"Miss, it’s late. You should rest," the old housekeeper Foster said, not entirely at ease about Perfikot. Seeing that her tent still had the lights on, he came over to remind her to take some rest.
As the housekeeper of the Brandlis Clan, he had served three generations of Brandelis and was well aware of their tendency to become so engrossed in their work that they forgot to eat and sleep.
The old Baron was , and Perfikot’s father was the same way.
However, the old Baron’s sleepless nights were spent thinking about battles, while Perfikot’s father pondered issues related to alchemy. For more chapters visit novelFirｅ.net
As for the current Perfikot? Foster could only say that sometimes it’s not so good for a daughter to take after her father.
"I’ve got it, I’ll rest right away," Perfikot said as she stood up, but failed to notice that her long dress had knocked over a chair, causing her to nearly tip over the table lamp.
Foster quickly steadied the lamp and also caught hold of his mistress.
"I forgot to change dresses. These fancy clothes don’t seem suitable for outdoor activities," Perfikot said, glancing at her dress and shaking her head with a soft sigh.
Her dress was already a simplified version adjusted by herself; if it were the normal kind worn by the noble ladies of Langton, she would have been set alight and turned into a great torch by now.
She recalled once hearing in a noble salon about a young lady being burned alive after knocking over a candelabrum.
The extravagant and intricate structure of noble gowns, while indeed appealing and showcasing the aura of a noble lady, often proves to be troublesome and can even be deemed dangerous.
Getting stuck in a doorway, suffocating from overly tight corsets, fracturing ribs, or tripping over one’s own hem; such occurrences are so common in Langton’s noble circles that they’re no longer news.
As for being ignited by a toppled candelabrum and burnt alive, that’s just a creatively tragic way to die.
Thus, Perfikot always showed little interest in the so-called noble attire popular in Langton City. Most of her clothes were designed and tailored by herself, with styles that were more reminiscent of the world she came from before.
On her expedition to the Northern Territory, Perfikot prepared clothes suitable for outdoor activities, which she had worn during her previous explorations at other sites.
Today, however, being the first day of camping, she found it somewhat chaotic to change clothing within the camp, leading to the mishap.
"So, Miss, you should rest now," Foster persuaded Perfikot, while also advising, "Moreover, Miss, you should not have left the maid squad aboard the White Gem. With them around, your living needs would be better taken care of."
In previous exploration missions, Perfikot had Beifa and the maid automatons accompany her, as they possessed strength comparable to formal knights, which allowed them to serve as labor forces and offer safety protection to Perfikot.
But this also brought about some issues, one of which was the fuel supply problem for the maid automatons.
The maid automatons still relied on steam power. Although Perfikot was working on improving their steam core, they couldn’t escape the need for fuel.
Without fuel supplies in the long-term wilderness, the maid automatons would become a burden.
Moreover, Perfikot discovered that there seemed to be no command set for wilderness actions in their mechanical logic, causing much inconvenience in their movement, including for Beifa.
After several considerations, Perfikot gave up the idea of carrying more fuel to ensure the automatons’ operation, thus deciding to leave them aboard the White Gem.
As for Perfikot’s safety, with a whole battalion of guards and a half-company of knights for protection, if anything happened, having more maid automatons wouldn’t help.
"Beifa and the others’ endurance in winter conditions is an issue, and I still need to perform modifications on them, we’ll discuss this later," Perfikot shook her head, feeling fatigued and resigned, yet obliged to face certain matters.
So she simply said to Foster, "Grandpa Fu, could you prepare some hot water for me? I need to change my clothes."
"Miss, do you need a bath? I’ll have someone prepare it," Foster replied, knowing his Miss was fond of cleanliness, and set out to have more hot water boiled.
Yet Perfikot shook her head, declining his offer, "No need for that, just some hot water to wipe down is enough. The conditions outdoors are limited; a bath would be too troublesome."
In outdoor conditions, obtaining hot water is not easy.
Although Perfikot’s tent had a stove to boil water, this water was intended for drinking. To take a proper bath, solely relying on this stove would take a long time to boil enough water for even a single bath.
If Perfikot wanted a bath, it would take a dedicated crew of at least three to five people over an hour to boil enough water for even a modest bath.
Such was the era; things once mundane and commonplace before her transition to this world now seemed like an unimaginable luxury.
Seeing Perfikot unwilling to be bothered, Foster did not insist, simply bringing her some hot water and preparing clean clothes, then stationed himself outside her tent.
Although it wasn’t as if someone would really spy on Perfikot bathing, Foster remained outside to prevent any unwelcome incidents of someone accidentally intruding.
Perfikot also, after removing her long dress, began wiping her body with a towel dipped in hot water.
Although she hoped for a warm soak or even just a shower, in such an improvised campsite, being able to wipe down with hot water was already a luxury.
Mind you, those guards, and even the accompanying knights, could only wash in the river; the privilege of a hot water wash was reserved solely for Perfikot.
This made Perfikot reevaluate her plans, realizing she had overlooked the important facilities such as a bathhouse.
In the original world before she transitioned, bathhouses were gradually disappearing or evolving into another form with time.
The bathhouses facilitating basic hot water baths had faded from people’s sight, since washing was easily accomplished at home.
"Indeed, hot water baths and hot soup are essential to warming the body and mind," Perfikot thought, after cleaning herself, changing into clean clothes, finally lying down on her camp bed in a deep sleep.