Henrietta, my childhood friend, chose me to be her bridesmaid. Louise firmly looked up.
“I understand. I will obey respectfully.”
Louise accepted the ‘Founder’s Prayer Book’ from Sir Osmond’s hands.
Sir Osmond smiled, looking at Louise.
“You are willing to undertake it. Good, good. The Princess will be pleased.”
That evening, Saito was preparing a bath. Certainly, Tristain Magic Academy had a bathhouse. It was a Roman style bathhouse lined with marble. It had a huge swimming pool filled with perfume mixed in hot water, and it was said to feel quite heavenly. Of course, Saito could not enter; only nobles were allowed to use it.
The commoners' bathhouse, compared to the nobles' bathhouse, was rather shabby. The joint bathhouse for commoners looked like a hovel. It was placed on stones and the burning fire underneath, the strong smell of sweat, and the tightly pressed bodies only made one sweat more.
One day in that bathhouse was enough to make Saito disgusted. Saito, who was raised in Japan, set up a bath using a kettle filled to the brim with hot water. The sauna was just too unsatisfying.
Bothered, Saito asked Marteau, the head chef, for a big, old kettle. He made a bathtub from it. A floating wooden lid, which the bather pushed under the water, heated the bathtub from below. Firewood that burned under the kettle heated the water.
Saito made his personal bath in the Vestri Courtyard’s nook. It was convenient since people did not come often to this courtyard.
The day was coming to an end and the two moons appeared, shining faintly. Once the water was hot enough, Saito quickly threw off his clothes and sank into the big kettle.
“Aah... the water is nice and hot.”
He put a towel on his head and started humming a melody.
Derflinger, who was leaning against the wall of the kettle, called out to Saito:
“Does it feel good?”
“Yeah.”
“By the way, partner, why didn’t you take advantage of the young mistress a while ago?”
Saito threw Derflinger a tepid glance.
“Don’t look at me like that. It feels bad, partner.”
“Hey, legendary sword.”
“Indeed I am a legendary sword. What is it?”
“During the past six thousand years, did you find someone important to you to protect?”
Derflinger shook lightly.
“I do not protect. It is the one that holds me that protects.”
“You poor thing…” Saito said from the bottom of his heart in a sympathetic voice.
“Poor, you say? On the contrary, it is quite comfortable.”
“Is that so? By the way, what things do you remember about this ‘Gandálfr’? How great was he, and what kind of things did he do?” Saito, showing his inborn curiosity, asked Derflinger.
“I forgot.”
“Huh.”
“It was a long time ago. Besides, partner, someone is coming.”
A shadow appeared in the moonlight.
“Who is it?”
Saito’s call startled the shadow. It dropped something that it was carrying with a clatter. Under the moonlight, one could hear the sound of a breaking pot.
“Waaah, it broke… I'll be scolded again… sniff”
From that voice, Saito was able to recognize the person hidden in the darkness.
“Siesta?!”
Illuminated by the moonlight, the figure of a housemaid working in the Alviss Dining Hall - Siesta - appeared. She had just finished her work and, although she was still wearing her usual maid clothes, the kachusha covering her head was now gone. Her loose shoulder-length black hair shone glossily in the moonlight.
Siesta squatted down to pick up the pot that she had dropped earlier.
“W-what are you doing here?”
Saito’s call made Siesta turn around.
“Uhmmm... today I was able to get some really tasty goods and I wanted Saito to try it! I would have given it to you in the kitchen, but you didn’t come today! Waah!” Siesta said in panic.
Indeed, there was a tray lying next to Siesta, an overturned teapot, and some cups. Surprised by the sudden call, it seemed like Siesta had dropped one cup.
“A treat?” Saito asked, still submerged in the bath.
Suddenly Siesta became aware of Saito’s nudity and, for a moment, averted her eyes in shame.
“That’s right. Some unusual goods came from the east town ‘Rub' al Khali’ today: Tea.”
“Tea?”
Tea was an extremely rare commodity. Siesta poured some from a teapot into a cup that was not broken and gave it to Saito.
“Thank you.”
Saito lifted it to his lips. The sweet aroma of tea tickled his nostrils. And when it was in his mouth, it tasted like Japanese green tea.
Saito suddenly felt overwhelmed with nostalgia. Aah, Japan. Dear mother country. In his big kettle bath, Saito spontaneously wiped the corners of his eyes.
“W-what’s the matter! Are you alright?”
Siesta bent over the edge of the kettle.
“N-no, I just felt nostalgic for a moment. I’m alright. Yeah.”
After saying that, Saito brought the cup back to his mouth. Though a tea and a bath made a strange combination, they both soaked Saito with longing.
“Do you miss it? That’s right, Saito-san comes from the east.”
Siesta flashed a shy smile.
“I... I probably feel that way. However, did you know that I was here?”
Saito’s words made Siesta blush.
“T-that’s, that’s. I’m just here because I saw you going this way with hot water and…”
“You peeped?”
Saito’s voice saying that was blank. Siesta hastily shook her head.
“N-no, I didn’t mean it that way!”
Flustered, Siesta tripped over the edge of the kettle and with a loud splash, fell into the kettle.
“Kyaaaaaaa!”
Siesta screamed, but her shriek was suppressed by the hot water inside the iron kettle.
“Are you alright?”
Saito asked in blank surprise.
“I-I’m alright… Wah, but I am soaked now…”
Siesta stuck her wet head out of the hot water.
The poor girl’s housemaid clothes were sodden. And when she became aware of Saito’s naked state, a furious blush spread on her face.
Saito panicked.
“S-sorry! Even though the bath is on a stove, it is still possible to fall in!”
“N-no, I’m sorry!”
Although she was apologizing, Siesta didn’t try to get out of the bath. Saito then decided to take a defiant attitude as well. He pretended in a somewhat manly manner that it was not big deal she was not getting out.
At such times, he tried to act in a calm and collected manner. Was it manly? Saito thought so. Which meant that Saito was a fool as well.
“Ufufu”
Siesta laughed still soaking with her maid clothes inside the big kettle. Though it wasn’t a laughable situation, she still laughed.
“W-what’s wrong?”
Perhaps his size was a laughingstock? Though it was dark and no one could see below the surface of hot water, Saito suddenly felt insecure.
“Nothing, but, it feels good. Is this how you bathe in Saito-san’s country?”
Feeling relieved, Saito answered.
“That’s right. Though, it is unusual to get in while wearing clothes.”
“Ara? Is that so? Yet, if you think about it, that must be true. Well then, I’ll take them off.”
“Yes?”
Pop-eyed Saito asked Siesta.
“What did you say just now?”
Siesta, who is usually hesitant and shy, for some reason became bold. Slightly biting her lips she looked at Saito in a determined way.
“I said, I’ll take them off.”
“But Siesta? I am a man…”