When you live more than a hundred years in isolation, always afraid that your next meal could be in jeopardy, you tend to lack life’s basic amenities.
It was sad to see that the wood elves had a very wrong notion of what a toilet was.
Normally, they expected it to be a secluded area, far away from the building.
But seeing Eliron walk to another door within the same room, more than confused them.
Ash ran his hand over his jaw and frowned. ’The house is amazing...’
From the stellar wood work Yennefer had made, to the overall brilliance of the design, he was already more than impressed.
’But what does he mean by toilet?’ He mused. ’Did he really put such a room in this house?’
The rest of them seemed unsure of what Eliron had said as well, but the moment he opened the door, all their ideologies completely vanished.
This time, they were even more confused.
"W-what is that?" Terra asked, pointing at an ash coloured structure.
"That, my dear, is a water closet, or in other words a toilet. It’s just a little thing I invented recently."
’Sorry whoever invented the toilet...’
This was just the easiest lie he could think up.
The toilet Eliron had built was a perfect replica of its modern counterpart, but with a slightly altered design.
’It took quite some time to get the right mixture for the ceramic...’
When building a standard house, there was no way a proper toilet was not required.
Because of this, Eliron spent quite some time finding the right mixture of clay and a few other materials, to make a ceramic perfect for toilets.
It was not a 1v1 replica, but it was more than excellent.
From the look on Yen’s face, Eliron was sure she wanted to jump with glee.
But thankfully, she remembered to keep her cover, and acted as though she knew nothing about what it was. Since she was meant to be just as oblivious as the other elves.
Eliron then explained how the toilet worked.
"...so when you’re done, you pull down this handle and it automatically cleans itself."
They all watched him with astonishment, slowly nodding their heads.
"This is amazing." Ash stated, a proud smile on his face. "I never would have thought something like this could exist."
"Where does all the waste go?" He asked.
"Good question..." Eliron replied.
"There is a storage underground... a septic tank. It separates the waste into parts, and allows some drain away while slowly decomposing the rest."
Although the explanation for how septic tanks work was a lot more detailed, Eliron chose to give a shorter description for the sake of clarity.
Ash nodded, his eyebrows furrowed. "And how does it get there?"
It took some time to explain everything to Ash, after which he was finally satisfied.
He rubbed his chin and said, "I see, now that I know how it works, it is even more impressive than I originally thought."
Terra, who had been listening, nodded, silently agreeing with him.
’Come to think of it...’ Eliron mused.
Even though the higher societies had probably figured out how to create something similar to a modern toilet...
Most smaller cities were still making use of chamber pots and other archaic methods.
Meaning when he rebuilds Artaris, they would be one step ahead of the others, at least in that area.
Artie, who had been silently observing, shifted her gaze to the second strange structure in the room, her eyebrows furrowing as she tried to figure out what it was.
It was a curved pipe with an expanded surface that looked like a reversed funnel.
She walked closer and pointed at it. "And what is that?"
"Oh? I almost forgot." Eliron replied. "That is a shower."
"S-showa?" Artie frowned when she missed the pronunciation.
Eliron walked up to them and stared up at the structure.
"It is used for taking a bath." He explained as he turned the knob, releasing a stream of water.
Artie reflexively stepped back to avoid being soaked.
"It’s like indoor rain..." Ash muttered, placing his hand underneath it.
Yennefer was beside Eliron, smiling ear to ear. She was probably ecstatic, now that she could enjoy basic living conditions.
But, there was still one more thing he hadn’t shown them.
Using runecraft, he was able to mimic one of the most enjoyable bathing features back on earth.
He walked a little closer to the shower and held a small switch next to the knob. "There is one more thing..."
Eliron flicked a switch on, and then something about the water changed.
Instead of regular cold water, the water poured out with steam, instantly switching from cold to hot.
This time, Yennefer could not hold back her excitement, she ran into Eliron, nearly tackling him to the ground with her hug.
"Now we’re talking!" She beamed.
’I knew she was going to love it...’ Eliron mused, a small smile on his face.
Yen always acted like he was her personal caretaker, when it was meant to be the other way around.
Of all the complaints she had, the one that she always bothered him with, was how she hated bathing with the icy cold river water.
To her, the shower could very well be sacred.
Artie on the other hand, stared at the shower for some time, a small smile tugging at the corners of her lips.
"I heard you were learning runecraft. I never would have expected you to have gotten this far already."
Eliron shrugged. "I guess I’m just a natural."
•••
Once they were done with their tour of the house, those of them who were dirty all took turns bathing with the hot shower, after which they all went down to the living room to eat.
After eating, the mood in the room turned serious.
Eliron had invited them to check out the house, but this meeting was meant to serve another purpose as well.
They were all seated in the living room, the fire from the fireplace creating a cozy atmosphere.
But the words that came out of Eliron’s mouth were more than chilling.
He relaxed his back on his chair, a slight smile on his face, as he said;
"We might just have to kill Drakili soon..."
Eliron said those words so casually, that some of them felt that they had misheard him.