The Witch’s Training ③
Shiro-san is asleep in the nap room.
He’s muttering strange things in his sleep, making him hard to approach.
Why is he sleeping here?
I tried asking Munieca-san.
“Shiro is sleeping in a place like that?”
“Wait, Shiro-san was even here?”
“I do not know. I haven’t heard anything about it.”
“Do you think The Witch might know?”
“Who knows? Whether she knows or not, The Witch wouldn’t pay it much mind.”
“That certainly sounds like her.”
“If she’s in the way, why not just move her? Or perhaps even sleep together?”
“There’s no way I could do that!?”
What is this person saying?
“Shiro wouldn’t mind something like that, you know.”
“I’m the one who minds! Besides, waking up to find someone sleeping next to me without me noticing would be terrifying!”
Incredibly scary. Or rather, just plain creepy.
“In that case, how about my humble room?”
“If I just need a place to sleep, the living room sofa is perfectly fine!”
I placed my backpack on the black sofa in the living room.
“If that’s the case, that’s fine, Goshujin-sama. Well then, I shall prepare the meal, so please go take a bath. You’re sweaty.”
“O-okay.”
There’s a bath in The Witch’s House. She’s lazy, but The Witch does like her baths.
So much so that she bathes three times a day, which is why she often walks around naked after getting out.
I strip naked in the changing room. Feeling a bit embarrassed, I wrap a towel around my waist.
As I opened the door to the bathing area, steam flowed out.
The Witch’s bath is packed with special features.
First off, the bathing area is underground.
Right after entering, I descend the gently sloping, curved stone stairs.
The stone stairs have been specially treated so they aren’t slippery from the dampness of the steam.
And now, I’ve arrived. This is The Witch’s prized bathing area.
Thick steam drifted through the air in the large bath, spacious enough to easily accommodate more than ten people.
At the far end sat large white and black pots, hot water constantly bubbling within them.
Pot Baths were something I remembered from my past life.
When I shared the idea, they took a great liking to it, and it was completed in less than a week.
There was a time when the bath at my place was broken, so I frequented a health spa for a while.
That’s when I really got into Pot Baths.
After getting out of the bath, having a beer and a Yurinchi Set Meal at the dining hall attached to Land was the absolute classic. Even The Witch got hooked on it.
I have to resist the urge to jump straight into the Pot Bath. First, I need to wash my body, and then it’s time for the Pot Bath.
Heading to the washing area. It wasn’t like my room, which just had a single large basin. Thanks to incorporating ideas from my past life’s memories, it had become a proper washing area.
Directly ahead of me was a dressing table. Understandably, there wasn’t a shower, but there was a barrel filled with hot water.
A bath stool and a washbasin. And then, shampoo, scented oil, and soap.
“Huh? The soap’s missing.”
“Ah, sorry, sorry. Here you go.”
“Oh, thanks.”
I took the soap and rubbed it onto my towel. After working it into a good lather, I started by scrubbing my back.
“Oh? So you start with your back, huh?”
“Yeah, well…”
“As for me, hmm. I guess I start from the front. I might not really pay much attention to my chest or anything like that.”
“Is that so?”
Washing from the back is unusual— I realized.
I immediately looked beside me. There was a girl with gray hair.
She was shorter than me and had fair skin. She was completely naked.
Well, of course she was. This is a bathhouse. It’s a bath. If she wasn’t naked, what would she be?
Her small, rounded body was partially hidden by bubbles here and there, but her rib bones were visible.
It was a somewhat unhealthy thinness.
This is what happens when you shut yourself away in a dark, damp place forever.
Her eyes were gray with reptilian pupils, and she had dark circles beneath them.
Her facial features were small and well-formed; she was undoubtedly beautiful.
She had no chest, and her rear was small too, but her body definitely didn’t look like a boy’s.
She suddenly turned towards me. Grinning broadly.
“Ooh, nice body you’ve got there~”
“Ch-ch-ch-Chive-san!?”
She laughed, saying something an old man might.
“Ooh, it’s Chive~”
She waved cheerfully. I was dumbfounded.
“Wh-wh-why are you here!?”
“Why, you ask? Well, because I’m here~?”
“I mean, a-aren’t you embarrassed!?”
When I practically barked the question, Chive-san tilted her head.
“Hmm, see, Boku? I don’t have any appeal as a woman, do I?”
She said, showing off her bubble-covered naked body.
That’s ridiculous.
“You absolutely do!”
