Chapter 255: Eric's Trauma
「Ohー! So this is the bath in Eric's house, huh!」
「It has a different shape from ours, isn’t it」
As soon as we entered the bathroom in Eric’s place, Sylvio-niisan and I exclaim in admiration.
And after that, our voices echoed inside the bathroom.
On the left side of Eric’s mansion bathroom is the washing place and on the right is a big half-moon-shaped bathtub, it’s a simple bathroom.
「The place where we wash our bodies feels a bit small, but the bathtub is wide enough, eh」
「The people in our family often went to the sea and so they got exposed to the sea breeze, or sweated a lot due to our practice after all. So only the bathroom is impressive」
Certainly. If you live near the sea, are exposed to the sea breeze, and also have training to boot, you will probably use the bathroom frequently. If so, you will naturally want to make the bathroom better.
So Eric's family's decision is not wrong. Thanks to that, we are now able to take a nice bath.
Of course, it’s small when you compare it with Kagura’s high-class ryokan, but comparing them is thoughtless.
「Okay then, let’s wash our bodies first」
「Right」
「Aah, wash your body properly before entering the bathtub」
Right now, I want to wash away this sticky feeling on my skin as soon as possible. Maybe it’s because we’ve been waiting for the female group to finish taking their bath that the discomfort of our body is at the max.
We have some exchange between us, then we immediately sat on the lined-up bath chairs on the left side.
「Come to think of it, it’s been a while since I take a bath with Al, isn’t it」
As soon as Sylvio-niisan sit on my left, he said that to me.
If this were an older brother with an ordinary face, then that will be a line that will give me the most unpleasant feeling, but it doesn’t give any unpleasant feeling with an ikemen like Sylvio-niisan saying it.
「That’s right. Indeed, I was able to take a bath alone starting this year」
「But, Al said that you wanted to take a bath alone when you were around three years old, didn’t you」
「I can spend my time peacefully when I took a bath alone after all」
The bathroom in our mansion is not small. If anything, it’s wider than here so everyone in the family can get inside together.
But if it’s us men who enter together like Sylvio-niisan and Nord-tousan then it’s still fine. However, there was a time when I enter the bath with Eleonora-neesan and Elna-kaasan when I was a little.
It’s not like I feel desire toward those two family members, but when you combine my mental age with my current age, I’m around 34 years old ossan you know. It’s hard to say that I can relax around them, right?
So that’s why, when I was around three years old and my body had started to become strong enough, I told them that I want to take a bath alone.
「But, Sylvio-niisan had always accompanied me for the first three months, didn’t you? Why did you stay and keep watch to that extent? 」
「That was because Nord-tousan and Elna-kaasan thought that Al will drown if you were to be left alone to take a bath」
Just when I told him my doubt to him, Sylvio-niisan reveal that fact to me while smiling wryly.
「What the heck is that!?」
I’m not so stupid that I’m going to drown in a bathtub and die, you know?
「No, I mean, Al is kind of spacing out a lot after all」
「That’s true. If you have that kind of dead fish-like eyes like the one you had back at the beach, then it’s probably natural for both of your parents to be worried about you」
Eric - who sits to my left - nodded as if agreeing to Sylvio-niisan’s explanation.
Did they think like that if I were to make a strange request to take a bath alone?
How rude. I’ve been a very good kid ever since I was a kid, and I should have been strong enough.
Oh well, whatever. Rather than thinking about that, I’ll just wash my body with hot water now.
I place the bucket under the faucet installed on the wall. Every time I look at the bucket, I got this habit of searching for the character of Kerorin (ケロリン) from my previous life. 1
And when I touch the magic tools installed on the wall and touch it, they absorb my magic power and in exchange, it spewed out warm water.
After enough water is gathered in the bucket, I raise it and pour the water into my body in one go.
The warm water immediately washes away the sweat and sticky feeling on my skin due to the seawater.
I got a refreshing feeling after pouring warm water on my body, but there is a faint, stinging pain running on the area around my neck and arms.
