After that whole showdown with Akane vs Luther I think my body may have exploded from all the coolness. I think I really need to relax, my body has been through too much recently. Luckily for me I have a nice relaxing evening at the hot springs to look forward to.

“Ok guys so the plan for tonight is to relax at the nice hot springs Azura mentioned right?” I say, reminding my party.

“Oh yeah, that is the plan. I can’t wait to finally get clean after having an entire building fall on me a week ago,” Remi states.

“Hehehe, this might finally be my chance to see Will exposed,” Nazuko mutters in the corner.

“What was that?!” I ask in a concerned tone.

“Uhhh, nothing, nothing at all,” she responds.

I’m getting strange vibes from Nazuko right now, but I’m sure it’s nothing.

“Don’t worry I’ll keep Nazuko in check,” Lilith assures me.

“Heh, you can’t handle me. I'll be out of your line of sight before you know it,” Nazuko brags.

“No one is doing anything perverted or wrong OR ELSE, is that clear?” Azura demands.

“Y-yes ma’am!” Nazuko says, clearly scared of Azura.

“I’m glad that’s settled, hey Quincy why don’t you guys come and relax at the hot springs with us? I bet you guys still need to heal after fighting the Lancer dude,” I suggest to Quincy.

“I would like to relax, but then again I really would like to read my book instead,” he says wavering between the two options.

“Come on, we can all have a nice male bonding session, full of manliness,” Ryder says, chipping into the conversation.

“Yeah what he said,” I add on.

“Hmmmmm,” Quincy says, still unsure.

Suddenly Luther comes into the room, but not through the door, but through the open window behind us.

“HIYAH I AM HERE, my friends did I hear about a hot springs escapade occurring tonight?” Luther questions.

Wow that was fast, I thought Luther was off still giving his report to Colonel Bianca, I guess he must be a fast talker or gave Colonel Bianca a really strange report.

“Yes, tonight it is and Quincy apparently would rather read his book than go to a hot spring,” I say mocking the avid reader before me.

“Hmm, while I cannot decide for my disciple I have decided I shall join thee in your trip tonight,” Luther declares.

“Luther is going! In that case I think I’ll come to,” Quincy announces quickly revoking his previous decision.

“Ok that’s settled, how about you Warren are you coming?” I ask.

He thinks to himself for a moment before answering.

“Yeah I guess I’ll come to, my injuries aren’t fully healed yet,” Warren claims.

Nazuko then asks Nerva and Akane to come.

“Nerva, Akane let’s all go to the hot springs together. I wanna hear more about how Akane defeated 30 guys while blindfolded underwater,” Nazuko says.

“Hell yeah, let’s do this thing!” Nerva says accepting Nazuko’s invitation.

“I shall accept as well, I will be sure to tell the full tale to you two later,” Akane pronounced.

“Alright so am I missing anyone who else wants to come?” I ask whoever is left in the room.

“Wait, isn’t anyone going to ask me to come?” Adam pleads.

“Hold up, Imma ask my sis if she wants to come,” Nerva puts out, totally ignoring Adam.

Nerva then leaves the room for a bit to go find Anastasia and then yells back from another room.

“Yeah, she said she’ll come!” Nerva yells.

“Ok that’s everyone, let’s go!” I say eager to let out all the built up stress.

We all exit the tower and walk through the city or Artry for a bit until we come to a facility located near the outskirts of town. We end up heading north towards the upper part of the city that’s at the foot of the mountain. There is a natural water supply running through the ground in this area and it's nearby a vent in the ground, combining to make a natural hot spring. It’s apparently got a bathhouse as well as a sauna and outdoor bath.

“Huh a sauna, I’ve never been in one of those before so I wonder what it’s like. We should go in there to try it out,” I suggest.

“Saunas actually do a lot for your health like removing toxins from the body, improving your immune system and relaxation. Not as much relaxation as explosions tend to provide, but it’s a close second,” Ryder tells me.

I didn’t expect that kind of knowledge to come from Ryder, I guess he knows about more than just explosions.

“So this place only has one outdoor bath huh? I want to get into that first. I can’t wait for the natural waters to rejuvenate my body and I heard it even improves your skin,” Remi claims.

“I guess the girls are going to occupy the bath first then, we’ll head to the sauna first,” I layed out.

We enter the bathhouse, and the girls head off to their changing room while the guys head to theirs. We strip off all our clothing besides a towel around our waist and head into the sauna. The weird thing is that Luther still has all of his armor on, the only difference is that he has a towel wrapped around his waist. I would question this man, but he is a mysterious man whose secrets will never be uncovered.

We walk into a room full of steam and there are wood benches on the borders of the room as well as a pit full of stones in the center. I guess that’s there to… hmm what does that do?

“Hey Ryder what does that pit in the center of the room do?” I ask.

“Oh yeah that actually makes an explosion of steam in the room when you pour water on it. It makes the room more humid and it feels a little hotter. Actually let’s try pouring a gallon on it right now,” Ryder suggests as he pulls out a jug.

