Ariane dipped her hands into the water. “Seems like it.”
“Kyii! Kyiiiiii!” Ponta, excited by the sight of the spring, hopped down from my head and ran to the bath’s edge. It leaned over and lapped at the water, its nose and chin touching the surface. Satisfied, it sat back and batted at its wet fur with its paws, cleaning itself.
Never in my wildest dreams had I imagined that the spring we were looking for would be a hot spring. This was quite fortuitous.
I took off my armored gauntlet and stuck my hand into the water.
I felt its warmth seep into my bones. A few moments later, I pulled my hand out to find it covered in flesh, just like the time I’d used Uncurse on myself. Unlike that time, however, I didn’t feel any strange sensation.
“Whoa! It…it looks like it’s working.”
Chiyome and Ariane stared in disbelief at the fleshy hand at the end of my bony arm.
Ariane spoke in a low voice. “It really can bring your physical body back.”
I’d forgotten that I hadn’t actually shown them Uncurse’s effects. This was the first time they’d seen my skin. Honestly, though, it kind of looked like a horror show.
A few moments later, the flesh on my hand faded like mist, leaving nothing but bone behind. The temporary effect was exactly what had happened before. Either even the hot spring wasn’t strong enough to remove the curse permanently, or perhaps I needed to soak my entire body for the spring to have any lasting effect.
“I’m going to climb in. Maybe that will cure me.”
I took off my helmet and set it down on a large rock next to the water, then piled my rucksack and the rest of my gear alongside. To be honest, at that moment, I just wanted to soak my bones in an outdoor bath, surrounded by a beautiful view. Whether or not the water cured me was of secondary importance.
As soon as I removed my upper armor, a chill ran through me.
“H-hey, don’t just strip down in front of us!” Ariane objected loudly from behind me.
I turned to meet her gaze. Her purple ears flushed red.
“I never would’ve guessed you’d get excited over the sight of a skeleton.”
Ariane’s fist hit me in the rib. She didn’t take to teasing all that well.
“C’mon, Chiyome. Let’s go check out the building while Arc here soaks in his precious hot spring.”
With that, Ariane stormed off toward the ruined shrine, gesturing for Chiyome to follow.
“See you later, Arc.” Chiyome bowed her head and ran to catch up with Ariane.
I turned my attention back to the bath, rubbing my bruised rib. Ponta waited patiently, sitting on its haunches and wagging its tail as it looked at me.
“Oh, you want to join me, Ponta?”
Ponta gave a vigorous wag in response. “Kyii!”
I scratched under its chin.
Already feeling a bit better, I removed the rest of my armor and made my way to the edge of the water, standing there in all my skeletal glory.
I wondered for a moment about proper bathing etiquette, and whether I should wash myself off first. However, there were no buckets in sight, and no other people in this hidden mountain paradise to object.
There was only one thing left for me—and my animal companion—to do.
We shouted and dove in.
“Yeah!”
“Kyiiiiiiii!”
I hit the water with a tremendous splash, popping my head out a moment later, giving it a shake, and scrubbing my face. Having such a glamorous bath all to myself was simply magnificent. Ponta doggy-paddled back and forth across the spring.
“Fwaah! I never would’ve guessed there was a hot spring on this mountain,” I blurted out to no one in particular.
I looked down at my arm and saw muscle-bound flesh instead of bones. I ran my eyes over my entire body—it was much more muscular than it had been back in the real world. I cocked my head.
“Huh?”
I’d been a skeleton ever since arriving in this world, so there was really no reason for my muscles to have developed.
I wiped water from my eyes and looked down at my reflection. The ripples calmed, and the surface smoothed, revealing my face.
It wasn’t my face in the real world.
I looked to be of Arab ancestry, with long, black hair, a stubbled chin, and an altogether roguish appearance. If I had to guess, I’d say I was in my mid-thirties.
However, the face looking back at me also had deep crimson eyes and long, pointy ears—both unusual in humans. I reached up and tugged one ear to make sure my eyes didn’t deceive me.
“Is this…?”
I stared at my face for a long moment before I finally realized why it looked so familiar. It all came flooding back, like a sudden downpour washing through a muddy stream.
“Gwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaugh!”
Immense pain tore through my head, a relentless storm of dark emotions: anger toward the bandits who’d roughed up those women, hatred for the slave traders, fear of the vicious monsters, regret and disgust at the human lives I’d taken, and homesickness.
Everything I’d experienced since arriving here came rushing forward at once. I could feel the raw weight of all the people I’d killed, and all the feelings I’d repressed, crushing my heart.
“Aaaaaaaaaaaugh!”
I screamed over and over, although it did nothing to calm the storm.
My body shook uncontrollably, as if I were freezing, in spite of the fact that I stood in the middle of a hot spring. The pain coursing through my head became so overwhelming that I forgot everything else. I found myself at the edge of the bath, where I smashed my fist into the stone again and again until it cracked. The sudden pain and distress were so intense that I started splashing wildly, choking on the water that made it into my mouth, and fearing that I would drown. Somehow, I managed to haul myself out.
“Kyi! Kyiiiiii!” Ponta, no doubt alarmed at my sudden change, came racing after me.
I looked at Ponta’s soft, fluffy tail, and then down at myself.
That’s when I caught sight of…it, hanging between my legs. It had to be at least one and a half times larger than what I’d had in the real world. For some reason, that stuck out to me.
I heard footsteps, followed by a familiar voice.
“Arc, are you oka—hey, who are you?!”
“Kyikyiiii!”
The voice in the distance belonged to Ariane.
I tried to speak, but no words came. Instead, I let out a long, wailing groan, like a zombie that had crawled out of a graveyard.
Something licked my cheek vigorously, providing much-needed warmth to my frigid body. I could feel myself slipping away as I lost consciousness.