A sigh left my lips. My fur was cleaner than ever before and even smelled of flowers, but the bath itself had been nothing like I had imagined. Sure, it was large and well-lit, thanks to large, blurry windows in the upper half of the right and back walls and bright magic lamps on the others, but it wasn’t welcoming for this fox body of mine.

When I looked around I saw five girls joking with each other, about random topics, me or the hero. All of them were sitting in the soothingly warm water which reached all the way up to their chest, hiding everything they wouldn’t want to be seen behind a blurring veil.

The smallest of them all, the brunette girl I didn’t know the name of, almost shared my trouble. The water almost reached her chin, that was when she kneeled.

She chose to play with the statue that supplied the pool with an endless amount of fresh water instead, showering under the spout that came out of a large, ugly fish that looked like it was frozen in time while trying to jump out of the pool. It was carved out of precious stone, but this didn’t hide the fact that it looked ridiculous.

 

«I bet he bought it himself.»

 

Despite being smaller and more childish looking when compared to the others, the girl, in reality, didn’t seem to be younger at all, as she talked about boys and the hero with just as much eager as her friends did. I could only guess what it was that had made her this small: Her ancestors, lack of food or her race. She seemed to be human, though.

 

«Rose, was it?»

 

Rose was a rather beautiful name, but I couldn’t see myself called like that. It didn’t fit my former self nor did it suit a little fox pup, though I probably wouldn’t be able to think about names for such animals myself, either.

 

«Maybe she is from a well-off family? Nobles?»

 

I couldn’t ask her, nor did it interest me enough to try communicating to her using sign language, barks or pieces of paper torn out of a book. All of these sounded rather impossible to me, to begin with.

Right now, I could only watch the girls enjoying themselves in the bath – without me. They had washed me, each nook and cranny of my body even, and had held me into the water and even let me swim for a few seconds, but that was nothing compared to what they could enjoy.

 

«If only it was shallow enough.»

 

Dejected, I turned away from the girls and walked towards the washing room instead. Getting used to the house was far more important than wasting an hour in the bath!

My first stop was at the baskets the girls had put their stuff in when they undressed before. I looked over my shoulder to make sure they couldn’t see me through the doorless connection between the two rooms, then I dived nose first into the dresses, skirts, shirts, belts and underwear.

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Driven by the fear of being discovered, I hurriedly pulled the clothes apart in my search for a knife, a dagger or any kind of magic tool I could use to defeat the hero, but there was nothing to be found. It was just fabrics, yarn and a view stripes of leather.

 

«Did they store them away in their rooms?!»

 

It was pointless. After searching through even the last basket, I was still without the treasure I had hoped for.

Reluctantly, I gave up and left the room towards the entrance hall. Luckily enough the girls did not close the door all the way, leaving just enough space for me to put a paw in between and pull it open. It used all of my strength, but after enduring the arduous task for a few seconds, I was finally free.

The entrance hall was as empty as it gets, the hero nowhere to be seen. Aside from the decorations and the stairs leading to the upper stories, there were only a few doors to be seen, one right next to me. My gaze, however, landed on the hallway which, too, was on the right side, and came without a hurdle in form of a door.

I didn’t wait for some sort of signal. Trying to be as silent as possible, I sneaked into the hallway. Several large windows awaited me on the left side of it, they showed me a terrace you could easily host a garden party on, and the garden itself, which was far more colorful on this side of the house.

Behind several beds of flowers, I discovered a pond that dwarfed even the pool the girls were sitting in right now. This oasis, too, was off-limits to me, as the sole door, a double-winged, heavily decorated ‘art piece’ was closed tightly.

 

«I am trapped inside, am I?»

 

My mood turned slightly sour. I quickly switched my attention to the other wall, which was, aside from three paintings of landscapes with lakes and snowy mountains, completely empty. There was only a single room connected to the hallway, with a beam of light shining out of the gap between the door and its frame.

 

«It’s open!»

 

I couldn’t help but feel happy. This was the sole door that was open to me aside from the bath. As long as it didn’t lead to the hero, it was a perfect opportunity to search for weapons!

It led to him. After I had pushed myself through the gap, I immediately found him standing in front of the opposite wall, his back turned towards me.

 

«If only I had a dagger. I could end it here and now!»