"Ah! Hiss—" The moment his frozen fingers touched the hot water, a sharp tingling sensation spread from his fingertips to all parts of his body like an electric current.
Despite the skin care cream made from whale oil, under the harsh winter wind, the skin in the areas that were not tightly wrapped still showed signs of dryness and cracking. As soon as these areas come into contact with hot water, a burning tingling sensation will be felt.
"Ah hiss -" There was no need to put on a strong appearance when there was no one else around. After testing the water temperature, Mira sat lazily in the wooden bathtub.
"Woo——" The stinging sensation of dry and cracked skin is mixed with the comfort of warming the whole person, which makes people feel mixed. After the pain is adapted, only the remaining warmth and comfort become more irritating. It's irresistible, even a little hypnotic.
"Too luxurious, too extravagant." The Luoan girl muttered such words, and her whole body was immersed in hot water.
She couldn't remember the last time she had a good bath.
While on the boat, due to lack of water and fuel, all I could do was wipe my body. After getting off the ship, because the Yi settlements had been completely evacuated, just collecting life-saving supplies was already strenuous enough, and this need could only be pushed further back.
The reason why Lisa lost her temper and made trouble because she didn't have to take a bath and other trivial matters was actually understandable to a certain extent not only by the scholars but also by others.
But the problem is that this is not a grievance limited to her alone, but an inconvenience shared by everyone in the team. While everyone else was suffering silently, she was the only one who took the lead in complaining, and even started forming cliques to get other scholars to start making trouble together. This was what really made it unbearable.
And if we investigate further, the reason why supplies appear to be very tight is that scholars like them always turn a blind eye to what they need to do and do nothing. Put a lot of things to do there, and even if there is a piece of firewood in the middle of the road while walking, you choose to step over it instead of picking it up and putting it on the pile of firewood. They were always pretending that they were busy with "more important things". Once Henry and the four of them were around, they would always start pretending to flip through books and discuss with their companions in a hurry, and put those things in life into nothing. Leave it there like that, untouched.
In the final analysis, this attitude is obviously because others can solve the problem. Since Henry and the four of them will take care of it even if it is left there for a while, why bother to do it?
Don’t do things → Others will take care of it → In this case, there is no need to do it yourself - this way of thinking creates a vicious circle. To a certain extent, it is Henry and others who are too capable that caused the laziness of these scholars.
But they have to do it, because if they choose not to do something, things will pile up and stay there.
This is quite a frustrating situation.
People like Lisa and others who are pampered and pampered are honestly the worst traveling companions for adventurers.
The distinguished scholar lady longs for a bath or even better food. In fact, if the majority of the scholar group members all get involved and start working, they will naturally be able to include this kind of morale-improving enjoyment as they have redundant supplies. schedule.
But this beautiful vision of everyone working together is obviously impossible to realize - because the mentality of these young men has not changed. They changed their plans and did not go directly to the bustling capital but into the wild, but their hearts are still in the human city. That set. Put on the airs of the upper class, thinking that even if they are not the class that should be served, at least they are not the class that needs to work every day. As long as someone else can solve the problem, they refuse to roll up their sleeves and get to work. And once you have redundant supplies, you will want to spend them on some luxurious enjoyment as soon as possible, regardless of your future schedule.
Even if there were no ulterior motives on the part of the scholar mentor Luo Lan, just the uncooperativeness and pretentiousness of these people would inevitably lead to conflicts in the future.
Therefore, before such a situation developed, the sage used the conflict as an opportunity to successfully play the role of a mercenary who had integrity, was not interested in money, and chose to break up because he was insulted.
In fact, our Henry Meyer's attitude towards money was something that Luo An girl had seen before - somewhat dumbfoundedly. As long as there is an opportunity to make money, you will never see a sage pretending to be aloof.
After all, money has many uses. But in this case where the missionaries themselves had money and Captain Francisco also paid them a lot of money, it was worth it to be able to use this opportunity to get away.
The reason why he had to act like this was to prevent Lorraine from knowing that Henry had seen through his plan. It might be satisfying for a while to tell all his little calculations in front of the scholar mentor, but don't forget that the Lamanites have been developing in the Kingdom of the Moon for more than a hundred years.
