At the campsite near the outskirts of the Zasa jungle, where the sun already has dipped down to the horizon, dyeing the landscape in a soft orange evening hue.
Xin is waiting patiently for the extermination party to return as the half-elf is currently sitting outside of the carriage on the picnic blanket as she reads her grimoire while sipping on the grape juice in a cup whenever she feels her throat dry.
Beside the reading half-elf, one of the Pro-Maids is sitting on her knees and fanning Xin with the feather fan until suddenly the rustle of the foliage draws the half-elf's attention from her book, making her stand up as she sees that her husband and the plus two have finally returned to the camp with dozens of Zar-Bros escorting them.
While there are a couple of things she wants to discuss with her husband, such as the strange individual he recently picked up and how to fit another person in the carriage when they will sleep inside at night, she has to make sure that they clean themselves up first...
"Go take a bath, all of you, now!" Xin yelled with a displeased expression as she pointed at the big sphere of spinning water she set up beforehand with a magic spell for the trio, Zarba, Nadia, and Mormon, who just came back to the campsite after exterminating all of the goblins in their nest. The three of them are so dirty and stinky that the half-elf can't stand being within a five-meter radius of them.
"Well, bath time, I guess." Zarba smiles wryly as he obediently walks towards the sphere of water with Nadia and Mormon, who are following him to the bathing area that was set up with two Pro-Maids waiting on standby to assist them in unequipping their armor, undressing their clothes, and bathing them properly.
Zarba sighed as he dismissed the summoned units that he didn't need anymore while the Pro-Maid helping him removed his armor piece by piece until he was naked. He could also feel the two pairs of eyes on him, one curious and one shy gaze, as he stepped in front of the water sphere that was floating slightly above the ground with a magic circle glowing faintly below it.
The Pro-Maid next to Zarba then starts drawing water from the sphere with a bucket before she pours it on Zarba's body as Nadia and Mormon, who is also naked now, join him by his two sides.
"..." Nadia still feels a bit shy even though every part of her body has already been explored by him as she takes the wooden bucket below the sphere and starts to wash herself while turning her back to him.
Zarba can't help but glance at the crouching muscular woman and admire her strong but also soft body that is only possible in a fantasy world.
'Calm, calm down, my son…' Feeling his blood rushing down, Zarba quickly turned his hot gaze away from Nadia's curvy form. He doesn't want to startle the goblin girl who is also next to him.
Well, she is an old magician soul, so even if Mormon sees it up close and personal, she is not going to get flushed like a maiden from seeing something like a penis anyway…
"What, this is outrageous! Using such a complex gravity magic spell to make bathwater float?! What kind of magician does that?! What kind of mana capacity do you even have?!" The amazed Mormon, on the other hand, was not really paying any attention to the naked man beside her as she squatted under the water sphere while she inspected the magic circle intensely as the Pro-Maid was getting rid of her cloak and a bunch of rags that she had used as clothes until now.
Then the trio took their time bathing together for a while to get rid of the smell on their bodies with soaps and white mint-scented powder until they didn't smell like biowaste any longer.
Then the Pro-Maids have given them new clothes before Zarba walks towards the bonfire in a white shirt and black trousers, looking freshly clean, along with Nadia in a white shirt and purple pareo skirt and Mormon in Xin's simple white pajamas that are a bit big for her small body.
The three of them then join Xin at the bonfire, as the Pro-Maids have already prepared dinner for them, which the goblin girl cries over with happiness as she is finally able to eat human food again after so long.
The four of them eat their dinner until they are full as they begin to talk with Mormon to get to know her better while the Pro-Maids clean the plates.
"So you are this era's magician, huh? Not bad, not bad at all." Mormon said to the half-elf as she acted like an elder apprising the junior despite being the one that looked like a little brat herself.
Mormon can feel by instinct that this young half-elf woman is a powerhouse magician that might even be a legend in the making, so Mormon has already decided to stick with her in hope of making the half-elf help her out in the future.
