The next day I received a message from Mr. Fredrick that my house had been cleaned and will be ready to be used from tomorrow. He had delivered on his promise. The letter was meant to come yesterday but due to certain reasons, it was delayed till today morning. Luckily, the time he called for was still later so there was no problem. Though, if I had to say, it would be the fact that the lack of internet and telephone services was an inconvenience. The letter and post system that was prevalent here wasn't as instantaneous as I was used to having. There was also a possibility that your letter won't reach the destination if there was an issue like change in address, receiver not available, etc. So, not only was it not instantaneous, it wasn't 100% reliable either.
I visited his mansion with the twins at noon. I had already told the innkeeper we were checking out and he kindly returned the money for the remaining days. I was honestly not expecting a refund but since he did, I would give the inn a mental 5-star rating. If you get isekai'd to this world and come to this town, Moonbear Inn is a pretty decent place to stay…. Hah! As if that will ever happen.
After paying the remaining amount, he gave me the key to the property and took me to the spot with his carriage. My Map had already recorded the path and I had put a marker named HOME to track my plot so that I would never have to worry about getting back home from anywhere.
As the house came into view, I could see new fences guarding a now-mowed lawn. There were no fallen leaves and overgrowing weeds anywhere. The trees also seemed to have been trimmed to make them look cleaner.
We exited the carriage and were led to the house which was now all clean and beautiful. The windows were all wiped, there was no sign of dirt anywhere and it gave off a fresh feeling.
In the meantime, the twins didn't speak out loud even once, but I could hear small gasps and hushed words of amazement from them as they followed behind me and took in the picturesque house. Perhaps they liked the house as well. The house and the area surrounding it had a very cozy and natural feel to it. It differed so much from the cold and boring apartment building I lived-in in my world. This place had much more character and comfort.
Even comparing this to that congested room is a sin.
Isn't this the kind of house millionaires buy as they cozy getaway shelters? It's certainly true that this house will be sold for a few million dollars if this was Earth. I certainly got lucky with his house. It's much more than anything I could ever hope to buy.
I was content with Mr. Fredrick's service. As he said, this house was ready to be moved in immediately.
"This is perfect. I feel like I can start to unpack right now."
"I'm glad you liked the work. With this, my work is done. Please feel free to contact me in case of any problem you encounter around here. The well in the backyard has been fixed as it was a little run down. I have also made sure to have the latrine cleaned and ready to use. Also, the bath has a water line connected to the well and can give water directly so you won't have to pump water every time you have to take a bath." (Mr. Fredrick)
"Ooh, that's great! I haven't seen any water pipelines around in toilets or bathrooms here, so that's luxurious in a way."
The truth was, nobody mentioned this in any novels or anime I read and saw, that a medieval-themed world has terrible bathrooms and toilets. This was one of the biggest struggles I faced when I first came to this world. The first time I had to go for number 2, I was devastated to see the seats made out of wooden boards with a hole in the common toilet at the inn.
I could handle the lack of bathrooms and bathtubs here, but not having English toilets with comfortable and clean seats was the most eye-opening experience for me here. It made my resolve to go back home 10 times stronger in the time I spent in that toilet.
Anyway, that's just something I remembered when he talked about toilets. At least the one here was much cleaner and wouldn't make me cover my nose the times I will use it.
Is there magic that converts food into nutrients completely and eliminates the need to poop? I would have liked to learn it for the time being.
I came out of my shitty thoughts, literally, and listened to what Mr. Fredrick was saying.
"… The guy who fixes these things during a renovation came up with this idea after getting inspired by a wandering merchant from a neighboring country. They had these in their homeland and it made things a lot easier. They call it a 'tap'. Truly a revolutionary idea." (Mr. Fredrick)
A tap? Could it be…?
I asked him about its origin but from what I heard it didn't seem to relate to Earth. There was not enough information and the wandering merchant was long gone from this place so I couldn't enquire more.
Anyway, a tap is revolutionary here. I wonder how they'll react to modern showers and water heaters capable of producing hot or cold water with a single click of a button?
