Lord of Disease (JP-GL) 516

516: Iris Bath

After dinner, I went with Liz and Bridget to the public bathhouse attached to the inn. Since it was a relay point, there were few other guests, and we had the place to ourselves—or so I had thought, but there was an unexpected guest.

“Iris-san?”

“Ah… Daisy-sama and the others.”

She, who was soaking in the ooze that filled the bathtub, gave a light bow. Since it was a bath, she was not in her deep purple hooded robe, but it was Iris-san. Her black cat ears twitched. She must have been a cat-type beastman. Her skin was as pale as if it were translucent… which was a standard undead joke, but even setting aside the fact that it was truly translucent, she was pale. Her demeanor was also polite, and she had the air of a sheltered young lady or a poor girl. Her pale green eyes, which looked very pale, partly because they were translucent, looked back at me.

“I was just taking a bath. Well then, I will be on my way…”

I stopped Iris-san, who was about to stand up, with my hand.

“If you are being considerate, then please stay. This is a public bathhouse.”

“…Is that so?”

Iris-san soaked herself again.

…She was the type to look thin in clothes. Even though I had felt a sense of kinship.

“…What is it?”

“No… please don’t mind me.”

I glanced at Liz and Bridget. Without Rebecca… a certain balance was lost.

Well, I decided not to worry about it, and for now, I decided to wash myself in the washing area.

“Now, Nee-chan? Do you want me to wash your back, or do you want me to wash yours?”

“Both.” Bridget answered, nonchalantly.

The first time we had entered a public bathhouse together, she had been a little bewildered by the distance, but I had a feeling that she was no longer here.

…Instead, the fact that she was allowing me to be so close, so naturally, made me happy.

After I had washed myself normally, I had her wash my back. My hair would be later.

As the three of us soaked in the bathtub, Iris-san opened her mouth.

“…You are all so close.”

“Because we’ve known each other for a long time.”

“Because we’ve known each other for a long time.”

Liz and Bridget said, in unison.

By the standards of a long-lived species, it might still be a short time. But I thought that by the standards of a long-lived species, it would be a long relationship, and I had no intention of sparing any effort for that. And by my standards, it was a long relationship. Because it had been since I had come to this world…

I added.

“And because we’re close.”

“That’s right. I’m envious.”

Since she had said it so nonchalantly, I didn’t know if it was a compliment to a customer or her true feelings. But since it didn’t feel like a sarcasm, I took it at face value.

“You take a bath, even though you’re an undead, Daisy-sama.”

“You, too, Iris-san.”

It wasn’t that there were no undead who took a bath—or rather, in the case of a skeleton, it was almost a duty. But from what I had heard, I wondered if you could even call that a bath. When they judged that they were dirty enough to need a wash, they would soak their entire body in a bathtub filled with ooze, by [Create Ooze]. For the most part, they would get out before the ooze’s lifespan was up. And when they said ‘entire body,’ they really meant it, from their toes to the top of their head. Since there was no real buoyancy, and considering the depth of the bathtub, they would lie down at the bottom. It was more like a drowning than a bath. A sight that made you think of a formalin pool where a medical specimen was submerged, as in an urban legend.

The dirt detection of the convenient everyday magic, [Cleansing], was also not omnipotent. Though it was being improved, if you were to widen the range of ‘dirt’ too much, then there would be accidents, so it was deliberately made a little inconvenient, Rebecca had said. Even an undead could use it, in theory, but since ‘accidents’ could happen, it was a basic rule to not use it as much as possible. Our knights, when they were dirty with mud or blood, would wash each other by splashing water on each other by a river.

—That kind of a ‘bath,’ which should be called a wash rather than a bath, was only for a skeleton. A wraith was less likely to get dirty than a skeleton, and it was left to the individual’s judgment. In any case, I had never seen an undead in a public bathhouse.

“…I liked bathing when I was alive. The sensation on my skin has faded, but it hasn’t disappeared…”

The sensations of one’s past life were said to become dull when you became an undead. Since I was a novice as an undead, and a special case, I couldn’t really empathize with that kind of a common story. My hearing was rather sharp, and my vision was too different to compare, but in a way, it was an upgrade. And as for my sense of taste and smell, it seemed I had those, in a way. —Since an undead could only eat mana, it might have been a pure, stripped-down taste, in a way.