Although the rebellion they launched was suppressed in a very short period of time, the fact that they were able to start a rebellion within this country with a history of 4,000 years of peaceful reunification has become a stain on the Moon Country that can never be erased.
They have considerable power, whether it is collusion with the locals or the church they established. Considering that they may meet in the future and Luo Lan is from an upper-class society with a certain right to speak, speaking out things here will make him angry and offend him. , it is better to divert the misfortune to the east and let the poor scholar lady suffer the criticism from her mentor.
Henry's performance in this drama will not make Lorraine suspect too much or hold a grudge. Even if he may encounter him again in the future, he will probably feel that "this is a very honorable mercenary. He should be treated with sincerity instead of using him." To change the attitude towards them, rather than to persecute them.
When you take one step, you should think about the next three steps. Taking the sage as an example, it may be ten steps.
But let's get back to our original point - in fact, with the abilities of Henry and others, if they want to meet the requirements of Lisa and those young scholars, they can do it if they work hard. But he won't do it, and neither will Mira. Even Galeva understands it - just like a willful child, the more you give in to these people, the more they push forward.
"But things could not have turned out like this." Mira thought drowsily as half of her face was soaked in the hot water. She squatted in the tub with her knees in her arms, and continued to soak in the bath. As time passed, a little face became redder and redder.
With a "squeak" sound, the wooden door of the bathroom was opened, and the cold wind blew in, causing the drowsy Mira to wake up instantly. Lulu walked in with a towel wrapped around her head and a small wooden bucket in her arms, but she frowned slightly the moment she saw Mira.
"No, just drink it." The aboriginal girl said this. The words she spoke were in the language of the Yi tribe to which she belonged, not the language of the Moon Country. Lulu would occasionally do this when the two of them were alone. Maybe it's because she can feel close to Luo'an language.
"Da?" Mira tilted her head, she wasn't sure why.
"Rinse first and then take a bath. You can take a bath with more than one person to save fuel." Lulu explained this way. Due to grammatical problems, she had to express it separately. The Luoan girl nodded and started chatting with her.
Obviously, even if they are taking a bath, the bathing method of the Crescent Continent aborigines is very different from that of Rigar.
The Rigal people's bathing is to soak directly, wash your body in the bath or tub and pour away the dirty water. The bathing method of Xinyue Continent, especially spread from the Moon Kingdom to other places, is like what Lulu was doing while chatting, first cleaning herself with a small tub and towel, and then going in to take a bath.
The difference between this method, as Lulu said, is the saving of fuel and fresh water. If you rinse first and then take a bath, the water in the bathtub will not become dirty all at once. Other people in the family can enjoy the hot water bath again and again. process.
Although it was somewhat unacceptable for the Luoan girl from the Rigal continent to accept the bath water that others had soaked in, instead of denying this very different custom, she began to think about the reasons and met with Lulu in order to practice the local language. Start a discussion in the language of the Moon Country.
Based on what they knew, they quickly came to a conclusion.
The reason why Xinyuezhou formed such a bathing habit is closely related to the popularity of bathing.
For people on the Rigal continent, bathing is an act of enjoyment. Although Padrosi, Suomir, and the wealthy areas of the Southern City-State Alliance do have the habit of bathing every day, this habit is basically only enjoyed by people with a good life such as the citizen class.
For most people, taking a bath only once every ten and a half days is the appropriate example.
Under such preconditions, it seems reasonable for one person to use up an entire tub of water and a large amount of firewood just for one wash.
In comparison, daily bathing in Xinyuezhou is available to all civilian classes. From farmers to the upper class, people have the habit of boiling water to take a bath every night. Because it has become a daily behavior, over time, they will naturally develop a frugal bathing habit.
Just in such a small detail, the gap between Crescent Continent and Rigal is so obvious.
However, it is a discussion, and Mira, who does not understand this custom, used a bucket of water by herself, which is indeed a bit extravagant and wasteful. In order to reuse as much as possible, the two people poured them into another long bucket next to them after washing, found the washing powder, and then threw the dirty clothes into it.
Because all the replacement clothes were dirty, they borrowed the clothes of the owner of this room. Of course, all this was arranged by Lulu, who is familiar with the business. Because of her tall height, our Luoan girl can only wear the clothes of the male master. The style of wearing the clothes of the Kingdom of the Moon is very different from Rigar, which makes her feel very different in every way. Fortunately, because the weather was cold enough, she still had to put on a woolen cloak, so this awkwardness wouldn't be obvious.
