Though Kazuya's thoughts lingered over his past life for a while, he managed to get a good night's rest until it was almost daybreak. When he woke up, he got out of bed and began putting on his outer clothes.
Then he came over to where Orihime was, and when he was about to wake her up, he noticed that she looked so peaceful when asleep, and he almost wished he didn't have to bring it to an end.
Surprised by the kind of thoughts he was having, he quickly shook his head, wondering why he was caring for her to that extent.
But instead of returning the favor by kicking her in the chest as she did to him the previous day, he instead gently brushed off the hair on her forehead, waking her.
She opened her eyes to see Kazuya turning away to strap on his weapons. "Come on, woman," he said to her, "let's get going."
She got up almost immediately, rubbing the back of her hands against her eyes. "Damn it," she swore, "I can't believe I got too comfortable on this bed." "I haven't slept so well in ages."
"I'm sorry I don't share the sentiment, Orihime," responded Kazuya, "but let's get going."
She got out of bed and began strapping on her armor and weapons as well. "I wish I could at least have a clean bath before leaving—I smell like crap," she complained.
"Listen, woman, "Unless you wish to waste the money we have on a short moment of pleasure, I'd suggest you stop complaining about irrelevant things," responded Kazuya, who was getting tired of her whining already.
"You sound so pumped up this morning," Orihime told him, "any idea which guild we are going to?"
"Well, as you know," Kazuya explained, "we might know the type of guild we are after, but we don't know where it would be, and we dread being scammed by people when we ask for directions, given the bad reputation of this town." So the problem isn't "which guild," but more of "where is it?"
"Okay then, so where is it?" Orihime asked.
"Let's just get out of here first," Kazuya replied after he had strapped on his dagger, "Are you ready?"
"Right ahead of you, big man," she replied as she headed for the door, opening it with the keys handed to her by the middle-aged woman downstairs the previous night, and then locking it when they had both come out of the room.
On their way down, Orihime didn't hold on to him like she did when they came in last night. They both came down without any physical contact with each other, and as they came into view downstairs, the woman at the counter greeted them with a warm smile. She was holding a long pipe with a burning substance in it, smoking it repeatedly.
There were also assistants at work downstairs with her, cleaning the place and helping the drunken sleepers out.
"I knew you both weren't an item," she said to the duo as they came down the stairs. "You both were probably just finding a place to stay and then decided to come here because you couldn't find an inn."
Kazuya paid no heed to her words, heading straight for the door, but Orihime called him to wait for her as she stood before the lady.
"What are you doing?" asked Kazuya, but she did not answer, wanting to talk to the woman instead.
"You both seem to be foreigners, unaccustomed to the way things go around here, and I'm sure that is why you settled for coming here," the woman said, "but still... what else can I do for you?"
"You are right—we are foreigners, and we came here because we couldn't find an inn, and given your town's bad reputation, we didn't deem it safe to follow directions from strangers at night, and that is why we settled in your brothel," Orihime admitted, making Kazuya slightly confused about where she was going with this.
"I knew it," the woman replied as she smoked up another round from her long pipe. "So, what do you want?"
"I want information on where we can find a guild," she said to her.
"Well, there are several of them in this area, so it depends on what you are after," the middle-aged woman replied.
Orihime looked back at Kazuya, who had walked forward to help her out by explaining what he knew.
"I am looking for a guild that specializes in the arts related to verminous stealth magic," he told her, "or at least one that houses a mage with that specialty."
"Well, I do know of a guild whose leader specializes in that kind of magic," she said to him, before looking straight at Orihime, "but before I tell you where it is, I would like to ask you a question."
"Fair enough," Orihime replied.
"If you don't trust the people of this town, why do you trust me to tell you where to find what you are looking for?" asked the woman, right before sucking in another round from the smoking pipe and exhaling it out through her nostrils.
"Because I assumed that if you were observant and considerate enough to know that we were foreigners and yet chose not to take advantage of that, then it would be logical to believe that you also won't take advantage of us when you know what we are looking for," Orihime replied.
"I see," the woman said as she dropped the smoking pipe on the counter, "the name of the guild you are looking for is called "Sentient Hunters," and they specialize in the magical art of hunting sentient animals for exploitation." It is located northwest of here, right before the farmlands further up. "Their leader is a sorceress named Shizu Suzuki; I believe she is the mage you are looking for."
"Thank you," Orihime said with a slight bow of respect before leaving, making Kazuya arch a brow in confusion.
She went past him towards the door. "Let's go, big man," she said to him as she stepped outside without waiting.
"Hey, handsome," the middle-aged woman called out to Kazuya as he was about to leave as well. He looked back at her, wondering what she had to say to him.
"That young woman is a handful, isn't she?" the woman asked.
"You have no idea," Kazuya replied genuinely.
"I know you both aren't a thing, but I can tell you one thing for sure: that woman is a rare gem," she said to him, referring to Orihime.
"What do you mean by that?" asked Kazuya, not sure what the woman was trying to get at.
"You might call it 'an old woman's intuition,' if you will. "But if you miss the opportunity, don't say nobody told you so," she said to him.
"What is that supposed to mean?" asked Kazuya, genuinely confused.
"It's nothing," the woman said. "Off you go now; don't keep her waiting!"
Kazuya shook his head, feeling like he had just wasted his time with the woman for no reason. "Stupid old woman," he cursed out loud before leaving as well.
He walked out of the brothel and found Orihime right outside, folding her hands with a slightly angry face from across the street. "Gee, big man! I've been waiting for a while! "If you wanted to woo the old woman, you should have just said so," she said to him.
"Shut up, woman!" he said to her, angrily flustered by what she had just said.
"Am I right or wrong?" she teased. "You are so into that woman, but you didn't say anything about it."
"Where was the guild, again?" Kazuya asked, ignoring Orihime's teasing.
"Oh, changing the subject already, huh?" she reacted, "Northwest of here, before the farmlands." "We should be able to track it on our own, given the point where the sun is rising."
"Good, so let's get going," Kazuya said assertively, making Orihime laugh at his attempt to make her forget about his time with the old woman.
"So what were the both of you talking about?" asked Orihime, but Kazuya remained silent, acting like she didn't exist. But his ignorance made her laugh at him all the more.
They kept moving until they could see the supposed farmlands from a far distance. The amount of land used for farming was so vast that it had to be "The Farmlands" the old woman spoke about, and right before the place where the first plantation was situated, they found a unique-looking house with a colorful outlook and a large signboard showing the name of the guild they were looking for, "Sentient Hunters."
It was very obvious that this was the place they were after, and the mage they were looking for was likely inside the building.
Although it was their destination, Kazuya felt something would go wrong the moment he stepped into the building, given the oddly beautiful manner in which it was built.
He remained standing across the street, looking at the building, but didn't move an inch towards it.
Orihime had taken a few steps ahead of him, heading towards the entrance of the guild, but stopped when she noticed Kazuya wasn't coming with her.
"What is up with you?" she asked. "This is the place we were looking for; it is located right before the farmlands, as the old woman said." "Can't you see the name of the guild right there?"
"Orihime?" he called her.
"Yes," she asked, "but what is it?"
"Have you ever heard the tale of Hansel and Grettel?" he asked.