Hmm...
Forget it, stop thinking.
After a bout of intense brainstorming, Mitsuba decided to give up on thinking.
Anyway, she didn't have much intelligence in her hands right now. Rather than wildly speculating here, it would be better to wait for that mysterious wealthy merchant to contact her again later.
That's right—after a friendly conversation lasting a full hour with that wealthy merchant, Mitsuba had smoothly arranged an agreement with him.
After he returned this time to contact his friend, and his friend reported upward layer by layer.
Once the matter of Mitsuba possessing intelligence about the Blue Spider Lily was conveyed to the mysterious person behind all this, and this person's permission to meet was obtained, he would return here again to notify Mitsuba.
The entire process sounded rather complicated, but actually didn't require Mitsuba to do anything further. She only needed to patiently wait for this wealthy merchant's notification.
This was fine too. After all, she was growing rather weary of this life of constantly chasing after others and investigating nonstop...
When the time came, if it truly turned out to be just an ordinary human who had coincidentally heard about the Blue Spider Lily somewhere, then she would treat it as nothing happened.
But if it really was the Demon Slayer Corps setting up a trap behind the scenes, then she would simply kill them all.
After all, things delivered to one's doorstep—if you don't kill them, it's a waste.
"Um, Master Yoriichi..."
Just as Mitsuba was somewhat lost in thought, Amei beside her suddenly called out to her.
"Hmm?"
Looking down at this geisha who had suddenly become somewhat awkward, her expression showing she wanted to speak but hesitated, Mitsuba first blinked in puzzlement, then immediately reacted and smiled:
"What's wrong? Do you want to ask me for your reward?"
Mitsuba had not forgotten her previous promise of a reward to Amei.
"It's fine, don't be shy. After all, Amei, you seriously helped me this time.
Ask for whatever you need. As long as it's something I can do, I will help you."
Under Mitsuba's encouraging gaze, Amei lowered her head, her hands tightly clutching the hem of her clothes. After hesitating for a long time, she finally spoke in that timid tone:
"I-I would like to... borrow some money from you, Master Yoriichi..."
"...Huh?"
Hearing this, the smile on Mitsuba's face suddenly froze for a moment.
"Is-is that not allowed?"
Seemingly sensing Mitsuba's sudden change in expression, Amei became somewhat flustered.
"Uh, it's not that it's not allowed, I just didn't expect that your request would merely be to borrow money...
I thought that ordinary people would take this opportunity to make some more valuable requests of me..."
Looking at the geisha before her with considerable surprise, Mitsuba only now suddenly noticed that tonight's Amei seemed somewhat different.
Her bangs covered more of her face than before, and her black kimono seemed to have several new patches...
Somewhat puzzled in her heart, Mitsuba finally activated the Transparent World and quickly swept her gaze over Amei.
[Oh my...]
This glance caused Mitsuba to instantly freeze.
Under the Transparent World, bruises of varying degrees could be seen everywhere on Amei's body. Clearly, these were marks left from long-term beatings.
Especially that small patch on her right cheek, which was swollen and purple—obviously caused not long ago.
[It seems this girl's family environment is rather poor...]
"Amei, come with me for a moment."
"Huh?"
Activating her helpful mode, Mitsuba immediately took Amei's hand, found a courtesan house that had already closed for the night, and sat down on the steps before its entrance.
"Tell me about your family."
"W-why is Master Yoriichi suddenly asking about this..."
Looking at the confused Amei beside her, Mitsuba—wearing Yoriichi's face—replied with a tone full of righteousness:
"Because I love helping people above all else in my life. Whenever I see suffering ordinary people around me and don't extend a helping hand, I feel so uncomfortable I want to die."
Mitsuba was speaking the truth—but limited to those around her.
"I-is that so..."
Her heart suddenly skipped a beat. Seemingly unable to withstand Mitsuba's sincere gaze, Amei subconsciously averted her eyes.
"However, Master Yoriichi may have misunderstood. My family... has always been fine..."
"Really?"
"R-really..."
Looking at this pitiful geisha before her, whose causal threads were filled everywhere with information like "beaten again by her gambling-addict husband at such-and-such time on such-and-such day," yet was still trying to lie to cover for him, Mitsuba did not directly expose her.
She suddenly thought of the saying "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."
For the vast majority of suffering people in this world, superficial help often can only alleviate their temporary hardships.
To truly help them escape their sea of suffering, one must make them face the core of their suffering directly, guiding them to rely on their own strength to break free.
Only thus can true liberation be achieved.
So, what was the source of suffering for this geisha Amei before her?
From the causal threads on her body, Mitsuba very easily found the source—
That husband of hers at home.
It seemed that starting several years ago, Amei's husband had developed a gambling addiction.
Not only did he gamble more and more heavily, gradually pawning household items to exchange for gambling funds, but he even began forcing his own wife to work at places like the red-light district to earn money to support the family.
What was even more speechless was that after losing all his money each time, this person would return home and beat his wife to vent his anger.
Hmm, quite the standard image of a gambling addict...
And on Amei's body, Mitsuba also saw her future.
If nothing unexpected happened, Amei—who finally could no longer endure all this—would on a night several months from now, when her gambling-addict husband once again wanted to beat her to vent his anger, kill him with a hammer.
And under the stimulation brought by this murder, she would from then on develop a preference for killing people before her performances.
Then during a performance a year later, she would finally be arrested by the magistrate's office and sentenced to death for her frequent murders.
What originally began as resistance against her husband's violence would ultimately evolve into a preference for killing...
The gods truly had a twisted sense of humor.
But Mitsuba didn't like this script, so she decided to slightly defy it.
Even if this girl would, under the gods' manipulation, eventually walk back onto a similar path, it didn't matter.
Just as a small repayment for this girl's help these past few days—at the very least, Mitsuba wanted to help her resolve her current predicament.
First, let's begin with a heart-to-heart talk.