They Called Me Trash? Now I'll Hack Their World-Chapter 175: Thornhaven [4]

I woke to pale morning light filtering through the shutters and the smell of bread baking somewhere below.

For a moment I couldn’t remember where I was, the bed was too soft, the ceiling unfamiliar, then memory caught up.

Thornhaven inn. Right.

I sat up slowly, my body protesting the movement with aches.

My muscles were stiff from yesterday’s running and fighting.

Getting too old for this. I’m seventeen. I shouldn’t feel like this.

Tessa was already awake, sitting by the window with her hair braided loosely, wearing a clean traveling outfit. She looked up when I stirred.

"Good morning, husband~" She said it with just enough teasing emphasis to make me groan.

"Please don’t."

"Why not? We need to maintain our cover." She stood and stretched, her back cracking audibly. "Besides, it’s fun watching you get all flustered."

"I don’t get flustered."

"You’re blushing right now."

"That’s—" I stopped, realizing arguing would only make it worse. "Never mind. Is Scarlet awake?"

"Heard her moving around in her room about twenty minutes ago." Tessa moved to the door. "Come on. Breakfast. I’m starving, and we should eat before we leave."

She had a point.

I got up, splashed water on my face from the washbasin, made myself marginally more presentable, and followed her downstairs.

The common room was already populated with early risers, merchants preparing for the day’s business, a few adventurers nursing hangovers, workers heading out for morning shifts.

The smell of food was stronger down here, fresh bread, frying bacon, something with onions.

My stomach reminded me loudly that we’d barely eaten yesterday.

Scarlet was already at a corner table, her glamour active, her posture tense despite the casual appearance. She had a plate of bread and cheese in front of her but hadn’t touched it, her eyes constantly scanning the room.

We joined her, sitting so we could all see the entrances.

Tessa immediately flagged down one of the serving girls and ordered enough food for a small army, eggs, bacon, bread, porridge, fruit if they had it, basically everything available.

The serving girl raised an eyebrow but took the order without comment.

Scarlet watched Tessa with an expression somewhere between disbelief and grudging respect.

"Can you even eat that much?"

"I’m starving." Tessa said it matter-of-factly.

"Who knows when we’ll get another proper meal. Might as well eat while we can."

The food arrived in waves, plates and bowls covering the table, steam rising, the smells incredible after days of travel rations and my catastrophic cooking attempt.

Tessa dove in with obvious enthusiasm, eating with the unselfconscious efficiency of someone genuinely hungry and unbothered by manners.

I ate more slowly, still watching the room, my debug vision scanning periodically for threats.

Nothing. Just normal morning activity.

Maybe the assassins really did back off.

Scarlet picked at her food, eating enough to function but clearly not enjoying it.

"I’m going back to my room after this," she said quietly. "Going to sleep."

"You’re not coming to explore the town?" Tessa asked, surprised.

"No!"

She stood up, taking one last piece of bread with her, and headed for the stairs without looking back.

Tessa watched her go, then turned to me with barely contained excitement.

"So! What should we see first? I saw a market square last night, and there was a building that looked like it might be a guild hall."

"Tessa—"

"And maybe buying a few supplies. Since we’re here anyway."

I gave up.

"Fine."

"Deal!" She was already standing, practically vibrating with energy. "Come on! Let’s go see what a real border town looks like!"

She grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the door before I could argue further.

Behind us, I heard one of the other patrons chuckle.

"Young love," someone muttered. "Remember when we were like that?"

Tessa squeezed my hand once, grinning up at me with that same mischievous expression that was becoming dangerously familiar.

We stepped out into Thornhaven’s morning streets.

The town was fully alive now.

Market stalls had opened along the main square, merchants calling out their wares.

Tessa’s eyes went wide, her grip on my hand tightening with excitement rather than nervousness.

"Look at all of this!" She practically dragged me toward the nearest stall, a fabric merchant with bolts of cloth in every color imaginable. "We never had anything like this. I mean, we had markets, but nothing this big!"

She ran her free hand over a bolt of deep blue fabric, her expression one of pure wonder.

The merchant, a middle-aged woman with sharp eyes, perked up at recognizing an interested customer.

"Good eye, miss! That’s Silvermere silk. Rare this far west. Only three silver a yard, and that’s a bargain considering the import costs—"

"Three silver?!" Tessa’s eyes went even wider, this time with shock rather than wonder. "For one yard?"

Then she looked at me with exaggerated pleading eyes.

Don’t.

"Jin~ Don’t you think it’s beautiful? Just imagine how nice a dress would look in this color—"

"We don’t need fabric right now," I said firmly. "We’re traveling. Where would you even make a dress?"

