The Fervent Sand Baths

by Nagaharu Hibihana

  Her blunt words made me feel pressure all the more, but I sensed that she had predicted my reaction and increased the force in her words even further.

  Roni finished washing my back, so we traded places and I started washing hers instead. Roni, in turn, started washing Clena’s back. We were all lined up in a row.

  The girls had their towels off for times like this, but right now, all I could see was Roni’s back. Or rather, her bushy tail caught my eyes the most. It made for a pleasant scene, but I had to admit I was still a little disappointed.

  The soap we were using was taken from my Unlimited Bath. Warped bars of soap were set out for us, but the difference in how well they lathered was too significant.

  “Oh yeah, Sir Touya. Should we ask to transmit a message through the temple?”

  “Hm? Oh, you mean with the temple communication magic?”

  Apparently all temples offered it as a service. There was a fee attached, of course, so it wasn’t something an ordinary person could freely use.

  “Haruno’s party went to Athenapolis, right?”

  “Yeah, she said they were making it their main base.”

  Haruno didn’t know that I had left the Torano’o tribe and arrived at Ceresopolis. She probably had no way of finding that out unless I contacted her first.

  “You think we should wait until tomorrow to ask?”

  “Unless you want to abuse your status as a hero, that’s the best option.”

  “I don’t. Who would want to try that?”

  My goal was to bathe with Haruno and her party, and to achieve that, I needed to earn both power and reputation. I might be able to use my “Hero of the Goddess” title as a means to that end.

  But I had no intent to brandish that authority without good reason. Rather, I might earn myself an ill reputation by doing so. Thus, we put off contacting Haruno until tomorrow.

  After we finished cleaning ourselves, we wrapped ourselves in towels again and stood in front of the bathtub. At that moment, I realized something.

  “Hey, Clena.”

  “What is it? Hurry up and get in.”

  “In this world, is it proper manners to enter the bath with a towel on?”

  “...Huh? Why wouldn’t it be?”

  Clena answered my question with a question. It appeared that this world didn’t address the issue at all.

  Back in my world, entering the bath with a towel on would dirty the water with soap residue and towel lint, and it would clog the filters in the circulation system as well.

  The residents of the temple were likely going to use this bath after us. The baths in this world had no circulation, so dirtying the water might cause an issue. The towels we had wrapped ourselves with were different from the ones we had just used to wash ourselves. They were all clean, so one would hardly notice a difference in the water, but I couldn’t stop thinking about it now that I was aware of the issue.

  Clena looked troubled herself after I explained this to her. Roni looked like she didn’t pick up on all of it and stood there with a puzzled expression.

  “But in the Unlimited Bath...”

  “No one used that other than us, plus I can add or remove water at will, and clean it whenever.”

  Not to mention I could control the temperature as well.

  It was thanks to the gift’s powers that we could enter the bathtub wrapped in towels unaffected by those issues. But now that we were using a regular bath, we had to consider our etiquette.

  “Touya... You’re not saying all this because you want to see us naked, right?”

  “Wha— Why do you think that?!”

  I turned toward Clena and was met with a scornful stare.

  It was true that she could interpret my words that way, but that wasn’t my intent by any means. It was a matter of etiquette for guests using this bath.

  I mean, I did actually want to see them naked. I wanted to take in the sights of their bodies without a single thread of clothing or soap suds covering them up, but I didn’t want to force them into anything.

  “That’s just how it was in my world.”

  “Well, since your baths are so different from ours, it’s no wonder our rules of etiquette are different...” Clena was conflicted.

  She was a prudent girl. I was sure she understood my reasoning. And I was sure she understood that there was a good point to my suggested rules of etiquette.

  “But baths normally don’t get that dirty anyway, right?”

  “It’s just that stuff like towel lint is hard to notice. But they’re definitely in the water.”

  “With a towel like this, though...”

  In this world, there were no towels as thick, fluffy, and soft on the skin as were common in Japan. They were all flimsy, like handkerchiefs. That one perverted craftsman never touched this field of work, likely because it didn’t involve underwear.

  In the end, there was probably no problem with just entering the bath with our towels on, since the residue wouldn’t stand out. The question was what we should do if there was a problem.

  In any case, even if I suggested for us to take off our towels, I doubted Clena would oblige with a simple “Okay, sure.” She would sometimes be bold and defiant, but despite that, she was easily embarrassed at heart.

  On the other hand, Roni would probably strip without a second thought. In her case, it was less that she had no shame and more that she paid little mind to it.

  And thus I tried suggesting a compromise.

  “It’s a pretty large bath, so why don’t we get in with some distance between us?”

  “Hm? Oh, that’s a good idea.”

  Clena must have been pretty anxious if she hadn’t arrived at that idea herself.

  “What should we do for the usual massages, Sir Touya?”

  “We can do those when we get back to the room. We have a bed today, after all.”

  “That’s true. Let’s take up Touya on his idea,” Clena said, then led Roni and herself toward the far end of the bath.

