Tondemo Skill de Isekai Hourou Meshi

r>When I judged we were well out of the blast radius I said “On you go!”

Fer shook his massive body, spraying water in all directions like the first time I washed him.
This time though I was not in range, just.
A few seconds later I felt the warm air of Fer's Wind magic as he completed the process of drying his coat.
I didn't need to get out the very large pet towel I had bought originally to dry him.

“Right then, are we going to have a bath as well?” I asked, already reaching into my Item Box for the you-know-what (MY you-know what!)

“Yup.” said Dora-chan excitedly.

“Yay-” Sui-chan chimed in.

As we started to get ready for our own bath, the now completely dry Fer was pacing back and forth, obviously agitated for some reason.
“If you're all taking a bath then I'm going hunting.” he finally said.

“Uh, that's fine but remember you've just got cleaned up so don’t get dirty again too quickly.”

“Nuuu, you don't have to tell me.” No Fer, I do have to tell you.
Never mind, I could always buy more shampoo from the Net Super.
Thinking about shopping I made a request.

“If you're going hunting see if you can bring back some bird-type monsters, like Rock Bird or Cockatrice.
We don't have much bird meat left.” I felt a bit like an okaasan asking a surly teenager to go to the supermarket for ingredients for dinner but I figured he would agree.
It had been a while since we had eaten bird meat after all.

“I got you.” He was distracted now, his head swivelling from side to side as, I presume, he was searching the local area for suitable prey.

“Oh, and take this.” I took out the middle-sized magic bag from my Item Box.
It had a strap across its mouth like a shoulder bag so Fer could easily carry it while he was hunting.

“That magic bag thing?” Fer asked as I hung it around his neck.

“Yeah, it will come in handy.
You can put your prey in it so you can bring a lot of monsters back in one go.” Fer could usually only bring back one monster at a time in his mouth.
The alternative to him using the bag to store them was for him to drag me to where he had piled up mountains of subjugated monsters and have me load them into my Item Box, and I really wanted to have my bath in peace.

“Umu, that's a good idea.
I'll borrow it.” Fer said before dashing off into the surrounding forest but not before I got him to set up his Barrier for us.
Safety first after all.

* * * * *

“Fuuu, this feels good.”

“Ahhh, really great!”

“Feeling good, aruji-“

After Fer disappeared into the forest I quickly organised filling the bath and warming up the water and then washed myself down.
Now Dora-chan, Sui and me were taking it easy, immersed in the tub's hot soothing water.
Dora-chan and Sui-chan were floating like rubber ducks, bobbing up and down while I stretched out in the tub (OUR tub).
To celebrate our conquest of Doran's dungeon I had added a deluxe bubbly carbon dioxide bath salt from the Net Super, supposedly beneficial for tiredness.
I felt warm and relaxed, my body losing its tenseness.
It smelled good, too.
Finally-

“I'm done, I think.
Want to get out now?”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Yeees-“

We all got out of the bath.
After I dried myself off, changed into fresh clothes and cleaned up the tub I bought fruit milk for Dora-chan and Sui and coffee for me from the Net Super.
Ahhhh!

Suddenly I heard children's voices off in the forest, coming closer.
What the-?

“He- HELP!”

“Kyaaa-!”

A boy and a girl, around 10 years old, ran into the clearing, looking frantically behind them and not seeing us standing there.

“Run away, Eris.
I'll distract them!” the boy shouted.

“I'm not leaving you!” the girl replied.

Why they were running for their lives became clear very quickly as five pursuing Orcs broke through the underbrush behind them into the clearing.

“Dora-chan, Sui!” I shouted, pointing at the Orcs.

“Yup, leave 'em to me.” Dora-chan said, taking to the air.

“Sui will help-” Sui-chan's sniper tentacle swung onto target.

Thunk thunk, thunk.
Dora-chan's small figure wreathed in Fire magic punched straight through the bodies of three of the Orcs while Splat! Splat! Sui-chan's Acid Bullets dealt with the remaining two pursuers.

“Hoi, are you two all right?” I went over to the two kids who were standing frozen, stunned at seeing the Orcs dealt with so easily.
No reply so I tried again.

“Hey, the Orcs are dead, they can't harm you now.” The boy and girl looked at me with fear-stricken expressions.
“Where did you two come from?” I asked.
We were some distance from the city.
Why would young children be wandering through a dangerous forest like this? Was there an adult with them? The boy and the girl both started sobbing.
I realised just how scary it would be to be that age and get chased by Orcs but it was over now, wasn't it? Why had they just started crying now?

“Uwaaah, waaaah waaah waaah!”

“Uh, uh, hey hey hey…” I was never very good at dealing with kids and my attempts to console them weren't doing much good when suddenly Fer reappeared from the surrounding forest.

“What's up with these brats?” Fer growled.
This didn't help as the children's crying redoubled at the sight of yet another obviously dangerous monster.

“Oh, ah, this is…” I tried to explain to the distraught kids.
“Look, it's okay, he's my contracted monster and he won't hurt you or anything.” They weren't listening though.
Fer spotted the five dead Orcs at the edge of the clearing.
“Hey, what are those doing here?” he said loudly, causing the kids to start screaming.
Oh great.

“Hey Fer, keep quiet will you?” I sent to Fer telepathically while I bent down in front of the two kids in yet another attempt to comfort them.
As they focused on me, I reached over and petted Fer's head like a puppy.
I saw their eyes widen in surprise and their sobbing stopped.

“You're safe now.” I told them in a quiet and hopefully reassuring voice.
I patted Fer's head again, ignoring his telepathic mutterings.
I was pretty sure he wouldn't bite my hand off as he was promising.
“Fer here is my contracted monster.
He won't do anything to hurt you.
Really.”