Of course he would describe it using the word explosion, I’m not surprised, but I’m not disappointed either, it fits.

As Ryder continues to pour water on the stones it causes a ton of steam to fill the room.

“Wait, wait I think that’s too much steam we can’t see,” Warren informs.

There is actually so much steam in the room that all I can see is a white cloud and we all just stumble around the room until we can finally sit down on a bench. I stumble around the all white room until I trip and fall on top of someone, but that someone feels like they have fur.

“Umm, Ryder do you happen to have a furry exterior or have you just not shaved in a while?” I ask in a daze.

“ARFF!” is all I hear in response.

“What was that?” Adam asks.

“Oh yeah I got Remi’s bear to come hang out with us, I think it’s taken a liking to my explosions,” Ryder answers.

So that’s what this fur like feeling is, although I wonder when did Ryder and Remi’s bear get so close, also I didn’t even see that thing when we came into the sauna. To be fair, I can’t see anything at all so there’s that.

“Ughh, I can’t see, I can fix this. Everyone except Adam, try to hold onto the towel around your waist,” I notified.

“Wait, what’s going on?” Adam asks.

I let out a burst of wind to send most of the steam in the room into the vents, and the resulting wind causes everyone’s towel to start to fly off their waist. It seems that everyone heeded my warning as no one’s private bits were exposed to our eyes, well almost everyone.

“Oh no my towel, w-wait stop the wind no one look,” Adam cries.

Adam turns around quickly rushing to put his towel on. Oh god, it’s a good thing I didn’t see anything, Adam is degenerate, hitting us with a mental attack. If I saw anything I think I would have been scarred and my night would have been ruined.

“Ugh, Adam you pervert stop trying to flash us, no one wants to see your microdick,” Quincy says visibly expressing his disgust.

“T-That wasn’t my fault, it was all the wind!” he argues.

As the steam clears a bit it seems Adam’s towel is not the only one that flew off.

“Ohoh, my friends, do not look for I am not ready,” Luther says in a bashful tone.

In any other situation I would avert my eyes, but the thing is that Luther still has all his armor on so it's not like anything is exposed to begin with. As I turn my head to face Luther, Quincy grabs my head and turns me away.

“Will you can’t look, Luther needs to put his towel on!” Quincy informs me.

“Wait, but he has his armor on he’s not-”

“No, Will you are not allowed to gaze upon his exposed visage.”

“But… Ok nevermind you’re right.”

I’m just not going to argue, even though I don’t think there’s a difference.

A few minutes later and it's actually peaceful for once. There’s only been one tiny explosion and there was no property damage involved. I think that’s something my party needs to work on, everywhere we go things get absolutely destroyed. I think things here are going rather well, I hope it’s not absolute chaos on the girls’ side. Knowing them, I’m predicting that Nazuko will get knocked out in some fight, that she starts for that matter. Also some explosion will probably happen regardless of whether Ryder is there or not.

“Hey guys, I need to go use the bathroom, I’ll be right back,” I informed.

“Will’s just sneaking out so he can peer on the girls,” Quincy accuses.

“Ok no! Imma stop you right there, I’m not Adam, I wouldn’t do that,” I argue.

“I-I wouldn’t do that either, s-stop accusing me of being a pervert,” Adam chips in.

“In situations like this, I think I will quote Vasavir. ‘If there is one thing certain in this world, it is that all men are perverts, the true question is whether they are open perverts or closed perverts!’” I say before pushing up a set of imaginary glasses.

“Will that gesture doesn’t work if you’re not actually wearing glasses, it has no impact otherwise,” Quincy claims.

“Hmm, my friend I have determined the meaning of your gesture, to me you seem like a true intellectual. Your words could not ring more true,” Luther proclaims.

“See Luther got it!” I say smugly.

“Oh yeah I know that gesture, the main characters in most detective comics do that frequently. It makes them look pretty cool,” Adam mentions.

“Add another to my group of supporters, Ryder what are your thoughts?” I ask.

“I don’t know what you just did, but it feels pretty dang cool,” Ryder states.

I would ask Warren, but I get the feeling he wouldn’t side with me so I’ll exclude his opinion.

“Anyways I’ll be back, enjoy the sauna,” I say before closing the door.

I did have a bit of an uncomfortable experience with the restroom, I ran out of toilet paper so I had to clean using other methods, just my luck. After walking back from the restroom, I walked by the outdoor bath and overheard the girls talking.

“Curse you Lilith, why is your chest so much bigger than mine,” I hear Nazuko whine.

Hmm, I inch my way closer to the wall so that I can better eavesdrop. It's not peeking, it's eavesdropping--there’s a difference, I can’t be accused of doing anything perverted right?

I see that there is a small hole in the wall that would allow me to see the bath. Do I dare? That is the question.

“My friend why have you not taken this opportunity, I can see the desire on your face,” Luther says as he’s right behind me.

