The pair entered the city, although White had to be sent to the summon dimension because of its aggressive temperament.

Hiledan lived up to its reputation as a city of alchemy; it was filled with smoke rising out of chimneys, and various books and tools used for alchemy could be found in it. Although not many stores sold potions due to their rarity, corpse dismemberment and ingredient combination were cheaper in Hiledan than in other cities. Corpse dismemberment was especially expensive due to the need for tools to separate the bones, meat, and leather of monsters. A large building housing the alchemy guild was situated in the center of the city.

The pair went to the exchange center first. It was noisy due to the merchants and attendants bargaining and arguing inside.

“I want to exchange these,” Kang Yoon-Soo said as he took out twelve gold bars and placed them on the counter.

The attendant gave him a look of surprise. It would have been unsurprising if it had been a merchant arriving with a large convoy of goods, but to see an average-looking man take out gold bars from his backpack caught the attendant off guard.

“I’ll go and measure the weight of these; kindly wait just a while,” the attendant said while politely receiving the gold bars with both  hands.

While they were waiting for the attendant to get back, the pair could hear merchants chattering in the background.

“Have you read the paper? Mariel from the brewery was killed.”

“Mariel? Why that kid?”

“Oh, Mano, you seem to have been away from Hiledan for too long. There have been numerous cases of beautiful girls being raped and killed. This is the fourth one.”

Shaneth could not help but be interested in the conversation between the merchants.

“A serial killer? In a city as peaceful as this?”

“There will always be some psycho who wants to cause trouble.”

“Tsk tsk… For that to happen to such a kind girl…”

“But you know… There are some rumors regarding this case…” The merchant lowered his voice as if he were divulging a secret. “The women… They say they died with bright smiles on their faces.”

“They died smiling?”

“That’s right… What's strange is that they were severely abused before being killed. They had severe injuries that seemed to have been inflicted by knives or whips, and just looking at the injuries could turn one’s stomach. However, they died with big smiles on their faces… Just thinking about it gives me goosebumps.”

“That’s really creepy, but are you saying they were drugged or something?”

“That’s why the investigators are struggling with this case. This is no longer an ordinary case if drugs are involved. You know how drugs have started to plague numerous cities, including the capital, these days. To think that Hiledan would be among them…”

The attendant returned and passed Kang Yoon-Soo numerous leather pouches, saying, “The total will be 1,200 gold coins.”

“Let’s go,” Kang Yoon-Soo said as he took the pouches from the attendant.

Shaneth was curious about the merchants’ story, but she followed Kang Yoon-Soo out of the exchange center. The peaceful city she had seen started to feel different after she heard the stories of serial killings taking place. She was not quite scared, but still uneasy. She said, “To think that serial killings would take place in this city… It sounds unlikely but plausible, just like a detective thriller novel.”

“The name of the perpetrator is Lee Min-Chan,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

“What?” Shaneth stopped in her tracks and looked at him. She asked again, “What did you just say?”

Kang Yoon-Soo turned around, looked at her, and said, “Spoilers.”

***

Kang Yoon-Soo and Shaneth headed for an inn, both looking quite disheveled. Their clothing was covered in clumps of sand and soil from crossing the wilderness. The two of them entered the wooden building as the sun set, and Shaneth smiled brightly at the thought of finally being able to take a bath. The wooden sign on the building, upon which the name “Golden Ale Inn’ was written, shook back and forth as the wind blew.

The inn was crowded with Continentals and Travelers seated around wooden tables. “It’s 50 bronze coins for a night. Will you take a bath as well?” the old innkeeper asked.

Kang Yoon-Soo threw one silver coin to the innkeeper and said, “One room, and alcohol.”

Shaneth’s eyes widened and she blinked a few times. “Did he just say ‘one room’?” she muttered to herself.

The innkeeper took out a key from a drawer and passed it to Kang Yoon-Soo, saying, “It’s the leftmost room on the second floor. What would you like for your drink?”

“The strongest one,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

“Kang Yoon-Soo-nim? Did you just ask for one room? There are two of us, though…?” Shaneth asked, sounding perplexed. Every gaze in the inn suddenly looked toward the pair, and Shaneth was flustered by the sudden attention.

Kang Yoon-Soo looked at Shaneth and said, “We have to use one room.” He then added quietly, “I have to be by your side tonight.”

***

Shaneth was in a wooden tub, taking a bath in hot water that filled the room with steam. The hot bathwater wrapped around her naked body, and she started thinking as all the fatigue slowly left her body. She was thinking about the strange man she had accompanied in their travels.

‘I swear, he’s a strange one,’ she thought.

