Chapter 43

This time, there is a service scene.

It's a bath scene. A bath.

Whose?

It's Will's.

Will's shyness has calmed down.

It's because the adults realized they didn't need to explain the details.

It's the first and special night a married couple spends together, and it's still too much for Will.

Will reluctantly agreed.

He still seemed to want to ask the spirits' names.

"I'll... bear with it..."

Will's gestures, glancing at the spirits, were adorable.

The spirits also patted Will's head.

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"Okay, Master Will. Let's get you nice and clean, okay?"

"Okay."

Late at night, after dinner, Aika brought Will to the bath.

She undressed Will and let him enter the bath first.

Squeezing the end of her clothes, Aika followed.

The bath of the Turquis family was quite spacious.

There was plenty of room for several adults.

Will, as usual, was sitting on the stool in the washing area, waiting for Aika.

"Is it too hot, Master Will?"

"It's fine."

Aika carefully wet Will's body.

Then she started washing Will's body with a cloth lathered with soap.

"Hehe, ticklish♪"

"Ah, Master Will, please stay still."

Will squirmed, but Aika didn't stop.

For a while, Will's "ah, uh" sounds of endurance echoed in the bath.

After washing thoroughly, she rinsed off the bubbles with water.

"Okay, next is your head."

"Uh..."

When Aika tried to pour water on Will's head, Will curled up and tried to escape.

"Master Will...?"

"Uh..."

It seems Will is not good with having his head washed.

He always goes into a defensive position like this.

Until now, he had made the maids quite a bit of trouble when he was in a bad mood—

"Oh, how embarrassing. If you act like that, the spirits won't recognize you."

"Uu..."

"The spirits would prefer a clean Master Will, I think."

When Aika said this, Will peeked up.

"Really?"

"Of course. Aika doesn't lie."

Will pondered for a while, then resigned himself and closed his eyes.

"Ugh... kill me..."

"I won't kill you."

While saying this, Aika poured water on Will's head.

Really, where did he learn such words?

She thoroughly wet his hair and lathered it with shampoo.

"Is there any itchy spot?"

"No, there isn't."

He seemed to want it to be over quickly.

Aika washed his hair thoroughly and rinsed it.

"Okay, get in the tub."

"Okay."

Will obediently got into the tub.

"Immerse yourself up to your shoulders and count to ten."

"Ready."

"1, 2, 3..."

Aika and Will's voices echoed in the bath as they counted together.

When Will, now in his pajamas, returned to the living room, Shiro, Ren, Elise, the spirits, and Morgan were gathered around the table.

"Oh, Will. You're done with your bath?"

"Yep."

Will joined the group, responding to Shiro.

He plopped down between the spirits.

"What are you doing?"

"There's something I want you to see..."

Morgan took a book out of a bag.

It was an old book bound with parchment, but it was in good condition. Will peeked at the cover.

"......?"

There was a title on the cover, but he couldn't read it.

Will couldn't read yet, but this wasn't the kind of thing he couldn't read.

"I've never seen these characters before..."

Even Shiro, a top-notch adventurer, had never seen such characters.

Ren and Elise also didn't know.

Even the spirits tilted their heads in confusion.

Perhaps it was a script used only by a minority group?

*But...*

While flipping through the book, the earth spirit muttered.

*I can guess what's written...*

There were also illustrations in the book, and he must have deduced from them.

"Oh, it's a clayman..."

Will also understood from the illustrations.

"So, this is... a magic book?"

"Yes, it's a magic book for earth creation magic."

Morgan nodded in response to Ren's question.

Morgan had obtained this magic book by chance in a dungeon when he was a novice adventurer.

"The leader of the party I was with at the time was very generous."

The dungeon was far from the city and mostly untouched.

It was a young dungeon, and except for the inconvenience of transportation, it was just the right difficulty for beginners.

At the time, Morgan, who was working solo, trained in the shallow areas of this hidden gem of a dungeon and met a veteran party that was about to tackle it.

Morgan was favored by the party leader and was allowed to join the dungeon expedition.

The dungeon turned out to be a huge hit, and by the time they cleared it, they had made a significant profit.

"As my share, I received this magic book..."

The magic book could be sold for a considerable amount, but it was written in an unknown script and contained earth creation magic, which was not useful in dungeons.

It was one of the cheaper types of magic books.

There were other valuable items, and the party leader had even worried that Morgan was being too modest.

However, Morgan had a gut feeling that this magic book was what he needed.

"Most adventurers with only earth attributes are usually shunned by those who make a living from dungeons. I was the same."

Morgan chuckled and then remembered the spirits and panicked.

"Ah, it's not that earth attributes are bad. It's a matter of compatibility."

The earth spirit seemed to understand this and just nodded.

"So, I decided to master this magic book and focus on guard and extermination requests."

Creation magic isn't just about making claymen and golems.

With earth, you can create various things.

This would be a great help on the journey.

"But, I haven't decoded much of it yet..."

*Still, being able to use a golem at that level on your own is impressive...*

The earth spirit praised Morgan, who seemed quite pleased.

*Golems created by magic can use several special abilities...*

Naturally occurring golems are considered monsters and are targets for extermination.

They mainly live in wastelands and mines, and their strength varies depending on the soil and minerals they absorb.

On the other hand, golems created by magic have their strength determined by the magical essence in the earth and the caster's proficiency, but they cannot absorb minerals.

For example, a golem that absorbs a lot of iron becomes an iron golem, but earth magic cannot create iron.

Instead, they can use several effective abilities through manipulation of magical power.

*With that level of magical power, you should be able to use Rock Fist and Roar...*

The earth spirit pointed to the illustration.

Rock Fist is the ability to gather magical power in the golem's fist and turn it into rock.

The golem's roar can intimidate surrounding enemies and has a hate effect that draws them in.

"I knew about Rock Fist because Claymen can use it, but I didn't know about Roar. That's great; it will make monster extermination much easier."

Morgan nodded in admiration.

"Can Will use it too?"

The earth spirit smiled at the looking-up Will.

*Yes, you can. I'll teach you tomorrow...*

"Yay♪"

Will was overjoyed, and Shiro also smiled.

"Then, we need to prepare for the spirits to stay overnight."

Saying this, Elise and Ren stood up.

After seeing them off, Shiro turned to the spirits.

"Spirit, is the magical essence okay?"

With a fragment of wind present, the wind magical essence should be fine, but the same might not be true for earth magical essence.

If the magical essence is insufficient, the spirits cannot exist in that place.

However, the earth spirit shook his head.

*With this much magical essence, the attribute doesn't really... matter...*

Shiro and Morgan tilted their heads in confusion at the earth spirit's words.

It seemed like he had corrected himself.

The earth spirit's cheeks were slightly red, and his gaze was wandering.

The wind spirit, looking at his profile, had a deadpan expression.

Will, sitting between them, seemed oblivious and was happily flipping through the magic book.

Shiro and Morgan exchanged puzzled glances at the spirits' behavior.