Well, with magic around, these things could be replicated without the use of electricity so there was that. Heck, with water magic, one could produce water out of nowhere and fill the tub in an instant. One didn't need a water pipeline if one could use Water Magic. But since magic was rare and magical tools cost a fortune, it wasn't feasible for everyone.
Mr. Fredrick left in his carriage after his work was done and I and the twins started to arrange the things I had in my Inventory.
It took us a few hours to arrange and settle everything. By the time we were mostly done, it was already evening.
"Should we go to the restaurant to have dinner? You girls must be tired, right?"
"No, Master. If you'll allow we would like to cook meals for you." (Maria)
"Is it okay? Aren't you tired from all this work?"
"Yes, Master. We would like to show you our cooking skills." (Mia)
"However, there's the problem of ingredients. We don't seem to have anything kitchen related." (Maria)
"Ah, now that sis mentions it…" (Mia)
Both of them seemed down. Was it really that important to them? They were going to cook for me from now on anyway so I didn't see any harm in having a meal in the restaurant.
Luckily, my Inventory and hoarding items for unpredictable future events came to the rescue.
I took out vegetables, meat, salt, and spices, and utensils to cook that I had in my Inventory and offered everything to them.
"Amazing! Master, you're so amazing to have all the things already prepared." (Mia)
"With this, we can somehow cook our first meal for Master. Is there something that Master would specifically like us to cook? I can't say I know all the dishes but I have worked hard to learn to enhance my repertoire." (Maria)
"Uh, you can cook whatever you think will be okay."
Please don't ask me what I would like to eat. That question is the other bane of my life.
Moving on to living arrangements. The room arrangement was each had our own rooms on the second floor and I made the one on the ground floor a sort of guest room for when someone visits our home. I had no such acquaintances here but it was better than leaving it empty so I did so.
My room had a double bed which was insisted strongly by the twins that I should be the one using it. I initially had a single bed with a soft mattress, a bedsheet, and a pillow, but when I was going to buy the beds for the two, I was asked to have a bigger bed. Something along the line of 'Master of the house has the biggest bed in the house.' Maybe it was some sort of culture they had here. I gave in to their demand since they were adamant about it.
So, I ended up buying a double-sized bed. It cost me more but in turn, the mattress and pillow I bought were even softer than the ones I owned. I bought an identical single bed to the one I originally had for the other twin. I feared there might be some conflict if they didn't have things of similar value. It was just my own imagination though. The twins didn't seem to care what bed I bought for them.
Having a nice bed is important, you know. Don't ignore it.
Coming back to the present, the dinner the twins cooked was very good. I especially liked the meat stew-like dish made by Maria. She had a way with spices that suited my taste buds perfectly. The dish Mia made, Menestra d'herbette or something like that, I couldn't remember the name, was really savory. It was a delicious soup.
"The food was delicious. I'm really satisfied with your cooking. Thanks to the tasty meals, I feel like I can get a really good sleep tonight."
I praised both of them for their efforts and was happy that I would be getting such delicious home-cooked meals from now on.
Sometime after the meal, I decided to take a bath to clean myself and refresh. I had a good bathtub now so bathing was finally possible. I entered the bathroom and filled the bathtub with water from my Water Magic. I could have used the tap but I wanted to test my magic. I was in a fantasy, so why do things like I normally did in my world? I also cast small fireballs inside the water in an attempt to warm it up appropriately. Fortunately, it worked. I didn't create any smoke that was my initial worry. Fire from magic didn't produce smoke on its own since no wood or other such material was being used.
When the temperature felt just right, I removed my clothing to wash my body before relaxing in the bath.
I had informed the twins that I was going to take a bath so that they don't enter by mistake and create a cliché anime-like development.
It was one thing if I was the one accidentally seeing them naked but getting seen naked myself was not among the fantasies I had.
However….
Even though I had informed them, right after I was done taking off my clothes and was in nothing but a towel, both of them opened the gates and entered the bath.
At the same time, my towel dropped and they saw my holy sword Excalibur… Okay, nothing cliché like that happened, but I was still flustered when they entered so suddenly.
