119: Ryokan Bathing

May 18, 2021 - 9 minutes read - 1881 words

Sorry about this series not getting any updates. Each chapter is pretty long, so when I’m tired I’d rather work on a short chapter (other series) than a long chapter. Hopefully my new two chapters on two series schedule works better.

“Why did you say my real age? If I was allowed to tell her I was only five, I might have made it into the female side!” Al

“Damn you! Was that some strategy for your own pleasure?” Irving

“After throwing us away without a second thought!” Mark

The two jealous men ended up going to the male side of the baths. Since it’s impossible to consider a seven-year-old an innocent child, the female side was banned for me. What a tough world…

In front of me, the two regretful guys take off their clothes and dump them into wicker baskets. I don’t want to watch this scene any longer than necessary, so I silently take off my clothes and throw them in another basket.

Rumba, Irving, and Mark were equipped with weapons, so I thought it would take them a while to undress, but it seems it was easier than I thought. In the blink of an eye they were wearing their birthday suits. I knew that Rumba was well-muscled from his usual appearance, but I was surprised to see that Mark and Irving also had a good amount of muscles. I guess adventurers who use physical weapons must spend time training their body? In comparison, the merchant Triela has no visible muscles.

“You’re not a girl, shouldn’t you put on some muscle?” Rumba

“Well, I’m doing some training, but I don’t have much muscle definition.” Triela

Rumba slaps Triela’s back, it seems to have a strong impact as it leaves a red handprint on Triela’s back. Well, some people just don’t build muscle even if they train. I often practice with Silvio, but I don’t have any muscles. Triela must have a similar body type.

We hold the towels provided by the employees in our hand. Nobody is trying to hide their crotch, why is that? After taking off my clothes “armor”, I feel liberated and refreshed, like I can do anything now. Our expressions are somewhat confident, it seems like we all have the same feeling of exhilaration.

We all take deep breaths and exhale slowly.

“Ok, I’m good!” Al

“Oh!” Others

For some reason, we chose to scream bravely and nakedly as we opened the sliding door. Steam rushes out past our feet as we open the door and air with moisture and less heat comes in. The fluffy cool air flows around us as it to take away the heat from our skin. As a result, a paradise covered in steam appears.

The first thing I notice is the huge bathtub in the center of the bathhouse. It’s still covered in steam, from the water’s temperature. The structure of the ceiling is quite high and provides a liberating feeling. It looks like the floor is made of processed stone? Although it’s a bit rough, it’s smooth enough to the touch.

“Oh, it’s wide…” Rumba

Rumba, who is standing next to me, manages to say something. Irving and Mark are nearby, but just have their mouths half-open. I guess they didn’t expect it to be this big. Only simple words are coming out, I guess they didn’t expect it to be this big.

Triela seems to have expected this situation, he responds with a proud laugh.

“Hey! Do you want to get in now?” Irving

Irving tried to go straight for the bath, but Triela grabbed his arm.

“Didn’t you see the sign in the dressing rom? You have to wash your body before entering the tub. They don’t want the hot water to get dirty so easily.” Triela

“Ah…” Irving replies seriously.

I understand Irving’s impulse, when you see a great bath like that in front of you, you’d want to dive in. But if the important hot water turned dirty, it would have to be drained and refilled.

So that doesn’t happen, we go to the magic tools around the edge of the bathhouse, all of Triela, Rumba, Mark, Irving and me. We put a bath stool down in the right place, with a ‘kakon’ on the floor.

“That sounded nice.” Rumba

Rumba was sitting normally, but he seemed to like the sound the chair made on the ground. He lifted his up to set it down again. He then laughed happily and sat down. For some reason, Irving, Mark, and Triela imitated him. I hope this bath starts being more

I think about those things while looking at the ceiling while listening to the pleasant sounds of water using my ears. I love this sort of relaxing and peaceful time. However, if I don’t pay attention, my body can get cold and I’ll catch a cold. I’ll use some hot water immediately.

In front of me was a round tub, faucet, mirror, and a shower-like magic tool to use for washing off the soap. It uses a hose-type thing to provide the water, it’ll be fine as long as it puts out enough hot water. Maybe if I twist the round button to the red side, it’ll come out.

“Huh? What’s this?” Rumba

Rumba messes with the shower handle in front of him with a suspicious expression on his face. The outlet was pointed towards me, and the direction of the button on the handle was blue. I reacted to the danger by turning the outlet around using Psychic Magic. Like I thought, water flew out of the outlet that Rumba was messing with.

“Wow ah ah ah! My back is cold?!” Mark

Cold water splashed onto the back of Mark, it seems Rumba twisted the knob too hard.

