Chapter 15 – Bathing and Wool
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Chiyu and I welcomed the blonde gal Shouko and the black-haired, neat and prim Shion as members of our little group.
“Yahooo!”
“Thanks. I will do my best not to become a burden.”
Shouko expressed her joy by jumping in the air while Shion looked relieved.
“Oh, right. Sousuke-kun.”
“What’s up?”
“Your clothes look awfully clean, so…do you have some sort of method to do the laundry?”
Shion’s voice was calm, but it also sounded somewhat envious.
Come to think of it, dirt is visible on Shouko and Shion’s skin and clothes. Then again, it’s only natural if you consider that they landed inside a forest and wandered around for a bit by themselves.
“Hmm? Whaa! You’re right! The clothes are clean! And even your hair and skin are totally glossy!?”
Well, they’re our friends now, so there’s no point in hiding it any longer.
“I’ll tell you about the clothes later on. For the time being, our bodies are clean because of the bath I made.”
“Ehh!? A bath!? For real!?”
“Whoa, Sousuke, your ability is truly incredible.”
Probably because they’re both women, they immediately latched onto this. By the way, since I’ve stored the bathing utensils away, they couldn’t see them.
“It’s a simple drum bath, so we’ve entered one person at a time, but it’s also big enough for two. I’ll get it ready.”
Well, if the number of girls increases, I should maybe create another stone bath? I still have plenty of water, and since I can get fire from the campfire, it won’t take that much time and effort.
“Oh shit, I might fall for Sousuke.”
“If that happens, you will become Chiyu-chan’s love rival, won’t you?”
“I’ll be a heroine who wins over her childhood friend,” Chiyu declared with a resolute tone.
Preparing the bath is no problem. I’m slightly sleepy, but I’m doing it for friends. Besides, I’ve also got an objective with this.
“It’s not like it’s a repayment for the bath, but I have something I’d like to ask of you, Shouko.”
“Sure. If you want to sneak a little peek while I’m bathing, I’ll give you special permission.”
Shouko started to talk about something like that while pressing her index finger against her lips.
“Why do you immediately assume that I’d want to peep?”
Chiyu was the same as well, but is that based on their view of men in general or me in particular?
“Ahaha, I’m just kidding.”
“I see. Anyway, can you summon sheep with your 『Summon Fluff Ability』?
“Sheep? The bleating ones?”
“Yep. Those.”
Apparently understanding what I wanted to say, Chiyu added, “Cashmere goats work too,” without a moment’s delay.
“Hmm, wait just a sec. Sheep…lumpy…fluffy…yep, I feel like that works!”
I guess the criterion for her being able to summon something is based on her ability to recognize something as 『fluffy』.
“Ohh! We’ll be able to get our hands on wool with this!”
“What about Cashmere goats?” Chiyu insisted.
“I know Cashmere, but I don’t know Cashmere goats, so it’s kinda impossible…”
Shouko’s ability also seems to rely on imagination quite a bit. She was able to summon the Fenrir because she liked it so much that she felt like summoning one after reading the isekai manga. As for sheep, the image doesn’t seem to be overly difficult.
“By the way, is there a limit to the number of summons?”
“Yeah, it depends on the size, I guess? It’d be kinda impossible to summon one more Fenrir, you see. I think I can bring out two sheep?”
“Summoning means they’re being called over from somewhere, but can you summon Mashiro again, if you send him back to his original place once, for example?”
“No, that’s not possible. If I send him back, I won’t be able to meet him anymore. I don’t want to think about it, but if he dies, he’ll disappear,” Shouko explained with a sad voice.
“Got it. Thanks for telling me. Mashiro is your cherished partner, so I’d never tell you to send him back.”
“Oki.”
“But, would it be possible for you to do something like summoning two sheep, send them back, and summon two new sheep?”
Basically, I was asking her whether she could somehow handle it before she grows too fond of them.
“Yeah, I’ll be slightly sad, but I’ll do it if it’s necessary.”
“Sou-kun, those sheep…what about meat?”
Chiyu’s question is very reasonable, but…I couldn’t ask that out of consideration for Shouko.
“No, I’ll be fine, so don’t look at me like that. I also considered it when my hunger was reaching its limit. But, 『Using your summons as a source for meat is not allowed』 is written in the ability description. This means using the summons as food is impossible, okay?”
“I understand. It was judged not to be the intended way to use the ability, huh?”
In a certain sense, it’s the opposite of why Chiyu was able to get 『Purify』 after she imagined herself as White Mage. I strongly suspect that Shouko regards the creatures she summons as partners or friends. And maybe because of that, the ability’s limit had been set there.
“But, will it be possible to shave off the fur then?” Shion muttered.
