Heating Tax

Mei Terumi was dangerous.

Her techniques were bizarre, her reactions quick, and she was undoubtedly a seasoned fighter.

Most importantly, even though Lin Qing had restrained her with Hermit Purple and grabbed her shoulder, keeping her within Star Platinum's range,

the system's defeat notification still hadn't appeared.

That meant that despite Lin Qing having Mei Terumi under control, she could turn the tables at any moment. He hadn't gained the upper hand completely.

My fight with Kakashi ended with me defeating "watered-down Kakashi," which earned me a Soul Shard. But this woman in front of me wasn't holding back. If we keep fighting...

We'll be fighting for our lives.

They had no grudge against each other, and Lin Qing had no intention of fighting Mei Terumi to the death.

Even if it came to that, he'd first find out why she was here.

"Name."

"Mei Terumi."

"Gender."

Mei Terumi narrowed her eyes and lifted her chest. "What do you think?"

Hard to say.

Lin Qing had been suffering from assassination-induced PTSD lately. Men could turn into women, old people could become children, and ninja techniques came in endless varieties. Who knew if she was actually a man in women's clothing?

"Please answer properly."

"Female."

Lin Qing nodded.

Mei Terumi glanced at the hand resting on her shoulder. A faint, warm tingling traveled from his touch, as if countless tiny currents were flowing along her blood vessels and into her body, gently caressing her heart.

The sensation... was strange.

Lin Qing noticed Mei Terumi's expression grow odd. He had no idea what the woman was plotting now, so he continued using Ripple to sense her heartbeat and breathing, judging whether she was lying.

"Why did you come to Snowfall Village?"

"To see you."

"Did you come to kill me?"

"No."

Mei Terumi added silently, Not yet.

Lin Qing thought for a moment, then asked the key question. "How did you know I'd come to Snowfall Village?"

Only Hayato Kamihara knew about Snowfall Village. Knowing Hayato as he did, Lin Qing didn't believe he'd sell him out for money.

Kamihara wasn't the kind of intelligence broker who put money above all else. Otherwise, he wouldn't have complained several times that Lin Qing was cutting into his leisure time.

More than money, he cared about enjoying life.

Selling Lin Qing out wasn't something that would make Kamihara happy.

But being captured and tortured for information was another matter.

Hayato Kamihara had helped Lin Qing quite a bit, and some of it could be measured in money, but some of it couldn't.

That was a debt of gratitude.

If Hayato Kamihara really suffered because of Lin Qing, then Lin Qing would have to save him.

Mei Terumi was perceptive. With one thought, she understood why Lin Qing was so serious, and explained, "I deduced it.

"Based on the trail you left while killing bounty hunters and assassins, I figured out roughly which direction you were heading.

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

"A long time has passed since you killed Suikazan Fuguki. You've had plenty of time to sell it, but I've never heard anything about Samehada being put up for sale.

"That means you want to use it yourself."

Lin Qing lifted his chin slightly, telling her to continue.

"Samehada is a very unusual sword. It only obeys someone it considers suitable. None of the bounty hunters you killed had wounds from Samehada, so clearly, it hasn't obeyed you—"

Mei Terumi thought of the terrifying Star Platinum and chose her words more carefully. "Or rather, you're not suited to it. You haven't sold it, and it doesn't suit you, so you've only got one option left."

"Reforge it."

Turn the haughty Samehada into a shape that suited Lin Qing.

Mei Terumi smiled. "Based on all that, I searched for swordsmiths along this route and narrowed it down to Snowfall Village. It wasn't difficult."

Her reasoning was sound, and her deductions were accurate.

Lin Qing had to admit that Mei Terumi was a clever woman.

"What are you planning to do?" Lin Qing asked.

"I told you. I only came to see you, to find out what kind of person Lin Qing is—the one who committed such a 'foolish' crime."

Mei Terumi's gaze was provocative.

Lin Qing said coldly, "You've seen me now. You can leave."

"That won't do. At most, this counts as a first impression."

Seeing Lin Qing's brows slowly knit together, Mei Terumi's smile faded.

"I won't bother you. You can think of me as an ordinary traveler. We happened to meet in a little village, that's all. When you leave Snowfall Village, I'll leave too. Or..."

Mei Terumi leaned back against the broken tree trunk, looking utterly unconcerned.

"You can kill me right now."

Killing Mei Terumi wouldn't be easy.

More importantly, after seeing Lin Qing rescue people in Mirage City and care about an intelligence broker, Mei Terumi had a rough idea of his personality.

He wouldn't kill someone just because she wanted to meet him.

As long as Mei Terumi didn't show hostility or do anything that went against Lin Qing's principles, she could keep a reasonable distance and observe him openly.

It's just like watching a haughty cat, Mei Terumi thought to herself.

Lin Qing raised his hand. Hermit Purple, wrapped around Mei Terumi's arms and legs, quietly withdrew.

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

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

Mei Terumi brushed the dust off herself and stood up, hands on her hips as she confidently flaunted her feminine charms. "Then do you think I'm pretty?"

Lin Qing turned and walked toward the village. His voice only drifted back as his figure was about to disappear.

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

Mei Terumi's lips curved into a smile, but the movement tugged at her wound, so she rubbed her face.

"Damn man. He really hit hard."

