Chapter 31: 31 – Week 2

Blake's POV

"Is that all of them?" Lory, the elf that is accompanying our contractor asked.

"No, there should be two more parties that arriving in a few minutes… hey, may I ask, what kind of person is she? And what is your relationship with her?" I asked her.

"Who?"

"That noble child, Crourem. What is your relationship with her and who is she? I don't think I have ever heard of the name Crourem before," I asked in more detail this time.

"Oh, her. She is a benefactor of mine. She saved me from potential torture, she's currently escorting me back to my village. And no, I don't think she is a noble child. I may be wrong though as I don't know her that much," she explained.

"I see…"

(She seems to be telling the truth from what I can tell. It's understandable if she lied and hid her identity but that is not important. Our relationship and trust are only on paper, after all. There is no need for me to pry too deeply in their life. So long as she does what the paper says, then there is no need to investigate. As long as she isn't a noble child and doesn't have many enemies then we are not to pry.)

"We are back!" A guy from a party of eight came shouting at the village entrance.

"There they are, the two other parties," I said to lory as I started jogging towards them.

"How was today's hunt?" I asked them.

"Now much here. Just 3 rabbits."

"No catch here. But we scavenged a bunch of edible mushrooms. This should suffice," they reported.

"I see, there isn't much catch on our side too," I said with a wry smile.

"We seriously need to assign someone capable to manage our small village. Why don't you do it already, Blake? You should do great with it," one of the party members said lazily to me.

"No, no, no. I am telling you, I may be great at the battlefield BUT I have zero knowledge when it comes to governing. You guys should know that already."

"Yeah, we get it. What a way to brag though, haha!" They all joyfully laughed and went to their respective huts.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you, but we will have an announcement later about an hour from now on, be quick with your dinners," I shouted to which they waved their hands in response.

"It's almost time, where is she?" I asked myself as I looked up to the sky.

"Who?" A girl with a familiar voice asked beside me.

"You, Miss Celeste Crourem. What took you so long?" I asked as I looked at the girl. And I was right, it was indeed Celeste Crourem.

"Just Celes is fine. We will be working for quite a while after all there's no need for formalities."

"I refuse, just answer, where were you and what were you up to for the last few days? Suddenly telling me to organize the whole village then disappearing just as I was just about to ask what it's about," I said angrily.

"That, I'll be explaining after you introduce me to the rest of the hunters here. And call me Celes, it's more convenient that way," she said before she dashed towards the hill again. What is she up to there? That place should be plenty dangerous, that we still haven't cleaned up yet.

(Alright, guess I'll have dinner too.)

Roughly an hour later.

"Alright, is everybody here? This is important so don't miss it! This will also be about the future of our village so listen carefully!" I said to the people that gathered in the village well or plaza. I don't know.

"Are we finally deciding on a village chief?" one of them asked, followed by the agreement of the others.

"No err, kinda. But we will see, we will see," I answered.

A dozen more minutes,

"Hey, where is she now?" I asked Lory.

"She should be here any minutes now," she lightheartedly replied.

"Right, should we start?" SHE said.

"You little, are you doing this on purpose?"

"What is?" She tilted her head and asked.

"… nothing, let's start this," I could not help but give up. Where did that cunning aura of hers go to?

"We are finally starting, guys. Let me introduce her to you, she is Celeste Crourem. We have come to an agreement that she will help us develop our village in exchange for 3% of our total monthly income. That includes all of us, for how long is not decided yet," I explained after the introduction.

"You could have left the explanation to me," she whispered to me as she stepped forward.

"My name is Celeste Crourem, as he already said, I am going to help this village develop of yours develop. If you have any doubts please consult Mister Blake here, as he was the one who decided to let me handle this issue," She said and flashed a mischievous smile towards me, followed by the gaze of all my comrades.

"Y-you-"

"Moving on! Since my nose can't take it anymore, I'll have you all take a bath, a thorough one! After that, I will explain my plans for this village. After I explain, feel free to bombard Mister Blake with questions that you all obviously have," She said before running off again.

She definitely knows she will be doubted, so she passed the blame on me!

*****

Celes' POV

After the introduction, I led them to what I have been working on for the last few days. They were unexpectedly cooperative.

"We are here! Welcome to my little bathhouse!" I spread my arms wide and waited a moment to let the confused bunch understand what I just said. On my back is your daily traditional Japanese bathhouse, because why the hell not! It also has laundry at the back and an open-air bath in it because that is important. I built it on the side of a hill and dug a well. I also made a pump to easily fill the hot spring. Some magic will have to compensate to heat it up and fill it in if the water pumped from the ground were not enough.

