Lone woke up and his sight was blocked by a beautiful smiling face and he could feel a pair of small hands playing with his fox ears. "Good morning?"
"Eh?" Sophie was a bit startled. She hadn't realised that Lone was awake until he spoke. "Em, g-good morning..."
Lone removed himself from her lap and stretched. "Thanks."
"Huh? What for?" Sophie was confused.
"You protected me while I was asleep, right?" Lone said. "I can't believe I passed out as soon as we returned. How embarrassing."
"Protected? But I was only playing with your ears and tails..." Sophie mumbled.
"What's that? I couldn't hear you." Lone, now finished with his stretching, began taking his clothes off.
"Nothing!" Sophie replied as her cheeks turned rosy red. "Why are you undressing?"
Sophie didn't particularly mind nor care, but from what Lone had previously told her, wearing clothes was the normal thing to do where he was from. It was normal for Sophie as well when she was still a mortal, but those were memories that Sophie often found herself forgetting.
Lone was now stripped down to his boxers and he created a simple washbasin made of wood that was held together by some iron bands. "Thankfully I remember how to craft this from when I was still a high school student," Lone said to himself as he recalled his teenage years.
Lone then walked over to the shore and turned back to look at the still confused Sophie. "I'm gonna wash my clothes before I repair them. They're covered in blood."
"Ah!" Now Sophie understood. "Should I wash mine too?"
Scanning Sophie from head to toe, Lone replied, "You look clean enough except for your trousers. There's some mud on the hem, so sure, feel free to join me."
"Okay," Sophie happily replied before she began taking her clothes off.
Lone refocused his attention to his own clothes while Sophie was doing that. He stacked them in a neat pile next to the water on the beach and started doing some light exercises to loosen up his body.
Sophie was finished undressing in a few moments and she was now only wearing her panties. Clearly, she was excited to wash her clothes so she hadn't noticed that Lone had put his in a pile away from the water.
Holding her clothes closely to her chest, Sophie happily approached the shore and was a few seconds away from dipping her clothes in the water before Lone grabbed her arm to stop her.
"Huh? We aren't washing our clothes?" Sophie was confused.
"Come on, you're from medieval times, right? Surely you know that seawater is horrible for washing clothes?" Lone teased as he let go of Sophie and gestured for her to put her clothes next to his.
"I didn't live near an ocean..." Sophie grumbled as she laid her clothes down.
Lone looked at her and put a palm to his face. "I should make a bra for you... Even if you look like a kid, this is a bit..."
"What's a bra?" Sophie tilted her head.
"It doesn't matter. Do some stretches. I'm going to go for a swim to clean my body before I wash our clothes," Lone said.
"Stretches?" Sophie was even more confused.
Lone sighed before he laughed lightly. Unconsciously, Lone placed his hand on Sophie's head and petted her gently. "You really are clueless, huh? Just copy what I do with my body, okay? It won't be good if you cramp up and start drowning."
"Okay!" Sophie was raring to go.
After spending a few minutes to loosen their bodies, Lone stepped into the water and began floating as he slowly moved his arms back and forth to stay stable. "Well, gonna join me?"
"Yeah, but, um, I can't swim..." Sophie confessed as she held her hands behind her back and twirled her feet in the sand.
'She's pretty cute, what with acting all bashful,' Lone silently thought to himself before he got out of the water.
He held Sophie's hand and began pulling her towards the ocean. "There's no helping it then. I'll teach you."
"You'll teach me how to swim?!" Sophie was thrilled. She had never had the chance to visit a sea or lake before, let alone learn how to swim in one, so this was a precious moment for her.
"Nope." It was precious until Lone crushed that moment. "Why do you look so down?" he asked as he walked back into the water as he held Sophie's small hand.
"Teaching you how to swim will take a few hours at least. I'm gonna teach you how to float, or, well, the basics of swimming, I suppose?" Seeing Sophie's mood instantly flip around back into a happy one, Lone smiled wryly.
'How did my bath in the ocean turn into me teaching this thousand-year-old kid how to swim?' Lone asked himself with doubt.
----------------------------------------
"Soph," Lone called her name with a friendly tone in his voice, but somehow, he was able to make even that friendly voice sound like he was annoyed.
"Y-Yes, Lone?" Sophie replied hesitantly.
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"I asked you a few minutes ago, but you never answered." Lone's voice was gradually getting less and less friendly.
"Y-Yes?" Sophie began sweating even though she was in the water.
"Why, dare I ask, are you clinging to me like a damned koala?!" Lone shouted in frustration.
As soon as Sophie's feet had left the sand and she was fully inside the ocean, like a cat struggling to escape a bathtub, she immediately glued herself to Lone. Apparently, not only was Sophie unable to swim, but she was also afraid of the sea.
"S-Sorry..." Sophie hung her head down, which only resulted in her leaning even further into Lone's chest as she clung to him for dear life.
Lone sighed. "You could have told me that you were frightened of the ocean, you know? I would have used my MP to create a wooden bath and tried to create freshwater."
"I-I'm sorry..." Sophie felt like crying.
Lone sighed again. "It's not your fault. It's mine for wanting to take a dip in the ocean."
