In the end, it was decided unanimously that we had to take baths before we were going to submit any paperwork in a magistrate’s office. Getting a house might take all day. That is to say, I had four women who unanimously told me that our next location had to be a place to take a bath. Of course, I could have looked for an inn, but I still had hopes of landing a place to live tonight. Spending the whole fee for a night in an inn felt wasteful when I was trying to buy a property. I know I had a lot of money right now, but I was used to being poor. What can I say, I’m cheap.
As a result, I followed the map, which thankfully did turn out to be rather accurate for the most part. The location I lead us to was a bathhouse. I knew this because it was an outdoor bathhouse, separated by fences. Of course, I wasn’t someone from the east, so the idea of outdoor bathhouses was something I only knew because I happened to be a bit of a nerd. I played enough video games and read enough web novels to at least be familiar with the concept, even if it did still leave me feeling a bit odd.
The five of us walked into the bathhouse areas. There was a building in front where people split to men and women, could undress in the locker room, and then head back outside in a fenced-off cleaning area. The bathhouse seemed to have that kind of set up. There was a thick, overweight woman who was behind the counter. She was honestly the first person I had seen that I’d consider fat like me in this world. I was relieved I wasn’t the only one.
“4 girls and 1 boy.” I requested and paid the fee.
Don’t get me wrong, I had honestly considered having Celeste shrink down and be snuck in, but even I have my standards. At least in front of the girls, I wasn’t going to act that uncool. I was handed a bucket and a coarse, unpleasant towel. Fortunately, they didn’t confiscate our storage rings. I had a much nicer feeling towel in there, although I was surprised at how expensive it was just to get a soft towel in this world.
The place was actually pretty empty. We did arrive around noontime, so most people wouldn’t be taking a bath, I supposed. I quickly found a seat, rinsed and scrubbed myself clean of the dirt from my travels, and then headed out into the open-air bath. I was still shy, so I used the coarse towel as a makeshift loincloth so I didn’t have to bear myself.
I lowered myself into the bath. I couldn’t help but let out a sigh. The water was hot. It was a warm day, so the effect wasn’t anything glorious like warming my chilled bones, but it still felt nice to be in hot water. The sun was directly overhead. It might be bad for my skin to get too much sun, but I had to admit that the light beating down on me felt really good. I leaned back and closed my eyes.
We had made it to the capital. I had money, four slave women, and soon I’d be a noble with multiple properties. Life in another world was actually quite nice. If I had any regret, there was only one. My mother was left behind on Earth. I didn’t know what happened to her. I had always taken care of her and she had taken care of me. With my disappearance, she might be sad.
As I sat contemplating such things, sitting between relaxed and melancholy, the girls next store started to make a ruckus.