Chapter 124
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 124
Chapter Title: Bath
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"...Did you wash your hair with perfume?"
"Hehehet?"
Oh my god.
I had no idea what this ditzy princess had done to herself all alone.
Figuring I should at least wash out the perfume that had blotched her white hair first, I dumped a bucket of water over her head.
And this is what happened.
"Whew... What is this, a rose bath?"
The subtle pink perfume instantly spread across the entire bath floor the moment I poured the water.
It seemed like she'd really just dumped the stuff straight in, because it took several thorough rinses before Neri's hair finally regained its original color.
The white, wave-like shade I'd always admired and loved.
"Phew~ All clean now."
"Hey, Princess. How on earth does a catastrophe like this even happen?"
Perfume is something you drip a few drops onto your hair and brush through—not dump barbarically all over your head like this.
And with the faint fragrance wafting through the air, plus that strange energy I could feel... it was definitely no ordinary stuff.
"Oh, that's how you use it? Lady Aphrodite said to just use it however I wanted."
"...I'm too worn out to even be surprised anymore."
I roughly telekinetically swept the perfumed water off the floor into the drain, then sank into the bathtub—precisely sized for two people.
"Finish washing up and come on in."
"Huh? You're not gonna wash me?"
What the hell is this kid saying?
I gleefully ruffled her sopping wet hair.
"Uwawawa!"
The basic interior work here dated back well over a century—as expected of the gods' scale, I suppose.
The marble bathtub was flawlessly smooth, like riding a waterslide, and hot water bubbled endlessly from the jar held by a nymph statue.
No matter how I looked at it, it didn't seem like one of those commonplace drains from my Insula dorm back home. Hell, we're underwater to begin with—how are we even taking a bath?
Such pointless thoughts flitted through my mind for a moment, but hey, that's just how this world is~ Once I accepted that, I didn't mind anymore.
-Splash!
"Huuuuh..."
Last night, before stuffing myself silly with excitement, I'd soaked in a stream.
But even with a body tough as iron unburnt by eleven fires, there's no denying the appeal of plunging into bone-chilling forest creek water versus this warm bath that melted away every tension in my muscles.
Better yet, right across from the tub was a massive floor-to-ceiling glass window with a crystal-clear view of the deep sea.
The sea stars twinkling through the black ocean depths, and far-off Atlantis—it was a sight unlike any other.
"Whoa... Makes me crave a drink."
"You were chugging away happily until just now, and you want more booze?"
-Plop!
Neri gave me an incredulous scolding as she slipped in beside me.
When I'd entered, it had made small waves. Her entrance sounded like a single dewdrop falling.
"Pfft!"
"...You're laughing 'cause I'm small, aren't you?"
"Well, when something's small, do you call it big instead?"
"...Hmph!"
Neri puffed out her white cheeks and turned her head away again.
Yet she slyly pressed her pale body against my side all the same—the sure sign that this tiny princess was dead set on getting it on today.
Catching my sly grin, Neri stared for a moment before smirking back and casually leaning her weight against my arm.
"Phew... Nice, yeah."
"I should've picked up on it sooner and talked first. Sorry."
"Huh? What do you have to be sorry for?"
As I meticulously washed her hair, I listened to her life story.
The prophet who visited on the day she was born, how much mental anguish that prophecy had caused her. Why she'd stayed in the form of a child all this time by my side, and so on.
The young nymph who'd ended up bearing the prelude to the world-ending event originally meant for her older sister had met me before she could even decide what to do about it.
And just like that, the two of us had stumbled into sharing a bathtub without even getting our heads straight.
Not that we'd be going all the way, though.
"Huh? Why?!"
"...Is that really something you say? More importantly, is that what a woman says to a man right now?"
To start with a premise: Neri was beautiful.
Beautiful enough that even the goddess of beauty, Aphrodite, acknowledged it—every inch of that petite body drew gasps of admiration.
But I couldn't quite put her charm and beauty into words, because her appearance was still that of a young girl.
She might be fourteen or sixteen in years, but among girls that age, Neri was on the very small side in both build and weight. Describing her allure might actually get Gong Maeng-sun chasing me down with scriptures to beat me to death.
