Bath Break – The Goddess Bathing Experience

Today was an eventful day. We reunited with Haruno’s party, learned about what happened to the wind temple, and then I received the wind blessing. Shockingly, it was actually Jupiter’s army who had attacked the wind temple. If Princess Franchellis was to be believed, then the prince, who was supposedly anti-demi-human, likely had a hand in it. Only a few dozen glaupis and cyclopes were able to escape the temple. We had no idea what had happened to the rest. We requested an audience with the Goddess of Water, but she had yet to reply. It might be faster for me to ask her directly in my dream, assuming she showed up. The cyclopes were using the bath right now, but once they’re done, I should catch an early night. Meeting the goddesses was key to finding more information right now.

On that note, my bath was popular. The cyclopes were returning with bright smiles. Their entire group was just women and children. They had been looking weary all day, so I hoped the bath revitalized them a bit.

“Touya, hey Touya. Should we use the second floor to sleep tonight?”

“That alluring carpet, huh...”

“It’s more like the entire floor is a bed...” Clena opined. According to her, it shouldn’t even be called a carpet anymore.

“Then what is it?” I asked her, but she could only reply, “Something unknown.”

“If that’s a bed, then it’s beyond king-sized.” So what should we call a bed even bigger than that? Great-King-sized? Or going even further, maybe Kingdom-sized? No, that might be going too far. In any case, I might as well name that room the “Bedroom,” in a literal sense.

“Also, the tatami room hasn’t been getting much bigger, huh?”

“Of course it hasn’t. My sisters’ blessings have been working to suppress my own.”

“Oh, is that how it is?” Since they were restraining my transformation into a demon, the gift of darkness that was the tatami-floored room wasn’t growing larger. We had been using it as a reading room, so I wouldn’t feel at ease if the room was too spacious, anyway. In that case, I was thankful for the side effect.

“Excuse us!” Rin’s group joined us for bed like it was a matter of course. Though since the room was so expansive, they stayed a good distance away from us.

Haruno and Clena had since regained consciousness and were now latching onto my arms. They were grabbing onto me like it was some sort of contest. I had no reason to stop them, so I savored the sensations around my arms until I fell asleep and was transported to the world of my dreams—Rakti’s sanctuary, where the goddesses awaited.

The goddesses were acting a little different from usual tonight, though. As usual, I couldn’t move, but two different girls were now latched on my arms. On one side was Rakti, who was probably trying to compete with Haruno and Clena as well. She looked like a little koala; it was adorable.

On the other side was a girl I had never met before. Her chartreuse-green hair was tied up into twintails, and she stared back at me with familiar emerald eyes. Seeing as there were no other possibilities, she must have been the Goddess of Wind. She was about the same height as Haruno, but gave off the polar opposite aura. I could imagine her running around in an open field. Maybe you could call her a sporty beauty?

“...That’s enough.”

“Okaaay, sister.”

A majestic voice resounded, and then the Goddess of Wind let go of my arm and turned around. Her twintails spread like wings, and she took one smooth glide to stand next to the owner of the voice, the Goddess of Light.

...Wait, what?

“Wind can carry many things, you know? Wind through the plains carries the scent of grass, wind from the south carries warmth, and wind from this sanctuary carries the sound of my sweet, sweet voice,” the Goddess of Wind explained to me as if she had read my mind.

“So this is thanks to the wind blessing...” I mumbled, then realized that I could hear my own voice, too.

“The vast seas are within you as well,” said the Goddess of Water as she appeared next. “You didn’t notice last time, but I wonder if you will today?”

“Notice what...?!” I asked, but then suddenly felt pressure at the back of my head. Wait, pressure? In this dream world?

“Fire brings about heat, but you have yet to perceive that,” said a loud and resonant voice. I guessed that this was the Goddess of Fire. She was hugging me from behind. The pressure against my head was from her chest pushing into me.

And then I noticed how warm Rakti felt. Oh yeah, she was holding onto me like this when the Goddess of Water first appeared. I hadn’t noticed back then since close physical contact was normal for us. The next time the Goddess of Water appeared, she had thrown her flipbook at me and then never showed up again. If the flipbook had actually hit me, would I have felt it? Now that the Goddess of Water was finally back, I could feel physical sensations again.

“The sea is within me”—she must have meant that blood flowed through me in my dreams now. I didn’t understand the logic behind it, but I had gained the sense of touch in my dreams. Since I could hear the goddesses now, the wind blessing had also given me the sense of sound. Assuming the light blessing gave me the sense of sight, it made sense why I couldn’t do anything but see in my dreams until now.

“It appears you’ve figured it out. Hahah, what an excellent student.” The Goddess of Light smiled. However, her voice was seeping with majesty. I could see why Rakti always cowered when she was being scolded now.

“But there’s one thing I don’t understand...”

“Why you cannot move your body, is it?”

I didn’t even need this ability to speak, apparently. Right on cue, the Goddess of Earth appeared standing next to the Goddess of Light.

Light, Fire, Wind, Water, Earth, and Darkness. The six goddess sisters were all present. They were all wearing elegant dresses today, so they looked especially divine. Well, except for maybe one of them. In Rakti’s case, it felt like I was watching over my little sister trying her best at her school festival. It reminded me of Yukina back in kindergarten. She was a bundle of energy back then.

“You are unable to move your body because the ground you stand on is still ambiguous. Please come to where I am next time.”

Basically, I needed to redo the blessing ceremony at the head earth temple. Since I couldn’t move, the Goddess of Fire could play with me however she wanted and I just had to put up with it. Well, I was more than happy... But I couldn’t have them reading my mind. The Goddess of Light was looking more and more displeased, while the Goddess of Water gave me a cold stare. Meanwhile, the Goddess of Earth gazed at us with an amused grin.

