The bushes behind Li Xing formed a shape like the character 几, perpendicular to the nearly straight river running north to south.
The open end of the formation faced the riverbank opposite the town. Li Xing stood at its head, roughly equidistant from the two beauties in the water by the bank.
That much was clear from the fact that Li Xing could hear the two young women in the water.
"Aniekra, how did you find out about this lovely spot?" Lucy asked her companion as she crouched in the water, rubbing her body clean.
"Hmm~~ The aunts from town told me about it when they came to the house to pick up their clothes. I was surprised too. I didn't expect it to be so much nicer than I'd imagined."
Like Lucy, Aniekra was half-crouched in the water, washing herself.
Contrary to what Li Xing, on the other side of the bushes, had imagined, the two women had not entered the water naked. They were wearing loose, thin dresses.
Whether or not the terrain protected their privacy, they were two single women outdoors, and accidents could happen.
So in this world, relatively conservative women wore dresses when they entered the water.
For the beauties in the water, the dresses not only protected their privacy but also kept weeds and other debris from clinging to their bodies.
Fortunately, the river water was exceptionally clean, with little debris. The two ladies could wash in the river without worry.
Lucy looked toward the open end of the formation, at the lush green woods across the river and the azure sky, while beneath the scorching sun, the cool river water brushed against her skin through her clothes.
The unusual feeling of comfort made Lucy feel as though her heart were soaring through the sky like a bird of prey. It seemed not to be river water flowing over her skin, but the caress of the wind high in the air.
"Ah~~~~"
Lucy's sudden cry startled Aniekra, who immediately came over, wrapped her arms around Lucy, and began checking her.
"Lucy, are you all right? Did something bite you? Or did you touch something in the water?"
As Aniekra checked Lucy, Li Xing immediately sprang forward, landing by the river. Facing the two women in the water, he asked, "What is it? What happened? Is someone peeping?"
Lucy had already thought Aniekra was making a huge fuss. Just as she was about to explain, she saw Li Xing leap out of the bushes, asking the two of them those exasperating questions as soon as he appeared.
Li Xing stared solemnly at Lucy, the one who had cried out. When Aniekra saw him, she slowly retreated behind Lucy!
Lucy: ...
Aniekra: ...
"Say something! What exactly happened when you screamed just now?
"I'm already here, so at least give me an answer!
"Speaking of which, where's the creep? I'll go take a look!"
In response to Li Xing's questions, Lucy simply began splashing river water into his face over and over.
"Come on! What's wrong with you? I'm here to keep watch. Why are you splashing me?"
Hearing Li Xing complain, Lucy drove him away with more water as she said, "A creep? I think you're the creep! The thief crying 'stop thief'—you wish!"
And so Li Xing retreated behind the bushes, wiping the water off himself.
"That woman is completely unreasonable. I..."
Just as Li Xing was about to complain about Lucy, he noticed Little Jerry looking at him strangely.
"What are you looking at me for, Jerry?"
Little Jerry replied to Li Xing's question, "Brother Li Xing, you said you wouldn't peep at the two sisters. Now you've broken your promise!"
Li Xing explained, "Well, I heard your Sister Lucy scream, so I hurried over."
Little Jerry rolled his eyes. "But, Brother Li Xing, did she call for you?"
Li Xing: ...
Damn it! I fell for it!
As Li Xing explained his actions to Little Jerry, the two beauties in the river were also discussing what had happened.
"Lucy, I think you misunderstood Mr. Li Xing."
"Misunderstood? Didn't you see him come over just now?"
"But Mr. Li Xing only came to see what was happening because he heard you scream! And your scream really did startle me too."
"But..."
"No buts! Lucy, you wronged Li Xing. Besides, I kept my eyes on Mr. Li Xing's eyes. He really did look anxious and concerned. He wasn't having any dirty thoughts at all."
Listening to Aniekra, Lucy seemed to realize what had happened.
"All right! I really was wrong. Let's hurry up and finish washing. I'll apologize to him when we get out, okay?"
"Mm!"
Aniekra murmured, holding Lucy in her arms.
"That's the Lucy I know!"
"Hmph~"
In the mountain forest, a group of masked bandits were searching for something, just as they had before.
"Boss, what exactly are we looking for on Master's behalf? It's been so long, and we haven't seen a trace of it."
The group made their way through the forest, hacking at the branches and leaves in their path while looking around for anything unusual.
A burly man walking in the middle of the group replied.
"I don't know what Master's looking for either. We were all bandits before. How would we know what a mage lord like Master is thinking?
"Anyway, Master said that if there's anything unusual around here, we should notify him right away. We can't go wrong doing that!"
Afterward, the group continued wandering through the mountain forest.
Some time later, they found a few tree trunks and sat down to rest, all the while starting to complain.
"Damn it, how many days has it been? I'm exhausted. We can't keep going on like this, Boss!"
After the burly man finished speaking,
Another immediately chimed in, "Yeah, Boss! If we keep this up, we'd have been better off living free and easy like we used to. We only followed Master in the first place because he was a mage lord.
"But not only have we failed to become his retainers like you said we would, we're working ourselves to death every day. We're practically beasts of burden."
"Yeah! Boss, how long has it been since any of us brothers had a taste of a woman? Sure, the mage lord gives us food and drink, but we hardly ever lacked those before! It feels like we're worse off now than we used to be."
"Exactly! Big Brother, we really ought to think this over. We can't keep going on like this forever!"
The burly man they called Big Brother looked at his brothers and said,
"Actually, I feel the same way you do. I've been feeling pretty stifled myself.
"Take those traveling merchants we robbed last time. The women among them were clearly top-quality goods from the city! Back in the day, we brothers would have shared them among ourselves long ago. But now, that old bastard took them all for himself, and I was the one who sent them into his room together.
"Now that old bastard plays bridegroom in his room every day and won't even give us brothers a sip of the soup.
"To tell you the truth, every time I pass his room, I get so worked up I can hardly walk."