I felt all my thoughts and worries melt the second I entered the hot water. By the total enchantment on both Lavanda and Sophia's faces, I could tell they felt the same way I did. The water was just at the perfect temperature, not too hot, not too cold. For the full hours that we had access to the mixed bath, I didn’t question if the gold coins I spent on the entry fee were worth it or not, it simply was. By the rule of the establishment, we left all our clothes in the changing room, except for towels given by the house. In the mixed bath, the wear of one was mandatory when outside the water.

Normally, familiars weren’t accepted in the bathhouse, but so was bribery. When the clerk understood I was the one with the bigger pouch, he let all my familiars through, as long as they didn’t bother other people. The other women were a bit worried when they saw a cute, nasty dog enter the bath along with a giant spider that could eat them and a three-headed hydra snuggling my chest. Even with the unusual sight, they relaxed as soon as the dog started to play with the water like it was his first time seeing any. Nobody could reasonably hate the sight of a dog having fun in the water. These women were the living proof.

Clinging to me as if its life depended on it, Tenta swept my skin off any impurities that weren’t cleaned by the water. I felt cherished by the gentle touch of its tentacle, with every second he saved me from the hassle of cleaning myself. I still didn’t know how to wash myself properly even at this point. 15 years of lying in bed was to blame for that. Being washed by a tentacle… how shameless it was, I loved it!

The water was just a little too deep for Gnash, so he opted to lie on the bath stairs. He dived his head underwater only taking it out a second later, splashing anyone too close with water, only to do it again soon after.

Not too far away, Tara was sleeping on the water, her legs spreading her weight enough that it looked like she was walking or floating on the water. I knew that spiders could walk on water, aka swim, but wasn’t sure how it worked for a spider as big as Tara. Especially considering that she had the added weight of the dragon egg on her abdomen. If it works, it works, I guessed.

As for Hybry, he had the time of his life as I scrubbed every single one of his scales. I wasn’t about to let my perfect little hydra be soiled by any dirt he might have accumulated over time. I only stopped when I was sure that the white line following his spine was as clean as the sun itself.

When I let him go free, he immediately came back, instead of playing with the others. Although I was pretty sure he just enjoyed playing with my boobs, he seemed unrelenting with his goal of making sure my breast were the cleanest around. He didn’t complain whenever Sophia or Lavanda took him for themselves, as he played with them to his heart's content. He seemed to find Sophia's wolf fur pretty comfy. But, only my chest truly was his centre of attention. I didn’t even try to stop him, who was I to deny my hydra what he wanted? Pretty sure I wouldn’t have been able to resist his pleading eyes anyway.

Switching to Gnash, it was a little awkward washing him while Hybry wouldn’t let me go. When the dog was clean, he still looked like he was fresh out of a swamp with rotten skin, hollow eye sockets and a carcass appearance. At least, despite his look, he didn’t smell at all. On the contrary, with the soap Lavanda gave me, he was a walking garden full of flowers that forced me to bury my face in his fur to be sure I wasn’t dreaming about the smell.

Since it was a mixed bath, most women were sticking to one side while the men were on the other side, only my familiars were exceptions to that rule. Lavanda was a little apprehensive to allow me in with all the men around, but with my familiars with us, there was little to no risk of being harassed by anyone, unless they wanted to die a horrible death. To Lavanda's relief, the water was too foggy to look at anyone's private part.

As we unsurprisingly expected, there was no shortage of men eyeing women with their lustful eyes, at least they restrained themselves to that. The women seemed to acknowledge that as normal and to be expected in the mixed bath. From what I heard, separate hot baths were planned in the future, but not for a little while. It already took the bathhouse a lot of funding and time to build the mixed bath, more renovation would wait until the income of the hot spring got higher. Which it definitely would with the amount of people around, both men and women.

As time passed, a few women, those who hated being stared at, began agglomerating around Gnash as a way to avert men's eyes away from them. Whenever a man was looking at one of the women near Gnash, the dog would glare at him until the eyes full of lust switched to being filled with only fear. Whoever stared too long into the abyss that was Gnash eyes could only dread what was staring at him back. The intimidation was so effective that some of them left the bath immediately, fearing that the plague dog would go after them.

Women who were grateful for Gnash's help were more than enthusiastic to play in the water with him. Even if Gnash was a dog, not a man, he was still a male. They choose the lesser of two evils. When I looked at his mind, I knew that he enjoyed the sight more than they knew. Between all my familiars present, only Tara had a pure mind. She seemed so innocent as she peacefully floated on the water.

