Chapter 111 Oh God Another One

After an intriguing lesson with Touma about a variety of magic that could be applicable for combat, Azi was getting ready for bed as the lesson had run late into the evening.

He had taken a few breaks to eat during the sparring matches and had an impromptu dinner with the students as they continued their lessons. What he really needed now was a bath, so he decided to use the general bathing area meant for the soldiers and servants.

While he was tempted to join Shizu in her family's personal bath, he felt that he shouldn't invade her personal time with her family. He may be her potential fiance, but he felt that it was too soon for him to be intimate with Shizu when her family was around.

At one point in his trek through the castle's halls, Azi had lost his way to the general bath but he luckily ran into someone he recognized who he knew could help him find his way.

"Sumi! Do you have a minute?"

Noticing the young man behind her, Sumi gave Azi a questioning look that was not as harsh as her initial encounter with him. At first, Sumi believed that Azi was unworthy of being Shizu's fiance but she no longer believed her initial assumptions as the sparring match she had with him made her realize to not judge a book by its cover.

Sumi was in fact, while keeping a stoic expression, hiding her somewhat instinctual attraction to strong men like him which had rubbed off from her time under Shizu. She shared Shizu's belief that women could be equally as strong and skilled as men in any field, which went against the common norm shared by the populace of the Empire.

Wanting to get in Azi's good graces, she gave him a cordial smile and responded to his query.

"Sure, what do you need?"

"Do you know where the general bath is for the soldiers? I haven't taken one yet, so I was wondering if it's still open?"

Unfortunately, Sumi knew that the general baths for servants and soldiers were closed at the moment. This was due to how those baths used an enormous amount of water, so a schedule was created so that soldiers and servants would be able to bathe before the sun set and the supply of water would be at adequate levels.

Seeing that it was already dark out, Sumi heaved a mental sigh, but not wanting to disappoint Azi she thought of an idea that could fit the situation and fix a few other side issues.

"Sure, there is a bath that is still open but you'll need to follow me as you'll need my clearance to enter."

Azi nodded in understanding which prompted Sumi to lead him through the halls. After stopping in front of a female guard who eyed the two of them, the female guard gave Sumi a look who then gave a slight nod of her head which the female guard returned in kind.

Walking past the guard, Sumi showed Azi the changing room and prompted him to take his time.

"You can change and store your clothes here. I have business to attend to but you don't have to worry about a time limit. This is a bath reserved for the group of soldiers who train late at night. It's limited in size so you don't need to worry about using up all the water."

Azi again nodded in understanding and Sumi then left to attend to her business.

When Azi was sure that Sumi had left, he began taking off his clothes and entered the bath.

Meanwhile, Shizu was commanding her personal guard as they went through formation drills that were supposed to be used in combat scenarios.

These formations were created for the express purpose of protecting Rulu as Shizu always had her sister's safety in mind. This showed as she had purposefully recruited more female soldiers so that Rulu would feel at ease and more comfortable when being accompanied in the castle.

While Rulu did not have a fear of men, Shizu believed that having more female soldiers accompany her would be beneficial as they had better female sensibilities to interact with her.

Satisfied, Shizu called it a day and began dismissing everyone to get cleaned up. The usual routine after such a long day of training usually ends off on a nice hot bath that the entire group would get to enjoy together.

While it is improper for men and women who are not married or are considered family to bathe together in the nude, the norms in the army were different and this was an even more of a special case for Shizu's personal guard.

The men she recruited had the sensibilities to not look down on women and were not overly perverted as they had the propriety to not look if the other person was uncomfortable.

Some of Shizu's guards were also young veterans and the line between men and women were already beginning to blur due to their experience on the frontlines where caring about the differences of gender was a second priority to staying alive.

After stowing the weapons, Shizu led the group to their personal bathing area which was smaller than the general bath or even the royal baths. I would snuggly fit 30 people but only just enough.

As tradition, Shizu ordered everyone to go in groups of 10 so that everyone could comfortably change and clean themselves off.

"Alright group 1! Please enter and get changed. Group 2 will go in after group 1 enters the bath and group 3 will follow me when the time is right."

After a round of tired replies of Yes and understood, Shizu began letting her people into the bath. In the middle of calling the 2nd group in, Shizu noticed that the guard who was stationed in this part of the castle gave her a somewhat concerned look.

As Shizu was about to ask the female guard a question, she was interrupted and didn't have time to ask due to how she heard a clamor coming from the bath. While it was normal for her soldiers to get into somewhat rowdy conversations while relaxing, Shizu got a tight feeling of unease in her chest.

Seeing that the second group had entered the bath, Shizu promptly entered the changing room and quickly took off her clothes. Moving to the bath's door, she swiftly slid it open and began surveying the somewhat obscured surroundings of the bath.

