Mixed Bathing in Another Dimension: The Hero of the Unlimited Bath

by Nagaharu Hibihana

  Next we had Ritsu Nakahana, who still had yet to reveal the details of her gift. She was a petite girl with short, bright brown hair. Apparently, she’d been an office lady before her summoning, and no one really knew how old she was, but her face looked rather young. She seemed very interested in the two cool-looking guys, and didn’t so much as glance in my direction, so that was all I knew about her. Apparently, she was searching for impressive men to add to her party, and had already chosen two young men who had been introduced to her within the castle. One was the third son of a notable family, who were overjoyed to hear of the honor he’d been bestowed with. The other man, however, had suddenly started proclaiming how his duty was to “protect Ritsu the Heroine,” despite being the firstborn son, so his family had to hurriedly name his younger brother their proper heir. It had caused quite an uproar.

  Therefore, I came to the conclusion that Ritsu had a penchant for causing chaos, but that wasn’t even the half of it. It turned out that for her third party member, she’d set her sights on the prince. Since Cosmos had enlisted the princess, she probably thought that she had a chance, too. However, the prince shot her down instantly, and she’d even managed to enrage him.

  After that, Ritsu Nakahana slipped out of the castle and took refuge at one of her party members’ homes. Several days later, she took her two party members and fled, which acted as a covert beginning for her journey. Someone who saw them leave had remarked that their party had looked like “a princess in disguise with two gorgeous aides.” It seemed as if they had at least made the proper preparations, so they were probably all right for the time being.

  The third hero was Natsuki Kannami, a 20-year old university student. If Cosmos was the cool, slender type, then he was the buff, physical type. He was handsome as well, but his personality was the exact opposite of Cosmos’. Just from his aura, you could tell that he was a reticent, serious man – especially when you looked at his thick eyebrows.

  I remember his troubled look when Ritsu Nakahana had gone up and talked to him out of the blue. Additionally, due to how silent he was, he hadn’t revealed the nature of his gift. They had introduced some party member candidates to him at the castle, but he declared that he’d only take people who could best him in battle. He had yet to be defeated.

  Last but not least came Haruno and myself. We were both searching for party members, but hadn’t come across anyone. We had both taken a bit of time to awaken our gifts, so we felt like we had fallen behind. It’s not like there was a deadline for our journeys, though, so I was prepared to take my time.

  On that day, I’d spent every waking moment training in the temple. The temple elder was nice enough to teach me how to fight, and helped me out whenever he returned from his duties. I couldn’t help but feel a bit suspicious, though, so after training I went to his office and asked him why he was doing all this for me. He laughed and replied that it was because he wanted me to become the temple’s hero.

  “I want you and Haruno to journey out as Heroes of the Temple of the Goddess of Light.”

  “That’s a really long title.”

  “Then as Heroes of the Goddess.” He was surprisingly flexible when it came to the name.

  As we started talking, Haruno entered the room. He must have already spoken to her about this.

  I had an idea about why this had happened, so I asked the temple elder a question. “Is this because Haruno and I got sent away from the castle?”

  “That’s part of it.” The temple elder gave me a long nod.

  “Well, I can think of another reason – at least, about me. I’m not sure about Haruno...”

  “Oh, no, I think I’m in the exact same situation,” she said.

  “What? You too?”

  “Temple elder...” Haruno said. “Have we been labeled as unfit for the title of ‘Hero of Jupiter’ since we haven’t added any Jupiterians to our parties?”

  “You hit the nail on the head, aside from the title. You were labeled as unfit to bear the title of ‘Hero of the Sacred King.’” The temple elder let out a deep sigh and affirmed Haruno’s words.

  Sera, who had joined Haruno’s party, was born in this kingdom, but since the temple didn’t officially belong to the kingdom, she didn’t count as a member of the royal family’s side. Meanwhile, I had yet to find a single party member.

  “Which means that even if we manage to do something great as heroes, our deeds won’t serve to bolster Jupiter’s reputation,” Haruno said, and the temple elder nodded slowly.