  Clena was probably suspecting that after taking off her towel and soaking in the water, I would get out of the bath and walk by her. I tried to stop her, but soon enough, I just stopped and stared at the wet bath towel clinging to her round and shapely butt.

  “Ughhh...”

  After that, Clena was lying on the sofa in our VIP room, feeling faint after the bath. Roni was doing a respectable job preparing water and other remedies for her. Rulitora was fanning her, and I was being used as a lap pillow.

  I had tried to stop her because I thought this would happen. Between the three of us, I tended to bathe the longest.

  Next was Roni.

  And Clena was in last place with the shortest time.

  Though we entered the bath at a distance from each other, it wasn’t so much so that we could no longer see each other. Clena noticed that and drew herself further away in the bath, and was likely planning to get out after I was done.

  I had planned to get out soon enough, but before that, Clena started to faint. Perhaps because the bath was underground, the steam collected more easily than usual.

  I realized Clena had fainted when Roni called out to her, and then I rushed over myself to help her up. I of course let myself revel at the sight and even touched her as well. Or rather, Clena was totally limp, so Roni and I had to wipe her down and change her into her clothes.

  How should I put it? They were incredible.

  Clena didn’t have a particularly large build; she was shorter than me. She had a dignified appearance, but still possessed an air of youthful cuteness about her. On the contrary, her body was that of a fine woman. She was voluptuous with skin tinted light rose.

  She was always worried about how she was plump compared to Roni, but looking at her like this, her soft, buxom breasts and plump, full butt granted her some amazing proportions. I didn’t have the opportunity to take it all in when I was healing her burns, but now that I was wiping her down, I felt like I was handling a work of art.
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  I was making contact with something meant to be sacred. The thought made me feel elated and even brought a tear to my eye.

  My only mistake was not wrapping a towel around my waist in the frenzy and letting Roni see me.

  Not to mention it was while I was having a reaction any healthy male would have.

  She was predictably embarrassed by that, and kept glancing in my direction with red cheeks as she looked after Clena.

  Clena noticed her behavior and asked me about it.

  “Hey, what’s wrong with Roni?”

  “...While we were taking care of you in the changing room, she saw me too.”

  As she heard that, her face was quickly dyed the color of embarrassment. From those words, she could deduce what Roni had seen of me, and what I had seen of Clena as well.

  Roni had exposed herself to me as well, but she appeared not at all bothered by that, which was very in-character for her. I’ll just say that lycaons, the wolven demi-humans, weren’t particularly hairy aside from their ears and tail.

  “Should I apologize to her now?”

  “Apologize for what? Just act like you always do. I’ll make sure to follow up with her later,” Clena said, and sat back up. It seemed like she was fine now.

  “Sorry, you’re a big help.”

  “Don’t worry about it. That’s my role, after all.”

  Clena laughed and waved her hand at me.

  Clena had been disowned and lost her place to return to, but she became my party member because she saw potential in my future and allowed herself to be taken under my wing.

  But that didn’t mean she just followed me around. She stood beside me and offered mutual support. She didn’t want to just be taken care of; that was her way of life.

  That notion of not simply relying on others felt similar to Haruno’s mannerisms as well. Perhaps one of Haruno’s aspirations was to lead a lifestyle similar to Clena’s.

  I took Clena and Roni to the bedroom.

  Since the first sacred king had a party of four, the notion that a party should consist of four people persisted in this world to this day. Even in the military, the smallest number a troop could be made of was four. Because of that, it was common for guest rooms to have accommodations for four people, and this VIP room was no exception.

  We were supposed to massage each other as we weren’t able to do so in the bath, but now that Roni was being shy, I was massaging Clena instead.

  “I’ve been wanting to try this~ Come on, lie down over there.”

  It was my turn first tonight. I lied face down on the bed as Clena commanded, and then she sat herself down on my back in her thin pajamas.

  “Whoa... soft!”

  “...Were you saying something just now?”

  “N-no, just your imagination.”

  The weight on my back was soothing.

  Roni, who had yet to receive her massage, stared at me with a bright red face and eyes that looked ready to devour me. She was embarrassed, yet filled with curiosity. I didn’t think it was just my imagination that her line of sight went toward my hips.

  At this rate, Clena should handle Roni’s massage tonight rather than me. We might not be able to bathe together tomorrow night. The best decision here was to wait for Clena to handle the situation rather than for me to approach her with the awkward topic. It seemed prudent for me to leave the room while Clena massaged Roni.

  I wonder if I’ll be able to see Roni’s usual smile tomorrow? I indulged myself in Clena’s massage as I gave thought to these things.

  “Good morning, Sir Touya!”

  Roni’s attitude had lightened up a bit after all the worrying I had done last night. Or rather, it felt like we were acting more like how she and Clena normally acted together. Like we had grown a little more intimate with each other.

  I didn’t know what Clena discussed with her last night, but by the time I returned to the bedroom, Roni had covered her face with the blankets and wouldn’t let me look at her. That made me concerned about what was going to happen with her, but it seemed my worries were unfounded. Roni just happened to be embarrassed at the time.

