My Gang of Swordsmen

Chapter 3: Chapter 2: Talent Duplication System

——What sound is that?!

Qin Deng... or rather Tachibana Aoto, was stunned and stood rooted to the spot by the sudden mechanical sound that echoed in his mind.

Before he could carefully recall that mechanical sound, he suddenly felt a blur before his eyes, unable to focus his gaze.

Once his eyes regained their focusing ability, Aoto was surprised to find—his vision was unprecedentedly clear.

It was late at night, and the surrounding light sources originally barely allowed Aoto to see the road underfoot.

But now, everything before Aoto’s eyes was extraordinarily clear.

Even the dark corners untouched by light, Aoto could see clearly.

While Aoto was still shocked by the changes in his vision, the capture operation against the ”Righteous Group” had quietly concluded.

According to the intelligence provided by informants—the total number of the ”Righteous Group” was only 12.

Under the sudden attack by Aoto and others, they were swiftly caught in one fell swoop, those who surrendered meekly were tightly bound with coarse ropes, while those who resisted stubbornly were executed on the spot.

”Oh? Mr. Tachibana, you actually took down the second in command of the ’Righteous Group’? Well done.”

At that moment, Aoto’s superior—Arima’s voice sounded from behind him.

The ranks within the Magistrate’s Office, from high to low, can roughly be divided into 3 levels: Town Magistrate, Yoriki, Dōshin.

A Magistrate can be understood as a Mayor, Yoriki can be understood as middle management, and Dōshin are the grassroots personnel.

Typically, one Yoriki oversees 2 to 3 Dōshin.

Aoto was the direct subordinate of Arima, the Yoriki, under Arima’s direct jurisdiction.

Aoto turned his head toward the voice and saw Arima, with spots of blood splattered on him, a sword in his hand still dripping blood, slowly walking toward him.

After walking to the side of the middle-aged man who had just been knocked down by Aoto and was now unconscious, Arima bent down, quickly checked the middle-aged man’s injuries, then stood up and said to Aoto:

”Mr. Tachibana, nice work; it’s rare to achieve such a significant feat, you successfully caught the second-in-command of the ’Righteous Group’ alive.”

”This guy is the second-in-command of the ’Righteous Group’, nicknamed ’Cat’s Eye’.”

”Cat’s Eye?” Aoto asked in confusion.

”This guy is said to be a marvel who, even at night, can see clearly like a cat.” Arima pointed to his own eyes, ”That’s why he’s called ’Cat’s Eye’.”

With that, Arima patted Aoto’s shoulder.

”Alright, don’t just stand there idly, hurry up, let’s escort all these thieves back. The sooner we escort them back, the sooner we can go home and rest.”

”Oh, okay.” Aoto instinctively nodded.

In their surprise attack, of the 12 members of the Righteous Group, 4 were killed, 2 were seriously injured, and the remaining 6 were all captured alive.

The second-in-command whom Aoto took down was one of the captives.

The deceased were casually wrapped in mats and transported with the seriously injured back to the Magistrate’s Office first, then the still-alive thieves were escorted back.

After completing this troublesome task, nearly half an hour had passed.

Having successfully escorted the remaining members of the ”Righteous Group” back to the Magistrate’s Office, everyone involved in tonight’s operation was gathered together by Arima.

”Everyone! Well done!” Arima said with a smile, ”The thieves from the ’Righteous Group’ are all apprehended!”

”Lord Governor is very pleased with our performance tonight.”

”So—”

Arima elongated his tone.

”Lord Governor just told me: that everyone involved in tonight’s operation will have a day off tomorrow!”

As soon as Arima’s words fell, there was an immediate explosion of cheers.

Aoto didn’t join the crowd in cheering—because his mind was still muddled.

”Alright, everyone go home now.” Arima waved his hand, signaling for the crowd to quiet down, ”I’ll handle the subsequent aftermath work.”

Cheers erupted once more.

After Arima announced the dismissal, people left the Magistrate’s Office in groups, each heading home.

Aoto, too, bewilderedly walked out of the Magistrate’s Office.

He didn’t know—that since just a moment ago, three samurai wearing wide-brimmed hats had been lurking in a dark alley not far from the Magistrate’s Office.

After Aoto left the Magistrate’s Office, these three samurai, hands on their waist swords, crouched quietly, following Aoto from behind...

...

...

After Aoto and the three samurai following him had gone far from the Magistrate’s Office, the junior clerks who had been responsible for transporting the dead and injured members of the ”Righteous Group” chatted idly while warming their frozen hands with breath.

”Ah, this ’Righteous Group’ is finally destroyed.”

