Chapter 95: Bath Time and Beastman Muscles

In all forty years of his previous life, he had never gone two whole months without taking a bath. He could barely contain his excitement as steam rose from the hot water.

By now, Qiu Nuoya had mastered cleansing magic and could keep himself clean every day.

Even so, he had always felt that something was missing.

Baths really were important!

Qiu Nuoya could not contain his excitement and began stripping off his clothes one after another.

"Uh, wait... Nuoya!?" Warren hurriedly called out.

"What?"

"You’re taking off all your clothes...?"

"Of course. I’m going into the bath, isn’t I? Mochi, do you want to take a bath too?"

Mochi had popped out of the pocket of Qiu Nuoya’s robe and asked.

[ What’s a bath? ]

"Hmm... I guess you could say it’s a warm puddle of water."

[ I wanna go in! ]

Mochi gave him an energetic reply. Mochi really was adorable no matter what he did. Just looking at him was soothing.

Qiu Nuoya continued undressing until he was about to remove his underwear when Viktor suddenly shouted, "Wait!"

It was the first time Qiu Nuoya had heard Viktor raise his voice like that since the slime barrier incident, so he looked up in surprise.

Viktor immediately wrapped Qiu Nuoya’s body in his own robe. "I knew you had no sense of danger, but this is beyond anything I imagined! What are you thinking, getting into a bath completely naked!? Do you have no sense of modesty!? And walking around dressed like that is practically asking someone to attack you!"

"Huh? Wait..."

"You really are clueless about the ways of the world, Nuoya. At home, perhaps, but in a public bath, you’re normally expected to wear a swimsuit."

Even Igor looked at Qiu Nuoya with an exasperated expression, while Warren’s face turned bright red and he looked away.

"What... Nobody told me that."

Oh!

So that was why the large public baths were mixed bathing!

A sudden culture shock hit Qiu Nuoya.

Come to think of it, he had heard that when foreigners first visited public hot spring baths, some of them felt uncomfortable with the idea of bathing completely naked.

"Then you should have told me that beforehand!!!"

Qiu Nuoya’s face turned bright red as he hurriedly pulled his underwear back up. Since people in this world could use magic to clean their bodies, bathing culture was obviously different from what he was used to.

Of course people would be shocked if someone suddenly started stripping in front of them when they had grown up with such a different culture!

Sorry!

"Your swimsuits are over there, so please put one on. Even though this is a group bath, I will not allow you to bathe completely naked."

Following Viktor’s prompting, Qiu Nuoya changed into a swimsuit.

But a swimsuit...

A swimsuit, huh...

[ Nuoya, are you sad? What’s wrong?]

Mochi asked him worriedly.

"How should I put this? I came here thinking I was going to take a hot spring bath, but it feels like I accidentally came to a swimming pool instead. It’s just... not quite the same."

Even before getting into the bath, Qiu Nuoya’s excitement had already plummeted. It was only the difference between wearing a swimsuit and not wearing one, but the sense of freedom was completely different.

"Nuoya, do you really want to bathe naked that badly? I don’t mind being naked myself. Want me to take mine off?"

"Igor! Absolutely not!"

Igor started to lower his swimsuit, and Viktor hurriedly stopped him. Igor burst into laughter at Viktor’s frantic reaction, but Qiu Nuoya suddenly noticed something on Igor’s backside that made his eyes widen.

"Igor, your tail!"

"Huh? What’s wrong with my tail?"

Igor normally kept it hidden beneath his clothes, so Qiu Nuoya had never really thought about it. But Igor actually had a tail!

Considering that he had bear ears, there was no reason for a tail to be surprising, yet Qiu Nuoya was still startled.

Qiu Nuoya had thought he understood that Igor was a beastman, but seeing him like this made it sink in all over again that Igor really did have beastkin blood.

Igor’s slightly hairy arms and legs were covered in thick fur, giving him the unmistakable appearance of a wild fully grown man.

I’m jealous.

"What’s with the staring? You’re making me embarrassed."

"Oh, sorry. I just got a little fascinated. I hope I can grow into a build like yours someday, Igor."

Qiu Nuoya looked down at his own thin arms and legs, which were still very much in the middle of growing.

Even in his previous world, he had never had a particularly muscular build. He had been an average, ordinary middle aged man with a fairly normal physique, so he admired Igor’s body.

He had barely done any strength training back then, so he had little muscle to speak of.

If he started working out seriously now, perhaps he could develop a stronger physique by the time he reached adulthood.

"You don’t have to become like me. You’re a mage, after all."

"Whether I’m a mage or not, isn’t a healthy body better than an unhealthy one? Maybe I should start working out a little harder."

Qiu Nuoya flexed his slender arm, but his biceps barely showed any definition.

Magic could handle most heavy lifting, but he still thought having a reasonable amount of physical strength was important.

As he raised his head, he noticed Warren standing behind Igor, hesitantly peeking toward them.

"! Warren, you’ve actually got some pretty good muscles too!"

At Qiu Nuoya’s words, Warren’s entire body stiffened.

What? Did Qiu Nuoya say something that surprising?

"I’m... I’m still nowhere near as good as them."

As he said that, Warren hurried toward the bath as though trying to escape.

Qiu Nuoya had become completely fascinated by Igor’s muscles, but Warren’s body was also well toned, as one would expect from a swordsman.

He still had the slender build characteristic of a boy his age, but he had muscle exactly where it belonged and very little unnecessary fat.