Chapter 44 - Weakened

Kirri immediately rushed to complete the request without a second thought.

Just as she was told, she entered the shack and took the thin blanket from the ground, crumpled it into a ball, and threw it towards the rocks – missing them only a bit to the left.

"AH...! Sorry, mister Viria!"

"No, not – that is perfect, actually..."

The resolute girl gasped and called out apologetically, embarrassed over missing the spot but Viria waved his hand dismissively reassuring her.

Truth be told, if Kirri was any more accurate, the blanket that Viria requested would have ended up in the sludge surrounding him.

"Mister Viria, we have the green and blue bills, but we will just leave all of them in your shack, okay? You can just pay us when you will feel better!"

"Kirri!"

The resolute girl called out to wards Viria's location, where the young man's dirty arm was reaching towards the blanket when Laor gasped at her in disbelief.

"...what, those are his bills..."

Kirri murmured grumpily, looking back at her friend as if she was overreacting.

"Yeah but... we don't know him THAT well!"

Laor rolled her eyes and hissed through her teeth, constantly glancing over at Viria's hiding spot.

"Nope. Just leave the two green bills and take the rest with you. You can use the rest when you feel like it, maybe just leave me a one or two, preferably more green..."

Viria could not hear them, but his call could not be timed more perfectly, making Laor and Tir flinch while Kirri straightened her back and puffed out her chest proudly.

"See? He is a good person!"

"...more like a suspicious person..."

The resolute girl declared with confidence, but the fearful one sighed shaking her head with an unsure expression.

"...what are we going to do...?"

The girl with the long fringe asked hesitantly, although she was the one holding the bills and was also already grabbing two green ones and one blue to take out and leave in the shack as per Viria's request.

"We do as the mister Viria said... but don't get too excited. He might have told us to use the bills however we want it, but then he might use that against us."

"He will not, definitely not! But you are right about not spending the bills – Lithsar did say that kids having too much money on them are asking for trouble."

Laor sighed and shrugged her shoulders before waving her hand towards the shack giving Tir a green light to continue what she already was about to do anyway, while Kirri declared with confidence before adding in her usual tone.

"Okay, mister Viria! Bye-bye for now!"

"B-bye..."

"..."

Finally, the three young girls left the area after saying their goodbyes – or not as it was in the case of cautious Laor – giving Viria a chance to move.

It was still some time until night and the decrease in the number of humans on the streets, but the young man wanted as few people as possible to see him in this sorry state.

Truth be told, Viria was covered in filth from top to bottom, even though he properly removed his pants and underwear for the initial discharge...

the problem was that when the bowel movement subsided and he could breathe again, for whatever reason his body started sweating out all kinds of nasty stuff that Viria never even dreamed of.

It all reeked. It reeked so much that Viria started to worry that the bills from the previous hunt that he still got in his pocket would pervade with it, making them smell like the forged ones Bossac told him about.

The worry about such a mistake was the reason why the bloody-black-haired young man asked for the children to leave him an additional blue bill – he was going to request the staff at the bathhouse to get him a fresh set.

As for the one he had on at the moment...

Well, he got the resolute girl to throw him the blanket just so that he could take off the filthy clothes and cover himself with it while he would be walking through the streets of the first-floor town.

After waiting for a while to make sure that at least those three kids would not be able to see him in that sorry state he got himself in, Viria followed his plan.

Despite the public and free bathhouse being open, it was not his destination.

Instead, the young man went straight to the bathland of respite, already knowing that they did have separate baths – and privacy was what he wanted the most.

"Whoa...! Inmate, you sure went through a lot..."

The moment that Viria slumped his way in, the guard at the door gasped in disbelief, covering his nose because of the smell.

"...prisoner Viria, block E-11, it is okay for me to enter?"

"Yes, of course, I recognize you from the other day, go on. You sure need a visit..."

Viria introduced himself just in case to make sure that everything was fine and the guard nodded, leaving his hand as if he was trying to shovel the young man forward and away from himself.

"Owner. Here. One for letting me use the bath and providing the bathing supplies like the last time, the other one for compensation for the cleaning. Oh, and to be sure this time, I don't want a girl, I just want to take a bath..."

Viria passed the guard and got to the other end of the hall, placing all three bills on the counter in front of the elderly prisoner.

"The blue one is for a new set of clothes, I would like them delivered before I finish."

Viria added while the elderly prisoner was struggling to squeeze out a word.

"Th.. that... the bath you used previously is currently unoccupied..."

Finally, despite the overwhelming smell, the prisoner in charge of the bathland gulped down his saliva and took the bills.

He rubbed the sides of each and every one before smelling his fingers – thankfully he was careful not to touch the same spots that Viria had been holding them by – and waved his other hand towards the men's entrance.

"Thank you."

Viria breathed out with relief and got himself through the curtain dragging his feet and then to the last door.