Chapter 11: Oh no. Isn’t this bad?

Even though it was the women’s bath, there were no other guests. I had been enjoying the open-air bath all to myself when, behind me, a silver-haired princess knight scooped water from the bath with a wooden wash bucket and rinsed herself.

My head was about to short-circuit.

“Fufu, don’t be so tense. In a place like this, status doesn’t matter, does it? Besides, you’re the benefactor who saved us. You don’t need to worry about me.”

As she said that, the completely naked princess knight—Evangeline—deliberately stepped into the spacious open-air bath right beside me. Her silver hair, styled into vertical ringlets, spread across the surface of the water as it touched the bath.

You rinse yourself but leave your hair like that? That’s oddly inconsistent. And seriously, can those ringlets even be set again? Do you have some knight under your command whose sole job is doing your hair? Also… those are some impressive areolae. How were those even hidden by that tiny bikini-armor knockoff?

All sorts of questions bubbled up in my head, but faced with the unprecedented situation of sharing a bath with a voluptuous beauty, I couldn’t even manage a proper reply.

Well, I suppose it shouldn’t count as mixed bathing anymore, since I’m a blonde pretty girl myself now—but still.

“Ah, uh, yes, um, thank you.”

“You’re quite slender. You use up vitality when Lady Ririka casts her grand magic, don’t you? It’s a harsh role. At the very least, you should eat more and build up your strength.”

“Ah, well, um, I guess so… I’ll try to be careful.”

“Come to think of it, is Lady Ririka not with you?”

“No, um, she went in earlier, and I think she’s back in the room now. Probably.”

“I see. So you couldn’t bathe together with your master, and that’s why you came alone at such a late hour. But Lady Ririka, despite being such a great mage, has a very friendly nature. Even if you don’t hold back, she’d treat you just like a friend.”

“Well, I guess that’s how it is… maybe.”

Evangeline seemed to have misunderstood something on her own. With a gentle smile, she leaned closer.

No, please watch it—those absurdly huge breasts are about to touch me.

“I’ve heard that Lady Ririka bought you from a vile slave trader and saved you. You must have been through a lot. The fact that slave trading still occurs within my Gransil domain is a disgrace, and as a member of the royal family, I bear part of that responsibility. As both royalty and a knight, I want to apologize. I’m sorry you were made to suffer.”

With that, the representative of the Gransil royal family—and of the knight order—who also happened to possess an outrageously lewd body, gently pulled me into her embrace, enveloping me in a soft, plush sensation.

Oh come on. Right now I may be a blonde beauty, but if I were still my original self from the real world, this would have caused a serious situation I couldn’t control. The fact that even the indescribable parts of my body have become those of a prim, graceful blonde girl probably saved my life.

Still, that idiot cat-eared Ririka—what kind of nonsense has she been telling people? Who’s a slave, huh?

“Ah, um, th-this is, it’s fine, really, it’s okay.”

If this kept up, even setting aside the nonexistent “unruly part” in this world, the combined effect of the hot spring temperature would make my head boil over completely.

Mustering every bit of willpower I had, I slipped free from the voluptuous, indecent embrace and put some distance between us.

“What is it? There’s no need to be shy between women.”

“No, um, it’s not that, it’s just… this is a bit much.”

“I told you already—don’t worry about status in a place like this. Right now, we’re just two naked women. There’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”

That’s exactly why it’s a problem.

“Fufu, you’re turning so red. You really are cute.”

I can’t take this anymore. At this rate, I really am going to lose my mind.

As I desperately forced my overheated brain to think of a way to escape this situation and get out of the bath without offending the kind-hearted princess knight, I suddenly heard a scream.

Since we were in the open-air bath, I couldn’t tell clearly, but it seemed to come from the street outside the inn. Evangeline also looked around, trying to pinpoint the direction of the sound.

“Wh-what was that!? I’ll go check it out!”

Sorry to whoever screamed, but this was my chance. Using that as an excuse, I got out of the bath, dashed into the changing area, quickly dried myself, threw on the inn’s yukata, and hurried outside.

Outside the inn, Ririka and Natsumi were already there, mixed in with several onlookers who looked like local residents, all peering from the corner of a side street toward the main road. Both of them must have rushed out after hearing the scream, since they were still wearing the inn’s yukata.

Even though it was night, a large crowd had gathered in the street, watching the situation unfold.

“I heard something like a scream. Did something happen?”

“Mm-nya… about that…”

Ririka said, pointing toward the main road.

“P-please stop! Even if you’re adventurers who saved the city, this kind of thing isn’t allowed!”

“Hah! And who’s gonna stop me!? I’m a level 230 heavy-armored saintess, you know!? There’s nobody left in this world who can order me around!”

“Uheheh, if you’re a saintess, try acting like one, Claudia.”

“Shut up, Akiyama. Don’t get jealous just because you stayed a guy. You’re an ikemen now, aren’t you?”

It seemed that two members of the group of four who had protected the city were causing trouble. One of them was gripping a woman’s arm, apparently trying to drag her away somewhere.

“Looks like those four are using the fact they saved the city as leverage and doing whatever they want to the people who took refuge here, nya.”

“I figured they were bad news, but this is worse than I expected.”

“What should we do? We could leave it alone, but watching people like that do whatever they want really rubs me the wrong way.”

