outside.

"Mr. Katsu," Umegorō swallowed hard and stuttered as he asked Katsu Rintarō, "What should we do now?"

"Hold our ground! Wait for the Magistrate’s Office to send reinforcements!" Katsu Rintarō replied word by word.

"Wait, wait for the Magistrate’s Office to rescue us?" Umegorō was dumbfounded, "If the rescue from the Magistrate’s Office doesn’t come, what then?"

"... We have no other options but to hold on and wait for reinforcement." Katsu Rintarō’s expression was somber, "We can only hope the people from the Magistrate’s Office discover the situation here soon and rush to send reinforcements."

From the beginning, Katsu Rintarō had Umegorō build fortifications and craft wooden spears to hold their ground and wait for help.

The longer the weapon, the more likely even someone unfamiliar with spear technique could defeat an experienced swordsman who has studied swordsmanship for years.

By wielding long spears in the narrow corridor and relying on these simple fortifications, they could completely block this group of sudden attackers for a while.

The Foreign Language Research Institute’s perimeter has been thoroughly surrounded by these attackers, making escape impossible.

Tonight, the people staying inside the Investigation Office, except Katsu Rintarō who has some strength, are pure scholars without any martial power. Engaging the attackers head-on would be suicidal.

If they can’t fight and can’t flee, all that’s left is to hold firm and hope for the Magistrate’s Office to rescue them quickly...

Katsu Rintarō climbed to the rear of the first tall wall, then took out all the bullets stored in his pocket, counting the remaining ammunition.

Counting the bullets still in the handgun chamber... there are only 11 bullets left...

Katsu Rintarō’s already heavy complexion grew even graver.

...

...

Edo, Key-cho—

"Mr. Tachibana, it’s impossible!" Nagakura shouted to Aoto not far away, "Nothing is left here except fire and charred wood!"

Fujimura, now standing beside Aoto, also shouted to Aoto:

"Mr. Tachibana, step back a bit! The fire’s almost here!"

Bang!

As Fujimura’s voice just fell, some sparks drifted toward Aoto, exploding near his nose, with a faint burning sensation on his nose tip.

"Tsk..." Watching the growing fire, Aoto couldn’t help but click his tongue.

Suspecting this sudden fire as deliberate arson, he hurriedly led Nagakura and the others to Key-cho’s fire scene, hoping to catch anyone suspicious nearby.

However, perhaps because they arrived late, they found nothing but raging flames and charred buildings when they reached the surroundings.

The fire was at a small commercial street in Key-cho. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Tonight is windless; lacking wind assistance, the fire spread slowly. Upon arriving, Aoto and the others saw only four shops consumed by flames.

"Mr. Tachibana! Mr. Tachibana! I’ve brought the Town Fire Extinguisher people!"

Suddenly, the voice of Harada, whom Aoto sent to notify the Town Fire Extinguisher to come and extinguish the fire, sounded behind Aoto.

Aoto quickly looked towards the voice, frowning.

Only about thirty Town Fire Extinguisher members followed behind Harada.

"Why are there so few people?" Aoto shouted.

Before Harada could respond, a middle-aged man who seemed to be at the captain level, running beside and slightly behind Harada, answered with a bitter face:

"We’re seriously understaffed! Not only is Key-cho on fire, but also Pan-cho, Yue-cho, West Mountain-cho... there’s a fire in many Castle Towns right now! We can’t spare more people to fight the fire!"

— Not only is Key-cho on fire?

Aoto was stunned, then his face fell.

— The fire situation is indeed strange!