Volume 3 - Ch 3.12
Another thing that I sincerely hope will improve with time, would be my speed of switching between sets of equipment whenever I reset my character from a Durandal-focused build to a magic-focused one, because I have to do it every single time whenever there might be people around in the Labyrinths. All for the sake of keeping my abilities and OP sword a secret from others. That being said, did my Bonus Skills list contained something like a Skill that allowed you to keep like two sets of different items that could be switched between at any time? Because I dont think it did, which is a kind of a shame, because that would be very useful in our current situation, not to mention that it would be pretty neat to swing Durandal at one moment only to change it to wand and magic on the spot.
Ugh, if itll always take so long to prepare, then I am afraid we will be forced to only take baths once a week at best.
Once per week? What does that mean, master?
It means once or twice every ten days.
Is that a big issue?
Not as much an issue as you know what? Nevermind.
That was a small conversation that happened between us when we went to the Labyrinth so that I could recover my lost MP for the second time. Well, instead of a conversation, I guess it would be mor accurate to say that it was just me complaining while Roxanne listened to me without saying as much as a word. As such, I am sure that even though she would never have said that out loud, Roxanne is probably thinking that I must be some kind of unhinged weirdo who uses incomprehensible words that no one besides me understands. Its a good thing that she bought my story about me hailing from a distant eastern country (which is not technically wrong, by the way, since back in my old world, Japanwasan eastern island nation), because I can always explain it by saying that this is how the people of that land to the east, whatever that land can actually be, talk during their everyday lives. Also, this exchange of ours allowed me to discover an interesting tidbit of information about this world: even though they have something akin to a calendar that allows them to track down the progress of time needed to know things like when will be the day of collecting taxes or when the first day of spring will arrive, there seems to be no concept of a week here, which admittedly is pretty weird, but ultimately I guess it should not hinder any of my plans for living here all that much.
When we got back home and resumed the process of filling the bathtub, the temperature of the entire room began to steadily rise, until at one point the entire bathroom was basically turned into a sauna, thats how hot and steamy it actually got, to the point where it was getting a wee bit difficult for me to breathe. For the time being I asked Roxanne to wait outside of the bathroom since I didnt want her to get affected by the heat, since just by staying in that steaming hot room for a while I have become so drenched in sweat as if it was a scorching-hot summer day. I worked on filling the bathtub like that until I almost ran out of MP again.
Here you go, master. Have yourself a towel to wipe all of that sweat off.
Thank you, Roxanne. Youre just too kind.
When I left the room to avoid turning into a dried-up, shriveled mummy, Roxanne was already waiting for me outside with a clean towel in tow. I gratefully took it from her and used it to wipe the sweat off my face.
What do you want to do now, master? Are we going to the Labyrinth one more time?
Yeah, you got that right. We are heading to the Labyrinth alright.
With the washcloth that she gave to me, I wiped the sweat off my face and neck. I probably have some of it on my back as well, but theres no time for me to be worrying about something so trivial when we need to go to the Labyrinth again. Come to think of it, how long have we been repeating the cycle of me filling the jugs with water, heating them up, filling the bathtub until I run out of MP and going back and forth between our house and the Labyrinth to replenish it? Was it an hour, two hours or even longer? I dont really know, but I do know one thing: if I am willing to go to such lengths just to have a bath with Roxanne, then it has to mean that I am a huge pervert. But you know what? I am perfectly fine with that. If having a willpower of steel and determination to go through with anything that is necessary to complete the goal you have set out to do makes you a pervert, then I will gladly become one.
After going back from the MP recovering trip I continued the work of filling the bathtub, until finally it looked like there was enough water in it for us to have a nice, long soak. It took way more time than I would have liked it to take, but hopefully the end result is going to be well worth it. All that is left to do now is to prepare a few spare jugs with hot water, just in case that the current amount of it was not enough after all.
Alright I think I think it is finally ready.
I declared with a triumphantly panting voice after walking out of the bathroom. Right now, the bathtub is filled with hot water in about ninety percent, give or take, resulting in the entire room being filled with piping-hot steam. Its a shame that this room does not have a window or any kind of ventilation shaft in it, because that way we might end up getting light-headed in no time.
Thank you for your hard work, master. You look tired, are you sure you dont want to rest for a bit?
Thank you for worrying about me, but Im fine. Since we still have some time, lets use it to go to the Labyrinth one more time and then have dinner once we return. And once we are done eating, then we can have a bath together.
I got another washcloth from Roxanne and wiped the sweat off of me once more. It only occurred to me in the middle of it that I could have not done that since I am going to enter the bath in a few moments. But first we have to eat dinner. Only then after we finish eating we will enter the bath. The bathtub should be able to keep the water heated for some time, so we do not have to worry about arriving in the bathroom after dinner only to find an ice-cold bath.
Uhm Are you sure it is okay for me to take a bath together with you, master?
Of course it is okay for you to do so, Roxanne. After all, I have ordered this bathtub to be made the way it is made with exactly that intention in mind.