Chapter 543: A Night of Disaster
The world folded for less than a heartbeat. When it unfolded again I was already somewhere else.
As expected, none of them noticed the exact moment I vanished.
Their hands kept moving, still grappling with the empty folds of my clothes and with one another, each of them still convinced they were wrestling the last of the fabric off me.
I immediately appeared in the men’s bath with a piece of towel I stole from one woman to cover up.
The fabric was thin and barely adequate, a flimsy barrier between my body and the world, but it was better than nothing.
I know we were all men there, but I was a bit traumatized so I chose to cover up.
“Oh? Benjamin, you have arrived! The water is amazing. Try it!” Heka’s voice was lazy, content, completely oblivious to the chaos she’d left behind in the women’s changing room.
She was lounging in the water like a contented cat, her scarred body on full display, her eyes half-closed with pleasure.
“We’re getting out of here!” I pulled her by the cheek out of the water, as she blushed from the action.
Her skin was warm and soft beneath my fingers, and I could feel the heat rising to her face as I dragged her unceremoniously from the bath.
The water sloshed around us, droplets flying in every direction.
Ooohhhh! So now the men get aroused by seeing my body, but not a bona fide woman in Heka, damn perverts!
Their faces turned red, and they all got erect shortly after seeing me appear with a short piece of cloth wrapped on my waist.
I could see their eyes widening, their pupils dilating, their bodies responding in ways that made me want to tie them up.
Grrrrrrrrrrrosssss!
I’d just escaped one group of people who wanted to see me naked, and now I was surrounded by another group who were reacting to my half-dressed state with barely concealed lust.
There was no winning in my situation.
Still holding on her cheek, I leapt out of the open air bath—much to her joy—and immediately carried Heka to a room where I wrapped her in a piece of cloth too, but I couldn’t get one for her chest before I realized we were in the men’s changing room.
The fabric I’d grabbed was insufficient, barely covering her lower half while leaving her upper body exposed.
Her scars were visible in the dim light, a roadmap of battles fought and survived…
Oh God, this is a disaster!
The entire bathhouse knows how we look like now! No one will marry us now!
Okay, enough of the overdramatic act:
I had to teleport myself and Heka outside human residence as a whole, and we stood at a hill in the mountainous parts, overlooking the bathhouse below.
The world twisted had around us, reality folding and unfolding like a piece of paper being crumpled and smoothed out again.
One moment we were running around in the bathhouse, the next we were standing on a hill, the cool night air washing over our skin.
“SIGH. I didn’t think it’d be so much trouble…” I sighed and dropped on the ground, watching the night sky.
The stars were out in full force, scattered across the darkness like diamonds on black velvet. The moon was a thin crescent, casting pale silver light across the landscape.
“Benjamin, pull my cheek again like you did!” Heka nagged me as I recalculated how to show those women without a shadow of doubt that I was indeed male.
Her voice was whiny and petulant, and I could see the disappointment in her eyes when I didn’t immediately comply.
But then something caught my attention.
Two things actually.
First, Siberia and Kapil were in a hot spring not far from where I was.
I could see the light and smoke from their location afar. The glow was soft and warm, a beacon in the darkness that drew my attention like a moth to a flame.
I wasn’t using my perception in full, but I could make it out that the two of them were secretly bathing there.
They’d chosen a secluded spot, away from the main bathhouse, clearly wanting privacy.
Second… that traitor!
Eric had snuck over to a hot spring on the opposite end of Siberia’s location, but quite far apart.
He could have invited me, damnit!
And why was he bathing separately, even?
Shy?
The idea was bitter, laced with a sense of betrayal that I knew was probably irrational.
But I couldn’t help it… I felt abandoned, left to fend for myself in a sea of naked women while he enjoyed a peaceful soak in solitude.
“Heka… I smell a rat, and I want to catch it,” I squinted and told Heka, my voice taking on a conspiratorial edge. “Don’t go anywhere, wait for me right here.”
“What?! But I’m naked and cold!” She said, crossing her arms together as if to retain heat.
“Well, you like that kind of thing, right? Freeze up and die for all I care. Anyway, I won’t take that long,” I shrugged coldly intentionally to make Heka happy.
The remark was cruel, but I knew she’d appreciate it on some creepy level.
Then I said with a straight face, “I want to peep on Siberia and Kapil. I might get crucial information from them. When I get back, we’ll bomb Eric’s secret hot spring! Make sure to watch his naked body till he dies of embarrassment, okay?”
The plan was ridiculous and kinda childish, but it felt good to have a mission, a purpose beyond simply surviving the night.
And I just gotta get back at Eric.
That said, I teleported to Siberia’s location, but I didn’t think about what to do much, so I landed inside the water where they were hurdled up.
Thankfully, [Reality Jump] and [Imaginary Barrier] infused with a non-existence veil was up, so the splashing and my presence was completely masked.
I was invisible and practically intangible, a ghost in their midst. In fact, they would sooner spot a ghost than me.
And I could see them clearly now.
Siberia’s hair was wet, plastered to her scalp, making her look younger and more vulnerable than I’d ever seen her.
Kapil was sitting across from her, his expression relaxed, and his guard down for once.
They were talking in low voices despite being alone, but I was close enough to hear them perfectly well.
Now, let the flood gates of dark secrets open!