With the Vent Fang wrapped in a straw mat and slung diagonally across his back with a rope, Eiji headed toward the third house.
Yuna, who was supposed to be walking beside him, was already not just half a step, but three full paces ahead. She would look back, wait for him, and then dash forward again the moment he caught up. It had turned into something resembling walking an overly excitable dog.
"Eiji-kun, hurry, hurry!"
"Don't rush me. It's not like the house is going anywhere."
"It's not going anywhere, but the sun is going down!"
It was a comeback that left him completely speechless.
(I know I said I'd do it today, but... did I mess up?)
The boast he had blurted out on impulse was already coming back to bite him. Even so, he couldn't take back his word now.
Arriving before the third house, Eiji rested his hand against the doorframe pillar. The building's layout and structure flowed into his mind.
The beams were still sagging. Three pillars were intact, and the foundation was solid. While unfit to live in, for what he planned to build, that was a whole different story.
If it was a shed meant to trap steam, a low ceiling was actually preferable. The sagging beams could be treated as an intentional feature rather than a defect. Digging down into the dirt floor, paving it with flagstones, and setting the large tub dead center would make for a proper bath layout. He could run a firebox beneath the tub to feed firewood from the outside. The smoke could be routed through the wall into a chimney. As for water, he could simply draw it from the riverside channel over the wall using wooden flumes.
Behind his grandfather's workshop, there used to be an old bath tub set up ages ago. Whether he could accurately recall that structure was the make-or-break point for today.
Of course, if he failed to remember it, he had no excuses left. He was the one who had promised it by the end of the day, after all.
As he pulled his hand away from the pillar, Yuna leaned in close.
"Hey, hey, Eiji-kun. With this bath, does it mean we can actually soak in a tub?"
"That's the plan. Since we went through the trouble of finding one."
"Yay...!"
Clasping both hands to her chest, Yuna's eyes crinkled with delight. Her face lit up with sheer bliss at the mere mention of soaking in a tub. Suggesting a bath had clearly been the right call.
Then, a sudden realization struck her. She began ticking off her fingers, words tumbling out in a rush.
"Ah, but what about towels? For spare clothes, we've got our school jerseys and shirts, right? As for shampoo and conditioner, I have a travel set, but there isn't much left..."
"...One thing at a time, please. For today, let's just focus on getting hot water running."
"Okaaay....So, what should I do?"
"Save that energy for hauling water."
Yuna's finger-counting froze instantly.
"...Did you just treat me like a kid?"
"Did not."
"Ehh. You totally did."
"I said I didn't."
Brushing off Yuna as she puffed out her cheeks, Eiji made his way toward the barn. First came gathering the equipment.
It took the two of them working together to roll the massive wooden tub and the iron cauldron out of the barn. The tub's hoop was still loose, and a single crack split the bottom of the cauldron. Both were mended with nothing more than a whispered chant rolling off his tongue. The hoop cinched the staves tight, and a solitary flash of light traced over the crack. At this small scale, the strain cost him barely a fraction of his energy.
The remaining materials were scavenged from the skeletal frame of the second house and the collapsed ruins of the sixth using Relicta Collectio. Planks, stones, structural timber. Every time he raised his hand, the scrap materials disintegrated into glowing particles and drifted toward him. If there was one thing this village had in abundance, it was raw building supplies.
After setting the repaired tub and cauldron onto the earthen floor of the third house, the two of them stepped outside. Without needing to be told, Yuna had already backed up several paces from the doorway. Between the well and the previous house, she seemed to have memorized the routine.
Eiji positioned himself in front of the third house and held out both hands. In his mind, he visualized the finished structure. Not a residence. A bathhouse.
He drew a single breath.
"To those that have fulfilled their purpose, grant new power—Transcendence Reconstructio."
A cascade of light particles enveloped the entire building.
"W-Whoa... The house is moving!"
It was exactly as Yuna said.
