In the evening, on the path up the mountain…

Cycelia is walking alongside Straf with a large smile on her face, holding a ceramic figure of a cat in her hands. It's white, and on its neck there is a sculpted collar with a medal painted gold, stating fortune. Its right paw is raised, and it's looking at Cycelia with its dull, large golden eyes. Straf glances at her from the side with his mouth aslant, unimpressed. Greaves and his party remain absent.

「That's a cute cat, isn't it?」

She says, and tilts her chestnut head at Straf, lifting the cat up to her face.

「Eh… It's just a beckoning cat… We have a real one right here, you know?」

Straf shrugs, and points out Stripe with a gesture of his head. Walking behind them with her arms crossed, she gains a frustrated, tight-lipped grimace in response.

「Could you keep it safe in your whirly thing?…」

Cycelia asks, holding the beckoning cat out for Straf. He holds his hand out, and Cycelia carefully deposits it there. Straf then nonchalantly throws the cat into his [Portable Storage].

She nods with a grateful smile, and turns her eyes forward up the trail as he places his hand back in his pocket. Unlike on the lower levels, the path is growing narrower and narrower, and most buildings up the path are built of finely cut stone bricks, presumably from the very mountain they were built on. A lot of the buildings hang precariously off the ledge to the side, with a portion of their weight supported on top of wooden beams wedged between the stone face and the overhang stretching into the air.

As Straf and his group make their way higher up, the more it becomes apparent the social strata in this city also shifts with altitude. While on the lowest level artisans working in workshops and commoners hanging about were a frequent sight, they are all but gone by the time the first of the stone buildings begin appearing. Straf passes by a large defensive gate of stone, and walks out onto another plaza. This one is much more crowded by buildings than people.

It seems that real estate is worth its weight in gold on this level. There was an attempt to make the plaza as decorative and fancy as the lower one, but it's obvious whoever tried quickly gave up in an effort to squeeze more buildings in. Most seem to be private and rather fancy residences, unlike the mixture of shops and homes, workshops, and hospitality services below. If any fountain is to be expected, it is absent from this plaza.

Straf moves on without stopping, passing another gate as they continue climbing another stretch of inclining, and still narrowing road…

…

Twenty minutes later…

Straf and his group arrive at the peak, crossing a very charming arching bridge of wood over a small creek, or a river that plummets down the mountain with a cloud of steam. When they finally crest the inclining path to a patch of level ground, they see Greaves and his party waiting outside a grand wooden building, the biggest one Cycelia had a chance to see yet in the Eastern Kingdoms, easily dwarfing all else in the cities, and atop a mountain no less.

「Woooow!」

Cycelia simply utters out, amazed by the glow of lights from the inside, and generally all around the structure.

「Finally. What took you so long?」

Greaves throws his arms up and asks Straf while they approach.

「Sorry, we were looking for a souvenir for Millie…」

Cycelia apologizes, replying for Straf with a light nod and a smile instead.

「…Right.」

Greaves shrugs, and simply turns for the building's wooden door. It was chilly on the lower levels, but on top of the mountain it's outright freezing.

Cycelia quickly hops up to the door with Greaves, and the two hurry inside while the rest slowly flow inside.

「Ahhhhh… It's nice and warm here…」

Cycelia remarks with a relieved sigh as the building's warm interior banishes the frost building up in her body. A woman at a counter ahead bows towards the group.

「…Heard you offer rooms for the night. Is that true, or do I yell at our cat?」

Straf asks as he casually approaches the woman with his hands in his coat's pockets.

「Yes, we…」

She nods with a smile, but her voice trails off and her smile fades when she takes a good look at Straf's face, and turns her eyes to his group. He raises his brow.

「…Yes, we do… I'm sorry for asking, customer, but you're not a criminal, are you?」

The woman asks with a troubled grimace on her face. Stripe and Oleander exchange confused glances, with Stripe scowling just a little. Straf scratches his temple.

「Shit, is that a requirement?… I don't have any tattoos, if that's what you're asking…」

He shrugs his hand, glancing at his group with his brows furrowed in confusion.

「Tattoos?…」

「…That's an oddly specific question. What's up with that?」

As Straf asks, another woman joins her side behind the desk. They glance at each other with confused eyes, then at Straf.

「N- No, there's no problem, my apologies… Would you like a room for the night? How many?」

The woman replies, bowing apologetically with a tight-lipped grimace on her face. Cycelia tugs at Straf's sleeve.

「Uhhh… One each?… What's up, Lia?」

He glances at his group and replies with his index finger extended, then bends down a little to listen to Cycelia.

「Is there a problem?」

She asks in a hushed tone with furrowed brows.

「Nah. I think I missed the join the yakuza sidequest, so they're a little disappointed. Guess we're not getting a discount.」

Straf casually replies with a shrug as he straightens out, placing his hand in his pocket.

