As they chatted, Elysia slowly drifted closer to the Scholar, extending her hands. "Soft and sweet Scholar~ Come on, let me give you a cuddle~"
Even after Elysia wrapped her arms around the Scholar's arm, tucking it between her breasts, the Scholar showed no particular reaction.
Wait, that's not quite true, Elysia thought. Through the swirling steam, she could see a faint blush creeping across the Scholar's cheeks. She couldn't tell if it was from the hot bath or Elysia's sudden closeness.
"Huh, I thought you'd try to pull away~"
"Why would I? This seems perfectly normal," the Scholar murmured almost inaudibly.
Truth be told, this was Elysia's first time bathing with another girl. But the Scholar, who had never had friends, was equally inexperienced.
Precisely because it was both their "first time," the Scholar's lack of common sense became apparent. When Elysia began hugging and snuggling, the Scholar simply assumed it was standard bathhouse etiquette.
In fact, as long as Elysia didn't make any particularly outrageous "requests," she could probably explain almost anything away as "normal bathhouse behavior." Casual skin contact was child's play; if Elysia played her cards right, they might even end up cuddling in bed later with little difficulty.
In a way, the Scholar was the type who could trick someone into bed multiple times in a single night. However, ordinary people would never have a chance to get close to her, and she wouldn't trust anything they said anyway.
Of course, Elysia hadn't realized this yet. She was still pondering the Scholar's words: "This should be normal behavior, right?"
Elysia had no idea if skin-to-skin contact during a bath was normal.
Her only understanding of girls bathing together came from anime and manga she'd watched in her previous life, but those works often bordered on being lewd. She had no idea if real girls actually bathed like that.
In other words, not only did the Scholar lack common sense, but Elysia was just as clueless in this matter. Neither could claim the upper hand; they were both utterly clueless.
However, Elysia quickly dismissed this "unimportant" question. After all, she was currently enjoying cuddling with another adorable girl, and the other girl wasn't resisting. Wasn't that enough?
After playing and splashing around for a while longer, they finally left the bath and began washing themselves properly.
Meanwhile, as Elysia and Scholar were enjoying their affectionate moment, the scene shifted to White Eagle and Sparkle. Hadn't Sparkle dispatched her clone to accompany Old John (the veteran of a hundred battles) and his team on raids against the Eldritch Concord's five cult strongholds?
All five raids proceeded with astonishing ease, almost suspiciously so. The helicopter hovered above the strongholds, its heavy guns spitting streams of ultra-caliber bullets that shattered concrete walls with overwhelming force.
Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
The cultist compounds were instantly transformed into raging battlefields. Despite the relentless firepower, grotesque cultists occasionally darted out, only to be gunned down in seconds, posing no threat to the helicopter.
But the main reason for the raids' effortless success was that none of the four high-ranking members of the Eldritch Concord were present at these locations!
As for why five strongholds housed only four leaders, Lust had already "committed suicide" in his own stronghold.
During the post-battle cleanup, Sparkle remained invisible as she followed Old John and his team into the cultist stronghold. Inside, they discovered a staggering number of cult artifacts.
This confirmed that Lust had likely been telling the truth. After all, anyone who could still lie after enduring such torture would be practically divine.
In any case, the intelligence was accurate, but the situation had reached a deadlock. Either the four high-ranking members of The Eldritch Concord had received advance warning and fled, or they were simply absent due to some ill-timed planning.
Old John clearly suspected the same. After considerable effort, he managed to locate a few surviving cultists amidst the hellish battlefield, and the interrogation began.
The prisoners confessed quickly, but every answer led to the same dead end: "I don't know."
Suddenly, their investigation had hit a wall. After a brief discussion, Old John and his team decided to stop overthinking it. They were just soldiers, after all, responsible for fighting. Figuring out the next move was beyond their pay grade.
Old John and his team returned to the White Tower with a massive haul of loot seized from five Cultist strongholds. However, with Elysia absent, no one was in charge, and the entire pile ended up dumped in front of Baldy Burke.
Baldy Burke stared in silence, thinking, Dude, I'm already swamped with work! Why are you piling more on me? I haven't even finished sorting through the stuff from Wrath Stronghold yet, and now you're dumping five times that amount on me?
But Old John didn't give Burke a chance to speak. He dropped the loot and ran off.
Although these battle-hardened veterans had joined the White Tower, Burke technically had no authority over them. Only Elysia could give them orders.
"Sigh..." Helpless, Burke let out a resigned sigh, habitually rubbed his gleaming bald head, and buried himself back in his work.
Remarkably, by the end of the day, he had actually made a breakthrough. He stared at a stone tablet before him, deciphering its intricate and complex inscriptions:
The barrier between worlds will weaken once more. When that happens, it will be the perfect time to awaken the Blood Moon and summon Hades, the Flesh God—the Father of All Living Things. This world will finally embrace a new order!
Baldy Burke continued to pore over the tomes recovered from the Cultist strongholds. Eventually, he found a precise date: November 10th.
At first glance, this might seem insignificant. However, Burke checked the current date—November 5th. That meant only five days remained until the appointed time!
No wonder the Cultist leaders were absent from their strongholds. They had most likely gathered to prepare for this so-called "awakening of the Blood Moon"!
"Damn it... Lady Elysia, when will you return?!"