And among them, the only one that remained, though it was dull, was the sense of touch. Though there was nothing that could be called a sense of pain, there was a sensation of something touching your body.

“…When I ‘woke up,’ I didn’t remember much about myself. I inherited my name, but I had no one to be with, and I smoothly joined the Fourth Army.”

It was one of the common patterns. How much of your memory you inherited depended on the person. —It was not uncommon to have forgotten everything.

“But there are things you remember. A wish from a long time ago, which I had forgotten in the busyness of my daily life… I remembered it, with the end of the war and the disappearance of the obligation to belong to the Demon King’s army.”

“…What kind?”

“I wanted to see a different land…”

Iris-san, her eyes narrowed, as if in nostalgia.

“…It’s a strange thing, for a dream to come true after death. In the Fourth Army, my transport missions were mainly within the Badlands… but after the war, before I retired, I participated in a preliminary survey of a pioneer village as a driver.”

That was the job of a veteran. The enhancement of the undead horses, the pacing. Of course, it was no good if you didn’t know the way, and the skill of reading the weather was also important. And besides, if you were to go to an unknown land by carriage, then you would have to compensate for a lot with your past experience.

“I was scouted for my current job, because of my experience. I haven’t been to the other side of the mountain much yet, but I am traveling all over the country.”

“You’re a veteran.”

“Yes… well, I’ve been a driver for a long time. But I’m still a long way off.”

So modest. It wasn’t just a matter of humility. She really seemed to think so.

“…Have I talked too much?”

“No, not at all.” I waved my hand and denied it.

“I’m glad to hear you say that. …It’s strange. Until now, I haven’t had many in-depth conversations with my customers…”

Iris-san, with a somewhat curious expression, placed a hand on her chin.

“Because my master has a policy of being frank in the bath.”

“Because she has a belief that you should take a bath together to get to know each other.”

Liz and Bridget, who knew me so well.

Iris-san chuckled. I, too, laughed a little.

If you were to always carry your position on your shoulders, you would get a stomach ulcer. And yet, even if there were things you had to carry… at the very least, in the bath.

I was suddenly reminded of my time as the Lord of Disease. A time when I had been alone. In the very early days. My room had been just an office. And the Black Hound Barghests had not yet come to me, as I was leaning against a wall in the backyard, in between my work.

Liz had listened to all of my requests, as long as they were related to work. But not so much for things outside of work… and I had not yet been able to be spoiled.

The first time I had been refused to have a meal together, I had become a coward.

For Liz, she was a vice-commander, a maid… and since she had been desired for that position, she had been playing the part of a maid, faithfully. Especially since the maids she was familiar with were the underlings of the army, and they would not normally share a meal.

But for me, in an unknown country, to be eating a meal with an unfamiliar seasoning, at a long table in a spacious dining room, all alone… was nothing but lonely.

A formal, a little more luxurious than the others, and a comfortable, and a good quality chair. But what was the point of that seat of honor? I had been alone.

And the bath, too. A luxurious and spacious—too spacious—bathtub made of marble, filled with a writhing, pale green something.

…And yet, the warm ooze, like a warm bath, had soothed my heart. When I had gotten used to it, it had been better than the others. Because the bath had felt more like a time for myself.

…I had a feeling I had become much more lonely than before. Even though I had become an undead in the middle of it, and I was a grown woman.

…Because I was an adult, I might have been made to realize the gap that I couldn’t fill on my own.

Gently, I extended my hand under the water, and as I pushed through the ooze, I touched Liz’s hand. Liz raised her eyebrows a little… and then she smiled and squeezed my hand.

“…Well then, I will be on my way. I will get out first.”

Iris-san bowed and got out of the bathtub. After I had watched her go, I looked at Bridget, still holding Liz’s hand… and she smiled and placed her hand on ours.

“Bridget.”

“A flower in each hand, right?”

“…Yes.”

I had a wonderful wife and a wonderful sister-in-law. For a moment, the word ‘sister-don’ crossed my mind.