"A bathhouse?" Blake asked me in confusion.

"Yes, a bathhouse. Enough talking, you people stink and my nose can't take it. Get in there, the right is for the men, left for the women. Clean your bodies off with the soap in there," I explained before heading in with the women. I will teach them before the guys. No, I should head into the guys' as a former man, I know how chaotic they can be in the bath.

By the way that soap took some time to recreate as I needed to focus hard to get the structures right. Chemistry truly is a great scientific advancement. Combine it with Magic Creation and as long as I know the chemical and molecular structure and the process things are made then I can recreate it. Focusing is what is hard, but I suppose that accumulates as I create things.

Getting back on the subject. I headed for the men's room.

As soon as I entered, I was exactly right. The room was a mess. They just entered and it's already quite messy. They are confused about what to start with. I understand that but couldn't they at least behave.

"I swear men are just. You guys, do you even know how to take a bath?"

"Of course, we are not idiots!" "Why are you here?!" "Oh hello…" "You here to join us?" Words flew and those were the most common or the most dangerous ones.

"Silence. I am not with the girls because I know that they are clean with themselves. They actually smell slightly better than you bunch. If it weren't for the soap's scent, then I would not be here. I am here to instruct you on how to be clean. If you have any complaints then please proceed to Mister Blake."

They all stiffened after my little scolding.

"These here are soaps, though they're only a bunch of prototypes. And these are towels, there is not much to hide, but these will do it. This place is the locker, this is where you are…" After dozens of minutes of explaining they proceeded to clean themselves.

"Those who left early, take the laundries and clean them at the back," I informed both the women and men. I was right with the women too, though they were a little confused they knew what to do.

And now… I ran at full speed towards Lory and grabbed her into the woods.

I have been holding it ever since coming here. I drank a lot of blood from that one accident so I was able to keep it up but I can't anymore. I came to this conclusion after analyzing our surroundings and Orto's state from back then.

"Lory, I need blood. Now, or else I will lose control and might die or rampage…" I said in a rushed tone.

"W-what? Oh, right. You may be a day walking vampire but I suppose you still have your needs. Go ahead, I don't mind," she said before revealing her nape.

"Here I go. Thank you for the meal."

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I said and let my fangs sink into her nape and the blood flow into my mount. I did not hesitate and went for it. If she is presenting it herself then I am now waiting for her to change her mind.

It's sweet and tastes like herbs. I suppose this is how forest elves would taste. It was tasty but wasn't as tasty as Orto's. I wonder why. If dryads exist I wonder what their blood would taste like? After a whole minute, I separated my fangs from her nape.

"How was it? Finally trust me now?" She asked.

"Huh?" I blurted out in confusion. (She is the one who isn't trusting me, though?)

"Huh? I mean, you know? Like how you are so distanced from me and all that," she fidgeted as she said so.

(You are not acting your age right now, you know?) I couldn't help but think, but enough of that.

"You are confusing me. Aren't you the one being distanced like how you will watch me fake my sleep or when I'm awake at night you somehow wakes up, too?"

"Ah… there's a reason for those… err," from all fidgety, she's now all flushy blushy.

(You are seriously not acting your age. This is making things awkward, read the atmosphere. This is supposed to be a serious talk.)

"What?"

"U-umm"

"What?"

"Hnnnnn…"

(She is so adorable, no wonder she got caught by that Marquis.)

Now that I get a closer look at her, I am now conscious of how adorable she is.  Her long ears dropped and reddened like a tomato along with her nose and cheeks, her bright mint long bangs are on the way so I can't see her golden eyes and it kind of ruins the view but that in itself looks great, and she's lumpy and perfectly slender just on the right places. Her silky flawless skin is also shining like no other. Any man would fall for how adorable she is right now, where did that 72-year-old elf that was being so cautious? Wait, since they are long-lived races is her current reactions are matched with her current age? Is that how it is? I will have to ask her about this in the future.

I never really paid any attention to her features as I thought of it as irrelevant and unneeded as I only needed her to credit me and get a magic tutor in her village and maybe do them a little favor here and there.

"… leaving that aside. I am glad that you were actually trusting me. It seems that I have misunderstood. For that, I apologize. I am also grateful that you let me drink your blood, it was tasty," I said with a slight bow.

"T-that, I am glad to hear… in exchange let me… ca y-," she was trying to say something but I couldn't catch it even with my superior hearing. It must have been stuck in her throat then.

