ISEKAI NANPA ~Hitting on Elves, Nekomimi Girls, and Loli Dragons as an Unemployed Hikikomori~

Chapter 03: Outdoor Bath in Another World

After dinner, as Yuuki headed back to the guest room, Zomgoyle pulled at his sleeve.

“Hm?”

“This way.”

Zomgoyle led Yuuki out of the cafeteria and down the spiral staircase.

After a while, they made it to the end and reached a giant hall.

It seemed that this was the first floor of the tower.

Zomgoyle touched the wall and the room illuminated with the mysterious light.

“……This hall is way too dirty. Isn’t this supposed to be the entrance?”

“We have cherish magic. After all, it takes a lot of power to clean.”

“Hm.”

Yuuki started walking around, looking all over the room.

There seemed to be many places in need of cleaning.

A large eight-wheeled cart, a giant sickle, barrels with the rings broken off. Spider webs and dust. In the back was a ball joint doll lying down.

“What a gross doll. What do you use the sickle for?”

“That is a mithril sickle. We use it to remove weeds.”

The blade was a rusty brown.

“It’s really rusty. Does it really work?”

Zomgoyle shook his head.

“I must return to Solar and have the dwarves forge the sickle again.”

“Solar?”

“A town…… A place where the humans gather. How nostalgic…… I haven’t been there in 25 years, ever since the ‘Great Purification’ happened.”

“Come to think of it, what is the ‘Great Purification’? Shion mentioned it before.”

“The depletion of dark magical power on a worldwide scale.”

“Will we be alright?”

“Do not worry. We are not so bad off that we can not take a bath yet.”

Zomgoyle stated this rather seriously.

Picking up some firewood from the corner of the hall, he headed to the giant door that seemed to be the tower’s exit.

He seemed he intended to heat the bath with sheer physical strength.

Yuuki tried carrying half the firewood himself, but Zomgoyle refused.

“This is my job. Besides, look. The exit to this tower still operates by magic. There isn’t such a thing in your world, is there?”

Zomgoyle proudly touched the giant door.

In an instant, light ran through its dignified patterns.

The door slowly opened with the mysterious power…… or so they thought it would, until it suddenly stopped.

“Strange. I used magic. What’s going on here?”

Zomgoyle pushed the door by hand.

It just wouldn’t budge.

“I see…… It has gotten rusty. It’s because we don’t often go out……”

As Zomgoyle tried to justify this, he pushed the door with all his might.

“…………”

It wouldn’t open.

“Allow me.”

“No. This is my job…… Nghh!”

Zomgoyle placed the firewood on the floor, and slammed at the door.

It still wouldn’t move.

“Just let me help.”

As Yuuki pushed too, they seemed to have created a gap big enough for one person to slide through.

The cold breeze of the outer night flowed into the room.

Yuuki took a deep breath.

“Fuu. That night breeze feels great.”

However, Zomgoyle just stood there in front of the door, as if he had stopped functioning.

“What’s wrong?”

“We are doomed.”

“Eh? What’s doomed?”

“The tower, master, and me.”

“Why’s that?”

“We’re out of magic and getting old. Soon enough, the tower will be surrounded by weeds, and then it will collapse.”

“I see…… Shion’s going to have to find a new place to move into.”

Zomgoyle shook his head.

“Master’s life is one with the tower. He can’t ever leave it.”

“Seriously……?”

“But do not worry. We have the power to return you to your world.”

“I- I can go back!? Seriously?”

“Shion will honor the contract made with the dimensional spirits.”

“Contract?”

“‘If the summonee wishes to return to his world, he will be sent back.’ That was set in the rules.”

“So that means……”

“We can bring you home tomorrow. Back to your world.”

“I- I see…… Huh……”

Relieved from his worries, Yuuki suddenly felt a bit tired.

But…… As I am still treating you, will you stay the night?”

“S- Sure.”

“The bath is this way. It has already been prepared.”

Zomgoyle picked up all the firewood and slipped through the door.

Yuuki followed.

He was surrounded by the night breeze.

　＊

The tower was surrounded by weeds taller than Yuuki’s own height.

Zomgoyle walked on ahead, looked back, and heeded a warning.

“Do know touch the weeds. They will drain your energy.”

The weeds, with an ominous saw-like silhouette, covered the stars and moon.

Zomgoyle began carving a path within the thicket of weeds.

“H- Hey, hold up!”

“This way.”

On Zomgoyle’s back was a shining yellowish green gemstone.

Yuuki followed the light of that gem.

Zomgoyle cut the weeds left and right, creating gaps wet by the evening dew.

Yuuki, having gotten wet himself, continued forward, walking through the mud.

At that……

“……Ugh!”

Yuuki hit his nose on Zomgoyle’s back, as he suddenly stopped.

Looking around while rubbing at his pain, he found himself in a vacant space without any weeds.

It seemed they did not grow because there was stone pavings put in place.

He looked back.

Along the stars and moon, was the tall black tower standing in place.

“This is the back of the tower. The bath is over there.”

