A Cheap, OP Brawler

Kenaka seems to have found something to tease Mametama with, however, but she wasn"t really too bothered by it for some reason.

Kalline got fl.u.s.tered after seeing Ume waking up soon afterward in the nude, totally clean of the mess made from earlier thanks to my magic, but since Ren and Erizora were with us together in the bath yesterday, they weren"t bothered as much. My wife, of course, could care less what the others were thinking and was just a little miffed that she fell asleep by herself. I apologized to her and promised to cuddle with her later tonight to make up for it. She seemed to be satisfied with that much.

With everyone gathered, we poured out all of what was in the MIB and made sure we had all of the things we needed to begin our quest. There were fresh vegetables, bread, wrapped meat, and some other ingredients included that I requested myself as we went over the list earlier.

When I told them I was going to prepare our lunches for tomorrow, there was excitement, confusion, and concern mixed among their expressions. Based on what they told me, Ren seemed to be capable of cooking decent meals thanks to her knifework and her slave training; Kalline had learned to cook while living with Eugus to be able to provide the necessary nutrition while they went through her adventurer training; and finally, Erizora may be able to do some tasks in the kitchen but she can"t really cook much with her being so large and unable to hold knives in the kitchen. When I requested those ingredients, I guess they thought they were expected to do the cooking for everyone and wouldn"t even fathom letting their leader/master lift a finger in the kitchen. Kenaka and Mametama also felt the same and they aren"t even able to cook.

There was a bit of difficulty but we came to an agreement that we"ll do rotations of who"ll be in charge of cooking some meals throughout the day. Since more people were curious to what I can do, I would start the rotations with Kalline helping me first, and with Ume and I having [Storage] and our MIB being able to preserve food, they"ll be fresh and ready to eat the next time we pull them out tomorrow. We decided to prepare them when we get back from dinner with Ms. Tephalia.

Also, Ume had never cooked even once in her life—which was actually surprising to me since I recall her "Housekeeping" skill to be a decent level. It made me wonder about what she was doing in her old home before she left.

Once we got our supplies packed back in the MIB, we gathered our things and I [Portal] us to the bathhouse we went to yesterday with three new additions to our party. Amazingly, they were okay with Kenaka and Mametama going inside with their cub forms when I told the Athesia, the same receptionist who helped us yesterday, that they were my familiars. I guess compared to pets, they"re aware of how intelligent magical beasts are?

Atheisha did offer us a reservation to the consent-free bath but we were preparing for an important dinner and wanted to relax this time around. Kalline was actually the most surprised I"d be coming with the girls to the mixed bath, I guess she wasn"t filled in on me having my alone time with the party yesterday? She didn"t have any problems with me joining them when I asked but she looked really embarra.s.sed with how red her face was.

I found that strange since both guys and girls of different races bathe together there. Maybe she never had a naked human being in the same room with her before?

We must"ve been coming in on a slow part of the day because when we got inside it was rather s.p.a.cious compared to yesterday. When I looked around, there was mostly Lamias, Arachnes, Centaurs, and some Giant Ants. I could just barely see the number of [Arch] Imps and Harpies that"s past what I could count on one hand.

I then remembered that little scare at the guild earlier. {Were the flying races still on alert about the "Terror of the Skies" thing and the ones here were just unaware of it?} That"s what I thought at first, but then someone came in my sight that ran my spine cold before I even got to undress.

One thing led to another before I"m finally in the bath … but not in a way I was expecting.

"You were waiting for me this whole time, weren"t you? Don"t you have other things you need to do, considering your position?" I ask.

"I do not know what thou art talking about, Jinma. I had finished my work some time ago and my body is weary after today. It is a mere coincidence for us to run into each other like this. To be honest, while I am aware of thy girls in thy harem, I did not think thou had the guts to even walk in here so casually for a human."

"Milord, Kalline, may I toss this male out of the bathhouse?" Kenaka asks.

"Guys, please, no violence in the bathhouse, and why must thou embarra.s.s me so, Dear Uncle?" Kalline asks while covering her face … at least that"s what I think she"s doing.

