On that day, we were going to depart from Jupiteropolis and head to Rulitora’s homeland in the southern wasteland. I felt sad about leaving, but I knew that I couldn’t stay here forever if I wanted to achieve my goal.
I held my head up high and walked to the entrance of the temple.
“Touya, you’re smiling.” Haruno poked my cheek.
“Whoops.” I tried to make my face look more serious. “But you are, too, Haruno...”
“What, r-really?! Sera, I don’t have any hickeys, do I?” Haruno said with a grin.
“You’re fine. Wait, does that mean you two were kissing again this morning?”
“Sir Touya, please get in,” Rulitora called to me.
“Okay,” I said as I got into the rickshaw.
These were more common in town than carriages. It looked like a slanted bowl, where the passenger sat on a blanket thrown over all the luggage. Due to this, one had to carefully pack things so that whatever was on top could act as a cushion. It could probably fit two or three people without any luggage, but currently it could barely hold one.
I was wearing a brigandine on my torso, vambraces to protect my arms, gauntlets to protect my wrists, greaves to protect my legs, and an open-faced helmet. I placed my broad ax and large round shield next to me on the blanket, so that they were within an arm’s reach. I also had my dagger strapped to my side as a secondary weapon. On top of all my armor, I was wearing a surcoat, mainly to keep sunlight from heating up my metal armor. I had picked a magical one that was especially resistant to heat.
At long last, all my preparations were finally complete. As the children I had bathed threw confetti into the air, we left the temple, accompanied by the cheers of all the people who had come to see us off. They had all gathered to watch the Hero of the Goddess depart. Upon closer look, I spotted Kopan, the water merchant who’d helped me save up some money, and the owners of the shops that I’d visited along with Haruno and the others.
Rulitora gazed into the crowd. It seemed as if he had noticed something as well.
“Hmm...”
“What’s wrong, Rulitora?”
“No... It was probably just my imagination.”
“Oh. Huh? Isn’t that the guy from the raver market?”
“Yes, it is. And the person next to him is the labor raver manager who took care of me.”
Slightly left from where Rulitora was gazing, I found the raver market people. I also spotted the weapon and armor smiths as well. It looked like everyone who’d taken care of us in the Sacred Capital had come to see us off, and I felt very grateful.
I looked back once more, then looked to Haruno, who was standing next to the temple elder and Mr. Butler. Haruno, Sera, and Rium were all waving their hands side by side. Around them, the three female knights had raised their swords in the temple’s customary salute. Looking at them from a distance, I could tell what fine knights they all were.
I need to get stronger, so that I can hurry back and pick up Haruno’s group. With determination pounding in my heart, I set off on my journey across this fantastic world.
Bath Break
“Tch... He’s a sharp one...” I muttered as I watched the Hero of the Goddess from the shadow of a building.
The lizardman suddenly glanced in my direction. Had he noticed me? Or was it just a coincidence? I quickly hid myself, so I doubted they’d find me, but I was still on edge.
My name was Maius, a demon who had infiltrated this kingdom. I hadn’t transformed into a puny human, though. All I needed to do to stay incognito was wear a cloak and keep my hood low. Humans were just so stupid. I had originally come here with a superior, but she’d messed up while attacking another hero and had since vacated the premises, which meant I was in charge now.
I was stronger anyway, so I didn’t mind. After sending some subordinates out to track the hero and the lizardman, I discovered they were heading south. That was bad. I hoped they weren’t heading for the southern wasteland. That would be bad.
The humans called it the ‘the void’ and mostly ignored it, so why was he heading there? Did he know about the secret? If the Goddess of Light had given him some kind of sign, it could be possible. Ever since 500 years ago, that Goddess of Light had been up to no good. That must have been why he was heading there.
I didn’t have many monsters inside the city, but I had stationed a hundred outside it. Two versus a hundred. All I needed to do was attack him before he reached the wasteland. I’d be able to catch up to that plodding rickshaw in no time, and since my boss wasn’t around, if I defeated the hero, the glory would all go to me. Heh heh heh. My day’s finally come! Time to show the world the power of the great Maius, strong enough to be the demon lord’s right hand – no, to rival even the demon lord himself!
Third Bath – Skinship
Beyond the gate of Sacred City Jupiteropolis lay a massive meadow. Far in the distance, I could see mountains, while the deep green that filled the gap between the plains and the mountains looked like a forest.
Finally, my adventure had begun.
A gravel road that continued as far as the eye could see instantly filled me with butterflies. Beyond this road lay the mixed bathing paradise I’d been dreaming of.
Yes, I could open up the Unlimited Bath anytime I wanted, but it was more of an emotional thing. Noticing my change in expression, Rulitora turned back and called to me as he continued to pull the rickshaw.
“Is something wrong?”
“No, it’s just that I lived in a much bigger, crowded place than Jupiter. Seeing all this nature is a rare sight for me.”
“I see. It’s too bad I can’t take it slow and let you enjoy the scenery, then...” Rulitora cocked his head, as if he wanted to say more.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Truth be told, I felt like something was watching us when we left the temple.” Rulitora slit his eyes as he answered.
