The Warmth Tax

Mei Terumi is dangerous.

Her ninjutsu is bizarre and her reflexes are swift; she is undoubtedly a veteran of combat.

Most importantly, even though Lin Qing has restrained her with Hermit Purple and gripped her shoulder with one hand to ensure she remains within the effective range of Star Platinum, the system's notification for a successful defeat has yet to appear.

This indicates that despite Lin Qing suppressing her, she possesses the ability to turn the tables at any moment; Lin Qing has not truly gained the upper hand.

The fight with Kakashi resulted in a Soul Shard because I defeated a "watered-down version" of him. But this woman before me—she isn't holding back. If I continue to fight...

It will be a fight to the death.

The two have no grievances, and Lin Qing has no intention of risking his life against Mei Terumi.

Even if he were to risk his life, it would only be after figuring out her true intentions.

"Name."

"Mei Terumi."

"Gender."

Mei Terumi narrowed her eyes and puffed out her chest: "What do you think?"

It's hard to say.

Lin Qing has developed PTSD from being assassinated lately; men can turn into women, old men into children, and the methods of ninjas are endless. Who knows if she's a man in drag?

"Please answer properly."

"Female."

Lin Qing nodded.

Mei Terumi glanced at the hand Lin Qing had placed on her shoulder. A faint, tingling warmth was being transmitted over, as if countless tiny electric currents were traveling along her blood vessels, drilling into her body and gently caressing her heart.

This feeling... is quite strange.

Lin Qing noticed Mei Terumi's expression turning peculiar. Not knowing what scheme she was cooking up, he continued to use the Ripple to sense her heartbeat and breathing, using them to judge whether she was lying.

"Why did you come to Snowfall Village?"

"To see you."

"Are you here to kill me?"

"No."

Mei Terumi added silently in her heart: Not yet.

Lin Qing pondered for a moment before asking the crucial question: "How did you know I would come to Snowfall Village?"

Information regarding Snowfall Village was known only to Hayato Kamihara. Based on his understanding of Hayato Kamihara, Lin Qing did not believe the man would be bought off or betray him for money.

Hayato is not an information broker who prioritizes money above all else; otherwise, he wouldn't have complained multiple times about Lin Qing disrupting his rest.

Compared to money, he cares more about living a "comfortable" life.

Betraying Lin Qing is not an option that would make Hayato feel "comfortable."

However, if he were captured and subjected to torture, that would be a different story.

Hayato Kamihara has helped Lin Qing quite a bit along the way. Some of these favors could be measured in money, but others could not.

That is "human favor."

If Hayato Kamihara truly suffered a disaster because of him, Lin Qing would have to save him.

Mei Terumi is sharp-minded. After a moment of thought, she understood why Lin Qing had become so serious and explained: "It was deduction."

"I tracked your path of killing bounty hunters and assassins to determine your general direction of travel."

"You took Samehada for one of two reasons: either to sell it or to use it yourself."

"It has been a long time since you killed Suikazan Fuguki—long enough for you to have sold it—yet I have never heard any news on the market about Samehada being for sale."

"This proves that you intend to use it yourself."

Lin Qing tilted his chin slightly, signaling her to continue.

"Samehada is a very special blade; it only submits to those it deems suitable. I couldn't find any blade wounds from Samehada on the corpses of the bounty hunters along the way. Clearly, it hasn't submitted to you—"

Mei Terumi thought of the terrifying Star Platinum and changed her phrasing: "Or rather, it isn't suitable for you. Since you haven't sold it and it isn't suitable, you only have one path left."

"Reforging."

Turning the arrogant Samehada into a shape suitable for Lin Qing.

Mei Terumi curled her lips into a smile: "Based on the information above, searching for bladesmiths in this direction and locking onto Snowfall Village... was not a difficult task for me."

The logical chain was clear, and the deduction was accurate.

Lin Qing had to admit that Mei Terumi is a smart woman.

