"Good evening, sir Phantom."
"Good evening, Mary. How was business today?" Asked Will as he entered the inn, with a smile.
"It went fairly well," replied Mary, the brown haired girl he had met on the first day he arrived at the inn. "We had a group of customers who arrived some time after lunch and asked for at least ten rooms. Looking at their high grade gear, I reckon that they are high level adventurers who are dropping by to clear a dungeon or in the middle of a quest."
"Is that so?" Will replied humorously. "That's interesting to hear. What's on the menu for dinner today?"
Mary placed a hand on the side of her face. "Lets see... I'd pretty sure my mother is cooking up some sort of meat stew... I can't seem to remember what kind though... do you want me to ask her for you?"
Will shook his head. "Don't bother. I'll enjoy it nevertheless. I assume that it will be served at the same time as usual?"
"Actually, it's going to take a little bit longer today. The mysterious group of people that I told you about cleared out our first stock of stew. She started a new batch quite some time ago so it will soon be finished. I expect about 30 minutes remaining for it to be done."
Will nodded before waving his hand, "thanks, I'll head up first then. See you in 30 minutes Mary."
"See you later, sir Phantom. I recommend you to take a bath first. You stink like dead goblins."
"I suppose I so stink quite a bit."
"Don't worry, the soap is on the house for you unwavering loyalty to our inn," Mary said with a wink.
Will let out a small chuckle before heading up the stairs and going into his room. He first placed his weapons next to the side of his small desk before proceeding to take off his leather armor and black coat and hung it into his closet before taking off his outer shirt, belt, boots, and gloves. He noticed a small basket with a pretty little note that read [Service~] with a bar of soap next to and couldn't help but give a little smile. He then did a couple of light stretches before heading over to the bath after making sure to grab the bar of soap.
Once he got to the baths, Will got into a private room and locked the door. He then took off his inner shirt, pants, and mask and grabbed a towel before heading over to a large faucet. He tapped on the faucet twice and watched as steaming hot water poured out and waited it to reach the top.
After the water had completely filled the bucket, Will placed a finger in it, to test its hotness, only to feel numbness. Sighing, Will grabbed the bucket and poured it over himself. At first, Will could feel a sight warm feeling wash over him only to disappear a quick second later and was replaced with a sense of discomfort.
Will sighed as he observed his skin and realized that it had become the color of a strawberry.
"Ahhh, I scalded myself again today... Rina is going to be angry with me again. Oh well."
Will filled the bucket up once more, after making sure to lower the temperature of the water that gushed out and poured it over himself once again. He then grabbed the soap and scrubbed it into his hair until his hair turned into a bubbly black mess.
Filling the bucket up and pouring it over himself for a third time, Will frowned at the mass of black bubbles and glanced at his reflection on the puddle beneath him.
Instinctively, Will's hand shot towards his hair and caused him to wear an even deeper frown.
"I guess it's time to purchase another set of hair dye," sighed Will as he played with his now dark gray hair. "Everything would be solved if I bought some devil squid ink but it's a shame that those cost a few gold coins per sack."
Will got up and roughly wiped the water off his body with a towel before grabbing a colored mana stone from a shelf and dropped it. When the rock collided with the floor, a small gust of wind blasted into his face, almost nearly completely drying Will off except for a few parts of his hair.
Will was about to start cleaning his clothes when someone knocked on his bathroom door.
Assuming that it was Mary who had come to alter him that dinner was prepared to be served after he had made no sign of showing up, Will tied the towel across his waist and made his way to the door. Will opened the door slightly before peeking his head out. "I'm sorry Mary for being late to dinner, as you can see I am almost drying myself off. I will be finished shortly-
In front of his door was a girl about his age but was undeniably not Mary. One thing, for a fact, was that the girl had black hair and red eyes.
Immediately, Will's eyes narrowed. But it was only momentarily as he immediately widened his eyes and gave the girl a small smile. "Ah.... hello miss.... can I help you with anything?"
Will watched as the girl's face turned a deep shade of red as she averted her eyes. "I-I-Um- sorry for interrupting but- erm- isn't this the girls baths?"
"Ahaha, you must be a little confused miss. This is the men's bath. The girls baths were on the opposite side of the doors."
"O-oh! I am very sorry for my indecent behavior. Please excuse my blunder."
"Not at all miss," Will said as he watched as the black haired girl ran out of the men's bath and into the women's bath while desperately hiding her face. Once the girl was gone however, Will's eyes narrowed once more and quietly stood there deep in thought.