The Changes to Yorozuya

Duan Mu did not linger either. After stopping the bleeding, he returned to Yorozuya surrounded by everyone.

Although Kido could heal injuries quickly, it was not omnipotent. A full recovery still required medicine.

Duan Mu's Yorozuya did not have the treatment equipment and intravenous medicines of the Fourth Division, but back when he had been trying to create an opportunity to "accidentally encounter" Unohana Retsu, he had gathered a large amount of medicinal herbs from the mountains throughout Soul Society and stored them all in the shop's warehouse.

As soon as he returned to Yorozuya, Duan Mu had Uzuki help him select the herbs he needed, then began preparing medicine to aid the healing of the wounds.

While preparing the medicine, he also stayed busy. He used Kido to give Habutae and the other person some basic treatment, and by the time he finished everything, it was already deep into the night.

"Phew~~"

He let out a tired breath, then looked at Habutae, who was sitting beside him with a tense expression. "Don't worry. He's tougher than you think."

This Great Villain known as "Nishijin-ori" had suffered much more severe injuries than Duan Mu. If an ordinary person had sustained the same injuries, he would probably have been dead long ago.

But perhaps because he often dealt with death, the monster had somehow clung stubbornly to a final breath. He even showed faint signs of healing himself.

As for Habutae's injuries, aside from losing her left arm, they were not particularly serious. She had merely lost too much blood.

"Treatment was included in the commission, so I won't charge you extra."

Duan Mu pursed his lips. He did not know whether Habutae had planned it in advance, but the commission she had described at the time was "protect the two of them until the boss wakes up," rather than "drive away the people hunting them." This had completely cut off Duan Mu's idea of charging extra medical fees.

After all...

Having her boss "wake up" was also part of the commission.

The more he thought about it, the more he felt he was losing out.

Duan Mu glanced at the bandages wrapped around his chest. If he had known it would be this dangerous, he would have demanded a higher price from the beginning.

As if she had seen what Duan Mu was thinking, Habutae gave a hearty laugh. "Don't worry. Once the boss recovers, I'll immediately go make some money for you. I guarantee there'll be more than enough!"

"Heh."

Duan Mu gave a noncommittal chuckle and made no further comment.

How these people made money had nothing to do with him. As long as he received the share he was owed, that was enough. As for whether anyone suffered because of it... that was another matter entirely. He could not possibly go around worrying about how these villains made their money.

At most, he would treat them the same way he treated Diao Ao and the others: once they left the safe district, they could do whatever they wanted.

After bandaging Nishijin-ori, Duan Mu left Habutae alone and departed from the temporary ward. Calling it a ward was generous—it was merely several tables pushed together in a corner of the hall, surrounded by torn bedsheets.

"Why haven't you left yet?"

The moment he lifted the curtain, Duan Mu froze. The hall was packed with people, and there were even more of them than when he had returned earlier.

Aside from Iwao, who was sitting at the bar with four underlings, everyone else had craned their necks toward the "ward" behind Duan Mu, peering inside.

Diao Ao was the first to approach and ask in a low voice, "Boss Duan Mu, how is the person inside?"

"What does it have to do with you?" Duan Mu narrowed his eyes. "Don't tell me you were captivated by his kingly aura after seeing him in person, and now regret turning down his recruitment offer last time?"

"No way."

"Then why are you poking your nose in?"

Duan Mu waved them off with an annoyed look. "If you're done, get lost. The shop is closed, and we only provide alcohol, not lodging." After saying that, Duan Mu searched through the crowd but did not find the much-loved Takahashi.

Duan Mu had originally wanted to give him a thorough beating, so he let out a cold snort.

"How could we not be concerned?"

Diao Ao looked excited. "That was 'Nishijin-ori'! He was the longest-standing Great Villain in District 80. To think he would be injured this badly—this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity... Ahem, no, this is major news!"

Duan Mu's gaze turned cold. The longer he spent with these people, the more he felt that there was something wrong with their heads.

They gave off the impression that the more thrilling something was, the more they wanted to do it, without considering the consequences at all. If that were all, Duan Mu might even have praised them for being admirable. But these bastards would become frightened afterward, each one going on about how much they regretted it.