"S-Sorry..." Sophie couldn't find it in herself to do anything right now except for apologising.
Lone smiled wryly. "Don't worry about it." Lone wrapped one of his arms around Sophie's slender waist and swam back to the shore.
As soon as he was back on dry land, Sophie tried to get off of him, but instead, her long hair ended up getting tangled around Lone's legs and feet, making him trip.
The two of them fell and Sophie ended up right on top of Lone. Sophie felt strange. She couldn't tell exactly what this feeling was, but something about it was new, and... odd. It wasn't unpleasant, but being on top of Lone made her head go blank and she could feel her heart racing.
"Are you gonna sit on me all day, or what? My legs are starting to get numb," Lone laughed as he sat up, forcing Sophie to slide down his chest.
Sophie carefully got up and stood next to Lone awkwardly after untangling her hair from him.
"Well, we're both covered in the sand now," Lone said as looked down at his body.
"Sorry..." Lone got up and rubbed Sophie's head as she apologised.
"Stop saying 'sorry' over and over. It's fine. I'll just make a bath and some water for us." Lone was calm and he didn't seem to be upset even in the slightest.
"Y-yeah..." Sophie resisted the urge to apologise once again.
Shaking his head, Lone decided to just use his creation magic first and deal with Sophie later. 'I wonder if I can even make freshwater? I should be able to, right? The skill clearly says 'Grants the host the ability to create anything existing on Altros at will with magic.' Assuming Altros is the name of this world, I'm pretty sure freshwater exists here, right?'
Leaving his thoughts for the moment, Lone decided to try making a wooden bath filled with hot water. Naturally, he made sure to imagine it being large enough to hold him inside it with enough room to spread out and relax.
Unfortunately, while he had made simple wooden things in high school like the washbasin, a bathtub was beyond his area of expertise. Water was even more of an unknown for him. Lone knew the basics of water and was confident that he knew more than the average person, but he had a nagging feeling that the system wouldn't be as forgiving as he'd like.
Many such items exist on Altros.
The host has a great understanding of the item but does not know much regarding its construction. 5,000 base MP cost. 2,500 additional MP has been consumed to compensate for the lack of knowledge.
The host has insufficient MP. All of the host's MP has been consumed and the host's MP will be sealed for [10-hours] to create the item: [Hot Water Filled Wooden Bath [Adult Male Sized]].
Warning! The host has depleted all of their mana and has entered a state of mental shock!
Congratulations! the host's passive skill [Mental Pain Resistance] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 3.
Lone didn't immediately pass out like the last time this had happened. Instead, he grit his teeth and screamed. "Ahhhhh!"
"Lone?!" Running to his side, Sophie asked, "Are you okay?! What's wrong?"
Congratulations! the host's passive skill [Mental Pain Resistance] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 4.
"No! I'm not! It feels like my heart and brain are being ripped to pieces! Fuck!" Lone roared as he clutched his head and chest and began panting heavily on the ground.
Congratulations! the host's passive skill [Mental Pain Resistance] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 5.
Congratulations! the host's passive skill [Mental Pain Resistance] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 6.
Congratulations! the host's passive skill [Mental Pain Resistance] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 7.
Congratulations! the host's passive skill [Mental Pain Resistance] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 8.
"Fuck," Lone mumbled as he sat up and slowly climbed into the bathtub with Sophie's help after he ripped his boxers off.
"You swear a lot..." Sophie noted while she kept her hand on Lone's head and gently stroked his soft and fluffy fox ears. Her other arm was wrapped around a few of Lone's tails that were poking out of the bathtub.
"Forgive me for my crude language. Did you miss the part where I said it felt like my heart and brain were being ripped apart?" Lone joked as he felt the warm water seep into his pours. "Ah... This is heaven..."
"Why did you use your magic when you'd go through so much pain?" Sophie asked and continued to enjoy Lone's fluffiness.
"Two reasons," Lone said as he held two of his fingers up. "One: There might be some wizard goblins on this island. If you and I can perform magic, then we should assume that some of the monsters can too. It's better if I'm prepared for that."
"But that could be a different type of damage than mental, right?" Sophie questioned.
"Sure, but the second reason is infinitely more important." Lone's ears twitched. He wasn't used to Sophie playing with those, so it felt a bit strange.
Sophie gulped as she edged a bit closer to Lone. "Wh-What's the second reason?"
Lone grinned and moved so his and Sophie's faces were now only inches away from each other. "This feels amazing."
"It-It does?" Sophie's eyes were shining.
"Yup. I've always had a saying, you know? Showers are for cleaning while bathes are for relaxing," Lone stated as he leaned back and laid against the smooth wooden tub and closed his eyes.
Even as he was enduring the mental pains that came with having no MP, his face was covered with a single emotion: Bliss.
Sophie gulped again. "I-I don't know what a shower is, but c-can I join you?"
"Hmm?" Lone peered at the young girl who looked about ready to jump in the tub. "Sure, just take off your underwear and don't move too much."
With joy, Sophie did as told and ended up falling asleep as she rested her back against Lone's upper body. Lone had to hold her to make sure that her head didn't fall under the water. "Really, you remind me so much of my little sister when she was your age... Oh, wait... I keep forgetting... You're nearly a thousand."