“Huh?” Jiuye tilted his head, completely dumbfounded. Had she recognized him as the guy who’d seen her naked last night?

A flash of red streaked past, and a katana came slashing down without mercy. The young man’s eyes went wide. He turned and ran.

“Hey, miss! You’ve got the wrong guy! I’m not a pervert! You’ve got the wrong guy!”

When you’re here, your dignity is here. When you’re gone, your dignity remains. But right now, Jiuye’s dignity was well and truly scattered across the ground. He was too busy running for his life to care.

The woman chasing him gritted her teeth, gripping the katana so tightly her knuckles must’ve hurt. She kept swinging at Jiuye, again and again.

“You pervert! You bastard! Who else would have that stinking cloak besides you? Die!”

Heh. Jiuye had nothing to say.

He raced through the forest, all while keeping an eye on the woman chasing him and wildly swinging her sword.

“Miss, you came here to hunt monsters! Stop chasing me—you’re wasting time!”

The woman really had come to hunt monsters, but right now she seemed to have completely forgotten about them. It didn’t even cross her mind.

Being chased through a dense forest, Jiuye had no idea where to hide. He just picked a direction and ran, without giving a thought to what lay ahead. If it looked like he could get through, he went that way.

A fallen tree, over a meter thick, lay across the path ahead. Jiuye didn’t think twice. He sprang over it with ease. But when he noticed what was on the other side, he felt his whole world turn upside down.

“Damn…”

The woman had been chasing him the whole time. When she saw Jiuye leap over the tree trunk, she jumped after him without hesitation. One light hop, and she cleared it with ease. But when she saw what was beyond the trunk, her expression turned just as “interesting” as Jiuye’s had a moment ago.

Who could’ve guessed? Who could’ve guessed the other side of the tree trunk would be a muddy swamp? The moment Jiuye landed, he sank in up to his waist. He wanted to warn the woman not to jump, but by the time he sank in, the pink-haired woman was already leaping over.

The woman jumped high, sailing right over Jiuye’s head. He instinctively looked up—and saw something he shouldn’t have. If he wasn’t supposed to see it, why didn’t he look away? Why did he keep staring?

Without a doubt, the pink-haired woman sank into the mud too, just ahead of Jiuye, a little to one side.

Well, now they could both laugh.

The woman had just fallen into the mud. She struggled a few times, but when she realized she was sinking even faster, she had no choice but to give up. Then she turned and glared viciously at Jiuye.

“You bastard! What kind of place did you jump into?”

Jiuye grinned, feeling pretty pleased with himself.

“If you hadn’t chased me, neither of us would’ve fallen in. So this is all your fault.”

“Shameless pervert! If you hadn’t taken advantage of me while I was unconscious and seen me naked, would I be chasing you? If you know what’s good for you, stick your head out so I can take a couple of swings at it.”

Jiuye just chuckled. Two blows to the head, and he’d be dead. The nerve of her saying that.

“Look, you passed out in the bathhouse because you’d been poisoned. If I hadn’t happened to be outside, you might not be feeling well enough to chase me around right now. I saved your life. Is this really how you treat your savior?”

After hearing that, the woman grew even angrier and started thrashing around.

“You bastard! I’m going to kill you!”

Jiuye had been planning to tease the beauty a little more. But just as he was about to speak, his expression turned serious.

“Something’s coming.”

…