“It’ll probably be alright. Even if you just cuddle with them, hair will usually fall out, right? If you brush them while treating them as friends, it should be within the range of permissible actions. In short, getting the animal’s fur while taking care of them doesn’t run counter to Shouko’s perception. The worrying part here would be――”
“Whether the shaven hair is going to disappear when the summoned creatures are sent back, right?”
Shion finished my words.
“Do you know anything about this, Shouko?”
“Eh? It’s okay, they won’t vanish.”
“Alright…!” I said while clenching my fists.
With this, we’ll have a source of wool. And in turn, this will allow us to get thick, warm clothing, pajamas, carpets, and other items that will enable you to keep yourself warm.
Stuff like a wool futon also exists, but because the inside is stuffed with wool, the fabric holding it together uses different materials, I think. No, wait. Wool sweaters are a thing as well, so if I turned that into the size of a futon, wouldn’t it be more than enough to sleep warm and comfortably for the time being?
Even though it’d have the drawback of easily getting dirty and full of holes, I can restore it back to normal by storing & redeploying it, as long as the fabric itself doesn’t get damaged too much.
There’s also the option of going with a blanket instead of fussing over keeping it in the shape of a futon.
“Ohh, I’m super happy since it looks like I can immediately contribute to our group.”
“For now, I’ll set up the bath. Chiyu, please handle the kettle with Shion.”
“Count on me.”
“Shouko, summon the sheep.
“Aye.” 1
I quickly deployed the new stone bath set and the bathing set we used during our bathing time. Next, Chiyu ignited the fire to heat the water for them. Since we’ve got two baths now, I’ve entrusted Shion with helping out as well.
Shouko had closed her eyes to focus her mind, and once her eyes flew open, two sheep manifested in front of her all of a sudden.
“Oohhh.”
Probably because she can only summon fluffy creatures, the sheep had plenty of fur on them. I took out my stone knife and pruned the sheep’s hair while making sure not to damage them.
“Sousuke, I’ll do it as well.”
“Sure, go ahead.”
I took out another knife, and then both of us diligently shaved off the fur. I could simply store away the fur each time I shaved off a batch, but since doing that for Shouko would take time, I took out a wooden box and had her put the wool in there.
“The sheep let us do this without any fuss, huh?”
“It’s because they listen to what I say.”
“Oh, so you’re a tamer.”
“White Mage Chiyu-cchi, me as a tamer, and Sousuke…you as an alchemist?”
“Ahaha, Shion’s ability could be described as 『Mind Reader』 or some such.”
“Heeeh~”
Thanks to the sheep following instructions, the shaving proceeded smoothly. But it was still quite hard work.
“And that’s where your childhood friend’s 『Heal』 shines.”
Chiyu cast her magic on me after having shown up all of a sudden.
“Thanks, Chiyu.”
“We instinctively understand each other because we’re childhood friends.”
“Chiyu-cchi, does that remove fatigue? Cast it on me too. Pwease~”
“Very well.”
A white light engulfed Shouko.
“Whoa! Crazy shit! I’m overflowing with energy now!”
Now that the water has been heated up, Shouko and Chiyu switched. Our childhood friend team tackled the shaving while our new members were taking a bath.
After a while of us silently shaving fur, I could hear Shion’s voice.
“Sorry, Sousuke-kun, could I have you store & redeploy my towel?”
After leaving the bath and drying off, she hung the towel on the partitioning screen and asked me to dry it for her. I got Shouko and Shion to put their clothes into a laundry basket to clean them, as I had done with Chiyu’s earlier, and I used that opportunity to tell them about the convenient function of Inventory.
“Roger.”
I stored & redeployed it. Now the towel was dry, with all moisture gone from it.
“That 『Crafting Ability』 is way, way too amazing, sheesh!”
Shouko expressed her astonishment for the umpteenth time.
“It’s probably because Sousuke-kun had answered while imagining it to be all-purpose to some extent.”
Given that it’s a standard feature in games where you explore uninhabited islands, it was easy for me to imagine as much.
Before long, the two came out of their bath. Shouko had tied her hair into a side tail, giving herself a rather novel and fresh image. With her flushed face and the wet, glossy hair, Shion looked like a genuine, neat and prim beauty. Both were beautiful enough to make my heart skip.
“Somehow, the face of Sousuke as he’s looking at us is weird,” Shouko smiled bashfully.
“Thanks for cleaning my uniform.”
“Yeah, right! Thanks, Sousuke. That’s reaaally a big help!”
“You’re welcome.”
“What are we going to do? Should I summon more sheep?”
After we shaved four sheep’s worth, we had obtained quite a bit of wool. I shook my head while looking at the recipe.
“It’ll be fine for today. Please dry your hair at the campfire, you two. I’ll go to the hut to craft and deploy everything at once.”
“Hey, Sou-kun.”
“Hmm?”
Being called by Chiyu, I faced her.
“There’s one hut and four people. How are we going to sleep?”
…Oh, I see. That’s another issue to tackle, huh?
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