“You think it’s the nobles I turned down?”
“No... It ran away before long, but I feel like it wasn’t human.”
“...What?” The moment I heard Rulitora’s reply, I remembered the story about Cosmos the Hero getting attacked. They’d said the demons had attacked Cosmos and then retreated. If that was so, then was there really only one demon lurking in the city?
“Who do you think the monster would go for first, between Haruno and I?”
“You first, for sure. Lady Haruno is currently the most well-protected out of all the heroes, since she has the Goddess of Light Pilgrims on her side.”
Which meant that I was the target. I didn’t just want to enjoy the scenery, I wanted to take a walk and feel the fresh dirt beneath my feet, but there was no way I was going to even attempt that now. I didn’t have time to be discouraged, though. I needed to figure out a way to deal with our mysterious pursuer.
“Rulitora, run as fast as you can. I don’t mind if it’s a bumpy ride. We need to cover some ground while there’s no one around.”
“Are you sure? It might get really shaky.”
“I don’t get carsick easily, and if that’s all it takes to keep us safe, who am I to complain?” I said, then added one more thing. “Oh, and you don’t need to worry about leaving tracks. I don’t want the monster to lose us and go after Haruno’s party instead.”
The ideal situation would be to let the demon track us while also preventing it from catching up to us.
“Yes sir!” I saw an energetic gleam in Rulitora’s eye, and we soon became one with the wind.
I don’t remember much of what happened that day. I do remember regurgitating my lunch in a very over-the-top fashion, though.
When we crossed the mountains on the next day, it was a much smoother ride in the rickshaw, since the mountain trail prevented Rulitora from running at top speed. That kept me from getting carsick, and I was even able to enjoy the scenery a little. Since the path was lined with trees, that was pretty much all I could see, but the sound of the wind passing through them and th
e birds chirping intermittently was enough to entertain me.
Thanks to that, I really enjoyed dinner. We had the same menu as yesterday – vegetables and beans served with a soup cooked with bread, sausage, and smoked meat similar to bacon, but it tasted way better than yesterday. Apparently, the smoked meat had been prepared using the meat of a lesser boar. It looked exactly like bacon, so that’s how I decided to refer to it.
My lack of an appetite had prevented me from eating much, so I had Rulitora eat over half my plate on the first day, but in the mountains I was finally able to eat my fill. Once I had the chance to actually enjoy my food, I realized I’d want a bit of variety in the future, which meant that I either had to improve my cooking skills or find a party member who was a good cook.
“Sir Touya, it appears that someone’s following us after all.”
“Really?” I hadn’t noticed at all. Can Rulitora sense auras or something?
“Our pursuer closed in on us several times before we entered the mountains.”
“How many more days will it take us to reach your homeland, Rulitora?”
“About two days, once we get past the mountains. If I speed up, I may be able to get us there in only one.”
“...Let’s speed up, then.”
“The ride will get rough again...”
“It’s either endure two days, or one really hard day, so I guess I’d prefer one.”
I could see Rulitora was worried about me, so I forced out a smile. It may sound stupid now, but at the time, I was wondering if maybe withstanding all the shaking would somehow boost my VIT and MEN a little.
When I got out of the Unlimited Bath the next morning, I could see the other side of the mountains, illuminated by the morning sun. There were no trees or grass – it was a wasteland, as far as the eye could see. This was the ‘void’ located to the south of the Sacred City.
Ever since the day I bought Rulitora, I’d been researching it. Okay, okay, it was the temple clerics who did the actual research. I just listened to their reports. The void had gained its name from the fact that it was a completely barren wasteland with a desert in the center. After looking at the map, I discovered that it lay on the south end of the Olympus Alliance, and was shaped like a malformed diamond that continued all the way to the sea. One of the clerics who’d done the research claimed that the only reason it hadn’t spread to the north was because the mountains stood in the way.
Additionally, legend had it that there used to be a desert kingdom in the center of the desert in the middle of the void, but it eventually fell to ruin due to an event that had also turned the void barren in the process. After that, the sand lizardmen and the monsters were the only ones who had remained in the desert. Some theories even went that the sand lizardmen had descended from the original rulers of the kingdom.
Hearing talk of a fallen kingdom really excited the adventurer inside me, but unfortunately no information on the kingdom was found at the temple. According to the clerics, the rumors were all unfounded wives’ tales, and no one was even sure if such a kingdom had existed in the first place. Apparently, superstitions existed in fantasy worlds as well. It was a bit disappointing, but on second thought, there’d be no way a complete amateur would ever be able to make it to a place like that, so I figured it was all for the best in the end. Right now, I need to focus on saving Rulitora’s homeland.
As I prepared for breakfast, I called out to Rulitora. “Is your homeland beyond this point?”
“Yes, I’m sure everyone’s gathered up near the rebuilt reservoir.”
It turned out that Rulitora’s people didn’t have a set village – they were nomads. The environment was already harsh in the first place, so it was no surprise that losing their water source had put them into a crisis. The reason they couldn’t leave the empty reservoir was because there was no water to be found anywhere else at the time being.
