Tracking

Hiruma was afraid of alerting the enemy, so he deliberately entered from the village's outermost edge. The girl's home was on the other side of Fish Scale Village.

It was a somewhat dilapidated wooden house, standing silently a hundred meters from the shore, as though it had been forgotten by time.

Eroded by the sea wind year-round, its outer walls had peeled away, exposing the wooden structure beneath and making it look especially weathered and desolate.

The layout of the house was strange. It stood several hundred meters from the village, as if it did not belong there.

Hiruma glanced at Saber in the sky and teased him with a sly grin. "Blade, don't tell me you followed that girl here?"

"Otherwise, how would you know she lived here?"

Saber rolled his eyes at Hiruma. A trace of anger mixed into his cold voice as he said,

"She saved my life. I merely came to check on her, you useless master."

Hiruma did not argue. A meal was a kindness that truly deserved repayment.

Suddenly, a strange thought flashed through his mind. Since Giyu was here, could he play matchmaker?

Hehehe! ＜(ΦωΦ)＞

Giyu, do you want a wife or not?

Just imagining Giyu's expression made Hiruma incredibly excited.

Seeing his master's eyes darting around, Saber was utterly disgusted. This guy definitely had no good intentions. He was thinking of screwing someone over again.

A moment later, Saber landed on the wooden house's roof while Hiruma crouched beneath the window like a thief.

Still, crouching so sneakily under someone's eaves really did make him feel like a burglar.

But one thing bothered him: there was still firelight inside. Staying awake this late was highly unreasonable in an era without smartphones or the internet.

One look at the distant village was enough to tell him that not a single household still had a light on.

"Kansaburo, take a look at what she's doing," Hiruma whispered, poking the elderly crow dozing on his shoulder.

"Huh?"

"What's wrong?"

"Is there a demon?"

Kansaburo fired off three confused questions in a row. More importantly, his voice was loud enough to pierce the heavens. Hiruma hurriedly tried to cover his beak, but it was already too late.

The little girl cautiously poked her head out. When she saw Hiruma, her brows furrowed tightly. Anyone would be startled to find a stranger crouching outside their window in the middle of the night.

Once she recognized him, she spoke softly, confusion in her voice. "Traveler, if you're hungry, please knock on the door. You'll scare someone to death acting like that."

The girl pouted and pulled her head back inside. Soon, the door opened. She looked at Hiruma, noticed the crow on his shoulder and the sword at his waist, and immediately asked warily,

"Traveler, what exactly do you want?"

"Didn't I tell you? Stay away from this village!"

Hiruma awkwardly scratched his head and shot Kansaburo a resentful glance. That old crow really knew how to sabotage his teammates.

"Well, I want to ask you about someone." He stood up and said with a smile. Since he had already been discovered, he might as well tell the truth. "A guy who looks very punchable, about my age, male."

Feeling that description was not accurate enough, he added, "The guy who smashed your village's shrine. I'm his friend."

But the moment Hiruma finished speaking, there was a loud bang as the girl slammed the door shut. Her displeased voice came from inside.

"Traveler, I haven't seen the friend you mentioned, and I don't know how the shrine was damaged. Please leave my home immediately!"

The girl spoke with agitation. Anyone who was not an idiot could tell that she knew something.

"Ah!" Hiruma let out a long sigh. Why did this girl seem like a completely different person whenever Giyu and the shrine were mentioned? She was deliberately hiding something.

Before he could ask anything else, the door opened again. This time, the girl came out holding a kitchen knife. She rolled her eyes at Hiruma and said,

"I don't want to use force. Please leave my home at once!"

Hiruma was completely dumbfounded when he saw that the girl had placed the knife against her own throat.

"Okay, okay, okay!" Hiruma backed away while trying to soothe her. "I'm leaving right now. Put the knife down. It's dangerous. Kids who play with knives wet the bed at night!"

"Hurry up and leave. Don't even think about threatening me with force. I know people like you know some martial arts..." The moment the words left her mouth, the girl regretted them. Had she not just indirectly admitted that she had seen others like Hiruma?

Her face reddened as she urged him, "I'll count to three. If you don't leave, I'll die, and then you'll have indirectly caused a death!"

At that, Hiruma turned around and ran. In the blink of an eye, he vanished into the village.

"Ah..." The girl sighed, helplessly shut the door, and muttered, "Why won't any of you listen?"

At three in the morning, everyone was already fast asleep. Hiruma lay on the beach, observing the little wooden house by the sea through binoculars.

Just as expected, the house's door opened. The girl carried a fish basket on her back, quietly closed the door, cautiously scanned her surroundings, and then hurried toward the cliffs on the other side of the village.

Once Hiruma saw that she had gone far enough, he quickly followed. As expected, she knew where Giyu was being held.

Following her all the way, Hiruma entered a small forest. Through the lush branches, he could faintly see a ruined temple lit by a dim glow. Two adult men slept soundly in front of it, apparently villagers from Fish Scale Village.

The girl quietly pushed open the ruined temple's door without making the slightest sound.

"I remember now, Giyu is in there!" Seeing the familiar place, Kansaburo suddenly remembered everything.

Hiruma rolled his eyes at him and complained helplessly, "Uh... I know that too!"

"Yeah..." Before Kansaburo could continue, Hiruma pinched his beak shut, signaling for him to keep quiet. What had happened at the wooden house was still fresh in his mind.

Please restrain your divine powers, Lord Kansaburo.

Hiruma circled around to the back of the ruined temple. Damn it, there were no windows. Left with no choice, he climbed onto the roof. This broken temple was not even as tall as Peach Mountain's house, so climbing it was easy.

He moved aside a roof tile and peered through the gap. In the flickering candlelight, two figures came into view.

One was Giyu, tied up like a caterpillar. The other was the little girl.

It was obvious that the villagers were truly afraid Giyu would escape. Not only had they wrapped him in several layers of hemp rope, but they had also shackled his hands and feet with chains.

The girl repeatedly stressed that Giyu must not make a sound. Only after he nodded in agreement did she remove the cloth stuffed in his mouth.

"Let me out. There's a demon in the village." Giyu did not shout. He simply spoke with a calm expression, looking nothing like a kidnapped person.

"Also, I only smashed one shrine. The rest weren't me..."

Before Giyu could finish, the girl pressed her index finger against his lips and said guiltily, "I know it wasn't you, but please eat properly."

"Once I steal the key to the chains, I'll naturally let you out."

Giyu nodded. The girl smiled, then took out rice balls and water from her fish basket.

She brought a rice ball to Giyu's mouth and blurted out,

"Be good, open your mouth. Ah~"

Giyu bit down expressionlessly. She was right—he needed to fill his stomach, or he would not have the strength to kill demons.

Once I get out, I'll definitely find that demon.