“Augh! That’s cold! Rumba?” Irving

It seems Rumba didn’t just hit Mark, but also splashed Irving a little with the water.

“Hmm, oh, my bad. So this spits out water? Huh!” Rumba figures it out and turns the knob while laughing.

“Oh, that’s starting to hurt! Are you turning the water up?” Mark

It seems like Rumba turned the knob the wrong way, so even more water hit Mark’s back.

“Rumba, turn it the other way.” Al

“Oh, yeah! Right!” Rumba says as he finally stops the water.

Whoa, if I didn’t use magic, I would have been showered with cold water. I have to thank Mark in the future for his noble sacrifice. I get around to using my faucet to pour some hot water into the tub in front of me, then splash hot water over my body.

“Ahh….” Al sighs in exhilaration as the dust and sweat washes off his body.

Why is hot water so comfortable?

“Hmm… I’m coming back to life…” Mark

“I’m happy to be warm…” Irving

Mark and Irving are recovering after their impromptu cold shower, seems they’re also enjoying the hot water.

I splash hot water over all of my body, then use a washcloth to lather up from a nicely scented soap to wash myself thoroughly. Everyone

“Hey Mark, I’ll wash your back.” Irving

“Ok, I’ll get yours when mine is done.” Mark

Mark and Irving team up to wash their backs without using a stick. It’s not beautiful, even if they’re doing teamwork.

“Oh, then should we also wash our back?” Rumba

“Then, I’ll wash Rumba’s back!” Al

After Rumba’s suggestion, I jump at the role of washing Rumba’s back. If he’s washing my back, I might lose some of the skin on my back.

“Oh, hmm… Then I’ll wash Triela’s back!” Rumba

“eh?” Triela

In that fashion, we sit down and wash each other’s back in turn. I try, but Rumba’s back is difficult due to the size and definition of the muscles. It’s difficult to apply strong force.

“Hey, Al. Put a bit more effort into it.” Rumba

“Ow, that hurts! I’d like Mr. Rumba to take it a bit more gently!” Triela

While laughing internally at the poor Triela, I strengthen myself with magic power so I can wash with all my strength.

“Oh, that’s just right.” Rumba

Is it reasonable to strengthen your body for this? Is it because I’m a child or is Rumba just too sturdy.

“That’s still not right! Please go even weaker!” Triela

One person is still in a pinch, but I don’t really care.

When I was done washing Rumba’s back, I filled the tub in front of me with hot water then dumped it over me. A hose is nice too, but I prefer to use a tub to wash it all off at once. When I washed off my back with the water, the soap and dirt disappeared and instead all I could see was smooth skin.

“Hmm, I think you’ve got it all.” Triela

“Oh, thank you Al.” Rumba

“I keep feeling a tingling sensation whenever I use the hot water.” Triela

I can hear a pained voice from the other side of Rumba. Rumba didn’t intend to hurt anyone, so please forgive me for the redirection strategy.

After we finished washing our faces, we got up from our stools and headed for the bathtub.

“You can’t bring the towel into the bathtub, right?” Triela says as he points at a sign saying that. The sign even has pictographs to make it clear for those who can’t read.

“So, don’t put the towel in the hot water, got it.” Rumba

We put our towels on our heads, according to the sign. I could see bubbles in the green hot water of the bath, it must be a medicinal bath. It looks like there’s a stall bath outside.

“Is there a bath outside?” Al

“Well, let’s enjoy this big bath first.” Triela

I thought about going outside for the other bath, but I was encouraged to enter the big bathtub inside first. I lightly check the temperature of the water with my hand, then slowly put my feet in. The temperature is a little higher than the washing area. I end up submerging my body in the hot water in one motion.

“Ahh…” Al leaks out as I enjoy the water.

The heat makes my body tingle, but that soon faded away. It’s like the trip’s tiredness melts away into the hot water.

“Ahh…” Mark, Irving, Rumba, & Triela

One after another, voices of relaxation come out of the other people around me.

“You all sound like old men.” Al

“Ah, I don’t want to be told that by Alfred. He always seems to speak beyond his age.” Triela

I can’t deny that. I look to the ceiling to deceive the heavens. It’s hard to take a bath in such a spacious bathtub without having feelings of liberation. Well, if I used Transfer magic, I could take a bath here every day…

I would need to pay to take a bath, so I’d have to get a house near the inn so I could blend in properly.

“Ah… this feels so good.” Al mutters while stretching his limbs.

“Oh, so true.” Mark

“Indeed” Triela

Everyone replies with assent while enjoying the hot water…

At the end of the bathtub, hot water flows from a lion statue, giving off a pleasant sound of water.