"What is it? Talk clearly so I can hear you."

"L-let me call you your nickname in exchange! I-is what I wanted to say… letting me treat you like my little sister would be better but…" She said loud and fast. Her last words didn't escape my ears though.

(Great chance to build up intimacy.)

"Why not, big sis Lory?" I said with the brightest smile I can muster up.

*****

Lory's POV

(C-CUUUUUUUUUUTTEEEEEE! What was that?! That was too much to handle! Though I was mentally prepared for when this time comes, I was attacked by something else entirely!)

*****

Celes' POV

Right as I said those words she stopped moving and just stared at me with a flushed face.

(Enough teasing, though only several minutes passed, I still need to tend to those guys. They were awfully cooperative though. That is what you get for not properly taking care of your hygiene.)

"Alright, let us get back there now, Big Sis," I said as I pulled on her arm and headed back to the supposed bathhouse.

*****

Blake's POV

(There are going to be a lot of POV changes in this single chapter. The other chapters should not be as long though, but we'll see how it ends up.)

As I washed my body neatly, I was reminded of how much I have been wounded in the past 3 decades.

"I suppose it is to remind me of how many wounds she has healed for me," I thought to myself.

The guys that were bathing with me clearly have some things to ask since they kept glancing over my direction.

"Let us talk about it in the hot spring at the back," I said loudly for all of them to hear before heading for the said hot spring. Like anyone would be, I am excited about it.

I took a quick dip with my hand into the water to feel its heat before heading into it. It was just the perfect temperature. I was the first one so I got to enjoy it without any noise.

Soon one after another, my friends came in too. After a few more minutes, everyone was in the same spring and was waiting for whatever I had to say.

"… I'm surprised none of you just immediately shouted at me or her and voiced out your displeasure…" I said casually as I let myself sink deeper into the water up to my shoulders.

… they looked at each other silently.

"Well, it's you we're talking about. Knowing you, you must have a reason. I don't know about the youngsters though. We only managed to silence them, but they are definitely complaining in their heads," he said as we saw the boys sitting on the opposite of the pond nodding in agreement.

"Hahh. So? Ask away, I'll just be here answering what I could answer," I said before leaning on the smooth stones behind me while I covered my eyes using the towel I used to cover myself.

"Since no one seems to be willing to go first, I will. Will that be fine with everyone?" I lifted the towel on my face and saw Kler raising his hand. He is an alchemist that was abandoned by his group from another country and had to take refuge here. He is a newcomer but we all already trust him. What's more, he has healed many of us from our sicknesses. He usually has a thin piece of cloth tied to his head to cover his sick dying eyes but he seems to have taken it off today. Less dying, the sockets were empty.

Everyone agreed and let him take the first question.

"Then, I'll ask what everyone here wants to ask the most. For what reasons did you have to entrust her with the development of our village? Knowing you, someone who has a lot of experience with people of different lands, you must have seen something from her, yeah?" He asked.

"Right. I didn't trust her at first too. Even now it doesn't feel like I should have done that," I replied lazily as I was feeling relaxed and started to feel drowsy.

"Then why?" Multiple of them asked.

"She left a very obvious loophole in the contract that she presented which made her all the more suspicious. But after what she said, she got me convinced somewhat or another."

"And what did she say?"

"That in order to gain the trust of others, you yourself must present your trust first," I replied sluggishly since the drowsiness was getting into me.

Everyone went quiet and started thinking. Though they are not convinced by her credibility, they kept their opinions to themselves and decided to see what happens. They trust Blake's judgment more than themselves. Truly deep-rooted trust for their greatest comrade.

"T-then, may I ask something too?" Said shyly a thin and small boy that was sitting along with the younger ones.

"What is it?" I casually asked.

"… W-what do you think that small lady likes about men? Did she mention anything like that? Like foods or sweets or… n-no, never mind…" He asked before turning beet red from the stares he got from all the people that were in the pool, blind or not. He got me to remove my towel from my eyes because of shock.

… No one said anything and just stared at the boy which only made him sink more than he already is.

"Youth, ehhh." Old man Kler said before stretching.

"Youth, indeed." He got such remarks which made him sink even more to the point that he was already blowing bubbles under the warm water.

"Hey, you guys! She's calling for us! She said she will discuss what we are going to do tomorrow and in the next coming days! She also said to help clean the clothes and have them all hanged before joining her!" A girl shouted at us from the outside of the wooden wall.

*****

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