Chapter 463: I’m No Different To Any Of Them

Luca didn’t know what to say, because of all the centaurs in that village Mavis was the last one he’d have expected to ask such a absurd favour!

"D-Don’t look at me like that, Dummy Hero! This is your fault."

Mavis continued, jabbing a finger at him.

"You’re the one who said I was the stinkiest! You’re the one who put that thought in my head! I tried to ignore it. I tried to go home and sleep it off. But I couldn’t! I just kept thinking about about how I’ve been walking around reeking for years and nobody told me! And now everyone knows and I’m the stinkiest centaur and I can’t—I just can’t—"

Her voice cracked.

"Mavis..." Luca’s expression softened.

"I’m still a girl, okay?!" She burst out. "I might be a blacksmith. I might spend my days covered in soot and sweat. But I DO care about these things and right now, knowing that I smell worse than everyone else—I can’t sleep. I can’t think. I can’t do anything until it’s GONE!"

She looked at him directly. "So. I need you to help me."

Luca looked at the brushes. Then at her in hesitation.

"...Help you how?"

Mavis looked away.

"Do I have to say it too?"

"I’d like you to say it."

"Dummy Hero." She switched her tail. "I want you to take those brushes and that soap and I-I want you to scrub me down."

Her voice went very small.

"All of me. Everywhere...Until there isn’t a ounce of stench on me left."

Luca stared in genuine disbelief.

"...You’re joking."

Mavis punched him.

"Ow—"

"I’m not joking!" She was bright red now, ears fluttering, absolutely mortified. "Why would I joke about this? Do you think I want this? Do you think I want a man to bathe me like I’m a child?"

She gestured helplessly at her own body.

"But who else is there? I can’t reach the back. I can’t reach the underside. The other centaurs can’t reach theirs either—that’s the whole problem. And every single one of them would find it just as humiliating as I do. But you—" She lifted her chin. "You have two legs, you have arms, you have—you can reach. You’re the only one who can do it!"

Then, so quietly he missed it: "And even if there were other humans...I’d only want you to do it."

Luca was surprised. He had thought Mavis didn’t care about her scent at all. She seemed like someone who wouldn’t give a shit about what others thought.

But here she was—sensitive, embarrassed, vulnerable.

It was surprisingly adorable and he couldn’t help but break into a smile.

"Fine, fine. If you really feel that bad about it, I’ll help you out."

Mavis let out a breath of relief.

"On one condition."

Her eyes narrowed. "What condition?"

"You stop calling me Dummy Hero."

"That’s never going to happen!"

"Worth a try." He gestured toward the spring. "Alright. Get in the water."

Mavis hesitated. Now that Luca was actually standing in front of her with a brush in his hand and a look of patient amusement on his face, the reality of what she was about to do crashed over her like a wave.

She was about to let a man bathe her!

But she had already made her mind. So, with the dignity of a condemned prisoner walking to her execution, she stepped into the spring.

As she settled into the water, letting the warmth soak into her muscles after the long day of forging, she heard the soft thump of clothing being discarded onto the grass behind her.

"Ah, the water’s actually really nice." came Luca’s voice, pleasantly surprised. "I thought it might be too cold for a nighttime dip, but it’s rather perfect. Just the right temperature."

Mavis turned around to respond—

And promptly choked on her own breath.

"What—what—WHAT are you doing?!"

She pointed at him with a trembling finger, her face erupting into a deep crimson.

"Why did you take off your clothes?!"

Luca stood at the edge of the pool in nothing but a pair of fitted boxers that clung to his hips and left nothing to the imagination.

The rest of him was completely, unashamedly bare under the silver moonlight!

"Of course I took my clothes off." He tilted his head, as if the question were genuinely confusing. "I’m getting into the water, aren’t I? I don’t make a habit of bathing fully dressed."

"But you’re not bathing!" Mavis sputtered. "It’s me who’s bathing!"

"And I’m joining you." Luca said, stepping into the water with unhurried ease. "So someone is bathing. And I don’t like my clothes getting wet." He waded closer, the water rippling around him. "So I took them off. Is there a problem?"

"No! No problem at all!" Mavis turned away, fanning her burning cheeks.

But feminine instinct is a treacherous thing, and her eyes drifted back to him almost against her will.

All night yesterday, while she had been laboring over the forge, she had heard the village mothers whispering.

The older centaur women who had gathered to watch Luca work, their voices carrying on the wind:

"Look at those arms."

"Did you see his back when he lifted the anvil?"

"I wouldn’t mind being rescued by someone like that."

"Rescued? I’d let him drag me off anywhere."

At the time, Mavis had been too focused on her hammering to pay them much mind.

Now she understood.

’Good goddesses. He really was...chiseled.’

She started counting his abs, purely out of scientific curiosity.

’One...two...three...four...five...six...seven...eight.’

She counted again, certain she’d made an error.

’Eight. There were eight abdominal muscles on that ridiculous human! How?! How was that even possible?!’

