Might as well check the water and furnace levels, Lucas thought to himself with a sigh.
Walking around to the back of the bathhouse, Lucas first inspected the furnace. It was still lit, but mostly just smoldering, so he tossed a few pieces of firewood into it from the nearby pile before making his way up the nearby stairs.
Once Lucas reached the roof, he opened the heavy lids of the water tanks and found that they were both about half-full, more than enough for him to have a nice shower and also scrub down his new friend.
Still, with nothing better to do, Lucas decided he might as well pump up the levels a bit.
Setting the fox kit onto his shoulder, Lucas grabbed the long handle of the pump and began cranking it, drawing up water from the well into the hot water tank first, making sure he didn't add so much all at once that it caused it to cool down.
After 50 or so reps, Lucas swiveled the pump head over to the cold-water tank and repeated the process 150 more times. Each rep brought up roughly 300 millilitres of water, for a total of about 60 litres after 200 total cranks of the pump.
60 litres was plenty to replace what he would use tonight.
It was a bit of a workout for the boy, enough for him to feel his muscles warming up, but not enough to cause Lucas to sweat or become winded as he wasn't in a particular rush.
Satisfied with his effort, Lucas closed up the tanks again and climbed down the stairs just in time to hear a couple of voices coming from the front of the bathhouse.
Walking around to the front, Lucas was met with a familiar pair.
Two young girls had clearly just finished showering, their hair still wet and the floral scent of soap wafting from their figures. Had the moon been out, they would surely have made for quite the alluring picture, but with storm clouds gathering, Lucas could only vaguely make out their faces from the light of the Spirit Lamps inside the bathhouse.
Even so, the young boy immediately recognized who had just been using the bathhouse, and his suspicions were quickly confirmed when Eris called out to him, "Lucas!"
Running over, dragging Christina along with her, Eris blurted out, "I was just showing Sister Tina the shower you invented!"
"Ah, en, I can see that," Lucas nodded, still feeling a bit awkward around the Rockwell Kingdom's youngest princess.
The feeling was clearly mutual, as Christina's eyes seemed to swim a bit upon seeing Lucas.
Eris, on the other hand, seemed completely oblivious to the tension in the air and just continued chattering away, "Sister Tina was so surprised when the hot water came out of the shower head, and she really liked the scented soap we used as well! I promised her I'd give her a few bars of it later. Oh, of course, they'll come from my stock, I won't touch the soap that's set aside for the rest of the town!"
Scratching his head, Lucas tried his best to smile as he addressed the princess, "Er… I'm glad you like the shower."
"En," Christina nodded with a faint blush on her cheeks, "It's not as big as the baths in the pala… in my home, but it's very convenient."
"Thanks?" Lucas muttered back before falling silent, seemingly ending the whole conversation.
Glancing back and forth between her new sister and little brother, Eris just couldn't understand why Tina and Lucas were still acting so distant. Sure, they had a disagreement, sure they fought multiple times, sure there were many unresolved issues and grudges between them…
Actually, Eris perfectly understood why things were awkward between them, she just didn't like it and wanted to fix it somehow.
Unfortunately for Eris, solving complex interpersonal issues wasn't her strong suit. She was good at lightening the mood though, so when she saw the 'towel' that Lucas was holding move, that's exactly what she did, "Hey! Who's this little guy?"
""Huh?"" Both Christina and Lucas were initially confused, but upon turning their eyes towards where Eris was pointing, a look of understanding appeared on their faces.
"What an interesting little beast," the princess commented, raising her brow in surprise.
As a Third Step Sea Establishment Practitioner, the fact that she hadn't even noticed the 'rag' on Lucas' shoulder was a living creature was something she found quite unusual.
At first, Christina thought she had just been too distracted, but it didn't take her very long to realize that even when she focused her nascent Soul Sense on the baby fox, she still couldn't sense its Life Aura.
"Ah, don't bother," Lucas, who sensed the Soul Qi fluctuations, chimed in, "Even Master had a hard time sensing this little girl. Apparently, she possesses a powerful Bloodline Ability."
"What!?" Christina was extremely taken aback, even taking a step back when she heard this and blurting out, "Are you… are you sure it's safe having it around, then?"