「Ah, it kinda stings」
「Me too」
Sylvio-niisan is surprised, it seems that he also felt the same as he poured himself with water just like me.
「Hahaha, both of you are nicely tanned. Your skin is red y’know」
「Ah, it’s true. Our skin may be a little red if you look closely」
When I try to look at my skin as Eric said, my arms had turned slightly red, I guess this is because of the sun while we were at the sea. It looks like I got sunburned.
「Ahー, I have got quite the sunburn. It’s going to hurt a bit if I pour hot water on them」
I wonder if it’s due to his skin being white from the start? Sylvio-niisan’s arms and other parts of his body look pretty red.
If I had to say, then Sylvio-niisan is fair-skinned and rather weak to sunlight. So when he pours hot water on his body like this, it’ll cause stinging pain across his skin.
「If you’re scared I can pour the hot water for you」
「O, ow! Wait Al, stop it! I’ll do it myself!」
When I pour the hot water from the bucket onto his body, Sylvio-niisan twisted his body as he make a scream-like sound.
I wonder why. Sylvio-niisan’s reaction has strangely stimulated my sadistic desire. I know he doesn’t like it, but it makes me want to do it more.
「Kuh, Al should also get sunburn just like me! Eii!」
When I was splashing hot water on him, Sylvio-niisan also splash hot water on me as revenge, I guess he also won’t go down without a fight.
However, I don’t feel pain since I don’t get sunburned that much. I only feel a little tingling on my skin.
As I ignored the hot water that splashed on my body, I return to splash the hot water back to Sylvio-niisan
「Uaaa? Why!?」
「Fufufu, Sylvio-niisan. That’s because my skin is strong, so I won’t give up with just this slight kind of pain」
「Tha, that’s unfair」
It’s my innate skin’s resilience. There’s nothing I can do about this condition.
Right, and it’s also inevitable that Sylvio-niisan was born with such an ikemen……let’s stop this. It’s becoming pointless as I was thinking to myself like that.
While I was feeling slightly depressed like that, cold water suddenly flew toward us from my right side.
「「Coldd!?」」
The sudden cold water that was flying toward us completely covered our bodies, and Syvio-niisan and I unconsciously straighten our backs as we yell due to the extremely cold water.
Since it’s not Sylvio-niisan who threw that water to us, then the culprit is only one guy.
When Sylvio-niisan and I unintentionally glared at him, the culprit - Eric - was laughing happily.
「Hahahaa, what an interesting reaction」
「Yoーsh, Eric. If you want to play like that then I’ve got an idea here」
I’ve fought a lot against Irvine and Mort in Kagura. I’m confident that I won’t lose with anyone using my technique of throwing water into a human’s body.
As I carelessly swung my arms like those kung-fu movements, preparing for our battle, Eric talk to us in a calm tone.
「Wait wait. I didn’t throw water on you guys with mean intentions 」
「Then, what was that for?」
Though I answer him with my mouth, I don’t relax my battle stance. Since even back in Kagura, there is a cowardly adventurer who made a surprise attack while asking for time out after all.
「The both of you have probably gotten a sunburn. And so, you should pour a bit of cold water on your bodies. It will ease the pain of sunburn if you do that」
「Really?」
「Yeah, should be. Just try it」
Eric nodded when Sylvio-niisan asks him.
That reminds me, I think I’ve heard about that before. If I remember correctly, sunburn is a similar condition to getting a light burn.
When you cool it and get rid of the burning sensation, it should be able to suppress the progress of inflammation.
I remembered it after hearing Eric’s words, and so I immediately cooled my arm with the magic tool that produces water.
「Ahー, it feels great now that the heat is taken away」
「Rightー」
Sylvio-niisan and I cooled our arms using the water produces by the water magic tool for a while.
However, we need to continue pouring our magic power with one hand to let the water continue to flow, so it’s inconvenient for us who want to cool both of our arms. And I need to bend down which makes my lower back hurt.
