CH 18

Chapter 18 : The Thing that We Longed for

After I was done with my magic training in the vacant lot today, Nicola and I came back to our home and headed to the backyard behind the inn.

「Here we go….」

「Do your best, onii-chan….!」

Unusually, Nicola looked nervous.

From now, I’m gonna create something that we’ve longed for with earth magic.

Until now, I had made chairs and tables in the vacant lot using earth magic.

They were sturdy enough to sit on, but unfortunately, they were vulnerable to water.

When it rained, the soil chairs and tables would absorb the water and become soggy. Even though they wouldn’t crumble easily thanks to my mana, the surface became all muddy.

So I injected my mana more and more and then the brown mass of soil gradually became grayish and eventually it became more like stone rather than soil.

The stone-like chairs and tables could repel the water really well.

And when I thought I could make something stone-like that was resistant to water, then I had no choice but to try to make ‘this’.

I started to concentrate really hard and activated my earth magic.

From the ground, four stone walls that each one meter high, two meters long, and one meter wide were submerged and formed a rectangular shape without a surface.

After that, I also made the soil at the bottom look like it was coated with stone.

「Alright, now I’m gonna pour water in it」

I used water magic to pour water into the stone box.

But the water turned a little mud-like color. Perhaps I didn’t turn the soil into stone perfectly so there was still soil remaining on the surface.

I used my item box to get rid of the muddy water and then add water again. I repeated it a few times until the water didn’t turn muddy.

「Nice. Next, warm the water up」

I put my arm into the water and activated fire magic.

Until now, I haven’t practiced fire magic much for safety reasons, but if I only put my hands directly into the water to turn it into hot water, I thought it was totally safe.

However, because I’m not used to fire magic, the temperature rose very slowly.

It seemed Nicola became impatient; she also put her arm into the water and activated fire magic.

Yes. Nicola also can use magic.

After a while, steam started to rise from the water.

「We did it! The bath is completeー!」

Since I reincarnated in this world, when I took a bath, I only wiped my body with a wet cloth or bathed with water drawn from the well. And that was basically how people here took a bath.

Even I, who always kept my body clean in my previous life, got used to it as I lived in this world.

I got used to it, but still, I couldn’t abandon my desire to take a bath properly in a hot water tub.

And now, that desire could finally be fulfilled.

「I’m going first! I don’t wanna hear any complaints!」

After I said that to Nicola, I tried to take off my pants, but then she grabbed my arm so tightly.

「WAIT! Ladies first! No… little sister first!」

Nicola smiled, but her smile was scary.

The strength of her grip on my arm was tremendous. I couldn’t shake it off.

「But I’m the one who made the tub!」

「And I’m the one who taught you magic!」

「Ukhhー….!」

The fight continued.

I have no intention of giving up the first bath, but at this rate, neither of us will go in.

「Alright, alright. How about we’re going in together?」

「………Can’t be helped…」

After we hung our clothes on a tree branch in the garden, we immediately jumped into the stone bathtub.

The surface of the water rippled violently, and a little bit of water overflowed from the bathtub.

「Aaahh～～～」

「Haauuu～～～～」

It felt really good.

The bath for the first time in almost six years was exceptional.

Nicola also made a melted expression beside me.

By the way, right when we were born as a baby, Nicola hid her chest and crotch when I looked at her, but after we lived together as brother and sister for almost six years, she seemed to have lost her shame toward me and also our parents. Well, we were always sleeping together in the same room, and if she mind me every single time, it would only stress her out.

I also had absolutely no lewd thoughts seeing Nicola naked.

After soaking in the bathtub for quite a while, Mom came to take the bed sheets for the guest rooms that were hung in the backyard.

「Ara? Mark, Nicola, is that a bathtub?」

Actually, there’s no culture of using a bathtub in this region, but the bathtub exists in some other regions.

Because many adventurers and travelers stayed in our inn, Mom also had knowledge about other regions.

「Yup. The other day, an uncle adventurer told me about bathtub, and I tried to make one using earth magic. It feels so good!」

I couldn’t say that it was my idea because I knew about bathtub from my previous world, so I lied to her.

Mom seemed interested and approached us.

「Hee～ looks like it feels really good inside. But I didn’t know Nicola and Mark could make something like this with magic. You two are amazing! Mom proud of you!」

Mom stroked my and Nicola’s head while smiling.

「Say… can Mom join?」

Nicola and I looked at each other.

I made the tub in the corner of the backyard, which was a blind spot, but this was an inn, there might be customers who would come here for some fresh air. It would be bad if they saw mom naked.

「But Mom, someone might come here. I’ll make this bath more proper with walls and stuff tomorrow. So, be patient for today, okay?」

「Okay～ Just make walls surrounding the bathtub it’s fine. So don’t push yourself too hard, okay?」

Even though she was always picked up by customers, Mom still seemed to have a sense of crisis. For now, those customers would give up when they found out that she was a married woman, but there might be a persistent customer in the future.

It would be better to take measures before that happened, right?

After I promised I would make the walls the next day, Mom returned to work.

When I continued enjoying the bath, I asked Nicolaー

「By the way, Nicola. What if there’s a customer coming here? You okay if they saw you naked?」

「Aa…….」

It seems that the temptation of bath can even make a former angel forget about everything…