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Chapter 278: Birthday

「Even kingdoms gather magicians to be royal mages, and temples establish suitable status and recruit people who can wield magic. Aside from the acolytes, they also have 『Fae’s Bud』. They have respect and honor, but the position doesn’t hold any real power. 」
Butler redirected the conversation back to the topic.

I remember the woman Daifuku was sticking to mention『Fae’s Bud 』back when we met her in the tunnel. They are women who Heal and aid Recovery by borrowing power from their surroundings — from the spirits gathered within the temple. Men are called 『Fae’s Leaf』, if I’m not mistaken? I don’t really remember, but I did study it!

As for the method of using magic, I also do both — either they borrow power from the spirit they have a contract with, or they borrow the power from the spirits around them. If there’s a spirit possessing them, which is different from the contracted spirit, the other spirits in the surroundings won’t lend their power.

If it’s from the same lineage of magic, it’s also possible to collaborate with the possessing spirit, but the moment the surrounding spirits lend their power, the person’s mana and whatnot would be sucked away. Because of that, the spirit favoring that person wouldn’t be too keen on doing that.

I guess that’s probably the reason why that girl we met in the tunnel, who seemed like she’s walking on clouds, said that she didn’t get to be the 『Fae’s Bud』 because Daifuku possessed her.

Ahh, makes me wanna knead Daifuku.

「I wanna hand these guys over to 21st level’s Glasses, go home and take a bath. 」
「You really love taking baths, huh. 」Dean.
「Truly fastidious when it comes to cleanliness! 」Chris.
In my opinion, those who can stand taking a bath only one month in a year are the ones who are unbelievable!

It’s easy to get water and firewood thanks to Canum’s forest. Moreover, Dean and Chris have the habit of taking showers, so they’re actually neat when compared to normal guys from the city. They’re no longer taking their clothes then wearing them again ever since we started getting laundry services. Ah, but I have a feeling that me attacking and stripping them is also part of the reason.

Adventurers generally keep themselves relatively clean since many monsters have a keen sense of smell.

For aristocrats, it’s mainstream to do sponge baths by wiping themselves clean with a washcloth, apparently. They also rinse their hands and mouth with water, wine or vinegar.

Thanks to the heroes doing a great job, there’s a record-breaking boom of bathtubs in the west, but it probably won’t spread among the commoners. Water and firewood would be a problem for them.

Wasn’t Marie Antoinette labeled a pathological neat freak back then? She only bathed once a month and yet she was already called that, so I guess the current situation here is already an improvement compared to my world’s Early Modern period.

「You’re quite dedicated too, huh. You could’ve taken it whenever you go home. 」
Retze commented.

「That’s cheating so no-no. 」
It’s already quite illegal that I’m stepping out of this cave and enjoying a stroll outside. Riche’s sniffing time is getting longer, but that’s the only tough part, so I’ll endure.

I’ll grill me some saury and pop a bottle of sake when I get back for real.

「Oh, come to think of it, when is everybody’s birthday? 」
「I’m in the Month of Water. 」
Month of Water is around February, so named because winters here experience plenty of rain.

I recently studied the names of the month in this world’s lingo. It’s actually strange that before I learned them, they all sounded like how we normally say it in Japanese — Ichi-gatsu (January), Ni-gatsu (February) and so on.

「Day? 」
「Only the month. Aren’t the royals the only ones who note the day too? 」
Eh…?

「By the way, all of us commoners add another year to our age on the first day of the year, you know? 」Retze.
Eh…?

「Many nobles in rural areas also do the same. They age another year on the same day along with the commoners and they celebrate it at the same time. The nobles from the capital city also hold debuts, so they purposely choose another month in order to avoid overlapping the date. 」
Butler explained.

「What about you, Jean? 」
「Mine is on the 22nd day of the Month of Bonfire. 」
The Month of Bonfire got its name because there are festivals with folks dancing around a bonfire through the night, and they’re usually held at the end of this month. They have a lot of reasons for holding them, like ancestors returning home or spirits making a ruckus, but yeah, it’s a festival.

「Mm, but it’s already passed! 」
Ash’s right, it passed a little bit earlier.

「Ou, happy birthday. 」
Retze put a nut bar on my palm.

That started me receiving various sorts of food for some reason.

In this way, the trip on our way back was quite peaceful, only to be disturbed on the 20th floor.

「What the heck is that thing? 」
「It’s the 『Earth Crawling Snake』of the 46th level, huh. They probably ended up accidentally attracting it while they were exploring shortcuts. 」
Dinosso was about to click his tongue.

It’s called a snake, but it’s a huge python as thick as an armful. Aside from the horns characteristic of monsters, it also has bumps on the scales of its head, and it has barbs on the tip of its tail.

When we arrived, the first thing we saw was an iron cage being thrown up. A serpent emerged in place of the iron cage, which was falling down from its trajectory after having the chains connected to it cut off.

It’s probably a python that digs holes to move from place to place. They probably entered one of its holes by going down the cliffs. Or maybe they were too noisy so it appeared.

Well, I guess it’s only natural that humans’ shortcuts are also shortcuts for monsters, huh. It’s just that the monsters we’ve encountered so far were those who love narrow places instead of the flying kind.