Regardless of whether Aoto loses his position at the Magistrate's Office in the future, as long as his samurai status is not stripped away, he can still receive his family stipend—but this stipend for the Tachibana Family is quite meager, making it difficult to live solely on this income.
Aoto has grown up... No, it should be said that for generations, no one in the Tachibana Family has ever seen what the land granted to their family looks like, nor do they even know its exact location.
This situation is actually not uncommon. Due to the fact that the General and the Daimyos kept the usage rights of all samurai lands in their own hands, the vast majority of samurai for generations have never seen what their land looks like; they just wait to collect rice.
The salary is easy to understand; it refers to the salary for government employment. If you don't hold a position in the government office, there's no salary for you.