「Ahー, this is so troublesome I’ll just use magic」
And when I cast Water magic, I can make the water stick to only my sunburned arms and neck just like when the water ball cladded my body back in Koryatt village.
Ahー, the water that surrounds the sunburned parts of my body fits perfectly it’s pleasant. Now I can cool off the sunburned parts without being inconvenienced.
「……you using strange magic again」
「Ahaha, it’s strange but that looks convenient. Can I also have some?」
「Sureー」
I also cast another Water magic on the honest Sylvio-niisan'sto do the same to him.
「Waa, it’s cold! But, it feels nice」
「Right?」
Sylvio-niisan and I close our eyes, feeling intoxicated by the pleasant sensation from the water for a short while.
「……while we’re at it, let's also wash our hair」
Having decided that, I cast the Water magic that I developed for washing hair back when we were in the middle of our journey.
Imagine a human’s arm, then make the water magic take that shape.
「Naa! What is it this time!? Arms made of water appeared! Is that the same as Desert Hands!? 」
Perhaps he was surprised that arms made of water suddenly appeared in front of him, Eric draw back from it.
「It’s just Water magic modeled after human’s arms, you’re exaggerating」
「No, people would be surprised if there are these sorts of arms of water that appeared so suddenly. Besides, these arms look similar to the monsters that live in the desert, Desert Hands. They are sand monsters that drag people’s legs into the sand」
I was fed up with Eric’s reaction, but it looks like there is a reason for him to be surprised.
Since Eric’s mother - Natasha-san - is a Lazur, there might be a time when he visited the desert of Lazur Kingdom in the past.
「Su, such monsters exist?」
「Yeah, I’ve been grabbed by them once…… I thought I was going to day y’know」
Eric talks about his past with a dark look on his face.
Apparently, his trauma was stimulated by it. Well, it's not surprising for him to be like that.
「Being dragged into the sand by a monster, that’s scary」
「Tousan said that there are a lot of peculiar monsters in the desert」
Sylvio-niisan calmly says when I quietly muttered so.
Since Nord-tousan said that there were a lot of peculiar monsters in the desert, so the desert probably has a considerable level of monsters, right?
As expected from such a harsh environment, the monsters that live there may also grow to become stronger, huh.
「By the way, what are those arms used for?」
「It’s obvious, isn’t it? I’m going to use them to wash my hair, just like this」
What are you saying now, with such a simple thing in front of you? Isn’t it obvious that I will use it to wash my hair with this? To make the stupid Eric understand it in an easy-to-understand manner, I manipulate the water arms and make it to massage my scalp, and continue to wash my hair.
「I’ll still be stumped even if you told me like it’s the natural thing to do. To begin with, I’ve never heard of people washing their hair like that」
「No other choice then. I will teach this ignorant Eric the greatness of this technique」
It will be faster to experience it first-hand rather than explain it through words.
I make new arms of water and move them toward Eric’s direction.
「No, wait. Don’t bring those closer!」
Immediately after that, Eric stood up and try to run away for some reason, so I manipulate the water arms to grab at Eric’s ankle.
「Hiiiiiiiiiii!? Stooooooppppp! No way, I’m going to get dragged into the sand!」
Then, Eric struggles with his whole body as he screamed.
Wa, what the heck with this guy? What happened to him so suddenly?
「Ah, Al. Eric-kun is trauma-tized by being grabbed by Desert Hands before」
Just when I was having such doubt, Sylvio-niisan makes that kind of a guess.
I see. I guess he remembered the trauma when he was caught by the water arms since they look similar to Desert Hands.
Though it has a different feeling from sand, and this place is not a desert.
Good grief, what a guy with a rich imagination. Don’t you think that you are probably more suited to being a magician rather than a swordsman?
While I was thinking about such things thoughtlessly, Sylvio-niisan nervously say to me,
「For now, why don’t you let the water arms off of him?」
「You’re right」
And when I canceled the water arms, the struggling Eric immediately collapsed.
here
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