Volume 2 Chapter 3.2 (1/2)
Chapter 3.2
「Why me of all people…」
Muttered Hiroshi as he desperately tried to wash away the dirt that had gotten all over his hair. Just recently Hiroshi had gotten pinned down face-first by Artiem’s breasts, a sensation which, having lost all composure at the moment, he had failed to properly take in. Even though all the blame lay squarely on the girl’s shoulders, if he had done anything funny at that time, especially considering the two barely knew one another, it would have ended in disaster for him. Compared to the anxiety of accidentally messing up the impact from the fall was nothing.
If Tatsuya was in his shoes he would’ve probably gotten back right on his feet and acted as though nothing had happened. If it was Layotte he wouldn’t have even batted an eye. If it was Avin he would’ve seized the moment only to shift back into his natural state right after. The most universally laugh worthy reaction would come from Mark, who’s just destined for this kind of thing.
「It still won’t come off.」
Trying to wash out solidified dirt that’s stuck to one’s scalp is a laborious task. Capillary motion might be at play here, because it’s not giving in easily. It also happens that they’re out of shampoo and how ironic is it that he had been planning on preparing some today. After rinsing it for three whole times the water had finally stopped showing traces of dirt particles.
And this is with short hair, Layotte must be spending more than a fair amount of time on caring for his long hair, although Hiroshi immediately regretted his thoughts going in that direction. Because at that very moment he could sense the presence of a girl he had gotten to fully know in three days closing in on the bath.
「Ooh?」
Although he couldn’t see clearly through the steam there was no doubt she was heading in his direction.
「Compared to the dressin’ room this place is awfully spacious, ain’t it?」
The bad feeling Hiroshi had only got stronger by the second. This was his first time at a public bath since these past few days he got to use Alte Ortem’s bath. As such, he was completely clueless as to how public baths work. This one in particular came to be from a complete coincidence, when hot water was stumbled upon in the process of digging down for a well. Basically it’s a hot spring with a freely flowing water source. A Pomey was gently floating along the surface of a basin. As a side note it was the returning Farlane elves who spread bathing culture among other elves. Up until then there was no bathing custom around.
Being a fairly unknown spot, mixed bathing is a common occurrence in this hot spring and that understanding only made the bad feeling grow worse. Not to mention that Artiem had been handed out some questionable information by the elderly workshop head. To add insult to injury, before entering the building, Artiem had went over to a nearby persons house to borrow a change of clothing and because of that she had yet to be informed of proper bathing procedure. As she faded into the distance Hiroshi pondered whether or not the average elf’s clothing would actually fit her, particularly around the breast area, but he figured that holding out till she got her stuff back would be easy enough so he didn’t think much of it.
As Hiroshi hastily refocuses his derailing thoughts an outcome comes to mind, and that outcome leads to a single conclusion.
「Was it a setup?」
There was no other feasible answer. The majority of village elves were no different from regular old village folk at heart, except that they had a thing for pranks of a lewd nature. That meant that it wasn’t too much of a stretch to assume that they’d pull something like this.
Since there were next to no boys around her age growing up Artiem shouldn’t be used to this kind of thing and very self-conscious about her body because of that. Back when Hiroshi rescued her she was awkwardly covering up her chest, but that was more because an area that is usually covered up had been exposed through tearing and not because she was afraid of being seen in the nude, those two things are similar but different.
Although it was possible that these village elves weren’t raised in an environment where this kind of thing mattered and it still wouldn’t have changed the fact that it was a matter of life or death for Hiroshi.
「I’d be better off getting out while I still can.」
The long awaited outing to the hot springs would have to wait as Hiroshi knew he wouldn’t have been able to fully enjoy it in his current state anyways. Judging from Artiem’s personality it was unlikely she’d use this experience as teasing fodder, despite being the one to barge in in the first place, but if this was to get picked up by either Haruna, Makoto or Mio things would get out of hand quickly. In these situations it’s almost always the guys who gets blamed even though, in reality, the victim here would be Hiroshi.
「The dirt came off already, time for a tactical retrea-」
Hiroshi washes himself one more time just to be safe and just as he begins poking around for Artiem’s presence.
「Are you ready to go?」
「What in the blazes!?」
Artiem’s voice came from much closer than Hiroshi had anticipated, startling him. He thought that since she had to go around it’d take more time to get there but those calculations proved to be completely off and he got caught completely defenseless.
How was Artiem able to get there that quickly? The answer is simple, there’s a secret door in the very corner of the dressing room that only ladies are able to interact with. Artiem had used this to her advantage.
「A-Artiem, shouldn’t ya be o’er at the wihmen’s bathroom?」
Asks Hiroshi while turning his entire body away from Artiem in an attempt to slowly slither away towards the dressing room. Since he got approached from the back Hiroshi is yet to lay eyes on Artiem’s gorgeous naked body.
「This is a mixed bath.」
「Y-you don’t say…」
That reaffirmation drove Hiroshi further down the pits of agony. If only he knew that there was another public bathhouse around with separate male and female baths all of this could’ve been avoided but how could he have if he didn’t even know of the existence of any hot springs in the area, let alone any specific ones. He was doomed from the very outset.
「Aren’t you going to be bathing? Time wise you should’ve just barely finished washing up by now.」
「I’ll get around to it sometime later, preferably when no one’s around.」
「What if you catch a cold?」
「I can handle miself just fine, if anything, ya should be the one in there right aboot now.」
「What’s the big deal? Let’s just go together.」
Hardly surprising but Artiem’s feeling little to no shame from this whole ordeal, so little in fact that she’s comfortable enough to expose that voluptuous body of hers without so much as a tinge of embarrassment.
「It’s a Farlanian custom not to be enterin’ the bath t’gether unless married or otherwise engaged in a serious relationship.」
「Is that so?」
「Aye, just you try enterin’ the bath like that in a human city in yer birthday suit and you’ll be easy pickins for any starved male.」
「I see. I’ll be sure to watch out.」
She says as she casually waltzes on over to the faucet in the least wary matter possible. Has she still not put two and two together or does she think this warning only applies to human cities? Before any of that it’s highly possible, judging from her demeanor, that she’s yet to be taught about the birds and the bees and has no clue what being ‘easy pickins’ is even supposed to mean.