“…Enough, get up, everyone.” After seeing that everyone was up, Ainz spoke gently as if to soothe troubled children.
“Stop such barbaric disputes. That will disappoint me greatly, understood?”
After receiving acknowledgement from all those present, the wrath in Ainz’ heart vanished completely.
“Alright, let’s take a bath and change the mood. The men’s group will follow me. Aura, you are now the supervisor of the women’s group. Do not let those two behind you do anything stupid.”
“By your will!”
A fire burned brightly in Aura’s eyes. At first, Albedo and Shalltear thought it was a good chance to sneak into the men’s side, but their resolve was shaken after they saw how hyped up Aura was.
Ainz opened the curtains with the character ‘men’ on it, ignoring the ruckus behind him. He took off his clothes in the changing room. Usually, it was bothersome to remove his equipment, but he had already made preparations in advance and stripped in no time and walked forth briskly.
I’m naked right now, but how should I move…
His body was a skeleton without any meat or skin. It was unthinkable for Suzuki Satoru, but this was natural in this world. Ainz had wondered on multiple occasions how he should reconcile this difference in his actions.
“I will go ahead first.”
“Please, please wait for me!”
The naked Mare followed with brisk steps. He was normally dressed in a girl’s attire, but he looked like a boy right now. As he was still a child, there weren’t any bulging muscles on him. To think that such a soft body possessed such power, this was something unique to the nature of this world, just like Ainz.
Ainz thought that as he looked at Mare, and warned:
“Don’t run here. The floor is wet, it is dangerous.”
Guardians wouldn’t die even if they slipped and hit their head, but Mare looked just like a kid, so Ainz couldn’t help but worry.
“Y-Yes, I am very sorry.”
Don’t apologize so seriously, Ainz thought.
“Sorry for the wait.”
Demiurge and Cocytus followed shortly. Demiurge had a lean and well toned body. He probably followed a proper training regime, but part of the reason was due to the settings of Ulbert.
“Cocytus looks the same as he always does.”
“Well, he is always naked.”
“Could. You. Not. Phrase. It. In. Such. A. Lewd. Way?”
“Sorry. Cocytus’ exoskeleton is his armour. That is how he usually looks, so it can’t be helped.”
Exoskeletal armour was a type of body armaments, just like Shalltear’s nails and teeth. It could be strengthened with the increase of the user’s level and the use of crystal data. The good thing about a weaponized body was the convenience of not needing to replace the equipment, and it would be repaired when the user’s HP was restored. It wouldn’t drop upon death, and it provided its users with many benefits.
The drawbacks were that the hardness, toughness and other stats were comparatively lower than player equipment of a similar level. It was almost impossible for a level 100 weaponized body to reach the stats of divine level equipment. Perhaps that could be done with special skills that enhanced a weaponized body, but Ainz wasn’t sure of that.
For players, the cons outweighed the benefits, but the reverse was true for NPCs. The players could save the hassle of preparing another set of arms and armour.
“Thank. You. Very. Much.”
Cocytus lowered his head. Ainz didn’t really speak up for him, but—
It bothered him so much that he is thanking me— is he being bullied? Should I tell the others to take note of this?
This was probably how a teacher would feel if there was any bullying in class. How would Yamaiko handle this, Ainz thought as he said to the men’s group.
“Alright, let’s go.”
Ainz led them into the bath, which was made up of twelve zones in total. Starting with the largest, the jungle bath, there was also a traditional looking roman bath, a yuzu bath with yuzus floating on it, a carbonated bath, a jacuzzi, an electric bath with low current that electrified the body, a cold bath with charcoals floating on it, the Cherenkov pool —though nobody really knew what it was made of— and a mixed open air bath... although the scenery was artificial.
There was also a sauna, a bedrock bath and, finally, the lounge.
“Which one should we visit? Let’s hear your thoughts.”
“I. Think. The. Cold. Spring. Is. Great. If. Ainz-sama. Is. Agreeable.”
Ainz possessed cold resistance, so he wouldn’t be affected by extremely cold water, but it was definitely weird to recommend the cold spring right off the bat.
“Cocytus-san… We are here to bathe…”
Mare said diplomatically, and Cocytus finally realized he got things wrong. He corrected himself right away.
“Since we are here to bathe, we should go to a pool that will promote blood circulation… Wait, I have a question for you. Can you go into a hot pool? You wouldn’t become a boiled lobster, right?”
“No. Worries. My. Exoskeleton. Is. Resistant. To. Fire. Much. Tougher. Than. Your. Body.”
“Hmph,” Cocytus spoke pridefully.
“Er, erm, I think a normal pool will do…”
“I. Think. A. Cold. Spring. Is. The. Best… As. Comfortable. As. Submerging. In. Ice…”
“You are the only one who will say that, I think that’s an unpopular opinion…”
“Alright, it won’t be fun if we are not doing this together. Let’s go to all of them one by one. We will start with the normal forest pool. My comrades made them with a lot of effort.”
“I’m looking forward to it”, Ainz subordinates said as he led them towards the forest pool— with Cocytus who was feeling a bit lonesome— in tow.
The dense forest might be created artificially, but it looked so realistic that Ainz was expecting monsters to pop out from it any moment.
“This place is modelled after an area that existed in the past, the Amazon river. The creator was Bellriver-san, assisted by Blue Planet-san.”
With his back to the sighing Guardians, Ainz picked up a bath ladle and stool.
Why are all the ladles in this bath yellow? When I asked them, they said it was tradition… So all the bath ladles are yellow.