I was the only one bothering her from time to time to check on the dragon egg, although with Tara keeping it, I had nothing to worry about. Everyone else except Sophia and Lavanda kept their distance whenever the spider drifted in their direction. They did not want a giant spider anywhere near them, and it showed.

Time passed as we continued to relax in the hot water. With a busy day and busy tomorrow, people were starting to leave. Contrary to us, they had things to do that couldn’t be ignored. Everyone had the decency to cover themselves with their towel when they exited the bath. Being naked in the water was something, naked for the world to see was something else.

I initially thought Sophia would leave too since she had worked at the guild. To my surprise, she had already taken the next morning off, so there was nothing stopping her from staying as long as she wanted.

The night was filled with stars in the sky and birds singing melodic songs that echoed through the city. With the behemoth moonlight on our skin, I almost wanted to howl like a wolf toward the sky. When there was almost nobody left except us, a man with blond hair entered the hot spring, followed by a woman with scarlet hair and what I could only describe as a werewolf.

I remembered seeing them at the guild once. With all the time I spent at the guild recently, I saw the woman and the werewolf quite a few times, but I never interacted with them. As for the man, I had only seen him once. Apparently, he was a prominent noble in the city, one of the few with enough money and prestige to basically afford anything he wanted. I heard that he was a B-rank adventurer.

Splashing his head with water, he laid his head back and closed his eyes, lost in his own mind. I couldn’t even tell if he noticed us or not. In general, I avoided looking at other people's naked bodies, but not seeing anything was effectively impossible. He had a decent build for an adventurer, with a well-built six-pack. His neck was less thick than most adventurers I had seen, but I wouldn’t have been surprised if he was a highly wanted man by ladies. He looked more confident and prettier than most other men I saw around. Perk of being a noble, I guessed. He could buy every advantage available, like potions and lotions, as well as have the time to train his body. The other men in the bath didn’t hold a candle to him. The women left made it known.

Each time I saw the woman, she had been dressed in a maid uniform, meaning she was his maid. I doubted a noble would do everything himself, so it was the logical conclusion. Of course, since this was a hot spring she only had a towel, clothes weren’t allowed. She didn’t look very appreciative of the water. Not taking her time to enjoy, she immediately began cleaning herself, starting first with her scarlet hair.

The werewolf sat down behind her as if waiting his turn to be washed. From what I understood, he was a slave of the noble, whose name I didn’t bother learning. Yet, he didn’t even look at the man at all, he looked everywhere but him. His eyes scanned the area in search of something, only stopping to admire the body of the woman on the other side of the bath, meaning us.

This wasn’t a simple curious stare, I could feel that he was trying to understand if we were prey to kill or predators he should worry about. Before I mustered enough aggressiveness in me to look him back, his eyes switched to Gnash. The plague dog stared at the werewolf with defying determination that declared he would touch none of us.

Only the sound of birds and water occasionally broke the silence as the two bodyguards confronted each other. I didn’t know where this would end, but I wasn’t about to let the two of them escalate this into a fight. We were here to enjoy and relax in a soothing hot bath that could vanish the daily worries of anyone. Not to go to war for the other resources simply because a stranger or monster looked at me for too long.

I tapped the water with my hand, signalling to my dog to come to me. “Gnash, come here, boy!”

He broke sight with the werewolf, double-checking one last time before swimming to me. The water was about a foot too deep for him to be able to walk. Tara sensed the tension her friend emanated, so she was nonchalantly floating behind me. The dragon egg was her priority if there was a fight, I had someone else to defend me if it came to that.

I placed my legs in a meditation position so that Gnash could use them to sit safely with his head above water. As soon as he was comfortable, he looked at the werewolf again, who at this point had lost all interest in us. For the better in my opinion.

Out of nowhere, the maid took out a different soap bar than the one she was using, and the other disappeared out of my sight. I wondered where she could have possibly stored them. Naked, she had no pockets. The bathhouse didn’t offer any free soap, so it was surely from her personal stash. I did sense a small, almost unnoticeable fluctuation in magic when the soap got out of my sight. For such a small thing as soap, she used some kind of magic I didn’t know about to either summon or store it.

Finished with herself, the maid began washing her bodyguard with a dominating hand. The monster followed her every instruction as she cleaned him. Gone was the predatory sight, only obedience toward his mistress was left in the werewolf as his fluffy tail swung left and right.

