Let's Go Bathing in the Lake

The four-person journey toward Spartia progressed smoothly.

Over the course of several days, they passed through a checkpoint and crossed from Kingdom territory into the Empire.

The checkpoint itself posed no problems. The per-head tax for slaves was cheap.

The toll, however, was assessed per cart.

Near the checkpoint lay the territory Alexia's family had once governed, though a different house ruled it now.

He asked Alexia if she wanted to stop by. She shook her head.

He didn't think it would cause any real trouble, but… no, considering what tended to happen when a noble lost their title, it was probably better not to go.

They continued along the planned route.

The tolls stung, but traveling by cart without passing through checkpoints was impossible.

To offset the cost, they'd loaded trade goods to sell at their destination.

Spices, dyes, silk. Things that were hard to come by in Spartia. They'd packed as much as they could.

On the return trip, they planned to buy gemstones.

Spartia's constant warfare with monsters produced a massive volume of loot, including magic stones and, among them, genuine gemstones.

In Spartia, gemstones held barely more value than pretty rocks.

Of course, merchants had caught on to this long ago, and the resulting speculation had sent gemstone prices into chaos. There were now limits on how much you could buy.

Even so, the margins were profitable enough that some traders made their entire living shuttling between Spartia and other nations year-round.

For Spartia, where the fight against monsters consumed the lion's share of their resources, these traders were a vital source of funds and commerce.

Spartia had one other specialty.

Mercenary work.

The flow of monsters from the Demon Den ebbed and surged. During calmer periods, a handful of generals and soldiers would head abroad as mercenaries.

There was even an anecdote: if a Spartian company appeared on the battlefield, you should surrender no matter how favorable your position.

This, too, was one of Spartia's methods of earning foreign currency.

In any case, they had to fight monsters constantly. The climate was warm, but the monsters had leeched the land of nutrients. Crops grew poorly, and livestock suffered for it.

They supplemented their diet with monster meat, but that alone couldn't feed a nation.

That was why Spartia had forged alliances with neighboring countries: in exchange for serving as a shield against the monsters, they received food aid.

A resource nation. A trading nation. And the strongest nation on the continent.

The Empire, the continent's premier superpower, pulled back whenever tensions with Spartia threatened to escalate. The Kingdom, blessed with fertile land, sold food at cheap prices and otherwise kept its distance.

Spartia occupied a highly unusual position among the nations.

The sour look on Alexia's face at the mention of Spartia came from knowing exactly how thoroughly the Empire was outmatched. Her pride as a former Imperial noble took a hit every time.

They passed the halfway point of their planned route.

They were ahead of schedule. The horse was in good spirits, and Alexia had gotten the hang of driving, so with three people able to take turns, they'd picked up considerable speed.

Azu was out of the question. She wasn't used to horses, and being a child, the horse didn't take her seriously.

She could ride one, but that was really just the horse tolerating a passenger.

No matter how smoothly things went, though, the horse still needed water and grass.

Without letting it graze along the road, there was no way to keep the horse fed.

Hauling enough dried hay for two horses would fill the entire cart.

After a while, they veered off what barely qualified as a road and found a large lake.

With no towns nearby, the water should be clean.

A river fed in and drained out, so there was no stagnation.

They stopped the cart there to do laundry and refill their water supply.

Most of their clothes could be washed here and hung to dry on the cart, but…

"Azu, come here."

"What is it?"

Azu came over, and he examined her hair.

It looked a little less lustrous than usual.

Her face seemed slightly oily too.

They'd been heating water daily so she could wipe herself down, but apparently that had its limits.

"Go take a dip."

"Eh, here?"

Azu looked around. There was no one here but the four of them.

She balked, but she'd bathed like this before.

Puberty, perhaps.

They were ahead of schedule, but that didn't mean they had time to waste.

He stripped the dawdling Azu down and tossed her into the lake in her undergarments.

"Fweh."

Azu surfaced with just her face above water.

It was deeper than expected.

Elza and Alexia came over to see what was going on and were sent in too.

Elza went willingly enough, but Alexia resisted as always. Not that she could refuse. If anyone was sensitive to smells, it was Alexia.

… Actually, I need to get in too. The grime's been bothering me.

Broad daylight, nobody around, but going completely bare was a bit much, wasn't it?

They spent a while in the lake.

Wet undergarments went transparent. Three women in various states of allure were, frankly, a hazard for the eyes.

Since they were cleaning up anyway, they washed their clothes too, and the four of them ended up standing around in their underclothes looking ridiculous.

Alexia took pity on the situation and dried the laundry with a hot-wind spell.

"Are you actually having fun right now?"

"Maybe I am."

"Sigh… One moment you seem so mature, and the next you're like a child. I don't understand you at all."

What a rude thing to say.