Third Bath – Skinship

Beyond the gate of Sacred City Jupiteropolis lay a massive meadow. Far in the distance, I could see mountains, while the deep green that filled the gap between the plains and the mountains looked like a forest.

Finally, my adventure had begun.

A gravel road that continued as far as the eye could see instantly filled me with butterflies. Beyond this road lay the mixed bathing paradise I’d been dreaming of.

Yes, I could open up the Unlimited Bath anytime I wanted, but it was more of an emotional thing. Noticing my change in expression, Rulitora turned back and called to me as he continued to pull the rickshaw.

“Is something wrong?”

“No, it’s just that I lived in a much bigger, crowded place than Jupiter. Seeing all this nature is a rare sight for me.”

“I see. It’s too bad I can’t take it slow and let you enjoy the scenery, then...” Rulitora cocked his head, as if he wanted to say more.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Truth be told, I felt like something was watching us when we left the temple.” Rulitora slit his eyes as he answered.

“You think it’s the nobles I turned down?”

“No... It ran away before long, but I feel like it wasn’t human.”

“...What?” The moment I heard Rulitora’s reply, I remembered the story about Cosmos the Hero getting attacked. They’d said the demons had attacked Cosmos and then retreated. If that was so, then was there really only one demon lurking in the city?

“Who do you think the monster would go for first, between Haruno and I?”

“You first, for sure. Lady Haruno is currently the most well-protected out of all the heroes, since she has the Goddess of Light Pilgrims on her side.”

Which meant that I was the target. I didn’t just want to enjoy the scenery, I wanted to take a walk and feel the fresh dirt beneath my feet, but there was no way I was going to even attempt that now. I didn’t have time to be discouraged, though. I needed to figure out a way to deal with our mysterious pursuer.

“Rulitora, run as fast as you can. I don’t mind if it’s a bumpy ride. We need to cover some ground while there’s no one around.”

“Are you sure? It might get really shaky.”

“I don’t get carsick easily, and if that’s all it takes to keep us safe, who am I to complain?” I said, then added one more thing. “Oh, and you don’t need to worry about leaving tracks. I don’t want the monster to lose us and go after Haruno’s party instead.”

The ideal situation would be to let the demon track us while also preventing it from catching up to us.

“Yes sir!” I saw an energetic gleam in Rulitora’s eye, and we soon became one with the wind.

I don’t remember much of what happened that day. I do remember regurgitating my lunch in a very over-the-top fashion, though.

When we crossed the mountains on the next day, it was a much smoother ride in the rickshaw, since the mountain trail prevented Rulitora from running at top speed. That kept me from getting carsick, and I was even able to enjoy the scenery a little. Since the path was lined with trees, that was pretty much all I could see, but the sound of the wind passing through them and the birds chirping intermittently was enough to entertain me.

Thanks to that, I really enjoyed dinner. We had the same menu as yesterday – vegetables and beans served with a soup cooked with bread, sausage, and smoked meat similar to bacon, but it tasted way better than yesterday. Apparently, the smoked meat had been prepared using the meat of a lesser boar. It looked exactly like bacon, so that’s how I decided to refer to it.

My lack of an appetite had prevented me from eating much, so I had Rulitora eat over half my plate on the first day, but in the mountains I was finally able to eat my fill. Once I had the chance to actually enjoy my food, I realized I’d want a bit of variety in the future, which meant that I either had to improve my cooking skills or find a party member who was a good cook.

“Sir Touya, it appears that someone’s following us after all.”

“Really?” I hadn’t noticed at all. Can Rulitora sense auras or something?

“Our pursuer closed in on us several times before we entered the mountains.”

“How many more days will it take us to reach your homeland, Rulitora?”

“About two days, once we get past the mountains. If I speed up, I may be able to get us there in only one.”

“...Let’s speed up, then.”

“The ride will get rough again...”

“It’s either endure two days, or one really hard day, so I guess I’d prefer one.”

I could see Rulitora was worried about me, so I forced out a smile. It may sound stupid now, but at the time, I was wondering if maybe withstanding all the shaking would somehow boost my VIT and MEN a little.

When I got out of the Unlimited Bath the next morning, I could see the other side of the mountains, illuminated by the morning sun. There were no trees or grass – it was a wasteland, as far as the eye could see. This was the ‘void’ located to the south of the Sacred City.

Ever since the day I bought Rulitora, I’d been researching it. Okay, okay, it was the temple clerics who did the actual research. I just listened to their reports. The void had gained its name from the fact that it was a completely barren wasteland with a desert in the center. After looking at the map, I discovered that it lay on the south end of the Olympus Alliance, and was shaped like a malformed diamond that continued all the way to the sea. One of the clerics who’d done the research claimed that the only reason it hadn’t spread to the north was because the mountains stood in the way.

Additionally, legend had it that there used to be a desert kingdom in the center of the desert in the middle of the void, but it eventually fell to ruin due to an event that had also turned the void barren in the process. After that, the sand lizardmen and the monsters were the only ones who had remained in the desert. Some theories even went that the sand lizardmen had descended from the original rulers of the kingdom.

Hearing talk of a fallen kingdom really excited the adventurer inside me, but unfortunately no information on the kingdom was found at the temple. According to the clerics, the rumors were all unfounded wives’ tales, and no one was even sure if such a kingdom had existed in the first place. Apparently, superstitions existed in fantasy worlds as well. It was a bit disappointing, but on second thought, there’d be no way a complete amateur would ever be able to make it to a place like that, so I figured it was all for the best in the end. Right now, I need to focus on saving Rulitora’s homeland.

As I prepared for breakfast, I called out to Rulitora. “Is your homeland beyond this point?”

“Yes, I’m sure everyone’s gathered up near the rebuilt reservoir.”

It turned out that Rulitora’s people didn’t have a set village – they were nomads. The environment was already harsh in the first place, so it was no surprise that losing their water source had put them into a crisis. The reason they couldn’t leave the empty reservoir was because there was no water to be found anywhere else at the time being.

We reached the desert by morning, yet it was already hot. I took Rulitora’s advice and removed my armor before I got in the rickshaw, in order to prepare for the heat. Soon, Rulitora was running at full speed again for the first time in a day. The shaking was as bad as ever, but I withstood it, laying on my side in order to avoid his tail.

Honestly, when I had first heard Rulitora talk about it, I’d simply imagined that their water supply had been cut off. I didn’t realize just how serious the situation was – until that morning. When the sun appeared, and I felt how hot the void was, the reality of it all hit me, and I realized I needed to get to the Torano’o tribe and give them water as quickly as humanly possible.

As the sun rose, I began to sweat more and more. Rulitora was used to this, so he still looked fine, but I was starting to feel like I wouldn’t make it.

We started taking breaks every now and then, during which I’d take water out from the Unlimited Bath and use it to hydrate myself. I also made sure to give my body some salt, too.

“All we did was cross one mountain, and the weather’s already so different... What’s going on in this world?”

Despite the fact that I had only been muttering to myself during the break, Rulitora answered me dutifully. “People say the weather turned this way because of the desert kingdom, but I don’t know the details.”

“The one that was in the center of the desert, huh?”

Rulitora nodded. Even his people rarely ever went into the desert, so no one knew if such a kingdom actually existed. Going off the knowledge I’d amassed from reading fiction novels in my world, I hypothesized that this kingdom had progressed their technology at a rapid rate, but made a mistake during some experiment and destroyed themselves. If this weather was a by-product of something like that, they had really caused some serious problems.

We had lunch early – gotta eat when you can – although all we had were simple ham sandwiches.

After eating and finishing my break, I remembered something. “Hey, is that demon still following us?”

“Well, it’s hard to tell exactly what it’s doing. Want me to go look for it?”

“...No, if monsters come here we’ll have to abandon all our luggage and run.” I couldn’t fight the monsters on my own, nor could I pull a rickshaw filled with stuff. “Can we go together?”

“It may be a little dangerous, but if you’re prepared to run in case of emergency...”

“Let’s do that, then. We can just run once we spot who’s following us.”

“Okay. Let’s go, then.”

As he stuck his chest out, Rulitora’s bulky, amber body looked like it could take on anything. Even if it was a little dangerous, it’d be better if we stayed together. And so, we went back a little and looked for our pursuer.

