Chapter 47 : Chapter 47
Volume 2, Chapter 16: Stench
"Here. If this is the place you're looking for, then this should be it."
Leticia pointed at the building before them and said to Ilo beside her, "At least, judging from what I know and what I've seen of this place, this is the only one I can think of."
A tavern, the chamber of commerce, and pleasure houses. Although Leticia had no idea what Ilo wanted with them, it did not affect her own movements, and she did not want to mess up such a simple task and cause trouble, so she obediently did as asked.
The building before them, if nothing unexpected happened—well, by Leticia's own feeling anyway—should be the largest tavern in the area.
Henry's Hut was the name of the tavern.
A sign that seemed to be made of metal had the tavern's name carved into it with tools. The entrance was not large, but the inside seemed to open up into something far bigger.
Its location was excellent. It could be said to sit right in the center of this small town. Stone-paved roads stretched out on all sides, people came and went, and it had both the convenience of traffic and a heavy flow of people.
So, naturally, it had quite an impressive stream of customers. Even in the middle of the afternoon, between mealtimes, quite a few people could still be seen entering and leaving the tavern, reeking of alcohol, their mouths shining with oil.
But that observation did not last long.
SLAP.
Just standing there and watching was enough for her to run straight into someone passing by.
Nearly falling onto her backside, Leticia endured the waves of dizziness echoing through her mind and immediately lowered her head to the person. "I am very sorry!"
"Stinking brat, are you blind?! You're standing in the middle of the road looking to die?!"
It was a middle-aged man with a large beer belly. The cloth clothes on his body could not hold his massive, broad frame at all. They were torn and ragged everywhere, even his trousers, which were held up entirely by a hemp rope acting as a belt.
Perhaps because his face was full of heavy, bulging flesh, the middle-aged fatty looked even more vicious and savage than expected. His eyes were narrowed into slits, his nose was large and red, and his thick lips were like sausages. One could even see flecks of spit flying through the air.
Stench.
That was Leticia's only impression.
The salty, fishy reek of fluid secreted by the fatty's overdeveloped sweat glands, the foul breath spraying from a mouth that had not been cleaned for a long time, the sour odor of visible grime on his body, and the rancid body odor that seemed to come from not having washed himself in ages.
All of it mixed together at the very first instant, frantically assaulting Leticia's sense of smell.
Not only that, this unbelievable sensation stimulated more than just her nose.
His words reeked too. His face carried a rotting feeling, and that gaze was simply like a corpse left to rot in a garbage heap.
People said only the flavor of fine food could have variety, layers, and freshness. Leticia had never imagined that stench could be so rich as well.
If her emotions were not currently suppressed into a state of quiet, she might already have lost control, instead of standing here as she was now, putting on a false and hollow smile as she lowered her head in apology.
Why did it feel so awful...
She had clearly never felt this before, so why was there such an intense stench?
So disgusting.
Almost completely ignoring the fat man's shouting and insults, Leticia lowered her head, grabbed Ilo, and quickly walked away.
It was like a drowning person finally breaking free from suffocation and reaching the surface of the water.
After casually leading Ilo to a street corner, Leticia wore a stiff expression and breathed softly. "Sorry. That was my mistake just now. I didn't expect to bump into someone with such a bad temper... Shall we go again later?"
"Eh, I don't really mind."
Ilo said with a grin, "Rather, Stano, you're really cowardly, aren't you? He insulted you like that, and he isn't some noble either. You're just going to let someone bully you like that?"
"That way of thinking is the stupid one."
Leticia snorted. "He's an adult, and I'm just a child with no strength to even truss a chicken. Besides, it really was my fault. Getting away with only a couple of curses is already pretty good."
Naturally, those were rational words meant for the situation. She had already spent years in this world, but Leticia had not met too many people, and because of that, she had no particularly favorable impression of people who spewed filth like that.
But what exactly was that strange smell...
For a moment, there were many questions, but no matter how much she thought, she could not find a clear answer.
That strange, violent stench was still lingering in her mind even now. Leticia shook her head, wanting to temporarily erase that smell from her mind, but she could not do it no matter what.
It really was disgusting...
Why did such filthy things exist...
"!"
Leticia hurriedly stopped her thoughts, somewhat startled and uncertain. Before this, she had never had such extreme thoughts, extreme to the point of almost crooked heresy, almost to the point of feeling that trash like that had no right to exist in this world at all.
Even if the emotion itself was not strong enough, that black emotion still made her feel incredulous.
After rubbing her forehead hard and fully calming herself down, she finally realized that Ilo had been looking at her the entire time.
"What?"
Perhaps Ilo noticed the lingering stiffness in her words. The girl smiled faintly and shook her head. "No, nothing. I just thought Stano doesn't have it easy either."
That word either was very interesting.
Without saying anything more, Leticia only sighed. "All right, this was my fault. Then I'll take you to the chamber of commerce first. It's actually very close to the tavern."
"Okay."
Ilo smiled and said, "I don't have any order requirements anyway. Anywhere is fine."
"Then can you tell me why you can't look for them yourself?"
"Eh? Didn't I tell you before?"
"No."
"Ah, then this is a secret~"
"..."
What a strange person.
Leticia silently glanced at her. After coming to this small town that was actually quite close to the village, Ilo seemed very interested. She hopped and skipped around, looking east and west, always wearing that smile that seemed to mean absolutely nothing.
As mentioned before, this girl gave Leticia a very strange feeling, and now...
"That strange feeling is even more obvious..."