Tick, tock.

Huh... What's that... the sound of water?

Aya, who was slightly awakening from the chaos, regained a bit of consciousness in her mind.

She groggily opened her eyes just a slit, and what appeared before her was a rather unfamiliar ceiling... No, wait, this distance, this gravity... it's the floor!

As her recovering nerves began to feel her face, it felt cold and slippery, with a thick mist of moisture in the air... Where is this place?

No... that's not the important question for now. The current situation is...

Who the hell is dragging me forward like this!

Finally, Aya's revived consciousness allowed her to realize the situation. Her body's center of gravity was above the ground, meaning she wasn't lying down steadily, but instead, someone was dragging her by her legs, with her face grazing the ground.

If it were a rougher ground, my face would be all scraped up!

Realizing this, Aya struggled fiercely, and the person dragging her legs seemed taken aback for a moment. They fell flat on the ground, astonished, while looking at Aya.

"Bro! Miss Aya woke up!"

Who is this? A human? Can't be older than sixteen, right?

And who is she calling "bro"? No, no, no, the main question is, what's the situation right now.

At this moment, Aya's mind was filled with three philosophical questions: Who am I? Where am I? What am I supposed to do?

"Awake already? That was fast. But Dragon's body seems more resilient than expected... Hey, didn't I say we should carry her properly?!"

It seems like I heard the sound of a door opening, followed by a gentle, somewhat speechless male voice.

Although it didn't come to mind immediately, there was a feeling of annoyance towards this person...

"But there is no other way, bro. How else can a delicate girl like Miss Aya be carried? Dragging her with her face against the ground is overly harsh!"

"But dragging a girl by her face on the ground is going too far!"

Hearing these words, Aya suddenly snapped back to her senses, and realized what she should do.

"What the hell! I'm a guy, you know!"

The white-haired red-eyed girl(?) suddenly sprang from the ground, loudly protesting, and then, under the amazed gazes of the two beside her—

Her feet slipped out from under her, and she once again fell onto the slippery ground, landing in a standard face-first position. Her vision went black, and she lost consciousness.

...

Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh...

It didn't seem like much time had passed before Aya's consciousness regained once again.

But this time, the sound seemed different?

Aya groggily thought this, and raised her head to look above her.

Amidst the swirling steam was an unfamiliar ceiling.

Well... it feels pretty good though, warm and cozy. The heat seeped into her muscles and bones, fully relieving the tearing pain, like soaking in a hot spring...

Wait, hold on a second.

Aya stiffened her neck and gradually lowered her head, widening her eyes to confirm her current situation.

Take back what I said earlier, it's not like I'm soaking in a hot spring, I really am!

Rather than calling it a hot spring, it's more like a giant bathtub. On the wall about five to six meters ahead, a lion-shaped spout continuously gushed out hot water, filling up a pool that's about one-fourth the size of Gilliast's bath.

And she was currently immersed in the hot water in an extremely relaxed posture.

Well, except for her head, which was completely submerged in the water.

The most crucial thing is -

"Where are my clothes?!"

Both visually and by touch, Aya can confirm one thing: she doesn't have a single piece of fabric on her body.

"Since this is a bath, there's no way I could still be wearing clothes."

In the hazy white mist ahead, the voice of a man can be heard. When Aya wakes up for the second time, her head is mostly clear, and she quickly recalls the owner of this voice from her memories.

Right, she should have been taken away after being possessed by the soul of a demon seed sealed in a lantern during Milt's battle. After that... judging from the current situation, was she captured?

Her head still aches slightly, probably from the impact earlier and the aftermath of the soul's onslaught.

But compared to that, Aya is more concerned about the current situation in front of her.

She and that guy on the other side, two men soaking in the same bath, honestly discussing things - this kind of situation is not good at all, no matter how you look at it!

"Oh, it seems like we haven't introduced ourselves yet. My name is Yuan, a traveler who loves to travel around."

The man - or rather, the youthful-looking Yuan scratches his face and says somewhat embarrassedly, "But I really didn't expect it, Miss Aya, that you're actually a boy."

"Since you already know I'm a boy, is it that difficult to change the way you address me?!"

Even though Aya is already accustomed to troublemakers like Tiran intentionally ignoring what they know, she can't help but prioritize complaining about other things when she realizes that even strangers have started calling her that.

"Also, explain why we're bathing together."

Aya shrinks back into the water a bit and asks while blowing bubbles.

"Well, the invasion of the demon seed's soul previously caused some damage to Miss Aya's body. Her clothes were all stained with a mixture of blood scabs and dust, so I thought it would be better to just wash them. I didn't expect Miss Aya to wake up so soon."

Yuan recalls Aya's appearance earlier, wearing a heavily damaged maid outfit covered in bloodstains, and says with a pained expression.

"And why are you here?" Aya's expression remains unfriendly.

"Because I wanted to see for myself whether Miss Aya is really a boy or not. After all, it's really hard to believe just based on appearance. At first, I thought it was just delayed breast development... but after seeing it, I realized Miss Aya is indeed a real man-"

Yuan smiles and extends a finger.

Just then, a strong wind blows, dispersing the swirling mist in an instant. A figure breaks through the water's surface and rushes in front of the young Yuan at an astonishing speed, blushing, and kicks up into the air -

"Shut the hell up!"

Driven by the side kick from the Golden Dragon, the face visibly distorts and contorts, blood sprays from the nostrils, eyes, and ears, and the immense force even sends the boy's body flying through the bathroom curtain, spinning several hundred and sixty degrees in mid-air until it accurately crashes outside with a dull bang.

Then, a girl's exclamation is heard from outside.

"Yuan, Yuan, are you okay? You're bleeding so much!"

"Don't worry, Xiao Weila... your big brother is used to taking hits... and... cough... it's a win to be kicked by a beautiful girl's bare foot... I'm bleeding..."

"Wait a minute! Brother, you're delirious!"

Then there is a commotion of hurried and chaotic noise, finally returning to silence.

"Phew... hoo, who the heck was that inexplicable person?!"

The water surface gradually became calm, and the white mist blown away by the wind rose again, obscuring Aya's body standing in the water. Her bare upper body was heaving forcefully, and her chest and lower waist became somewhat indistinct.

As for why the mysterious mist elf would include Aya in its protection range... only the divine spirits in charge of the mist would probably know if it exists or not.

"By the way, what is going on here..."

Aya suddenly deflated, plopping back into the water and blowing bubbles.

It seemed that the guy didn't have any immediate plans to come in, but Aya's current appearance was not very convenient for movement. Most importantly, her mind was in complete chaos and she couldn't figure out the situation. At times like this...

Aya touched herself, even though she had been soaking in hot water for a while, there seemed to be some residue of dirt...

I guess I should take a good bath first!