Roughly speaking, with her bare as could be right next to me, words like "cute" and "pretty" just slipped out naturally.
She looked less like a woman and more like a small animal bobbing adorably in the steaming water—cuteness overload.
"Damn it... I tried too, you know! Who do you think I stayed like this for all this time?!
You don't even know that, and in the blink of an eye when I look away, you make another woman. And come back stinking of yet another woman!"
"Ugh, that's..."
"Fine, let's get this out now—who?! Not that redhead for sure! Who is it?!"
A white rabbit—no, a white beast—charged at me, flapping hands like autumn leaves, attacking mercilessly.
Those tiny hands pelted my body like a rain shower, and her waterlogged hair slapped my face like crashing waves.
In a word: ticklish as hell.
"Ah, wait, wait! Pfft!"
"Tell me! Who?! What woman did you bring this time?! If it was that redhead, fine! But some other woman, some stranger's scent all over you! Why! Can't it! Be me?!"
Maybe because I'd casually lifted the prophetic burden that had shackled her all this time.
The little girl Neri, who always played innocent and childlike, now revealed Nesneria's true self without holding back.
Rough and mischievous, but honest in her roughness.
Her innocent side was real too, so childlike words and actions still peeked through.
Seeing the cute little beast that had flickered beneath her bright mask now frolicking freely before me without a care, I forgot myself and burst out laughing.
"Laughing? Laughing?!"
"Ow ow! Neri, my bad! Ack, water up my nose!"
As expected of a water spirit—her power shot up in the water.
Before, her own hands would've hurt first from hitting me. Now her whipping water droplets and waves battered my whole body, and damn if it didn't sting a bit.
Like getting a pretty firm massage.
"I'll tell, I'll tell!"
At this rate, Neri would wear herself out and collapse first, so I surrendered.
Splashing wasn't cutting it anymore, and I was about to pull out some internal energy.
"Uh... well, first off, I didn't do what you're thinking."
"What I'm thinking?"
"Uh, um... y'know, sex?"
"..."
That straight fastball of an embarrassing word hit her, and in an instant, Neri switched from nereid nymph to fire nymph.
What the hell did this tiny squirt believe in to charge headfirst into the deed today?
"Uh, th-that... You said you didn't...?"
"I tussled around a bit with a certain goddess in the forest. Anything more's a secret."
"Tussled...?"
"Swore an oath on the River Styx. If the story gets out, it'd be a hassle for me—or her."
Nah, it'd just be a hassle for her. A massive one.
For me? If I died with the memory of that arrogant Artemis crumbling in my hands, it'd be a pretty damn good end by this world's standards.
Especially that mouth saying no while her body honey-trapped my hand like sticky glue—that was a priceless manly feat worth more than gold.
"...Dianes?"
"Y-Yes?!"
Her voice hit like a cold gale, cracking my own voice in shock.
"You were thinking of another woman, weren't you?"
"Uh, that... No?"
"That's not a no."
Eek...
Neri was slowly shedding her water spirit skin to become a vengeful water ghost.
In a flash, she closed in—legs wrapping my waist, short arms barely managing to clutch my neck with her hands—and fixed me with a chilling stare.
"...Sigh."
After staring me down intently, Neri soon bonked her forehead against my chest.
Then she slid right down, leaving just her eyes above the water's surface as she mumbled something.
"...'cause."
"...Huh?"
"It's fine, 'cause. Whatever."
...Fine?
Her completely unexpected words left my eyes bulging. Neri pouted her lips and swam a little away from me across the surface.
"When you left the island and said you were gonna become some hero or whatever. I was prepared for it. Turn my eyes away for a second, and you make the redhead your lover too..."
"Ah, ahahaha..."
I had nothing to say, so I just gave a wry laugh. Neri shot me a piercing glare before suddenly standing up in the bath.
"...Huh?"
"But always remember this. Your first woman is me. Never forget—I'm always number one."
"Uh, uhh... Neri?"
"...What? Why are you like that?"
I stammered, unable to form words. Neri frowned, wondering if even this wasn't good enough, and glanced back.
But the real reason I'd been shocked was something else entirely.
"Neri, you've grown..."
"What...?"
Just moments ago, she'd been about middle schooler size. Now she had quite the womanly figure.