Her eyes then went down and she realised his legs were pillars. He looked like he could stomp a charging bull to a halt and the bull would be the one to apologize.

And when finally, he turned his back to the shore to open a small portal and retrieve something, she saw a landscape of muscle that could have been carved from living stone.

’A mountain.’ She thought. ’His back was a mountain, with ridges and valleys and rivers of solid muscle.’

Mavis swallowed hard. Then she realized she had been drooling like a baby.

’Stop it!’ She scolded herself furiously, as she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

’Stop it right now! You are not like those brutish village mothers who go slack-jawed over a few muscles! You are a sophisticated artisan! A master blacksmith! You have dignity! You have standards! You—’

Her eyes slid back to his back.

’...you’re just like every single one of them.’

Meanwhile, Luca had turned back around and was studying her with an intensity that made her skin prickle. His gaze traveled from the top of her head down to where her human torso met her equine body, and then back up again.

Slowly. Methodically. Like he was cataloging every inch of her.

"W-What?" Mavis squeezed her arms together, suddenly self-conscious. "What are you looking at? Is it my smell?! Do I still stink in the water?!"

Luca rubbed his chin absentmindedly.

"No, it’s just...I was wondering whether I should start from the top or the bottom."

"...Huh?"

"I mean, should I start with your human half or the horse half?" He smiled slightly. "Normally, I don’t have to think about this. But with a centaur in front of me..." He shrugged. "I don’t know where to start."

But to Luca’s genuine surprise, Mavis answered almost immediately.

"I...I would like it if you started from the top please."

Luca’s eyebrows shot up. Genuine shock flickered across his face.

Mavis noticed. "What? Why are you looking at me like that? Did I say something wrong?"

"No, no, it’s just..." Luca shook his head slowly. "I honestly never expected you to say yes to the top."

His tone was disbelieving, almost amused as he continued saying,

"I was just teasing you, you know. I expected you to insist I only wash your lower half—since you can reach your upper half perfectly fine yourself." He tilted his head. "You actually accepting? That caught me off guard."

"Dummy Hero." Mavis’s jaw tightened but she still explained. "That’s because for us centaurs, our lower half is far more important and sensitive than our upper half."

She took a breath, her voice becoming quieter, more earnest.

"The lower body of a female centaur is considered taboo. Sacred. It would be less scandalous for someone to see me completely bare-chested than to touch my lower half without permission. That’s how significant it is to us."

She was fiddling with her fingers now, unable to meet his eyes.

"So if you’re already going to wash my lower half...I suppose I don’t mind you washing my upper half as well. It’s only fair."

Luca realized the seriousness of what she was saying.

The values. The traditions. The deep significance that centaurs placed on their equine bodies.

He clicked his tongue softly.

"Ah. I see. If I’d known how significant this was to your people, I wouldn’t have rode you earlier. I would’ve just ran along your side since I’m technically bound to you by the covenant right now."

Mavis glared at him. But he didn’t stop.

"But it’s all right." He spoke as though accepting a difficult truth. "Since I’ve already ridden both you and your sister—both times with great reluctance—I’ll just take both of you as my brides."

Mavis’s jaw dropped.

"You and your sister can take turns servicing me in bed."

"S-SHUT UP!" Mavis’s face went nuclear. "Stop saying such nonsense! Just—just clean me already, you insufferable, womanizing, utterly shameless excuse for a Hero!"

Luca laughed and stepped up directly in front of her, so close that she had to tilt her head back to meet his eyes.

"So." He said, reaching toward her. "Shall I take your clothes off...or will you do that yourself?"

Mavis’s heart hammered against her ribs. Her hands, she knew, were trembling. They had been trembling since the moment he took off his shirt.

If she tried to undress herself now, she would probably fumble with the straps for an embarrassing length of time and only make things worse.

But she wasn’t one to give in so easily, so she lifted her chin, summoning every ounce of false bravado she possessed and proclaimed,

"You should do it! You’re technically my servant right now, performing the lowly task of bathing me." She forced a haughty smile. "Just think—the mighty Hero who came to save our world, reduced to washing a simple blacksmith. What a ridiculous thought. Go on, then. Do your duty."

The words came out strong and confident. But inside, Mavis was a storm of nerves.

Luca, for his part, didn’t seem to notice her internal turmoil. Or if he did, he was kind enough not to mention it.

"Your wish is my command, my lady."

He reached up and hooked his fingers under the two thin straps that held Mavis’s dress in place on her shoulders.

The leather apron she wore over her blouse was thick and practical, designed for forge work, but it was held by the same straps.

One pull, and everything came undone.

The apron fell first, hitting the water with a soft splash. The blouse followed, sliding down her torso, over the swell of her chest—

And Mavis’s upper body was bared to the moonlight.

Luca’s hands stopped moving. His breath, which had been steady and calm, caught in his throat.

"Well." He said quietly. "I wasn’t expecting that."