“What’s that?” After walking for a bit, I spotted a cloud of dust rising up from the other side of the wasteland.

Rulitora stared at the dust cloud as well. “There’s a lot of them... But a group that big could only be... Huh?!” Rulitora leaned forward for a closer look, as if he’d realized something. Curious, I rose to my feet. “There are humans at the front! Two! They’re being chased!!”

“What?!” The shock nearly sent me tumbling out from the rickshaw. “Why are humans there?! I thought no humans lived in the void!”

“Sometimes, humans come to this land to collect special fruit that only grows here...”

“That’s what they were doing?!” I could recall hearing about battle ravers doing those sorts of jobs somewhere. “...Let’s help them.”

“Are you sure? I’m not sure how we’ll fare against that many...”

“I’ll support you with magic as you run full speed ahead. Then, we’ll put the two of them in the rickshaw and escape. How does that sound?”

“...Understood. Let’s try it.”

It seemed like I’d convinced Rulitora – or maybe he’d just given up arguing. The group of monsters was currently on our left side, and stretched out a long way back, as if the monsters all had different running speeds. If we had been in a war movie, our general would have told us to charge at them from the side – but our goal was to save the two people they were chasing.

“Let’s charge at the frontmost group from the side. Then, once we save those two, we’ll make a run for it.”

“Makes sense. We won’t be able to change direction with monsters in front of us.” If we tried that, it might ruin the rickshaw’s wheels.

It seemed like I wouldn’t be able to use my broad ax here, so I held up my round shield. “Go, Rulitora!”

“Hang on tight, Sir Touya!” The moment he shouted that, Rulitora leaned forward and started sprinting at full speed.

The monsters were moving forward, so we had to approach them diagonally. For a bit, we ran parallel with their left side, then I leaned forward and fired a Summon Light Spirit spell over Rulitora’s head. It wasn’t enough to defeat any monsters, but I managed to knock some off balance, which meant they’d probably get trampled by the ones behind them. Seeing this, I realized it’d be better to use my magic to hinder their progress instead of trying to defeat them, so I switched targets. Summon Light Spirit could be adjusted based on the caster’s MP pool and how it was charged.

Meanwhile, Rulitora casually swung his glaive with one hand and charged straight into the mob. The monsters hadn’t expected trouble to come from the side, so this caused mass hysteria. As Rulitora kept swinging his glaive around, parts of several monsters went flying into the air. I averted my eyes from the splattering blood and shot a light ball about twice the size of a baseball straight toward the monsters.

The two people who were running away seemed to notice us, and glanced over in our direction as they continued to run. I hadn’t noticed it before when we were at a distance, but I could see now that they were both girls. Since Rulitora was in front, I was afraid they’d think we were just more monsters.

Worried, I called out: “We’re on your side! Get in!” to let them know it was okay.

Yes, that seemed suspicious in its own way, but luckily they were desperate enough to believe me. As our rickshaw moved past the front of the monsters and reached the two, I saw one girl with long, custard cream-colored hair pulling the hand of another with silver hair. They ran toward us – the silver-haired girl was panting hard. It didn’t seem like she’d be able to run for much longer. Custard cream grabbed silver’s arm and moved it toward me until I could reach out from the rickshaw and grab on.

“Oww!” Silver let out a pained shout, but we didn’t have time to worry about that.

The girl was heavy, especially with her armor on, but the other one pushed her up from behind, so I managed to forcibly pull her into the rickshaw. Next, I stuck my hand out to help custard cream up, only to watch as she leapt into the rickshaw on her own. She definitely had some athletic skills.

Now that we had safely rescued the two girls, all we had left to do was escape. “Rulitora! I got them both in!”

“I’ll speed up, then! Please hold on tight!” Instantly, Rulitora sped up, and the rickshaw started shaking even more violently.

Silver didn’t have enough strength left to hold onto the rickshaw, so custard cream supported her with her body. I stabilized my body on the edges of the rickshaw, and looked back to the monsters who were now chasing after all of us.

“Halt!!” A small, hooded man riding a boar-like monster could be heard shouting from the very front of the monsters.

Is that their leader? He sure is acting like he’s in charge... That thing he’s riding on is probably a lesser boar. If we can take out their leader, we might be able to stop the entire mob.

With that in mind, I channeled my MP and created a light spirit that was as big as a soccer ball, then tossed it toward the lesser boar. The boar recoiled and came to a sudden stop, which sent the short man flying onto the ground.

“Hffff?! Oww! Waugh! Mmpgh!” In an instant, his body was swallowed up by the horde of monsters behind him.

Even though I was the one who did it, I couldn’t help but cringe. “Eesh...”

That hooded man looked like a mage. He might have had resistance to magic, so I’d aimed at the boar instead. Despite my attack, though, the mob showed no signs of stopping. Now, the lesser boar led them, as they bared their fangs and rushed toward us.

Guess that guy wasn’t their leader after all. Or maybe they’re just beyond his control now? Either way, the two we’d saved had taken a lot of damage, and they also looked exhausted, so I was afraid that going any faster might cause them to pass out.

“I have no choice...” The moment I decided my only hope was to stop the monsters using magic, I heard a rumble coming from the direction we were running in. When I turned around and looked ahead, I saw a new mob creating a dust cloud as it came toward us. “Don’t tell me... We’re sandwiched?!”

“No... They’re on our side! They’re my allies!” Rulitora called out.

“What?” Soon, the group passed by us, and my question was answered.

As I followed the storming crowd with my eyes, I quickly figured out who they were: Lizardmen, with bodies covered in amber scales and black stripes on their long tails. They were the Torano’o tribe, sand lizardmen just like Rulitora.

The Torano’o warriors let out a battle cry and flew at the monsters like arrows. In moments, they tore right through the mob. The warriors on the front lines, who stood about as tall as Rulitora, looked especially powerful. Once their mob got broken up, the monsters wasted no time in screaming for their lives and running away. The smaller lizardmen – well, they were still bigger than me, but you get the idea – tried to go after them, but the ones as big as Rulitora stopped them.

“Rulitora, can we approach them?”

“Y-yes, I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

“Be sure to let them know we’re approaching, then.”

“Yes, sir!” Rulitora swung his glaive around and pulled our rickshaw toward the dust cloud. This time, he wasn’t moving at full speed, and took his time.

Soon, we were surrounded by ten lizardmen wearing loincloths and carrying spears. The two girls we saved were clearly afraid, so I put them at ease.

“Rulitora! I thought that was you! Have you returned to us?!” asked the largest lizardman, who wore a feather ornament on his head.

“Yes. I found a very good buyer.”

“I can tell, judging from that armor. Is that giant scorpion?” The big lizardman curiously inspected Rulitora’s armor.

Apparently, giant scorpions were one of the strongest creatures in the desert part of the void. Simply seeing Rulitora in giant scorpion armor instantly told the lizardmen what sort of treatment he had received.

“Rulitora, I’m guessing you know these people. Introduce them to me.”

“Oh, please excuse me. That’s Dokutora, the warrior chief of the Torano’o tribe.”

“I’m just an amateur who took over for Rulitora,” the big lizardman named Dokutora said with a hearty laugh.

Dokutora was large, and certainly didn’t look any smaller than Rulitora. In exchange for Rulitora’s lean, muscular body and masculine features, Dokutora was stockier, and possessed a round face and a potbelly. Rather than a lizard, he looked more like a round tyrannosaurus. He was stout all across the board, and seemed to possess great strength. The other nine lizardmen more or less went up to Rulitora’s shoulders. They were probably average height for lizardmen.

“Dokutora, this is Sir Touya. He owns me right now.”

“I see... Hm? Then why did you come back, Rulitora?” Dokutora cocked his head. It seemed he thought Rulitora had returned because he completed his work period.

Unsure of how much he was allowed to say, Rulitora glanced at me. “They’re going to see it eventually, so you might as well tell them,” I said.

I wasn’t really sure if it was okay to let the two girls we saved hear, but I felt like it was too late now. I didn’t want to force them to follow any orders just because I saved them, but I hoped they’d keep it a secret.