Yes, somehow Eugus was "coincidentally" in the bathhouse as well just getting ready to head inside. "Ah, Jinma, what a pleasant surprise. How about we help each other out and talk?" That"s what Eugus said, but I think it was more like "Thou and I art going to talk and thou will have no right to refuse. Do not even think about ogling my niece, either."

For washing the back of another guy on my first time, that was not the kind of setting I had in mind, let alone that same guy is a Centaur. None of the girls, not even my wife Ume could come over and help my scrub my back, at the least. I"m thankful Kenaka was the only other guy in my party that has my back and I won"t feel like I"m confronting a parental figure on my own. We didn"t even talk that whole time until we got into the bath.

Right now, I"m sitting with Kenaka who"s sitting on a stool I made with Darkness Manipulation at the last second on my right and Eugus on my left. The girls are sitting on the opposite side of us looking displeased—Ume Ren, and Mametama especially so—with Kalline sitting next to her uncle, a place where I couldn"t see her.

Nyra protests. Just like last time, I let her possess one of my eyes to get a clear vision of my surroundings.

"Tis only a moment between us males, Kalline. Step further away from this s.p.a.ce, please," Eugus says with the authoritative tone of a parental figure.

"Thou will not let me sit with my new friends where Master Jinma may see me, yes? I will not be bathing on my own and I will not let thou needlessly pressuring him, either, so I will be staying here. Besides, he beat thee fair and square and I have gained my freedom as agreed, there should be no reason for thee to argue this any further."

"I am not here to argue. I just want to talk to him, and what happened at the duel is actually part of it."

"Unlike my bank account, I"m not that open to spill my fighting secrets to just anybody, you know. I"m not going to tell you anything no matter what you may try to convince me," I a.s.sert.

"Hmm … not even if I give thee a Guild Master"s Badge in exchange?"

""WHAT?!"" Kalline and some other bath patrons exclaim. Only the rest in my party and I had no idea what was going on.

"What"s a "Guild Master"s Badge?"" I ask.

"Thou can call it a seal of approval if thou will. It is not easy to get another promotion once thou reaches black rank and this is one of the ways to speed up thy chances of getting further up to the top."

So, it"s like one of those teacher recommendations to get accepted into universities?

"Huh, and I"m guessing you"ll get promoted to bronze, silver, and finally gold once you get enough of those badges from each of the guild masters in Padimon?" I ask.

"Correct."

"Tempting, but not interested. I"m not that much in a hurry to get promoted to the top and I don"t really need such promotions to be happy."

"Is that right? Then, what art thou planning on doing while working as an adventurer?"

"I"d like to travel and see the world, try new food and things, meet people, things like that. I want to get some personal questions of mine answered along the way, and … I"d like to invest in owning a home at some point."

"A home, thou say?"

I quickly consider the circ.u.mstances of the situation while coming up with my "story." "Before my mother and I were … separated, we were mostly working enough in order to live with futons, food, and having a roof over our heads. How our life was in our home country is different compared to this, but it still had its struggles. I wasn"t as good being social with other humans than I currently am now with the demons here but I still had some good friends and family to help me when I needed them.

"I wanted a better home for Mom and me to live in, a place I was able to afford with my hard-earned money, but nothing so extravagant. It would be a place for the two of us to live comfortable lives and have lively dinners for our friends and family to enjoy on some occasions.

"I can"t go back to my home now to make that possible and I don"t know how Mom"s doing without me, but she wanted me to focus on making the kind of life I want to live and so that"s what I"m planning to do here in Padimon. After my traveling ends and I want to settle down, I want to live in a home that I could live happily in with my new family, my party who"s here with me right now. Though, compared to what kind of home I wanted before, I"ll have to think of something bigger for all of us."

Nyra exclaims.

{… You know, it"s scary that you can even come up with these things, likely from some of my memories for source material, but it"s even scarier how we"re kind of aligned on things like this. I was thinking more of a mansion, though. The maids, bath, and bed can be debated, but no s.e.x dungeon. Period.}

{…}

"Hmm. Sounds like thou have some kind of plan for thy future, and thou art close to thy mother," Eugus says as I turn my attention back to the conversation.

Nyra finishes off before giggling like a conniving Sunday anime villain.

