Goblin Slayer, Vol. 15

“Would you like us to tend to your hooves? We have horseshoes if you’d like.”

“Th-this is most embarrassing…!”

At the great Temple of Law in the water town, Goblin Slayer and his party were received most hospitably. Even though it was evening when they arrived, the clerics welcomed them cordially, leaving Priestess unsure how to express her appreciation. What made her heart really skip a beat, though, was the temple’s bath. It was bigger than any bath one could have hoped for in a temple on the frontier. A large, beautiful space, full of warm steam. Priestess found it endlessly wonderful.

Just like Lady Archbishop.

That archbishop, who was there in the bath now. When Priestess thought back on the last time they’d been in here together, she felt her body grow warm.

She couldn’t think of a bath larger than this one except perhaps the Great Bath in the capital, which had its own spring supplying hot water.

In any case…

“It’s fine. It’s great! Sure, it’s a little surprising at first, but it’s just like regular bathing,” High Elf Archer insisted.

“You would wash your body in front of other people? There’s something wrong with you…,” Baturu said. They were in the changing
room, and she was acting in a way that made Priestess think of High Elf Archer back when they’d just met.

The temple official who’d made the suggestion about the horseshoes didn’t seem fazed by the centaur; maybe she was used to dealing with people of all walks of life. Their timing must have been good, for they didn’t see any other clerics’ vestments in the changing area.

So it won’t bother anyone if our group is a little lively!

Priestess folded her clothes carefully, wrapping her mail in some cloth, and nodded to herself. High Elf Archer noticed and smiled ruefully. Baturu gave them both a questioning look, but it was a small thing.

“Do you not take baths in the plain country?” Priestess asked.

“…Wiping down our bodies is enough to suffice,” Baturu said.

This land of wind and dry grass and open fields—in Priestess’s mind, it somehow made her think of the desert she’d visited.

“Anyway,” Baturu went on, her face flushing and her tail waving broadly, “who would ever let someone else touch their hooves? Do humans
do
that sort of thing?”

“Sounds a bit like our ears,” High Elf Archer said, flicking hers demonstratively.

“Our ears and tails are also off-limits,” Baturu added, her own ears lying back on her head.

To be fair, I was a little shy about letting people see my ankles back when we made the sacred wine…

Priestess looked from one of them to the other, tapped a thoughtful finger to her lips, and then nodded. “Well, let’s go ahead and get in!”

“Seconded!” High Elf Archer said.

“Wh-what do you two think you’re doing?” Baturu asked.

It ended up as a bit of a quarrel. Not a real fight—if Baturu had been moved to bring her powerful kicks into the equation, things would have been over quickly. The fact that she didn’t meant she was either being considerate or holding back on them.

Either way, I’m just as glad
, Priestess thought.

Between them, with many a smile and “c’mon, now,” she and High Elf Archer managed to coax Baturu to strip down. She had golden skin, tanned by the sun, and the muscles of her arms and legs were toned and firm. She wasn’t bulky, but she nonetheless looked different from the willowy Priestess or the statuesque High Elf Archer. Her body, shaped by and for running across the plain, had a functional beauty; it would have been a shame, in its own way, to hide it under bathwear. Of course, that would only hide the top half of her—the bottom half was still a gorgeous equine body…