"My lord, you... cough, cough, cough... are willing to help me out? Cough, cough..."
Coughing as he spoke, the bald man gratefully accepted Zhong Yi's fifty coins, then began telling him what he knew about "that night."
That night, a band of thieves had broken into the Hirata Estate.
The Hirata Household was a branch of Ashina, a prestigious clan in Ashina Country, and its estate was heavily guarded.
Ordinarily, even ten thousand measures of courage would not have emboldened thieves to enter.
But war had broken out just days earlier, and all the young samurai had rushed to the front lines, leaving the Hirata Household's defenses far weaker than usual.
And so, led by a band of brazen thieves, countless scattered petty bandits had joined in, raiding the Hirata Estate at night to burn and plunder.
The bald man had been one of those thieves, slipping inside to fish in troubled waters.
"That was when I saw you, my lord... cough, cough, cough!"
The bald man patted his chest as he recalled the scene.
"You looked like you were searching for something... you had the same expression you do now. Did you ever find it?"
"..."
For a moment, Zhong Yi did not know how to answer.
He had none of Sekiro's memories of the past.
The bald man's information was incomplete. Many of the questions Zhong Yi cared about remained unanswered.
But the key lay in the Hirata Household.
In other words, Kurō's Lineage.
"Struck by catastrophe three years ago, fought over by every faction three years later... looks like all the answers lie with Young Master Kurō!"
Zhong Yi pinched his chin and muttered to himself.
"My lord, I have more information. For just a hundred coins... cough, cough... I can sell it to you!"
"No need."