Chapter 244:
Extreme Cold Advisory
We greeted the gatekeeper and returned to Hatow. The low sun made the air especially frigid. It felt even colder than yesterday, but maybe I was imagining that.
“Are we going straight to the guild?”
“No, let’s call it a day and go back to the inn to warm up. We got too cold out there.”
It was true—I could no longer feel my fingers and toes. Dola greeted us at the door with a look of relief on his face when we returned to the inn.
“Welcome back.”
“Good evening. Is everything okay?”
“Well, we just heard from the guild that it’s going to be extra cold tonight.”
“Oh dear. Well, it did feel unusually cold today.” So it wasn’t my imagination after all. It really was much colder than yesterday.
“It was unusually cold today. It’s still too early in the year for temperatures this low. It’s worrying, really.”
“Are you still waiting for anybody else to come back?”
“Yes, Druid, the family staying next to you isn’t back yet, and they’ve got children.” Dola glanced outside the door. The family next to us had two sons, one my age and another a bit older. I hoped they were okay.
“Well, sorry to keep you. Go take a nice hot bath and warm your chilled bones, or you’ll catch your death of cold.”
We thanked Dola, returned to our room, and immediately got our things ready for the bath. My frozen toes and fingers were making my whole body cold.
“Be sure to stay in there a good long time and get warm.”
“Yes, sir!”
I parted ways with Druid and headed to the ladies’ bath. I tried to undress and stopped mid-button. My fingers were too stiff to move. As I stood there, wrestling with my buttons, I heard a voice ask, “Are you okay?”
It was a gentle lady’s voice. I looked up to see a woman in her forties who had just come out of the bath staring at my hands. “Need me to help unbutton you?”
“Um, no thanks.”
“Don’t be shy, dear. You need to get in the water fast or you’ll catch cold.”
As her hand reached out to me, my back stiffened straight with nervousness. The woman hesitated for a moment when she noticed, then she gently unbuttoned my clothes for me.
“There. You’re all set.”
“Thank you, ma’am.”
“You’re welcome. I’m Lucia. I’m staying on the third floor. Nice to meet you.”
“I’m Ivy, from the second floor. Nice to meet you, too.” I bowed politely. Lucia giggled and bowed back.
“Come on, now! In the bath with you. We don’t want you catching cold.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
With my buttons undone, I could undress myself the rest of the way, even with my stiff fingers. I grabbed my soap and towel and stepped into the bath. I looked back just in time to see Lucia walking out of the dressing area.
She was nice.
The water was painfully hot against my cold skin, but I sank myself deep down to warm myself through. The warm water slowly melted away the cold stiffness in my muscles…and it felt so good.
Grrr…
“I’m hungry.”
I’m nice and warm now. I can probably get out.
Grrr…
Okay, I’m getting out! When I wiped myself dry and left the changing area, I smelled bread in the air. Staying at this inn was definitely going to make me fat.
On my way to the second floor, I saw that Dola was still waiting by the front door. That must have meant the missing guests weren’t back yet.
“Hi, Ivy. Have a good bath?”
“Yes, thank you.”
When I got back to our room, I found Sora and Ciel were playing with Druid…or should I say they were playing on him? Druid was lying on his stomach in bed, and Sora and Ciel were body-slamming each other on top of his back.
“Doesn’t that hurt?”
“Hm? No, the way they move actually feels good.”
I’ll scratch your back, you scratch mine? Well, more like I’ll hit your back, you hit mine… Anyway, does it really feel good?
“I already gave Sora and Ciel sponge baths. I didn’t wash Flame, though. It’s on the bed.”
“Thanks.”
I looked over at my bed to find Flame asleep on it. I quietly checked in on the slime and brought a towel over to it. Flame’s mouth was soft and droopy as always. A string of drool was just about to fall onto my mattress.
“Oh, by the way, Lucia from the third floor helped me in the bath just now.”
“Hm? Did you have a problem?”
“Yeah, my fingers were too cold to work my buttons, so she helped me get undressed.”
“Oh dear. Maybe we should have warmed you up a little before sending you to the bath.”
“Were you okay, Mr. Druid?”
“Yeah, my clothes didn’t have buttons.”
That’s right, they didn’t. I think I’ll wear clothes without buttons whenever we go into the forest on cold days from now on.
“So how am I even supposed to warm myself up before a bath?”
“Well…like, rub your hands together or get a hot towel from the inn staff.”
A hot towel. That would be nice. It was so cold today that no amount of rubbing could have possibly kept my hands from freezing.
Grrr… My stomach growled.
Druid and I looked at each other. Ah…I want to hide. I could just feel the redness gathering in my face.
“Um…I think I’ll go make dinner.” Oops, I forgot to feed the slimes! I’d better get their things ready first.
“Ha ha ha, let me help. No wonder you’re hungry; you’ve been walking around all day in the cold.”
“Are you hungry, too?”
Druid glanced at me, then smiled and nodded. “Yeah, my stomach growled when I was in the bath. It was really embarrassing, too, since there were people in there with me.”
I chuckled at Druid’s story as I took the slimes’ potions out of my magic bag. Sora jumped eagerly off Druid’s back at the sight of them.
“Oof! Sora, don’t do that.”
That must have hurt.
Also noticing the rows of potions, Flame rolled off the bed toward them.
You lazy little goof.
“Okay, I’m going to go cook dinner now. Sora, Flame, eat your fill. Ciel, wait until they’ve finished eating before you get back to playtime. All right, I’ll be back soon.”
“Pu! Puuu.”
“Ryuu.”
Mrrrow.
I went to the public kitchen on the second floor to finish dinner. I had started a soup in the morning since we were planning on being in the forest all day, so all I had to do was heat it up. Then I would make a simple salad, get some freshly baked bread from Salifa, and dinner would be served. Since I wanted to really take my time with dinner tonight, I brought everything into our room. All three creatures were curled up asleep on my bed. Druid had moved Flame on top of a towel.
We sat down to eat…and soup really did hit the spot on cold
days. I had also made sure the chunks of meat were big, so it felt great to chew.
“I think it’d be a great idea to cook soup all day whenever we go to the forest. We can just heat it up and eat it as soon as we get home.”
“I think so, too.”
Whooo! Rattle, rattle, rattle.
“Ack!” I yelped.
A sudden gust of wind had rattled our window.
“The winds have gotten stronger.”
“Yeah.”
We ate our dinner to the music of our window rattling in the wind. It was a real shame to ruin such a tasty meal with such an unsettling feeling.
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