  So that’s why they only introduced the children of noble families to us.

  “I thought everyone was all worried about the demon lord coming back to life?” I asked.

  “I guess they’re not just doing it out of the goodness of their hearts,” Haruno replied.

  “If they just want to bolster their prestige, then why didn’t they split us up one by one from the start, or actually try to win us over?”

  “That’s probably what their candidates were for...”

  “Aggressive nobles? That was their best idea?” If that had really been their plan, then it had completely backfired.

  Suddenly, a thought came to me. If they had gathered up enough noble men and women and told each of us to pick one as a party member, Haruno surely would have chosen a female. Even if they were only meant to be guides, it still could have been possible... Yet the sacred king hadn’t done that. Why not?

  “...Did the temple prevent them from doing that?” If the temple and the royal family had been trying to undermine each other without our knowledge, it would explain a lot.

  “I see,” Haruno chimed in. “You wanted to make it so that Jupiter couldn’t claim all the benefits for themselves. Since the temple took part in the summoning, I suppose it’s in your right.” It seemed like Haruno understood what I was trying to say.

  “You’re really sharp... That’s the one good thing you’ve got going for you.” As he listened to us, the temple elder let out a very deep sigh. Bullseye. “We allow the heroes to freely choose their party members, then look at the results and decide which side they’ll be on. That’s the rule that the sacred king and I set.” In other words, we had a chance to fall on either side depending on who we chose as party members.

  “Don’t tell me you also pushed Sera to become friends with Haruno?” I asked.

  “When you think about how deeply dedicated Sera is to her work, you’ll find that there was a possibility she’d have asked to join Haruno’s party on her own. I won’t deny that I didn’t plan things a little for my own benefit, though.”

  “And that’s also why you offered to teach me magic?”

  “Yes. I wanted to try and get you on our side.” The temple elder was being quite honest. I suppose it was only natural that he’d try to work for the sake of his own organization, though.

  After listening to the temple elder, Haruno and I looked at each other. Should we really answer his request and become Heroes of the Goddess?

  “In the end, it’s just a question of who we want backing us...” I said.

  “Yes, but we aren’t strong enough to refuse them both and survive on our own. I feel like refusing to be connected to someone is like refusing this world itself,” Haruno said.

  “...Yeah, I sort of get what you mean.”

  In order to survive in this world, we had to build relationships here. In that regard, finding party members and choosing to become heroes for either the sacred king or the goddess was the first big decision we faced.

  “I think the Temple of the Goddess of Light won’t be too restrictive on us, but what about you, Touya?”

  “I’m not devout or anything, but yeah, I guess it’s better than being tied to a kingdom.”

  “Comparatively.” Haruno laughed, and I couldn’t help but laugh along with her.

  Neglecting to deepen our relationship with the kingdom of Jupiter had put us in this situation. With that in mind, becoming Heroes of the Goddess was a choice we’d freely made
.

  I had another question. “That reminds me, I don’t really know about the doctrine here, but you aren’t going to ask us to kill demi-humans or anything, right?”

  “What do you think the Goddess of Light is?” the temple elder retorted. “Unthinkable.”

  “Sorry, I just wanted to be sure.” Apparently, there were a small number of demi-humans who worshiped the Goddess of Light.

  There was a temple in every kingdom, and what they lacked in authority, they made up for with their extensive network, so I figured it’d be okay to back them. Haruno and I looked at each other once more, nodded, then turned back to the temple elder.

  “Okay. Count me in.”

  “We’ll become your Heroes of the Goddess.”

  We didn’t really have any right to refuse, but we wanted to do this the right way. We wanted to choose for ourselves and build up a relationship with this world. Therefore, we didn’t want our first big decision to be forced upon us – we wanted to decide it for ourselves. It was self-serving, but it was important to us.

  “Thank you. I’m deeply grateful to you both.” The temple elder seemed to understand how we felt, and thanked us with a deep bow of his head.