Squinting her eyes, she could see a group of figures through the steamy mist from all the hot water. This group was surrounding a single person that was being restrained from behind. Assuming that it was likely an intruder, Shizu got closer with concern written on her face.

"Wait!, STOP!. Don't touch me there. NO, STOP!"

Hearing the voice of the restrained intruder, Shizu knew who it was and sighed in exasperation of what she now saw.

"Look here. He's so muscular in this part."

"He's got a nice form to his muscles."

"Impressive."

"How can someone so small be so strong?"

"Did you forget? He's a mage as well as a fighter."

"I wonder what he looks like down there."

"Let's see."

These kinds of comments flew about amongst the men and women that surrounded Azi.

A little while ago, while Azi was washing his hair, he noticed that a group of naked men and women had entered the bath. Feeling that he might be intruding, he offered to leave but the group told him that he could stay.

"But I'm a man?"

"So? There are other men here and another one won't make a difference."

"I guess?" Azi was a bit troubled as his morals told him that it was improper for him to bathe with people he only just met. But seeing the laxed and nonchalant attitudes shared between the naked men and women, he felt that he could do the same. They were going to be comrades in the future and a burgeoning sense of unity formed in his heart.

As insurance for his morals, Azi wrapped a towel around his waist to hide his manhood. The woman he was just talking with gave him a weird look but shrugged as she just walked off to join a couple of her friends.

Taking another look around, Azi could tell for sure that everyone here was from Shizu's personal guard. Deducing from the clue that Vice Captain Sumi had clearance for this bath, he came to the conclusion that this was likely a bath specifically for Shizu's personal guard.

He then realized that Shizu might enter the bath soon and predicted that if she saw him in here, he might be considered a pervert for supposedly sneaking in or ogling other women. Quickly dowsing his hair with a wooden bucket of water to get the remaining soap out of his hair, he promptly tried to leave.

As he was about to slide open the door, Azi encountered another group entering the bath. To his unsurprise, Azi saw that Sumi was leading the next group in.

"Azi? Where are you going? You haven't even washed yourself off completely?"

Looking at himself, he had to agree. While he was able to wash his hair he had yet to thoroughly scrub himself down as there were light touches of dirt that clung to his skin.

"No, it's alright. I'll just wipe myself down when I'm in my room."

"No, No, No. I gave you permission to use this bath so please enjoy it."

Sumi then called a couple people from her group who were still getting changed.

"Can you two please get Azi cleaned up?"

Noticing the call of their vice captain, two women from the changing room promptly walked past Sumi and firmly gripped Azi arms to prevent him from leaving.

"Ouch! Uhhh? No, I'm really ok. Huh?"

Noticing the somewhat mischievous smiles on the faces of the two women, Azi got the feeling that he got duped.

"Now, Now, Sir Azi. Shizu said you will be one of us, so you must get used to these kinds of things." Said Sumi.

From her tone, Azi got the feeling that Sumi was like Saki and Elder Sung but was not sure due to the stoic expression she had which contracted from her suspicious actions and tone. It was only when he focused his attention on Sumi's lips that he saw that she had a slight grin on her face which cemented the fact that he had fallen into her ploy.

Was it to ruin his relationship with Shizu? Or was it payback for beating them in the sparring match?

These thoughts ran through his mind as he tried to rationalize the current situation, but he had to soon snap out of it since he felt a tugging sensation from the towel wrapped at his waist.

Resisting, he shook off the two women and quickly took hold of his waist towel.

"Restrain him!"

Promptly commanding everyone in the bath, Sumi pointed a finger at Azi. In the next moment, Azi was taken by surprise from behind as he was put into submission by a few men and women that sneakily got behind him while his attention was on Sumi.

He still held his waist towel close to himself but he was quickly dragged into the bath which made it hard for him to move since the water obstructed him. While still being held from behind, the men and women began to surround him and they all started poking and prodding at his muscles.

The women, noticing how soft his black hair was, began to pat his head while enjoying the sensation of running their hands through his hair. Feeling extremely violated, Azi struggled by shaking his body side to side but this had no effect as everyone's grips were so firm that he thought for a moment that he should use his magic.

But he realized that using magic in this situation would be over the top and excessive, so he began pleading with them to release him but they did heed his words as the conversation had gotten so loud that no one could hear him.

Those that ignored him were more enamored by his body and he was soon concerned by how many of the women began to take interest in what was hidden under his waist towel and started to more fervently tug at his towel.

Resisting, Azi again pleaded as if his life was in mortal peril but then came a roaring voice.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

Coming to his aid was Shizu, who looked excessively red with anger.

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