Book 1: Chapter 2 (4)

「U-m so, um……after quitting the former imperial……and then」

「Do you mean the royal court?」

「Ah, yes yes. I became a Royal Court Magician at the age of 6!」

In reality, I did enter the Former Imperial University in the region I lived in. [1. TL Note: ‘Former Imperial Universities’ is the name of the 7 national universities in Japan that existed before the war, including Tokyo University and Kyoto University. They are considered the best few universities in Japan. ]. But because of a certain incident, I was forced to drop out. Thinking that I could somehow get by if I went to Tokyo, I moved to Tachikawa city.

And that was how I moved into this apartment, with its cheap rent even though it’s located within the city.

「But I dropped out……I mean I quit. Then I devoted myself to my hobbies, I mean my magic」

「I see, so that’s what happened.」

「So yeah, I’m still 21 years old.」

「You’re so young! Then we’d only have a 3 year age gap!」

Hm? Is Ria 24 years old?

Wait, no. Seeing how beautiful and elegant she was, I thought that she’d be older than me, but her smile was adorable. There was still some childishness left in that smile of hers.

「Are you 18 years old, Ria?」

「Yes!」

Heh, heh. 18 I see…….That’s nice.

I’m glad I saved her with all my might. Talking about that.

「Are you feeling alright?」

「Yes. It’s paralysis poison so I think it should heal by itself with time. 」

I see, so paralysis poison heals by itself with time.

That was important information for me, since I lived in an apartment connected to a dungeon. I’ll remember this.

It might work in my favour to learn more information from Ria.

「In a situation where I could have gotten attacked by monsters at any time, I was still conscious, but all I could see was darkness……and my body couldn’t move……I was so scared……」

Ria shuddered.

Of course that’d be terrifying. Maybe that was why she wet herself.

Oh yes, that’s right.

She probably felt really uncomfortable while her body still wasn’t able to move.

「I’ll go prepare a bath」

「What? A bath? In a dungeon? But I’d feel bad for doing something like that.」

「It’s fine, it’s fine」

I never imagined that the first person to use the bathroom in my new home would be a lady, no, a girl.

I had thought that I would let the ‘girlfriend’ I got someday to use it, but I never thought that I would have a girl use it on the first day of me moving in.

Thank you, dungeon.

「Let’s see here. The bath can be reheated but it’s the type where I can only fill up the bath with the tap, so I guess it’s not automatic. So I’ll just fill it with water……」

Now let’s go back to the Japanese-style room where Ria is.

Maybe the paralysis poison wore off enough for her to start walking around again.

「ーWait what!? Why are you kneeling down!?」

When I returned to the japanese-style room, Ria was there, kneeling down at me.

Moreover, she was still trembling. Why was she trying so hard to kneel down to me when the paralysis still hadn’t worn off!?

「I, I-I-I-I-I’m so sorry. When you talked about the bath I finally realised but……what a disgraceful thing I have……」

It seemed that my urging for her to take a bath caused her to realise that she had wet herself.

「No……but you couldn’t have been able to go to the toilet because you were paralysed right? And it couldn’t have been helped because I scared you right?」

As I said those words, she vigorously lifted her face up in my direction. Her face was completely red. She then reached her hand out to grab me near my waist area.

「W-w-what!? What are you doing?」

「I-It’s wet」

I was surprised. It seemed that her strange action was to check whether my clothes were wet.

「Ah……It’s because I carried you, Ria」

「H-how could I have made…….a wise sage do something…. like that」

「T-there, there, it’s not that uncommon」

「That’s not true at all!」

Well, she’s right.

It probably isn’t everyday that one wet’s a wise sage with pee. I think.

Ria suddenly started to cry out loud.

「I-I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have raised my voice all of a sudden……」

「No, it’s alright.」

「Even if you forgive me……I can’t get married anymore at this rate」

Ah, ah—……II see. So that was the reason she raised her voice, and why she started to cry.

I guess that is something that happens in a strict family of knights.

「If you can’t then I would gladly take you……」

「What?」

Oh, o-o-o-o-oh no.

I just let that slip out because I wanted to cheer Ria up, after seeing how dejected she was……..

She probably hates me now. In the worst possible situation, this might even cause the magician of darkness to be resurrected.

Right now, she was wearing an expression much more blank than just now. And when she finally internalised the meaning of what I said,

「W-w-w-w-what are you saying!? Wise sage」

She said, as her face turned bright red and she looked away.

Oh no. She might avoid me now.

「No, I-I mean. It’s a joke…….maybe……..hey…….」

She suddenly turned around to look at me.

Her face was beautiful, but she looked at me with the fierceness of a carnivorous animal.

Are these the true colors of a female knight?

「Is it……. a joke?」

「I guess there are jokes that can be said and those that shouldn’t」

She laughed.But it was a somewhat intimidating smile.

「That’s right. Boys cannot go back on their word, you know?」

「T-that’s right. Boys cannot go back on their word.」

At any rate, Ria ws laughing.

My brain couldn’t really catch up in understanding the situation, but the rational choice here was to agree with her.

Her face turned red again as she looked away.

「I will go take a bath now. Where is it?」

「Ah, wait a while. There’s a lot I need to teach you.」

I grabbed her arm and helped her to stand up.

Even as she looked away, she didn’t push my hand away.

「T-thank you very much……」

I brought her to the bathroom.

By the way, I was only explaining how to use everything, so of course, she was still fully clothed.

「W-wow. Just how amazing is this room in the dungeon that you live in, Sir Thor?」

I mean, if she was impressed by the tatami, this was only to be expected.

Ria looked around the bathroom curiously and was surprised.

At this point, I didn’t even know what she was surprised at.

「It’s supposed to be a mansion rather than a dungeon though. But I guess it does sound very similar」[2. TL Note: Apartments are called ‘マンション’ in Japanese which is pronounced ‘man-shon’ and can be directly, albeit less accurately, translated as ‘mansion’]

「Hm?」

「Ah—no. It’s nothing. This is the bathtub. You’re supposed to go into this, understood?」

「Got it! They have this in the houses of nobles and the royal palace anyway. 」

Hmm, I see. So rich people have bathtubs in the dungeon world too.

「But is it really alright? Letting someone like me use your bathing quarters, wise sage?」

「Don’t sweat the small stuff. Rather than that, do you know how to use the shower?」

Bathing quarters. Is that the old word for bathroom?

I mean, in the first place, I was kind of understanding Ria’s words through some sort of telepathy.

Ria was making an apologetic face.

「Ah—it’s all right. It’s only natural that you don’t know」

「I-I’m sorry.」

Ria shrank inwards and her face looked terrified.

「No, no, no! It’s really alright if you don’t know. I just wanted to show off to you the amazing artifacts I made as a wise sage.」

「Is that so?」

「Yeah, especially because I never get visitors when I live so deep in the dungeon.」

「I see. But I won’t know if its amazing or not if I don’t know how to use it.」

It seemed that she was a very straightforward person. She seemed to be the type of person who didn’t try to flatter others. But it’s better that way.

「Then I’ll teach you how to use it. When you twist this faucet, the hot water will come out. It’s set to the perfect temperature already, so it’s convenient for washing your body right? It’s separate from the bathtub so it’s hygienic too」

I turned the shower on and let the water flow to show Ria.

She didn’t react. She was completely expressionless. She was frozen.

「H-hm?」

Was it nothing special to her?

Shall I spray her with a little water for fun?

Ria suddenly flinched.

「Oh no」

「It, i-i-it really is hot water. How does this work? There isn’t even a fire.」

I mean even if she asked me how it works, I guess it was just the heat energy from the pressure of the water and gas?