After a quarter of an hour of just dousing himself with water and trying to get rid of the hardening muck covering his skin, the bath supplies were delivered – although they were simply pushed inside the bath without the person carrying them ever showing up – which was definitely a good thing in Viria's books.
The bathing supplies he received were also a nice surprise – the staff provided him with additional washing cloths which would definitely be helpful, not to say required, for him to actually clean himself up properly.
Once Viria went through three-quarters of a brick-like soap bar, he finally got rid of the last remains of the oily residue from his body and he could enter the bath where he left himself to soak for so long, he almost fell asleep.
His whole body was sore so the warm water was feeling just divine.
To his annoyance though, the longer he stayed in the murkier the water became, as if the dirt got so ingrained in his skin pores that it was unable to get cleansed in any other way than a long-time full-body soak.
Still, Viria kind of expected that happening – hence the second green bill for cleaning that he paid upfront despite the elderly prisoner in charge of the bathland not saying a thing.
"Nnnnng...!"
The young man did a big stretch and got up, getting drowsy while in the bath was not a good combination, and he could sleep back in his shack if he really wanted to.
Viria wasn't paying attention to the noises coming from the outside this time, so he was not aware whether the change of prisoner clothes was delivered or not, so as he was leaving the bath careful not to step on the mess he made while washing up, he wrapped the towel around his waist after drying himself with it before entering the changing room.
"Haa~"
He breathed out, combing his bloody-black hair back, away from his face with one hand...
---------------
"Kirri, what are you doing here with a... piece of charred metal?"
A short, gold-haired young woman holding a change of male clothes was speaking to the resolute girl that seemed to be carrying the tin trash that Viria got from his eventful visit at the fallen blacksmith's smithy.
"Well, umm, it's mister's Viria belonging and I thought that he wanted to have it..."
Kirri mumbled, looking away in an attempt to hide her true intentions.
"Aww, you just wanted an excuse to come and see the handsome mister of yours? Little Kirri is having her first crush?"
"Sh-shut up, Lithsar...!"
The gold-haired young woman snickered and bumped the younger girl with her butt, causing the resolute girl to blush heavily and try to mask her embarrassment with anger.
"I'm only playing. I am not the type that should or could judge people on who they fall for. I only ended up in this place because I fell for a loser whose biggest ambition was to join the local gang. And he wasn't even that handsome, just had really nice abs that I liked to watch when he would chop wood shirtless in the summer... But then I hooked up with the big boss of the gang and... Nevermind, it's too early for you to listen to that story. Anyway, where I was again? Ah, right. Just be careful, alright? I thought that your guy was okay, but after hearing you out today, I started to have my doubts."
Lithsar waved the clothes in her arms dismissively and snickered before turning a little bit more serious.
Not by much, but still, the right intention was there.
Probably.
"Wait... does that mean that you are here only to peek on mister Viria?!"
As it often happens, the younger girl picked only on the part that made her worry – mainly Lithsar's affinity for the muscles, and her question was the perfect showcase of that.
"Pffft! As if! Your guy kicked me in the face, I'll have you know, I'm barely grazing the middle low levels of cultivation, standing firmly on my fourth step of the low low levels, if he was any stronger, I would have to spend a whole green bill to get my face fixed!"
The gold-haired young woman scoffed and lowered her head to showcase the little bruise at the ridge of her nose to the shorter girl.
"I was free so the owner asked me to fetch the change of clothes for your handsome mister. See?"
Lithsar added flapping the set of folded clothes in her arms.
"Alright... but isn't this the bath that mister Viria uses? You can leave the clothes here with me and I will give them to him once he comes out."
Kirri pointed at the empty open shelves where the visitors were supposed to leave their clothes, next to the last door.
"Kirri. I am not leaving an unsupervised teenage girl in the men's part of the bathland of respite. I am not THAT morally bankrupt, okay? We will leave together."
"Tsk..."
The gold-haired young woman rolled her eyes and sighed, closing her eyes while making a tired expression which prompted the resolute girl to click her tongue as whatever she was planning to do was foiled by Lithsar's decision...
"On a side note, he sure is taking his time, isn't h..."
"Haa~"
Just as Lithsar was pointing out, Viria wearing just the bath towel around his waist exited the private bath, breathing out while combing his bloody-black hair back, away from his face with one hand...
*thump*
*clunk*
"Hmm?"
Lithsar and Kirrie simultaneously dropped the things they were carrying which made two completely different sounds – both of which got Viria's attention.
"..."
The sight was rather confusing for him.
The resolute girl, he already knew her and was slowly warming up to, so he didn't suspect her of attempting to scam him – but then, why in the world did she bring the tin trash that he left at his shack all the way to the bathland...?
As for the other one, she seemed familiar – somehow – but had no benefit of a partial trust being formed between her and Viria.
Therefore her dropping the clothes that looked like the change of clothes the young man requested was immediately interpreted in one of the worst possible ways by him...