The Banished Black Swordsman Wants a Peaceful Life with the White Saint in the Frontier ~Huh? You Want Him to Come Back with the Saint? It’s Already Too Late~ - 36

Chapter 36: Fixing the Bath!

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After washing his face with cold water and calming himself, Lloyd returned to the living room, where his eyes fell on the firewood piled in front of the fireplace.

The fire had not been lit yet. Lloyd picked up the logs and stacked them one by one, arranging them in a crosshatch so air could flow between the pieces of different thickness. His hands moved on their own, yet his thoughts drifted back to the end of last night—no, to what happened this morning.

…Calm down. Forget it. No, of course I can’t forget it.

The silvery head that had fit perfectly in his arms, the irresistible warmth that had nuzzled against his chest, and then—

『I don’t want to be alone anymore. Please… Stay with me.』

Those words whispered in the haze of half-sleep. Just remembering them made his face grow hot. He had nearly replied with something like “I’ll be with you forever.”

Damn it, what’s wrong with me? She was half-asleep!

Telling himself that, Lloyd shaved the ends of the kindling with his knife. From the kitchen came the light sound of a wooden spoon brushing the inside of a pot. Then came a sweet scent. The simple, comforting fragrance of flour and eggs helped even Lloyd begin to settle down. Lusha’s movements were as light as ever, and even the faint sound of the door opening and closing carried a bit of bounce.

“Thank you for waiting. They’re done!”

When he turned toward her voice, a stack of golden-brown pancakes sat on a wooden plate. Their surface carried a faint sheen, and the edges were crisp. Beside them was a simple herb-scented soup, likely an idea born from last night’s meal. The savory dried meat, the sweetness of root vegetables, and the gentle bitterness of mountain greens rose together in the steam.

“Let us give thanks for today’s blessing. May Lady Leafia guide us.”

“May she guide us.”

Seated across the table, Lusha pressed her hands together in their usual morning ritual, and Lloyd followed suit.

“…Well then, shall we eat?”

“Y-yeah.”

Then came a brief and awkward silence. This time, they turned their gazes away even faster than they had last night. But that awkwardness began to melt the moment he lifted his wooden bowl and took a sip. The warmth of the soft root vegetables passed down his throat and settled in his stomach.

“This is delicious…!”

Lusha beamed at the honest reaction. Drizzling honey over a pancake and biting into it, he found the outside light and the inside fluffy. The fragrant sweetness spread across his tongue. It was the kind of pancake you might eat at a restaurant. He had never expected to enjoy something like this at home.

“It would be perfect if we had some fruit too…”

Lusha furrowed her brows in mild frustration. Indeed, fruit would have completed the meal.

“Maybe there’s some growing around here. We could look for some next time.”

“Yes, please!”

Her innocent reply lifted the weight in his chest. The lingering spark from last night still smoldered somewhere inside him, but their usual rhythm slowly returned to cover it. As they neared the end of their meal, Lloyd set down his wooden bowl and cleared his throat.

“I’d like to fix the bath while it’s still morning. Can you help me?”

“Of course. Ah, are we going back to the town this afternoon?”

Lusha set her spoon down and tilted her head.

“That’s the plan. Cron, right? I should talk with him properly.”

“Understood! Then let’s fix it right away.”

As soon as she said that, Lusha balled her hands into small fists before her chest. Her shoulders rose slightly. It was an innocent, childlike gesture.

Normally, fixing a bath isn’t that easy though…

Lloyd shrugged and cleared the dishes. After breakfast, the two unloaded the materials from the cart and carried them behind the village chief’s house.

Behind the house stood a bathhouse shed buried under grass. When they pushed the door open, the scent of aged wood and damp stone brushed past them. In the dim interior sat a square bathtub. Soot lingered on the walls like old scars, and part of the ceiling panels were close to collapsing.

“Wow. I didn’t know this place existed. The bath is big too.”

Lusha’s voice bubbled with excitement. Lloyd tapped the edge of the tub, listening to the echo.

“This used to be the only bath in the village. Everyone used it on rotation every day. I used to come here with my parents.”

“…With them…”

For some reason, Lusha murmured those words softly. What was that about?

“Hm? Something wrong?”

“N-no! Nothing at all!”

She shook her head rapidly, flustered. Her ears were red. What meaning had she read into that exchange?

No way… She’s not thinking we’ll take a bath together—no, no! Absolutely not!

He shook the foolish thought from his mind and reviewed the steps the public bath owner had taught him. Stop the water, check the drainage, check ventilation, then repair the stone foundation. Fill in what was missing with Repair magic, and finish the fine details by hand. In theory, the bath could be fully restored this way.

“First, the hole in the tub. Let’s knead the sealing compound…”

He opened the barrel they had unloaded. The clay-like sealant was gray and soft to the touch. He took some in his hand, adjusting the softness by mixing it with the moisture in the air. After wiping the hole clean with a cloth, he packed it with the sealant.

