“Sorry. Cocytus’ exoskeleton is his armour. That is how he usually looks, so it can’t be helped.”
Exoskeletal armour was a type of body armaments, just like Shalltear’s nails and teeth. It could be strengthened with the increase of the user’s level and the use of crystal data. The good thing about a weaponized body was the convenience of not needing to replace the equipment, and it would be repaired when the user’s HP was restored. It wouldn’t drop upon death, and it provided its users with many benefits.
The drawbacks were that the hardness, toughness and other stats were comparatively lower than player equipment of a similar level. It was almost impossible for a level 100 weaponized body to reach the stats of divine level equipment. Perhaps that could be done with special skills that enhanced a weaponized body, but Ainz wasn’t sure of that.
For players, the cons outweighed the benefits, but the reverse was true for NPCs. The players could save the hassle of preparing another set of arms and armour.
“Thank. You. Very. Much.”
Cocytus lowered his head. Ainz didn’t really speak up for him, but—
It bothered him so much that he is thanking me— is he being bullied? Should I tell the others to take note of this?
This was probably how a teacher would feel if there was any bullying in class. How would Yamaiko handle this, Ainz thought as he said to the men’s group.
“Alright, let’s go.”
Ainz led them into the bath, which was made up of twelve zones in total. Starting with the largest, the jungle bath, there was also a traditional looking roman bath, a yuzu bath with yuzus floating on it, a carbonated bath, a jacuzzi, an electric bath with low current that electrified the body, a cold bath with charcoals floating on it, the Cherenkov pool —though nobody really knew what it was made of— and a mixed open air bath... although the scenery was artificial.
There was also a sauna, a bedrock bath and, finally, the lounge.
“Which one should we visit? Let’s hear your thoughts.”
“I. Think. The. Cold. Spring. Is. Great. If. Ainz-sama. Is. Agreeable.”
Ainz possessed cold resistance, so he wouldn’t be affected by extremely cold water, but it was definitely weird to recommend the cold spring right off the bat.
“Cocytus-san… We are here to bathe…”
Mare said diplomatically, and Cocytus finally realized he got things wrong. He corrected himself right away.
“Since we are here to bathe, we should go to a pool that will promote blood circulation… Wait, I have a question for you. Can you go into a hot pool? You wouldn’t become a boiled lobster, right?”
“No. Worries. My. Exoskeleton. Is. Resistant. To. Fire. Much. Tougher. Than. Your. Body.”
“Hmph,” Cocytus spoke pridefully.
“Er, erm, I think a normal pool will do…”
“I. Think. A. Cold. Spring. Is. The. Best… As. Comfortable. As. Submerging. In. Ice…”
“You are the only one who will say that, I think that’s an unpopular opinion…”
“Alright, it won’t be fun if we are not doing this together. Let’s go to all of them one by one. We will start with the normal forest pool. My comrades made them with a lot of effort.”
“I’m looking forward to it”, Ainz subordinates said as he led them towards the forest pool— with Cocytus who was feeling a bit lonesome— in tow.
The dense forest might be created artificially, but it looked so realistic that Ainz was expecting monsters to pop out from it any moment.
“This place is modelled after an area that existed in the past, the Amazon river. The creator was Bellriver-san, assisted by Blue Planet-san.”
With his back to the sighing Guardians, Ainz picked up a bath ladle and stool.
Why are all the ladles in this bath yellow? When I asked them, they said it was tradition… So all the bath ladles are yellow.
“This might sound obvious, but you have to clean your body before entering the pool. The way I wash up will dirty the surroundings, so don’t come too near.”
Having said that, Ainz poured a full ladle of warm water onto his body. An amazing amount of water bounced off without touching his body. Wetting his body in one shot was impossible. After repeating this several times and confirming his body had been rinsed, Ainz took out his brush.
After applying a lot of liquid soap, Ainz started brushing his body. There were plenty of gaps between his bones and the bubbles flew all over the place, as if a monkey was doing the brushing.
Huh, I should have brought my cute slime, bathing assistant Miyoshi-kun with me.
He shouldn’t be showing others his goo-covered appearance, but cleaning himself with a brush after so long was a great hassle. While Ainz was working hard and brushing himself, Mare pulled a stool over with one hand. A little nervous with his cheeks red from the steam, Mare smiled:
“Ai-Ainz-sama! I, I will help you wash your back!”
“Hoh? Oh, I see. You want to help me wash up. It is tedious, so use this brush, using a towel will be tiring.”
Ainz turned his back to Mare, who picked up the brush and started cleaning slowly.
“You are doing great.”
“Thank you very much!”
“You can’t do it wrong though”, Ainz responded to Mare’s thanks. He sneaked a peek at the other two.
“I will help you wash up.”
“Sorry to bother you.”
Ainz was all smiles— although he didn’t actually have an expression as he was a skeleton— and couldn’t suppress his grin.
— Right now, this is the best place in Nazarick.
Ainz’ smile deepened when he heard the child’s voice say: ”I need to wash here too”.
“Thank you, Mare. Now, let me help you wash up, you don’t need to hold back.”
Ainz turned the panicky boy around, and filled Mare’s towel with suds. Ainz washed carefully and made sure to apply enough force, relaxing more than when he was being washed.
“Does it hurt?”
“No, no problem!”
After cleaning up Mare’s unusually stiff back, Ainz returned the towel to him.
“You can do the front yourself right?”
“Of-of course!”
Ainz picked up the brush and scrubbed his ribs carefully, taking care not to splash water onto Mare who was cleaning besides him.
“Well then, I will make a move first.”
Demiurge, who was done, swayed his tail as he walked towards the pool. Next was Cocytus.
Compared to Ainz, cleaning up was equally tedious for him, but his four nimble arms hastened the process greatly. Mare followed after, and finally, Ainz was done several minutes later.
The pool was large. Warm water flowed endlessly from an exquisite lion head and steam covered the entire place. Ainz watched his steps as he walked over, and saw two of the Guardians in the pool nearby, with Cocytus a bit further away.