「Ja- What?…」

Cycelia asks, then turns her furrowed brows to Stripe, who shrugs her shoulders in response.

「That'll be four gold per person, customer…」

The woman behind the counter bows her head.

「Wha-? That's fucking steep…」

Straf winces, and pulls out one coin loop after another from his [Portable Storage]. The two women stare at him with wide-eyed gaze.

「How much is it? I heard her mention gold.」

Will asks as he adjusts his glasses.

「Four gold per fucking person.」

Straf replies as he unties the coin loops and slides coins off onto the counter.

「Wha-? That's steep…」

Will cringes and turns to Alicia. She turns her back towards him, and he accesses her backpack.

Straf slides over exactly four gold coins for himself, Cycelia, Lily, Nona, Stripe, and Oleander, then waits for Greaves and his party to pay.

Will places 40 imperial dragons on the counter and slides them over.

「Um… We don't really accept foreign money here…」

The woman replies, and Will consults his translation sheet.

「Why the fuck not?」

Straf asks, throwing his hands up with his eyes narrowed in ridicule.

「I'm sorry customer, but we are open day and night. Exchanging foreign money at the palace takes a really long time, not to mention the travel time… It's not something we can afford to do.」

The woman apologetically explains with a bow.

「Sorry, what did she say?」

Will asks, glancing between both Stripe and Straf.

「Tsk… She's not gonna take your fucking money if it's in drakes…」

Straf clicks his tongue and slides the money back to Will, explaining with his mouth scrunched to the side.

「…Lia, can we trade war this shithole? Embargo? A little unrestricted submarine warfare to teach them a lesson?」

He asks, turning to Cycelia.

「Submarine!?」「…Submarine warfare?」

Lily perks up with her bored scarlet eyes shooting wide open, while Cycelia tilts her chestnut head with her brows furrowed.

「Yeah. Underwater boats sinking all their ships and making all naval trade impossible, until they accept our money. You're fine with that, right?」

Straf nods with his fists on his hips, adding a nonchalant shrug.

「Wh-? Straf, no! Why would I be fine with that!? That's war!… Straf, just pay for Greaves and his friends!」

Briefly processing Straf's question, she shakes her head in realization and points her dainty finger at Greaves.

「Huuuh? Why would I pay for him?」

Straf asks with a ridiculing, narrow-eyed grimace directed at Greaves, who is looking at him with his arms crossed and his mouth scrunched to the side.

「Straf!」

Cycelia clenches her fists and gains an angry pout on her face, blinking her large puppy eyes into Straf's. He lets out a large, resigned sigh.

「Fiiine… I'll pay for the two girls… And those two broke assholes.」「Tsk…」

Straf reluctantly slips more gold coins off his loop, thinning it significantly. Greaves clicks his tongue in response, but says nothing.

Clunk. Clunk Clunk…

Straf throws more gold coins towards the woman, and shrugs his shoulders.

「There. That's enough for all of us, right?」

He asks, leaning onto the counter with his elbow.

「…Yes, that's the correct amount. Please take the customers and the ladies to their rooms, and instruct them on the rules.」

「Of course.」

The woman replies, and turns to the other. The second woman bows in response and walks out from beyond the counter, waving her dainty hand for Straf and the rest to follow her.

Straf ties up the rest of his heavily thinned-out coin loops and throws them into his [Portable Storage] as he heads into a side passage with her.

At the counter, the woman peeks under the counter with a soft rustle of paper…

…

A little over five minutes later…

The attendant leads Straf and his group through the hallway, which opens up into a sort of balcony with a grand view down the mountain. The last of the sunlight is bathing the land, casting long shadows from other mountains jutting out into the sky. In the distance, there is a city at a foot of another mountain, and a large walled palace built around its peak. Clouds sail past with a biting cold breeze as everyone moves on, following the woman.

「Here are your rooms. We seldom have incidents of theft, but please keep your valuables near you when bathing in the waters…」

The attendant points at a series of sliding doors alongside one wall. The other wall is missing, and in its place, a low fence with a view to a rocky common area where there are a few benches, a shallow pool of steaming water, as well as a table. The table is western-styled, however, and has backless benches instead of individual seats. There is a small, thin, and hardy tree growing out of the sparse patch of vegetation near the pool, although its branches are leafless.

「…As for bathing, please always thoroughly wash your body before entering the waters. Towels are not allowed in. Additionally, please tie your hair so that it doesn't dip in the water… 」

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The woman continues explaining. Stripe and Oleander listen, while Will is trying his best to. Straf rolls his eyes with his mouth aslant.

「…Otherwise you will soil the waters, and it may destroy your hair. Other than that, please enjoy yourselves. Since you paid for rooms, you may stay until sundown tomorrow.」

She adds, and departs towards the lobby with a polite bow.

