6 Chapter 6 Bath

Once again, Nexus found himself sucked in by the element of surprise.

He remained transfixed to the spot, eyes wide, and brain firing on all cylinders as he tried to picture a mental image of what he had just learned. Again and again, Nexus repeated the system's words in his head, picking apart each word and meaning, playing out multiple scenarios in his head.

Although Nexus had a faint premonition that succubus might actually have something to do with sex. But never would he have ever concieved something as astounding and as mind blowing as this!

He struggled to find the right words;

"Wait a damn minute. . ." He swallowed excitedly; "You're saying there's an actual race of women whose only food is dick and cream?!"

It sounded too good to be true even as he said it out loud.

[AFFIRMATIVE.]

[SUCCUBUS ARE AN ACQUIRED TASTE IN THIS ISEKAI. SO, HUNTERS HUNT AFTER THEM ASSIDUOUSLY TO EITHER KEEP THEM CAPTIVE AS MAIDS, OR SELL THEM AS SEX SLAVES TO THE RICH CLASS.]

[THE HIGHEST POLITICAL CLASS OF SUCCUBI ARE SIMILAR TO GEISHAS.]

[USUSALLY UNDER THE HOUSEHOLDS OF POWERFUL MEN, THIS CLASS OF SUCCUBI SERVE AS HIGH PROFILE COURTESEANS IN THE ESTATES OF PRINCES, LORDS, AND RULERS.]

[ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: BECAUSE THE ENTIRE RANGE OF THEIR DIET IS LIMITED TO HUMAN SEMEN, SUCCUBI CAN BE INSATIABLE, AND VORACIOUS IN THE BED.]

[WHILE THEY CAN BE EXTRA ORDINARILY PRETTY, THEY CAN ALSO BE WITTY AND CRUEL. CAUTION IS ADVISED.]

Nexus retained everything BUT the last part.

In fact, that information basically went into one ear and flew out of the other. After all he had just learned about the succubi being insatiable sex partners, caution was the last thing on Nexus' mind. It was certainly not the first thing on his mind either.

Armed with this new information, Nexus doubled back. As he trodded his way back to the girl, he tried to hide his new found excitment by acting all calm and aloof.

But, as soon as he set his eyes on her again, all of that suaveness went out the door with an embarassing quickness.

Luckily for him, her eyes were closed. The girl was fast asleep. Nexus stared at her beautiful cherubic face for a moment, as though he was trying to memorize her facial features- that way, he would not be tempted to stare at her during her every single waking moment.

Now that he knew she was a sex crazed maniac (by race), Nexus knew that would be difficult.

Suddenly, without any kind of warning at all, completely out of the blue, the girl's eyes flew wide open, catching Nexus right in the unholy act of staring at a defenseless sleeping beauty. Nexus was absolutely horrified, what kind of girl wakes up like that?!

"Crystal." she said.

Caught off guard, Nexus found himself mumbling; "What?"

"I just realized I haven't introduced myself. My name is Crystal,"

Her eyes rolled in direction to her horns; "I'm obviously a succubus. . .a D-class succbus. But I guess you already knew all of that."

Nexus nodded.

"I'm Nexus. . ." he thought of adding something cool like 'A-rank' human, but decided against it.

"I'm glad to have met you mister Nexus. Thanks again for saving me."

Nexus replied warmly; "It's all good, that part's over now. Look, you've got dust all over you."

She tried to sit up. "My bad, The wind must have blown ash all over you while I was away. I'm so sorry."

"Don't be. Just lay back and rest some more, I got you."

A hesitating look crept across her face, but after a brief moment, she ended up submitting in obedience.

Nexus went to work immediately. This was a chance for him to use his first reward.

From the system, he summoned the water gourd.

Over Crystal's head, just above the spot she was lying down, there was a huge tree branch. Up until that moment, its wide reaching leaf network had served as the perfect shade from the midday sun. But Nexus was about to create a secondary use for it.

Holding the water gourd firmly, Nexus leapt high in the air, and took hold of the branch. In an impressive display of upper body strength, he hoisted himself up using one arm, and climbed the tree. Eyes wide open, Crystal kept her gaze fixed on him, wondering what he was up to.

There was something about him. As he went about about balancing himself on the tree branch, Nexus' muscles rippled through his fitted black top.

Standing with knees apart, and slightly bent in a crouch-like position on that particular branch above Crystal, Nexus carefully strung up the gourd on a length of multi purpose rope (he got from his starter's pack), making it dangle above Crystal.

The succubus continued to look up at him with wild interest. Finally, unable to contain her interest anymore, she unsheathed her tongue;

"What are you doing?"

Barely looking at her direction, Nexus answered her as softly as he could without breaking focus;

"Don't worry, I'm almost done here. I'm trying to create a makeshift shower using the gourd as a shower head."

A puzzled expression clouded her moon shaped face; "A what?"

Shit, how could he forget? Of course she wouldn't know what that was. He pivoted, and made use of something more familiar;

"Well, think about it as a kind of portable fountain. It should serve as a bathing mechanism to help you shower comfortably."

Crystal glanced at it with doubts flashing;

"I'm sorry, but is that tiny gourd supposed be a fountain?" She looked at her hand, and then looked at it again; "It's barely larger than my fist!"

As he answered, Nexus fought to keep the pride out of his voice;

"Trust me, this is no ordinary gourd. As small as it looks, it can hold up to a hundred tons of water!"

He adjusted the remaining length of the adjoining rope till it touched the earth. And then jumped down from the tree.

"There, all done." He struck his hands "See, it's very simple. All I need to do is tug it gently, and the gourd will tilt downwards, pouring out water in generous sprays."

Crystal took it all in with the eager eyes of a schoolgirl. Admittedly, it sounded wonderful in theory, but she simply could not picture it.

"A hundred tons of water huh? I'm guessing that's a lot..."

Nexus' next words totally caught her off guard;

"With all that dust on you, I imagine you must be craving a shower right now. So, why don't you try taking your bath with it?"

Just as soon as the words left his mouth, regret bore down on him mercilessly. Instantly, it dawned on him just how his suggestion had sounded out loud.

Nexus' face went deathly white on the spot! Thousands of alarm bells began to ring with a chaotic wildness in his head. It had sounded perfectly innocent in his mind, completely free from any hidden undertones at all!

He stared at Crystal in astonishment. The shock that registered on her face was enough to make him recoil with guilt. Devastated, Nexus promptly made haste to redeem himself from his self-dug hole;

"Wait a minute now hold on," He started apprehensively, "I didn't mean it like that. . .I simply thought since you were covered in dust. . . you might want to consider bathing. . ."

If Nexus had been paying a little more attention, if he had been able to temporarily detach himself from his own self-judging thoughts, he would have been able to read the situation a little bit more clearly.

Yes, Crystal was shocked- no doubt. But in an ironic twist, it was not as a direct result of Nexus' forward suggestion. Indeed, it was Nexus' care and concern for her had left her completely speechless!

Here was a human concerned with her hygiene! Not just that, he had gone out of his way to construct a 'portable fountain' for her, just so she could take her bath!

This almost never happened. Crystal could almost picture her comrade laughing at her as she narrated this story! This was her reality, and even she was having trouble believing it.

Flabbergasted, Crystal bolted upright on her makeshift bed. Shaking her head, she said;

"I'm sorry, but no."

Before she could appear ungrateful, she quickly added:

"I do not wish to bother you any more than I already have. You have done so much for me already. . ."