After leaving the military camp, Veteran did not pause for even a moment and headed straight back to the inn.
It was eight at night, with four hours left until the agreed time.
Standing outside the room, he knocked five times in the agreed rhythm: three long, two short.
After two seconds of waiting, he heard the sound of a towel being wrung out and rustling clothes from behind the door, followed by footsteps approaching.
The door opened a crack.
Seeing that the person outside was Pangolin, Penny finally breathed a sigh of relief and disengaged the safety on her pistol.
Her dark brown hair was dripping wet, and droplets of water still clung to her cheeks and neck.
Through the crack in the door, Veteran saw a wooden tub filled with hot water, along with a towel and several personal garments draped over its edge.
This girl was certainly carefree. At a time like this, she still had the mood to take a bath.
Still, being carefree was not necessarily a bad thing.
Especially when worrying accomplished nothing, staying calm mattered more than anything.
Veteran slipped into the room and gently closed the door behind him.
Noticing his gaze fall on the wooden tub, Penny's face grew slightly warm, but she overcame her embarrassment and asked softly.
"...The inn sent up hot water. Do you want to... freshen up too?"
This was the tropics, and the weather was scorching. She had worn robes all day and was drenched in sweat, so she had no choice but to wash up.
Although she had already used the water in the tub, this was obviously not the time to fuss over that.
Yet just as she had overcome every mental hurdle, the man called Pangolin merely glanced around the room and spoke.