Vol 2 Chapter 24: The Under-Bath part 4

It had been cold. The winter had just begun, and the temperature was already way below zero. It took the winter only a few days to turn the pleasant days into horrible coldness. As far as the eye could see whiteness, nothing else could be seen but white snow.

It had already been snowing for almost a day, and it had already covered everything. And if the snow was not enough, there was a powerful gust of wind every once in a while.

Aier's daughter, Linyer, had been travelling for many long days now in this difficult weather. She had managed to hunt a few beasts on her way, so she was covered with many different coloured and different-sized pelts all over her body. Still, she was cold.

"I should have just heeded my mother's words and asked Felfey for directions... At this rate, even if I find it, it will be too late."

She mumbled as she pushed forward. Her face was red from the cold. The furs she was using to cover her body were all icy and covered with snow. The terrain was so difficult that she could only walk slowly. The deep snow was also another great foe she needed to defeat.

In a single day, the amount of snow that had fallen was just a bit below her knees. And although she was prepared for the coldness, her legs were freezing, and she gradually got slower.

Due to the difficult trip, the animals she had hunted were already eaten, and now, in the current state of her physical abilities and the landscape, it was impossible for her to hunt for any more animals.

As she slowly pushed through the snow-covered forest, she noticed a large clearing. At first, she thought that she was only hallucinating things, so she just kept walking towards it at her original speed. However, as she got closer and closer, she increased her pace and started seeing man-made objects.

She noticed a larger house covered with some plants. As she got closer, she noticed a strange short tree. Despite the cold weather, it had a few fruits on it. Despite this strange sight, Linyer instead headed over to the house and looked inside; it was empty.

"Figured... It seems I was late... I think not even the capital's barrier could withstand this cold properly, let alone a being out here without proper protection... "

She mumbled as she rubbed her hands together, the blow into her palm to slightly heat her fists up. She then walked all the way back to the fruiting tree, and just looked at it for a brief moment.

"Mother will most likely kill me for being this late and letting this unknown entity down..."

The girl sighed, and then she grabbed the fruit of the close on the tree. She was about to tear it off, but suddenly, a loud sound caused her to stop. Instead, she quickly jumped back out of reflex and pulled out a small dagger from within her clothes.

"Get your filthy hands off of that tree! Who do you think you are to steal? Although we didn't harvest it, that doesn't mean you are free to do so!"

A loud shout came from somewhere unknown to the girl. Linyer looked everywhere to search for the entity who just shouted. It was Énilo who was slowly hovering towards the girl with a cold glare. As soon as Linyer noticed the flying plant girl, her eyes widened, and she sheathed her weapon as fast as she could.

"Erm... are you perhaps... Do you live here?"

Linyer asked, not knowing how to start as she was startled.

"And what if I am?"

"I can't believe it... A real plant creature? I heard my mother saying that they were extinct... Arrogant creatures who only think of themselves..."

Linyer thought as the plant girl in front of her finally stopped only a few meters away from her face and just kept glaring into her eyes.

"Erm... Are you the owner of the land if so... There is something I'd like to discuss with you!"

Linyer tried to seem as polite as possible as she was uncertain how hostile the creature before her was, and she was quite weakened in her current state.

"No, I am not the owner, but if it is only discussion you want, I guess it would be fine to let you in, but I will be watching you! Follow me!"

Énilo stated coldly, then started hovering away. Linyer followed her cowardly all the way to the opening of the underground base.

"Put the lid back on when you are coming down!"

This slightly surprised Linyer, but she complied. And as soon as she started going lower, she was stunned by how warm everything was. It was so hot that the moment she got down, she instantly dropped her excess pelts and looked around.

Énilo was floating not far from her face and was just staring at her. Gobu shyly looked back and forth between the newcomer and Énilo, almost as if she was afraid to take her eyes off either of them.

"Hm... A goblin and a plant creature... Interesting... to think that this plant creature would tolerate any other being other then herself... Then I guess the owner must be a plant creature as well.."

"So, what did you want to talk about?"

"Erm.. If it is possible, I would like to talk to the owner of this area..."

"The owner is currently in that room..."

Énilo mumbled and pointed her finger at the freshly built bathroom, which was covered by that plate made by Foin.

Without hesitation, Linyer rushed over to the room, pushing away the plate and entering; her plan was to grab the owner and teleport away as soon as possible to fulfil her task. Énilo's head was grotesquely disfigured from anger, and she instantly flew after the girl, but it was too late; she had already entered the bathroom and had seen something she had never seen before.

The moment the lid was pushed away, Foin was in the process of stepping out of the bath. He had a fantastic relaxing time in the bath but figured it was time to get out. The thin fire he had made to heat the water up had already almost burned out, and the whole room was steamy.

Usually, he didn't love a hot bath, but strangely, that day, he enjoyed the scorching hot water. He was smiling as he was getting out, but as soon as he noticed the intruder staring at his naked form, his face quickly flashed with a dark red colour. Bewildered by the new and unwanted attention, he used all his strength to jump back, landing back in the baht, though he hit his leg in the process.

Just as he landed in the water from the door, many veins attached themselves to the girl, wrapped around her body with great force and pulled her out. She was dragged out so quickly that although Foin was flustered, he heard a loud landing sound.