Breakfast Moments: Part 3

Usagi got up out of the bed, which was far more comfortable than she was willing to admit, and headed to the bathroom. After getting the water to the temperature she wanted, Usagi set the plug and ended the flow after the tub was a little past the halfway point. After stopping the water, Usagi investigated the soap options, she stopped her searching when she found a soap that stated it was “No Scent Body Wash,” she narrowed her investigation to reading the description and ingredient list on the back; she was genuinely surprised the bottles all had a list of their ingredients, even if most of what was written was unfamiliar or foreign to her, she felt like she would be more familiar with everything if she were more knowledgeable about alchemy.

Usagi took a mental note to make alchemy a bigger part of the education plan for the clan during their official education stage, and they had access to someone who could help with that. Something like this could be useful; she also noticed something else as she got in the tub, bath salts that claimed to have the ability to remove scents. To be fair, Usagi had never heard of salts intended to be added to the water for bathing purposes, she doubted such a thing was all that common among nobility as well; at best, only a small handful of nobles would even know what bath salts even were, and among those a small handful would actually have experience with them. She opened the container and dropped a tablet into the tub before closing it again and lathering up with the soap before getting in the tub.

After soaking for somewhere between 15 and 20 minutes, Usagi got out and went over to the case with buttons she had noticed on her inspection of the bathing area before heading to bed. She opened the case and tapped the button for towels, she would try the other option some other time, and watched in amazement as a hidden rack of towels arranged to have the largest towels were on the bottom shelf and smallest were on the highest shelf made itself known. After grabbing a towel from the second-lowest shelf, Usagi headed back to the sleeping area as she dried herself off, and decided to properly investigate the closet. When she opened the closet, Usagi was surprised to see high quality shinobi attire, all in her size, that was properly colored; there were also a few formal dresses and the like a bit further in, from what she could see with a cursory glance. Usagi grabbed the closet outfit to the door, and a set of undergarments on a small shelf to the left of the door, she opened and quickly got ready.

When got down to the kitchen area, Usagi saw some of her compatriots were already seated outside with various dishes, she noticed all the dining plates were outside on the table but actual food was inside closer to the cooking area, a reasonable approach ot things. As she passed the plates of prepared food, Usagi saw some of the options had signs on them, there were some omelettes and the like that said they were imitation foods made entirely from vegetation, she would be asking Yuri about that later. She went and grabbed herself a plate, then loaded up some of the imitation foods and got a glass of water before returning to her chosen seat to sample her options.

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Althana got up out of her bed, she was so happy she decided to choose a room in this place; her atelier was a good secondary sleeping area, especially if she decided to take on a project that ran a little late, it could also act as an additional lodging area for emergency situations. That all said, this room alone was more extravagant than any she had seen or heard about, even the more notable rooms of well-known castles. And the concept of each room having its own personal bathing room, with its own personal amenities, was beyond what was seen in the world she knew before being introduced to Yuri’s manor.

After slipping out of her bed, Althana strode into the bathroom and closed the door to the room behind her. On her way to the tub, Althana slipped off her sleepwear and dropped it into the bin she had been told about during the tour and had spotted on a quick check of her room before bed. After approaching the tub, Althana set the water to run to get to the proper temperature. As she waited for the water to warm up to the level she liked, Althana scanned the shelves of the tub with her eyes, her sight stopped at a bottle of “Mint Children’s Bubble Bath,” she grabbed it off the shelf as she set the stopper thanks to the water having heated enough for her to inspect the bottle more closely; it said something about being “gentle on the eyes,” so Althana poured a bit in as the water filled the tub, and she stopped the water a moment later, the water was at the level she wanted.

Althana watched as the water took on a light green color, then bubbles quickly formed and filled the tub as a pleasant, yet strong, aroma filled the room that felt lovely when she stepped into the tub to soak. Almost a full half hour later, Althana was stepping out of the tub and lifting the case, then hitting the button for towels. She marveled at the system on display that brought the shelves out, she wasn’t tall enough to reach them all, so she grabbed a towel that was half her size from the bottom shelf and wrapped herself in it as she opened the door and headed over to the closet.

When she opened the closet, she was impressed by the wide collection of outfits that were in her style. She grabbed a leotard armor with metallic exterior and cloth inner section, it looked like some kind of dark-colored silk and felt that way when she slipped it on, that had gears and decorative alchemical symbols that adorned the outfit. After getting dressed, Althana made her way down to the kitchen. After inspecting the options a bit, she went and grabbed a remaining unclaimed plate before returning to the options and loading up a few of each option she saw and taking it back to the table. She then grabbed a glass and took it over the pitcher with a similar scent to the bath she had just taken, and poured herself a glass.

“I see you decided to go with the cold mint tea,” said Yuri, “I think you might enjoy it.” Usagi’s ears perked up at the mention of the beverage and took a quick glance at her choice of beverage and realized there might be a few flaws in her plan to sample the options here, she also took a quick note to send some samples of her bathing options back to the village.

“The bathing soap I used also used that word, what is this ‘mint’ you speak of? Is it leaf that adorned the bottle?”

“It’s the name of the plant was used,” said Yuri, “mint oil, which is commonly found in the leaves of the plant, was used in the production of the bath soap you used, and you’ll notice mint leaves were used in the brewing of the tea you selected. Mint oil has been found in my world to have quite a few interesting applications.”

“Could you explain that to me in more depth later,” inquired Usagi from her seat at the table.”

“I’ll do that and more on your more in-depth tour of the greenhouse later,” replied Yuri, “I’ll even show you where I’m going the different varieties of mint I have, and we can discuss what to do about samples you’ll be sending back home during that time.”

“Much appreciated,” said Usagi as she returned to her food.