Chapter 228: The Private Use of the Large Bathhouse
“Why is the bathhouse in such an unmentionable state!?”
Ivan returned from the bathhouse, covering his mouth.
“I already explained that we can’t use the bath anymore. Were you not listening?”
“But, the sister from Elvirinos just came out of the bathhouse, right!? You’d think we could still use it!”
So, Ivan refers to her as ‘sister.’
“I apologize. We will take care of the mess in our bath. We will also conduct repairs, but I can’t say when they will be completed given the current situation…”
“Oh, I’ll release the restraints for now.”
I had restrained them just in case, but I definitely want the bathhouse cleaned up. And the open-air bath needs repairs too. I considered the possibility of another attack, but I didn’t think it would be a significant threat.
“Thank you. —Laila.”
“Understood.”
Laila-san, called by name, silently left the room.
“Still… mixing sleeping pills into the food was a bit too simple, don’t you think? We were staying in enemy territory; couldn’t they have done a little more?”
I asked, curious about the situation. Honestly, using a lethal poison would have been a quicker way to silence us. The needle that pierced Rio could have been something far more dangerous. At that moment, when we were completely trusting, it would have been hard to dodge such an attack.
“No, that would have alerted Lord Shu. The investigation results indicated that you possess Danger Detection.”
“I see…”
That makes sense. Danger Detection is useful, but it won’t react unless the threat is life-threatening or could cause serious injury. It would be terrifying if we were slowly suffocated like being strangled with a silk thread, only to realize it was too late. But I suppose it would give a warning before it became too late.
“I debated between while sleeping and while bathing, but I chose the latter. While you can keep weapons by your bedside, you can’t bring them into the bath, and the situation of being attacked while naked won out. I didn’t feel it was particularly effective, though…”
“I see?”
Considering how Danger Detection reacts, it makes sense. This might be a good opportunity to ask about the effects of the skill.
“Oh, by the way, I have a favor to ask.”
“What is it?”
“It’s not urgent, but could we reserve the large bathhouse for ourselves?”
“Reserve… you say?”
Mesaria-san blinked in surprise, repeating my words.
“Phonia mentioned that she wanted to bathe with everyone, so I thought she might actually want to join us all.”
“Fufu, how kind of you. Understood. I will find a time when there are fewer people. Now, I must contact the remaining executives, so I will take my leave.”
“Ah, thanks.”
After a polite bow, she quietly left. The remaining executives, huh… I suddenly recalled the ones I had knocked out when I went to retrieve Rio. There was even one who had lost his limbs. I could treat them, but it would depend on how Rio was treated by them. Well, I’ll leave that to Rio.
“In the end, I’m the only one who hasn’t bathed…”
Still, it’s good to see that Ivan has gotten into the habit of bathing. That’s a positive change.
“Alright, Phonia, shall we all go to the bath?”
“Eh?”
I invited Phonia after we finished breakfast, and she had slept soundly until the next morning. When she heard that everything was done, her ears drooped, and she didn’t seem very energetic. Mesaria-san had informed me that the large bathhouse would have very few people using it in the morning, so it was reserved for us.
“We’re going to the bath in the morning? But I heard from Ivan-nii that the bath in our room is unusable now?”
“Don’t worry. We reserved the large bathhouse, so it’s just us.”
“Just us?”
“Yeah, since it’s the large bathhouse, Ivan will be joining us too.”
“！ I’m going! I’m going to the bath!”
The moment Phonia heard that Ivan would be joining us, her tail began to wag excitedly.
“The entrances are separate, though. Starting today, we’ll be having morning baths for a while.”
“That’s great, Phonia-chan.”
“Yeah!”
Feeling a bit more energetic, we headed to the large bathhouse together.
“Morning baths are really nice!”
I stretched out while soaking in the open-air bath of the large bathhouse. The blue sky stretched above us, and it was a beautiful sight in its own right. We had positioned ourselves at the spot where the wall separating men and women in the bath was broken. I was in the middle, with Ivan and Rio on either side, unable to see each other due to the wall. Meanwhile, Phonia was happily moving back and forth between my left and right sides, seemingly wanting to be sandwiched between the two.
As for Nil, she was being held by Phonia in her usual spot.
“Baths feel so good!”
“Yeah, I never thought I’d want to bathe every day like this.”
Ivan scooped water with both hands to wash his face. Just then, the sound of the door leading to the indoor bath opening and closing echoed through the open-air bath. Had someone come in? I thought we had reserved it.
The figure that appeared was a thin old man. This situation felt oddly familiar. Since he was still dressed, he probably just came to complain. What a bother.
“Honestly, isn’t this large bathhouse supposed to be open to everyone? Reserving it is just plain inconsiderate.”
Wait a minute, isn’t that the Ero-jii from before?