“Okay then, I’ll explain the situation to them.” Rulitora gave me a deep nod, then turned back to Dokutora’s group and began to speak.

“Dokutora, this is a Hero of the Goddess. He received a gift that allows him to create water.”

“A hero?! Water?!”

“You don’t need to concern yourself with the hero part,” I called out from the rickshaw, as Dokutora let out cries of surprise. “Right now, I don’t really feel like a hero, nor do I have any real strength.”

“Did you receive the water I sent out with the money I got from selling myself?” Rulitora asked.

“We’ve managed to preserve as much as possible by limiting our usage, but we’re almost out. The elder was worrying about what we’ll do for the next two months, before it starts raining again.”

“Oh... Well, you don’t need to worry. With Sir Touya’s gift, we’ll be able to save everyone. That’s why he came all the way here.”

“His gift? Oh, so he was summoned from another world!”

Only those who were summoned from other worlds received blessings from the Goddess of Light. Therefore, hearing the word ‘gift’ was enough to make Dokutora aware of who I really was. After he shouted, the other lizardmen started to make some commotion as well. Soon, all their eyes were on me, which felt a bit uncomfortable.

“Rulitora, how about we hurry to your people? It seems like we still haven’t arrived yet, and they’re in dire need of water, right?” I asked.

“Y-you’re right.”

“I want to let these two rest as well.” I shifted my eyes to the two girls we saved.

Silver still couldn’t move, so custard cream held her as she stayed on guard. She looked just like a puppy who was doing its best to appear menacing. I had no intention to harm her, of course, so I kind of wanted her to stop, but I decided there was nothing I could do at the time being. I was on friendly terms with the lizardmen thanks to Rulitora, but it didn’t change the fact that these girls were surrounded by warriors from a species that was alien to them. On the contrary, I thought it was very noble how custard cream was protecting her companion despite her own exhaustion.

We need to get to the lizardmen’s settlement. Once we have a safe place to rest, I’m sure I’ll be able to convince them that I don’t mean any harm.

“Don’t worry about rattling the rickshaw anymore. Just run as fast as you can,” I said. Even if I fell unconscious, I could still create water as long as I had MP.

“Huh? What was that about rattling?” Dokutora asked.

“Oh, don’t worry about it. When Rulitora runs at full speed, this rickshaw shakes pretty badly, that’s all.”

When he heard that, Dokutora took a look at the rickshaw’s wheels and commented on how fragile they looked. I’m sure most things looked fragile compared to his bulky arms.

“If that’s the case, then ride on my back,” Dokutora said. “We can leave the vehicle and the other two to Rulitora.”

“What?”

“That should give you a more stable ride than the rickshaw, Sir Touya,” Rulitora said. “I should be able to cut down on the rattling if I lower my speed a little, which will make it easier on those two. And with the other warriors around us, we’ll be safe.”

This meant that Dokutora and I would get to the village quicker, which would allow me to prepare the water while also allowing Rulitora to carry the girls at a calmer speed. It made sense, but...

I glanced at the two girls. Even though I was a stranger to them, I wonder how they’d feel if I left them completely alone with all these lizardmen.

“...Go!” The silver-haired girl forced out a pained voice.

“What?”

“Lady Clena?!”

“It’s okay, Roni... More importantly, you! People are waiting for your help, aren’t they? We’ll be fine, just go!”

It wasn’t very convincing considering how debilitated she sounded, but it appeared that the girl named Clena had figured out the gist of what the lizardmen and I had discussed. When I looked at the girl with the custard cream-colored hair named Roni, she nodded with strong eyes. “...Okay. Thanks for the help, Dokutora. Rulitora, take good care of those two!”

“Leave it to me!” Dokutora shouted.

“Understood!” Rulitora nodded.

I gave all my water skins to Clena and Roni, then put on my desert/wasteland-customized overcoat and climbed onto Dokutora’s back. I wondered how he would fare with a high schooler on his back, but once I got up there, I realized I had no reason to fear. Dokutora was over two stutes tall, and had broader shoulders than Rulitora. It almost made me feel like I’d become a kid again.

“Ready? Then let’s go!” Once Dokutora made sure I was on his back, he started sprinting.

“Wow! There’s no shaking at aaaall!” It was surprising how comfortable the ride actually was. I felt like I might fall off if I got too comfortable, but I didn’t bounce a bit.

“Gah hah hah! Not even Rulitora can beat me in terms of stability!” Dokutora called out, pleased by how surprised I was.

Now I wouldn’t need to worry about getting carsick. I couldn’t actually see his entire body from where I was, but I bet he really looked like a tyrannosaurus when he was leaned forward and sprinting.

As I traversed the wasteland on the back of this dinosaur-ish lizardman, I felt the wind on my skin. I’d never be able to experience anything like this at home, no matter where I decided to take a vacation, so I felt like I’d discovered another perk to being summoned here. As thoughts ran through my head, I made sure to hang on tight to Dokutora so that I didn’t fall off.

We reached the Torano’o tribe’s settlement before the sun went down. “Dokutora, I held on pretty tight, so I hope I didn’t hurt your neck or anything.”

“Huh? You’ll need a lot more strength than that if you want to strangle me!” I had been hanging on for dear life, but it hadn’t even fazed him.

Unlike Rulitora, Dokutora wasn’t my raver, so I started out referring to him as ‘Sir Dokutora’ just in case – but he told me there was no need. The ride had taken a while, so my arms were sore from holding on for so long. I wanted to rest as soon as possible, but first there was something more important I had to do.

“Hey, Dokutora. Where are you storing the water?”

“Rulitora sold himself to buy us that water, so I split it up into jugs and put them in everyone’s houses.” While I was still on his back, Dokutora pointed into the distance, where I saw big tents made out of sheer white cloth.

In this lizardman settlement, everyone lived in tents. They migrated every now and then, so tents were probably all they needed.

“Okay then, I guess I’ll start by filling up the jugs. Can you gather them up for me, Dokutora?”

“Right now? But you look exhausted.”

“You’re almost out of water, right?” The lizardmen were my top priority at the moment, due to their water crisis.

“...Thank you.”

“Oh, but let me down first. I can’t move my arms.”

“One minute.” Dokutora let me down and leaned me up against a rock, then ran off to the tents.

Once I was alone, I took off the unrefined overcoat and struggled to withstand the pain I felt in my arms. Honestly, it hurt badly. My entire body hurt. Still, I refused to let it get the best of me, and attached the hose to the faucet inside the Unlimited Bath. The sand lizardmen wouldn’t want to go in there, so I was the only one who could do it.

Once I finished my preparations, I sat down against the tub. After waiting for a bit, Dokutora returned with the jugs and two other lizardmen. I had no way of telling whether they were male, female, young, or old from their appearances. One of them was small, though, so I guessed it was a child. He was holding a cup in his hands.

“Dokutora, I need to ask you a question before I get myself into any trouble... Is there any way for someone like me to tell how old or what gender a lizardman is?”

“...Oh, I see. Unlike humans, we don’t have hair, breasts, or wrinkles.”

It turned out that Dokutora had brought over a young woman and child, but they only wore loincloths like him and Rulitora. The woman had no boobs, since apparently lizardmen didn’t have breasts to begin with.

“When lizardmen get older, their scales harden... Oh, I guess I’ll just have to narrate for you.”

“Umm, Chief Dokutora told us we could receive water from you...” The lizardwoman asked meekly. The floating door and the Infinite Bath beyond it must have startled her.

“Dokutora, put the end of this hose into the jug... No, put it into that child’s cup first.” I handed the hose to Dokutora, then went back inside the Infinite Bath and turned on the faucet.

Dokutora let out a shout. When I looked back, I saw that his face had gotten completely drenched. Apparently, he’d never seen a hose before, so he’d been peering into it right when I turned the water on.

A few moments later, he took the cup from the child and filled it up to the brim with water. Then, he put the hose into the water jug that was on the ground. When the child lizardman took the cup back, he didn’t seem sure about what to do, and looked between his mother and I.

“You can drink it. There’s still a lot more where that came from,” I said.

The mother bowed her head to me, then patted her child on the head. The child opened his eyes and mouth wide, then gulped down the water.

