The Girl Running the Bathhouse (8)
No sooner had I opened the door than someone standing outside shoved my chest.
"Gah!"
But the clichéd scene of me tumbling backward while he trampled over me and barged in didn't play out. I grabbed his wrist—the one that had shoved me—and the man staggered back with a pained groan.
Behind him stood over a dozen thugs with menacing glares.
"I didn't hit him. The guy's just messing around on his own."
I grinned and slammed the door shut.
"Here about the inn's debt, right? Hold on. I'll grab the papers."
As I turned to go back inside, one of them grabbed my shoulder.
"You don't seem to grasp the situation..."
"Gaaahhh!"
In an instant, all his fingers were twisted backward. The man collapsed screaming. The others flinched and reached for their sleeves or behind their backs.
"If any metal comes out from under your clothes, I'll punch a nice hole in all your guts—nice and friendly-like."
I ignored them and grabbed the thick ledger from the table. It was the one I'd taken from the Rat, full of documents proving the inn was mine now.
Of course, I had zero intention of dragging their boss into some legal bullshit with this.
Tucking the ledger under my arm, I stepped outside and addressed the one who looked like the leader.
"Lead the way."
"Lead what?"
"You're not here just to rough me up, are you? And I'm not planning to let it end there either."
The men just stared at me in silence.
"I'm the real owner of this inn. I took over the debt from the Rat. So anything about the inn's ownership should be between me and your boss, right?"
I held up the ledger.
"Follow me. Looks like this isn't something we can settle here."
"You know your place pretty well."
They didn't rise to my bait and just turned around. I followed them down the streets of Bue as the dawn fog began to lift.
The gambling den was surprisingly right in the middle of downtown. From the outside, it looked like a normal restaurant. They led me inside.
It was early morning, so business hadn't started yet. The interior was dim, barely lit by the faint dawn light filtering through the windows.
"Sit here."
They sat me at a table in the center and surrounded it.
"Got a customer here and you're not even offering a glass of water?"
"Shut up."
I chuckled and glanced around. Just your average restaurant. But there had to be a secret passage somewhere.
Sure enough, a figure emerged from what had looked like a solid wall in the corner. Probably the entrance to the gambling den.
The man sat across from me, and one of his goons lit the candelabra on the table. The candlelight revealed a face scarred with knife marks.
"Doesn't look like battle wounds. More like you carved them yourself to look tough."
Not just trying to piss him off—it really looked like he'd gone easy on himself, controlling the pressure.
Makes sense in this line of work; you gotta make an impression somehow.
He didn't get mad at my words, just opened his mouth impassively.
"Cockroach."
"What? A cockroach did that to your face?"
Someone behind me grabbed my head to smash it into the table.
"Urk!"
The instant his hand touched my head, he spun through the air and crashed into the far wall. The table splintered from the impact, but Scarface didn't even twitch.
As the others moved to act, he raised a hand to hold them back.
Style over substance, huh?
"My name is Cockroach."
"What? First Rat, now Cockroach? Bue's a dirtier city than I thought."
"Heard about the Rat. You killed him."
"Yeah."
"Who the hell are you? Why'd you kill him?"
"He pissed me off."
Cockroach's lip twitched ever so slightly at my flippant answer.
"Water under the bridge. Let's not dwell. That inn you took as collateral for gambling debt? It's mine. Dead owner pawned it to the Rat, and now it's mine."
I tossed the Rat's ledger onto the table. Cockroach scanned it with his eyes.
"Check it out."
He flipped through it casually. When he reached the inn's page, he skimmed it.
"Double collateral."
"Yeah. So back off the inn. If you want it that bad, just buy it outright."
He slid the ledger back and growled low.
"Double collateral or not, I loaned the money. Gotta get my cut."
"From the dead owner?"
"From you."
"Hm. I bought this from the Rat fair and square. And before you did, time-wise."
Cockroach just stared at me silently.
"If you really want the inn, buy it from me. Cheap."
"Let's hear your price."
He leaned in, voice low and relaxed.
"Five hundred gold coins. Oh, kingdom gold—not Alvis or dwarf stuff."
"Hahaha..."
Cockroach laughed ominously, and his surrounding goons snickered.
"What? Three-story inn smack in central Bue—five hundred's a steal, no?"
"Ha... Sure, normally. But considering your position... kinda steep."
"My position?"
I looked around innocently, like I had no clue.
The eyes of Cockroach's men in the shadows gleamed. While we talked, more than a dozen extras had shown up, boxing me in completely.
"Ah. Got it. So you wanna do this your way?"
"Something like that."
"You're planning to threaten me, snag the inn for free, then slap on bullshit interest and squeeze the family, right?"
Cockroach smirked villainously instead of answering.
"How about you buy it nice and easy while I'm offering? Five hundred saves your ass and your crew's. I can even haggle."
His face soured like he was done talking.
"Gotta do something about that smug mug first."
That was the signal. The closest thugs lunged at me.
"Punks like you never listen to reason."
I tsked, stood, and swung the chair. It shattered on one guy, who crashed into another.
"Urgh!"
A sharp yell from behind—short sword stabbing my side. But sadly, the blade didn't even nick my skin.
I smashed his skull with my fist, yanked the sword from his hand. His caved-in head popped an eye as he faceplanted.
The others gasped and backed off.
"So, one more time: inn for five hundred gold?"
"Kill him!"
Cockroach's shout sent twenty-ish goons howling at me.
Villains never even consider a positive review.
I sliced the arm off the first one charging in, clucking my tongue.
A bit later, I sat counting gold coins on the table.
"Hey."
Cockroach—bloodied, on his knees—jerked his head up in panic.
"Y-yes...? You called, sir...?!"
"Four hundred sixty-five. Where's the other thirty-five?"
"Th-that's everything scraped from the safe, sir...! Isn't that enough...?"
I sighed, surveying the dark dining hall. His thugs lay slaughtered everywhere, blood pooling in a grim scene.
"That's what I get for offering a discount."
"Sorry! So sorry! I was blind not to recognize you...!"
"Your local punks are all the same. Need a good beating to wise up."
"Yes, sir!"
Cockroach groveled, bowing frantically. I swept the gold into my pouch and stood.
"Get up, punk. Gotta hit city hall for the ownership transfer. Grab your ID."
"Y-yes, sir...!"
I hustled him into washing his face and changing clothes, then headed to city hall.
Submitted the Rat's ledger and ID, transferred ownership of the Horizon's Mist Inn. It was still under the old owner, but the ledger validated it—briefly to me, then to Cockroach.
Stepping out after all the paperwork, I called him.
"Hey, Cockroach."
"Yes, sir...!"
"Live straight."
"Got it! I will!"
He bowed to me, then bolted across the street like a madman.
Looking back, he was grabbing patrolling guards and yelling.
"That guy's a murderer! Killed all my boys...! Stole our gold! Arrest him!"
Pointing at me wildly. I met the guards' eyes with an innocent head-scratch.
"Back off a bit. Calm down and talk."
One guard shoved him away, then grabbed his arm with a puzzled look.
"Hold up. Knife scars... This guy's Cockroach?!"
"Huh? Yeah! You punk, you hit the jackpot! Been chasing your ass forever!"
The guards whipped out batons and started beating him senseless.
Onlookers startled, the guards reassured them.
"Keep walking. Just nabbing a wanted man on-site!"
"Aaaagh! Not me—the other guy! Evil bastard!"
I chuckled and headed back to the inn.
Opening the inn door, Della sat alone in the hall. An urn beside her.
She'd been crying again—eyes red, nose pink.
As I entered, she spoke in a wet voice.
"Boss..."