Her first impression of the man had been that of an experienced adventurer. He had excellent swordsmanship and blacksmithing skills, and he had even done the impossible by creating a spirit right in front of her eyes. However, the reality was very different. He had a low level and had only recently been summoned to this world; he was even weaker than her.

‘But how does he know so much…?’ she pondered.

He had been strangely calm when he found the Yultika Ruin; it was as if he had visited the place frequently enough to treat it like his own house. He seemed to be certain when he spoke the name of the perpetrator of the serial killings people had been discussing earlier in the day. It was as if he were a sage that knew all of the secrets of this world, not a Traveler.

‘Although he seems to be more of a cold puppet than a sage…’ she thought as she recalled his demeanor. A cold puppet… It was an accurate depiction of him. While lost in her thoughts, however, she suddenly remembered what the man had said earlier this evening.

“I have to be by your side tonight.”

Splash!

Shaneth slapped the surface of the water like a kid throwing a tantrum. She covered her face with her hands and started to tremble, and steam rose from her reddened face. 

‘Really… Does. That man. Have any sense of shame?! How could he say something like that so brazenly in front of so many people?!’

He was an unpredictable man. He normally acted uninterested all the time, but he had suddenly said something shameless like that. Nobody would look at him favorably after that incident, and Shaneth was no exception.

‘Does it make sense to spend the night with a man you’ve just met? It didn’t seem as if he liked me or anything, and he didn’t even ask for my approval in the matter…’

She had not thought too much of it when she unpacked and entered the bath because she had been too tired, but now that she thought about it again, he was certainly shameless.

‘I think I’ll secretly leave this inn after taking a bath. It’s time to part ways with that man. Even if he gets another room, there’s no telling if he’ll attempt this again. It’ll be difficult traveling alone for the first time, but that would be much better than going along with a man who could be plotting something from behind.’

Shaneth gathered her resolve and stood up from the bath, picking up a hand mirror after she wiped her body down. She looked at her milky white skin reflected in the mirror. There was a small burn mark remaining on the left side of her face, but the rest of her skin was smooth and elastic. She started to tear up when she remembered her past, the time when she had been covered in burns and called a disabled fool by people. 

‘Come to think of it, though… He treated me right even before my burns had healed.’

Kang Yoon-Soo had told her when she was looking for the bottle of alcohol in the storage room that she was even more beautiful than Hermia. He had told her to take her helmet off and look in the mirror. Shaneth let out a small smile and thought, ‘He was the first person to say those kind words to me.’

The way people looked at her had changed after her burns were healed; the usual insults and pity she had received turned into surprise and jealousy. But the way Kang Yoon-Soo looked at her never changed. Shaneth put down the hand mirror, seeming to have made up her mind.

‘Even though he seems to be mysterious and suspicious, he’s paved a new road for me and saved me. Although it’s not enough of a reason to like him…’ Truth be told, she had definitely enjoyed her time together with him, even though it had not been a long time.

Could she have had the same experience of creating a spirit and conquering a ruin if she had traveled alone? ‘Impossible,’ she answered herself.

Kang Yoon-Soo was an interesting person. Although he had never revealed his true identity, he had abruptly asked to share a room with her. That was the moment she realized that she had started to want to keep traveling with him.

‘I’ve decided.’ She put on a thin gown and left the inn’s public bath. She started to walk toward her room when suddenly…

“Wow~ Aren’t you a beauty, noona?” a young boy said as he blocked Shaneth’s path. The youth seemed to be a teenage Traveler, judging by the wrist device he had. He smiled sheepishly when Shaneth looked at him with a puzzled expression and said, “I’m also a guest in this inn. I mustered the courage to talk to you because noona was so beautiful. Do you have a boyfriend?”

“I don’t, so can you get out of the way?” Shaneth said coldly; she had just thought of how people treated her differently now, and it made her tone frigid.

The youth just started to laugh, saying, “Hmm… Noona is a liar. You’re lovers with that hyung you came with today, aren’t you? It’s obvious since you’re using the same room.”

Shaneth glared at the youth. He had crossed the line. He spoke as if he were free to do as he pleased. Shaneth was usually polite to others, but she was not fond of rude people.

“What are you glaring at? Did I say something wrong?” the youth asked as he stepped away while laughing annoyingly. Shaneth just began heading to her room with a bad taste in her mouth, but the youth shouted from behind, “My name is Lee Min-Chan! What’s your name, noona?”

Shaneth suddenly stopped in her tracks. There was no need to even try to remember where she had heard the name.

Lee Min-Chan. That was the name of the serial killer Kang Yoon-Soo had mentioned.