Chapter 9: [Chapter nine] End of the first night

Objectively speaking, today has probably been the most eventful day of my entire life. Discovering a secret tomb that had been hidden for a millennium, accidentally freeing an ancient Elemental Spirit of Lightning...

...yeah.

Now that things have more or less calmed down, the sheer weight of everything that's happened today is finally weighing on me in full.

I mean, I'm a solo adventurer for good reason. I have no friends, I've never had any friends, and the only people I'm particularly close to are my blood relatives. The idea of looking out for someone else like I am now with Yahanaseara is something that never even crossed my mind before the situation ended up as such.

Like... she's an Elemental Spirit. The literal highest order of lifeform that there is. Yet thanks to a shit turn of luck, she's on the verge of death and I'm sure there's a whole lot more trauma swirling around in that adorably fluffy head of hers that she's just trying to cover up out of some misguided sense of obligation.

Ugh.

What I really want to do right now is ask her the exact circumstances of her getting sealed away... but even someone as socially retarded as I am knows better than to intentionally open up that can of worms.

Because the last thing I want is to bring those bad memories to the surface and make her suffer even more than she already has.

Locking her up in a tiny ball so she can slowly starve to death over hundreds of years... "bastard" is way too soft a term for the mustachioed asshole who did that to her.

"......haaa......"

While staring at the freshly-summoned nightgown in my hands, I let out a long sigh.

I am way out of my depth when it comes to heavy stuff like this.

"Hey..."

"Yes, Savior?"

Yahanaseara's attention immediately shifts from the shirt she was inspecting to my awkward self.

"...sorry if I'm coming off as overly pushy or presumptuous or whatever," I sigh.

"Eh?"

A blank stare.

"You know... onesidedly deciding that we'd be traveling together, onesidedly deciding that we'd be staying at this inn, just assuming that you'd go along with whatever I say... all of it."

Skewed perspective for having saved her or not, I'm sure I'm coming off as some kind of-

Stop it, me.

"The only actual 'responsibility' I'm used to is looking after my little sisters, so I just kind of defaulted into 'big sister' mode when dealing with you," I mumble. "But you're way older than I am, so you probably find it patronizing..."

"Oh, not at all."

A genuine smile.

"As one who primarily acted in a 'big sister' role myself, it is nice to be the one getting pampered for a change."

And then her expression darkens.

"I wonder if this is how he felt..."

"S- sorry for bringing up-" I stammer.

"No, you did nothing wrong," Yahanaseara shakes her head. "And while the knowledge that we shall never meet again is indeed painful, the memories I have of my brother shall forever be a comfort."

So she had a little brother...

"In any event, I shall continue to be in your care for as long as you will have me," she says with a little bow.

"Uh, sure," I nod. "But if you ever feel like I'm overstepping my boundaries, don't hesitate to let me know."

"My Savior, there are no boundaries for you to overstep."

Uh-

"S- sure, okay," I clear my throat.

This girl is really bad for my heart.

"I, uh... was gonna go take a bath now," I motion to the door to the bathroom, "but it's fine if you wanted to go in first."

"...a bath?" Her eyes grow wide. "Indoors?"

"Yeah, it's right over here."

Walking over to the entrance to the bathroom, I open the door and gesture inside.

"This place is the best inn in town, so it's got both hot and cold running water."

"Hot? Running?"

Yahanaseara peeks inside and her jaw drops.

"...such extravagance..."

She whips her head around to face me.

"Savior, you actually went this far for my sake!?"

"Not really?" I shrug. "Like I mentioned before, this is where I would've stayed regardless."

"Unbelievable..."

Wide-eyed, she stumbles inside the white-tiled bathroom. It's about a third of the size of the main room itself, with a massive bathtub and separate shower area.

"...such facilities are commonplace nowadays?" she asks, still not peeling her gaze from the room itself.

"Not really for the common folk, but if you're willing to pay, then..."

"Truly amazing."

As if to fully burn it into her memory, Yahanaseara takes one more long look at the "extravagance" before finally turning to me.

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"Savior, I would never be so presumptuous as to try and use these facilities before you do," she says.

"Meh, it's fine," I shrug. "Taking a nice hot bath is another thing that you haven't done in more than a thousand years, right? And with all that hair you've got, I'm sure you want to give it a good washing..."

"...heh..."

She holds up a long lock of fluff, its pale white color standing out even more against her mocha-colored skin.

"...the girls back home would always fight over who would get to help me wash it..."

"Oh, you need help?" I ask, leaning in. "I've been washing my three little sisters' hair since they were born, so I actually have plenty of experience-"

"Th- that won't be necessary!" Yahanaseara stammers.

And then she pushes me out of the bathroom entirely and closes the door behind her.

Uh.

Shit, did I hit a nerve?

God damn it, me... the second I get comfortable, I go and screw everything-

click

"......"

White floof peeks from out the door.

"I do not know how to make the water go."

"Uh- no problem, I'll show you."

And so, I give the ancient Elemental Spirit a quick demonstration of how to operate modern plumbing. First the hot water, then the cold, how to use the stopper, switching on the shower head... and to avoid future embarrassment, I also show her how to flush the toilet just in case.

She's fortunately really quick on the uptake, and I leave her to her privacy after handing her the bottle of shampoo that I had stashed in Nighttime Bag #1.

"...so I didn't screw up?"

Sitting on the bed, I go over my latest possible faux pas.

Washing my sisters' hair was always something that I enjoyed doing... but I guess that might be a bit too much for someone who she just met maybe?

"So much for 'no boundaries,'" I mumble to myself.

She didn't actually seem mad though... just embarrassed.

I didn't even know she could get embarrassed.

Oh well.

Nearly an hour into my ruminations, the bathroom door finally opens up. From it emerges the tiny Elemental Spirit girl, now clad in the long pajama shirt I gave her... along with a whole lot of steam training after her.

"I apologize for taking so long," Yahanaseara says with a little bow of apology.

This action sends most of her long hair swaying towards the ground, but a few damp locks are sticking to the nape of her neck and for some reason the sight of it just draws me right in-

AHEM.

"No problem," I shake my head.

And after shaking off whatever the hell that fuzzy feeling just was, I head in the bathroom myself to wash off all the grime that built up after a long day of tomb exploration.

Man, hot baths are great. As exciting as the life of an adventurer may be, getting to take a nice long bath at end of the day will never not be something that I miss when on the road.

And double goes for washing my hair. While mine might not be anywhere nearly as long as Yahanaseara's, that doesn't mean that I'd ever neglect it.

Once I'm all nice and squeaky-clean, I dry myself off, change into the nightgown that was inside Nighttime Bag #2 and finally say goodbye to the comforts of the bath facilities.

"Savior?"

Yahanaseara glances at me and practically gasps.

"...is something wrong?" I ask.

"No, my apologies," she shakes her head. "I was just surprised by your current appearance."

What, is there something wrong with how I look?

"It is funny how a simple change of clothing can make you look so much more... feminine."

"What."

I mean yeah my hair is down now and I'm wearing a girly nightgown instead of my usual loose mage robes so my sorry excuse for a bustline is emphasized a little more than usual, but-

"...oh."

I look down, and yeah. I guess nobody would mistake me for a guy when I'm dressed like this.

"Sorry, I meant no offense," Yahanaseara mumbles.

"It's fine," I reply, shaking my head as I stuff my dirty clothes into Nighttime Bag #2.

"Really, I mean it!"

What's she being so emphatic about this for?

"I was just surprised by how pretty you look!"

".........thanks."

Yeah, I'm going to sleep now before I end up dying of embarrassment.