  At that point, we had both officially become Heroes of the Goddess. I had no intention of competing with Cosmos and the others, but I did feel relieved that Haruno and I were on the same side. Still, Ritsu Nakahana and the scene she had caused was partly connected to this. Since the prince had gotten angry and refused to accept her as a Hero of the Sacred King, she’d gone off to journey completely on her own, without becoming a hero for either side. Talk about a troublemaker.

  The reason the temple elder was trying to train me was because the two strongest heroes had already been taken by the sacred king’s side, which had made him desperate to do something for his side in response. Luckily, the temple elder was skilled enough to not only teach magic, but fighting as well, so I decided to learn as much as possible from him before I set off.

  Three days later, another incident occurred: Cosmos’ party ended up resolving a dispute at the raver market in the town.

  “Raver market?” I asked the temple elder, soon after I heard the news. I didn’t even know what ‘raver’ meant, so I was curious about the details.

  When I found out that ‘raver’ was another word for ‘slave,’ I almost punched the temple elder in the face. It felt like a natural reaction for someone who’d grown up in modern day Japan. In reality, the ‘slaves’ of this world were a bit different from what I knew.

  Ravers were purchased to own, had no freedom, and could be handed off to other owners depending on the circumstances. That much was the same as the slaves I was familiar with. However, they only had no freedom in regards to their work. They got time off, and unless they had a particularly awful master, they never got treated as badly as the slaves I had learned about. Ravers also didn’t need to work for their entire lives – their period of employment was set in stone.

  This kingdom – or, the Olympus Alliance, I should say, had established this system, and the people of this kingdom were split into two categories: citizens, and everyone else. Most of the ravers belong to the ‘everyone else’ category, and unless they were criminal ravers who had been demoted to that status as punishment, they could gain citizenship once they completed their work period. After listening to the explanation, it sounded like each raver was bound to a sort of service contract. They seemed similar to the apprentices and indentured servants that I had often seen in historical movies and TV shows.

  The truth was that aside from the clerics, the rest of the temple’s servants were ravers. The raver system also had apprenticeship aspects to it, so some of the ravers who served the temple could study to become clerics as they worked. On top of that, once they became licensed clerics, they could shorten their work periods and gain citizenship sooner than normal.

  According to Mr. Butler, an evil moneylender had tried to purchase a girl in order to pay off her parents’ debt, but Cosmos’ party had gallantly stepped in and saved her. It was legal to become a raver in order to pay off a debt, but only if you were the person who had originally incurred the debt. Having another family member become a raver instead was illegal, so if the girl had actually been the one in debt, then Cosmos’ party would have been in the wrong for stepping in.

  It all sounded so cliché, like an episode from some TV show. Regardless, Cosmos’ party had infiltrated the raver market and managed to capture the evil moneylender. Honestly, it sounded a bit different from a typical heroic deed, but it was still a noble feat. On top of that, after investigating the moneylender, they found out that he had also been capturing travelers and forcing them to become ravers.

  “I didn’t see anything myself, but I heard that there was an elf found among the kidnapped travelers,” Mr. Butler said. Apparently, the elves of this world were beautiful, slender, and had long ears – just how I imagined them to be.

  “I can’t believe he found an elf outside of the woods...” The temple elder seemed surprised that an elf had shown up in town.

  “Is it really that rare?” I asked.

  “It’s more than rare. They say that elves never take a single step out from their woodland territories unless they have a reason to.”

  According to Mr. Butler, elves only left the forest right before big disasters would occur, so in some areas, they were seen as harbingers of misfortune. This elf was no exception, and had come in to report to the sacred king regarding the resurrection of the demon lord. After completing her mission and delivering the report to the sacred king’s heroes and the sacred princess, the female elf decided to assist in the battle with the demon lord, and joined Cosmos’ party.

  I was a bit curious about this beautiful female elf, but it seemed like she was dead-set on fighting the demon lord, so I wasn’t that envious. At the very least, I was a good loser.

  “...Oh, maybe this will help you find some party members,” Mr. Butler said.

