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Anyway, Asakura still got to soak in the hot spring.
Honestly, he couldn't really tell the difference between a hot spring and ordinary hot water.
But taking a bath certainly made one feel happy.
Especially immersing his shoulders completely in the slightly hot water, an act difficult to achieve in his own bathtub, gave him a particularly satisfying feeling of physical and mental pleasure.
Asakura narrowed his eyes, revealing only half of his face, which made him look a bit like a capybara.
Because it was a bit late, he was the only one in the men's bath, enjoying a private session.
However, considering that the only guests at the inn were their group, and among the inn staff, there were no other males besides the chef, the total number of men in the entire inn could be counted on one hand. Plus, Ayano Mitsuki had just gotten a girlfriend and wished they could always stick together, so it was not surprising that he wouldn't appear in the bathhouse. Therefore, this situation was not strange at all.
After soaking until he felt thoroughly refreshed, Asakura sat up again.
He opened the system interface and checked his current status, only to unexpectedly find that "Task: Eliminate a supernatural entity" had actually changed to 'Completed'.
This surprised Asakura a bit.
Could it be that solving that pocket watch also counted as eliminating a supernatural entity?
However, it was Asagumo Chihaya who destroyed the Moon Clock; he only sealed the pocket watch with "Scale" and threw it into the time turbulence. That thing probably returned to Asagumo Chihaya in the past. Could that still be considered elimination? This judgment was a bit too broad.
But considering that his previous judgment for recruiting people into the Chiba Magic Society also seemed very lenient, this seemed quite normal again.
Anyway, it wasn't a bad thing, so Asakura didn't dwell on it and instead checked the rewards.
"Task completed, obtained Magic [Candle]"
A new Magic? Good stuff!
Asakura was overjoyed and immediately experimented with the new Magic in the hot spring.
"[Candle]!"
He held up his finger, and a candlelight slightly larger than a fingernail lit up at his fingertip along with the Magic.
It felt a bit subtle.
Size wasn't the issue; Asakura clearly felt that the size, temperature, and even shape of the flame could be controlled at will, only differing in the amount of Magic spent.
The key was that this Magic seemed to be only for lighting fires?
Although with a little practice, spontaneous human combustion would be easy, and with a bit more effort in research, creating a molecular/atomic-level super killer move like 'supernatural ignition' wouldn't be a problem.
But this world didn't seem to have Grongi, and his original "Snake" and "Scale" were also Magic spells that excelled in damage. The new Magic was simply a fireball spell, which felt unnecessary.
"Forget it, having it is better than not having it, and what kind of magician doesn't know fireball..."
In a sense, "Candle" should be the most 'magician-like' Magic. After all, "Snake" was too terrifying for ordinary people, and "Scale" was mostly difficult to detect with the naked eye. Relatively speaking, the ability to 'manipulate flames' was more intuitive and cool.
And he always felt that "Candle" should still have potential; he would try to develop it further when he had the chance.
Then Asakura turned his attention back to the system interface, where a new task had already appeared.
"Task: Confiscate or destroy an demon-related item"
Demon-related item? Another perplexing day.
Asakura recalled that there were no such items among the rewards he had received in the past.
However, if the so-called demon-related items didn't appear in this world with his system, then it meant that demons originally existed in this world, right?
No matter how he thought about it, demons didn't represent anything good.
Since he had no clue anyway, Asakura decided to continue slacking off. He would definitely do it if a suitable opportunity arose, but he couldn't do anything if he couldn't find a demon item.
He mumbled something, then immersed himself back into the hot spring, continuing to enjoy the comfort of bathing.
"Do you need help scrubbing your back?"
"This inn even has such a service... cough..."
Asakura almost choked on the hot spring water.
He turned his head, surprised to see Gokou Ruri, who had appeared by the side of the pool for some unknown reason.
Although the girl was still wearing a yukata, both sleeves were tied up with hair ties so they wouldn't impede her movements, and her long hair was coiled at the back of her head. This made the girl, who originally had a Hime cut and looked somewhat regal, appear more like a virtuous wife.
Her expression seemed as calm as ever, but her small face, which was much fairer than most, was now flushed, clearly indicating that her state of mind was not as calm as her expression suggested.
"Why are you here?" Asakura's eyes widened: "This is the men's bath!"
"Hinata said you needed someone to scrub your back." The girl unhesitatingly threw the blame onto her sister, who had been sentenced to extreme punishment.
Because she said it so matter-of-factly, Asakura couldn't even tell if she was lying or if that little one, Gokou Hinata, had really said such a thing.
"But if someone else sees..."
"I put a 'Cleaning in Progress' sign at the entrance, so no one else will come in."
Gokou Ruri continued to speak calmly.
"Is it necessary to go to such lengths?" Asakura asked with a hint of amusement.
"I'm just…" The girl lowered her eyes, her tone as if she was trying to convince herself, strong and firm: "Just to repay Takuma's kindness!"
"So I said there's no need to go to such lengths."
"I… I'm not the same as before."
Gokou Ruri whispered, "Magic."
The hot spring water was pulled by an invisible force, transforming into countless small cats made of water, playing and frolicking on the surface, making the entire men's bath scene dreamlike.
"Now I can even do something like this…"
"Ruri?"
"I don't know what Takuma did exactly, but I always feel like he's been trying his best." Gokou Ruri gazed at Asakura through the mist formed by the cats bursting into water: "So I hope I can help Takuma, instead of being like a kitten, always protected by him."
Asakura looked at the girl.
It seemed that although she wasn't aware of what happened with Yuigahama Yui and Asagumo Chihaya on those two occasions, as a witch (and currently the most powerful witch), she had more or less sensed something.
"If there's an opportunity, I'll ask for your help, Ruri." There was no point in saying more at this moment, and being watched by the girl while bathing also made Asakura feel a bit awkward, so he smiled casually and said, "Just don't find it troublesome when that time comes."
"Absolutely not!"
The girl declared solemnly.
"Um, now that you've finished speaking, can you leave?"
"I haven't scrubbed Takuma's back yet."
"You're serious! Huh, the scrubbing towel turned into a cat?"
"I've wanted to try this for a long time."
"Stop it—!"
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