I couldn’t hide my own smile as I watched the scene. It was like night and day. Gnash was still unsure of what to make of the situation, so I scrubbed his fur to the point where he couldn’t focus on them anymore. Hybry, oblivious that anything had ever happened, joined in the fray, and together we assaulted the plague dog with so much attention that he began jumping, turning and splashing around. He tried to limit his movement to stay on my legs, but the limited footing didn’t allow him the luxury to defend himself properly.

In the total unfairness of four heads against one, Lavanda united with team Gnash and tried to tickle me from behind while I was distracted. Unfortunately for me, I noticed her far too late. Unlimited tickles attacked me as all I could do was laugh without being able to stop myself or Lavanda. Her devious smile sent far bigger danger signals to my brain than the werewolf ever did. She hit the perfect tickles spot with everything she got. I lost control of the situation and Hybry was left playing with a swimming Gnash all by himself.

Watching us, Sophia didn’t join and opted to simply watch the tickle war unfold. Whispering something about how she never tickled or got tickled and that she didn’t want to ruin our fun. Lavanda didn’t take that for a good answer, and neither did I. In common ground, a truce was established. It was Sophia who led us here, it would have been a crime to keep all the fun to ourselves. She was to laugh with us, whether she wanted or not.

In a combined assault, Lavanda and I teamed up. I tickled Sophia's left underarms while the witch took care of the right one. She tried to keep us away, but we were too much for her to handle. Her normally fluffy black fur was soaked wet which made it rather difficult to find her sweet spot. We knew we had won the moment she started laughing uncontrollably. In small moments of deviancy, Lavanda fondled Sophia's breast, curious to know if it was another sweet spot. The effects were, to say the least, rather unholy.

When Sophia was left panting for breath, we stopped to not push her too far. We wanted her to laugh with us, which she unwillingly did. She splashed both of us with water in retribution, but now she had a joyful, blushing smile on her face. That was all we wanted from her.

We decided it was about time we ended the night. Judging by the moon, it was probably around midnight. With both my training for the inferno bomb and the tickles, I had some difficulty keeping my eyes open and senses alert. The moonlight was getting a little heavy on my shoulder as I looked for my towel on the bathside. When I didn’t find it, I asked Lavanda if she could lend me hers. She couldn’t find her towel and neither Sophia.

Something taps my back. It was Tara pointing with her leg toward our feet. Stretching her leg as much as she could, she took out of the water one of our towels. They must have all slipped into the water when we started ticking each other. Gnash and Hybry were chivalrous enough and fetch the second towel, and Sophia found the third one. All soaked wet, there was no way we could dry ourselves with them.

Obviously, we could have simply walked inside to the changing room and asked the clerk for a new towel, but that would imply we needed to walk there naked or with wet towels.

There were still a few men around the bath, so it wasn’t something any of us three was naturally inclined to do, even if Lavanda didn’t seem to mind if it was her, as long as it wasn’t me. The only thing she absolutely wouldn’t tolerate was if I had to walk naked in front of strangers. Lavanda always had a lewd side, at the very least she knew the limit.

At that point, we were somewhat the centre of attention. Almost every man left had their eyes fixated on us, even if they tried to look away. The noble guy from earlier was also staring at us, more precisely, he was staring at me only. Even direct eye contact didn’t deter him as it did with other men. I could feel where his eyes were looking at. It wasn’t in a lustful and lewd way, but more like he was trying to judge if I was beautiful or not. There wasn’t much we could do about people staring at us in a mixed bath, so I wasn’t about to cause a commotion. It was a mixed bath for god’s sake, it would have been weird if nobody had looked at us.

Back to our towel problem, we needed towels. Walking toward the bath stares, I was about to exit the water when Lavanda stopped me, just before my breast reached above water level. “Emery, just to be sure that you noticed, you’re naked!”

“Kinda, I know. Why?” Of course, I was aware of the lack of clothing on my skin. There was a limit to how relaxed the hot water could get me.

“I won’t let strangers stare at your naked body! I could dry the towel with wind magic, it would take time, but it’s not a bad option. There are other women left, we could ask them for a towel. You don’t need to show yourself naked!”

“I be fine.” I was touched by her devotion to protecting me, but I was the best suited for the situation. I had something absolutely unique, absolutely special that could protect me against all evil in this world. No matter what corrupted things the world would throw at me, what I had would shelter me til the very end of both me and it.