It was still hard for me to figure out lizardmen’s facial expressions, but I’m pretty sure the child looked super happy. “This tastes so good!”

“I bet that quenched your thirst,” his mother said. “Thank you so much, Sir Touya.”

“Oh, don’t mention it. Just using my gift, that’s all!” If people kept bowing their heads to me, it’d only make me even more uncomfortable. I tried to change the subject and called out to Dokutora. “Dokutora, how many water jugs are there?”

“The water merchant brought 14. Hmm, I think this one’s almost full.”

“Whoa, this should do it then,” I said, as I turned off the faucet.

Rulitora sold himself, and they only gave him this much water? Although, the void is pretty far from the city... I guess a lot of his money must have gotten eaten up by transportation costs. I knew that they were almost out of water, but the more I hear about their situation, the more dangerous it seems. That child must have been really thirsty...

“I’m glad we hurried here... Keep bringing on the jugs, Dokutora!”

“You bet!” I could hear heavy thumping as Dokutora jogged off happily.

When I watched him leave, I spotted the child looking quite refreshed after drinking my water. If I had gotten here a few days later, the lizardmen may have seen their first losses with the frail little ones like him. I was glad to know that withstanding Rulitora’s full speed for all that time had actually been worth it.

“First, I need to fill these 14 jugs up. I can worry about the reservoir tomorrow.”

Honestly, I was mentally exhausted. Using Summon Light Spirit multiple times on those monsters had really taken a toll on me. I still had enough MP left, though, and I wanted to get the jugs filled so I could truly relax.

As I was massaging my arms and trying to grin and bear it through the pain, more lizardmen brought over the other jugs. I was used to seeing them thanks to Rulitora, so they didn’t scare me one bit. As I filled the jugs up, I decided to talk with Dokutora. He hated steam too, so he kept his distance, but I could still hear his voice.

According to Dokutora, about one hundred Torano’o tribe lizardmen lived in this settlement. There used to be a bit more, but they’d lost some in a battle with the sandworm, the monster that destroyed the reservoir As the name implied, the sandworm was a huge worm-like creature that lived in the desert, but rarely appeared in the wasteland. Since they’d dug a hole in the ground to create the reservoir, I wondered how it could have been destroyed, but now everything made sense – the worm had destroyed it from below the ground. A crack had appeared in the wall of the reservoir, which caused all the water to leak out, leaving the lizardmen with no way to survive until the next rainy season.

“Many of our warriors died in our battle against the sandworm. We need to train more young people and turn them into warriors so they can protect the village, but now that we don’t even have Rulitora with us anymore, I just don’t know what to do,” Dokutora said, as he smacked the bare part of his head that wasn’t covered by the feather ornament.

After Rulitora left, Dokutora had been made the next warrior chief since he was the second strongest, but he really seemed to be at the end of his rope due to how bad the Torano’o tribe’s situation had become.

“Who were the nine lizardmen with you?” I asked.

“Oh, those are the warriors who survived.”

Only ten had survived the sandworm battle, including Dokutora. They always had to travel far not just for hunting, but to gather water as well, which is how they’d found us.

“Does it take time to train young lizardmen?”

“No. We can hunt on our own, after all. But...”

“But?”

“They’re still young. They shouldn’t have to hunt yet. But if we don’t make them into warriors, we won’t be able to move to a new settlement.”

Dokutora crouched down and scratched his head. It made his feather ornament – the symbol of the warrior chief – quiver on his head. Since the lizardmen traveled across the monster-filled wasteland, hunting, living, and then moving their entire village time and time again, they needed to have a hefty supply of warriors. But their trainees were all still very young, and weren’t at the proper age to start hunting.

“If they experience true battle, they’ll probably become fine warriors. But it’s dangerous to make such young lizardmen hunt. Especially now that we’ve already lost so many...” Dokutora looked up at the sky. He certainly seemed desperate.

I couldn’t bear to just sit and watch him, so I decided to give him my amateur opinion. “Why don’t you train them before they start hunting?”

“We always train them. But having real experience in battle makes a great difference.”

As someone who had basically zero battle experience, it was a bit troubling to hear. “Is it a bad idea to hunt in a group?”

“If they do, it’ll prevent each warrior from maturing on their own.”

I had figured it’d be the only safe way to give the young novice lizardmen some real battle experience, but Dokutora didn’t seem to like that idea. “Don’t the monsters around here run in packs?”

“If we attacked a pack, it’d start a war. When we hunt, we only target up to three at a time.”

It made sense. To Dokutora, Torano’o hunting meant one warrior taking on a monster and winning on his or her own. If they went hunting in groups, some warriors would end up not needing to do anything, which meant that certain warriors would get more experience than others. Dokutora wanted to turn each member of his tribe into a proper warrior, so that was a path he couldn’t take.

“How about this, then. Why don’t you create a squad?”

“A squad?”

“I’ve heard that this is how human armies work. Also, the heroes fought the demon lord four on one, remember?” I recalled how during my search for party members, I’d heard about how armies were composed of squads that each contained four people. “You have ten veteran warriors left, right? Why don’t you have each of them take three young lizardmen out and teach them how to hunt?”

If the veterans were watching small squads from the background, they’d be able to assist them and make sure everyone got an equal amount of experience. It was also safer than sending the young people out on their own, and would give them more experience than going out in a group. Dokutora seemed to like the one-on-one system, but this was no time to be stubborn.

“Hmmm. We’ve never done it that way up until now...” Dokutora growled. Considering how strong their bodies were, they might have never even considered the concept.

“But you’ve never been in this big of a crisis up until now, right? And besides, once they get enough experience, you can send them all out on their own again.”

“True. If we consider it a part of their training before they go out to hunt for real... Okay, I’m going to go talk to the elder.”

It was a balanced plan that didn’t lean too far toward either extreme, and it appeared to have convinced Dokutora. I didn’t know all the details about the Torano’o tribe’s living conditions, but I thought it was at least a better plan than what they had.

Dokutora quickly stood up and headed off to a group of lizardmen who had been watching us from afar. By the time I finished filling up all 14 jugs, it was already past 7 PM. The sun was long past set, but Rulitora’s group still had yet to arrive. I hope nothing happened to them...

After the lizardmen took the jugs and went back to their tents, Dokutora returned with another lizardman whose feather accessory was even more ornate than his. This lizardman had a scraggier face than the others, and as I stared at it, I started to understand what Dokutora had meant about older lizardmen’s scales getting harder. Judging from his fancy feather ornament, I guessed that this was the elder Dokutora had mentioned earlier. I thought about kneeling, but the two of them beat me to it.

“Sir Touya, Hero of the Goddess,” the elder said. Thank you so much for coming to save our tribe. I can’t possibly express my gratitude.”

“He gave me permission to create squads and start the new hunting training,” Dokutora said. “We’ll get them started first thing tomorrow!”

“I also hear that you bestowed us with a bit of your wisdom, so I would like to thank you for that as well,” the elder added.

Dokutora and the elder bowed their heads deeply. I’d experienced this sort of treatment several times before at the temple, so I had sort of gotten used to it, but it was more like I’d just given up on worrying about it. At least it no longer made me uncomfortable.

“After I heard about your tribe from Rulitora, I thought my gift might be able to help. The thing is, because of my MP, I can’t keep water flowing all day, but I hope to keep things going at a steady pace while you begin your battle training. While I’m working, I hope you’ll let me stay in your village with you.”

“Of course. We’ll be sure to protect you while you’re resting.”

“Thanks, I appreciate it.”

In the end, asking for something fair in return made things move a lot more smoothly. My experience making a deal with that water merchant in the temple had come in handy. In exchange for saving the tribe from their water crisis, they’d let me stay here and offer me protection. It may not have been the fairest deal ever, but either way, they owed me now, and since we were both getting something out of this, it made everything else proceed with ease.

“Dokutora, prepare a new tent. We’ll let Sir Touya rest there.”

“I’ll have it set up at once!” Upon hearing the elder’s order, Dokutora instantly stood up and ran off. On his way, he called out to some other lizardmen. That tent was going to be ready in no time.

It turned out to be a white tent with a pillar in the center, just like the other ones that the Torano’o tribe used. It was made for lizardmen, so it looked pretty big to me.

