Hen na Ryu to Moto Yuusha Party Zatsuyougakari, Shintairiku de Nonbiri Slow Life.

Chapter 38 – Washing Blankets

“It would be nice to take a bath now…”
“Bath!”
“Wuff!”

Fio and Shiro began to hop around happily and wag their tails.

“Especially you two, Fio and Shiro…”

But Fio had no change of clothes.
I could get some random cloth from my belongings and turn it into clothes.
However, Kelly had said that she has proper clothes with her.
So it would be best to let her wear those.

“Fio bath!”
“Wuff!”
“No, you don’t have clothes to change into yet… We have to see Kelly and get them first.”
“I go get!”
“Wuff! Wuff!”

Fio jumped onto Shiro’s back, and they dashed away.
Shiro really was a fast runner. They were out of sight in the blink of an eye.

“Now, I should wash the blankets.”
‘Should I help?’
“I’m fine.”

The blankets that Fio and Shiro used yesterday were at Hippolius’s house.
And Fio and Shiro had quite a lot of fleas on them.
If I didn’t wash the blankets, then the fleas would just attach themselves again after they took a bath.

And so I went to Hippolius’s house and retrieved Fio and Shiro’s blankets.
And then I took the blanket that I had used as well.
I would wash them in the washing area that I had made in the bath house.

“Hippolius, wait here.”
“Kyuu.”

Hippolius squeaked sadly.
I hoped that it wouldn’t be long before I could make a bath for Hippolius as well.

And so I took the blankets to the washing area and threw them into the washing tub.
Then I filled it with hot water. That should be enough to kill the fleas.
After that, I used a stick to slosh the water around.
The water started to become darker and darker.

“So they were this dirty…”

Clearly, these blankets had been used for a long time without being washed.
It was the filth of years.

And so I drained out the water once and filled up the tub with new hot water. And then it was back to sloshing.
After doing this two times, the water remained decently clear.

“I suppose that is enough.”

After draining the water, I turned the faucet so that cold water came out.
This time, I didn’t keep the drain plugged, and let it flow out.

In the meantime, I took off my shoes and washed my feet. And then I stepped into the washing tub.
I then stepped on the blankets with my feet. Every time I stepped, the filthy water poured out.

“…This is unexpectedly fun.”

And while I was finding it amusing, the water was very cold against my feet.
Once most of the water was pressed out, I got out of the tub.

Then I picked up the blankets and wrung them with my hands.
Still, they were a lot heavier than they were before washing.
It was the weight of the water. I would have to dry them out.

When I stepped out of the bathing house, Hippolius was waiting outside.

“Thank you for waiting.”
“Kyuo.”
“Hippolius, can I borrow your back?”
‘Okay!’

And so I wiped Hippolius’s back clean, and then placed the blankets on top.

“Kyuuuooo!”
“Was it cold?”
‘It’s fine.’
“I’ll quickly make a place to dry the laundry, so just wait for now.”
‘Okay!’

I used the wood materials that Hippolius had gathered.
The structure was simple, and so I could make it in an instant with the crafting skill.

“That should do. It looks quite durable.”

As it was well-made, we should be able to use it for quite some time.
I then took the blankets off of Hippolius’s back and hung them up.

“Kyuo!”
“What is it?”
‘Will they dry?’
“…Well, it will take some time…”

Had I done it in the morning, they would likely dry before sundown.
However, there was only two or three hours now before the sun would start to set. So they wouldn’t dry in time.

“Maybe I’ll make something to help dry them…”

I brought over some extra stones and lined them up.
And then I used the crafting skill to transform them into two large, flat slabs.
Then I raised the durability so that they would not break easily.

‘What is that?’
“A tool to press the laundry.”
“Kyuo?”

I patted Hipplius’s puzzled head and then laid out two blankets between the planks.
The blankets were folded neatly in half.

“Now Hippolius, step onto the planks. Gently.”
‘Okay!’

And so Hippolius slowly moved onto the planks.
After being pressed by the heavy weight, the water was pushed out of the blankets.
It was quite a lot of water.

“That’s more than I expected… Good work, Hippolius.”
“Kyuo!”

Hippolius’s tail wagged happily after being praised.
Perhaps the weight distribution had shifted, as even more water came out.
After doing this for a while, the water stopped flowing.

“All right. You can come off now, Hippolius.”
“Kyu!”

Hippolius got off, and I took out the blankets.
When I raised them in the air, I noticed that they were considerably lighter now.

“Hmm. That’s a lot better. Thank you, Hippolius.”
“Kyuo!”

And then I hung up the blankets once again.
They had been wrung very well. And since the weather was good, and there was some wind, they shouldn’t take too long to dry completely.
Still, I doubted they would be ready before sundown.

“I suppose we’ll just have to sleep without blankets for one day.”

If it weren’t for the fleas, I could have washed them tomorrow. However, it could not be helped.

As Hippolius and I looked at the blankets,
“Theo!”
“Wuff!”
Fio and Shiro had returned with Kelly.