「…I'm guessing these are our rooms? What else did she say?」

Will remarks as he looks at the sliding doors, adjusting his glasses.

「Yeah… Bunch of boring shit. Wash your ass before you enter the hot spring, don't dip hair or the towels in the water… Pretty standard stuff.」

Straf shrugs with a bored grimace on his face.

「Nice views from up here, huh?」

Nona chimes in with a smile on her face while blinking at Straf.

「Yes, that view from back there was pretty breathtaking. Stripe was right about this place.」

Cycelia nods in agreement and glances at Stripe, who turns her gaze away.

「Anyway… Is anyone going to take a bath right now?… I'm thinking I'll unpack first… I'm still sweaty after that climb.」

Will asks, spreading his hands as he opens one of the rooms.

「Hmmgh… I'll definitely hop into the water before sleep!… Also, I think you are misunderstanding. It's not a bathroom like at inns. There's multiple people in at once.」

Stripe stretches, raising her arms above her head with a grunt.

「Multiple people!? At once!?」

Will perks up out of his fatigued slouch with his eyes wide open in shock.

「Pft. What's up? Worried Lian will see your sad thing?」

Greaves asks with his fists on his hips and a snide grin on his face.

「S- Shut up! It's not sad!」

Will shouts back with his fist clenched and face flushing red.

「Uh… The baths are split into male and female, so… No one's going to see your thing unless you're a pervert. I don't think I need to say this, but don't stare at other people.」

Stripe quickly chimes in with her clawed finger extended.

「Ah. Alright…」

Will lets out a relieved huff and adjusts his glasses, angrily grimacing at Greaves with his mouth scrunched to the side.

「…How are you going to hide your tail and get in the water?」「Agh!… Guess I have no choice but to show it…」

Straf chimes in, causing Stripe to cringe heavily.

「Alright! Are you coming with me, Alicia? I don't mind if you join me in the water!」

Greaves asks as he throws his sheath and backpack inside one of the rooms, slams the door shut, and prances off down the hallway with an amused grin on his face.

「Greaves!…」

Alicia quickly drops the backpack at the threshold of her room and props her wand up against a wall, sliding the door shut as she rushes to follow him.

「Ahaha! Ha-haha-haha! Joking!… Unless?… Where are the baths, anyway?…」

Greaves guffaws, rustling his orange mass of hair as he replies. The two disappear beyond a corner.

「Right… Like I said, I think I'll unpack and prepare a change of clothes first. Go on ahead if you want, Lian…」

With a sigh, Will enters his room and slides his backpack off his shoulders with a grunt.

「Sure.」

She simply shrugs as she heads for her room, dipping in for a few moments before emerging without her cloak, bag, and spear, following after Greaves and Alicia.

Straf enters an empty room, then drops a luggage onto the floor from his [Portable Storage].

「Nona… Aaand Lia.」

He declares, nonchalantly pointing his thumb over his shoulder at the dim, open room. He slides another door open and does the same.

「…Sorry, I won't help you unpack. Forgive me if I'm going to sound like an old man, but it'll take an unstoppable force to remove me from the fucking hot spring…」

He walks out into the hallway with his hands in his pockets, and shrugs while talking to Cycelia. She nods, unbuttoning her fancy coat.

「I'll join you in just a moment, Straf!」

She says as Straf heads down the hallway with Lily, Nona, Oleander, and Stripe.

「…Ah, no, go on ahead and get in first. I'm going to take a look around the place first.」

He replies before disappearing behind the corner. Cycelia shrugs, and moves to open her luggage…

…

Around the same time…

Straf and his now smaller group reach a split in the hallways. A small wooden sign attached high up on a nearby wall reads changing room.

「Straf, are you not coming?」

Stripe asks, taking a step towards the sign's direction.

「Hm? Nah, go on ahead.」

Straf simply replies and walks off in another direction. Stripe blinks at Nona and Lily with confused eyes before simply shrugging and heading towards the changing room.

They enter the cloth curtain-covered doorway into a small room, and two more curtains lead to two different rooms. Text on one curtain reads lady, and the other reads man.

「Here…」

Stripe leads the group into the lady curtain.

The group walks into a somewhat cramped, very humid, and warm room full of shelves with small, box-shaped racks. It's not unpleasantly warm or humid, but staying here for longer than necessary would certainly be so. Stripe walks up to one of the shelves and begins untying her sash, taking a peek over her shoulder.

「Well? Leave your clothes here and take a towel.」

Stripe says to her group. Unprompted, Oleander is already doing the same.

「Undress here?」

Lily asks with her arms crossed and her golden head tilted. Nona finds no problem about, and begins pulling her shirt over her head.