By the time Rulitora’s group arrived, Dokutora and the other lizardmen had already finished setting up the tent. Only two young Torano’o tribe warriors had returned with Rulitora and the two girls in the rickshaw. Monsters were precious food to them, so the remaining seven had gone out to see what they could scavenge from the mess.

“It sure took you a while,” I said.

“Those two had taken more damage than we realized. I went slow so that I wouldn’t put any more strain on them...”

“Are you sure they’re okay?”

“I thought you’d want to hear about what happened to them, so I carried them to that tent over there.”

Rulitora and I headed to the tent to check on the two girls. When we got inside, the silver-haired girl named Clena spun violently around in bed and gave me a pained expression. Next to her stood the girl with the custard cream-colored hair, Roni. Roni was lying deeper in the room, beyond Clena. It looked like she had taken much more damage.

“Relax,” I said. “If I wanted to hurt you, I wouldn’t have saved you back there.”

“...”

I tried to calm them down, but it didn’t really work. Clena was staring at me as if she had chosen that spot specifically in order to protect Roni. They were definitely still afraid of me.

At this rate, they’ll never warm up to me. I guess I’ll have to try and force out a conversation here. I moved up to Clena and sat down in front of her. Rulitora sat down diagonally behind me.

“I guess it’s about time I introduced myself. I’m Touya. This sand lizardman is my raver, Rulitora. Just so you know, he isn’t a criminal raver.” As I introduced him, Rulitora bowed his head.

“...I’m Clena. And that’s Roni. She isn’t a criminal raver either, of course.” I couldn’t tell if she was still afraid of me or not, but she at least told me her name.

It seemed strange that she went out of her way to tell me that Roni wasn’t a criminal raver, but it made sense when I looked at her again. Roni had a full head of shaggy hair that went down to her waist. When I first rescued her, I hadn’t noticed, but on closer inspection, I realized that she had triangular beast ears right where her human ears would have been.

“Is she a demi-human?”

“Yes, a lycaon,” Clena said, then pushed Roni’s bangs apart and showed us her forehead. There was no oath seal on her forehead, which proved that she wasn’t a criminal raver. Clena must have wanted to convince us that her raver was a guiltless one.

According to Rulitora, lycaon were wolven demi-humans. They had wolf ears in place of human ears, and grew wolven tails from their rear ends. However, their faces looked almost exactly the same as humans. Their canines were a bit sharper, but Roni had her mouth closed, so I couldn’t check. Just like how Rulitora’s face resembled a lizard’s, lycaons’ faces had looked like wolves’ long ago. But ever since they started living alongside humans and believing in the Goddess of Light, their faces grew closer to humans’. People said there were generally two types of lycaons: those who still lived apart from humans and possessed wolven faces, and those who had mixed blood with humans and received blessings from the Goddess of Light. “Why’s her hair so shaggy?” I asked.

“...I don’t think that has anything to do with the fact that she’s a lycaon,” Clena answered.

Roni was wearing a leather breastplate, leather gauntlets, shinguards, a thin vest and long pants. She had a curved blade known as a scimitar strapped to her waist, and carried a small shield on her shoulder. All her equipment looked very practical and simple.

Clena’s silver hair was cut into a natural, soft bob. The silver color looked pretty, but unfortunately, it had lost its sheen. It looked like she was wearing a dress with a long skirt, but I could see that she was wearing metal armor beneath it. The hilt of the thin sword at her waist looked very well made, and it was plain to see by her fancy clothes that she had been born in the upper class. She also had a small shield on her left arm with its own ornate design.

“H-hold on a minute.” After staring at them, something came to mind and I gazed around the tent. Nope. Just like I thought, they were both missing a certain something. “What happened to your desert overcoats?”

“Desert...?” Clena gave me a dubious look.

But this is the wasteland, they were probably thinking – which meant they’d traveled to the wasteland part of the void without desert overcoats. Talk about reckless. There was a pretty good reason why they made overcoats specifically designed for the desert in this world. And even if they hadn’t brought them, they should have at least thought of some sort of countermeasure, such as using umbrellas or taking their armor off like I had.

“Don’t tell me...”

“Hey, what are you doing?!” Clena shouted as I moved close to her and touched her armor.

I ignored her panic. “I knew it. It feels hot...”

Because the sun had already set, it was only warm, but it probably felt like it was burning during the daytime. A white surcoat wasn’t enough to deflect the powerful sun in the wasteland. Roni was wearing leather armor, so hers wasn’t as bad as Clena’s, but it still felt warm. They probably had been unable to take off their equipment with the lizardmen around, and had kept it on the entire time.

“I’m just going to ask you this while you’re still awake – is it okay for me to take your equipment off? Your armor feels really hot.” Just so you know, I wasn’t bringing this up for impure reasons. It had to be done.

“...Fine. I wish I could just ask Roni to do it, though.” Clena seemed to understand this as well, so she hesitantly accepted my suggestion.

When she heard this, Roni winced and tried to pick herself up, but she didn’t have enough strength left. I held her back and helped her lay down again, but she resisted with what little power she still possessed.

“It’s okay, Roni! Don’t push yourself!” The moment Clena said that, Roni stopped resisting and slumped down to the bed. She was unconscious. She must have only made it this far due to her willpower.

I started undressing Clena first. Her dress-shaped surcoat was tied with a cord around her back, so she couldn’t undo it herself. Roni must have always helped her do it.

Underneath the surcoat, she was wearing half plate armor, gauntlets, and greaves. I silently removed her equipment. I figured that if I tried to fill the silence with some stupid quips, I’d only seem more worked up over this. Clena was clearly not used to having a man remove her armor, and blushed as she silently gave me free reign over her body.

Underneath her armor, she wore simple clothes that looked easy to move in, and seemed much higher quality than what I was wearing. She must be the daughter of some rich family...

“Oww!”

“I was afraid of this... I bet your skin got burned,” I said.

Clena flitted her eyes away from me. It seemed that I was right. Keeping that hot armor on for the entire day had ended up burning her skin. I mean, it’s not like they could hop into the Infinite Bath and cool themselves like I could, so I wasn’t surprised.

“I understand why you might not want to bring it up, but you have to be honest about these sorts of things.”

“Talking about it won’t change anything...”

“I can use healing magic. Only Healing Light, but still...”

The moment I said that, Clena’s face turned so red it looked like it was burning. I understood why – Healing Light required the caster to channel healing magic into their hands, which meant they needed to get close enough to touch their targets. Touching a wound would hurt the person, but since it sped up the healing process, many people did it that way. Due to that, Healing Light could only be used on superficial wounds. In order to heal bones or organs, one would have to use a more advanced spell that could heal from a distance.

“Just so you know, I’ve only been studying cleric magic for a little over a month.” In other words, I needed to have my target undress and show me the wound in order to heal it – which definitely required permission beforehand.

After I finished removing her armor, I called out to Clena, who was still struggling against the pain. “I’m going to take off Roni’s armor now, so you can use that time to decide whether or not you want magic healing. Even if you decide not to do it, I’ll prepare some clean water for you.”

“...Okay.”

It’d be easy to cool their bodies with water prepared using the Unlimited Bath. Whichever option Clena chose, she’d end up okay. As I thought about this, I started taking off Roni’s armor, and couldn’t help but glance at Clena as she pondered her decision with a bright red face. My hand happened to pass over Roni’s breasts a bit, but it wasn’t on purpose, so I hoped she’d forgive me. They were small, but when I touched them, I could feel how firm and perky they were. I also noticed how warm her body was.

While I worked, Clena mumbled out questions to me. It started out with what a human like me was doing at a Torano’o tribe settlement, then how I got here and how I made Rulitora my raver. Of course, I told her the entire truth without hiding anything. I wasn’t sure if it was okay to tell her about my gift and how I was summoned, but it was too late now, since I had already told her about how I saved the Torano’o tribe from their water crisis. Incidentally, when she asked how I was going to prepare cold water, I made sure to explain that someone would have to bathe with me in order to use the Unlimited Bath. Of course, both of us didn’t need to bathe at the same time – I could always prepare the water separately.

“You’re... One of the heroes from another world who was summoned to Jupiter?” Clena asked.