“Gah, what are you doing here! I thought you were in the sauna,” I said nervously.

“I also needed to use the restroom, now my friend you are wasting an opportunity by not looking through that hole. You wish to see your girlfriends in the nude do you not?” Luther claims.

“I-It’s not like that, I'm just ummm, I noticed this hole in the wall and...”

“Come now, peeking is a man’s rite of passage. Let us go on a journey to becoming real men.”

I’m wondering why Luther isn’t berating me for my actions, but instead encouraging me to peek. Fine, if someone like him says it's okay then what’s the harm?

“Ugh, there’s too much steam getting in the way, all I can see are outlines, I think this hole is a little bit too small,” I complain.

“I know what must be done. Demon Blade 0.5 configuration!” he yells as he takes out his sword and carves a somewhat bigger hole in the wall.

Perfect! I hope no one heard that though cause Luther yelled it pretty loudly.

“My friend, my job here is done, be sure to take in everything. I shall return to the sauna,” Luther notifies me.

“No, my towel! Nazuko, give it back!” I hear Remi shout.

“Heh, I am the ultimate thief, all your possessions are mine. I have become the towel queen,” Nazuko declares.

Oh boy these two really can’t get along now can they. I can barely see through the hole, but I think I see Nazuko has like 15 towels completely wrapped around her body.

“Ugh, fine keep the stupid towel, I’ll just send my wolf to get another one,” Remi mutters.

As I get closer to the hole in the wall Remi’s wolf all of a sudden steals the towel around my waist and runs into the bath. I look around for a spare towel inside the changing room, but it seems Nazuko has hoarded them all. Welp, this is bad, I can’t exactly walk in there and get it back now can I? Going into the sauna naked is out of the question. Ok so I need to figure out a way to steal a towel without directly going inside the bath. I can’t open a portal directly to snag a towel because everyone will clearly be able to see that. Alright, I’m going to use every bit of stealth knowledge that I know of.

Stealth Theme

Mission Start!

Objective: Acquire a towel without being detected.

Consequence for failure: DEATH!!!

Observe your surroundings, what can you use as cover to remain undetected? Heighten your senses, use every last bit of agility and movement to your advantage. I notice that there is a rather large rock near the back of the bath, I may be able to use that to my advantage. It’s about 50.52345 feet from this exact location. Calculate the spatial coordinates needed to teleport. Go! I teleported exactly to the position I needed, still out of their lines of sight.

“Nazuko, give all of our towels back!” Azura demands.

“Never you will never defeat the towel queen. Nerva, Akane hold them back!” Nazuko commands.

“We got this, come on bitches let’s go!” Nerva shouts.

“For the towel Queen,” Akane said in a deadpan tone, but somehow I still hear the sound of a sword being unsheathed.

The sudden increase of fireballs being thrown about is causing a bit of steam to spread. This is good, the visibility in the area is now much lower.

“Gah, take this! Whirlpool!” Remi yells as the area starts to turn in a cyclone.

“No my towels!” Nazuko cries.

I look up from behind the large rock to see towels are now flying up inside the bath. This is my chance, I just need to grab one of those towels. I extend my hand and mentally focus on grabbing a towel using my telekinesis. The range of this power is still quite limited and it’s difficult to grab fast moving objects. All the steam and water flying around is making things difficult to see. I see one come within range and barely pull it in. Yes mission accomplished! I wrap the towel around my waist, tightly this time so it doesn’t get easily removed. Now all that’s left is to escape. I do a reverse teleportation allowing me to get out of the bath. Ah jeez barely saw anything at all, but at least this was a better outcome than if I was discovered.

I walk back into the sauna, expecting something to blow up as I enter, but it's still calm. Part of me can’t believe this disparity, but I guess it is usually the girls causing the fights in my party.

“So Will, you were gone for a while, did you end up doing anything perverted while you were gone?” Quincy accuses.

“Nah, I just spent a long time in the bathroom cause I had a stomach ache. It really sucked since I also ran out of toilet paper so I had to use my hands,” I lie.

“Ugh, gross stop talking about that,” Quincy responds.

Well that wasn’t completely a lie, I did run out of toilet paper, but I just happened to exclude my whole stealth mission.

“So did anything interesting happen while I was gone,” I ask, changing the subject.

“We talked about how Adam would make a terrible shounen protagonist. I had to explain the concept of shounen and I went on this long rant. Also Ryder talked about his retirement plan for when he stops adventuring,” Quincy informs.

“Yeah I am going to run a demolition business that way I’ll always have things to explode,” Ryder answers.

“Oh cool I hope that goes well,” I say.

“I am going to be the most efficient demolition company, especially when I can make bombs with my bear hands. Isn’t that right bear,” Ryder jokes.

“Arf,” it responds.

I don’t think the bear got the intricacies of Ryder’s puns, but maybe it did who knows. I don’t speak bear.

I sit down on a wood bench and let myself be at peace. I’m glad I don’t have to deal with the chaos on the girl’s side anymore.