Chapter 15: the master of baths
The team were guided by the three Scrubbers as they walked through the bath house, and they can see plenty of people swimming in the large central pool. When they arrive at the rear entrance, the female scrubber told them to wait here because she and her fellow scrubbers have to speak to the master. It took twenty minutes as the team waited, until the female scrubber stepped out of the door.
"You may enter, for my master wished to see you" she said.
"Alright, let's go in" said Siegfried.
The rest of his teammates agreed and followed him, and inside, there was a waterfall coming from outside with stepping stones. There was an old man dressed in a yellow toga and a laurel wreath on his head sitting on a large rock, expecting the team to arrive.
"Welcome to Ostia bath house, travelers. My students told me everything about you all, especially when one of you became a scrubber through a crystal that one of my best students had used" said the old man.
"There was a woman working at the hot springs at the Moon Base, she was the one who gave me that crystal fragment that contains the scrubber job class" Siegfried explained.
"I see, I've already heard the news that Cicero died on the Blue moon. It's a shame, he was one of my best students that Ostia had to offer. If only he had stayed here, he would be alive by then" said the old man as he felt grief welling within him.
"Lets introduce ourselves, my name is Sonya and I'm a white mage. This is Laura the black mage, Eric the Candle mage, and Siegfried the scrubber" Sonya introduced, while trying to lighten the mood.
"I am Octavius, master of the baths. I'm this owner of this bath house, and one of the officials to the king" the old man introduced.
Ocatavius then showed the team two crystal fragments, in which both are colored reddish orange compared to the ones from Caerenth empire. One has an image of a grape while the other has a symbol of a heart with bow and arrow, and both radiates a gentle glow of energy. He then explains to them that both of these crystal fragments originated from the fire crystal a long time ago, during the time that the kingdom was once an ancient empire. No one knows exactly who made these job classes, since the crystal fragments were excavated from the ruins close to Mount Vesu.
"I learned that the one that has an image of a grape is the winemaker job class and the other that has an image of a heart is the Cupid job class, but I'm saving those if travelers can prove themselves worthy at a test" he said.
"What test?" Eric asked.
"A test of strength, to see if anyone can best me in combat" he responded.
Everyone paused for a moment, they don't want to fight someone who they had just met. However, they are curious as to what the two job classes can do. Siegfried stepped up to Octavius, intent on accepting his challenge.
"We accept your challenge, sir!" He said valiantly.
"Siegfried! You don't challenge an innocent civilian to a fight, it's rude!" Sonya scolded.
"Ho ho ho! That there's some guts, I haven't seen such valor in years!" Octavius chuckled.
Then the old man stood up, with water surging from beneath his feet.
"I may have not fought in combat in years, but I am a master scrubber. I have pioneered this job class, and have Cicero copy it by using the crystal fragment under my permission. Be forewarned: I am a formidable foe and I will not go easy on you. If you want the two crystal fragments that I have in my possession, then you must best me in a test of strength" Octavius explained.
"We are ready!" Laura said in a brave tone.
"Let me ask you one question: are you sure you want to do the test of strength?" He asked.
The team silently nodded, each of them got ready in combat. Octavius nodded with agreement, before he used hot water ability on Sonya. Siegfried managed to save her by redirecting the attack at the old man, since the hot water ability uses scalding water that can burn enemies. However, Octavius dodged his own attack before using cold water ability on Eric (since he's a Candle mage, he can't stand the coldness). The cold water attack left Eric soaking wet and shivering, but he can't move since the water itself freezes over. Laura casts thunder at Octavius in retaliation (scrubbers main weakness is electricity due to having water and soap based powers), and since it's the basic spell, it dealt some damage to him because she doesn't want to kill him. The old man collapsed on his hands, coughing and panting.
"Do you give up?" Siegfried asked.
"I suppose so, you kids put up a good fight" Octavius replied as he got up.
Siegfried used his hot water ability to thaw out Eric, resulting the Candle mage shivering with his teeth chattering. Sonya had to heal the old man, since Laura used his weakness to defeat him non lethally.
"You weren't kidding when you said you were a formidable opponent, we just don't want to kill you because that would have put us in a very scary situation" said Laura.
"You used the scrubbers weakness of electricity, how did you know?" Said Octavius.
"The water element is weak to electricity, so I had used my thunder spell to defeat you non lethally" she answered.
"I shall give you all the two crystal fragments as promised, for you have earned it" he said before handing over the two crystal fragments.
Siegfried received the Cupid crystal fragment while Sonya received the winemaker crystal fragment as a reward, but Eric wasn't happy since he didn't get a reward. Laura told him that it's alright, since she didn't get a reward.
"If you want to go and see the fire crystal, I'm afraid the main entrance us blocked by lava" said Octavius.
"Yeah, we know that" said Eric.
"But what you don't know is that there are rumors about a secret tunnel hidden within the ruins, you may have to check it out. The ruins lay north east, across the river of lava. Who knows, you might find more crystal fragments buried within the ruins" Octavius explained.
Siegfried tried out the Cupid crystal fragment out of curiosity, and he glowed briefly in an orange colored light. After that, he now dressed in a toga decorated with hearts (with fake wings), sandals, and a gold circlet with a heart on it. In his hand, is a heart themed bow with a heart tipped arrow.
"I look even more ridiculous" he said.
"At least you no longer wear a towel, so you don't face a problem with enemies stealing it. Besides, you look cute with the Cupid job class" Sonya said with a smile.
Siegfried blushed while smiling, brushing his head with his hand.
Authors note: looks like it's about time the team has to travel to the ruins to look for the hidden entrance of Mount Vesu, no doubt they'll have to face the fiend of magma.
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