“Okay, Lusha. Can you harden this?”

“Understood.”

Lusha knelt, holding her hand over the sealed hole. A faint light seeped out as the sealant and tub merged smoothly together. The raised edges settled, the roughness vanished, as if an old wound had been undone by time.

She’s amazing…

He found himself staring at her earnest profile. When Lusha prayed, she carried a quiet strength different from her gentle smile. The residual aura of her magic made the air tremble faintly. Moments like this reminded him that she truly was the White Saint.

“It’s done!”

Her expression shifted back to her usual innocent brightness. That too was part of her charm.

“It’s completely fixed. As expected.”

Lloyd touched the spot that had been a hole and let out an impressed sigh. It was impossible to tell a hole had been there at all. There was no risk of leaking.

“Next is drainage. I’ll extend the pipe to the outside so the water can flow properly.”

He crawled beneath the tub to inspect the old drain. He pulled out packed mud and grass. The existing pipe was rusted and broken. As the bath owner had advised, he didn’t reuse it—he connected a new pipe from his supplies. The angle was gentle, matching the slope outside. Instead of cutting a new hole in the wall, he reinforced a pass-through opening with a magic-stone plate. Magic stone was shock-resistant after all.

At the end of the pipe outside, he added a simple spout and built a stone basin to catch the water. With this, the drainage was complete.

“The foundation… Looks like this is the real problem.”

“Yeah, that’s the tough part.”

Lloyd sighed as he examined beneath the tub. This was his biggest concern. The stonework beneath the stove was warped from the base, sunken, and slightly tilted. They didn’t plan to heat water with fire anymore, but the unstable foundation still needed to be fixed. If they filled the tub with water as it was, the weight might collapse it.

“Let’s remove everything for now. Sorry, can you help me?”

“Should I move the stones?”

“Yeah. Small ones are fine. I’ll handle the big ones.”

“Okay!”

Working together, they removed the large stones and sorted the base. He packed the ground with a hoe, laid gravel, and tamped it down again. Then he stacked evenly sized stones, interlocking them, and filled the gaps with small stones and sand. Finally, he tapped the whole thing lightly with a mallet to settle it flat. He also checked the tub’s surrounding floor for cracks. He spread thin sealant where needed and set magic-stone plates as stepping boards.

“Should I use Repair to harden this part?”

“Yeah, go ahead.”

Lusha nodded and raised her hand. Light swept across the surface, and in seconds, the sealant settled and tightened into place. He could see the seams close.

“The foundation should be fine now.”

“Yeah. Thanks.”

“I’m glad it worked out.”

Just then, a bead of sweat sparkled on her forehead. Lloyd looked away quickly and cleared his throat.

“Fixing the stove itself would be too hard, so I guess we’ll rely on the Element Gem for hot water.”

“Let’s try it out.”

Lusha took out the Element Gem from her bag. Faint lights shimmered inside it. It was a practical magical tool supposedly created in secret by the Church. It couldn’t create hot water outright, but it could generate water by channeling water-attribute mana, and then change to fire-attribute mana to heat it. Handling opposing attributes at once was impossible, but doing it sequentially worked.

Lusha infused mana and floated the gem over the tub. Transparent water began falling from the gem like bundled threads. Drip, drip… Then gradually saaah, increasing until it became a small waterfall. The sound of water hitting the empty tub echoed pleasantly. Halfway up, she stopped the flow and passed a different stream of mana through the gem. It glowed faintly red.

“Now, I’ll heat it.”

She placed the gem inside a basket hung from a dipper board and lowered it into the tub. At once, a white mist rose from the surface. The chilly air in the bathhouse warmed gently. When he dipped a hand into the water, it wasn’t cold or overly hot. It was just perfectly warm.

“Whoa. It’s really turning into hot water!”

“Success!”

Lusha happily splashed her hands in the tub. The foundation held firm under the weight, and no leaks appeared from the sealed hole. The repair was a success. Only the drainage remained. When he pulled the plug, water flowed smoothly down the new pipe and poured out the outside spout. The water splashed against the stone basin, scattering mist into the sunlight.

“Good, no backflow. No smell either. It’s complete.”

He watched until the tub emptied completely, then let out a deep breath.

“Now we can take a bath every day…!”

Lusha peered into the empty tub, her eyes narrowing happily. It was a smile entirely different from the serene expression she wore during prayers. It was simply a girl’s smile.

“I can’t wait for tonight.”

“Yeah.”

When they opened the bathhouse door, the morning wind slipped through the new exhaust opening, sweeping out the lingering warmth. Outside, the birds sang brighter than before. In the quiet of the abandoned village, the sounds of their life grew a little more.

It wasn’t just the bath. Their bed, their meals, their work, everything was slowly taking shape. The foundation of their new life together had grown even more solid that day.

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