You’re putting your dignity as goddesses to waste, I thought, and then the Goddesses of Light and Water promptly coughed and straightened their backs. The Goddess of Earth remained unchanged, though.

Honestly, the biggest blow was how she relentlessly looked at me with those kind eyes. I could bear with the others getting angry at me much more easily than this.

The Goddess of Fire probably just wanted to tease me. She was treating me like her younger brother just as how I treated Rakti like my younger sister. That made me glad, but she wasn’t letting go of me, so I had no choice but to continue the conversation like this.

I asked about what happened to the wind temple, but unfortunately, the Goddess of Wind didn’t know anything from after she was defeated. The fact that she had helped so many of her followers escape was the only silver lining. That was no surprise, though. I’ll inform Haruno about this tomorrow morning, but for now I needed to speak with the Goddess of Water.

“May I ask if you received our request for an audience with you?”

“I did... but you don’t need to speak so formally, little brother.”

“Little... brother?” They really were thinking of me as a brother? Maybe they thought so because I could enter the sanctuary like them.

“That’s right! Call me your big sis!” the Goddess of Wind chimed in, but I wasn’t really feeling it. Maybe with the Goddesses of Light, Fire, Water, and Earth, sure. She was apparently the third oldest, but her appearance certainly didn’t suggest it. Of course, Rakti would be the other little sister here.

“I’m your big sister too, you know?!”

“Uh, that’s not gonna work...” Even the Goddess of Wind agreed on that one.

The Goddess of Water got us back on track with an “Ahem.”

“Well then, I recommend that you all return to the surface for now.”

“...Can I ask the reason?”

The Goddess of Water remained silent for a while, but eventually started speaking again. “If I do not tell you, you would try to find out by yourself... In that case, I shall explain.”

Was she hesitant to talk about this? I could barely tell, since her expression was always unchanged. Thinking back, I only remembered seeing a different expression on her face when she threw the flipbook at me.

“The demon lord’s army is currently visiting me,” she said as if it was an everyday occurrence.

“What?!”

“It is nothing to be surprised about. They have come to negotiate—to establish trade with us.”

“T-trade...?” That came from left field. Well, this is a country of demi-humans, so maybe it wasn’t so shocking. I had no choice but to hear her out right now.

“...Are you asking us to not interfere because you’re negotiating with the demon lord’s army?”

The Goddess of Water replied in a quiet voice, “Are you implying that I would establish harmonious relations with the ones who abandoned my youngest sister...?”

Her eyes were lit like a fireplace burning with rage. And here I thought she represented water.

The Goddess of Fire was essentially acting as my bodyguard with her hug, but that only made the Goddess of Water feel even more intimidating. Rakti had already hidden herself behind us. The Goddess of Wind also went from standing by her to standing next to us. Only the Goddess of Light and Earth remained composed.

“Now now, my sister. Please calm yourself.”

Just when I was thinking about changing the topic, the Goddess of Earth alleviated the situation with her soothing voice. The Goddess of Water returned to her senses and gave a little cough.

“Dear little brother, don’t mistake her for being cool and collected, now. My little sister embodies the wrath of the raging rapids despite how she looks,” the Goddess of Wind whispered in my ear. That was naive thinking, though.

“I’d be just as enraged if the same thing happened to Yukina, you know?”

“Oh no! You’re one of them!”

Yep. I’m the big brother here.

The Goddess of Wind drew back from me, but the Goddess of Fire looked at her quizzically.

“I’m mad about this, too. Wouldn’t you also shoo the demons away if they came knocking?”

“Well, I guess... Oh, but I can’t forgive the sacred family, either.”

“Of course, that is fine,” the Goddess of Light said, nodding.

Hey, watch out, sacred family. You made her angry. The goddess sisters sure were close, though certain followers kept making trouble under the guide of their faith in the Goddess of Light.

Besides that, there was one thing on my mind. The demon lord’s army had apparently come here to negotiate, but this was the bottom of the ocean. How in the world did they manage to get here?

“Can demons move freely underwater, too? I really doubt that’s the case.” The only possibility was that there was some species of demon equipped to live underwater like the gillmen or bathynomus.

“It’s the water veil that Clena uses, Touya. Demons can use spirit magic, too.”

“Oh yeah... But wait, wouldn’t it still take a long time for them to get here?”

“Well... what if they had a loooot of MP?” Rakti sounded unsure, but now I knew that it wasn’t impossible. If it was a particularly strong demon, then they might be able to use an acceleration spell as well.

“If that’s the case, then they must be someone important... Who is it? Could it be the Flame Devil?” I think he had a terrible personality. Though I’d never met him before.

“...What do you plan to do with that information?” the Goddess of Water asked with her usual stoic expression. Her gentle tone bore few inflections.

“I’ll go save you if I think you’re in danger. I couldn’t have done anything about the Goddess of Water, but we’re physically within reach of each other right now. I’d do it.”

“I see... Sister, don’t make that smug face behind him. It’s irritating.”

Not much of a reaction, I thought before the Goddess of Fire got told off. I wonder what sort of face she had made? At least I could tell by the atmosphere that she approved of my suggestions.

“Oh, and don’t worry about me. I’ve barely had any power since I departed from Athena, anyway. I left the rest in Haruno’s hands!”

The Goddess of Wind sure was carefree. I should let Haruno and the others know her thoughts tomorrow morning.

As the Goddess of Water gazed at us brightening up the atmosphere, she sighed and said, “The one visiting me right now is... the Demon Dog.”

The Demon Dog, one of the Five Great Demon Generals alongside the Flame Devil. If someone that important was on the job, then the demon lord’s army must be preparing to make their move right now. What were they trying to get out of establishing trade here? We might as well go and see for ourselves.