Staring at the phone, he wondered what made Fellelone ticked. ‘It can’t be because of technology can it?’ Yet he remembered those dewy eyes before they turned into an alert predator. ‘I don’t think so, it must be something else.’ And that something else flashed in his mind for a second, remembering what was so special about his phone.

‘The caller, she’s the one,’ from the first time he landed in this world, this unknown caller had been with him the whole time, giving advice and directions. Even with all those screams and complaints, she was there to guide him.

‘Who is she really?’ he unlocked his phone and the countless missed calls cluttered over his screen. ‘One thousand one hundred and thirteen missed calls…that’s a lot,’ John felt bad hanging up on her like that and seeing these missed calls made him feel like a jackass.

‘Better say I’m sorry before asking the more sensitive things,’ it was fortunate how he couldn’t call her back. But seeing there was nothing he could do, John left for the public bathhouse.

He had asked the waitress where he could clean himself up and the jarring answer was quite interesting. John would never have thought that a western frontier type of town had a public bathhouse. Well, to be fair even the names of the locals had a flair of diversity unlike in the usual fantasy setting. There was Jose in the Guardsman, and the smith of the town was Hakeem. Perhaps there were more unique things in little Satbury Town.

“Woah,” his eyes marveled at the structure before him. The building looked no different than a small-scaled pantheon. ‘Whoever that built this really love their ancient roman studies, or he might be a local.’

John went inside. To his surprise it was free, and no one was manning the counter. His eyes gazed at everything around him. Stone pillars rose tall supporting the high ceilings above John’s head. On the stone wall, the familiar little gems were oddly similar to the one in the chandelier. Giving off dimmer lights, but enough to give a suitable ambiance of a bathhouse. But John was sure it was definitely not electricity.

There were not many people around or perhaps it was too late in the evening. John took the path for the men’s side and the calming sound of water pouring down into a larger body of water grew nearer. He approached the body of water with subtle steams rising. ‘Warm bath? This is even better than I thought.’

The sky was open as this part was the opened bathhouse. Looking around, there were one or two people, in the bath, splashing water against their bodies, minding their own business. John took the long path and reached the far end where no one was there. He wasn’t going to jump in and soaked his brief, and so John went full commando. His butt bare and his thing dangling. John went in with a splash and emerged his head with a satisfied smile.

‘If these people can make a decent bathhouse, I think I can put my hope on their toilets,’ even if it was for two days, the dread of relieving himself out in the outdoor was too much for the picky John.

Lying his head on the edge of the pool, John closed his eyes and felt his tense muscles relaxing. It had been a long day for him, and after those twenty kills he made, John had reached level five.

“Menu. Status,” he uttered.

He watched his own status that was inflated by the blessing of his titles, quest completions, and the ring he wore on his left ring finger. Like Randal said before, from looking at his status alone, John was like being guarded by an angel.

‘I’ve got to admit, I’m pretty lucky getting out from those situations.’

The naked man stared at his numbers for a while and made his decision. “All points to agility.” It went down to zero as he invested it all into a single attribute. He knew what he needed the most and that was speed. The quicker he drew his blade, the more effective his slash would be.

His eyes landed on his level five. ‘There’s a long way to go, John…a very long way to go,’ he rested his head over at the edge, relaxing his mind and body. Since tomorrow wouldn’t be any different than today. He needed to level up and become stronger. The thought of Fellelone came and his eyes open.

Water splashed as John’s hand emerged out from the water. He raised it above his head with the moon as the backdrop. The ring on his finger shined in silver as if the veins on it were glowing.

“Menu. Equipment,” he said.

‘Without you Fellelone, I wouldn’t have all of this,’ she was in his heart figuratively and literally. With these numbers and the ring on his finger, it was as if Fellelone was right beside him. He remembered her touch and how she…

“Ahh!” A deafening scream broke the silence of the night. John jumped on his ass and faced the direction of the scream. ‘What’s going on?’

The helpless cry of a woman asking for help was loud and close. Knowing who he was, John couldn’t sit still. He jumped out of the bath and raced towards the entrance. But no matter where he looked, there was no one in the lobby. Yet his head glanced to the side as those screams were coming from the woman’s side.

John bolted without care, entering the woman’s section. The moment he reached the open-air bath, John’s eyes widened. A woman was struggling on the floor as someone was trying to mount her. She retaliated with her best, thwarting the attempt of this despicable assailant, with her flimsy attempt of punches.