The dirt floor sank, paved over with stones from beneath. The massive tub rose into the air and settled in the center, while a firebox opening formed in the masonry directly below it. A section of the wall dismantled itself, the detached boards rolling into a cylinder that planted itself on the edge of the roof as a chimney. The sagging beams shifted into the girders, forming the framework for a low ceiling. Finally, the salvaged boards shaped themselves into a long flume running from the riverside channel straight through the wall, capped at the end with a single wooden plug.
As the light faded... the structure standing before them was no longer the ruined third house. Built with waist-high stonework, a low roof, a chimney, and a flume protruding from the wall, all traces of a regular house were gone. In its place stood a bathhouse, remade solely for the purpose of heating water.
Then—the toll of the skill hit him.
His breathing quickened, and his fingertips went numb. This had been a major reconstruction on par with the well and the house. He braced himself for the inevitable backlash... but that was all that happened.
(Huh...?)
His knees didn't give out, and his vision stayed clear. He had remodeled an entire building, yet it had ended with nothing more than mild fatigue.
"Eiji-kun, are you okay...?" Yuna asked tentatively.
"Yeah... It's strange, but I feel completely fine."
Searching for a reason, his gaze landed on the sword strapped to his back.
(Ah, could it be because of this?)
According to the appraisal, the Vent Fang granted a passive boost to mana. Apparently, that hadn't been an exaggeration. With his mana pool expanded, activating skills had become much easier.
If the toll was this manageable, he could repair far more things. It might not hurt to try pushing the limits a bit further.
"Looks like it's thanks to this," Eiji said, gesturing toward the sword on his back with a nod and a shrug.
"Thank goodness..."
A relieved smile broke across Yuna's face.
Perhaps she had felt guilty watching him shoulder the burden all by himself until now.
"Can I look inside?"
"Be my guest."
At his invitation, Yuna peeked through the doorway, then spun around in pure amazement.
"...The whole layout changed!"
"That's what the skill does."
Before he could even finish his sentence, she stuck her head all the way inside again.
"Wah, it really is a bath! It's an actual bathhouse, Eiji-kun! This isn't a dream, right?"
"I'd be in trouble if it were. All right... let's try filling it with water first."
"Okaaay!" Yuna replied cheerfully.
While she ran her hands lovingly along the rim of the tub, overwhelmed with emotion, Eiji pulled the plug from the flume. Water from the channel rushed along the boards, breached the wall, and began splashing against the bottom of the tub. The sound echoed inside the small shed, immediately giving it the ambiance of an authentic bathhouse.
"Waaah... It's a bath. We really have a bath..."
His childhood friend's voice trembled so much she sounded close to tears.
"It's still just cold water. The real work starts now."
Inside the firebox, he laid out the kindling gathered from the second house. All that remained was to light the fire and wait for it to heat up.
"I'll light it, okay?"
Fidgeting with anticipation, Yuna crouched in front of the firebox and held out her palm.
It was at that exact moment.
A distant howl cut through the air.
It was closer than last night. Before the long, mournful cry could fade, a second howl overlapped it. The third sounded closer still.
"...Wait, Yuna."
"Huh?"
"Get back against the bathhouse. They're coming."
Shielding Yuna behind him as she scrambled to her feet, Eiji narrowed his eyes, staring across the plaza.
The gray grass parted.
What emerged was a wolf. But its scale was entirely different. Its shoulder height cleared Eiji's waist. The fangs bared in its half-parted maw matched the exact shape of the tooth that had hung from the hunter's leather cord.
And it wasn't alone. The rustling grass parted in rapid succession.
Six in total. On their side, only two. What was worse, they were a Scavenger and a Saint—two roles that, by any stretch of the imagination, were completely unfit for direct combat.
"Damn it... Actual monsters had to show up."
Eiji unfastened the cord across his chest and swung the sword, straw mat and all, around to his front. Tearing away the mat, the air around the exposed blade gently shimmered.
Since leaving the capital, they hadn't run into a single monster. Deep down, he had optimistically hoped they might continue living in peace like this... but apparently, another world wasn't going to be that kind.