Ignoring her, I stepped out of the water. I couldn’t contain my smile when I saw her face. Everyone's eyes were locked on me, wondering if I was about to let them see everything.

Fully out, I felt the cold air of the night brush my skin. A shiver travelled my spine, letting me know that I was still awake.

Lavanda was baffled for a few seconds before sighting from both relief and exasperation. “I should have seen it coming.”

A green, thick vine covered and supported my breast, effectively serving as a bra. Another one was also serving as a pantie. Hiding my most private part from anyone who wondered what the hell I was wearing. Pinching the fabric, I stretched it to the point that when I let it go, it slapped back against my skin, making a tight sound in the process. A slim vine following my spine connected the two underwear together.

I smiled at Lavanda who couldn’t believe what I was wearing. “See! Told you I be fine! You shouldn’t worry about such trivial thing as underwear.”

“Let me ask you one question.”

I crossed my arm proudly. There was absolutely nothing wrong with what I was wearing. I even debated in my own head whether I should wear this every day, it was much more comfortable, resistant and most importantly versatile than regular underwear. “What?”

“Are these just random, regular vines you took from underground, or actually Tenta tentacle?”

“Tenta in the flesh, of course. Why would I use anything else when Tenta can do the job himself? He’s already sliding in my clothes all the time. I’m used to him touching my skin, he’s more comfortable than you think! Tenta got me covered!”

“Literally…” She sighed. “If he can imitate clothes, you could wear a little more than undergarments, you know!”

“But the more stretch he is, the less resistant and thick he gets! I feel perfectly protected right now!”

“This is too lewd, even for me. I can’t handle this much assumption in a single day. Emery put some clothes on right now!” Lavanda said with a more demanding tone than I was used to. I felt like it was something I shouldn’t push more than I already did.

“Yes! Tenta, a robe, please.” I said, a little intimidated.

Still keeping the undergarment, Tenta stretched to its max capacity to form something resembling a model of a robe I saw once when I was shopping. His fabric wasn’t as elastic anymore and the dress only had the necessary parts to properly function. A lot of detail was lost and everything compressed tight on my skin as much as possible without being uncomfortable. I was surprised Tenta could do that much with just the volume of its regular tentacle. Tenta was particularly tight around my breast. The fact that they were slightly smaller than average was a blessing at the moment, even if I would have never admitted it.

Going to the changing room, I took three towels and gave them to Lavanda and Sophia. I didn’t need one, I was practically dry. Tenta was a plant, water was literal nutrition for him. That it was his mistress' bath water made no difference.

While Sophia and Lavanda dried themselves. I helped Gnash and Hybry with the third towel. The hydra scales weren’t hard to dry at all, but the dog proved to be a challenge. He could have done it in a few seconds, but it would have splashed everyone nearby with water, and I didn’t want to bother other people. It would have been rude. I shuffled the towel on Gnash as much as I could and left the finer wetness to Tenta by hugging and petting the dog as my dress absorbed the water.

As for Tara, she barely splashed a little water on herself and floated the entire duration we were in the hot spring, so there was nothing for me to help her with. The egg was also well and good. Since it came from a dragon, I didn’t have to worry about overheating it.

Before exiting the mixed bath, I checked behind one last time to make sure we didn’t forget anything and saw the nobleman look at me. The maid whispered something in his ears. He smiled with contempt as he looked at me one last time, before talking to his maid. The girl didn’t help him at all with anything during the bath, pretty sure he washed himself. I thought it was strange since he brought her here with him and a monster effectively acting as a bodyguard. I thought men liked being washed by cute girls, but it wasn’t my business.

After dropping Sophia to her own room in her apartment near the guild, Lavanda and I got back to our inn. She gave some meat from the neighbouring restaurant to Randal waiting for his meal in the inn room.

I entered my room, took off my shoes and splattered on my ever-so-comfy hammock right after throwing my bag somewhere in a corner. Gnash, Tara and the egg shared the bed between them while Hybry shared my boobs between his three heads. His favourite pillows.

I had entirely forgotten that Tenta was still serving as my clothes, my actual armour and dress still in my bag. Before I fell asleep, I felt him change back into underwear, only the panties part. I never knew that Tenta was sympathetic enough with Hybry to leave him my breast bare, all to the hydra's delight. What a good tentacle he was.

 

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