CH 18

Translator: Haruchin   Editor: Marky

Anyway, let’s do this after eating. Today’s meal was a sandwich made from slicing a huge piece of bread, and putting bolognese-like meat in between.

Just noticed this, but the shopkeeper and the guests were quite jumpy. Probably because of Ash, or maybe Ash’s scary face. I had no choice but to keep a smile plastered on my face to offset that.

The menu had a lot of dishes with the bread spread out, so it was a bit strange. Apparently, this shop had been using bread as plates instead of proper ones. They had been serving the meals on plates recently, but it seemed that they were still known for that bread thing.

***

「 How strange. 」

「 It was a road before, so they did this to prevent two-horse carriages from entering by mistake. 」

A simple iron lattice and a slipshod, ‘dead-end’ sign board blocked the entrance to the path leading to the house I rented. There’s still a bit of a distance before the house, around the length of a house, more or less. The dead end was really obvious if you’re walking on foot, but the drivers of the coach probably wouldn’t see it. They’d go ahead when they saw the bend. Maybe it’s a warning before they did that? It’s difficult to turn around, after all.

Plants decorated the walls of the houses along both sides of the alley, and flower pots dotted the edge of the road. I also placed a few pots in front of my house. I’d better stake my territory, or else it’d be overrun with pots from two houses……..

「 Great taste. 」

Getting praised made me a bit happy. After all, I changed the door, repaired the walls and floors that had been full of cracks. It might seem that nothing had changed except the door and windows from the outside, but the interior’s a different story.

「 Er, so how about a bath? It’ll be in the kitchen though. 」

I don’t have any plans to take a bath here, so there’s nothing prepared, but there’s a huge tub for the laundry that could be used. I guess that would be good enough as a bathtub since I never put my dirty clothes in it before.

There’s also a bathhouse around here, but it’s a steam bath. It’s joined to the bakery, maybe because they’re probably using the heat from the oven. Along with the steam bath there’s a barbershop and a massage parlor, so it’s pretty crowded. There’s also hookers there so I’m keeping my distance. Besides, the hygiene’s pretty questionable based on the appearance — I already did a 180 degree turn away from there.

There’s also a boat with a bathtub you can rent at the town beside the river, but the sanitation really was……. Plus, I did an 【 Appraisal 】and syphilis came out, so I never went there.

So, the reason I didn’t invite Ash to the local bathhouse was absolutely not because I didn’t know if she should go to the men’s or the women’s bath, got it? But we’re stinky from hunting the wolves, and I didn’t want to stay like this.

「 Can I bother you with that? 」

「 Alright, sit over there and wait, okay. 」

The first floor was a workshop, but since it’s just a laboratory for making meds, it’s a bit spacious. I placed the sofa and table in the empty space.

I got some water from the yard, and boiled it in the kitchen, before sneakily teleporting to my own house to get some towels, bed sheets and black tea. What else? Ah, I had to light a fire at the fireplace, or else it’ll be cold.

I left Ash on the first floor, then got the fireplace going on the second floor. I already tested the fireplace once when I repaired — or should I say recreated — it, so pretty sure there are no problems with it.

I poured the hot water in the tub, and placed a bucket with water beside it. Alright, done.

「 Go on, the toilet is over there at that door. I’ll be upstairs. 」

「 Yeah, thank you. 」

The toilet was directly built in the corner of the kitchen, so I made a wall around it. That’s the kitchen, for crying out loud, so why did they do that — Well, thinking about it, maybe they just took advantage of putting the drainage of the kitchen and the toilet together, since there’s a sewerage under the road. The kitchen became cramped because of the wall, though.

Be it toilet or baths — summoned heroes from the earth should do something about this, ugh!!

….. was what I initially thought, but the last heroes summoned were around 300 years ago, so we probably didn’t belong to the same era. That means, I could only leave it to Sis and her friends to do livelihood reforms, huh. Good luck, government!

I tried calling out after a while, but didn’t hear any reply, so 【 Teleport 】 back to my house, and hurriedly washed my face, hands and feet, then changed clothes. Still stinky, but will just take a relaxing bath later.

I took a tea set and some cookies and placed them on a tray. Honestly, I did fix the first floor since people might see it, but I just left the rest as is ー just placed a bed, table and a chair on the second floor. Anway, let’s just pretend that the second floor is for the guests, and my living space is on the third floor. There’s nothing in there, though.

「 Alright, let’s start? 」

「 Sorry. Please, I’ll leave it to you.」

Ash was on the bed while I sat on the chair, facing her. I reached out and touched the bird. It didn’t stop poking Ash on the head ー seemed like the lil bird couldn’t stop on its own, too. It seemed like a great idea to do something about that ribbon-like collar of light, but I was not sure what to do. I tried pulling it with a finger while thinking like this, but the collar was abruptly torn into shreds.

「 Ugh 」

「 Ah, sorry. 」

It was totally unexpected, so I called out to her. I caught her falling body, then laid her on the bed. Her chest bumped me, but it’s flatter than a board, my heart didn’t even jump. She’s supposed to be a girl fresh from the bath, you know…… maybe that female knight was messing around me, and ‘she’ is really a ‘he’?

The little bird alighted on my shoulder as I covered Ash with a blanket. It was stretching its neck while poking Ash, so I thought its feathers were a bit scraggly, but now, it’s compact and round.

「 Stop carrying out your contract ‘revenge’ on this guy, alright? You’ve worked hard, so rest well. 」

I can’t stop this guy from attacking others, though. I scooped it and placed it beside Ash’s pillow. The small bird fluffed itself before closing its eyes.

Alright, bath time!! Riche sniffed me when I returned back home ー so I was still stinky, huh. I relaxed for a while inside the bath, drank some milk after, then lazed on the sofa while stroking Riche as he sat on my belly. .

Guess I should fix that third floor so it’ll be fine even if people came, huh. Hm, maybe I can make a fireplace with some firewood, and make some tableware and pots while at it. Ahh, it’d be fine if I put a lock, huh. A lot of ideas came rushing in. It’s fun planning the layout and interior of the house. It seems I’m doing too much for that rented house though.

It’s difficult since I had no idea when Ash would wake up. Anyway, maybe I should live over there for the meantime.

Let’s go shopping for a bathtub tomorrow.