  “What will?”

  “Just hire what’s called a battle raver. They usually only take temporary jobs whenever there are big wars, but some hire themselves out on specific contracts. I’m sure they’d make fine party members for a hero.”

  “R-really?”

  I wasn’t sure what it would look like if a hero such as myself started dragging ravers around with him, but the temple elder explained to me why hiring a raver was a good thing. It was seen as something that only middle class or higher people could do. They would entrust chores and farmwork to the ravers, while going out to their civil jobs. This kingdom – no, the entire Olympus Alliance – thought of it as a virtue. Perhaps some considered it an opportunity to give others a chance at citizenship. The fact that I had to ‘purchase’ people really stuck in my mind, but I could also see how I was merely paying for a contracted term of work up front. Of course, there had to be people who didn’t care about virtue, and abused ravers by working them too hard so they could live easier lives, but I couldn’t just reject this system based on a few rotten apples. I guess I’ll just have to accept it as part of this world’s culture.

  The next day, I took the temple elder and Mr. Butler’s suggestion and went out to search for a raver. As I sat down in the carriage, I let out a deep sigh. Is this what they call a ‘culture gap’? I continued to ponder the recent turn of events, until Mr. Butler spoke up from the driver’s seat.

  “I forgot to mention yesterday – the craftsmen and clerks we saw at those shops were all ravers too, you know.”

  “Really?! Oww!” I accidentally stood up and smashed my head into the ceiling of the carriage.

  Cradling my head, I sat back down and listened to Mr. Butler. He explained how the buildings in the craftsmen’s town all belonged to either the sacred king’s family, or another noble, so all the craftsmen there were ravers. “Things differ a bit in the other kingdoms, but that’s how craftsmen are treated here in Jupiter.”

  “...In order to protect their know-h
ow?”

  “Exactly, Sir Touya.”

  The king and the nobles were able to hire craftsmen ravers and hide their skills by keeping them together, while also cleverly using the master-apprentice system to make sure craftsmen continued to pass on all their talents. In this regard, one could say the royal family and the nobles were protecting, or perhaps monopolizing the craftsmen and their abilities, and it became clear how much they valued it. Perhaps the craftsmen’s town was created mainly in order to gather all of them in one place so that it’d be easier to protect them.

  On another note, when you think of a fantasy world, the first thing that comes to your mind is an adventurer, right? Those kinds of people existed in this world too, but there weren’t many who went on adventures back to back. Most of them had a base somewhere, from which they hunted monsters and fulfilled citizens’ requests in order to make a living. If there happened to be a big war taking place somewhere, they’d participate for pay, as battle ravers.

  That’s right – the adventurers of this world were all battle ravers. When there weren’t any big battles, they worked as normal adventurers. But if they happened to achieve great feats in battle, a noble could spot them and hire one as a permanent raver. Then, after gaining citizenship, they might even be able to rise up to knighthood. It was a high risk, high reward scenario, and there were many battle ravers who sought it. With that in mind, it’d be dangerous for one to join a hero’s party, even though it also worked as a long-term contract, and there was a chance they could achieve something truly great, so it wasn’t that bad a deal.

  Female battle ravers also seemed to be pretty common. Since the power of blessings boosted innate physical ability, it allowed women and men to fight on equal footing. It sounded crazy to me, but it was also commonplace for people to use ravers for sexual services, and some were even hired for that purpose from the very beginning. In this world, women had as much power and rights as men, so that aspect went both ways.

  No wonder this world has so many aggressive noblewomen. You know, I never really thought of anything beyond bathing with a girl, but on second thought, this scenario of mine is starting to look a little half-baked. If I can’t find anyone willing to meet my modest condition, then perhaps I need to take things a little further. With ravers, I could put my conditions on the table from the very beginning. Besides, when it actually came time to bathing with a woman, who said I’d be able to hold back? Despite my excuses, as I sat in the rattling carriage and mulled it over in my mind, I realized that I’d been feeling extremely excited ever since the previous day.