「It's a changing room, where else? We're all girls here, anyway…」

Stripe shrugs, and undresses to the underwear beneath her kimono. Though grimacing and reluctant, Lily begins untying her ascot…

…

A little over ten minutes later, in the women's baths…

Splash!

Stripe's striped ears flutter on top of her head as she splashes water from a bucket over herself.

「Ahhh… Okay, I'm ready to enter I guess… What about you, Lily?」

Stripe asks, standing up from the little stool near the wall. Vapors from the pool of nearby water fills the room with thick steam, obscuring most everything but Lily's grimacing face.

「I suppose I'm clean… Hmpf. I was clean to begin with.」

Lily replies and crosses her arms, though the motion is barely visible in the thick steam pooling lower near the ground.

「Doesn't matter if you were or weren't. It's a custom… Wait, we gotta do something about your hair, you can't enter like this…」

Stripe says and squats down in the steam near Lily's stool.

SPLASH!

Nona drops her towel by the water's edge and hops in with a loud splash. Oleander slinks down into it with her towel resting on her head and keeping her hair up.

「Nonsense. They can't make me-」

「Tsk… Who cares if the water gets a little dirty… You heard what she said. You have very pretty hair, and it'd be a shame if it got damaged…」

Lily protests, but Stripe clicks her tongue and rolls her eyes, nonchalantly reaching for one of the ribbons tying Lily's twintails. She unties it, and a portion Lily's hair comes unfurled.

「Nh… Well… I suppose so…」

With a little pout, Lily shrugs her pale, bare shoulders and looks away, letting Stripe untie the other ribbon.

Stripe then grabs the bulk of Lily's golden hair, rolls it up into a bun, then ties it off with her ribbons at the back of her head.

「…There. I think you look pretty cute like that, too. Now hop in the water, and don't forget your towel.」

Standing up, Stripe nods her head with a satisfied smirk and heads for the water.

「…Hmpf.」

Lily tentatively feels for her new hairstyle with her clawed fingers, then stands up and heads to join the rest…

…

Around the same time…

「Okay… Now where is Straf?」

Cycelia remarks to herself as she slides the door shut, wearing only the bare minimum, leaving her sword, coat, and boots in her room.

She follows the path Straf took while swiveling her head left and right. She walks through the maze-like corridors in search of the baths. With each corner she takes, there is a large temperature gradient. One hallway is cold, the other is warm. After losing track of where to go and stopping at a junction, she decides to follow the warmth. Two stranger women wearing only towels wrapped around their bodies pass by her, and they exchange glances.

Cycelia looks at them over her shoulder, and the two pay her no more mind as soon as they pass by her, simply continuing on their merry conversation in the local language.

「…I suppose that's normal here?」

She remarks, and continues onwards. She notices a sign high up, and she furrows her brows at its cryptic characters. She looks around and finds a curtain with the exact same characters as the sign, or at least so she thinks. Though hesitant, Cycelia decides to peek into the room past the curtain.

「…Hellooo?」

She calls out, and there is no response. She walks in, fidgeting with her silver medallion. She sees two curtains with another set of characters

「Ahhhhh… I'd spend a whole week here if I could.」

「Father would kill us!」

Two women walk out from beyond one of the curtains, chatting in high spirits with smiles on their faces. They look at Cycelia, then exit the small room into the hallway.

Still hesitant, Cycelia decides to walk into the room the two women had just left. She pushes through the curtain, and finds herself amongst shelves with folded clothes here and there.

「Ah… This is a changing room?…」

A little encouraged, Cycelia walks up to one of the many shelves with towels in its compartment.

While unbuttoning her shirt, she is further enheartened when she recognizes Stripe's folded kimono, Lily's dress, and Nona's regular off-duty clothing on the nearby shelves. A smile appears on her face as she takes off her shirt, folds it up, and takes a folded towel from one of the compartments. She sets it down one of the benches nearby, and continues undressing. She unbuttons the side of her skirt to loosen it, and slips it off down her legs.

Clank!… Clankclank…

「Hm?…」

Cycelia's chestnut head perks up when something light and wooden falls to the floor. She looks at the source of the sound.

「…A stick? Ah… I must have accidentally knocked it to the ground…」

In her underwear, she reaches for the stick and examines it with her brows furrowed. She traces the zigzagging paper attached to its tip with her dainty finger, tilting her head at its purpose.

「…Paper? Is this an eastern duster?…」

She mumbles to herself, blinking at the strange wand-like object.

「…Who does it belong-? Ah… Must be this person's.」

Cycelia looks at the nearby shelf to see where the wand may have fell from. Amongst the compartment of towels, she finds neatly folded white and red clothes.

She places the stick in the compartment on top of the folded clothes, but it doesn't quite fit in. She pulls it out, and briefly rubs her lips with her thumbs, staring at it with a pensive gaze.

Cycelia then shrugs, sticks the paperless end between the two folded items, and carries on with undressing…