"Wh-why are you here? Do you need something?"
What emergency made them enter my bath all of a sudden?
"Yes, Master. We've come here to wash your back."
Said Maria in a matter-of-fact tone.
What?! Is this some kind of fantasy anime? Why do you want to wash my back?
No, wait, I think they had this custom of bathing royalties and nobles by servants. But I'm not a royal or a noble, so obviously that shouldn't apply to me.
"There's no need to do something like that. I can wash on my own. You girls can go and wait outside until it's your turn."
"No, but Master, it's the custom for servant slaves to help wash their Master." (Maria)
"Yes, yes. It's a very important duty for slaves like us." (Mia)
"Is that so?"
Is that really how they did things here? Wasn't it… I don't know, lewd?
Well, maybe it isn't. Maybe I am the only oddball here for getting flustered because two beautiful girls are inside my bathroom with me. What can you expect from a virgin like me? I am already in a precarious position. If I drop my guard, I might get a reaction from this situation and that'll be the end of me socially. I won't be able to look them in the eye after that.
"But, still. You don't have to do something like that. Just you doing housework and helping me with quests is more than sufficient."
I tried to reason with them. Even if there was such a custom, there was no need to follow it to the point.
But now both of them seemed to be down for some reason.
"Master…. We've been waiting for a while now. You've never asked for our services even once since we became your slaves. It was something inevitable so both of us had steeled our hearts and accepted it. Perhaps… Is there something unsatisfactory about us? Could it be that our faces and bodies aren't pleasing to Master? Please tell us if that's the case. It pains us that we are unable to show our affection to Master." (Maria)
Maria said in a gloomy tone.
What… Wait, what? Why are you feeling down about something like this? Am I actually at fault here? Am I doing something wrong by not allowing them to wash my back or something?
"I might not be as pretty as sis, but I still beg Master to give me a chance." (Mia)
You're literally the exact replica of your sister. How come you're any less pretty? You look just as pretty as your sister!
Damnit. How did it become like this? What am I supposed to do here?
My mind's telling me no. It's a bad idea for a lot of reasons. But my body, my body's telling me fuck yeah!
"Look, girls. There's no such thing. This is a misunderstanding. I just want us to be more comfortable with each other and get to know each other before doing anything serious. I'm not saying I don't like doing these things. Heck, if anything it really makes me happy and excited, but you girls haven't even known me for more than a few days. Don't you girls think yourself that things are going too fast?"
Gah! What did I just end up blurting?! They just asked me to let them wash my back, not sex! Fuck, my mind is already in the gutter!
My sense of reasoning was slowly blurring from this situation. My heartbeat was increasing and all sorts of chemical reactions were occurring inside. I didn't know how much longer could I hold on to myself.
"We don't think so Master. We were yours the moment you won the battle. You gave us such lovely names. You treated us so well. Our bodies and souls already belong to you and we both, in our hearts, wish to make it known to Master. Please let us convey our feelings to our beloved Master." (Maria)
Okay, this time I'm not mistaken, right? She was definitely implying "that", right? Or am I misunderstanding her because my mind has dived deep inside the gutter?
Maria was certainly good with her words. The way she said all that seemed like it came out of a romance drama, albeit with a bit of servitude mixed inside.
"You girls... I..."
I couldn't think of what to say to that. They were requesting me to allow them to do it, assuming their "it" was the same as mine. Truthfully, I wanted to do it too. But I was hesitant.
"… Fine. If you two are okay with it, then please go ahead. But let me warn you one last time I'll not be able to control myself after so much skinship. S-So… if you notice something, please don't be uncomfortable."
… Or laugh at it. Shit, would they laugh at it? Is it small? Is it good enough? Does that even matter? Aargh! God damn it, my head is going crazy!
My head was filled with all sorts of random unnecessary thoughts. To think a day will come when I'll be nervous about the size of my thing. How was I supposed to be calm in this situation when I was burdened with such deep and philosophical questions?!
""Thank you, Master!""
Breaking my thought train, they both replied in unison.
***