Skinship

It looked like the prince and his companions decided to take a day off to rest after obtaining the magic swords.

The three practically sparkling handsome dudes were relaxing in the inn and soaking in the bath. The [Shadow] adventurer wasn't there, instead having gone to the Adventurer's Guild to deliver the Iron Golem corpses.

Well, today was the day to gather information about the troublemakers! I decided to listen to the conversation between the prince and his companions by opening a monitor in my private room. Peeping at the bath? Unfortunately, there's not enough evidence for an indictment due to the dungeon's circumstances.

… The three handsome men seemed to be used to the bath. They were only wearing towels around their waists without wearing any bathing clothes. But still, they looked unnecessarily attractive, probably because of their good-looking faces.

[Phew, that was an easy dungeon for us.]

The prince spoke, soaking up to his shoulders in the bath and chuckling. His confidence from yesterday's adventure was apparent.

[But Prince, Kenho almost died four times.]

[Really? Well, Kenho was taking the lead so he was facing more danger.]

[That's right, Krush, Harks. But that's what hired adventurers are for, right? Thanks to them, I'm alive and well, just like this. So everything's fine!]

[You're quite casual about it. I suppose that's one of your good points, but still…]

[But that adventurer, what was his name, Jangalia? I wonder if he's just an ordinary adventurer or particularly skilled… If it's the latter, I should scout him to join my ranks.]

And so the prince and his companions continued their rather trivial conversation. It would be nice if they talked about their purpose and whether they planned to leave soon, but they didn't seem to let that slip.

"Ara, Kehma, eavesdropping again?"

"You make it sound so bad. But yeah, hit the nail on the head."

Holding a manga in her hand, Rokuko came into my room as if she had every right to be there.

"Oh, don't look, Rokuko. This is footage of the men's bath."

"So what? It's still my dungeon, isn't it?"

"Well yeah, but…"

"I also want to help, Kehma."

"… I'll rely on you when it's the women's bath."

This time it didn't matter since it was an all-male party.

"So why are you going with such a roundabout method when you could just go to the bath and talk to them directly, Kehma? You could just be like [So you're still here?]."

"Hmm, would that be quicker…?"

"Yes. Off you go. I'm going to stay here and read some manga."

… Rokuko seemed eager to read manga in my room while I was gone. Read it in your own room. It's not like I had any adult magazines hidden though, so I didn't exactly care.

Hmm. The prince and his companions seemed to be enjoying the long bath. It might be a good idea to take Rokuko's advice and sneak in to listen to their conversation.

I'll use [Super Transformation] to disguise myself as a commoner to hide my identity as the village chief. With this, I should be able to escape even if I'm suspected.

"… Eh? You're going to go in disguised Kehma?"

"Of course. And if I use [Super Transformation], I can be safe in case anything happens."

"Ah… well, then, go ahead. I'll be here reading manga."

"? Yeah, I heard you earlier. I'll be going then."

So, leaving Rokuko who'd seemed to have lost her motivation and was just lazing around in the room, I changed into a bathrobe after disguising myself with [Super Transformation]. The prince and his companions were still chattering about trivial things while soaking in the bathtub.

"See, Harks, swordsmanship is about strength."

"No, no, it's about technique, right? Krush, you think so too, don't you?"

"Isn't intelligence, considering the uses of it, more important? Kenho should think more about it."

What on earth were they talking about? I'm not interested at all.

Anyway, let's use [Purify] and get into the bathtub…

"Hey! You there! Don't get into the bathtub with your clothes on!"

… The prince pointed at me and gave me a reprimandation.

"Huh? What's with the sudden outburst?"

"Who the hell are you? Is this your first time in a bath? Normally, you get in naked. Take off your clothes."

As I calmly replied in a [what are you talking about?] attitude while keeping my disguise as an ordinary person, the prince snorted and frowned, looking down on me.

"… Could I keep a towel around my waist?"

"Towels can be a point of debate, but without them, our private parts would be exposed, so it can't be helped. However, this towel has had [Purify] used on it, so it won't dirty the water."

Now, where should I start with my retort?

First of all, these princes seem to know the rules of a Japanese-style bath. Towels themselves are common daily items in the imperial capital (there seems to be a magic tool that weaves towels), so it's not strange for them to know about them.

However, the part about towels being a point of debate in the bathtub… There's a possibility that such a culture has taken root in the Daido, but… I can see someone's influence. Yeah. If that's the case, even the royal family is under the influence. The Chaos God is scary, isn't she?

Next up is that they don't seem to know about bathrobes. But telling me to take it off so suddenly… what a narrow-minded prince. Is that really okay? He's going to be involved in diplomacy in the future, right?

"Do you understand now? Hurry up and undress. It's common sense to enter the bath naked, right?"

"No, this is called a bathrobe, and it's similar to the cloth wrapped around your waist."

"Huh? Do you wash your body with that?"

"No, it's for covering the body, you know?"

"Baths are supposed to be entered naked. You don't even know that… towels are used in the bath, so it's safe to use them. Really. Understand now?"

The prince sighed, annoyed. Annoying brat.

That may be the case in Daido, but not here. In this country, we generally just clean our bodies with [Purify], so towels are only used for drying.

"Hey, you. Believe it or not, this guy's a prince of Daido. It'd be better for you to behave yourself, got it?"

"Yes. Just do as the prince said, hurry up and undress."

Oi, carry-ons. Don't use your authority to force me to undress. Do you all want to see me (a man disguised with [Super Transformation]) naked that badly?

"No, no, what's with that? Don't bring Daido's customs here, this is the empire, okay? The empire has its own customs, of course. Exposing oneself in a public place is different from a bath in a private room. It'd be embarrassing to just expose your skin all of a sudden."

"Mmm, that's a fair point."

"… I see, we hadn't considered that."

"So there are such perspectives too. Huh."

… Huh?

When I firmly rebutted their arguments, the prince and his companions backed off more easily than I'd expected.

"… So does that mean we the ones violating manners instead? What do you think?"

Now they were asking me if their state of only having towels wrapped around their waists might be causing trouble.

What's with this guy, is he really that honest? What's going on inside the heads of the Daido royal and noble families?

"No, you don't have to wear bathrobes. It's just that while I don't know about nobles such as yourselves, many commoners are not used to being naked in front of others, so bathrobes exist so that even such people can use the bath."

"I see. So there's no problem with what we're doing either, right?"

"Yes. Well, as long as it's had [Purify] used on it and doesn't dirty the bath."

"Alright. I learned something. I'll offer my thanks."

Saying that, the prince made a small gesture by raising his hand and facing his palm towards me. Then, he tilted his head slightly.

"… Huh? Hey, is the greeting to show respect different for commoners? Or is it a difference between countries?"

"Ah, is it that kind of thing? Like how royals don't bow?"

For now, I'll accept their thanks and bow my head slightly.

"Wow, I never thought about that at all!"

"Speaking of which, we do bow our heads, Prince. It's probably as this person says."

"Oh! You have quite the insight. I also like your courage to talk back to royalty… I like you. Would you like to become my subordinate?"

… Somehow, the prince ended up liking me. Like hell I'd become his subordinate though.