That said, what Morgan called a punishment was really closer to a countermeasure.
The "2001 Shiomi family" who came to Kumano Hot Springs weren't all staying in the same room either.
The three girls shared one room. Next door was a double room occupied by "2001 Shiomi and Morgan." Since the two who should have existed in this era were absent, the future Shiomi and Morgan had to step in and fill the gap, so Sakura and the others could feel at ease.
"Well, those two rooms aren't that far apart anyway. If we're staying separately, then so be it."
In the hot spring, Scáthach sat by the edge of the pool, her feet idly stirring the warm water.
Having just come out of the bath, her skin glowed with a soft, healthy flush from the heat.
Indulging in pleasure and then soaking in a hot spring afterward truly was the height of enjoyment.
They all felt the same way.
"You say Tenkei is getting better and better at making excuses, but you're really no different yourself," Artoria teased with a gentle smile. "There's no excuse more proper than 'for the children's peace of mind.' Even we couldn't argue with that."
"Just because only we're staying in the VIP rooms doesn't mean there's a rule against going back and forth." Touko pushed her glasses up, the lenses clouded with steam. "It wouldn't be a problem if I came over to bother you at night, right?"
"I'd heard you'd been living a fairly self-indulgent life, but I didn't expect you to say something like that so openly. If your younger sister and that witch's descendant heard this, they'd probably be stunned." Morgan didn't refute her. Instead, she smoothly turned it around and mocked Touko's complete lack of restraint.
"Magecraft, magic, or whatever else, it's all fleeting," Touko replied without hesitation. "As long as you enjoy the life right in front of you, that's enough. If I still have any attachment at all, it's probably just that."
Scáthach couldn't help shaking her head. "You treat discarding and switching bodies as something natural, and yet you can still regard every body as yourself. Forget soul degradation. You probably don't even know whether the soul you have now is the original one anymore."
"I've never thought about that, and I don't need to." Touko picked up a glass from the tray floating on the water and drained it in one go, then laughed freely. "Besides, there's someone who can treat me naturally no matter how many times I change bodies. With that, there's even less reason to care."
Adjusting the towel tucked around her, Artoria let out a small laugh. "This conversation is getting a bit heavy. Soaking in a hot spring is supposed to be relaxing."
"What, want a drink, Your Majesty?" Touko pushed the tray over, several glasses still resting on it. "As women who support Tenkei together, let's get along. Though we already do."
"Mm…" Artoria felt that drinking in a hot spring was a little strange and didn't take her up on the offer for now.
Morgan glanced at Skadi, who still hadn't said a word. "It's a good thing this inn allows eating and drinking in the baths…"
In contrast to Touko, who was drinking, Skadi was quietly soaking in the water, enjoying an ice cream.
She had quickly taken to the method Scáthach had recommended, starting from her very first hot spring soak.
After messing around in their room all day, they came over in the evening to reserve the hot spring. Their already relaxed bodies and minds were soothed even further. Scáthach shifted slightly from where she'd been sitting at the edge, then settled back into the water.
After all, none of them needed to worry about fainting from soaking too long.
"By the way, didn't you say earlier that you were going back to your room to investigate where your counterpart from this era and my beloved disciple went?" Scáthach asked Morgan, leaning back against the edge of the pool after returning to the water. "Did you find anything?"
Morgan raised an eyebrow slightly. "You want to talk about that? Then let's call my husband over first."
As she spoke, she lifted her hand and reached out toward the empty space beside the hot spring. The Mirror of Unity snapped open, followed immediately by an unprepared scream. Shiomi was effortlessly dragged over by Morgan from the neighboring bath.
This inn had several hot spring baths, but none of them were mixed. To avoid causing any trouble, Shiomi had been soaking alone in the men's bath the whole time, quietly listening in on their conversation.
"You're far too careless. If someone had come to assassinate you, your head would already be rolling." Scáthach's tone was sharply critical.
Shiomi straightened up a little and rubbed his neck. "Who would bother assassinating me? First Hassan? If it were him, then my fate would already be at its end. I wouldn't have anyone else to blame. Besides, you're the only ones nearby. I'm not going to be on guard even against you."
"That's exactly why I used the Mirror Magecraft," Morgan said, sounding unsurprised. "Anyway, back to the point. After following Sakura and the others to the room, I took the opportunity to check the luggage. There were only daily necessities and a wallet. Nothing else."
"Weapons and Noble Phantasms don't need special storage," Shiomi replied. "But not even taking the wallet… Going by my habits, that means I expected to be back soon, so I didn't bother bringing anything."
Morgan ran a hand over her neatly pinned hair and smiled frankly. "That's about right. The problem is, I tried to trace our whereabouts using our belongings, and failed—quite cleanly, in fact."
"'Cleanly' and 'failed' really don't belong in the same sentence," Scáthach said, stifling a laugh.
"Looks like you both have a habit of leaving no traces," Touko commented. "You've treated your personal items with Magecraft, haven't you? So even if someone tried to track them with Magecraft, it wouldn't work."
"You're not being hunted or subjected to a sealing designation, yet you live like this all the time…" Artoria couldn't help but sound worried. "Isn't that… exhausting?"
Scáthach slung an arm around Shiomi's shoulders. "It's just a habit drilled into us as Magi. It doesn't do any harm, so there's no reason to change it. After all, if you can't even imagine yourself going missing, how could you possibly predict that your future self would come back to investigate something like this?"
"Then we can basically conclude that this disappearance was completely unplanned for the 2001 version of me and Morgan," Shiomi said with understanding. "More than just outside our expectations. Combined with the fact that this is a Singularity, it's safe to say the cause lies with the Singularity itself."
"Even so, if we're going to investigate, we'll need to rethink our approach," Skadi added at that point. "And the guests staying at this inn right now aren't exactly ordinary. First, we should clarify what this place's so-called—"
Before Skadi could finish, voices drifted over from the changing room. Sakura and the others were chatting about soaking in the hot springs, mentioning that Morgan had reserved the entire bath, so there was nothing to worry about.
Morgan let out a helpless smile.
"Looks like the rest will have to wait. Let's just enjoy the hot springs for now."
As she spoke, she lifted her hand and gave a light push. When Scáthach released her arm, Shiomi was swallowed once more by the Mirror of Union. Almost at the same time, the sound of the three girls sliding open the bathhouse door rang out, followed by the splash and rush of water from next door.
"Mother is with her friends. Maybe we should come back later—" Sakura said hastily, thinking they might be intruding.
Morgan waved her hand dismissively. "No need. Now is fine. It's not some formal occasion."
With her approval, the three girls immediately joined the others in the hot springs.