  I opened the door to the Unlimited Bath, wanting to wash my face.

  “...Excuse me.”

  But I closed the door as soon as I opened it.

  “What’s wrong, Touya?”

  “Wrong room.”

  “Uh, how could you have gotten the wrong room?” Clena looked perplexed.

  Well, she had a point.

  I tried opening the door again. The view was just the same as before. I wasn’t just seeing things.

  “Um, Sir Touya...? Where did this door lead to again...?”

  The sight past the door was completely different from how it was just last night.

  “Uh, it shouldn’t lead anywhere other than the Unlimited Bath, but... Did I gain a level from lodging here?” I’d heard of games with such features in the past.

  “You gain levels naturally. Though you can’t tell until you update your status card,” Clena said, then peered inside the Unlimited Bath from beside me.

  “There’s no bathtub anymore...”

  “There’s a big window, but the glass doesn’t seem very high quality.”

  Roni also peered inside from my other side, both of them speaking their minds. But they were both missing the point.

  They probably didn’t understand at the moment, but beyond this door was the changing room.

  It was about the size of six tatami mats. The floor was tiled in a soft color. A sink was on the right, and next to it was a large, front-loading washing machine. The thing Roni called a big window was, in fact, a door. Before it lay a bath mat for your feet.

  Until this day, the Unlimited Bath comprised of just one room, but instead of a door it had a curtain dividing the changing and bathing rooms. It must have been their first time seeing a door like this.

  Compared to the world we were currently in, the quality of the glass was very high. No one would even consider having a door made of glass here. Roni’s comment on it being low quality likely referred to how opaque it was, but that was because of the bathing room on the opposite side.

  “For now, let’s go to Rulitora... No, let’s get him over here. We’ll have our breakfasts delivered to the room.”

  “I understand. I’ll get him.” Roni quickly spun around on her heels and left the room to fetch Rulitora.

  In the meantime, Clena and I stepped into the Unlimited Bath and started investigating.

  I opened the glass door to find a bathtub. No surprises there. The materials of the walls and floor were unchanged. The goods we had left next to the wall were spread all over the floor, where the wall would’ve been had the room not changed in size. The control panel was on the wall at about eye level right next to the door, and another one was located on the wall near the bathtub.

  This room had also expanded. Now all three of us could wash ourselves like we did last night in the larger bathroom. The bathtub was large enough to fit all three of us.

  “Clena, would you mind checking if the bathroom works like it did before? I’ll check out the changing room in the meantime.”

  “That’s the door, right? Got it.”

  She switched places with me and went to check if the faucets and shower could run both hot and cold water like they did before. During the past week she’d gotten accustomed to the control panel that regulated water temperature.

  Keeping one eye on her, I began scouting the area, starting from the sink. In front of me was a large mirror. This would also be considered high quality to the people of this world. To the left and right of it were cabinets. I found a toothbrush holder in the right cabinet.

  They had toothbrushes in this world, but the quality was a far cry from modern Japan’s. Cavities could be healed with magic here, so there was no demand for higher quality toothbrushes. You could say that brushing your teeth here was mainly to keep bad breath at bay. For people with regular access to healing magic, it w
asn’t uncommon to skip the brushing process entirely and just chew on specialized herbs. It was an environment that I just couldn’t get used to, as a person with modern Japanese sensibilities.

  Opening the cabinet under the sink, I found spare toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, shampoo, and even laundry detergent. Of course, all of this was created from my MP. The toothpaste came in all varieties, from kid’s to medicinal to ones for sensitive teeth.

  Actually, Clena was pretty obsessive about brushing her teeth. She claimed it was to preserve their bright whiteness, but according to Roni, she had suffered from cavities as a child.

  She might like the whitening toothpaste.

  At that point, Roni returned with Rulitora in tow. The two of them stood in the doorway, curiously gauging the inside of the room.

  “Is this because of you leveling up?”

  “You think so, too?” I answered Rulitora’s question with a question of my own. I didn’t really know, either.

  “We’re checking to see if everything can still be used for now, so can you two check if all our stuff is okay?”

  “Understood.”

  “Alright, then I’ll take them outside for now.”

  “Thank you. I’ve gotten better with it now, but I’m still not good with humidity.”

  The humidity had gone down now that the washroom and changing rooms were separate, but Rulitora still seemed averse to the damp air. Considering how he used to avert his face and complain about his eyes stinging, though, it was a huge step forward.

  That aside, I went to inspect the washing machine next. It was front-loading, and from the control panel I could tell that it also had a drying function. The text on it was of this world, though. It looked like something you’d find where I came from, but I wasn’t able to locate a manufacturer logo anywhere.

  There was a metal basket on the side, in which an instruction manual was placed. It was a standard modern electrical appliance manual no matter how you looked at it, but just like the control panel it was written in this world’s language, which gave it a surreal aura.