The two girls came from Juno, a kingdom in the Olympus Alliance that lied farther to the northwest than Jupiter. They had passed through the Sacred City on their way to the void. They’d also heard rumors about the hero summoning.

Apparently, it snowed a lot in Juno. As I listened, I wondered if coming from a cold place had made them underestimate the heat of the void. People had most likely warned them about the heat, but it was something that people had to experience firsthand to really understand. When I touched upon this, Clena blushed and silently nodded. Another bullseye for me.

As I opened the door to the Unlimited Bath and continued to explain its ability, Clena’s eyes widened. I poured some water into a wash bowl and brought it out. Then, I loosened Roni’s collar and belt as she lay on a blanket.

Immediately, Clena started to panic. “What are you doing?! I didn’t say you could go that far!”

“Don’t get so freaked out. I only did it because it’s necessary.”

I had no plans to turn back. Now that I had her belt loosened, I could glance at a bit of the white panties she wore underneath, and there was nothing anyone could do about it.

Roni’s body felt so hot that I worried she might be experiencing heatstroke. Luckily, she drank some water, so she was probably a little better off, but she still had yet to sit up. It was time for some modern wisdom to come to the rescue.

I wet a towel with some cold water and placed it on the back of Roni’s neck, under her armpits, and on her thighs, in order to cool the areas that were close to her thicker blood vessels. Slipping a towel in her pants made them wet, but there was no helping that. I doubted it’d be okay if I just pulled her pants down without permission, after all. Finally, I put the wet towel on her forehead, and had Rulitora fan her with a board because we lacked an actual fan.

“You want me to fan her, in order to cool her down with the wind?” he asked.

“It’s more for the heat of vaporization, but yeah, you’ve got the basic idea.”

Rulitora seemed to understand that he didn’t need to be so cautious around the girls either, so he traded out his glaive for a board and started fanning Roni. She was starting to look somewhat relaxed, so it seemed like she would be okay for the time being.

Once I took a break, Clena gave me a suspicious look. “Wh-what are you doing?”

“Treating her heatstroke.”

The temperature control panel inside the Unlimited Bath allowed me to create not only hot water, but cold water as well.

But Clena cocked her head. It appeared that she hadn’t heard the word ‘heatstroke’ before. “She’ll be... okay, won’t she?”

“I’m pretty sure I’m doing the right thing here. After she wakes up, I’ll have her drink some water with salt in it.”

“Salt?”

“Sweat is salty, right? We need to replace the salt she lost from sweating so much.”

“...Okay.”

She didn’t seem convinced, but it at least made her stop complaining. Even though the heatstroke countermeasure was my idea, the Torano’o tribe also knew about the importance of salt, and most of them had some rock salt in their tents.

“So, what’ll it be? Magic or cold water?” I asked.

It was time to decide how I was going to heal Clena’s burns. The best way to heal her would be if she just stopped acting stubborn, stripped, and let me touch her. But I knew I wasn’t enlightened enough to perform such a feat without feeling a little excited, so I couldn’t demand anything like that.

“...I have one condition,” Clena said.

“So it depends on the details, huh? Well then, let me hear it.”

Clena pointed her index finger at me. “I want you to let me into the Unlimited Bath, too.”

“Did you hear a word I said? I need to be in there for you to use it...”

“Exactly! It’s not fair if I’m the only one who has to get naked!”

“Uh, that’s some crazy logic you’ve got there.” Perhaps the heat had gotten to her head a little.

“Well, if you’re okay with stripping, then we can save the bathing for later. First, come over here,” I said. I didn’t want to waste time discussing things any further. At this point, it didn’t matter if I was prepared to get naked or not – she clearly was, so I opened the door to the Unlimited Bath.

“Rulitora, I’m going to close the door for a bit, so I need you to watch over Roni. Don’t forget to give her some of the saltwater, okay?”

“Leave it to me.”

I left Roni with Rulitora, then took two cups with pinches of salt in them inside the Unlimited Bath with me. First, I filled the cups with water, kept one inside, and passed the other to Rulitora – that was what I wanted Roni to drink when she woke up.

Clena still couldn’t stand up on her own, so I had to carry her inside. She was only a bit shorter than me, but without her armor, she was pretty light. After that, I gave her the other cup of saltwater. Her hands were shaking, so I put mine on hers and helped her.

“Can you take off your clothes by yourself?” I asked her after she closed the door. She shook her head.

She wasn’t as bad as Roni, but it seemed that she was suffering from something close to heatstroke as well. Her balance looked off, so I imagined she was at least feeling some sort of dizziness and fatigue. She’d merely been acting tough up until now.

“Okay then, I’ll take them off for you,” I said.

Clena gave me a small nod. She looked delirious, and showed no signs of resistance. I sat her down on one of the stools in the bath, then started taking her clothes off one by one. I’m healing her, I’m healing her, I kept repeating to myself.

Once I took off the clothes she had on under her armor, her slip became visible. Pastel pink. And it felt really soft. The hem was tucked into her pants, so I pulled them off next. I offered her my shoulder for support so that she could stick her hips out, then slid her pants down to her thighs.

After I sat her back down, I moved to the lower part of her legs and pulled her pants off. I feel like a pervert, I realized, perhaps a bit too late. And I certainly must look like one. Despite that, whether she just didn’t care or had simply given up, Clena let me do as I pleased without saying anything. Her slip was short enough so that it wasn’t tangled up into her pants, so I was able to lift her up and easily remove them as well.

At last, I could see her bra and panties. They were red – a dazzling crimson that bled into my eyes. Clena had silver hair and pale skin, which really made the red stand out. Now, if only she was in a healthy condition... Unfortunately, the skin on her chest was also bright red, and the same went for her swollen shoulders and back.

“Looks like you were right on the verge of getting burned.”

“It stings.” I could hear her muttering from above my head as I stared at her chest.

She looked like someone who’d gotten a little too much sun after a day at the beach or the pool. I’d been surprised by how loud she’d been earlier, but perhaps the pain was holding her back now.

Clena’s chest wasn’t as large as Haruno’s or Sera’s, but she had enough to create some cleavage – and they were certainly big enough to be called ‘big boobs.’ She had a nice curve that went from her waist to her hips, but they looked plumper than Haruno’s and Sera’s. Pale, soft, and squishy – those are the words I’d use to describe her body.

As I continued to stare intently at her breasts, I struggled to pull my mind back into reality and hurriedly called out to her. “Okay now, let me try casting some magic on this. I’m going to take your bra off, okay?”

“...Okay.” She was red up to her ears, and had completely averted her eyes from me.

As I undid the front hook to her bra with shaky fingers, her full breasts spilled out. I didn’t know if it was okay to just stand there and stare in admiration, so I held myself back. The parts that had been covered by the bra were in the worst condition. They had clearly been burned, and looked painful.

I felt the fabric of the bra with my finger. Is this what caused her to get so hot? I let out a sigh. I’m going to have to do everything in my power to heal this.

I closed my eyes and focused my mind on channeling healing power into my hands. I decided I’d start with the worst areas first, so I picked both breasts up carefully, as if they were precious gems, and allowed the light to slip through my fingers. I could feel their weight in my palms.

Clena flinched the moment I touched them, as if she’d felt some kind of pain, but she didn’t let out a peep.

“You’re certainly taking your time,” she finally said.

“Not on purpose. Like I said, it’s only been a little over a month since I started studying this magic.”

Clena was right – it was going slowly, since I was still so inexperienced. As a result, I had to touch her breasts for a relatively long time, so I understood her need to say something. Her cheeks were flush with an embarrassed shade of red, and she looked very uncomfortable as she kept her eyes averted. Precisely because of the situation we were in, I wanted to do my very best and not leave a single wound behind. I wasn’t merely trying to act serious in order to touch her breasts for as long as possible. You have to believe me. Once I finished healing the lower parts, I caressed my way to the upper parts of her breasts. As I did so, my fingertips and palms accidentally slid over her nipples.

“Mm...” Clena let out a sweet sigh.

I did my best to withstand her voice and focused on the healing. I kept moving my hands upward as I healed her burns, treating her collarbone, neck, shoulder, and back in that order.

