episode_0019

Of course, I couldn’t go ahead like that forever, so I had to appease Emma.

“Ema… But won’t you please stop? Rubia also had a hard time in the city…”

“Given the owner’s personality, I think he would have already rewarded her for it?”

“…I’ll definitely give you a reward later…so let’s stop for now. No matter how roughly we know where we’re going, we should talk to each other.”

“If the owner says so much.”

Only then did Emma slow down her running speed and stop, waiting for the other centaurs and Rubia who were chasing behind her.

Luvia, who was riding on Linia’s back, was looking at us with a smile, but judging from the fact that Linia, who was riding her, was trembling, it didn’t seem like the smile had a good meaning.

He was shaking so much that I was worried that another unconscious centaur in Linia’s arms would break.

In the end, I had to clear my throat and speak up to intervene.

“Ruvia?”

“Oh, we thought you had forgotten and were leaving, but thank you for remembering. What’s going on, master?”

“…”

I usually thought that Luvia’s sly manner was obnoxious, but I was glad that she didn’t immediately get angry because of her sly attitude.

Because there was room for appeasement.

“…Would you like to come here first? Linia looks a bit difficult.”

“Uh.. I’m okay-”

Before the red centaur could finish speaking, Rubia, who turned into a half-shadow from her back, leapt up, moved her body behind my back, and wrapped her arms around my neck.

It was a bonus that when I landed, I used as much vampire power as possible and slammed my butt down on Emma’s lower back.

“Huh!”

She wasn’t particularly weak enough to suffer damage from that level of impact, but she wasn’t so weak that she couldn’t feel the pain at all, so Emma let out a short moan.

Ema turned her head and glared at Rubia with her eyes, and Rubia also looked at Ema with a sneer.

“…Have you drank too much of your master’s blood? What weight…”

“Hehe. Don’t worry, I’m still not even half your weight.”

The two exchange sharp conversations and start bickering again.

And I quickly turned the story to Linia.

“Okay… then I guess I should probably explain where we’re headed.”

“Yes? Ah… yes…”

She looked blankly at Luvia, who turned into a shadow and instantly moved away, and barely responded to my words.

“Originally, we had something to see in the islands, so we were planning to head there straight away… but now that the route is exposed, we need to take some detours.”

I said, recalling the story of the archer who ran away after fighting Emma.

It was obvious that he, probably employed by one of my half-brothers and sisters in the Catenis family, would tell his master about our encounter.

If they went straight to the system like the existing plan, things that should have been done in secret could have been exposed to dangerous people in the family.

Although she was reluctant to suddenly change her schedule with a client, it was at least better than having her secret request revealed to the world.

Moreover, the help we received from Linia was too great to just leave these two centaurs in front of us in this forest and leave on our own.

“And on the way back, there is a place that may be of help to you.

A place where you can rest your body until you can return to the plains.”

“…A place like that…is inside the empire? Where on earth are you?”

Rather than saying she didn’t trust my words, Linia asked why she didn’t know about the existence of such a refuge until now.

There was a lot contained in the voice and gaze that asked that question.

The fatigue accumulated from a long life of slavery, and at the same time the anticipation of the possibility of escaping from it all.

Seeing that, Luvia and Emma, who had been fighting over me, also stopped arguing and turned their gaze to her.

This is because they also understood how important the answer would be to Linia right now.

“Have you ever heard of a nearby city called Aquarius?”

“… I’m sure I’ve heard of it… It’s a resort for humans… Ah… I’m sorry. The benefactor.”

“No. it’s okay. I completely understand. Anyway, let me explain a little more…

That’s right. It is a resort city famous for its huge Thermae Solarinae, which is often visited by imperial nobles.”

The most famous thing in Aquaris, known as the city of water, was its huge bathhouse, thermae.

A huge luxurious bathhouse, one of the largest in the empire, with abundant water resources from the river that runs through the middle of the city and a well-maintained capital.

In fact, considering the image that usually comes to mind when hearing the word “bathhouse” from the perspective of one’s previous life, I wondered if simply calling it a “bathhouse” would be minimizing the enormous facility too much.

Aquaris’ Thermae is not only equipped with all kinds of large baths, but is also equipped with various other convenient facilities such as a theater and playground. It is hard to believe that it was built in ancient times; it was closer in scale to a modern water park. .

Rather than building Thermae in the city of Aquaris, the city prospered based on Thermae and became the current Aquarius.

In the first place, Empress Solaria, who currently rules the empire, ascended to the throne at a young age and personally ordered its construction and supervised the process, and it was a huge facility with numerous expansions since then.

Therefore, the name Thermae Solarina was taken from her, and it is called one of the Empress’ achievements by the subjects of the empire.

Of course, as it was an order given when she ascended to the throne as a scarecrow at a young age, it is difficult to say that the construction of Thermae was solely her intention at the time, but even after she became an adult, the Empress still paid a lot of attention to the facility.

To maintain the clean water quality of the enormous amount of water used there, purification magic is continuously applied, and even the personnel of servants working in the facility are separately supervised.

Naturally, the quality of the services and facilities had to be high, so even the high-ranking nobles of the empire often visited Aquaris and took a dip in the Thermai baths.

Therefore, at first glance, it may seem like the worst place for Linnia, who is an adventurer belonging to the Empire and who is fleeing from the Empire.

But sometimes it’s dark under the lamp.

“There is someone right there who can help us right now.”

——

It was a story that was not easy to believe, but she had already believed the incredible story once, and seeing with her own eyes that it was true, she followed my words once again.

Having decided on our destination, we turned straight towards Aquarius and started running for several hours.

Although Linia sometimes found it difficult to keep up with Emma’s speed and had to rest often.

“…Are you okay?”

“..Yes..Yes… You are amazing as expected.”

Linia answered Emma’s worried question while gasping for breath.

Linia prided herself on being quick on her feet within her tribe, but it didn’t seem easy to catch up with Emma.

“…There’s not much left until Aquarius, so cheer up just a little longer.

And the owner? Right now, it seems like there’s no one around, but soon there will be a lot of other humans walking around, so I think it would be a good idea to change my appearance again soon.”

“I understand. I’m ready.”

As soon as I finished speaking, Emma immediately changed her lower body back into human form, minus the tail.

Rubia and I, who were riding on her back, jumped down beforehand, landed on the ground, and lightly warmed up.

“Still, it’s Thermae. It’s been a while since I took a good bath.”

“Okay. Well, that’s a good thing. I hope that the Empress, the builder of Thermae, will also see its merits.”

Rubia seemed to find some enjoyment in the change in our travel itinerary.

For me, I couldn’t help but worry that my promise to my high-ranking client had gone wrong.

“I told you before, but are you worried too much, master? He says he cares for his master very much.

If you’re late for a few days due to losing track of someone, they won’t even reprimand you. Moreover, the person we’re meeting right now is – well, he’s not exactly a person.”

“Of course, I am always grateful that the Empress favors me. Still, I think we need to be careful because there have been so many requests getting messed up these days.”

Luvia was looking at me, who still had a worried expression, with a somewhat dissatisfied expression.

Then she quietly approached me and placed her soft hands on my face.

“…So…are you saying you won’t go into the bathhouse with us?”

“…Huh?”

When I was momentarily taken aback, Rubia seemed satisfied and put her hand away and playfully walked away from me.

As if he was satisfied with making me think of the girls in the bathhouse.

At least for now.

However, her red eyes seemed to expect more than that.

And for some reason, I felt confident that Emma’s eyes would be similar as she glanced this way.

I sighed, but at the same time, I felt sad that I was looking forward to it.