“Even so, all of them are level 230 no-lifers, nya. Even if Ririka and the others can’t engage in player-versus-player combat, if it turns into a fight, it probably won’t end well.”

“Then what about Clarice-san—oh… in that outfit, you can’t really do anything……”

“…Sorry. I was in a hurry.”

I had rushed out of the bath and thrown on the inn’s yukata, tying the sash without much thought. Even I had to admit the result was a bit sexy. Careless of me. I should have at least brought my gun and communicator.

At this rate, all I could do was stand there with the gawkers and watch the outlaws’ rampage.

As I regretted that and debated going back just to grab my gun, a young man stepped out from the surrounding crowd and confronted the two who were trying to drag a woman away.

“Please let Elena go! Even if you’re the people who saved everyone in this city, there are things you can do and things you can’t!”

“Huh? What’s this? You the guy who’s gonna say it’s not allowed? Don’t get all high and mighty, NPC trash.”

“Uhihihihi! Ain’t it ’cause you’ve got a woman’s body now that they’re looking down on you?”

“Shut the hell up, Akiyama! …Jeez. This body’s amazing in some ways, but it’s such a pain in others. …Hey, you. What, is this your girlfriend or something? You’re shaking like that—does that mean you want her back so badly?”

“Th-then… will you give her back?”

As the young man looked up at her pleadingly, the woman called Claudia strode over without a word and kicked him away.

The kick sent him flying back into the crowd, taking several people with him before he vanished into the darkness at the far end of the street.

“Josh! Nooooo!”

“Uwahahaha! Don’t you dare talk back to players, you NPC scum! Idiot! Just die already!”

What a piece of work. With a handsome face and priestly attire, yet behavior worse than a street thug’s.

I clenched my fists in anger—only to notice that right beside me was someone burning with even greater fury: a sexy, cross-dressing shota elf, wearing a loosely draped yukata that left his chest almost entirely exposed.

“…Those bastards! I can’t take this anymore! I’ll kill them!”

As Natsumi tried to bolt forward, Ririka and I grabbed him and barely managed to hold him back.

“Let go of me! Justice can’t stand unless I show them hell!”

“N-now’s not the time, nya! Even if we rush in blindly, we don’t stand a chance, nya!”

“And they’re still human—if we do something now, people around us will get hurt! We need a plan before we act!”

This cross-dressing shota elf always claimed he didn’t care about other people, yet the moment someone was treated unfairly right in front of him, he snapped instantly. I didn’t dislike that about him—but charging in now would be reckless.

As we struggled to restrain Natsumi, Claudia made an even more unbelievable move in the middle of the street.

“Nooooo!”

She tore the woman’s clothes apart with her bare hands, stripping her naked. Then she threw off her own clothes, grabbed the woman by the hair, and shoved her face down toward her crotch.

“C’mon, lick it! Special service! We’re gonna have some fun right here tonight! Outdoors has its own charm, right? Any girls who wanna join, come on over!”

“Hey, hey, don’t just start something like that here. Even the guys are watching, you know? You’re supposed to be a saintess—have a little shame.”

“Like I give a damn. I only got stuck with this job ’cause it can use healing magic. If any guy comes near, I’ll kill him!”

Maybe she had put effort into character creation, because what must once have been a beautiful avatar now looked utterly hideous. On top of that, it was completely overgrown—there definitely hadn’t been an option for that during character creation.

As these eye-searing acts unfolded on the night-time main street, a single dignified voice rang out clearly.

“You wretches! What do you think you’re doing in the middle of the city!? Have you no shame!?”

Stepping forward to confront the woman who could only be described as deranged was another woman whose outfit made you question her sanity as well.

Princess Knight Evangeline herself—fully equipped in a see-through, micro-bikini-armor-style costume.

I’d wondered why she was taking so long. Maybe that outfit actually took time to prepare.

“Oh? Now it’s that daytime princess knight. But hey, she looks like more fun than this one. Since she came to us herself, maybe I’ll enjoy myself with the princess instead.”

With that, Claudia shoved the naked woman away and tossed her toward the crowd.

“Pathetic. You’re so bad at licking it, you didn’t do a thing for me. Don’t disappoint me, Princess.”

“Filthy scum…! Knights! Seize those two!”

At Evangeline’s command, knights pushed through the crowd one after another, surrounding Claudia and the man called Akiyama at the center of the disturbance.

“This is bad, nya! If this keeps up, the knights are probably going to get seriously hurt, nya! I’ll hold Natsumi-chan back, so Clarice-nyan, go back to the room and grab the gun and communicator, nya! Somehow, get in touch with Erika-nyan, nya!”

“G-got it!”

I turned and started running back toward the inn—but someone grabbed my shoulder and stopped me.

I stumbled and fell to the ground. When I looked up, two men and a woman who had appeared behind me were staring down at me. Ririka and Natsumi noticed as well and froze behind me.

“Looks like Kuro and Jas are really going wild, so we came to check it out—and hey, aren’t these the players who were with the princess knight earlier? You sure it’s fine to run off and leave the princess behind? …Though, damn, this one’s level 1. What a joke.”

“Hey, boss, why don’t we let Kuro-chan play with these ones too? It’s a pain having other players hanging around.”

“Yeah. Rough ’em up without sending ’em to the temple, and they’ll behave.”

As he said that, the man who seemed to be the leader of the four grabbed the collar of my yukata and yanked me up.

Oh no.

Isn’t this bad?