Chapter 140: FAFO
"What do you think you are doing?" Vlad asked, his tone serious.
"Where do you think you are going?" Noah answered his question with one of his own.
Noah’s blade rested against Vlad’s neck from behind as he was about to jump through the window into their room.
"To the dorm, of course," Vlad replied.
"Definitely not!" Noah declared firmly. "You smell like rotten corpses. No way in hell am I letting you inside."
"Eh? The pot calling the kettle black," Vlad said, raising an eyebrow as he glanced back over his shoulder.
"Even if I didn’t bathe for a month, I wouldn’t smell this bad," Noah muttered, knowing exactly what Vlad was implying. "I would rather have a deathmatch with you right here than let you inside."
"Are you being serious?" Vlad’s voice dropped, his eyes narrowing.
"How do you think I woke up and assumed you were an assassin?" Noah countered. "The revolting stench that filled the room the moment you entered was so deadly that I thought you were trying to poison me to death."
Vlad wanted to tell him he was exaggerating. But then he realised how long it had been since he had last taken a bath. Years of sweat, dirt, and dried blood clung to his skin in a layer so thick that even the biting cold barely bothered him.
"I’ll keep the room clean, and I’ll shower every day as well," Noah pleaded, knowing he wouldn’t be able to stop Vlad without an intense fight.
"So you want me to stay naked outside all night?" Vlad asked, frowning.
"No. I’ll hand your clothes through the window. As for the bath..." He clenched his fists at his sides, contemplating whether he should reveal it. After a few seconds, he let out a sigh and admitted, "There is a hidden natural hot spring on campus. You can bathe there."
Vlad studied his frustrated expression for a few seconds. "Fine. Do it quickly," he agreed.
---
"I really hate being unhygienic, but this time it actually gave me a surprising advantage," Vlad murmured, nodding to himself. "Guess I won’t have to worry about Noah’s atrocities in the room anymore. Then again, who would’ve thought an unhygienic maniac like him knew about such a secretive place?"
He was deep within the Grimveil Forest, several kilometres from the entrance to the deeper forest where he had entered during the beast-taming lecture.
The dark forest was shrouded in warm mist that reached up to Vlad’s thighs. After weaving through a few more trees, he arrived before a pond, the source of all the mist blanketing the area. The rhythmic roar of the waterfall cascading down the steep slope beyond the pond sounded like music to Vlad’s ears.
"I-it really is here... a natural hot spring," Vlad gasped, his eyes sparkling with excitement.
He immediately removed the trousers Noah had given him to cover himself. From his storage ring, he took out a mug and thoroughly washed himself at the edge of the pond. He had no intention of tainting such pristine water with years of accumulated filth. It took him an entire hour just to scrub away the layers of dirt and dried blood covering his body, revealing the fair skin beneath.
"Whoa, did my body really look this good?" Vlad gasped, stunned by the flawless definition of his muscles. "Now then, it’s time to let these babies relax. They’ve worked really hard over the years."
Of course, he was talking to his muscles as he dived into the pond.
"Now that hits the spot," Vlad murmured as his muscles melted beneath the soothing warmth of the water.
After relaxing for a few minutes, he swam towards the waterfall.
"As I thought, the waterfall is behind a barrier," Vlad said as an invisible wall stopped him just before he reached it.
"Forget it. I’ll just relax," he shrugged before slipping beneath the surface.
Absorbed in the comforting warmth of the water, he failed to notice himself drifting several feet below the surface.
’Damn, I must’ve been more exhausted than I thought to drift off while underwater,’ Vlad exclaimed inwardly.
Logically, he should have immediately swum back to the surface, but something peculiar caught his attention. The current at the bottom was unusually strong, flowing towards the rocky slope from which the waterfall poured into the pond.
’The mana density is incredibly high here,’ Vlad murmured, his brows rising.
Curiosity got the better of him, and he followed the current. The deeper he went, the denser the mana became, and the more violent the current grew.
’I-I should turn back,’ Vlad decided, realising things were getting out of hand.
He was too late.
The current had become so powerful that his body no longer obeyed him, dragging him along its violent flow. His limbs flailed helplessly as panic took over, yet he remained utterly powerless against nature’s might. It was only then that he learned the phrase ’fuck around and find out’.
His body was swept into a cave at the rocky bottom of the slope along with the raging current. Perhaps because of the immense mana density, the barrier did not extend around the cave, allowing the torrent to hurl him inside.
After a few seconds of being violently carried through the dark tunnel, he reached its exit, which opened into the bottom of another pond.
Now that he had regained control of his body, he wasted no time and immediately swam upward.
"Bwah!!"
He took a deep breath the moment he broke the surface, his chest rising and falling heavily. The water here was even warmer, and the mist far thicker.
"Someday, my curiosity is going to get me killed," Vlad sighed, shaking his head.
He was about to move when he suddenly froze after hearing a familiar voice. It was soft and feminine.
"Nothing beats a late-night warm bath after hours of nonstop work..."
Vlad’s eyes narrowed, his gaze reaching the shore through the thick mist, where an ethereal woman with long silver hair stood. Her silky hair cascaded down to her waist, swaying gently with the night breeze. Beneath the moonlight, her milky white skin appeared luminous, complementing the serene silver of her eyes.
Possessing the graceful curves and elegance of a mature woman, she looked like a goddess standing by the shore.
’Lily?’ Vlad murmured, recognising the figure.
’W-wait... wait... wait!’ he screamed inwardly as she removed the cloth belt holding her white silk robe together.