Violet stepped out of the shop with a completely different expression. She was smiling in pure satisfaction, shaking her coin pouch so it bounced merrily in her hand.
After exploding into shouts, scoldings, and an impressive variety of curses, she had threatened the merchant with a world of trouble if he didn't agree to her terms.
Terrified, Pal hadn't dared utter a single word—he had handed over far more than the original reward.
Fifty copper Zinni… a whole half-silver coin!
Violet walked along, dripping water with every step, her soaked shoes squelching against the ground. Yet she hummed to herself, delighted with her earnings.
Around her, anyone who saw her coming instantly stepped aside, covering their noses in disgust at the nauseating stench of stagnant well water clinging to her.
Completely unconcerned by their reactions, Violet made her way across the city until she finally reached the inn.
"We're back!!"
Lost in her own triumphant thoughts, Violet pushed the door open with a burst of enthusiasm as she stepped into the inn.
"Oh, finally! Welco— sniff sniff sniff."
Mela reached the entrance at the speed of the wind.
"What is that unbearable smell??"
The dog-girl covered her nose with one hand, tail stiffening as she stared at Violet with an expression halfway between disgust and imminent gagging.
"Well, you know, Mela, it's been a long day, but in the end—"
"Get over here. Now!"
Mela grabbed Violet by the arm and bolted straight through the inn, dragging Nainai along behind them.
"Hey, wait—what are you doing???"
In the blink of an eye, Mela reached a small clearing behind the inn.
It was a tiny garden space, and Violet caught sight of short plants and flowers everywhere. Among the scattered items, she also noticed a large wooden tub and several laundry lines stretched overhead.
"What are we doing here?"
Without answering, Mela untied the rope around Violet, stripped her with swift, merciless precision, and tossed her clothes into the air.
"You smell like a sewer Slime! What in the world did you get yourself into?!"
Before she fully realized it, Violet found herself standing there in only a bathrobe, desperately trying to cover herself.
"No, wait, I—"
"I'm not letting you stay inside my inn with that smell on you!"
"Sniff sniff… No, this stinks too!"
Violet felt herself being shaken.
"You—turn around!"
Mela spun Nainai around to spare him the sight, then ripped Violet's underdress right off her, making Violet scream.
"Aaaahhh!"
Before she could protest, Mela lifted her up bodily and dumped her straight into the wooden tub.
"Hey—hold on!"
The dog-girl began throwing bucket after bucket of ice-cold water over her, then attacked her with an enormous, rough bar of soap. The look on Mela's face was that of someone caught in a cleaning-driven nervous breakdown.
"Ouch! That hurts!"
Mela didn't listen to her at all; she just kept scrubbing and dumping more buckets of water over her.
Nainai, still turned away, had turned bright red with embarrassment.
"Sniff sniff… Yes… there we go!"
Violet had screamed the entire time. Mela was incredibly strong—typical of Therianthropes—and that strength gave Violet absolutely no chance of escape. She scrubbed her so vigorously that Violet genuinely feared her skin might peel right off.
"Here. Put these on."
Mela grabbed some clothes that had been drying on the lines and tossed them to Violet, who hurried to get dressed, mortified.
"You really hurt me! Was it necessary to be that violent?"
"Silence! Sniff sniff… I can still smell it…"
Nainai, still turned the other way, felt a chill run down his back.
"Aha—found it!"
Mela lunged for Violet's clothes, scooped them up, and headed for an old washbasin. Still caught in her hysterical cleaning frenzy, she soaked the clothes and scrubbed them with soap, repeating the process several times.
Once she finished—and after giving them a thorough inspection with her nose—she wrung them out with alarming force and hung them on the lines that stretched across the garden.
"Good! Now you may come in!"
Back inside, Mela hurried to serve Violet a cup of hot tea.
"Now, would you like to tell me how you managed to get yourself in that state???"
Violet, still embarrassed, kept her eyes fixed on the cup with a sulky frown.
"We completed a mission…"
She refused to look at the dog-girl, still replaying the humiliation of being stripped and washed like a toddler.
"I see…" Mela tilted her head.
"So you ended up in the water while fighting some monster?"
"Yeah… more or less…" Violet muttered, blowing on the steaming tea.
"Well, I hope the reward was worth it."
"Oh, yes… it really was!"
Just thinking about the coins she'd earned instantly lifted Violet's mood.
"It's almost dinner time. Do you two want something to eat?"
Violet nodded, already imagining the taste of Mela's stew. The mission had been absurd, yes—but at least it had ended in her favor.
As for the conversation she'd had at the Guild, though… she hadn't managed to learn anything about Sigillaria or the Seal.
She was right back to square one, with no idea how she was supposed to move forward.
Mela returned to the table with dinner and took a seat beside them.
Violet noticed her looking at Nainai.
"Does he not know how to eat on his own?"
Violet lifted her gaze toward the dwarf, who was staring blankly at the steaming soup in his bowl.
"No, I usually help him."
"I see…"
Mela lifted a spoonful of stew and began feeding Nainai.
"But you run this inn all by yourself? Does your family live here in the city?"
Still focused on her task, Mela answered briefly.
"Family? Oh no. I come from a very distant village. My family is still there."
Violet decided to press a little further.
"Do you have brothers or sisters?"
At that question, Mela tilted her head, thinking it over.
"Let's see…" She took a moment.
"There were ten of us, counting Mom and Dad."
Ten???
Violet's eyes flew wide open.
"Ten? So you have eight siblings???"
"Well, no, not all of them are still alive." Mela touched a finger to her cheek as she continued.
"Let's see… Three of my brothers were older and left when I was still really little. Then… oh, right! One of them was carried off by a griffin when he was still small. Nobody ever found out what happened to him."
Violet went pale.
…What???
"Then let me think… Oh, and the twins left to work as lumberjacks. They're just a bit older than me. They should be up north now. And then there's me!"
Violet couldn't believe her ears. The casual, cheerful tone with which Mela talked about her chaotic family left her stunned.
"And the others?"
"I think they're still with Mom and Dad…"
Mela blew on another spoonful of stew before feeding it to Nainai, who was staring at her with the same dumbfounded expression as Violet.
"And how did you end up here, Mela?"
"Well, you know, Mom and Dad were always very loving… but also very poor…"
I know that feeling all too well…
"…See, we dog-folk have lots of children, but it's hard to provide for so many mouths. So once we reach a certain age, it's normal for the older kids to leave home."
Violet cut in.
"But how old are you, Mela?" The answer felt obvious.
"Me? I'm fifteen."
Violet wasn't surprised—it was clear the girl was still young.
"And you? Where's your family?" Mela's question caught her completely off guard.
"I… well, I grew up in an orphanage."
Mela didn't seem surprised at all.
"I see. So you also grew up surrounded by many other children…"
"Well, yes. At certain times there were a lot of us. But then everyone eventually left…"
Violet found herself carried along by her own memories.
"…You can only stay in the orphanage until you're eighteen. After that, you're forced to leave."
Mela looked at her with a gentle smile.
"And was it a good place? Did you have lots of friends?"
Violet thought back to those years, to all the children she'd seen arrive and disappear in cycles.
"A few… but the headmistress was always very kind, and she never let us lack anything. You know, that's actually why I decided to become an adventurer. I needed something to do once I had to leave the orphanage."
The two girls exchanged a look.
"You know, Violet… I think the two of us are very similar."
Mela didn't add anything else and went back to feeding Nainai.
Maybe she's not entirely wrong…
The evening went on peacefully, drifting between conversations and a few laughs, stretching late into the night.