"Oh my, has Amei finally finished work for the day?"
On the other side of town, in the red-light district late at night, Mitsuba—still wearing Yoriichi's face—finally spotted the geisha Amei on the street, just as she was leaving work and preparing to head home. This was the woman suspected of having contact with the mysterious wealthy merchant.
"Master Yoriichi?!"
Startled by Mitsuba's sudden appearance, Amei instinctively flinched, clearly frightened as she clutched her biwa.
"P-please, were you... were you waiting here specifically for me?"
Her voice was soft, and she kept her head lowered as she spoke, habitually using her long bangs to cover her face.
From her demeanor, body language, and tone of voice, it was easy to see that this woman had an extremely timid personality.
This was perfect. With someone of this disposition, it would be relatively easier to pry secrets from their lips.
"That's right, I was waiting specifically for you, because I have a question I'd like to ask."
Mitsuba nodded frankly, then slowly stepped forward to approach Amei, smiling as she guided her into an empty alley nearby.
"Come, come, there are too many eyes and ears here. Let's go into this alley and talk slowly..."
"Huh?! Master Yoriichi, isn't this a bit... inappropriate?"
"Appropriate! How could it not be appropriate? Don't worry~ I won't do anything to you..."
The causal thread Mitsuba had previously seen on Amei had only recorded the simple information: "Seven days ago, played the biwa for a mysterious wealthy merchant and a caravan leader at a courtesan house." Nothing more.
This was one small drawback of causal threads.
After all, they weren't truly surveillance cameras—they couldn't provide Mitsuba with a 360-degree, all-angles "live broadcast."
The causal information they recorded was always extremely concise, typically including only the four elements of "who, when, where, and what."
And if it could be recorded in one sentence, it absolutely wouldn't use a second.
This meant that although Mitsuba had now found Amei, an important witness who had observed the exchange between the mysterious wealthy merchant and the caravan leader, she still had to extract the crucial intelligence herself.
But this wasn't a big problem. Mitsuba was quite confident in her ability to dig secrets out of people.
And besides... she actually quite enjoyed the process of doing so.
"Um... Master Yoriichi."
In the deserted alley, Amei pressed her back against the wall, clutching her biwa tightly, her body trembling slightly.
She cautiously raised her head and glanced at the tall, handsome, and wealthy young gentleman before her. Finally summoning her courage, she spoke in a very small voice:
"I-I actually already have a husband, and I... I sell my art, not my body..."
This girl seemed to have misunderstood something.
"What are you thinking, Amei?"
Looking down at the married woman before her, whose eyes flashed with resolute determination—as if she were prepared to take her own life at any moment to preserve her chastity—Mitsuba couldn't help but laugh.
"Rest assured, I'm not after your body. I truly just want to ask you a few questions."
With those words, her expression immediately turned serious as she asked earnestly:
"Seven nights ago, did you receive a wealthy merchant from out of town at the courtesan house, along with a caravan leader?"
"Seven nights ago? Y-yes, I believe I remember something like that..."
"What did those two discuss at the time?"
"What they discussed..."
Amei had originally wanted to refuse to answer Mitsuba's blatant prying into a customer's information.
But for some reason, when she looked into Mitsuba's eyes, her inner resolve suddenly changed.
[It's not really anything important anyway. Quietly telling this Master Yoriichi shouldn't be a big deal, right?]
Completely unaware that her thoughts had already been influenced by Mitsuba's manipulation of causal threads, Amei strained to recall what had happened that night seven days ago and spoke:
"The specifics aren't very clear to me. That night, the wealthy merchant arrived at the courtesan house first and requested me and several other geishas to perform music for him.
Not long after, the caravan leader arrived at the room, and then the wealthy merchant had all of us leave..."
"So in other words, you don't actually know what they discussed that night?"
"Yes... Ah, but when I finally left the room, I did hear them mention something called the Blue Spider Lily.
They seemed to be searching for this flower with a rather strange-sounding name..."
"Hmm... Apart from that, do you know any other information related to that wealthy merchant?"
"Related information..."
Rapidly searching her memory under Mitsuba's guidance, Amei quickly raised her head again after a brief moment of contemplation:
"Yes! There's one more thing! I remember that seven days ago wasn't the first time that wealthy merchant came to our courtesan house!
Over twenty days ago, I once saw him from a distance as well. At that time, he was meeting with other guests..."
Once over twenty days ago, and again seven days ago—each time meeting with different people...
"So this means that this wealthy gentleman meets with a new contact at your courtesan house at regular intervals.
Then he entrusts them to help him find information about the Blue Spider Lily—is that correct?
This would mean that during this coming period, he will very likely arrange to meet with others at your courtesan house again?"
"P-probably so..."
Having roughly sorted out the current situation, Mitsuba raised her hand to her chin and subconsciously nodded.
[Excellent, the clue has emerged. Now I just need to wait patiently for this mysterious wealthy gentleman to appear again.]
[Oh my~ This really is all so effortless. It seems I'll be able to report back to Lord Muzan soon~]
Beside her, Amei looked up at Mitsuba, who had suddenly smiled. After some hesitation, she cautiously asked:
"Um, Master Yoriichi, may I ask what you intend to do with information about that wealthy merchant?"
"Oh, it's actually nothing significant—he simply owes me money."
"Huh? Owes money?"
Completely unaware of Mitsuba's lie, Amei was taken aback.
So someone who appeared so wealthy could actually owe others money?!
"Exactly!"
Drama mode activated, Mitsuba—still wearing Yoriichi's face—immediately placed both hands on Amei's shoulders, gazing at her earnestly as she pleaded:
"So! I would like to ask you to do me a favor!"
"Ah! Y-yes, please... please speak..."
Startled by Mitsuba's sudden action, Amei instantly tensed up, her body instinctively leaning backward.
[S-so close! Master Yoriichi is so close!]
She looked up blankly at Mitsuba before her. Her cheeks, hidden behind her long hair, gradually flushed crimson.
[Seeing him this close, Master Yoriichi really is so handsome... In all my life, this is the first time I've ever seen such a handsome man...]
[N-no, Amei! What are you suddenly thinking! You are a married woman! How could you think such improper thoughts!]
Completely unaware of Amei's rich inner turmoil, Mitsuba simply spoke seriously:
"In the coming days, if this wealthy merchant who owes me money comes to your courtesan house again, I hope you can send someone to notify me immediately!"