They walked for a while before they reached Lucell's house. Many thoughts were going through Mia's mind, none of those had to do with staying with Lucell. She wondered what her training was going to be like, what kind of food the demons ate, and where she could take a bath. When she was an adventurer nothing made a hard quest not so bad like a long soak in a hot spring. She had been through a lot that day as well, after all she had died twice. She finally decided to ask Lucell to find her answers. "Lucell?" Mia asked. Before he had a chance to respond she continued her questions. "I haven't eaten all day; do you happen to have any food? Also is there a hot spring or something? I could really use a bath."
Lucell stopped walking to answer Mia. "Miss Mia, I have some food at my house I will give you, as for your bath we have a large hot bath that we all share. The Goddess has placed you under my care, so which would you like to do first? Take a bath or eat?"
"Food always tastes better after a hot bath!" Mia answered.
"Quiet, well then if you would follow me, I will take you to the bath house." Lucell instructed. After a bit of walking they finally came upon a large fence with visible steam coming from the other side. Long the wall of the fence there were bins to place clothing in. "Alright we are here. Strip down and get inside."
"Do you have separate baths for men and women?" Mia asked.
"No, we all bathe together in the same area." Lucell answered. "It was the Goddess's idea; she bathes here from time to time and enjoys it when everyone is around."
"That definitely sounds like the Goddess." Mia said causing Lucell to nod in agreement. "So, I'll be in the bath with a bunch of men I don't know?" Mia was worried, the trauma of her assault just the night before was still fresh in her mind.
"No one would dare defy the Goddess and lay a hand on you." Lucell tried to assure Mia.
"It's not the hands I'm worried about." She was on the verge of tears she was so afraid.
"Ugh, Fine I will accompany you, my lady." Lucell sighed. "It's hard to believe that you were the bane of my people when you are now so frightened of nothing."
"Thank you." Mia smiled. "It really means a lot to me. As for why I am so afraid, I do not really understand it myself. When I was a man, I had no fear, I would face countless enemies and never flinch, but right now I am weak and powerless, and I hate it. I will train hard, so I don't feel this way anymore, please bear with me a while longer Lucell."
"Its fine, however we do have rules for the bath." Lucell continued. "Please see the attendant before you enter."
Mia did not quite understand why but she agreed. She removed her clothing and walked over to the attendant. "Hello, my name is Mia and I was told to visit you before I enter the pool."
"Yes, yes the human female. I am aware of your issue, allow me." The attendant said.
"Allow you to what?" Mia asked puzzled.
The attendant then just rolled her eyes and grabbed Mia's private place, placing a barrier spell on it. "The spell should last 30 minutes, please leave the bath before it ends." The attendant sighed.
It then dawned on Mia, she was leaking, and they did not want that in the pool. Another problem she never had to deal with as a man. "Thank you for your help." Mia bowed to the attendant and joined Lucell in the bathing area. She found him already sitting in the water enjoying a nice drink of some sort. And decided to sit next to him. "Oh well this water feels so good!" Mia said as she stretched out enjoying the bath." All eyes were on her since she lacked the basic modesty of a woman.
"You know Miss Mia, must people who bathe here wrap themselves in a towel before entering the water." Lucell tried to correct Mia's behavior.
"But then the towel would get all wet." Mia smiled. "No bathing is best done in the nude." She then decided to swim a bit in the water and stopped in front of Lucell. "Hey Lucell?" Mia asked.
"Yes Miss Mia?" Lucell is getting a bit annoyed by Mia's childish behavior and constant questions.
"How old are you?" Mia questioned.
"I will be two hundred and forty-two this fall." Lucell answered.
"Wow demons live a long time." Mia was amazed.
"Yes, unlike you humans, we demons do not come with an expiration date." Lucell added. "We may have once, but then the Goddess took care of that, something about not wanting us to leave her." Lucell felt that it was fair to ask Mia the same question. "So, Miss Mia, how old are you?"
"Well physically the Goddess told me I was eighteen. I have been alive for fifteen years I think." Mia answered. "Most of my life was spent training so I lost track of time, plus it turns out the church cursed me to age twice as fast, so I grew up super quick."
"I had no idea you were so young, Miss Mia." Lucell now knew the reason for Mia's childish behavior, she was mentally still incredibly young and never had the chance to mature properly. "Have you finished bathing yet, Miss Mia. You seem to be swimming more than relaxing."
"Oh, sorry about that!" Mia yelled out. "It's just that this water felt so good, I couldn't help myself, I had to do some training. Nothing relaxes you more than training! But yes, I am done let us go get some food!"
"As you wish, Miss Mia." Lucell got out of the water and went to get dressed. He was followed closely by Mia. After they got dressed, they walked to Lucell's house. "I hope this will be up to your standards Miss Mia."
"Well I'm used to sleeping on the ground with a rock as a pillow." Mia smiled. "Anything works for me!"
"Yes, I suppose you were quite the hardened hero before all this." Lucell turned to Mia. "But I shall not allow a lady to sleep on the floor. You shall take the bed and I will sleep on the floor."
"No, I don't mind the floor really!" Mia felt bad about taking Lucell's bed. "I have slept on the floor most of my life it really isn't a problem!" Mia continued to plead. "Back at the church all I had for a bed was some straw on the ground. They said it was to harden my body and it was part of my training. Besides, I killed so many of your people I don't deserve any special treatment."
Lucell was awash in emotions. "Miss Mia, please do not worry yourself about the demons you killed, and I must implore you to use the bed." He did not know what to do, Mia had such a strong sense of what was right and wrong, he had never observed that in a human before.
"What do you mean? Not to worry myself! I murdered your people who served the Goddess! I can never make that right!" Mia began to cry.
"Oh, come now Miss Mia, stop the water works." Lucell pleaded. "Look to be fair they were also trying to kill you remember. You are the first one to ever make it all the way to the Goddess. It was quite impressive how you survived for two whole weeks; we had never seen a warrior with your determination before."
"But that doesn't bring back the demons I killed!" Mia was in full break down at this point. Her face was swollen from the tears and she had raging rivers pouring from her eyes.
"Look you didn't kill anyone ok?!" Lucell shouted.
"Wait what?" Mia was confused and the crying eased up a bit.
"Our beloved Goddess likes to take walks in the woods" Lucell began to explain, "When she finds a dead demon, she thinks he is sleeping and wakes him up. If in some cases they were cut into many pieces she puts them back the best she can, and then wakes them up. She brought back every demon you killed, with only a few defects we had to later fix."
"So, everyone is ok?" Mia stopped crying.
"Yes, we were going to let you feel bad about it for a bit, but I cannot stand for a lady crying." Lucell continued, "if you would please be so kind as to tell me what you want to eat, I will get it for you."
"I'm sorry." Mia bowed her head. "Anything is fine, well anything a human can eat. I don't know what demons eat."
"The same things humans eat." Lucell explained. "The Goddess made all the races basically the same, they only thing that is different is our abilities and our appearance. As to how we function, we are all basically the same." Lucell dug through his cabinets. "Here you go I found some jerky and some fruit for you."
"Thank you so much!" Mia said as she happily took the food. "This is really good!"
"It's just your standard boar jerky." Lucell smiled at the compliment anyway. "I did perfect it over the centuries I suppose."
After the meal it was time for bed. Mia had a hard day of training tomorrow and Lucell knew it. He finally convinced her to sleep on the bed and allow him to sleep on the floor. She slept peacefully despite everything that had happened to her so far. Lucell could not help but watch her sleep-in amazement. "Sleep well, Miss Mia."