We reached the desert by morning, yet it was already hot. I took Rulitora’s advice and removed my armor before I got in the rickshaw, in order to prepare for the heat. Soon, Rulitora was running at full speed again for the first time in a day. The shaking was as bad as ever, but I withstood it, laying on my side in order to avoid his tail.
Honestly, when I had first heard Rulitora talk about it, I’d simply imagined that their water supply had been cut off. I didn’t realize just how serious the situation was – until that morning. When the sun appeared, and I felt how hot the void was, the reality of it all hit me, and I realized I needed to get to the Torano’o tribe and give them water as quickly as humanly possible.
As the sun rose, I began to sweat more and more. Rulitora was used to this, so he still looked fine, but I was starting to feel like I wouldn’t make it.
We started taking breaks every now and then, during which I’d take water out from the Unlimited Bath and use it to hydrate myself. I also made sure to give my body some salt, too.
“All we did was cross one mountain, and the weather’s already so different... What’s going on in this world?”
Despite the fact that I had only been muttering to myself during the break, Rulitora answered me dutifully. “People say the weather turned this way because of the desert kingdom, but I don’t know the details.”
“The one that was in the center of the desert, huh?”
Rulitora nodded. Even his people rarely ever went into the desert, so no one knew if such a kingdom actually existed. Going off the knowledge I’d amassed from reading fiction novels in my world, I hypothesized that this kingdom had progressed their technology at a rapid rate, but made a mistake during some experiment and destroyed themselves. If this weather was a by-product of something like that, they had really caused some serious problems.
We had lunch early – gotta eat when you can – although all we had were simple ham sandwiches.
After eating and finishing my break, I remembered something. “Hey, is that demon still following us?”
“Well, it’s hard to tell exactly what it’s doing. Want me to go look for it?”
“...No, if monsters come here we’ll have to abandon all our luggage and run.” I couldn’t fight the monsters on my own, nor could I pull a rickshaw filled with stuff. “Can we go together?”
“It may be a little dangerous, but if you’re prepared to run in case of emergency...”
“Let’s do that, then. We can just run once we spot who’s following us.”
“Okay. Let’s go, then.”
As he stuck his chest out, Rulitora’s bulky, amber body looked like it could take on anything. Even if it was a little dangerous, it’d be better if we stayed together. And so, we went back a little and looked for our pursuer.
“What’s that?” After walking for a bit, I spotted a cloud of dust rising up from the other side of the wasteland.
Rulitora stared at the dust cloud as well. “There’s a lot of them... But a group that big could only be... Huh?!” Rulitora leaned forward for a closer look, as if he’d realized something. Curious, I rose to my feet. “There are humans at the front! Two! They’re being chased!!”
“What?!” The shock nearly sent me tumbling out from the rickshaw. “Why are humans there?! I thought no humans lived in the void!”
“Sometimes, humans come to this land to collect special fruit that only grows here...”
“That’s what they were doing?!” I could recall hearing about battle ravers doing those sorts of jobs somewhere. “...Let’s help them.”
“Are you sure? I’m not sure how we’ll fare against that many...”
“I’ll support you with magic as you run full speed ahead. Then, we’ll put the two of them in the rickshaw and escape. How does that sound?”
“...Understood. Let’s try it.”
It seemed like I’d convinced Rulitora – or maybe he’d just given up arguing. The group of monsters was currently on our left side, and stretched out a long way back, as if the monsters all had different running speeds. If we had been in a war movie, our general
would have told us to charge at them from the side – but our goal was to save the two people they were chasing.
“Let’s charge at the frontmost group from the side. Then, once we save those two, we’ll make a run for it.”
“Makes sense. We won’t be able to change direction with monsters in front of us.” If we tried that, it might ruin the rickshaw’s wheels.
It seemed like I wouldn’t be able to use my broad ax here, so I held up my round shield. “Go, Rulitora!”
“Hang on tight, Sir Touya!” The moment he shouted that, Rulitora leaned forward and started sprinting at full speed.
The monsters were moving forward, so we had to approach them diagonally. For a bit, we ran parallel with their left side, then I leaned forward and fired a Summon Light Spirit spell over Rulitora’s head. It wasn’t enough to defeat any monsters, but I managed to knock some off balance, which meant they’d probably get trampled by the ones behind them. Seeing this, I realized it’d be better to use my magic to hinder their progress instead of trying to defeat them, so I switched targets. Summon Light Spirit could be adjusted based on the caster’s MP pool and how it was charged.
Meanwhile, Rulitora casually swung his glaive with one hand and charged straight into the mob. The monsters hadn’t expected trouble to come from the side, so this caused mass hysteria. As Rulitora kept swinging his glaive around, parts of several monsters went flying into the air. I averted my eyes from the splattering blood and shot a light ball about twice the size of a baseball straight toward the monsters.
The two people who were running away seemed to notice us, and glanced over in our direction as they continued to run. I hadn’t noticed it before when we were at a distance, but I could see now that they were both girls. Since Rulitora was in front, I was afraid they’d think we were just more monsters.
Mixed Bathing in Another Dimension: The Hero of the Unlimited Bath Page 11