“Huh? But all I did was give that peeper a light whack,” muttered Yui, who stood there frozen.
I asked her to explain what happened. “Um, Yui? A-Are you okay? What happened in there?”
“There was a peeper, so... Wait, huuuh?! What are you doing there, Lloyd?!” asked Yui, staring at me as her face turned a deeper shade of red.
I realized I needed to explain myself. “No, I was just watching out for anyone suspicious, which is when I heard a scream...”
“Okay, okay! I get it! We’re fine, so just look away already!” Yui peeked her face out from behind the wall she was using to hide and glared at me.
“I-I see. If you guys are all right, then—”
“Yup, we’re fine! So leave!”
“R-Right...” At Yui’s command, I quickly ran away. Then, I explained the situation to Daggers and waited by the entrance for the girls to come out of the bath, which they shortly did.
“S-Sorry for the wait...” Yui didn’t seem as energetic coming out as she had been going in, which I guess was only natural given what had happened.
“I heard the story from Lloyd. There was a peeper? Are you guys okay?” asked Daggers, clearly worried. He ran over to them as soon as they stepped outside.
“Yup, we took proper care of him!” said Yui with a thumbs-up. Though I felt like he ultimately crossed the line for mere chastisement...
Anyway, we next arrested the peeper, which was easy since he was unconscious. After wrapping him in multiple layers of rope, we handed him over to the town’s militia. Later on, we learned that he had apparently been traveling between towns on a peeping journey, and a warrant had already been issued for his arrest.
And according to rumor, he was quite strong—at least tough enough to best the average knight. Considering he hadn’t died from Yui’s punch, he really must have been one mighty peeper. What would have happened if it had been anyone else, though? Maybe it was best I didn’t use my buffs so rashly in the future.
“Well, I’m glad it was Yui who found him.”
“And I’m not! Lloyd saw me naked because of him!” she said, glancing at me.
“Oh, right... Sorry about that. I heard a scream, so I decided to cast some buffs,” I said, bowing my head.
About that wall—I had cast my spells right as Yui was going in for a punch, which meant she couldn’t properly adjust her strength. That’s how it ended up destroyed.
I really needed to be more considerate of the girls. Once again, I had seen them naked by mistake, and I was pretty sure women were especially sensitive about that sort of thing. But since Master Merlin used to walk around the house in her birthday suit, I didn’t even register it, which is why I had started talking to them without thinking.
“Well... You were worried about us and just happened to be there, so I don’t really mind, but...” Yui glanced at the other two girls, who were standing behind her.
“I don’t mind either. But I would like to ask... Do you happen to have any memory tampering spells, Lloyd?” Silica seemed awfully serious. She was probably trying to ask me to delete my own memories, if possible. But naturally, a white mage like me couldn’t use magic like that, and I had never heard of any such spells in the first place either.
“No, I don’t think so...” Perhaps a spell could erase memories temporarily, but I had never heard of any capable of erasing or changing memories permanently. How would you even practice such a terrifying spell anyway? If you lost control, you could accidentally cast it on yourself, and it wasn’t the kind of thing you could easily cast on someone else either. “I’m pretty sure only criminals and demons would be able to use magic like that. Most people wouldn’t be willing to risk the danger necessary to learn it.”
“Y-Yes, I suppose you’re right. Knowing your skills, I simply thought there was a chance,” said Silica, looking awfully despondent. Just what did she even think of me? Could Claira and Yui also...?
“Claira, um...”
“Oh, I’m all right too. It wasn’t on purpose, and you cast that magic to protect us, didn’t you?”
“Well, I did, but...” I still felt guilty. Even if it was just a coincidence, I still felt like what I did was bad. “I’m really sorry.”
“No, I understand. Knowing you, I’m certain you’d be capable of peeping on us in complete secrecy had you really wanted to,” said Claira, staring at me.
“I would never, and I have no intentions of doing so in the future either,” I said, firmly denying her suspicions. Whether she took my word for it or not was up to her, but I definitely wanted her to.
Afterward, we met up with Cross and walked the girls back to the inn. Then, we guys took turns entering the baths ourselves. When we were all done, we once again walked through town to find some dinner.