Isibara's soul slipped into the completed body.
For the record, the soul that had gone missing was on standby inside my heart.
I mean, participating in a card game while that was going on would be a bit much, even for me.
The soul entered the body without a hitch, but there were various differences from before.
It apparently takes about a day for the soul to settle in. So she wouldn't wake up until tomorrow.
With that settled, we disbanded at the lab.
I was pretty drained mentally, so I headed to the Witch's house to refresh.
I went straight to the large bath at the Witch's house, navigating it by instinct at this point.
The Witch's bath spans basement floors one and two, and it's packed with attention to detail.
Right after entering from the changing room, you descend a set of curved stone steps with a gentle slope.
The stone steps have a special finish to keep them from getting slippery when damp from steam.
The first floor has a bath.
It's still quite large — more than five people could fit in there easily.
From there, basement floor two. This is the main event.
Thick steam constantly drifts through the bath, and there's a large pool that can fit over ten people without issue.
In the back, there's an ornate hot-spring outlet shaped like a saber lion — a lion-type monster.
You know, the thing where hot water pours from a lion's head in a fancy Western-style bath.
It seems this world has that kind of culture too.
At the far end of the large bath, there's a big black-and-white pot. Hot water is constantly boiling inside it.
You've probably figured it out by now. It's a pot bath. The pot bath of youth and memories from my past life.
And then there's the washing area.
A vanity mirror straight ahead. A shower-ish device connected to a tank.
A bath chair and a wash bucket. Shampoo, conditioner, and soap are lined up near the vanity.
This shower-ish device.
It's not a shower — it's a shower-ish device. It was recently added as new equipment.
It's not as perfect as the showers I remember from my past life.
Still, it's way better than pouring water directly from a bucket.
This shower-ish device is also installed in "Skia Coffin Air."
The bath etiquette here is the same as the etiquette I remember from my past life and the etiquette of this world.
First, you wash your body at the washing area before getting in the bath.
I draped a towel over my shoulder and headed to the washing area.
Being naked is... well, it's a bath, but it still feels embarrassing.
"...Is my body... a bit more toned than before?"
I've been keeping up with my daily workout routine, and I've been training with the witch in between too.
As usual, not even close. Anyway, time to hurry up and wash, then get into the pot bath.
That's when a thought popped into my head.
"I always seem to run into Chaib whenever I take a bath, for some reason."
Surely nobody would be here at this hour.
Well, if I wanted to be more thorough, I could check the baskets in the changing room to confirm.
But that was something I shouldn't have been doing.
"Wof...?"
"Huh."
Near the wash area, there was a girl with gray hair in a wolf cut.
She was shorter than me, with pale skin. Naturally, she was completely naked.
Well, yeah. If you weren't naked in a bathhouse, what would you even be.
What's more, she was holding her towel in her hand, not using it to cover anything.
She was short, and her slightly hunched body had ribs faintly showing through.
As always, she looked unhealthy.
Her chest had only the slightest bump, and her rear was small to match her frame.
But her body had curves that absolutely should not be visible to a boy.
Her eyes, gazing at me with a troubled look, were gray too.
They had a reptilian-like quality to the retina, with dark circles forming underneath.
Her features were plain, but her small face was perfectly put together—without a doubt, a beautiful girl.
Chaib. A first-class delver. "The Sane Beast."
"Chaib... Ah, s-sorry!"
Even though the steam was thick, her naked body was somehow perfectly clear to me.
And I had been staring.
Her body was beautiful.
A beauty that was somehow twisted and constrained.
—Ah, ahaha… what are you getting all shy for? We've seen each other naked loads of times!
Chaibu laughed, but she quickly hid her bright-red body with a towel.
I hurriedly wrapped a towel around my own waist to match.
…S-sorry. I thought nobody else was in here.
Ohh, well, yeah… I guess you'd think that. That's why I… came in too. Y-see, you're gonna wash, right? Sit down, sit down.
She pulled me by the hand and had me sit down in the washing area, which was getting warm.
U-um—
It's fine, it's fine!
Chaibu used the shower-like fixture to wet my hair.
She immediately applied a proper amount of shampoo and worked both hands into my scalp, starting to lather.
C-Chaibu!?
Close your eyes, just leave it to me.
She seemed to be having fun with it.
Her thin, soft fingers pressed against my scalp and tangled through my hair.
Roughly yet gently, she hand-washed my hair.
Is there anywhere~ itchy?
Uh, ah, the back a little.
Around here~?
Ah, yeah, that area.
How about here~?
Chaibu washed my head with a nice, squishy splashing sound.
He rinsed off the foam with something like a shower.
"Ah, thank you ver—"
"Next up is the body~"
The towel around my waist was stripped away.
"What—"
After that, I got scrubbed within an inch of my life.
I climbed into the jar bath.
"Ahhhhh…"
"Feels great, doesn't it~"
I got into the black jar, and Chaibu got into the white one.
Chaibu had placed a towel on his head. This water is really nice.
"Hey, thanks for washing my head and body just now."
"Ahaha~ How were my skills~?"
"Th-they were great."
"That's… yeah. Glad to hear it~ …It's really been a while, huh~"
"Sure has."
"I've heard things have been busy all over~ the dungeon and all~"
"You get word fast."
"Well~ yeah. You know that Save crystal, or whatever they call it? I've been involved in making those too, so~"
"Oh, that thing? How's it going? Think you'll be able to make it?"
Chive rests his head on the rim of the tub.
"A little longer, maybe."
"You can actually make it?"
I'd suggested it myself, but I figured it would be difficult.
As expected of the witch and Chive.
"And also—the ship... right."
"That too?"
"The witch asked me to handle various things with that."
"From the witch?"
Chive hooks his thigh over the crossed-leg edge of the tub.
His snow-white legs slip out from the water, bare and exposed.
"Well, I'll probably get to ride that famous ship before long."
"Got it."
"Heh heh heh heh—actually, there's something kinda interesting rolling around in our shop's warehouse, y'know."
"Something interesting?"
"Look forward to it."
What could it be?
I chatted with Chive while enjoying the hot spring bath to the fullest.
I might've actually relaxed for once.
That night.
I had been sound asleep when I found myself standing in a mysterious, all-white space filled with an inexplicable mist.
"Lord Yomid?"
No, that wasn't it. The sky was completely white, and there was no black pillar. This was a different place.
"Huh? Yomid?"
A voice suddenly cut through, sharp with irritation.
I looked up and saw a supremely elegant, almost otherworldly beauty — one who radiated flashes and glints like the edge of a blade.
She stood with her arms crossed over her magnificently full chest, staring at me with a distinctly displeased expression.
The Goddess of Knives.
Oh crap.