Chapter nine: thank you for coming, we hope you enjoyed your stay

The feeling of sleeping into warm water while the cold air of the open brushes past your face, this juxtaposition of hot and cold was nothing short of heavenly. I felt all the muscles in my body simultaneously give out, like I’d melt into the water at this rate. Open air hot springs were something I had seen many times in anime and such but never experienced in real life; I can say with confidence that these received all the praises they got. “This is bliss. If only I had some alcohol to go with it,” I missed being able to drink. It was as though I was the biggest alcoholic in my previous life, but I did drink my fair share back then. “No, no, I probably shouldn’t with this body,” I stopped myself. “How are you holding up, Sherry?”

After doing all that running around and exercise which she never did before, her muscles were bound to ache tomorrow morning. Fortunately, Olivia was a master masseuse, so I’ve left that problem to her. Currently Sherry was lying face down on the massage bed receiving treatment, though admittedly the soft moans and heaving breathing was a little distracting. “Ah… haahh… it feels so good… haa…”

“Sherry, are you doing that on purpose?” I asked.

“Doing what…? ahahhh…”

“Never mind.” Once the message session was over, she thanked Olivia and dipped into the hot springs with me without reserve. “You sure are brave, you don’t even care that I’m in here,” I complimented. To be honest, I wasn’t that interested in a child’s body either, but I was under the impression most girls would find at least a smidgen of reservation bathing with a member of the opposite sex. I felt nothing of it since she always felt more like a younger sister, though I was surprised how oblivious to this kind of thing children were.

“Brave?” she didn’t even understand what was going on. I guess it made sense; a lot of little children also bathe with their parents without thinking anything of it. Perhaps I’ve been with her long enough she didn’t even register me as a stranger anymore. Honestly, I felt a little happy about that.

“Nah, don’t worry about it. Anyway, how are you enjoying this place?”

“It’s amazing!” her eyes suddenly brightened like she was going through sweets at a candy store. “There’s so many things to do around here! I wish I could live here! You’re so lucky Corentin, you can come here whenever you want.”

“I think you’d get bored of it pretty quickly if you came here every single day, don’t you think?”

“No way! I could come here every day for the rest of my life and I’d still love it!” was it the naivety of a child? Or was she completely serious about that? Either way I saw a chance in here to use this place as a bait to make her continue with the physical training.

“I see, you like this place that much, huh?”

“Of course!”

“Olivia,” I called out. As if she was expecting it, in just a few short seconds the elderly caretaker of this place appeared to receive her next orders. “Could you prepare a small necklace chain for her?”

“Understood. Please give me a few moments,” she told me as she clapped her hands to summon one of the servants of this place. They were female figures dressed in a pinkish yukata with a white stone mask covering their faces. They were closer to automatons than people, in that they were just moving as programmed without having their own thoughts or a semblance of sentience. Olivia whispered some instructions to the masked servant to which it nodded and retrieved a small black box. “Would this be acceptable?” Olivia asked as she took out the thin, silvery chain of a blank necklace.

“It’s perfect, thank you,” I told her and received the chain.

“What’s that?” Sherry asked. She curiously moved over and watched over my shoulders as I affixed a silvery key to the necklace. “A key?”

“It’s a very special and very precious key that will allow anyone to enter and leave this place at will. Now, I’m willing to give this to you on one condition,” I told her as I dangled the necklace with the key attached to it. “You have to continue with the training I’ve set for without any complaints. If you can do that, then I’ll met you have this so you can come to this place after our training session to wash yourself. How does that sound?”

“Really?! Okay, I’ll do it!” this is why I liked children, they would agree to something they like without much reservation. The true value of this magnificent place was lost on her, but as long as she enjoyed it then I couldn’t ask for anything more.

“It’s a promise,” I told her and put the necklace around her neck. In the game the key was a soul-bound item, which meant once it was accepted by another person it would be permanently assigned to them; it would be impossible to lose it or trade it to anyone else.

“Thank you Corentin!” she said as she hugged me.

After our bath we spent the next hour or so in the game room playing retro video games that played like they were made from the late 90s. Even in the era of the highspeed internet and high-quality graphics, sometimes simple was best. Other than that, as much as I wanted to, I decided against having any food here because it was likely our parents were making dinner while waiting for us to come back.

By the time we decided to return home, it was already past 4:30PM and we were greeted by a disappointed Maybelle who had eagerly been waiting for us. “Hmph, looks like you two enjoyed yourself at the park today,” she pouted in a grumpy tone. “And what’s this? Why does Sherry smell so good?! What did you guys do?!”

“What indeed?” Sherry and I exchanged a look as we confirmed our promise of secrecy.