Ayra blinked. "Huh?" She had recalled that this land didn’t have a healthy living atmosphere for people like her. But thinking about it, she wondered how the hell she was supposed to survive if she couldn’t even take a bath to keep her beauty streak!

[But worry not, host]

[Temporary Body Protection activated from Improved Beauty stats as beginner package!]

[Host can step into the water for 10 minutes without worrying about skin damage or so]

[Body Protection lasts for 10 minutes. Anything beyond that would mean intending to damage the body!]

[System also grants host new clothing as part of beginner package reward]

[All rewards today are as a result of host expecting a cub soon!]

Ayra smiled. She guessed the system was considerate at least, to give her some rewards for the previous task. She smiled as she stared at the neat brown loincloth that had appeared on the rock there. It wasn’t anything grand or fancy, but it was still wearable.

"So can I get something like soaps? Or body serums for bathing and afterwards?" She requested. Ayra guessed that would improve her body greatly.

[...]

[System error]

[System can’t grant that now. But host will have to accomplish future tasks to activate that]

She sighed as she shook her head. "Whatever."

Ayra went into the water after plucking some nice scented flowers around. She used them to apply on her body while she took her bath, naked in the bosom of the stream. It felt calm and soothing as it ran through her body.

10 minutes. She had to be cautious of that while bathing so she didn’t end up damaging her healing skin.

Ayra hummed happily while she enjoyed her bath, thinking she was alone in the woods where she was. But she guessed she wasn’t when she felt the water ripple at her side.

Shocked, Ayra instantly turned to see who it was while hugging herself in the water. She could only see a back. A broad, huge muscular back also in the stream. A male beast was taking his bath close to her, the water roughly covering his waist down. Ayra could still see that thick waistline, that muscular body and broad shoulders. His wet black hair and familiar animal ears.

"Who is that...?" she managed to ask as he stopped bathing. His broad muscular hands ran through his hair as he slowly turned to meet her gaze.

Ayra gasped. Why was the commander taking a bath with her here?!

She panicked as she stepped backwards. "You.. what are you doing here?" She hugged herself as she glared at him. "Are you a pervert or something?"

Commander Lynn held his casual expression as he slowly walked towards her in the ripples of the water. As he got closer, his eyes studied her face. "This is a public stream. Why can’t I be here if I want to take my bath?"

"..."

Ayra blinked. Valid. "But.. I’m a female... Can’t you see that I’m busy using it?"

His deep eyes pierced her as he said, "This is a tribe meant for males. We don’t consider females here. So you should be glad that you’re even allowed to step foot in here."

His eyes slowly left her face and wandered down her collarbones. Ayra sunk deep into the water to cover herself more.

"Besides, why are you being so shy about it? It’s not like we’ve not seen each other before..." He met her eyes again.

Ayra stared at him with a soft scoff. She didn’t know the commander could be quite shameless. "So what do you want?" Now Ayra got shameless enough to approach him. "Would the commander need another soothing session?"

Ayra smiled as she wrapped a hand around his neck and pressed closer. She could feel her chest pressing hard against his muscular body, her other hand slowly tracing his chin and face. She smiled. "I could willingly handle you here?"

Commander Lynn’s eyes were stuck on her face for a while. He couldn’t help but notice it. They had only been apart for some time and he couldn’t help but notice how different she looked facially now.

He couldn’t help but wonder if he was overthinking or did she get prettier...

Ayra smiled as she leaned closer, her breath brushing against his. "What, commander? Are you already getting hot down there?" She could feel the heat pulling up in-between her while her body brushed onto his thickness.

She could slightly feel his spear getting harder down there as she smiled. "Would you need some help down there?"

Commander Lynn swallowed hard as he stared at her. He was once confident a while back, but Ayra could now see the flash of panic in his eyes. "You spent the night soothing S-rank males. You probably won’t feel too excited soothing common B-ranks now, would you? Quite below your ambition, I guess."

Ayra stared at him for a while and then smiled. "Is the commander jealous, or are you scared that I won’t want to soothe you anymore?" Ayra couldn’t help but pick up on the detail even though she wasn’t so certain.

"Why would I be jealous?" He demanded as he slightly pushed her backwards. Their bodies parted in the water as he stared at her. "I have no cause to be."

Ayra smiled with a nod. "Okay then. Sure."

Commander Lynn cleared his throat, staring at her face as he said, "I guess the sleep at my house was a comfortable one, given that you look different today."

Ayra first smiled. "Oh, that’s cute. You think I look different today? How different? Like pretty?" She guessed it had become noticeable, but then she paused.

Ayra stared at him. At that moment, realization hit. "Wait, that was your place I woke up in?" He stared at her without saying a word. She blinked, endless thoughts running through her mind as she quickly asked, "Wait, does that mean you.. changed my clothes and slept with me?" She hugged herself, glaring at him dramatically.

He kept a calm expression as he said, "Yes, I changed you into your outfit. So we’ve seen each other enough to not be shy." He added as he approached again, his hands suddenly grabbing her by the waist and pulling her closer to press against his broad chest again. "Besides, I wouldn’t be that sly to sneak around playing with you while you’re asleep. If I wanted, I would do it with you sober and sane."