"What do you intend to do?" Lin Qing asked.

"I told you, I only came to see you, to take a look at what kind of person Lin Qing, who committed such a 'foolish' crime, really is."

Mei Terumi's gaze was aggressive.

Lin Qing said with a cold face, "You've seen enough now, you can leave."

"That won't do; this is only a first impression at best."

Seeing Lin Qing slowly knit his brows, Mei Terumi restrained her smile.

"I won't bother you. You can treat me as an ordinary traveler who just happened to run into you in a small village, nothing more. When you leave Snowfall Village, I will leave too. Or..."

Mei Terumi leaned back against a broken tree trunk, looking like she didn't care about the consequences.

"You can kill me right now."

Killing Mei Terumi was not an easy task.

Most importantly, after the rescue in Mirage City and her concern for the intelligence merchant, Mei Terumi had roughly gauged Lin Qing's personality.

He was not the type to kill someone just because they wanted to see him.

As long as Mei Terumi showed no hostility and did nothing to violate Lin Qing's principles, she could maintain a reasonable distance and observe him openly.

It's just like observing a tsundere cat.

Mei Terumi thought to herself.

Lin Qing raised his hand, and the Hermit Purple wrapped around Mei Terumi's limbs quietly receded.

"Do you trust me now?" Mei Terumi asked.

Lin Qing said, "The prettier the woman, the better she is at lying."

Mei Terumi brushed off the dust and stood up, hands on her hips, freely displaying her feminine charm. "Then do you consider me pretty?"

Lin Qing turned and left, walking toward the village. It wasn't until his back was about to disappear that his voice drifted back.

"You look like you're very good at lying."

A smile tugged at the corners of Mei Terumi's mouth, but the movement aggravated her wounds, and she rubbed her face.

"Damn man, that really hurt."

Lin Qing and a bruised Mei Terumi returned to the dinner table.

The atmosphere became increasingly strange until dinner ended. Only after Lin Qing used Ripple Qigong to help Haku's mother cure her cold did smiles reappear on everyone's faces.

After receiving a basketful of gratitude, the three of them stayed at Haku's house.

Lin Qing, Xiaotao, and Sasuke laid out their bedding. The candles were extinguished, and thin moonlight spilled in. Xiaotao, exhausted from the day, fell into a deep sleep, but Sasuke's eyes remained wide open.

"Brother Qing, is Teacher Mei an assassin?"

Lin Qing cautioned, "Not for now, but it's hard to say later. In any case, be careful of that woman."

Sasuke grunted, turning his head toward the room where Haku's family of three was staying.

"Haku's mother, it's not just an ordinary cold, right? I felt a different kind of 'breathing'."

Lin Qing nodded slightly.

Inside Haku's mother, her internal organs were radiating cold. If it were an ordinary person, they would have died long ago; the fact that she was still alive was abnormal in itself.

The reason she showed signs of a "cold" was that too much cold had accumulated within her body.

Lin Qing tucked the blanket in for Xiaotao and said softly, "Don't think too much about it. Everyone has their own secrets. If they don't want to talk about it, don't ask. Go to sleep."

Sasuke responded and burrowed into his bedding, leaving only his little head exposed.

The next day, Lin Qing was awakened by crying and a commotion.

"My lord... this is all the grain my family has left. If you take it, my whole family will starve to death!"

"Starve to death? You deserve it! That's what you get for not working hard enough!"

What followed were wails and cries.

The three of them exchanged glances and walked out of the room.

They saw two samurai, one fat and one thin, wearing thick cotton coats and swords at their waists, kicking and punching a man with a crippled leg.

The man's wife was lying on top of him to protect her husband, but the samurai didn't care and beat them both.

"Pah!"

The samurai spat, snatched a bag of grain from the man's arms, and opened it to find that half was chaff meant for livestock, and the rest was corn and unhusked rice.

"Just this little bit?"

