Arad stood, staring at Aella, “I’ve been out for a week. Is there a bath anywhere around here?” He smiled.
“Of course, there is one,” She stood, approaching the doors, “Baths here are separated, so you have to go in alone. Is that a problem?”
Arad nodded, “I can wash my own back,” He smiled. ^I can use the void to clean me, but it never feels right until I take an actual bath,^
Aella knocked on the door, “Dora, are you still outside?”
CLICK! The door opened, and a maid walked in, bowing to Aella first and then to Arad. Who was standing in the back?
“Did you need something?” She smiled.
“You were outside the door. You should have heard us,” Arad stared at her.
The maid shook her head, “The room is magically sealed. No one from the outside can hear or see anything inside unless called by name and intention to be able to listen.”
“Arad wants to take a bath. Get one ready for him,” Aella looked at the maid.
The maid immediately bowed, “As you order, I will get the royal baignoire
ready,”
“Bin war?” Arad stared at her, confused, “What’s that?”
The maid bowed again, “Sorry, I meant bathtub.”
“She took a while to get used to speaking the human tongue. Still, mix words sometimes,” Aella giggled.
Arad stared at the maid, ^I should be able to understand her, no?^
[Your understanding only extends to draconic, language based on it, non-intelligent monsters, and lizardfolk tongue as it is close to draconic.]
^[You won’t understand elvish language, nor complex ones like the dwarven tongue.]^
Arad sighed, standing up, “When would it be ready?”
The maid smiled, scratching her chin and puffing her chest with a grin, “It’s already ready. The queen expected you might need one after awakening, so she gave us a list to do beforehand.”
“Did she now?” Arad smiled, looking down at the ground. He could sense a lot of people running around the castle, their actions intense by the second. ^Is this the queen’s doing as well?^
[Probably,]
Arad approached the maid, “Then lead me to it. No need to waste time sitting around,”
“With pleasure,” She looked at him with a tilted head, “What color do you like?”
After taking one step, Arad stopped, staring at her, “I have clothes. You don’t need to provide anything,”
The maid shook her head, “I highly suggest you take a lot at what we have. I’m sure you would find something to your liking,”
Isids stared at Arad, “You can see it as formal clothes for meeting the elvish queen. You better take a set or two from them,”
“We all got some,” Lydia pointed toward the closet, “We’re keeping them there.”
“Fine.” Arad followed the maid to the bath.
****
“The Marble Royal bath is the best one in the entire kingdom. The walls are plated with gold and jewels gathered from the whole kingdom, and the water is drawn directly from beneath the world tree roots, so it boasts double the mana of normal water. You can also…” The maid started talking about the bath, explaining its marvels to Arad as the queen instructed. A way to impress the dragon is to say.
“Isn’t that a waste?” Arad said, stopping the maid in her track.
“Yes?” Dora gasped, staring at him and blinking twice.
“Why plate the walls with gold and gems? That provides nothing, right? And won’t be hard to look at the walls like that?” He stared at her with glowing eyes.
“I wouldn’t know that, since I never got the privilege to use that bath,” The maid replied with a shaking voice.
“And isn’t the mana concentration in regular water almost zero? Twice zero is still zero,” He glared at her, “Why did the queen build such a thing and didn’t allocate the funds to something else? Is there a meaning behind it?”
“I don’t know, I’m but a maid, but I’m sure the queen had a meaning behind it,” Dora tried to recover, the queen’s plan is backfiring badly.
“You’re right since she would be an idiot otherwise,” Arad mumbled.
[That could be a show of power and wealth.]
Thud! They stopped upon reaching the bath door, seeing two guards standing beside it with serious faces.
“Open the door,” Dora approached them, “The guest is here,”
The guards looked at each other, “Sorry, but something came up a moment ago.” One of them spoke, scratching his head, “Would you mind waiting a bit until we got another notice?”
Dora froze, staring at the two guards, “That can’t be,” She could hear Arad approaching behind her, and she started sweating.
Arad walked past Dora and approached the guards, smiling, “Is that so? It’s a shame, isn’t it?” He stood between them, touching their shoulders at the same time.
ZON! The two guards disappeared in the blink of an eye, and Dora fell on her but, shaking, “Did you kill them?”
Arad smiled, “I just threw them outside, they should be fine,”
Dora stood and rushed to look out of a window, seeing the two guards confused in the garden.
She sighed in relief. “But we don’t have the key,”
“That won’t be a problem,” ZON! Arad smiled, teleporting inside the bath.
CLICK! The door opened and he looked out with a smile, “I can open it from the inside. About the clothes, black would do.” CLICK! He then closed the door.
Dora stared at the door for a second, unable to reply before snapping to her senses. “I need to report it, he’s in the bath and no one should get in,” She rushed as fast as she could. .
****
Several minutes later, Arad was relaxing inside the bath, staring at the marbled ceiling, “This place is nice, but the walls it would have been better if the walls were white or light blue,” He looked around at the golden walls dotted with red and orange gems, “Its suffocating,”
As he relaxed, he could sense a bunch of people approaching the bath, and one of them had unusually high Mana. ^Who is that?^ He looked toward the changing room door, trying to listen.
“[From the magic, it’s the queen and some guards, a maid or two as well,]”
^Why is she coming this way? I haven’t even met her yet.^
[Probably passing by, no problem,]
A few seconds later the queen stopped by the bath’s door and one of her guards opened it. She went inside with two of her maids. She looked inside the changing room, not finding anything. She looked back at the maids, “Did any of you take his clothes out?”
The two maids shook their heads, “We wouldn’t dare, your majesty. No one has entered after him. We are sure of that,”
The maid looked at the bath’s door, “Probably storage magic, or he already left,” She sighed, “You two wait here. I will go alone,” She took her clothes off and opened the bath door with a smile, looking around for Arad. With a quick glance, she could see a shadow behind the corner. ^That must be him? Did he notice me yet?^ She smiled, her long white hair dragging on the ground behind her.
****
The two maids stood in the changing room, sweating from the heat. “It’s a risky move. What if he got offended.” One of them mumbled.
“He won’t. She’s the queen,” The other one said with a smile.
“So she planned this?” Arad said from behind them, resting his elbows on their shoulders. The two maids froze, pissing themself as they heard his voice coming with a growl.
“I’m sorry,” One of the maids started tearing up.
Arad extended his hand and took the queen’s clothes, “Thank you, I’m taking those.” He smiled, “And you two, enjoy a stroll in the garden. That is what I want to say, but considering your condition, I’m sending you to the uppermost floor,” ZON!
He then wore his clothes.
Arad locked the door from the inside, broke it so it can’t be opened with a key from the outside, and teleported out, scaring the guards.
“You!” One of the guards cried, jumping back and drawing his sword.
“Don’t worry. I’m not used to doors.” Arad smiled, lifting his hands.
“Where is the queen?” Another guard asked after glaring at his friend to sheath his sword.
“Women take a bit to change, especially a queen,” Arad smiled, “She will call you when she finishes,” He walked away as the guards sighed in relief.
****
Inside the bath. The queen realized she was bamboozled after she found a skeleton inside the bath instead of Arad. She rushed to the changing room, finding her clothes and maids have disappeared.
She screamed for the guards to open the door, but since she could remember the names of the people working for her and didn’t call them by name, they couldn’t hear her.
The maids finally made it back after half an hour to inform the guards to open the door. They found the queen naked and curled in the corner of the changing room, crying as she thought she was locked forever.