“Fueh?”
Without thinking, I grabbed both her shoulders.
Chive-san flinched.
“Chive-san, you’re incredibly cute!”
“Eh— Eh— H-Hey, wait, Wof-cchi!?”
Chive-san’s face turned bright red.
Still holding onto her thin, small shoulders, I spoke.
I stated clearly and forcefully.
“Chive-san, you’re very charming! You’re cute, kind, you worry about me, you’re playful, fun, and on top of that, you have a nice body!”
She doesn’t have much of a chest, nor is her butt very big. She even looks unhealthily thin.
But Chive-san definitely had a proper feminine figure.
Her entire physique possessed a certain roundness. That was somehow appealing.
“Hyan! A-wa-awa-awawa-awawawa-awawawawa—!”
Her eyes spun in their sockets as she let out a strange cry.
Her entire body, not just her face, turned bright red like a boiled octopus.
“A-are you alright?!”
She looked like she was about to collapse, so I supported her body.
Did Chive-san get overheated, perhaps? Then, she murmured weakly.
“…S-Sorry… I’m sorry… Being in the bath was a coincidence, but… I was thinking of teasing you, Wof-cchi… I’m sorry… So, um, I’m really asking you… I’m super embarrassed right now, so please move away… I’m sorry… Please…”
“S-Sorry!”
Flustered, I moved away. And then I remembered how both she and I were dressed.
What am I doing?!
“Sob… sniffle… So embarrassing…”
“I’m getting out now.”
“No!”
Chive-san shouted.
She stared at me with intense gray eyes.
“Wof, you only just got in!”
“But—”
“It’s my fault… so you can’t leave.”
“Y-yes.”
There was an overwhelming force about her that allowed no argument.
I thought I faintly saw a black beast clad in armor behind her.
“Sit next to me.”
“Eh?”
“You haven’t washed yourself yet, right?”
“B-but…”
“It can’t be helped, can it? Since you’re the one at fault… So… this is punishment… oshioki… Since you’re the one who tried to tease me, you’re the one at fault… So… i-if you want to look, as much as you like… you can look… at my body…”
Wh-what… did she just say…!?
No, no, no. No, no, surely I couldn’t do something like that.
But well, teasing her wasn’t good, was it.
Filled with remorse, I sat down next to her.
It’s not like I’m thinking I just found some grand justification or anything.
“It’s… the first time… I’ve been seen… by a guy, though…”
“And yet, even if it was by chance, you still decided to tease me?”
“I… I’m sorry…”
“You shouldn’t do that again. No, you absolutely shouldn’t.”
“Yeah…”
“I can’t be held responsible for what happens if you try that on anyone else, you know.”
“N-No, I won’t do it again! Never again! Even now, I’m super, super embarrassed… Uuuugh, it’s embarrassing… I didn’t think… I’d get this embarrassed… Usually, being naked or whatever… doesn’t bother me… Why am I suddenly… so embarrassed just because Woff-cchi is here…? So embarrassing…”
Chive-san curled up, as if trying to hide herself.
Feeling rather exasperated with her, I started washing myself.
After that, I washed myself, keeping an eye on Chive-san next to me.
Chive-san also quietly washed her head, occasionally glancing my way.
After finishing washing, I got into the long-awaited Pot Bath.
I submerged myself in the black pot. Phew—this is it.
“…Phew…”
“Ahhh, this feels so good~”
A voice came from next to me. It seemed Chive-san had gotten into the white pot.
I glanced next to me for just a moment. My eyes met Chive-san’s perfectly.
Slowly, her cheeks flushing, she looked away.
I started feeling awkward too.
“…Heyyy… Wof.”
“W-what is it?”
“…Will you absolutely keep what happened today a secret~? …Please?”
“Of course.”
I mean, I really don’t see what benefit there would be in spreading it around.
If things went poorly, I’d be the one condemned for this incident.
“If The Witch finds out… I’ll be pickled in Herbal Tea…”
“…”
What does ‘pickled in Herbal Tea’ even mean?
Chive murmured shyly.
“If you keep quiet… I… I’ll choose you, Wof~.”
“That’s why I won’t tell you.”
Choose? What did she mean by that?
A question suddenly popped into my head. She said she was just teasing, but I have a feeling that wasn’t the real reason.
She probably said that because once I came in, she couldn’t get out anymore.
Well, it is Chive-san’s fault for coming in here on her own without telling anyone, though.
Still, what a day.