After washing my body, my whole body felt radiant. After everyone else took a bath separately, they unceremoniously used the ingredients of the owner of the house to make a pot of stew.
Orange flames burned the hanging pot, and for the sake of keeping warm, everyone took their bowls and plates to eat directly from the pot.
In the cold winter, I hide in a warm house, take a hot bath and eat hot stew.
It all looks incredibly sweet - but apparently not everyone feels the same way.
"Why on earth can you adapt so quickly!" Aiji still couldn't help but keep looking at the paper window that had been refilled, fearing that a figure would suddenly appear in the translucent window illuminated by the dim light. After a long pause, he finally spoke loudly to the other seven people who were eating happily.
The strange scene he saw with his own eyes in the morning made him pray continuously for half an hour afterwards, and when night fell and it was dark outside, Aggie immediately became nervous. Even when he just took a shower, he set a record in the team. Others took about 20 minutes to come out, but it only took him two minutes to run out.
Such a timid appearance is a bit inappropriate for a grown man, but from some perspectives, his reaction may be the most normal.
There was no one left in the whole village, plus the person I saw in the morning who seemed to be something wrong - when that person glanced at the window, the few people who were standing there didn't move. Fortunately, "he" might Not noticing the pairs of eyes peeping through the paper window, he blinked his strange eyelids for a while, then walked slowly and staggeringly in the other direction.
After that, the group waited for more than half an hour before going out to investigate because they were worried about alerting the enemy.
But the hard frozen soil did not leave deep enough footprints, so the tracking failed just after reaching a corner of the trail.
It was natural to feel scared in such an unclear situation, but not only Henry and the four of them, but also the other three missionaries quickly seemed to have forgotten about the matter, and began to work under the guidance of Henry and others. Various supplies were searched inside nearby uninhabited houses.
Finally, after gathering the items here and using some things to set up warnings around them, they actually started living in other people's houses with peace of mind.
Clean and repair camping supplies, repair weapons and tools, and inspect other supplies.
Even in the evening, he began to collect fresh water and firewood to boil water for bathing and washing clothes. Aggie was dumbfounded when he saw all this - "Am I the only one who is worried because of the unknown situation?" In the evening, while having dinner, he Finally I couldn't help it anymore and said this.
"Uh." Galeva was stunned for a moment and stopped holding the spoon in his hand.
The other three missionaries also looked at him.
"Then what do you want to do?" The girl from Luo An held her chin and glanced at him: "Can the situation be changed by being so scared that you can stay still and shrink?"
"Even if that person, or something I don't know if it's a person, might pose a threat to us, isn't he not here now?"
"I'm tired from traveling all the way, and if my nerves are too tight, I might not be able to react if something happens later." Mira said, then she raised her neck and drank the contents of the bowl in synchronization with Lulu next to her. Soup.
"Anyway, let's sit down and have a good meal first. You can't stop what's coming. Only by recharging your energy can you cope with emergencies." Henry scooped up a bowl of hot soup from another bowl and handed it to Aggie, and the man next to him The missionary also advised: "Calm down, there are so many of us."
"...Huh, okay, okay." Although the young missionary's heart was still beating, but after so many people's persuasion and the fact that nothing could be done to change the current situation, he He took the bowl of soup anyway, and then sat back down with some hesitation and daze.
"One more bowl." Mira and Lulu said in unison as they handed over the empty bowls in their hands at the same time. While the sage was taking over the soup, she glanced at Aggie who was sitting opposite, and continued: "And, we used iron parts and nearby hunters' tools to set off a lot of alarms and alarms around the house. trap."
"Basically, if anyone comes close, we will immediately——" "Crack——"
Before Mira could finish her words, she was drowned out by the sound of the pottery bowl in Aggie's hand falling to the ground.
"That - that, that, that, that, that, that is -" The young missionary sitting directly opposite the Luoan girl turned pale, raised a hand tremblingly, and pointed to the paper window diagonally opposite.
"Wha—" Everyone looked in that direction.
The outline of a human-shaped black shadow faintly flashed under the firelight.
"How did he get around those traps-" Mira's eyes widened.
"Crossbow!" Henry shouted.