"Get lost!"

Duan Mu did not bother being polite and directly drove them away.

When they noticed that Duan Mu looked displeased, everyone in the tavern scattered like a swarm of bees.

"You should get some rest too."

Uzuki looked at Duan Mu's face. Only after seeing that its color had returned did she yawn and say, "I'm going back to rest first. I'll come over early tomorrow."

"Mm." Duan Mu nodded.

Seeing this, Iwao hurriedly said, "I'll walk you." With that, he led his four underlings out after her. Duan Mu could not help rolling his eyes. Uzuki lived right across from Yorozuya—what was there to walk her for?

In the blink of an eye, only Duan Mu remained in the shop.

He was not in a hurry to go upstairs and rest. Instead, he carefully inspected both the inside and outside of the shop. Although quite a lot had happened that day, Duan Mu still remembered that Uzuki had said the night before—no, technically two nights ago—that she wanted to renovate Yorozuya.

After making a circuit, Duan Mu discovered that only a small patch of the yard behind the house remained for storing miscellaneous items. The rest had been occupied by the expanded building, making the entire first-floor hall much more spacious.

"Mm, it counts as putting waste to good use."

Duan Mu muttered to himself. He had originally built the yard for cultivation, but after his strength had improved, it was no longer suitable for that purpose. Expanding the building was not a problem.

Not only had the first floor been expanded, the second floor had also grown considerably. Although Duan Mu's bedroom had not been moved at all, the layout had formed a character-shaped structure: his bedroom occupied the gap, while the surrounding space was used to handle Yorozuya's business. Just as Uzuki had said, Yorozuya and Duan Mu's bedroom were not connected.

The former could only be entered from outside, while the latter could only be reached through the tavern on the first floor. Uzuki had even thoughtfully installed a partition around the staircase inside the tavern, preventing idle people from entering Duan Mu's bedroom.

After looking around, Duan Mu found that aside from the somewhat shoddy renovation work, there were no other problems.

"I'll adjust it when I have time in a few days."

Although Duan Mu was like a laborer who spent every day rushing around, this was still his home. Naturally, the more beautiful it was, the better. Iwao and his four underlings were simply not very skilled.

"Is this a tavern? Why don't you hang up a sign?"

Habutae's voice came from behind Duan Mu. When he turned around, he saw her lying on a bed made by joining several tables together, still wearing the same blood-soaked clothes.

That was mainly because Duan Mu did not have any clothes suitable for her build, but she herself did not care about whether they were comfortable.

"It barely counts."

Duan Mu shook his head without elaborating.

Although he had agreed to let Uzuki run a tavern on the first floor, he had set one condition: the tavern could only operate in a "semi-closed" manner. Put plainly, it would only serve villains from the later-numbered districts and would not accept residents of Rukongai from the safe districts.

One reason was that he did not want customers to learn the identities of the tavern's patrons. The other was to protect the customers' safety.

Although every one of them behaved honestly in the tavern and seemed quite amiable, if they truly got into a conflict with someone and lost their tempers, they would not care what happened afterward.

For that reason, when Uzuki first began running the tavern, Duan Mu had asked Iwao to invite Big Sister Kūkaku over. She had set up numerous "defensive barriers" and "offensive spirit patterns" near the bar. Duan Mu replenished the spiritual pressure from time to time, and Uzuki only needed to use a little spiritual pressure to activate them.

He had also set up "soundproofing barriers" throughout the entire first floor to avoid disturbing the neighbors.

As for security, Iwao was in charge, ensuring that Uzuki could run the tavern without worry.

The leaders of the various factions also restrained their subordinates. Duan Mu did not know the specific details very well, but apparently the later-numbered districts had reached some sort of agreement and regarded the tavern as a safe zone. Aside from leisure and relaxation, negotiations and other matters would also be conducted in the tavern.

If they reached an agreement, the fighting stopped. If they could not, they left the tavern and kept fighting.

Another week of running around stark naked. Please support me with some recommendation votes...