"Well, I say I have family over there, but Mom was one of the very few blood-relatives who was happy to have me. Other than her grandmother, no one else on Mom"s side of the family wanted anything to do with her after being pregnant with me at a young age, and neither of us knows anything about where my "father" is or his own connections after he disappeared on her. If it weren"t for Mom despite everything that was pitted against her, I wouldn"t be here right now. That"s why I"ll always be grateful and admire her as the strongest woman I know. If you think what I did to you in that duel was bad, you"d likely be prostrating to her at the end if she took my place."

"She very well could, you know!" Ume exclaims from across the bath.

"Is that so? Going back to thy home though, it will be where thou and thy party will live in, yes? Thy slaves and familiars included?" Eugus asks.

"Of course."

"… Kalline as well?"

"Well, sure, if she likes. Thinking about it, she"s the only one out of the rest of us who even has a home and family to return to without any serious and complicated drama behind her. This home is mostly for the rest of us who don"t have either of those things because of certain circ.u.mstances. Kalline is welcome to join us and I can help her get to your place for visiting from time to time, but if come a time she wishes to move on to something else on her own after I retire from my adventuring days, I won"t stop her."

"Master Jinma …" I hear Kalline mutter.

"… Thou really do care about thy comrades" well-being, do thee?"

I look at Eugus straight in the eyes and nod to him.

"Well, then, I suppose that lifts some lingering worries off my shoulders. I will be heading out first, then."

""Huh?"" Kalline, Kenaka and I utter as Eugus stands up.

"Thou hast a big day ahead so do not get too crazy tonight. I will see thee and Twilight Sky tomorrow morning." With that, Eugus wades through the water and steps out of the bath, making his exit.

"Uh, yeah … later," I say as he left. By the time he"s out of our hearing, I exasperate a sigh. "Sheesh, when was the last time I felt like this after a talk with a father figure?"

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"I apologize for Dear Uncle being so overbearing," Kalline says.

"It"s fine. I"m actually thankful there are guys out there who really look out for their kids like your uncle … does," I trail off as I look over to Kalline.

While her hair is wrapped in a towel and most of her body is submerged in the deep end of the bath, I could still see how her impressive b.r.e.a.s.t.s are floating on the water"s surface, glistening with drops that make them shine like a treasure of sorts. Her arms also have quite the lean, sculpted look to them that shows how much she"s honed her body as an adventurer.

I realize then this is the first time I"m seeing Kalline in all of her glory and it seems she"s just getting that same idea as her face flushes.

"Uh, sorry … you don"t like having me stare at you like this, right?" I ask while averting my gaze.

"I-It is fine, Master Jinma, but—"

"Finally! It"s about time for that guy to give us some s.p.a.ce!"

Seeing an opportunity, Ume comes in and force herself between Kenaka and me before taking one of my arms and trap it in her chest that"s bigger than Kalline"s.

"Haa~, much better!" Ume says before leaning on me.

"Wait, is this kind of contact allowed in this public bath?"

"It should be fine if we don"t let things escalate," Ren answers as she sits right in front of me with Mametama still in her arms. Erizora sits on the opposite side of Kalline. "More importantly, Master, was you talking about getting a home for all of us to live in the truth? Even when Eri and I are slaves?"

"Ren, you and Erizora are more like companions first before slaves that are put last. Each of you will get your own room or you could share one together if you want."

"Our own rooms … that sounds nice," Ren says with a faint smile.

"I admit that having a room to myself and my belongings would be pleasant, but as your wife, I"ll be sleeping with you in your bed, of course," Ume says.

"I want to sleep with Master, too!" [Ren]

"Um … I"m not being selfish for wanting that too, right?" [Erizora]

"Sleeping on top of the same covers as Milord does sound delightful." [Mametama]

"… It seems you"ll have to look into getting a large bed, if you can, Milord." [Kenaka]

The tense, serious air from moments ago melts away as the girls talk more on what would be good for our home. I fix my sitting position so that Ren could sit between my legs and rest her back against me while I hold her waist with my free arm. I don"t think either of us minds my erect c.o.c.k getting sandwiched between us.

From there, we went on with our relaxing bath together until it was time for us to head out to Ms. Tephalia"s manor for dinner.