Chapter 19. A Soaked Surprise

"I'm back," Ash announced his presence as he entered Linda's house. Although he never had the habit of scouting every time he entered a house in his previous life, now living in someone else's house, however, basic manners dictated caution.

"Welcome back! How was your day?" Linda bombarded him with questions as soon as he entered. "Did Jacob make things difficult for you? Also, why are you so late? Did he ask you to plow his farm?" She didn't consider Ash a stranger or tenant at all, treating him instead like her biological son, despite barely knowing him for a day.

"My day was wonderful. Uncle Jacob was very nice to me, though he never smiled and had a gloomy and cold face all day long. But he's not bad by nature. Knowing that I'm a newbie, he gave me the job of watching over his sheep for 7 hours. It's very relaxing work; just watching them casually and lying down under a tree watching the clouds float by. However, after finished my work, I was still very energetic, so I went to Blacksmith Ronald's shop to learn blacksmithing and, of course, earn some extra coins," Ash explained calmly, a faint smile appearing on his face as he reassured the genuinely concerned Linda or her acting level was already maxed out for Ash to notice anything.

"Hmm, compared to Jacob, Ronald is indeed a more reliable guy," Linda mused. "He knows quite a few things about smithy, so I think it's beneficial for you to work under him and learn the blacksmithing and trade. Although the pay isn't high and business isn't always very profitable, at least it's safe. I think instead of wasting your time with that old geezer, it's better to work with Ronald. Anyway let's talk about it later, now go take a bath first, and come to the kitchen; I've prepared dinner for you," With that, she quickly scurried back to the kitchen, leaving Ash with an embarrassed smile.

"Is she running away from me because I smell like shit? Now that I think about it, just how many days has it been since the original owner of this body last washed his clothes? It's probably been more than a week," Ash muttered as he noticed the disgusting smell emanating from his clothes, which wasn't obvious before but became apparent after he exercised and wet himself with sweat.

"Ahh, Brother Ash! Were you wrestling with Trolls?! Why do you smell so bad?" James, who came downstairs after hearing his voice, bluntly asked with a disgusted look, holding his nose.

"You're talking too much, kiddo, and how the hell do you even know that I smell like a Troll if you haven't even seen a goblin yet?" Ash retorted angrily and flicked James' forehead, drawing a cry of pain, before heading towards the backyard to fetch water for a bath.

Soon, he brought two buckets full of water to the bathroom under the stairs and, after sticking his tongue out at James, who watched him with a mix of resentment and confusion (though Ash only noticed the former), he disappeared into the bathroom.

"Sigh, finally some relief from these disgusting, smelly, rough, and uncomfortable clothes," Ash muttered as he tossed them into an extra bucket. With no soap or detergent available in Woodworth town, his only option was to roughly clean them the old-fashioned way he'd seen on TV: by pounding them against the ground. As for drying it would be easy enough – there was already a rope in the garden for hanging wet clothes.

Stripping off his clothes, Ash stretched his tired body and quickly doused himself with water. With no shampoo available, washing with his bare hands didn't take long. However, as he emptied the bucket of water, a sudden panic gripped him. Due to the recent whirlwind of events and since his brain still adjusting to this strange new world, he'd forgotten the most essential thing:

He had no spare clothes. Not even a towel. Now, this was called being completely naked.

"Damn it! What the hell am I going to wear now?" Ash cried out in shock, staring at his wet clothes submerged in the water bucket. He completely forgot about this before throwing his clothes aside in disgust.

"Knock-knock. Brother Ash, have you finished taking a bath?"

Just as Ash was in deep dilemma over whether he should put back on his wet clothes and run back to his room, while Linda and James were in the kitchen. James' voice brought him back to his senses.

"Yes, what's the matter?" Ash sighed helplessly, wiping water from his face.

"Grandma asked me to bring your clothes. She said that you left them in your room. I don't understand what you were thinking when you entered the bathroom without bringing your clothes. Were you planning to run back to your room naked?" James' innocent voice with a hint of anger creeping in sounded from outside the bathroom.

"What!? I left my clothes in the room?" Ash muttered confessedly. He hadn't brought any clothes with him so how did he leave them in the room? But suddenly, a realization struck him. He quickly opened the bathroom door slightly and peeked his head outside.

There he saw James holding a brown shirt with long sleeves and black pants.

"Great, thanks for your help. You saved me from great trouble. You're my hero, James!" Ash exclaimed, snatching the clothes, and didn't forget to praise. "Okay, I take them, you go back to the kitchen. I'll come there after changing clothes," Finish said he slammed the door shut in James' face before he could reply.

"Weird, why does he look so excited seeing his own clothes?" James muttered confusedly. But he didn't think too much about it and quickly went back to the kitchen.

"Sigh, no underwear, as expected. It's going to be hard for my little brother. The first thing I have to do tomorrow is buy underwear, no matter how expensive it is. I can't take risks with my little brother health, and now that it's already this big, if I get excited, then I don't think pants alone can cover it. Underwear is the most important thing to save my dignity. Otherwise, every girl will think I'm a pervert who shows his big tool to everyone. But thankfully, this world has underwear. Otherwise, God knows how I would manage if I had to wear bandages or clothes on my little brother like those people in old Japanese movies."

"Hmm? Perfect size. I wonder how Grandma Linda guessed my size. Maybe her woman's intuition is already off the charts, giving her special powers?" Ash thought randomly as he wore the clothes bought by Linda and walked out of the bathroom with both buckets.