After Ovid awoke from his rather peaceful sleep, he performed his usual routine of breathing exercises of breathing in for five seconds, holding it for another five, before releasing the gathered air over the course of five seconds. Then, he neatly folded the blanket so that the corners would perfectly touch, leaving the bedding in a more satisfactory condition than it had been before he had used it.
The sun had yet to manifest itself, and the stars could still be seen in the sky, judging from that and the fact that Anna yet to wake up, Ovid had evidently woken up quite early.
The hospitium had originally been proposed in the Alexander to strengthen relationships between prominent families, though when Julia had seized the imperium for herself, these families were either already destroyed, or had their properties confiscated to the hands of Martha.
Originally, this building had been temporarily the residence of Martha’s dragon subordinates, though it gradually lost its purpose.
Still, the original extravagance of the building was quite clear, thus, Ovid did not need to leave the premise of building to use the bath, as there was already a small building present.
Leaving for the small building, Ovid noticed that many of the silver elves had spent the night in the lower floor instead of using one of the many rooms he had paid for. Unfortunately, the vast majority of the elves were in a state of trace, the elvish equivalent of sleep, so Ovid could not inquire their reasoning.
The owner of the inn, and her numerous servants, had yet to wake up too, so Ovid himself had to push open the wooden entrance of the inn.
After preventing it from closing with a small rock, Ovid had yet to noticed that one of the silver elves had woken up.
The girl was named Aegis Cal, as she was born with the sole purpose of becoming the ambassador of the goddess Angharradh.
Aegis was 64 this year, the equivalent of a twelve-year-old human, thus, she was very young and understandably, possessed a carefree and naive personality, but for some reason, it was to an almost unreasonable degree. For example, even when she was sold into slavery, she was completely ignorant regarding anything intimate, causing her owner a great deal of headache, which ultimately resulted in her never actually interacting with a patron.
Perhaps it was a result of Ovid’s decision to purchase their freedom, or the open mindset present in silver elves, or because of her naive personality, Aegis seemed not in the slightest hesitant as she suddenly clung onto Ovid like a koala hugging a thick tree.
Naturally, this brought Ovid’s attention to Aegis.
Backing away a few steps, Ovid said, “Hello.”
Aegis had yet to notice Ovid had escaped her grip, her small and round head bouncing as she replied enthusiastically with a crisp voice, “Hello! I am Aegis,”
“Why did you hug me?” Ovid asked in a serious manner, as the coldness of his body could bring harm to Aegis.
Aegis, after sensing Ovid’s seriousness, forced an equally serious expression on her face as she said, “ Ah, I would like to thank you, on behalf of the goddess.”
As Aegis said these words, she accidentally bit her tongue, causing her bluish pale face to blush greatly, spreading from her cheeks to the edge of her long and fine ear.
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Furthermore, Aegis’s large and turquoise eyes began to fill with water, wetting her long eyelashes.
Aegis could only be described as cute, though as Ovid is completely blind to beauty, he did not have any interesting behaviours. Instead, Ovid felt that taking to this girl would be too troublesome, so he turned around, and continued walking towards the small building by the side of the inn.
Who knew, that Aegis would once again hug his body.
“I am very serious, I am really happy that you rescued me,” Aegis said, still in a very serious manner, though since her face was pressed against Ovid’s back, no one could see her performance.
“That is something I should do,” Ovid’s willingness to socialise have completely collapsed, causing his answer to become very clumsy.
Aegis was completely obvious to Ovid’s awkwardness, so she continued to lock Ovid with her two slender arms, she said, “Why is it something you should do?”
Ovid answered immediately, “That is since my mother has taught me to do so... since slavery is immoral.”
Aegis smiled sweetly at Ovid’s response despite her ignoring the first part of Ovid’s sentence.
Aegis smile was very cute, like a small rabbit nibbling on a carrot.
After a while, Aegi released Ovid, she asked, “Even then, I should repay you.”
Ovid tilted his head before motioning his hands, indicating that it was unnecessary. Resuming his footsteps, Ovid left in an almost cold manner toward the bath.
Aegis looked at Ovid’s disappearing figure and felt that this person was really scared of her. This was quite interesting, she thought.
---
Staring at the amenities located in the bath, including a small shelf of books, Ovid could not help but sigh, for he still hadn’t learned how to read in this world’s language.
Laying back against the marble walls of the bath and closing his eyes, Ovid felt that the temperature was ideal, Ovid slowly dozed off.
Hmm, the water level seemed to have raised? Ovid wondered.
As he was still wearing his stola while bathing, he did not mind too much regarding another person entering.
A quick yelp could be said as a crisp voice exclaimed, “How is the water here so cold!”
A small series of steps than followed, gradually closing toward Ovid’s position.
“The bath is quite big, there is no need to infringe upon my space, “Ovid said.
The steps paused momentarily before a splash could be heard reaching Ovid, causing his long hair that was tied in a bun to before wet.
Clearly, the girl had chosen a position close to Ovid, despite his wishes.
Surprisingly, Ovid did not express his displeasure toward the girl, as he was quite bad at speaking out harsh words and it would be too much of a bother.
Even more surprisingly, the girl had interpreted this as Ovid concede, thus, a pair of slender arms once again wrapped around Ovid, but as his back was against the wall of the bath, it could only be around Ovid’s equally pale arm.
A sweet and crisp voice said, “Ah, I am quite good with a bow, why don’t you let me join you instead of sending me back to the forest?”
Ovid became surprised, he looked at Aegis with his still closed eyes as he asked, “Why?”
“Of course, that is because you are an interesting person.”
Ovid hesitated as he said, “I think I am actually quite boring, I don’t speak much, and my face is basically always showing the same expression. If you want someone interesting, I am sure that Anna would be a much better choice.”
Ovid then said, “Furthermore, I am planning on giving you and the other elves the choice to return to the forest, or if Cai Hua approves, to split off a part of his minor realm, and let you inhabit it.”
Aegis said, “I don’t want to return to the forest, plus, us silver elves prefer to stay with humans, compared to our own kind.”
Ovid felt incredibly defeated, he started to attempt to pull off Aegis’s small hands that were wrapped around his arm.
Who knew that her grip was so strong, that when Ovid tried to stand up to escape it, that he would instead collapse along with Aegis into the water.
Fortunately, Ovid had been quite active in sports, particularly swimming in his past life, thus, he did not struggle long in the water. Yet, because of a habit, Ovid had developed back then, he instinctively opened his eyes after surfacing.
Immediately, he covered his eyes with his free hand.
A childish laugh echoed throughout the room, Aegis said in a cutesy manner, “I am actually also wearing clothes!”
Feeling a strange sense of loss, Ovid opened his eyes and realised that what Aegis had said, was indeed true.
Pulling off a few strands of Aegis’s blue hair that had stuck to his clothes, Ovid left the bath.
Perhaps Ovid had stayed too long in the spa, as his steps became incredibly disoriented, forcing him to lean onto the shelf that contained all the amenities.
Unexpectedly, the shelf actually collapsed on Ovid, forcing him under a small, yet troublesome pile of books.
Normally, Ovid could easily lift the objects lying atop of him off, but due to his terrible mood, he decided, it would be best to just be buried underneath the books.