What’s the point of making money? To spend it, of course. Jiuye was a practical guy, and he still had a few silver coins in his pocket. Treating himself a little was perfectly reasonable. Besides, the blacksmith’s shop needed an extra pair of hands, and three silver coins a day was a pretty good deal.

A bowl of beef noodles piled high with beef was soon set on the table. The young man looked at all that beef, and his Adam’s apple bobbed involuntarily. He thought of the plain noodles he’d eaten earlier—not even a drop of oil on them. Compared to those, the difference was huge.

Eating beef with chopsticks, Jiuye couldn’t have been happier.

“Boss, could I get a room, and some hot water, please?”

A girl’s voice came from the inn’s entrance.

Jiuye was sitting right across from the inn’s front desk, so he could see what was happening with just a glance up.

He chewed his meat and looked up. A familiar figure stood at the counter. She had her back to him, but her clothes and the katana in her hand were enough for Jiuye to recognize her at once.

Fate was a strange thing. Once two people were bound by it, there was no escaping it. For two people who’d never met to run into each other twice in one day—that had to be the heavens’ doing.

Jiuye secretly watched the girl. Her hair was a little messy, and her clothes were disheveled. Could it be…?

Ahem… Of course, that couldn’t possibly be it.

From those details, Jiuye concluded that she must have been in a fight with someone earlier.

The appearance of the pink-haired girl gave Jiuye reason to believe that something interesting would happen in Gran City sometime soon. That was also why he’d decided to stay here for a few days.

Thinking back to how the woman had asked the boss to prepare hot water, she was obviously either soaking her feet or taking a bath. He’d spent half the day working at the blacksmith’s shop. Never mind that the weather was already hot—standing beside the furnace made it feel downright “wonderful.” He was covered in sweat, so he ought to have a good soak himself.

“Boss, could you prepare some hot water for me too? Thanks!”

Jiuye called over to the counter.

The boss heard him and called back.

“You got it! I’ll have it ready right away!”

Seven or eight minutes later, Jiuye had finished the entire bowl of beef—and drained every last drop of the soup too.

He’d spent quite a few days roughing it outdoors. Being able to sleep in a bed was pure bliss for Jiuye. It had only just gotten completely dark, but that didn’t matter. He planned to take a bath right away, then hit the bed.

In an ordinary inn like this, the rooms probably didn’t have private bathrooms. There should be two large communal bathhouses instead.

He didn’t know where the bathhouse was, so after finishing his beef, he got up and went to the counter.

“Boss, is the water ready?”

The boss nodded, then handed Jiuye a wooden tag with a number written on it.

“Our inn is a little run-down, sir, so we don’t have private bathrooms. We have one big communal bathhouse instead. The number on this tag matches your room number. When you get to the bathhouse, just look for the spot with the same number. I’ve got your water ready. Go upstairs and keep walking straight to the end of the hall—that’s where the bathhouse is.”

Jiuye had already guessed as much. The boss’s explanation didn’t surprise him, and he simply thanked him before heading upstairs.

He didn’t go back to his room first to put his things down, because he didn’t have anything to put down. He went straight to the end of the hall and arrived at the communal bathhouse. A little girl stood at the entrance. She looked about seven or eight years old.

When the little girl saw Jiuye coming, she stepped forward with a cheerful smile.

“Big brother, are you here to take a bath?”

Jiuye looked at the little girl and nodded.

“Yeah. Is something the matter, little one?”

The little girl lowered her head and hesitated before replying softly, “There’s a pretty big sister taking a bath inside. She asked me to stand guard. I can’t let anyone in until she comes out.”

Jiuye’s expression shifted at that. He glanced into the bathhouse and listened to the sound of running water. Then he sighed and crouched down beside the little girl.

The little girl looked at Jiuye.

“Big brother?”

“It’s fine. Let’s stand guard together.”

As he spoke, Jiuye reached out and patted the little girl on the head.

Time ticked by, second by second. At first, Jiuye had been the only one to come by, and no one else had shown up since. By his estimate, nearly half an hour had passed. Why hadn’t the person inside come out yet?

At first, Jiuye hadn’t thought much of it. After all, it wasn’t very convenient for men and women to use a communal bathhouse together. But staying inside and hogging the bathhouse for this long was a bit much, wasn’t it? A bath should take twenty minutes at most, ten if you were quick. It’d been almost half an hour already. What was going on in there?

Jiuye was getting impatient, but the water kept running inside. It didn’t sound like it was going to stop anytime soon.

What a waste of hot water. It’d be gone before long at this rate.

Every so often, the young man glanced into the bathhouse, his impatience plain on his face.

The little girl was young, but she could tell what Jiuye was thinking.

“Should I go in and check?”

It wouldn’t be appropriate for him to go in, so sending the little girl was the best option.

“All right. Thanks for doing that.”

The little girl nodded, then walked into the bathhouse.

It wasn’t long before a scream came from inside.

“Aah!!! Big brother, come quick!”

The moment he heard that something was wrong, Jiuye knew trouble had struck. He didn’t even stop to think. He sprang to his feet and rushed straight into the bathhouse.

Jiuye quickly found the little girl. She was standing in front of a door that had been locked from the inside.

Through the gap of a little over ten centimeters beneath the door, Jiuye immediately saw the pink-haired girl collapsed on the floor. Her face was turning purplish—the telltale sign of poisoning.

Faced with the situation, Jiuye didn’t hesitate. He grabbed the bottom edge of the door and yanked hard, tearing the lock off along with it.

A girl taking a bath was naturally completely naked. A holy light obscured the scene here, so please look away.

The sight made Jiuye furrow his brow, but he didn’t lose focus. He turned off the water, then bent down and picked the woman up. Just as he was about to carry her out, he remembered something and stopped. Holding her against him with one arm, he pulled off his cloak and draped it over her. Then he looked at the little girl.

“Little one, go get big sister’s clothes for me.”

Jiuye said no more. Carrying the girl, he rushed out, took out his key, unlocked his room, and carried her inside.

Heh heh heh…

Ahem…