“I’m going to look at your arms and legs as well,” I said.

“O-okay.”

Once she gave me permission, I looked at her hands and legs only to see redness around the parts that had been covered. I placed both of my hands on each spot and used Healing Light to fix everything.

“...That should do it.” After healing all the burns and checking to make sure her skin was back in pristine condition, I nodded in satisfaction. “I think I got it all.”

“...” Clena was still silent. She was hiding her breasts with both hands, but since she was pushing them together, it only made her cleavage bigger. She kept fidgeting around, and it seemed like something was up.

“What’s wrong? Tell me if you’re hurting somewhere. I still have some MP left.”

“...” It sounded like she was muttering something, but I was unable to hear it. I moved my ear close to her lips, until I finally heard: “My butt, too...”

“...Remember, I’m merely healing you here.”

“J-just hurry it up. It’s embarrassing...”

Clena held on to the edge of the tub and got on her knees, as I nervously pulled down her panties. She was right. Her big, round butt was red as well, but it looked to be the lightest of all the burns. Still, there was no way I could just stop without healing it as well, so I channeled healing magic into my hands and rubbed them on her protruding buttocks.

Incidentally, after I checked with the Ficus brand store on a later date, I discovered that they did sell female underwear that had high permeability and allowed heat to escape. They even had underwear that was strong against the cold. That perverted genius really had thought of everything.

“Don’t forget, you promised me we’d take a bath together!” Clena said with a crimson face after she wrapped herself in a towel.

Apparently, she thought it was unfair that she was the only one who had to get naked. I could sort of understand, but how she got from that to ‘bathing together’ was beyond me. She was probably saying it as a means of retaliation, but to me, a man who dreamed of bathing together with a girl, it was anything but that.

So I told her the truth. “You do realize that bathing together with you would be a reward for me, right?”

“Urk...”

I had to stay inside the Unlimited Bath in order to use it, but I couldn’t stay in such a cramped place with a half-naked girl forever, so I moved in front of Clena and opened the door – only to see an awakened Roni standing right in front of me.

“Lady Clena!”

“Roni!”

Once she saw us, Roni instantly ran inside, so I stepped back and got out of their way. As long as they weren’t going to use the bath, I didn’t need to be in there, so as they joined hands and rejoiced at how they were both okay, I stepped out of the changing area and went to go find Rulitora.

“It looks like Roni’s feeling better now,” I said.

“She awoke after a while, so I gave her the cup of water, then returned the towel to its original place and had her rest there,” Rulitora replied.

“Good. Judging from what I just saw, she’s going to be okay.” When I looked back into the bath, I saw that Roni had started crying out of happiness, while Clena was still clad in a bath towel, trying to put her at ease.

“Where’s everyone else?” I asked.

“They were just gathered up around the tent, but once that girl awoke, they all breathed a sigh of relief and left.”

“Gotcha.”

When I took Clena into the Unlimited Bath, were they not worried because she was awake? Did they trust me? Or... were they being considerate and simply hoping we’d have a nice time? Lizardmen didn’t really seem to understand how human baths worked, so it must have been the first or second options.

“Did the elder say anything?”

“He left us in charge, but told us to contact him if anything changes.”

“I see...” I looked back to the girls again, and realized that I still had yet to find out exactly who they were. “You two can stay here tonight, but do you mind if we gather up everything besides your clothes? I don’t want the villagers to get nervous.”

“...So be it. But take care of our swords, okay? They’re valuable,” Clena said.

“You saved us, after all, so I don’t mind,” Roni added.

Clena had a lycaon demi-human with her, so perhaps that’s why she so easily agreed to let me gather up her things. I took the two swords and wrapped each one in some cloth for protection. Now there was no need to worry about Clena’s decorative sword getting damaged.

“Rulitora, take their weapons for me. And be careful with them.”

“Understood.”

“Wait, hold on,” Clena said. “Roni, you had some daggers in your bag, didn’t you?”

“Yes, Lady Clena.” When Clena called her name, Roni pulled five daggers out from their bags and handed them to Rulitora.

“Also, I’d like to know what you were doing in the void,” I said.

“...Are you a Hero of the Sacred King?” Clena asked.

“No, I’m a Hero of the Goddess. From the Goddess of Light temple.”

“Oh, a hero from the temple... I suppose that’s the lesser of two evils. Fine, I’ll tell you.”

Does Clena have a problem with my ties to Jupiter or the Goddess of Light temple? She seems like she’s the daughter of a noble family, so maybe they’re wrapped up in some political dispute?

As thoughts ran through my head, Roni spoke up. “Lady Clena, since Sir Touya saved us, we need to thank him somehow.”

“Oh, yeah, you’re right. Does money have value here?”

“It does not,” Rulitora answered. Human currency was rarely used among the lizardmen – they all just shared what they hunted.

“Perhaps we’d better think of a gift, then,” Clena said.

On the following day, Clena and Roni ended up giving daggers to the two lizardmen who’d returned to the village with them. The Torano’o tribe mostly used simple weapons, so I imagined they’d been pleased to receive them. The girls tried to give Rulitora one as well, but since he was my raver, I refused for him.

“And now for you...” Clena said, as she stared me right in the face. She was smirking, as if she’d just thought of something. “Touya... Earlier, you said that bathing with me would be a reward for you, right?”

Yes. I certainly did say that.

“How about bathing with me, then?” Clena said, with a triumphant look on her face. Earlier, she had been as pale as a sheet, but with her energy restored, Clena’s face looked cute and charming.

“Lady Clena?!” Roni’s eyes widened. Her tail also puffed up due to her shock.

Roni, who was also in much better spirits, stood a bit shorter than Clena. Compared to Clena’s plump body, Roni was slim with small breasts. I’d heard that lycaons had sharp, wolven eyes that helped them hunt their prey, but her face looked adorable enough to belong to a playful little puppy – perhaps because she was still young.

“Touya saw me naked,” Clena declared. “It’s not fair unless I get to see him naked, too!”

“Are you sure you don’t just feel like you’ve gone too far to back out now?” I immediately countered. It’s true that I wanted to bathe with a girl – that’s precisely why I refused to budge on my principles. And so, as I restrained my excitement after hearing Clena talk about bathing with me, I looked her straight in the eyes and said: “Listen carefully. I told you once already that I’d bathe with you, and mark my words, I mean to do just that. You could almost say that’s the entire reason I began this journey in the first place.”

“Urk...” Faced with my dead serious eyes, Clena recoiled.

“Did you hear what Sir Touya just said?” Roni looked like she was about to cry.

I wasn’t trying to scare them, but I wanted them to understand how serious I was. After all, I knew I wouldn’t enjoy it if I had to bathe with someone who was only doing it reluctantly.

“Th-then that’s all the more reason to do it! You saved both our lives, and even got rid of all my burns before they created any scars! What kind of a person would I be if I didn’t go this far to repay you?”

“I just coincidentally happened to know some cleric magic, that’s all. You don’t need to get so serious about it,” I said, which only made Clena gape at me in shock.

“Don’t you know how hard it is to heal burns? And if it’s done too late, the burns could create scars. Are you sure you’ve only been studying magic for a month?” Clena asked, as she pressed on her chest and held the bath towel on her body.

It was true that recovery magic could stop bleeding and close up wounds – save lives, basically – but it couldn’t restore everything. I had figured that burns weren’t that big of a deal, but when I really stopped and thought about it, I remembered seeing multiple people with terrible burns on their hands and legs when I was a kid.

“You know how a woman with burns on her breasts would be treated, right?” Clena asked.

“...Well, I don’t exactly know, but I can guess.” Next, I decided to confirm something. “Clena, are you a noble from Junopolis?”

“Y-yes! Lady Clena is...”

“No, Roni!” As Roni started to happily explain, Clena stopped her. “It’s true that I was born into that sort of family, but they’ve pretty much disowned me. And besides, I’m only involved with this problem due to a matter of pride.”

“...” It turned out that she really was a noble, just as I had guessed. She seemed to be stuck in a complicated situation, but I had no idea as to what it could be. “Before you decide how to thank me, I want to hear about your situation first. We can talk after that.”

“Fine. Can I change in here?”

“The door won’t close if I’m outside it.”

