Chapter 52 – Baring Oneself to Another (1/2)

Ahh, that was amazing!”

The four of them were sitting back, resting after finishing off an entire wolf's worth of meat. There was still a second wolf's portion left, but there was no way for them to continue eating. I continued to cook it all as I placed the finished meat to a serving plate.

When it was all cooked, I cleaned everything up and put the remaining food into my bag for later.

But there was something that was bothering me quite a bit.

As these guys ate, the sauce dripped all over the place. While they managed to keep most of it from getting onto their clothes, their hands and faces were covered in it. Even worse, they acted like kids and wiped their mouths with their dirty hands and licked the sauce off of their fingers.

I couldn't help but wonder how these guys kept from getting sick as they haven't even washed their hands before eating. I didn't think much of it at first as they were eating using utensils, but that quickly proved to be naive of me.

Cleaning everything up without saying anything in regards to it brought me to my limit and made me acutely aware how I hadn't cleaned myself in the last two days either.

”Alright then, is everyone ready to get a move on?”

”Wait a sec!”

Before anyone could say anything, I piped up.

”You're not thinking of hitting the road without at least cleaning yourselves up first, are you?”

Everyone's expression clearly told me that they were. More than that, that they didn't even consider any alternative.

”Can we hold up a bit and at least wash up a bit before starting? Aren't you guys sticky with all that sauce on your hands and faces?”

”Ah, well...”

”I mean...”

”It'll stop being sticky after a bit, right?”

”I've got most of it off already anyways.”

Once again I've been reminded the difference in hygiene from Earth compared to here. And all the while, Claret completely ignored everything and continued to hang off of me like a living cloak.

”Look, it won't take long, but let's take a quick bath, alright?”

”A bath? I think the stream's a bit too shallow for that.”

”No, I mean...”

I suppose that would've been the first thought most people would have. Rather than taking the time to explain, I simply worked my literal magic and made a simple clay open topped room rise up from the ground.

”””Woa...”””

”Let's go. If we don't hurry, it'll be noon by the time we set off.”

I quickly grabbed the girl's wrist while avoiding her sticky hand and pulled her through the entrance which I promptly filled in with more clay. The inside of the room was little more than just an open space with a large bath tub filled with steaming water taking up half of it.

”Wow, this is...”

The girl looked at the bath in surprise as I let go of her.

”This, isn't it like those you hear about in nobles' mansions?!”

”Huh?”

(I guess so? I have one in my home and there's an even bigger multi-part one at the orphanage's now. Ah, I hope they learn magic soon so that they can fill it the easy way.)

Without time to waste, I stripped off my robes. Glancing back at the girl, she was still standing stunned.

”There's no point in getting in without taking your clothes off.”

”Ah, yea!”

As she quickly removed her equipment, I finished taking everything off, then extended some clothes racks out of the walls and hung my clothes off of one of them. Finally, I took out a piece of cloth from my bag to wash my body with.

Without waiting for my delayed companion, I stepped into the bath without first washing up. I had learned my lesson already regarding the rarity of soap. Bringing it out here was likely to be a bad idea, even if these guys were people Mint trusted. Rather than letting information about it leak, it was better to just suck up a proper cleaning and simply rinse my body and enjoy a short soak.

”Wow, this is a bath?”

Still clinging to my neck, Claret moved to my side and poked at the hot water playfully. Ripple came out from the point she touched.

As realization slowly dawned on me, my eyes grew as round as saucers.

”Wh, wait! You can't...!”

”Is something wron...g?”

To my side, the adventurer girl stood there, her face red as she covered her bare self with her hands. Except they were slipping a bit and I could clearly see what was supposed to be covered. Now that she wasn't wearing that long sleeved and skirted dress, I could see how toned her muscles were. It wasn't like she looked like a body builder, but rather like a proper athlete. Rather than her well defined muscles bulging, they were sleek and tight. There was hardly any fat obscuring any of the muscles that looked almost like tightly wound springs.

She lacked a bit of the curves of a proper woman, but she was young enough that she probably still had good prospects if she ate properly.

”Ah no, umm...”

”Master, if you want to talk to me without anyone hearing, you can just focus your thoughts at me while thinking something.” <Just like this.>

As my eyes flicked back to Claret, the last bit resounded in my head without first going through my ears.

<Can you hear me?>

<I can hear you Master!>

With a big grin, the dark spirit threw herself at me and hugged my head. I had to wrest her off of me so I could turn my attention at the other person in the room.

”Aren't you coming in?”

From the corner of my eye, the overly fondle obsessed spirit looked at the girl in annoyance. A quick glance confirmed that there weren't any ripple forming from where she was touching, or rather phasing through, the water anymore.

”So beautiful...”

Her words were quietly mumbled, but were loud enough to evoke some bitter thoughts in me and I quickly turned away from her. Despite that, my cheeks felt a bit warm. I wasn't used to being called beautiful at all.

”Of course you're beautiful! You're the most beautiful person in the whole world Master! Nobody else could compare to you before, but now nobody can even get close you're so beautiful!”

My cheeks grew as red as my name suggested at the absurd flattery Claret excitedly threw out without hesitation. All around us the little fluffballs danced around like they were cheering and agreeing with her words. I sunk down into the bath until everything but the top of my head was submerged in an attempt to hide how embarrassed I felt.

Not like it was any use. The water was so clear that I could clearly see everyone hovering above.

Eventually though, I reached my limit in holding my breath and I raised my head out of the water with a small splash. The adventurer girl jerked her head towards me and her cheeks quickly grew even more rosy than the what the hot water had been doing. The fact that she refused to avert her eyes made me even more conscious about her impression of me.

Trying to ignore her stare, I looked away and started to rub my skin with the cloth under the water, removing as much dirt as I could without the aid of any soap. It wasn't wholly satisfying, but better than nothing.

The sound of splashing reached my ears as the water level in the large bath tub rose. When I raised my face, the girl quickly averted her head, but not-so-subtly kept glancing at me while she scrubbed her on skin with a cloth of her own.

I did my best to ignore it and continued to rub myself clean before combing my hair with my wet fingers in an attempt to wash it. Once I squeezed out as much water from my hair as I could, I got out of the tub and dried myself by evaporating all the water from my body before making my way over to my things and dressed myself.

”Are you almost done, or do you want me to let the others join you?”

As I flipped my hood down to protect my face, I let out a stupid joke as a bit of revenge for how she was staring at me.

”Wah! Wait!”

Taking my joke seriously, the girl practically jumped out of the water, forgetting to cover herself before rushing over to her clothes. As it was the result of my little joke, I applied the evaporation spell to her body before she got her clothes wet.

”Oh, thanks.”

But she quickly turned back and got clothed as fast as she could.

As she was finishing up strapping her armour and weapon on, I opened up a hole in the wall and stepped through.

”Alright, your turn.”

The three guys all turned from around the dead campfire. The human adventurer had the cat boi in an arm lock. I didn't want to know why they were in that position, nor why the sharp eared one suddenly looked so devastated after seeing me.

”Did you really make a bath in there?”

Rather than answering Mint, I directed a hand towards the hole as the adventurer girl stepped out.

”If you don't hurry, we won't make much progress today.”

”Ah, right.”

They all quickly filed through the hole. There were some exclamations from inside as I made my way to my personal spot on the wagon.

”Miss Scarlet?”

The girl stepped up behind me. She was looking down and fidgeting as she gathered her courage.