"Huh? Why would this little cutie be dangerous?" Eris asked in confusion as she poked and prodded the kit.
Eris had no idea what having a 'Bloodline Ability' meant, but Christina certainly did.
Knowing that the small creature lounging on Lucas' shoulder belonged to an apex Spirit Beast species made the princess seriously contemplate whether this boy was incredibly brave, or incredibly foolish.
Seeing the look on Christina's face, Lucas could only shrug and explain, "I found her just a while ago in one of the wagons. She was injured and hungry, so I decided to take care of her for now. As for her parents… there's been no sign of them… yet."
"Even so…" Christina still felt hesitant, but when the little pup turned its head to her and yipped playfully, her heart began to soften.
Like most girls her age, Christina was fond of cute things, and the baby fox certainly qualified as cute.
As for Eris, she had already been completely won over by the kit and if not for having just finished cleaning herself up, she would have long ago snatched her from Lucas' shoulder to cuddle.
Seemingly understanding what was going through the two girls' minds, Lucas smiled faintly and said, "I was going to find a place to let her sleep after giving her a bath, but if you'd like, I can let you play with her a bit after I finish cleaning her."
"Really?! Yay!" Eris' eyes lit up as she cheered.
"En," Lucas said with a chuckle, "I'll bring her to our usual room, so just wait for me there."
"Okay! Hurry up and get in the shower then!" Eris immediately agreed and then grabbed Tina's hand, dragging her off towards the Manor.
Christina was a bit flustered at first, hearing that Lucas was sharing a room with her Sworn Sister, but she soon recalled Eris telling her that the older kids had been taking turns looking after the younger kids who had either lost their parents, or whose parents were out fighting and calmed down.
As the youngest in her family, and a princess to boot, Christina had never had to take care of anyone before, so she had naïvely agreed to stick with Eris tonight, thinking this would be a new and interesting experience for her.
She hadn't realized that both boys and girls would be sharing a room, but after thinking about it for a bit, she wasn't too worried.
If any boy tried to get too close to her, she could just punch his lights out; after all, none of the kids here could beat her… except for maybe Lucas… but that was only if she let her guard down… which she wouldn't!
…..
After watching the two girls run off, or rather one of them run off while dragging the other, Lucas shook his head wryly and plucked the fox kit off his shoulder, "Well, I guess we better get started."
Unfortunately for Lucas, while he was more than eager to wash away the sweat and grime of the day, his partner was a 'bit' less cooperative.
*Splash!*
*Yip yip yip!*
"Pft pft… Hold still, pft, we're almost done!"
*Splash yip yip splash…*
"Ack, pft pft pft…"
After filling up a large basin with warm water, Lucas gently tried to clean away the dirt on the kit, but to say she was being uncooperative would be a massive understatement.
Lucas wasn't sure whether she was afraid of the water, didn't like the heat, didn't like the soap, or just wanted to play and kick up a fuss, but whatever the reason, the kit refused to stay put and let him wash her.
It might also have had something to do with the injury on her leg stinging from getting wet, but there was nothing Lucas could do about that as he had to get the dried blood off and clean the wound properly, lest it become infected.
Beasts might be more resilient than humans, but Lucas figured a baby fox wouldn't fare much better than a human child if they had a wound that festered.
After struggling back and forth for quite some time, Lucas eventually wore down his opponent's spirit and the fox seemed to resign herself to her fate, letting him scrub her with a foamy cloth and then rinse off the suds several times.
It took 4 rounds of washing, but Lucas finally found a snow-white coat underneath all the muck which had previously been covering the pup.
He would have been more impressed with how beautiful the kit's fur was if he wasn't so tired from spitting out soap, dirty water, and washing his stinging eyes out.
The only thing he was thankful for was that he decided to wash the kit first before himself; if he had tried to do things in the reverse order, he would have had to take a second shower.
Ultimately, though, the boy finished cleaning the kit and then let her soak in a new basin of lukewarm water while he scrubbed himself down in one of the shower stalls.
Glancing over at the relaxed, almost pleased look on the little fox's face now, though, Lucas couldn't help snorting, "Oh sure, now you're enjoying yourself…"