I Got Transferred in the Middle of a Mountain. In Retaliation, I Chose Amenity over Strength.

「 Soap…」

Ash returned to her house to get a change of clothes and some firewood when the hot water was ready. I refilled the hot water in the meantime. She’s so conscientious; she even brought firewood when she returned.

Approximately 6 kilos of firewood is needed to boil water enough for a bath. If the family isn’t affluent enough, taking a bath inside their own home could be considered a luxury, so people usually go to the public baths, instead.

I’m scared of being infected by disease, and I don’t care for any erotica service, so yeah, I avoid going there. I also want to do something about this hair of mine, but the barbershop is attached to the bathhouse, so nope.

Ash probably didn’t go to the public bathhouse either, considering gender barriers. Oh, wait, maybe she’s concerned about hygiene too.

「 Sorry, this one isn’t new, but if it’s okay with you, feel free to use it .」

The soap I placed there wasn’t new because I already tested whether it would lather when I made it.

By the way, there are also times when I enjoy a steam bath. There’s a stove for baking bread in between the fireplace and the bathroom wall, so I splash hot water on that wall to create some steam. The steam bath in this area is adjacent to the bakery, so I drew inspiration from them.

Oh, come to think of it, the place where you can take a hot water bath is called a bathhouse, while the steam bath is called a bath. I’m not confident that they’re used separately, though.

「 This soap is solid, and it doesn’t even reek of beast stink. Even the noble houses couldn’t hold a candle against all the facilities and implements that can be found in Jean-sama’s house. 」

Butler said while handing the towel to Ash while she was still staring baffedly at the soap.

「 It’s narrow, though. 」

「 It’s efficient. We have imitated some of them. 」

Nothing will come out of it even if you praise me to high heavens.

「 Alright, it’ll be a waste to put out the fire after drawing the water, so I’ll bake a few sweets that you can enjoy after your bath. 」

「 What a delightful thing to look forward to. I will draw the water, so please go ahead with your preparations. 」

Well, it’s just “preparing” the water for Butler’s bath.

The cauldron is already hot, so boiling water shouldn’t take that long the second time around. Nevertheless, even if I water it down later on, I still have to boil a potful each in the furnace and on the stove. Plus, I had to draw the water from the well, after all.

Ash will probably take a long bath, so I still have plenty of time. They seem to have returned just now, so it’s a mystery whether they still have some ingredients in their house. Anyway, let’s just have the meat pies usually sold as souvenirs; they’re still perfect even if they have gone cold.

I should get something we can eat here when Butler enters the bath… Cookies, and aside from meat pies, something fluffy and light can do the trick — alright, let’s settle for some castella pancakes.

And so, I started my preparations after deciding on that. I cheated a bit and took out my stash of pie sheets from 【 Storage 】 , then I minced the other ingredients — beef, onions, garlic, carrots and some mushrooms.

Carrots are very colorful here, ranging from orange to dark purple and even white. They’re narrow, and even their leaves are edible with a refreshing taste.

I toss them inside the oven and I’m done. The meringue for the castella pancakes must be done too, but I’ll wait for a while before starting on it.

「 Ash mentioned that you guys encountered someone who seemed to be related to Ruf. Did it turn into an uproar? 」

Butler was already done drawing the water, so I broach this topic while serving him tea.

「 Roza-sama must be the one gushing about Ruf. See, the rumors about the Kingdom of Shrumtum summoning heroes had already reached here. Roza-sama has a bit of a history with that kingdom, so she must be searching for that person in order to aid her in opposing them. Well, it was said that Ruf’s descendants were long-lived, but personally, I think it’s just wishful thinking…Now I’m not so sure, maybe it’s true. 」

Wrong.

「 I’ll avoid going to the Guild for a while. I feel like those Gold ranks can probably see spirits. 」

「 Indeed, Roza-sama certainly can. I assume that person can also summon spirits and form contracts with them. I don’t want Ash-sama going anywhere near them, but I currently don’t have any means to prevent it. 」

If she enthusiastically wants to oppose the kingdom that summoned the heroes because she wanted to settle some kind of score with them, then that person is nothing but a booby trap for me.

「 If she’s looking for Ruf so she can go against that kingdom, she’ll probably zoom in on Ash, since she’s a potential asset in battle because of her ability to see spirits. 」

「 Indeed. It seems they have plans to return to the forest depths, so she should be fine if she isn’t involved in that expedition. 」

Butler sure has it hard~ with that thought in mind, I also considered disguising the flat construction site that I dug at the sanctuary in the middle of the woods. It is quite far, so I don’t think there’s going to be a problem, but then, they’re going along the riverbank, so it won’t hurt to be more careful.

I should’ve checked where the water from the spring in the sanctuary leads to. Maybe I should just show up and declare that I’m not Ruf? Ugh, this is so troublesome.

「 Yeah. Maybe it’ll be fine if Ash and I have a prior commission that we have to do? 」

She’ll certainly prioritize the first commission based on her personality.

「 I see. Then please, let us go with that. 」

「 But then, what should we do with the contents of the request? 」

Butler and I had a confidential discussion for a while.

Ash switched with Butler, so I got back on track and started making the castella pancakes.

I separated the yolks and added some milk. For the meringue, I gradually mixed in some sugar to the whites. I don’t have baking powder, so I just used the meringue to control the fluffiness and airiness. It took quite a lot of effort, since I had to stabilize the foam and be mindful of the timing whenever I added the sugar.

No issues with the bread thanks to yeast. The problem is with the other dishes like cake salé which doesn’t use sugar, so I made do with this too by crushing the dried meringue and adding it to the fresh batch of meringue.

I gently mixed the egg yolks with the meringue. poured the mixture into the skillet and placed it in the oven. Then halfway through baking it, I took it out to do a cross-shaped cut on it. Afterward, I turned the skillet around frequently so that it would bake into an even color.

「 That looks like quite a lot of work, huh. 」

「 Is it? 」

Ash just finished her bath and is now staring at me with deep interest as I work at the oven. Butler should be nearly done too by now.

「 Sorry for the wait. It was a good bath, thank you so much. 」

Oh good, nice timing.

「 Yeah, just in time, it’s done. It’s hot so be careful. 」

The castella sponge cake puffed up nicely into a dome on the skillet. The cut section was light yellow and the rest was golden brown. I added a generous heap of butter on top and poured maple syrup, too.

The fluffy cake was soaked in the butter. Ahh, makes me want some coffee, but it can’t be helped. Anyway, the taste is already pleasant enough even with only this.