The samurai snorted coldly and hoisted the man's wife onto his shoulder.

"Then we'll sell your wife to pay for this month's heating tax."

This was the drawback of Yagura selling people and not being removed from office after being summoned by the Daimyo.

When those above behave badly, those below follow suit.

If the higher-ups don't care, the people below learning to earn a little extra on the side shouldn't be a problem, right?

"No! My lord! You can't do this—"

The man chased after them with a limp, but after only two steps, he was kicked over again by the tall, thin official.

Haku and her parents had already stepped outside, and seeing this scene, Haku's face revealed her distress.

Lin Qing asked, "What is a heating tax?"

Haku whispered, "A new magistrate arrived in the area recently. Ever since he took office, there have been many new taxes.

The heating tax is a levy on the firewood we burn to keep warm at home. Besides the heating tax, there's also a fishing tax, a harvest tax, a marriage tax, a childbirth tax, and so on."

Snowfall Village is freezing cold, and the people living here are already impoverished.

The dishes from last night—the chicken was brought by Mei Terumi; ordinary families wouldn't be able to afford such a meal once a year, no, not even once every few years.

Those with men in the house work themselves to death, and after barely paying the taxes, they can manage to scrape by with enough to eat.

Those like the limping man, unable to perform heavy labor, are simply being driven to their deaths.

The short, fat samurai carried the woman on his shoulder and walked up to Haku's door.

Haku's father put on a fawning smile.

"My lord, we have already paid this month's heating tax."

"You have paid, yes."

The short, fat samurai pointed at Lin Qing and his companions: "What about theirs?"

"They, they are just travelers."

"Do travelers not need to keep warm? Or are you saying you want to defy the magistrate's orders!"

The short, fat samurai let out a loud shout, his thumb pushing his blade out of its scabbard.

"If you don't have the money..."

The tall, thin samurai walked over, squinting his eyes as he stared at Xiaotao: "Just hand her over."

Xiaotao's face turned deathly pale.

The painful memories she had buried deep in her heart surfaced once again; she lowered her head, her pink hair falling forward as her shoulders trembled slightly.

Seeing Xiaotao's fearful appearance, the excitement in the tall, thin samurai's eyes grew even more intense. He walked over, licking his lips, and reached out to touch Xiaotao's face.

A hand grabbed the tall, thin samurai's arm.

He was furious and about to berate Lin Qing for his insolence when a crack echoed out; his forearm bent at a ninety-degree angle, snapped directly by Lin Qing's grip.

Under the intense pain, his curses turned into screams, and the tall, thin samurai instinctively reached for his katana.

But when he locked eyes with Lin Qing, his hand, gripping the hilt, could not pull the blade out no matter how hard he tried.

"Draw your blade, and you die."

Fear exploded in his heart; his only thought was to turn and run, never to return.

Lin Qing let go, and the tall, thin samurai collapsed to the ground, his gaze toward Xiaotao shifting from looking down to looking up.

"Are you still afraid?" Lin Qing asked.

Xiaotao sniffled, "No longer afraid."

"That is good."

The short, fat samurai, seeing that they were dealing with a tough opponent, drew his blade and walked over cautiously.

Lin Qing had no intention of fighting such people himself: "Sasuke, break one of their legs and tell them to get lost."

"Understood."

Lin Qing turned and left, walking toward the blacksmith shop under the terrified gazes of the villagers.

The elderly Old Blacksmith was squatting at his doorway, eating a rice ball while watching Sasuke beat the two samurai, using the spectacle to help him swallow his meal.

Seeing Lin Qing approach, he tossed the last bite of the rice ball into his mouth: "You're the one that lecher mentioned?"

"Lecher..."

Thinking of Hayato Kamihara's hobby, Lin Qing nodded.

The Old Blacksmith chuckled: "You've got some backbone, at least."

He looked at the blade on Lin Qing's back.

"Samehada... it's been a long time. How do you want it reforged?"