"I could learn! How hard can sewing be?"

"Very hard. And we don’t have room in our packs."

She pouted but moved on to the next stall, which sold small trinkets and jewelry.

A carved wooden pendant immediately caught her attention, a fox, ironically enough, with surprising detail.

"This one!" She held it up. "Look how cute it is!"

The merchant—an older man with a practiced smile—immediately sensed a sale.

"Excellent choice, young lady! Hand-carved by local artisans. Very popular with couples. Only fifteen copper."

Tessa looked at me with those same pleading eyes.

I sighed and pulled out my coin purse.

"Fifteen copper."

"Thank you!" She immediately put the pendant on, the wooden fox sitting just below her collarbone. "See? It’s perfect!"

My purse is getting lighter.

We continued through the market, Tessa finding something interesting at literally every stall.

A hair ribbon. And she said:

"It’s only eight copper! And look how it matches the pendant!"

Some dried fruit that she insisted on buying because we needed better rations than that terrible jerky.

A bar of nice soap.

"The inn soap is terrible. This one smells like lavender!"

By the time we’d made it halfway through the market square, my coin purse had gone from comfortable to concerning.

I only have... three silver and twenty-one copper.

Tears welled in my eyes, but I wiped them.

She spent almost half my money in under an hour.

Sniff!

Though watching her genuine enthusiasm—the way her face lit up at simple things, the way she laughed at a street performer’s juggling act, the way she pointed out interesting buildings and asked questions about everything—made it hard to actually be annoyed.

I sighed.

This is why she followed me.

And to rob me too...

At one stall selling grilled meat skewers, she deliberately bumped her shoulder against mine.

"You know," she said, her tone taking on that teasing quality I was learning to recognize, "you’re very generous with your wife. Most husbands would have stopped at the first purchase."

"I—"

"Shh." She pressed a finger to my lips, grinning.

Then she removed her finger and grabbed two meat skewers from the vendor, paid for them herself with coins from gods knew where, and handed one to me.

"Here. You look hungry."

I took it, too tired to argue.

We ate while walking, ending up near what looked like a small park area, a few benches under trees, a fountain in the center.

Tessa sat down on one of the benches with a contented sigh.

"This is nice," she said, leaning back. "Just... being somewhere new. Seeing new things." She looked at me. "I’m happy you didn’t make me go back."

"I tried. You didn’t listen."

"Exactly! See, you understand me perfectly. We’re so compatible." She said it with obvious humor.

I shook my head and sat beside her, finishing the meat skewer.

We should probably head back soon. Check on Scarlet.

But it was pleasant here. Quiet despite being in the middle of town. Almost peaceful.

By early afternoon, Tessa had declared she was hungry again—despite having eaten continuously through the market—and dragged me to a small tavern near the guild hall for lunch.

The place was busy but not packed. We found a table in the corner, ordered simple fare, stew, bread, ale for me and cider for Tessa.

I was halfway through my bowl when I picked up on a conversation from the next table over.

Three men talking in low voices that weren’t quite low enough.

"Hey, I heard the eastern routes are completely blocked now. Too dangerous."

"Beast activity’s insane this season. Way more aggressive than normal."

"Not just aggressive. Coordinated. Like they’re being driven out of their territories."

"You think it’s the dungeons?"

"Has to be. Three new ones appeared in the last month alone. All around the Thornwood area."

I kept eating, my expression neutral, but I was listening intently now.

"Guild’s posting dungeon subjugation missions left and right," the first man continued. "Good money, but the casualty rate is brutal."

"Heard a C-rank party got wiped out last week. All five members. Didn’t even make it past the second floor."

"Shit. What were they fighting?"

"Nobody knows. The dungeon collapsed before anyone could investigate."

A fourth voice joined, older, more authoritative.

"Keep your voices down. Guild doesn’t want people panicking. Last thing we need is merchant refusing to travel because they heard horror stories."

The conversation shifted to other topics after that.

But I kept thinking about what I’d heard.

New dungeons around Thornwood driving beasts out?

Is that also the reason for the beast wave that hit Oakmere.

But what creates three dungeons in a month? That’s not natural. Dungeons take years to form naturally.

Unless someone’s making them deliberately.

But why?

Tessa noticed my distraction.

"Jin? You okay?"

I blinked and focused on her.

"Yeah. Fine. Just thinking."

"About?"

"Nothing important. We should head back soon. Check on Scarlet."

She nodded, though her expression suggested she didn’t quite believe my dismissal.

We finished eating, paid, and headed back toward the inn.