Chapter 21
THEIR NEXT STEPS would be determined by how the investigation went, and so there was nothing else to do at the moment. After wrapping all of this up, Mira, Martel, and the Spirit King began casually chitchatting with each other.
“…Little Etoto was so adorable. And I’m guessing from the look in her eyes that she must’ve been quite taken by Barbatos.”
“What are you on about? The look in her eyes was the same kind a child would give their father. If her father was a dark demon, then she must’ve grown up without knowing him. And so, when she met Barbatos, who happens to be a very friendly demon, she would quite obviously look up to him as a father figure.”
Indeed, the battle between Martel and the Spirit King, who both saw romance just about everywhere, was continuing as usual.
“Master, the bath is ready for you,” Alfina said, somewhat enthusiastically.
“Oh ho, is that right? Thanks. All right, then I’ll hop in,” Mira said. And, ignoring the two arguing about Etoto, she walked sprightly toward the baths. In fact, the palace baths were yet another place she looked forward to visiting while in Valhalla.
“Aaah, this is the life.”
While the fountain baths of Alcait Castle were a wonder to behold, anyone who was to see the palace baths would surely find them even more unbelievable. This was because the hot water for the baths looked as if it were dancing through the air.
“But seriously, I wonder how exactly they did this.”
The baths consisted of a spacious area where one could wash off before getting into a large tub. The hot water, meanwhile, began in the center and stretched toward the ceiling, where it then flowed down like a waterfall. It almost looked like a dragon suspended in midair.
Were one to go into the center, they could even ride the stream of hot water and let it take them all the way up toward the rather high ceiling before dropping down. And because the center of the bath was deeper, they could do so safely.
“Hrm… This is more fun than I’d expected!”
Mira enjoyed doing this over and over again, and the next thing that caught her eye was the pool of hot water that was spread across the floor.
However, it was no normal pool of hot water. It was about three feet high, and there was nothing like a tub in which to contain it.
In other words, it looked like a free-floating block of water.
Mira quickly figured out how the block of hot water worked and, when she set foot inside of it, she immediately tried it out.
It was actually very easy to use, as all one had to do was lie down on it.
Surely everyone has thought about lying down flat and sinking into a bath at least once in their life, and this very pool of water allowed people to have this dream come true.
“Aaah, this is great,” Mira said, lying spread eagle, with only her face poking out from the water. The liberating feeling of floating freely as well as the moderate amount of pressure the water was putting on her skin felt incredibly soothing.
Mira had never thought that she could bathe like this. Thoroughly impressed at just how much the palace baths had evolved from the last time she’d been there, she enjoyed her time in the incredible baths to the very fullest.
To Alfina, who always put her master first, taking care of that master was among her top priorities. And so, after having gotten out of the bath, Mira heard her call out, “Master, dinner is ready.” When she arrived in the dining hall, Mira found there was so much food that it looked like they were throwing a party.
Additionally, once dinner was over and Mira was relaxing, Alfina asked, “Master, would you like some tea and snacks?” while carrying over a tea set.
It seemed that she wanted to spend a bit more time with Mira. She also told Mira how good she was at giving massages, asked her what kind of incense she ought to burn when she went to bed, walked over with an armful of pillows and asked which she preferred, and came up with just about whatever reason she could think up to visit Mira’s room.
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