"Oh my, I don't know if such high praise is deserved." Xin, giving the goblin girl a side-eye, wonders if this ancient woman is trying to flatter her so she will not get thrown out later. Well, she too is also interested in the goblin girl's knowledge and experience anyway, so she can tolerate another individual in their merry band of the Zarba traveling party.
"No, no, you really are talented, maybe even on my level when I was young. Now listen to me, when I was your age…" Mormon is now laying it on thick as she starts to brag about her achievements and spells that oddly impressive but only useful in a very specific situation.
While Mormon was trying to impress Xin, Zarba was looking at his SSS notification next to Nadia as she was drinking a wine, absentmindedly thinking about her life up until now, when she became a slave.
÷×÷×÷
[ System Alert! ]
—Congratulations!
—You have cleared a quest!
—Quest: Destroy the Goblin Nest of the Great Zasa Jungle!
—Objective: Completed!
—Reward: [Veteren Legionary Soldier Template] received!
—5 summon unit templates available!
[ Unit Template ]
—ID: Veteran Legionary Soldier
—Type: Infantry
—Class: Legionary
—STR: C+
—VIT: C+
—DEX: C+
—AGI: C+
—INT: C+
—Shield: Skilled
—Sword: Skilled
—Spear: Skilled
—Throwing: Skilled
—Unarmed Combat: Trained
—Dagger: Trained
—Evasion: Trained
—Leadership: Trained
—(More)...
—Evaluation: Uncommon-tier
÷×÷×÷
"Quite a balanced unit, huh?" Zarba muttered as he read the legionary soldier information. It might not look impressive, but the true value of this unit is the ability to form a shield formation. Now he will finally have soldiers to hold the line against the enemy charge and projectiles.
Zarba then decided to summon one unit of the legionary soldier template out to see if the summon was what he expected before, a second later, the Roman legionary soldier in the red cape popped into existence from thin air with a large red rectangular shield that had javelins behind it.
The sudden appearance of the summoned unit is, of course, catching the others' attention, but since it looks quite normal, the three women quickly lose their interest, but Zarba is pretty satisfied with what he got, as the unit is exactly what he expected.
"It looks weak…" Nadia mumbled as she drank from her cup, while Zarba heard her comment with a twitch of his eye before he dismissed his new unit.
'I'll show you who's weak…' Zarba thought with malicious intent as he gave the muscular woman a look, which she unfortunately didn't catch.
Someone is going to be exhausted and very sleepy the next morning…
÷×÷×÷
At the Bastari castle inside Seraphina's bedroom, Seraphina is combing her long brown hair in front of the mirror at night after dinner with her mother. Her father has been frequently absent lately after the news of the imperial army finally taking the Baraba Fort from her father's control.
Fortunately the war seems to be temporarily stopping, as both sides took heavy casualties after the gruesome siege, so they are waiting for reinforcement before they can resume fighting again.
Seraphina really wants them to stop the war, but she knows that her opinion is not really going to change the mad emperor's mind; no one can really.
Seraphina sighed as her mind now drifted towards her prince. She wonders if Helga has already delivered her letter to him.
'Would he appreciate my concern? Would he think of me when he read my letter?' When she was daydreaming, suddenly something flew inside her bedroom through the open window before bumping into her head.
"Ouch…?! What is…? Oh, a letter!" Seraphina cried out in surprise as she touched where something bumped into her before she saw the letter on the floor.
She then quickly picks it up, as she knows who this letter is from. Well, she only knew one person that could send a letter to her this way.
"It's from Prince Zarba!" Seraphina almost jumps with joy as she sees the prince's personal insignia on the wax seal.
"Ah, I can't damage it too much…" She was about to immediately open the letter and read the content, but her stalker—no, no, "collector spirit!"—stopped her hands just in time before she tore the prince's precious insignia apart.
"Hehe, I must carefully open it…" The duke's daughter was mumbling creepily to herself as she was looking around for something to cut the wax insignia without damaging it. She is going to keep it safe in her jewelry box in replacement for his hair that she sacrificed…