Chapter 22: If We Just Got Out of That Mess, At Least Let Me Take a Bath

It had been a while since I’d had a meal cooked by an elf. It felt...refreshing.

During the journey, I’d been the one doing all the cooking.

…You can probably imagine the disastrous results when either of the other two took over.

The food was good. Soup made by rehydrating preserved ingredients with hot water, and some crusty bread to dip in it. That kind of simple flavor—I'm quite fond of it.

Luckily, the fields within the barrier hadn’t been ravaged, and thanks to Rizel providing meat, the village didn’t seem to be struggling too badly. …Though apparently, some of the elves weren’t too happy about the meat-heavy diet.

Back on Earth, I’d always cooked for myself—it was just part of saving money.

But still—despite having stayed at the castle for only a week—I’d gotten used to the vegetarian meals served there with embarrassing ease.

Thrown into another world, turned into a girl, tasked with the mission of defeating the “Demon Dragon”… it had been one hell of a week. Maybe I was already being reshaped by this place.

“Still, I gotta say, your cooking’s way better, Yuto.”

Raiga, despite being treated to a free meal, had the nerve to say something that rude. I shut him up by stomping on his foot, though I couldn’t help but feel a little pleased inside.

He’s always been good at making people feel good.

That’s probably how he’s cultivated so many messy love-triangle situations without meaning to.

“I’d love to sample the Saint’s cooking someday myself,”

the village chief said, without a hint of offense.

In fact, he looked genuinely intrigued—maybe wondering if this was some foreign cuisine from another world.

“Oh, it’s nothing special, really. Sorry about Raiga saying something so rude.”

Incidentally, he was one of the elves who had started getting used to eating meat.

It wasn’t that elves were physically incapable of processing it—it’s more that meat had always been seen as a luxury item. That mentality had taken root deeply.

So in times like these, where options are limited, they tend to feel guilty about eating it.

…It’s kind of like how the Japanese were before Westernization, maybe.

—Hamburg steak probably doesn’t exist in their culture. It might be a hit.

Even as I said that out loud, I was starting to think maybe I should handle dinner tonight.

I can’t fight, so I ought to contribute in other ways.

I’d casually volunteered to make hamburg steak, but once I realized just how many villagers there actually were, I ended up completely wiped out.

Looking back, I’d never cooked for this many people before. The only saving grace was how happy the elves seemed to be.

Raiga, who hadn’t had Earth-style food in a while, got all hyped up too—honestly, a little too much.

While I was silently scolding myself for underestimating the workload, Rizel called out to me.

“Let’s go take a bath together! Come on, let’s go!”

Just a moment ago, she’d been sparring with Raiga, using wooden sticks. It had been a mock battle. When it comes to two people with their level of physical prowess, even a stick becomes a deadly weapon.

They were apparently planning to keep training for the next fight—they were evenly matched, after all.

The final score had been three wins, five losses, and two draws for Raiga.

Since the rule was that getting hit in a vital spot meant a loss, Raiga’s usual advantage—his powerful strikes—didn’t help much. Rizel’s speed and agility clearly gave her the edge.

Honestly, I wanted to praise Raiga just for managing to get three wins.

“Me? With you?”

I pointed to myself without thinking.

Rizel nodded with a beaming smile.

“Yeah, we’re both girls, right? What’s the problem?”

She looked pretty uncomfortable from the sweat after the match. On top of that, she’d had to dodge attacks in low stances, so her clothes were coated in dust.

…To be honest, even though I used to be a guy, it’s not like I’ve gotten rid of all those feelings. It was a pretty tempting offer—enough to make my head spin.

But—

“Sorry. I’ll pass.”

“Why, why?”

Rizel looked genuinely confused.

For someone as outgoing as her, this probably counted as ordinary bonding between girls.

I hesitated just for a moment—

“I’m a guy.”

—and decided to tell her the truth.

“Ehh~? What do you mean? Is that, like, your thing or something?”

Rizel looked even more confused now.

“Take this!”

“Fweah!”

She suddenly grabbed me—where exactly, I won’t say, but let’s just leave it at that.

“With these things dangling off you? Come on, no one’s buying that!”

“Hey—let go!”

I hurriedly shook her hand off.

“Well, yeah, my body turned into a girl’s, but my mind’s still that of a guy.”

“Hmmm~? So your gender just changed? Is that, like, your species or something?”

…There’s a species like that?

Curious, I asked her to clarify, and apparently she was referring to a type of demon known as succubi.

They consume magical energy by interfering with the minds of others. Before that happens, they transform into the target’s preferred gender—usually the opposite one—and then engage in… various acts. While not inherently malicious, the term succubus is generally used in a derogatory way.

It felt like she was calling me indecent or something. It stung.

Still, considering I made that one-sided promise of “sincerity” to Raiga, who came to this world with me, maybe it wasn’t entirely off the mark. A bitter laugh slipped through internally.

“No, I think I’m just… a human. Or something close to it.”

I answered as casually as I could, keeping all that inner turmoil bottled up.

“Oooh, maybe it has something to do with you being a Saint. Like, chosen ones turn into girls or something. ‘Cause you are the Saint—wouldn’t it be weird if you were a guy?”

I couldn’t help but chuckle at Rizel’s offhand remark.

I’m definitely not your typical “Saint,” so I didn’t really have a good answer for her. But she wasn’t entirely wrong.

I had looked into some old texts back at the castle. Apparently, there were some female “Heroes” here and there. But when it came to the “Saints” who guided them, not a single one had ever been male.

“Maybe you’re right.”

Rizel, for some reason, looked dissatisfied with my response.

“Mou~! You totally thought I was being weird, didn’t you!”

“No no, not at all. Honestly, I thought it was a really clever insight.”

I wondered what kind of face Raiga would make if I told him all this.

…In the end, I couldn’t resist Rizel’s persistence.

“The body’s female, so there’s no problem~”

she said, and followed it up with the ultimate logic: “And I’m okay with it, so it’s fine!”

I had no argument against that and was forcibly hauled off.

What happened next… I’ll spare the details. But to put it simply: I was bright red the whole time, and Rizel was glaring daggers at a certain part of me, like it had personally wronged her.

She’s only 84, after all—though apparently, the average lifespan of a werewolf is around 600 years—so she’s still got a long way to go.

Watching her shake the water off like a freshly washed dog, I couldn’t help but let out a wry smile.

The bath had worked wonders. Strangely enough, I found myself seeing her more like a younger sister—even though she’s technically older than me.

I used a very low-powered fire spell to apply just enough heat to dry her hair.

“Woooow, magic really is convenient, huh!”

Come to think of it, Rizel couldn’t use magic.

And she traveled alone. Naturally, she couldn’t use [Purify Clean] or even wash herself with hot water.

“When I can, I just take cold baths, but it still feels gross, you know? And so many inns don’t even have baths!”

That’s why she says this country feels like paradise.

If she can find a village to stay in, there’s always a bath waiting.