Kaede scoffed at Renji’s smug expression while Aya only smiled softly beside him. Renji took a deep breath, placed his hands on his hips, and looked toward the distant village ahead.

"Well then," he said dramatically, "time to see what this glorious village has in store for us."

The group walked toward the settlement as the evening sky darkened overhead. Lanterns glowed along the streets while villagers moved between shops and homes finishing their daily routines. The moment Renji and the girls entered, however, people began staring openly at them.

Renji frowned immediately.

"What’s their problem?"

Rei hesitated before answering quietly. "Maybe because we’re dirty..."

"We also smell pretty bad," Aya added, entirely without shame, tilting her head like she was announcing the weather.

Renji stared at her. Then at his sleeve. He sniffed it once, very quickly, and chose not to comment.

"I’m a prince," he said instead, with the particular dignity of someone who had absolutely nothing left to be dignified about. "I refuse to be judged by peasants."

Kaede’s elbow found his ribs with practiced precision. "Keep your ego under control if you want us to survive the night."

"I’m controlling it. This is controlled."

"This is you about thirty seconds away from announcing your title to a village that definitely has pitchforks."

He didn’t respond. Mostly because she wasn’t wrong.

The inn was small and warm and smelled like broth and old wood, which was the best thing Renji had experienced in recent memory. He stood in the entrance for a moment longer than necessary, just absorbing it. The low ceiling, the murmur of other guests, the fire going in the corner — all of it felt aggressively, almost offensively comfortable after the past several days.

Kaede moved to the counter without waiting, dropping coin with the efficiency of someone who understood that food and shelter had to be secured before anything else. Renji drifted beside her, scanning the room with the casual attention of someone pretending not to be cataloguing every exit.

The innkeeper — stocky, gray-bearded, with the permanently suspicious expression of someone who had hosted too many people with secrets — looked the four of them over slowly. His gaze stopped on Renji. Moved to Aya. Then Rei. Then back to Renji.

"One room?" he said. "For all four of you?"

"Correct," Kaede said.

The man’s eyes slid to Renji again, weighted with a specific kind of silent judgment that communicated an entire moral opinion without a single word.

Renji met it with perfect serenity.

Incredible, he thought. Even here. Even filthy and half-dead, I still somehow manage to look suspicious.

The key landed on the counter with a slow, deliberate clunk.

"Right." Renji reached into his pack and set several Gravefang crystals beside the coin. They caught the firelight immediately — deep violet-black, edges sharp, unmistakably high grade. The kind that didn’t come from careful harvesting. The kind that meant something had died producing them. "While we’re at it — where does a person sell these around here?"

The innkeeper forgot about his moral opinions immediately. His eyes dropped to the crystals and stayed there.

"How did you even get these?"

"We’re the finest hunting team in every kingdom," Renji said, with a confidence that was technically not supported by their current appearance.

The man looked up at him. Looked at the crystals. Looked at the three girls. Arrived at some private calculation.

"Merchant district," he said finally. "Three streets east, can’t miss the signs. Ask for Dolfen. He won’t cheat you as badly as the others."

"High praise," Renji muttered.

He turned to Aya and Rei.

"You two stay here and get something to drink. Kaede and I will handle the sale and be back before you finish."

Rei blinked. "Just the two of us?"

"There are thirty people in this room. You’ll survive."

"That’s not really what I—"

"Rei." He looked at her. "Drink something. Eat if they’ll bring it. Rest your feet. You’ve earned it."

She hesitated, then gave a small nod.

Aya was already settled into a chair by the time Renji finished talking, her chin resting lightly in her hand, watching the room with quiet, unhurried attention. She glanced up at him with a small smile.

"Don’t take too long," she said. "Or we might make friends without you."

"Please don’t," Renji said, and turned toward the exit.

Kaede was already moving. He followed.

They made it roughly four steps before the large man stepped into their path.

He came out of the crowd the way that type always did — too much space around him, everyone nearby having quietly decided to look somewhere else. Broad across the shoulders in a way that suggested a lifetime of never needing to go around anyone. He had a drink in one hand and a smirk already assembled on his face, like he’d seen them coming and had been preparing.

Renji’s shoulder clipped his arm. The drink sloshed.

Before anything else could happen, Kaede already had coin out.

"For the drink," she said, flat and immediate. "Our fault."

The man looked at the coin. Then, slowly, he smiled — the kind of smile that had nothing to do with being appeased.

"Forget the drink." His eyes drifted past Renji toward the table where Aya and Rei sat. He looked them over with the leisurely attention of someone who had done this before and found it went fine. "Give me one of your women instead."

He laughed, looking Renji up and down with open mockery.

"You’re too poor to handle three anyway. Leave one behind." 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Renji went very still.

Not the flinching kind of still. Not the calculating kind either. Just — still, the way a room goes quiet right before something breaks.

Three, he thought. He said three. He didn’t count Kaede.

He glanced sideways.

Kaede had already put the coin away. Her arms were at her sides, her expression was pleasant, and her eyes had gone the specific temperature of someone deciding how much damage was acceptable in an enclosed space.

Renji looked back at the man.

"I’m going to give you," he said, entirely conversationally, "approximately four seconds to reconsider what you just said."​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​