Strange.
What's strange? It's been a full day since I left Master's house, yet the forest shows no sign of ending. From what Master told me, I should have been out of the forest by now. Well, Master's knowledge is from hundreds of years ago, so it's possible the forest has expanded over time.
I don't think I've veered off course somewhere. There's a possibility I was heading in the wrong direction from the start, but I trusted Master's words about going east and have been flying straight all this way. Looking down from the sky, all I can see is an endless expanse of forest. I considered going higher, but since this is the Enchanted Forest, it's better not to ascend too high. Even though the trees provide some cover, it becomes easier for various magical beasts to spot me, which is dangerous.
If I keep flying straight, I should eventually reach somewhere. No matter how vast the Enchanted Forest is, surely the entire world isn't covered in forest. I'm getting tired after flying for a full day and night, so I'd like to land and take a break. However, I can't find a suitable place to rest. As I look around again, seeing nothing but forest stretching out, I'm wondering what to do when I think I spot something that looks man-made in the distance.
"I wonder what that is. Well, since I've found it, I might as well go check it out."
I adjust my course slightly southward towards where I saw the structure-like object. Along the way, the forest gives way to a prairie covered in tall grass. And the place I arrive at appears to be where a town once stood. From the looks of it, it seems to have been quite a large town, but most of the buildings have collapsed, and even the intact ones have been overtaken by plants, covered in vines and moss.
Could this be the town Master mentioned? Given the location and distance, it seems it must be, but I'm not sure. I circle around once from above and spot a relatively intact mansion. I decide to land there. What was once probably a lovely garden has become overgrown without anyone to maintain it.
I knock on the vine-covered door with the knocker, but there's no response. Given that I can't sense any presence, the lack of response is to be expected. I call out "Hello?" and enter anyway. As the door opens, air rushes in, stirring up the dust settled on the floor. The inside of the mansion seems surprisingly clean for having been abandoned for so long.
After looking around the entire mansion, there's not a single person, magical beast, or animal to be found. I manage to find what looks like a study and rummage through it a bit, but I don't come across any useful information. The empty bookshelves suggest that everything was taken out when this place was abandoned. This means they had enough time to take all the books with them.
"Could it be that humanity has gone extinct without me noticing?"
I decide to use this mansion as a base to explore the town for a while. Hopefully, I'll find some relevant information. I choose an empty room I found while exploring the mansion as my base. First, I open the windows and use light wind magic to blow the dust outside. I use my self-named cleaning magic to make the room spotless, then take out a bed from my storage pouch and set it up.
Next, I take out the bedding, use hot water magic and drying magic to make it fluffy, then spread it on the bed. Perfect. Now I should be able to sleep soundly tonight. By the way, I created both the hot water magic and drying magic myself, which Master found exasperating. Though Master ended up praising me after benefiting from them.
With the sleeping arrangements done, I start preparing for a bath. To my surprise, this mansion has a bathroom made of marble. Despite being left untouched for many years, the bathroom has remained clean. Thinking it might not be necessary but doing it anyway, I use cleaning magic to thoroughly clean everything from the floor to the ceiling and the bathtub.
"Bath time, bath time, hmm hmm~"
The thought of taking a bath for the first time in about a day since leaving Master's house puts me in high spirits. I take out a fist-sized magic stone from my storage pouch and set it on the built-in stand. I write the magic inscription for hot water on the stone with my finger, and when I infuse it with magical power, water begins to flow vigorously from the vase held by the nude female statue in the center of the bathtub.
The owner of this mansion must have had an extraordinary dedication to bathing, as everything from the floor to the ceiling seems to be made of high-quality materials. Even I, who knows nothing about building materials, can tell these are good. Given that this mansion is still intact while other buildings have collapsed, some kind of sorcery might have been applied to it.
While I'm lost in thought, the water has filled up and is starting to overflow. Complete flow-through—how luxurious. I take out the necessary items from my storage pouch, quickly strip off all my clothes, scattering them around, and dive into the bath. Even if I'm told not to get in without rinsing first, I'm the only one using it, and the dirt will just flow away, so it's fine, fine.
While soaking in the bath, I use laundry magic (my own naming) to wash the clothes I took off with a small amount of soap. Then I wash my hair with the shampoo I prepared and carefully wash my body by lathering it with soap. I don't bother getting out of the bath during this process; as I said before, I'm the only one using it, and it's flow-through, so it's fine, fine. After washing from the top of my head to the tips of my toes, I submerge myself up to my head in the water to rinse off all the bubbles.
"Puha~"
I dive underwater to where there are no bubbles floating and then surface. Then I relax and let my body float in the water. A big bath is definitely better. When I reach a village, I'll definitely stay at an inn with a bath.
"Maybe I should just give up traveling and live here~"
I say, but of course, that's not going to happen. Having a big bath is nice, but there's nothing particularly appealing about this place, and I'd rather be with Master than spend time in a place where no one else is around. After enjoying the bath for a while, I dry my body and hair with magic. Then I dry the clothes I washed earlier and put them in my storage pouch. Now I take out new underwear and clothes from the storage pouch and change into them. By the way, my sleepwear is a pure white silk fluttery negligee. You ask, what's the point of wearing something like that when there's no one to show it to? Well, it's fine, isn't it? I don't need anyone to show it to.
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