”Without the ’Righteous Group’, Edo should become somewhat more peaceful.”

”I wonder when those people who keep chanting ’Anti-foreigner’, ’Celestial Punishment’ can also be eradicated? They’re really terrifying... I heard that Yamada from the Judicial Examination Office was attacked by members of the ’Anti-foreigner Faction’ on his way home the other night, barely made it out alive.”

”Why did the ’Anti-foreigner Faction’ target Yamada?”

”Apparently because Yamada had previously publicly expressed support for learning Western medical techniques.”

”Ha, those ’Anti-foreigner Faction’ people keep chanting ’Anti-foreigner’, yet they mostly only harm and kill fellow countrymen. If they dared to jump into the sea to attack America’s steam battleships, I’d actually respect them as heroes.”

”Alright, let’s stop discussing these depressing topics, come on, let’s go for a drink.”

...

...

Aoto walked home, relying on the memories in his mind.

But not far from the Magistrate’s Office, Aoto stopped and leaned against the street.

He was not in the mood to slowly walk back to the home in his memory.

He just wanted to quickly figure out what the situation was at this moment.

Aoto rubbed his temples forcefully, trying to recall how exactly he traveled to ancient Japan...

Memory before the time travel, Aoto remembered clearly—he was a young man who had just graduated from the police academy.

In his previous life, he had always longed to become a police officer.

Even when he didn’t understand the difference between boys and girls, he set a great ambition to become a policeman.

And his ambition was fortunately realized.

In his previous life, he was the typical ”model child” in other people’s eyes.

During elementary and secondary school, his grades were always top of the class.

During the college entrance exams, he achieved exceptionally good scores and successfully entered the police academy.

His performance at the police academy was still outstanding, and upon graduation, he completed his police academy career with top comprehensive scores in the entire class.

Just three days after graduating from the police academy, he traveled to this unfamiliar era...

He remembered—before the time travel, he was leisurely reading in his home study.

While reading, he suddenly felt a little tired, so he lay back on his chair and took a nap.

When he opened his eyes again... he became Tachibana Aoto, an ancient Japanese policeman, and muddled through a capture operation...

——Did I sleep until I traveled?!

Aoto had black lines all over his face.

Having given up thinking about how he actually traveled, Aoto took a deep breath and continued to rub his temples.

He was now searching the memories of the ”Original Tachibana Aoto.”

He wanted to figure out where in Japan he was currently located.

Aoto perfectly inherited all of the ”Original Tachibana Aoto’s” memories, so with just a slight recall, he remembered when it was: Year 7 of Ansei...

What year in the Gregorian calendar?

Don’t know...

Perhaps it’s because the Gregorian calendar wasn’t popular in Japan during this era.

The current ruler of Japan is a giant named the ”Tokugawa Shogunate,” also known as the ”Edo Shogunate.”

——No... I have no idea what year in the Gregorian calendar I find myself in Japan...

The black lines on Aoto’s face multiplied...

In the memories of the ”Original Tachibana Aoto,” there’s only the current era name, with no concept of the Gregorian calendar.

Aoto also couldn’t calculate the current time based on the era name, as he was unfamiliar with Japanese history.

He had never been interested in history, and knew nothing about Japanese history.

Having given up on figuring out what year in the Gregorian calendar it was, Aoto began to ponder about the mechanical voice that echoed in his mind.

——Is this... the so-called system...?

In his previous life, Aoto had read some online novels, so he was not unfamiliar with the concept of a ”system.”

Aoto tried to mentally repeat the word ”system” several times, and then saw a virtual screen appear before him:

...

[Name: Tachibana Aoto]（?）

[Current Abilities:

Night Vision]

...

The content on this virtual screen was surprisingly sparse, just these 2 lines.

Aoto noticed a small question mark at the end of the line with his name.

He focused all his attention on the small question mark, which then expanded into a new virtual screen:

...

[Talent Duplication System Usage Rules:]

[1. After battling with a person who possesses special abilities, regardless of winning or losing, you can duplicate one of their abilities. (Note: Not everyone has special abilities; the vast majority of people are ordinary without any talents.)]

[2. If the person has multiple abilities, a random ability will be duplicated.]

[3. One can only duplicate an ability from another person once. Even if the person has other abilities, no second duplication is possible.]

[4. When an ability is in effect, the system interface entries will appear illuminated.]

[5. The host can have unlimited talents, but duplicate talents will not be acquired.]

[6. Duplicating talents takes time, requiring at least 10 seconds of battle with the opponent to duplicate a talent.]

[7. When certain conditions are met, the host can awaken new talents autonomously.]

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New book seeking various support!