I could create a door to the Unlimited Bath anywhere nearby me, but once it appeared, I was unable to go very far from it. If the door was left open and I tried to walk away, I’d eventually run into some sort of invisible wall.

“Okay,” Clena said. “Just as long as I don’t have to walk on the dirt.”

“Oh, right. Sure, make yourself at home.” Since she was barefoot, Clena didn’t seem to want to change on the ground.

Then, Roni crept near and looked up to me. “Um, Sir Touya. I’d like to change her into these clothes, if possible...”

“Okay, just hurry it up. You know, you should change too, Roni.”

“Er, are you sure you don’t want to check them?”

She must have thought I’d want to check to see if there was anything hidden in the clothes. I figured that if she was bringing it up herself, things would be fine.

“Honestly, at this point I pretty much trust you two. And besides, if you are planning something, remember that I have a very reliable bodyguard with me,” I said, pointing to Rulitora. The only reason I’d gathered up their weapons and luggage wasn’t really because I was trying to be cautious against them, but more because I wanted to be considerate of the lizardmen. “Th-thank you very much!” Roni bowed her head, then took the clothes to Clena.

As I watched her gallantly run off, I sat next to Rulitora with our backs facing the Unlimited Bath, so that we wouldn’t see anything. Yes, it seemed a little late for this, but oh well.

“We’re done now.” After a bit, I heard a voice and turned around to see Clena and Roni standing in fresh new clothes. They were both wearing deep navy long sleeve shirts and pants, similar to the clothes they’d been wearing under their armor earlier. Since the color of the clothes was so plain, it only made Roni’s bright custard cream-colored hair stand out even more.

“Now then, sit down over there and tell me what’s going on with you,” I said, motioning to a cloth I’d laid on the ground that was big enough for both of them.

The blanket that Roni had been using got wet during the heatstroke treatment, so I’d moved it into the corner. Once the two girls sat down on the new cloth, I sat cross-legged in front of them on my own, while Rulitora sat behind me to my right. Since they lived in tents with open floors, they were used to sitting directly on the ground.

“Allow me to thank you once more. If it hadn’t been for you two, Roni and I wouldn’t have made it. Thank you so much.” Clena sat up straight and bowed her head deeply. She seemed to know exactly how to be perfectly polite.

Roni also thanked me and bowed her head. She was just full of energy, and her smile looked cute.

“Seems like you’re both okay now. I’m glad you recovered so quickly.” When I said that, the girls raised their heads. Their faces were both full of color now.

Since Clena had been wearing metal armor, she’d been worse off than Roni, but the pain from the burns hadn’t caused her to fall unconscious. Not only that, but she was currently surrounded by a man and a bunch of lizardmen. She acted tough, but I imagined that she was experiencing stormy weather on the inside. That’s why I was so happy to see that the two were in high spirits again.

Now that I looked at her, I could tell Clena wasn’t pushing herself to appear a certain way. She trusted us, and was opening her heart to us, and that made me happier than anything else. As I continued to look at her from the front, my eyes couldn’t help but slide down to her plump thighs. Then, remembering how Haruno had caught me looking at her breasts, I quickly averted my gaze – and ended up looking Clena straight in the eyes. She was blushing, and looked like she wanted to say something. Did I just get caught again?

I decided to cover for myself by beginning the conversation. “So, what were you doing in the void? I traveled there for a reason, but what about you?”

“...Don’t laugh, okay?” Clena said.

“I’ll do my best.”

Roni looked worried as she watched Clena. Is their reason really that weird?

“I was heading for the desert kingdom,” Clena answered.

“That thing in the center of the southern desert?” I asked.

“...You’re not going to laugh?” Clena asked with a worried face.

I cocked my head, trying to figure out why she was so worried, and then I remembered. Even the people at the temple had said the stories about the desert kingdom were hard to believe, and treated them like superstition. To people in this world, ‘looking for the desert kingdom’ probably equated to something like ‘looking for cryptids’ in my world.

“Umm, Lady Clena,” Roni said, looking a bit flustered. “Since Sir Touya was summoned, perhaps he doesn’t know about the desert kingdom?”

“No, I know about it.”

“You do?!” When I quickly answered, Roni turned to me in surprise. Her tail was puffed up again – it seemed like that happened whenever she got surprised.

“Remember, I told you that I came here to save the Torano’o tribe. I knew where they were located, so I did a little research on the void.”

“Ohhh...” Roni’s beast ears twitched as an impressed look passed over her face. She had a childish charm to her, but it was different from Rium’s.

“If I were to laugh, it’d be at the fact that you crossed the wasteland in metal armor without even preparing a desert/wasteland-customized overcoat.”

“Urk... G-give us a break! We didn’t know it was going to be this hot!” Clena argued with a heated face.

I felt like there was a difference in the amount of knowledge the average person possessed in this world, versus my world. For example, I’d never actually been to the desert, but I’d seen it multiple times on TV. In this world, people could only learn things from word of mouth or books, and the rest was left up to their imagination.

“...I’m grateful to you,” Clena said, as she averted her eyes in embarrassment. “To the lizardmen who saved our lives and carried us all the way here... And to you, who saved my womanhood.”

She must have been talking about the burns on her boobs. They looked so amazingly big and plump, I couldn’t help but feel proud that I’d managed to fully restore their curvaceous splendor. As these thoughts ran through my head, Clena started blushing and staring at me again, so I decided to get back to the topic at hand.

“A-anyway, I’m not going to laugh at the fact that you were looking for the desert kingdom. I actually think it sounds pretty adventurous.”

“...Oh. Thanks.” Clena and Roni looked so sweet as they displayed their relief.

I went on. “But now that I’ve heard what you’re after, I’m afraid I can’t let you go any further.” I stared at Clena as I said this, and she stared back with a grave look on her face. Meanwhile, Roni glanced nervously between Clena and I.

“...Because we aren’t prepared well enough?” Clena asked.

“That’s one reason why, but it’s because I know exactly what sort of situation this desert is in right now.” This time, I glanced at Rulitora.

“Rulitora, tell them about the sandworm that attacked the reservoir.”

“I see. Of course.”

Rulitora figured out exactly where I was heading with this, so he turned to Clena and Roni and told them about the sandworm that had attacked the Torano’o tribe’s lifeline. He also left out no details about the many warriors who had died fighting the monster.

As they listened, Clena and Roni’s faces stiffened. Roni squeezed her hands into fists on top of her knees and grit her teeth in a frightened expression, while her tail flopped weakly onto the floor.

“Apparently, there are other monsters as well, like the giant scorpions,” I said, as Rulitora smacked his armor. When they looked at the carapace that covered his body, I wanted them to imagine how big the original monster had been. “Heat worse than the wasteland, and powerful monsters. Do you really think you could make it through there alone, regardless of how well you’re prepared?”

“W-well...”

“Lady Clena...” Roni worriedly glanced at Clena, who was at a loss for words and staring downwards.

“There’s also the basic question of whether or not the desert kingdom actually exists. Wandering around a desert looking for legendary ruins is a recipe for suicide.”

“I-it does exist! I’m sure of it!” Clena shot her head up and retorted loudly.

“If you’re that sure, then do you have any proof? The people at the temple in Jupiter said they hadn’t found any.”

“Well... That’s because it was erased. The desert kingdom was completely erased from existence.”

“...What do you mean?” I asked, and Clena looked away awkwardly. She seemed to be hesitating about whether or not it was okay to tell me.

“Lady Clena...” Roni murmured worriedly.

Clena gave her a small smile, then turned back to me with determined eyes. “Well, I do owe my life to you... And besides, Touya, it’s connected to you as well.”

“Connected to me?” I retorted in confusion. Clena gave me a mysterious nod. “The desert kingdom truly did exist, but it was erased from history.”

So it wasn’t that records hadn’t been left – they had just been completely erased. No wonder the people at the temple hadn’t been able to come up with anything. The question now was why it was erased from history, and what it had to do with me. Luckily, what Clena said next completely answered all of that.

“The demon lord and the demon race were born in the desert kingdom.”

That’s right. According to Clena, the desert kingdom used to belong to the demon lord. It was also the site of the final battle between the demon lord and the first sacred king.