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Yesterday it felt like we had exclusive use of the place, but there were apparently other guests around today.

Given that there were other eyes around, Finia had entered the sauna together with Cortina to help her.

She wrapped towels on her head and tail to block any path of retreat for the fleas and then shut herself in the sauna to steam those bugs.

Fleas could live in up to around 60C temperatures, so the sauna’s steam that reached near 100C was too much for them to handle.

She continued the cycle of entering several times to eliminate any surviving fleas, and then leave and use a hairbrush to brush down the eggs and dead fleas, and then go in once again…

As entering a high-temperature sauna so frequently could be dangerous, we were constantly around to keep her condition in check. Normally, that would be Maria’s job, but she had her hands full of Fina now.

It was practically impossible for Lyell to take care of Fina. His personality was too rough, for better or worse.

Once he dropped me into the bath and grabbed me by the legs and dragged me out upside down. Since then, Maria didn’t put any hope in him handling childcare.

Leaving that aside…

“Ugyuu…”
“You don’t have to force yourself to follow us, you know?”
“Lady Nicole, I…I brought water!”

As expected I got knocked down by the sauna heat. Finia rushed out to get the water while Cortina waved a towel at me to provide some wind.

She was using the towel I wore. She couldn’t remove her own, after all.

In other words, I was buck naked now.

“Still, I never thought I would see the day when you became healthy enough to get a suntan, Lady Nicole.”
“She’s been relatively healthy since coming to Raum, but was it so bad back at the village…?”

The height of summer had already passed and the swimming practices were over, but the traces of the tan from then still remained with me. It was certainly unthinkable during the time at the village for me to get well enough to swim to the point of getting a tan like this.

“I’m fine, but what about you Cortina?”
“Yeah, I brushed my hair earlier and it seems like most of them are gone. It should take two-three more times to get rid of them completely.”
“That’s good. I’ll be using your tail as a scarf from now on after all.”
“Hey, can you stop wrapping my tail in the winter?”

The way she puffed her cheeks made it hard to imagine that she was the same person that commanded the battle the other day so resolutely.

But please listen to me for a moment. Her fluffiness was out of this world. Honestly, I’d want to feel it up whenever I’m in my male form, but I bet she’d hate that.

Just touching her ears made her embarrassed after all.

In the end, after repeating this cycle several times, Cortina managed to get rid of the fleas completely and we returned to Raum.

As we returned to Raum, we headed home while being overwhelmed by the strange mood of the city.

It lacked liveliness and there seemed to be fewer pedestrians around. And some of the food stalls couldn’t be seen.

Maria, Fina, and Lyell returned to the village right away, so they weren’t here.

“Hmm?”

Cortina pulled the letter stuck in her door and checked it. Inside was a notice that the Magic Academy had been closed.

“Come again?”
“Huh, what’s wrong?”
“It says the academy is closed.”
“Huuuuuhhh?!”

Finia and I yelled in shock. We thought Cortina had finally lost her job.

“So you’re unemployed now, Cortina?”
“They haven’t closed it down eternally you know!? It seems that some illness has spread around so there’s a danger that the damages would grow worse if the classes were to be held.”
“Oh, meh.”
“What do you mean meh!”

Cortina grabbed my head and started rubbing my temples with her fists. I couldn’t resist so I just screamed and fell prostrated on the spot.

Kabby, who was going to start living back in Cortina’s home once again, jumped on my back. It was quite busy too, having to go back and forth between this place and the northern village.

When Maria was feeling bad, Kabby was dispatched to take over caring for Fina.

“Still, an epidemic still showed itself after all, huh?”
“Have you expected this to happen?”
“Well, yeah, so many of those Goblins got into the city. They were unclean and getting rid of their corpses also took time. I did tell them to be careful about hygiene but still…”

Even if she did, how many people actually heed that advice during their elevated feelings was another matter. You could say that this epidemic was a natural outcome.

“Oh right, I’ll go hand out the souvenirs.”
“Michelle and Letina’s place huh? Would be good to check how they are doing too. Take care.”

Cortina waved me goodbye as I decided to rush to my friends right away. I had Cloud’s share too by the way, but Cortina seemed to have forgotten about him.

I knocked on the neighboring house of Michelle and the auntie showed her face. However, her expression seemed to be quite worn out.

“Hellow, um I brought souvenirs… Also, is something the matter?”
“Ah, is it you, Lady Nicole? Thank you for always. Well, Michelle has fallen a little sick. Unfortunately, she can’t come to see you now.”
“Michelle has?”
“Yes, she caught the illness that’s spreading now. She has a somewhat high fever and can’t put strength into her body.”
“I see… Would it be possible to check on her?”

I planned to give up if she was sleeping, but I asked just in case. However, the answer that came was more serious than I imagined.

“It’s better to refrain from that. This illness seems to infect people quite aggressively. Michelle wouldn’t want to infect you, Lady Nicole.”
“I…see. Then I will leave for today.”
“I’m sorry for not receiving you after coming here.”
“Not at all. Please tell her to take care of herself and get well soon.”
“I will. You are very kind, Lady Nicole.”

She waved and closed the door. It felt like she didn’t want to let the air from the outside enter as much as possible.

Next, I headed to Letina’s mansion in the noble district to hand out the next souvenir. There was a gate guard at the entrance to the noble district, but since I was always going in and out with Letina, I was getting practically a free pass.

However, I ended up turned away at the door even there.

“The young lady had ruined her health after this time’s turmoil.”
“Is that so… Oh right, here’s the souvenir. Is it the rumored illness?”
“Thank you very much as always. And yes, it appeared to be the case. The young lady is always having so much fun whenever she is playing with you Lady Nicole that it makes us happy too, and yet…”
“Is her condition that bad?”
“Her fever is a little high. It’s being controlled with fever medicine, but there has been a shortage of it lately so it is a little worrying.”
“I suppose it’s because everyone’s having a fever.”

When I thought of how I was having fun in the hot spring while Michelle and Letina were suffering from the epidemic, it made me feel kinda guilty.

She was a high-ranking noble, so the unlikely event would probably not happen, but I had to pay attention.

I then headed to the orphanage next, planning to hand Cloud his souvenir too, but…

“Ah, Nicole!”
“What the, you’re looking quite healthy there.”
“That’s an awful way to put it. But since you said that, I assume you already know about Michelle and Letina.”
“Yeah, I heard they have quite bad fevers.”
“Low-lying parts of the city seem to be suffering from the lack of fever medicine so the mood has deteriorated quite a bit. Half of the orphanage kids are also confined to beds.”
“That sounds really bad!”
“The sisters also have a very busy time. I took on a request to collect Millud leaves but I didn’t manage to make it in time.”

Millud leaves were evergreen plants that were used for alleviating fever. The highway side was dotted with them, so you could collect them relatively safely.

The newbie or child Adventurers took on the requests to collect them and made some pocket money.

However, with so many ill people showing up, their numbers couldn’t catch up at all.

“…Instead of Millud leaves, maybe we may need actual medicine here?”

I came to that conclusion after hearing Cloud’s story.