Lin Qing returned to the dinner table with Mei Terumi, whose face was bruised.

The atmosphere grew increasingly strange. It wasn't until dinner was over and Lin Qing used Ripple Qigong to cure Haku's mother's cold that smiles finally returned to everyone's faces.

After receiving a basketful of thanks, Lin Qing and the others stayed the night at Haku's home.

Lin Qing, Xiaotao, and Sasuke slept on the floor. The candle went out, and pale moonlight spilled across the room. Exhausted after a long day, Xiaotao fell fast asleep, but Sasuke was still wide awake.

"Brother Qing, is Teacher Terumi an assassin?"

Lin Qing cautioned him, "Not for now. I can't say what'll happen later. Anyway, be careful around that woman."

Sasuke nodded and turned to look at the room where Haku and the other two members of the family were staying.

"Haku's mother doesn't just have an ordinary cold, does she? I sensed a different kind of 'breathing.'"

Lin Qing nodded slightly.

The organs inside Haku's mother's body were all radiating cold. An ordinary person would have died long ago, so the fact that she was still alive was strange in itself.

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

Lin Qing tucked Xiaotao's blanket around her and said softly, "Don't overthink it. Everyone has secrets of their own. If they don't want to talk about them, don't pry. Go to sleep."

Sasuke answered and burrowed into his blanket, leaving only his little head sticking out.

The next day, Lin Qing was woken by a commotion and cries.

"Sir... This is all the food my family has left. If you take it, we'll all starve!"

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

Then came more wailing and cries.

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

They saw two samurai, one fat and one thin, dressed in thick padded coats with swords at their waists, kicking and punching a man with a lame leg.

The man's wife was shielding her husband with her body, but the samurai didn't care. They beat her along with him.

"Pah!"

One of the samurai spat, snatched a bag of grain from the man's arms, and opened it. Half the contents were bran for livestock, and the rest was corn and unhulled rice.

"That's all?"

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

"Then sell your wife to cover this month's heating tax."

This was the downside of Yagura selling people and still not being dismissed after the Daimyo summoned him.

The example had been set from above.

If even the people at the top didn't care, then the ones below could follow their example and make a little extra money, right?

"No! Sir! You can't do this—"

The man chased after them on his lame leg, but after only two steps, the tall, thin official kicked him to the ground again.

Haku's family had come outside, and Haku looked on with sympathy.

Lin Qing asked, "What's the heating tax?"

Haku said softly, "A new County Magistrate recently arrived in the area. Since he took office, all sorts of new taxes have been introduced.

"The heating tax is a fee for burning firewood to keep warm at home. Besides that, there are fishing taxes, autumn harvest taxes, marriage taxes, childbirth taxes, and so on."

Snowfall Village was bitterly cold, and the people who lived there were already poor.

The chicken in last night's meal had been brought by Mei Terumi. Ordinary families couldn't afford to eat it even once a year—no, not even once every few years.

Men with families worked themselves to the bone. After paying the taxes, they could just about scrape by.

People like the lame man, who couldn't do heavy labor, could only be slowly driven to their deaths.

The short, fat samurai carried the woman over to Haku's house.

Haku's father put on a fawning smile.

"Sir, we've already paid this month's heating tax."

"You have."

The short, fat samurai pointed at Lin Qing and the others. "What about them?"

"They—they're just travelers."

"Don't travelers need to keep warm? Or are you planning to defy the County Magistrate's orders?"

The short, fat samurai bellowed and pushed his thumb against the hilt, exposing a sliver of the blade.

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

The tall, thin samurai came over and narrowed his eyes at Xiaotao. "Just hand her over."

Xiaotao's face suddenly turned deathly pale.

The painful memories she had slowly buried deep in her heart resurfaced. She lowered her head, pink hair falling over her face, her shoulders trembling slightly.

Seeing Xiaotao's fear, the tall samurai's excitement grew. He walked over, licked his lips, and reached to touch her face.

A hand grabbed the tall samurai's arm.

He flew into a rage and was about to curse Lin Qing for his insolence, when a crack rang out. His forearm bent ninety degrees and Lin Qing crushed it.

The agony turned his curses into screams. The tall samurai instinctively reached for his sword.

But when he met Lin Qing's gaze, he found himself unable to draw it, no matter how hard he tried.

"Draw your sword, and you die."

Fear exploded in his heart. His only thought was to turn and run, never to come back.

Lin Qing released him, and the tall samurai slumped to the ground. His gaze shifted from looking down on Xiaotao to looking up at her.

"Are you still afraid?" Lin Qing asked.

Xiaotao sniffed. "Not anymore."

"Good."

Seeing that Lin Qing was no pushover, the short, fat samurai drew his sword and warily approached.

Lin Qing had no intention of fighting someone like him. "Sasuke, break one of their legs and send them on their way."

"Yes."

Lin Qing turned and walked toward the blacksmith's shop as the villagers watched in alarm.

The elderly blacksmith was squatting outside his home, eating a rice ball while watching Sasuke beat the two samurai, enjoying the show with his meal.

When Lin Qing walked over, he shoved the last bite of rice ball into his mouth. "You're the person that lecher mentioned?"

"Lecher..."

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

The blacksmith chuckled. "You've got some guts."

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

"Samehada... It's been a long time. How do you want me to reforge it?"