Chapter 17: A Warm Place to Sleep

The strength of the drunk women was completely uncontrolled.

For a moment, Qiu Nuoya seriously thought he was going to suffocate.

"Everyone here is a good person, aren’t they?"

"Yes. They have all been very kind to me."

Qiu Nuoya did have one thing he wanted to complain about, though.

Their way of drinking alcohol was a little too extreme.

Igor had been smiling the entire time.

He probably really liked these people.

"Still, Viktor never came back in the end. He said he had something to investigate, but I wonder where he is and what he is doing."

Now that Igor mentioned it, Qiu Nuoya realized it was strange.

If Viktor also lived here, then considering how late it had become, it would not have been unusual for him to have already returned. Yet Viktor was nowhere to be seen.

"No, he really hasn’t come back."

Igor peeked inside the room they had been led to and tilted his head again.

"Do the two of you live in the same room?"

"Yeah, it’s cheaper that way. This place has rooms that can fit up to six people. Though I wouldn’t recommend a six person room since you’d have absolutely no privacy."

Qiu Nuoya wondered which room price Aria and the others had been talking about earlier.

If the cheapest option was the six person room, then having no privacy was probably the trade off.

Still, being able to sleep in a proper bed under a roof was likely considered much better than sleeping outside.

The room Igor brought him to was a two person room.

Naturally, the other bed belonged to Viktor.

The room itself was simple.

If he had to compare it to something from his old world, it was like a basic business hotel room.

The bathroom facilities were shared and the room was basically only meant for sleeping.

There was a small closet, but aside from that, the facilities were extremely minimal.

"Um, does this place have a bath or anything?"

While walking through the hallway, Igor had shown him where the toilets, sinks, and laundry area were.

However, Qiu Nuoya realized he had not heard anything about a bathing area.

As someone who was used to cleanliness, he hoped there was at least a shower room if a bath was unavailable.

The women earlier had smelled really nice, so he had believed there must be some kind of bathing facility.

However, when he asked Igor, the answer was no.

"Some large inns have baths, but this place doesn’t. Adventurers usually just use something called [Clean] to take care of that."

"Clean...?"

"This is also a type of everyday magic. It removes dirt from clothes and the body. Those who cannot use it have to wash themselves in the laundry area."

Seriously?!

Even something like this depended on magic?!

Sure, magic could remove dirt, but it probably could not restore stamina.

Soaking a tired body in warm water and relaxing was the whole point of a bath!

Baths were extremely important!

Apparently, his disappointment was written all over his face because Igor gave a wry smile.

"Nuoya, you really must have come from a very good household."

"Normally, ordinary commoner families don’t have baths. The fact that you assumed something like that was normal shows that your original standard of living was quite high. Are you really unable to remember anything?"

Qiu Nuoya quickly nodded.

He never expected that simply wanting a bath would make people think he was from a wealthy family.

"There are public bathhouses in the city. If you really want to use one, you can go there."

While saying that, Igor used the cleansing magic on Qiu Nuoya.

It was true that the smell had noticeably disappeared, and he felt refreshed.

However, it still felt slightly incomplete.

Igor then said, "Come on, it’s time for children to sleep."

He guided Qiu Nuoya toward the bed.

But wait.. was this going to end with him sleeping in the same bed as Igor?

Sure, there was no other place for him to sleep.

But still!

Viktor’s bed was currently empty, but Qiu Nuoya could not simply take over someone’s bed while the owner was absent.

The bed was large enough that Igor and Qiu Nuoya who was currently in a child’s body could sleep comfortably together.

Perhaps this was the natural outcome of the situation.

Even so, Qiu Nuoya could not help feeling awkward.

After all, although he looked like a child on the outside, his mind still belonged to a forty year old man.

If the person beside him had been Aria or the other women, he would have happily accepted it.

However, this was Igor.

If Igor ever learned the truth about Qiu Nuoya, he would probably look at him with disgust.

"What is it? Are you hesitating? Children shouldn’t worry about things like that."

Igor gently pulled Qiu Nuoya’s arm.

Qiu Nuoya understood.

This was kindness.

He could not reject it.

So, he quietly settled down beside Igor and pulled the thin blanket over himself.

Igor lay on his side next to him, smiling for some reason.

Then he placed his hand lightly on Qiu Nuoya’s stomach and began patting him as if trying to help him fall asleep.

What kind of situation was this?!

"This feels nostalgic."

Nostalgic?

What did that mean?

Was Igor actually used to putting children to sleep?

Did he perhaps have many younger siblings?

The room lights were turned off.

Igor’s gentle hand continued moving in a steady rhythm, softly patting Qiu Nuoya’s stomach.

Emotionally, the situation felt a little embarrassing, but that constant rhythm somehow made him feel sleepy.

Today had been such a strange day.

Come to think of it, today was his birthday.

The first day of his life in another world.

The first day of his new life.

At first, he had no idea what would happen to him.

But perhaps life could turn out in unexpected ways.

With those thoughts slowly drifting through his mind, Qiu Nuoya’s eyelids gradually became heavier.

Before long, he sank into a deep sleep.