Vol.1 - Chapter 4: Laying The Foundation (5/9)

"Huff... Huff... Why are you running? Don't ignore your wounds!"

"Huff... Huff... Why are you following me?! Why did you leave Minato alone? As you can see, I'm fine on my own!"

Rina quickened her pace and then started running as Shin caught up with her again. The woman, who must have been quite tired, almost left Shin behind despite her injuries. Only when they reached their destination did they both stop and the gap between them closed.

"Huff... I haven't been this out of breath from running in a long time, how can you run in this state?"

He looked at the woman in front of him with a puzzled expression on his face. Even though he had been living in the wild forests for a few months and had been exercising his body before that, he had turned out to be even less durable than this injured woman.

Rina's face was still red. It was unclear whether it was because of the incident a while ago or because she was out of breath. The short woman threw back the brown hair that had fallen over her face, showing a satisfied expression on her face. Without turning around, she responded to the boy's words of praise towards her.

"He, he, he. Huff... If I didn't have these stupid wounds, I'd be a- Cough!"

After a small grin, she started to speak confidently, but her words were cut off by the blood coming from her mouth.

"Rina!"

The short woman kneeled down holding her stomach. She had a painful expression on her face.

"No matter how much you resist, you cannot ignore the injuries your body has sustained! Even if you think you're fine because you weren't cut, your internal organs may have been damaged. I would have let you walk on your own if you wanted to, but why are you running!"

"Shu-t your- Cough!"

When she tried to speak, she vomited another mouthful of blood.

"You are the one who has to shut up! At this rate you'll die just from the blood you vomit!"

The chestnut-haired boy took her by the arm without listening to her any longer. The woman tried to resist, but this time she seemed to have no strength left.

"Let go of me! If my sister sees..."

Her voice was getting hoarse. Shin realized how much she was sweating and burning from the heat when he took her arm.

"Where is your room? If you're going to do as I say in this job, then don't resist and get well quickly!"

Rina did not resist him any longer after hearing these words.

"Top floor, room thirty. The key is in my pocket."

Rina's eyes slowly closed as Shin carried her as carefully as possible to the inn. Before losing her consciousness, she thought of one last thing.

'Damn it, I'll never get into a situation like this again...'

-

'Huh... She really doesn't like to rely on others. Anyway, she'll just need some rest to recover.'

Shin had carried Rina to her room. He even stood by her side for a while and wondered what could he do to help her. But in the end, he came to the conclusion that there was nothing he could do at the moment. In fact, the short woman had practically kicked the boy out of the room when she came to her senses.

After that, Shin get back to the first floor of the inn to get some water, thinking that at least he could get some hot water for the woman. The staff was shocked to see him carry Rina a while ago, while his clothes were covered in blood, but they didn't interfere with the boy and fulfilled his request. Getting the water from first floor, he headed back to the room on the last floor.

'Maybe Riki-san knows a few things that can help her get better...'

He was going up the stairs. When he reached the first floor, something caught his eye. Shin panicked and tried to head for the next floor, but he was too late.

"Shin-kun?"

A tall woman in a maid's uniform called out to him.

'That's not good...'

The chestnut-haired boy entered the hallway of the first floor as if nothing was wrong, wearing a very natural expression on his face.

"What are those in your hands? Why didn't you ask a maid?"

The woman was in the middle of the corridor and had come out of a room. The first thing that caught her eye was the buckets in the boy's hands. But when she raised her head slightly, something more important caught her attention.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS!?"

Alarmed by what she saw, the tall woman hurriedly approached the boy.

"ARE YOU OKAY, SHIN-KUN?"

Most of the people in the inn were equally surprised to see him, but Sana was the only one who did something. She quickly took the buckets from Shin's hands and put them on the floor. Then, holding the boy's shoulders tightly, she began to examine his body.

"Thanks Sana-san, I'm fine, there was some complications, but I'm okay now. I was just carrying water to my room to solve this mess."

Shin tried to ease her anxiety by plastering a fake smile on his face, but it didn't look like he was going to convince her that easily.

"What do you mean with some complications?! You're covered in blood! Whose blood is it?"

The boy wore a troubled expression. Although he only showed it on his face for a few seconds. He decided to try another tactic.

"Rina-san was looking for you. I guess she needed something. And you don't have to worry about my clothes, it's sad, but security in this city is not very good. That's why I hired Rina-san."

Hearing the name Rina, the tall woman came to her senses. She gave the boy in front of her a questioning look and asked.

"Rina? What could she possibly want from me?"

Seeing the reaction of the woman in front of him, Shin gulped and spoke without waiting.

"I don't know. But she seemed pretty cheerful. We just came back together, so she must be downstairs somewhere."

Hearing this, Sana looked at him skeptically for a few more seconds, but then she just smiled and let her shoulders drop.

"So that's it. I'm glad there's nothing wrong, but your clothes are in really bad shape. It's not good for you to walk around like this, give me your clothes as soon as possible so I can wash them."

After these words, she went to the stairs with slow steps and walked down.

"That was close..."

Shin breathed a sigh of relief and after waiting a moment, he followed the tall woman, grabbing the buckets from the floor and heading for the stairs. After all, even though he had said he was going to his room, his real destination was not his room, but room thirty.

The boy did not encounter any other obstacles and he quickly reached the third floor. When he reached the room with the number thirty written on the door, he put the buckets down and knocked on the door. Meanwhile, he realized that the door was already open.

"Are you there?"

Shin picked up the buckets and hesitantly entered. He didn't get an answer to his question, nor could he see anyone at first glance. The room was larger than his own, and not only spacious but also quite luxurious. Shin had been too distracted by Rina to look around when he arrived a moment ago, but now he was examining the room.

It wasn't much different from his own room in terms of content, but the furnishings were definitely of a higher quality. It also looked more like a small house than a room for guests. There was a large carpet on the floor that looked and felt very nice. There were two large closets and two large beds.

Apart from that, there were small shelves next to the beds. Next to them were bedside tables that looked quite useful. A small empty table was placed against the wall with two chairs around it. It stood exactly next to the window of the room.

There were a few other things of attention around, but before Shin could look at them, he focused on one of the beds in the room. He realized that a pair of eyes were fixed on him. These blue tired eyes belonged to none other than the short woman.

"Why are you here? Did something happen?"

It had barely been ten minutes since Shin had left the room, but apparently, Rina had fallen fast asleep in that time. It surprised the chestnut-haired boy that she had fallen asleep so fast with her injuries, but he said nothing. While the woman pulled her head out from under the blanket and straightened her body a little, looking at him sleepily, she answered her. 

"I thought you might want a bath."

She looked down at the buckets he was holding and then at herself. Her eyes widened in surprise at the sight of her condition. She had jumped into bed as soon as she came into the room and had paid no attention to anything else, but now her sleepy state had disappeared.

"Thank you. That would be really good..."

Maybe her skin and hair were clean, but her clothes were covered in mud and dirt. She also sweated a lot from tonight's action.