“Let her go!” John rushed in and tackled the evil-doer. Both went down as they plunged into the bath. John emerged out of the water taking in the pleasure of a breath. Not a moment too soon, the assailant too raised to the surface. At that moment, the moon shone over this would-be rapist.

“Goblin?” something that shouldn’t be here was right inside the bathhouse. Then the scream from behind made him turned. The woman he saved was being dragged by another goblin. “Shit,” he cursed.

John got out and chased her down. His blinding speed caught up but he almost slipped from his slippery drenched feet. Yet his reflex saved the day. His hand found the ground from falling as his eyes were fixed at the goblin. In that brief second, he kicked off the ground and tackled the goblin by the waist. Both went down, and a loud thud hit the ground.

The goblin hit its head hard and the dazed look it had was the opportunity John wouldn’t miss.

John was on the goblin in a heartbeat and his knees tied the goblin’s thin arms to the floor. With no mercy in his eyes, John punched it right at the center of its throat.

The goblin squealed for a second there before losing its breath. It squirmed around trying to free itself. But with John’s weight on top of it, it couldn’t even budge an inch. The reflection in the goblin’s eyes showed the rising fists of John into the air. For a creature drove by lust, the sense of fear finally caught up.

John laid waste to the goblin. Hurling rain of fists at that ugly motherfucker’s face. Bones cracked and dark crimson blood soaked his two fists. The squirms died down and John finally stopped. He stared at the dead goblin underneath him as he never thought he would be this violent. His quickened breath slowly calmed down, but the shriek from the same woman came from behind.

John turned and at the end of the hall was the goblin who he left at the bath. He got up and walked towards it at a steady pace. But for once, the goblin ran. It went back into the bathhouse.

The restrained sound of sobs pulled his attention to the woman on the ground. She was hugging her knees with tears trailing down her cheeks.

“You okay?” John knelt down to her with his dick still dangling in the air. It seemed he still didn’t realize he was naked.

The naked woman couldn’t say a word. Her body was trembling yet her eyes looked at John, pleading for him to help.

“Everything is going to be fine,” John flashed a smile while hiding his bloody hand.

“What in the world is going on here?” yet a voice came near the entrance. A man dressed in a simple tunic, staring down at the corpse of a dead goblin, he was the caretaker of the bathhouse.

“Hey,” John called.

The man came over and glanced between these two. He noticed John’s bloody hands behind his back. “You did that?” he pointed at the goblin.

“There’s one more inside,” John got up. “Can you look after her?”

“I can, but you sure about fighting with your dick out?” the caretaker pointed out downstairs. “I’ve to say, you packed quite big down there.” The caretaker gave a big thumbs up.

John’s agility proved its worth, quickly covering his crotch with those bloody hands of his. ‘Shit, I got stinking goblin blood on my dick.’ Just the thought of it made him nauseated.

“Watch her, and call for the guardsmen,” John reminded the caretaker as he rushed back into the bathhouse.

“Lucerna. Est. Lux,” he cast Lantern’s Light and his vision improved better. He went around the open bath first, searching through every possible hiding spot. With nothing to be seen, he moved on to the closed bath. The lights were dim from afar, it would have been better if John could fly it around like a flying light bulb.

“Wait, can I do that?” John had never tried it before, but it would never hurt to try. He flung it forward and the little harmless ball of flames hovered in the direction he threw. It fell slowly towards the ground like a balloon losing its helium. John tried to retrieve it with the motion of his hand as he felt some tension in his fingers. He bent his index finger and the Lantern’s Light came back flying towards his palm.

‘I did it,’ what came after was a notification.

The little satisfaction he had was disturbed by the sound of splashing water. He rushed over and saw a goblin in the middle of the bath, struggling to keep itself afloat.

‘The heck is going on?’ it made John wondered. ‘Oh, it can’t reach the floor.’

The inner bathhouse had a different depth from the one outside and sadly for the goblin, its child-like height turned out to be its death. In the end, it stopped flapping, and its body sunk down to the bottom of the five feet depth of the bath.

John felt it was a bit anti-climatic after all those urgencies he showed at the caretaker and the girl. But at least he didn’t need to tussle with that smelly goblin again. The stench almost knocked him out, it was scary how dangerous the smell could be more so for someone like John.

Yet the calm he expected was broken by another sound. The loud bell of the town chimed continuously, and even for a newcomer like him, John knew it wasn’t a good sign.