Zomgoyle pointed to the vacant space with his claws.

There was a pool of water reflecting the moonlight, with a bonfire burning beside it.

Zomgoyle put down the firewood he was carrying and added it in.

He then approached that small pool of water and crouched down beside it.

“This should be warm enough.”　

He said that as he dipped his claws into the water.

But……

“No, it is still colder than human skin…… We must raise the temperature a bit more.”

As Zomgoyle adjusted the bonfire a bit more, his claws went into the flames.

“H- Hey!”

“It is fine. I am fireproof.”

Zomgoyle took a large stone out of the fire, and tossed it into the pool.

With a splash, steam started to rise.

“This should be fine.”

Zomgoyle kneeled down and once again tested the water with his claws.

“……It’s fine. It is done.”

“What is?”

“Your bath. It’s slightly warmer than the temperature of human skin.”

“…………”

Yuuki nervously approached the bath.

While it looked like a puddle at first, it was actually assembled by stone.

Squatting down, Yuuki ran his right hand through the water.

It was warm.

This was definitely what you could call an open air bath.

“Well, this is……”

Yuuki remembered once reading a book titled titled “Discover! The World of Open Air & Wild Field Baths” while running an affiliate site.

“That’s right…… This is…… A location of rural beauty, as there are no walls or ceilings. It’s what they call a wild field bath rather than open air bath.”

Claws touched Yuuki’s shoulders as he thought about useless things.

“Hm?”

“Your clothes. Take them off.”

“Eh? Right here?”

Yuuki started looking around.

It seemed there wasn’t anything like a dressing room.

“I am not human.”

So he’s saying there’s no need to be embarrassed?

“……Well, if you say so.”

Yuuki took off his Sugukuru work jacket.

Zomgoyle took a step forward and horizontally stretched his arm.

Did he mean to give him his clothes?

Yuuki handed them over.

He took his t-shirt off too, and placed them on Zomgoyle’s arm.

“…………”

Yuuki’s upper body was revealed. His white complexion from never going out, and his softness from never working out.

“…………”

Yuuki wasn’t very fond of his body.

He tried not to look at the mirror, even when he took a bath.

This body, this ugly body, was being seen by an intelligent being.

Though he wasn’t human, Zomgoyle may as well have been.

“A- Actually, it’s fine. I’ll take a bath later.”

Yuuki, in sheer embarrassment, put his t-shirt back on.

He couldn’t help but remember his school trip from middle school.

　＊

“I actually have a cold right now, so I’m going to skip on the bath.”

During that trip, the class stayed at a famous hot spring inn in the Tohoku region.

The men and women baths were separated by a bamboo fence.

However, in this steam under the stars, the voices of both sides could still be heard.

You could imagine the bodies across the fence by those moist reverb sounds.

Yuuki went and sat anxiously in his room.

Will there ever be a time I can interact freely with someone? As afraid of being naked in public as I am?

Will I become an adult who can’t open himself up to anybody?

And when I do become an adult, will I end up secluding myself in loneliness forever?

HIs prediction was right.

Even now, Yuuki still can’t get naked.

　＊　

Yuuki was looking a little pale as Zomgoyle called him over.

“Is there something wrong with the bath?”

Yuuki recalled where he was.

“Th- There’s nothing wrong. It’s fine…… Hey, did you happen to build this just for me?”

“We were planning to summon you for years, after all.”

“…………”

It seemed that Zomgoyle had prepared this entire facility by hand for Yuuki’s sake.

He felt the kindness of the room, the dinner, and the open aired bath.

Yuuki closed his eyes.

“…………”

Come to think of it, all my life, I’ve been receiving kindness from others.

But there were many times I refused that kindness.

Back in that inn at Tohoku, if I just worked up a little bit of courage, maybe I could have gotten along with the rest of my class.

“Ugh……”

“Are you crying?”

“No. Sorry.”

Yuuki quickly wiped his eyes, took off his shirt, and placed it on Zomgoyle’s arm.

Putting aside his worries, he took off his work pants and underwear as well.

But, it was embarrassing.

Taking a look back, he entered into the bath.

“Ah……”

It was warm.

It felt so nice, he let out a voice.

“Fuwahh……”

The warmth soaked through the depths of his body.

It was an amazing bath.

Yuuki rested his body on the smooth stone within the shallow water.

His head on the curb, he closed his eyes stretched his body.

Be it because he was summoned to another world, or got completely lost at the delivery center, he really worked up a sweat.

His stiffness was melting in the softness of the warm bath water.

His entire body’s capillaries were dilating.

“Haa”

Yuuki opened his eyes with a big sigh.

The starry sky was spread before him.

Those twinkling stars.

Surrounded by that light, he felt like he could finally do something.

He could even become a new person.

Though……

All of that could simply just be his imagination.

At that moment, Yuuki heard a splash from the corner of the bath.

Zomgoyle had tossed another stone from the fire into the bath.

The water once again rewarmed.

“…………”

Put his mind and body’s focus into the warmth of the water, Yuuki stopped thinking about it.