Chapter 21: Gion

**

Seeing that Ryuusaki had turned his back, Gion hesitated for a moment before shyly taking off her top.

"Here, take it. And don't do anything inappropriate with my clothes!"

"As if I'd dare!" Ryuusaki replied, taking her shirt and pulling out some needle and thread to mend it.

His tailoring skills weren't top-notch, but they were good enough to get by. Fixing up some clothes wasn't a big deal.

In just a few minutes, Gion's shirt was as good as new.

After putting it back on, Gion pouted and said, "You little rascal, who knew you had a talent for this?"

"Just a basic skill, nothing special," Ryuusaki replied with a chuckle.

"Oh, by the way, you broke my sword. Make sure to forge me a new one!"

"Of course, of course!" he agreed quickly.

Gion shot Ryuusaki a glare before leaving the smithy with Tsuru.

On the way out, Tsuru turned to Gion and asked, "Gion, what do you think of that boy?"

"He's alright, quite handsome," Gion replied with a playful grin.

"Idiot, I wasn't asking about that. I meant his strength."

"Ah, oh!" Gion stuck out her tongue playfully, embarrassed for having misunderstood.

She thought for a moment before responding, "He's very skilled. Even though he's much younger than I am, his swordsmanship is better."

"Good, you understand. You need to stop being so arrogant."

"I'm not arrogant!"

"You're not arrogant, you're just prideful."

Gion rolled her eyes, her expression showing a bit of annoyance.

"The World Government's spy recruitment process is quite different from how we recruit for the Navy."

"Oh?"

"From what I know, Bark's group started with over a hundred candidates, but in the end, only three remained—Ryuusaki being one of them. The rest were 'dealt with.'"

"Oh?"

"'Dealt with' means they were killed."

"Oh—what? Killed?"

"Yes, that's right," Tsuru confirmed with a serious nod.

Gion was first shocked, then fell silent. Compared to Ryuusaki, she realized she was quite fortunate. At least she had always had Tsuru's protection at Navy Headquarters.

"It's a shame," Tsuru sighed. "No matter how talented, those nobles are nothing more than pigs. They can easily be manipulated into giving away secrets."

"Then why not bring that guy into the Navy?"

"Government institutions are separate from the Navy. Bringing Ryuusaki into the Navy isn't possible."

Tsuru shook her head, feeling a sense of regret.

In Tsuru's view, someone as talented as Ryuusaki would at least grow into a force comparable to an admiral, assuming he survived long enough.

Meanwhile, back at the smithy, Ryuusaki was eagerly flipping through the books on swordsmithing.

The World Government certainly had a deep well of resources.

As he skimmed through the books, Ryuusaki found that many of them detailed swordsmithing techniques dating back hundreds of years, including methods from many famous masters.

For now, Ryuusaki had lost interest in dealing with the situation involving Ace. After all, Tsuru had already warned him.

He decided to lay low, take it easy, and focus on his work as a blacksmith.

After all, with the merit he earned from reporting on Dragon, Ryuusaki was confident that even if he didn't complete this task, he wouldn't face any punishment.

Ryuusaki sat down at the table, picked up a book, and began reading from the first page.

It was a notebook of insights from a famous swordsmith of a now-vanished nation from five hundred years ago.

Who knows how the World Government got their hands on it, but they did.

"Mixing trace elements from plants into cast iron?"

That idea was novel. Ryuusaki read on with great interest. According to the book, different plants absorbed different metallic elements from the world.

As he turned a few more pages, he suddenly understood. No wonder.

When forging blades, to make them sharp, durable, and resilient, it's common to add other materials, such as rare metal elements, in small quantities.

But the challenge lies in determining the exact amount to add.

This task can be quite tricky.

Eventually, someone came up with a method. They discovered that certain plants absorb specific trace metal elements, and the proportion of these metal elements in the plant remains relatively consistent.

So, people started using specific plants to measure the ratio.

"Such strange and interesting methods," Ryuusaki mused.

About half a month passed by.

Ryuusaki spent most of his days at the smithy, reading in the morning and conducting experiments in the afternoon.

"Anyone here?" a voice called out.

"Who is it?"

"It's me!" A lively figure suddenly burst in, startling Ryuusaki. "Damn it, can't you just walk in like a normal person?"

It was none other than Gion.

"What do you want?" Ryuusaki asked.

"Huh? How can you ask me that? You promised to forge me a sword, remember?"

"Uh…"

"Don't tell me you forgot?"

"No, no, how could I forget? But it's only been half a month. Aren't you being a bit impatient?"

Gion, whose code name in the Navy is Momousagi, was supposed to be the epitome of an elegant and mature woman in Ryuusaki's mind.

However, the current Gion was still young, lively, and quite the adorable girl.

"Why are you staring at me like that with those pervy eyes?" Gion glared at Ryuusaki without hesitation.

Ryuusaki scratched his head awkwardly, "Alright, I won't look. But you…"

"What do you mean 'you'? Call me 'Sister!'"

"Sister!"

"That's more like it!"

"As for the sword, it'll take some time. Why don't you come back in about six months?"

"What? Six months? That long? Are you even capable of doing it?" Gion eyed Ryuusaki suspiciously, blinking her eyes in a teasing manner.

Damn, this girl is way too playful!

Forget it. No point in arguing with her.

"Gion, you—"

"Call me 'Sister!'"

"Fine, fine. Gion-Sister, could you stop dropping by? You're seriously disrupting my work."

"No worries, you can keep forging. I won't bother you."

"That's not what I mean. I'm talking about my other, undisclosed identity."

"Oh, don't worry about it. I'm in plain clothes, no one will know."

Ryuusaki was almost ready to spit blood. She might not care, but he certainly did!

"Hey, Ryuusaki, let's have a little sparring match!"

"A spar? Over what?"

"Swordsmanship, of course!"

"Uh… Gion-Sister, because of my undisclosed identity, I'm not supposed to engage in swordsmanship duels."

"No problem. We'll just close the doors and spar in the room."

This Gion… doesn't care about anything! Ryuusaki was at a loss. If he fought her and won, she might run to Tsuru to tattle. If he didn't spar with her, it would interfere with his undercover mission.

"Just spar with me. It's no big deal."

"I'll let you in on a little secret. I'm ranked first in swordsmanship among the Navy recruits this year. If you beat me, you'll be better than all the new Navy recruits!"

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