I decided to refocus and work on making some bedding and sheets.

“I need a shelf to keep materials for when I want to make something quickly. For now, I should make a lot of baskets.”

There’s a lot to be done, but I’ll tackle it step by step.

“For now, this should be fine. After this, I’ll just need to take a bath, brush my teeth, and go to bed.”

I looked over at the bathtub in the corner of the room.

It was the bathtub that Ermine had given me along with the furniture set, complete with clawed feet.

It has one faucet that produces water.

“Ermine, does this bathtub have hot water?”

“If you turn the faucet, water at the right temperature will come out.”

“I wonder how it works to get hot water…?”

“That’s just how it is?”

It seems that even Ermine doesn’t quite understand it.

It’s a bit mysterious, but it seems like I’ll just have to accept it as it is.

“But I’d like a shower too, not just a bathtub. Actually, I’d like a separate bath area. Hey, Ermine, can you do an expansion?”

I hope Ermine’s mysterious powers can quickly handle the expansion.

“Well, as long as it’s not too big since we just had a meal, it should be okay.”

“Then, can you make a bath area?”

“I might barely be able to manage that.”

“Please!”

“Should it be the same natural style as the room?”

“Yes.”

“Got it, leave it to me. …A natural bath area, coming right up!”

When Ermine raised his arms in a cheer, a new door appeared on one side of the room.

Hooray! A bath!

“Thank you, Ermine!”

“You’re welcome.”

“Let’s go check it out right away.”

“I hope you like it~.”

The previous claw-foot bathtub must have been moved to the new bath area since it was no longer in the room.

I hoped at least a shower would be included as I opened the bath area door.

The moment I saw it, I was overjoyed.

Because…

“Waaah! It’s an onsen!”

There was a fantastic bath that looked just like something from an onsen ryokan. I couldn’t help but let out a joyful exclamation.

The bath, roughly the size of a ryokan’s open-air bath, was made of rocks resembling an open-air bath. At the very back, a rock shaped like a mortar was where the hot water flowed from.

I had expected a normal unit bath with a claw-foot tub, but it had been upgraded to such a special bath!

And it even had a shower.

Yay!

“Wait, is this what you meant by natural? Yay, we did it! Long live natural!”

A bath. It’s a soul partner for the Japanese.

And it’s a flowing natural hot spring.

Yeah. I don’t even know what I’m saying.

Oh well. But my excitement is through the roof. It’s a bath, after all! And it’s flowing hot spring water!

There don’t seem to be any soaps or shampoos, so I’ll need to create those through alchemy.

I think there was a recipe for soap. I remember the ingredients being camellia and stone… I’ll give up for today since it’s already late and make them first thing tomorrow.

What’s also needed are towels and sleepwear… which I made earlier, so just the underwear is left.

“Do I have enough materials?”

Everything is surprisingly cotton.

Upon checking, it seems I can barely make everything.

Alright. Let’s get crafting!

“A towel requires one cotton and one healing herb. Oh, you use healing herbs too. Is this okay?”

Stirring and stirring.

Stirring and stirring.

Mixing with the stirring stick…

“Complete♪”

A fluffy towel is ready!

“Alchemy is so much fun!”

It’s great that you can make things just by mixing.

Now, let’s make the underwear too.

Stirring.

“Done♪”

That wraps up today’s alchemy.

“Ermine, I’m going to take a bath now.”

“Sure. Take your time~.”

Opening the bath area door, I found a dream of flowing hot spring water!

Ahh.

It’s rejuvenating.

It felt like a long day.

So much happened all at once.

But strangely, I don’t feel any lingering attachment to the previous world. Maybe it’s because I don’t have detailed memories…

Well, alchemy is fun, Koko is reliable, and Ermine… is a bit of a scatterbrain, but still a good partner.

I relaxed in the bath and then snuggled into the freshly made bedding… hugging the warm Ermine who came out of the bath and fell asleep.

“All right, I’ll keep doing my best from tomorrow!”