The Sinful Saint

As they finally made their way back to Ms. Helmer's office, they stopped to get Si Sheng a couple of pairs of shoes, since the leather boots he made were pretty shoddy.

They continued to take in the scenery walking back. Although they'd seen it before, Ms. Helmer hundreds, if not thousands of times and Si Sheng just a few hours prior, they still found the Commercial District and Institution campus wondrous to look at, especially since it had become sunset.

They arrived at the aforementioned office and went in. The office was large. The first thing you saw when you walked in was the large oak desk with many little knickknacks on top of it. There were bookcases lining that walls, which were filled up with books with topics ranging from magic theory to romance novels. There was nice flooring as well, it was made out of polished mahogany. The reddish floor complemented the duller brown oak making a nice contrast heightening the feeling of the room. There was a quaint lounge area off to the left side, with a coffee table between two settees. Overall, it was a splendid office; the best part was the view, which was of the campus from above due to the office being on an upper floor.

As Si Sheng was admiring the office, he noticed a door to the right and asked Bythre about it.

"What's that door for?"

"Mm? That's my room. That's where I sleep usually."

Seeing Si Sheng's somewhat confused and pondersome expression, she further explained.

"I often have to respond quickly to happenings on campus. If I live away from campus, it wouldn't be too favorable since I couldn't react quick enough. Additionally, I'm too lazy to walk home after work, hehe~," concluded Bythre in a frivolous tone.

Understanding Bythre's reasoning, Si Sheng nodded, expressing his comprehension. He thought it made sense since she was an essential figure at the institution. He continued the thought by thinking about how Bythre was devoted to being the Dean and how she gave off the impression of being reliable in this sense, despite her disposition.

"Well, it's getting late. Should we head off to bed then~?"

Bythre spoke up as Si Sheng was thinking. The sun had gone down at this point and the moons had risen. To be honest, if Si Sheng were to guess the time, he'd have to say it was around 19:00, which was pretty early to go to bed. But, today was different. Si Sheng had gone through a lot, probably more than he'd gone through since he had arrived in this world. He was exhausted because of this, so he obviously agreed with a slight nod.

Inside Bythre's bedroom, there were bookshelves filled with old-looking books in a language Si Sheng couldn't read alongside the wall to the left. The bed, which was at the wall in front of the entryway, was large enough to comfortably accommodate five people, and there was a large wardrobe on the right that had enough space for an entire four-person family to put all their clothes in.

Additionally, there was a door connecting the bathroom to the bedroom beside the wardrobe. The bathroom, as well, was large and spacious. Surprisingly enough, the bathroom looked just like that from Si Sheng's home on Earth, although a lot larger and all-around better. There were a couple of sinks to the left of the entrance with cabinets and a large mirror built with the sinks. There was a large bathtub further along the left wall, it was white with a marble look to it. Then to the right of the bathtub was a shower, just a standard shower, nothing too fancy except for the gold trim on the outside of the shower and grainy, opaque glass obscuring the inside of the shower. Then, further alongside the right wall, closer to the entrance, was a place to hang garments and whatnot. The floor was also that of marble and blended into the bathtub's design.

Bythre explained to the impressed Si Sheng that this was another "gift" from the Fujin Hero she previously mentioned. Apparently, after the shower, sink, and bathtub were introduced to this world, they spread like wildfire. Due to overproduction from the boom, they became fairly cheap, leading to even poorer people to have at least a sink and shower, although not to the extent of Bythre's bathroom.

Because of the boom, sewers and running water became standard for city planning, as well as water treatment facilities. It was pretty advanced in its own right, but the basis was magic so it didn't help machine technology evolve.

With that said, Si Sheng prepared for bed like he'd done back on Earth. He didn't need to brush his teeth thankfully, due to his [Healing Magic (Supreme)] which "healed" his teeth and gums. Effectively, he didn't need to bath, brush his teeth, or take care of his hygiene thanks to his magic. Despite this, Si Sheng took a bath. It wasn't to clean himself but to relax before going off to bed.

The warm, bubbly water soothed Si Sheng's worries. His taut muscles loosened and his body was finally able to relax in this new world. The bubbles floating on the surface of the warm water made him feel comforted as he slightly sank into the bubbles hiding his mouth.

One thing that slipped Si Sheng's mind was the bathroom entrance. There was no lock. That meant anyone could go in while he was bathing and he'd be defenseless to the intruder, he could only cover himself with bubbles. This is exactly what he did.

As one would expect, the mischievous Bythre barged in on Si Sheng's bathtime dressed in a bath towel shouting "Let's take a bath together~!" To which, Si Sheng obviously and furiously told her to "get out", "pervert", etc.

"Crazy woman."

***

When Si Sheng went to bed, Bythre was already there with a smirk on her face as if saying she was going to mess with him. Well, he didn't care. He just shrugged and laughed, then got down onto the bed and got under the blankets.

The sensation of laying down in a bed after not sleeping on one for months was heavenly for Si Sheng. It was euphoric. Si Sheng was in bliss until he heard the rustling of the blankets.

Si Sheng opened his eyes and looked to his right. There, Bythre was crawling "sneakily" through the blankets with a catlike expression on her face.

'Is she really just a cat on the inside?' Si Sheng seriously considered it given everything Bythre had done. Anyway, that wasn't important at the moment, Bythre was closing in and fast.

With her eyes focused on Si Sheng, Bythre scuddled along. At this point, Si Sheng just let her do whatever, he was too tired to deal with her honestly. His eyelids were on the verge of closure and he had to forcefully keep himself awake if he wanted to deal with Bythre. The bed was the main problem, it was just too nice and continually tired to lull Si Sheng into a comfortable sleep.

Eventually, Si Sheng gave in to his d.e.s.i.r.e for sleep and drifted into a world of dreams all the while Bythre approached the now sleeping Si Sheng.

When Bythre reached Si Sheng's side, she just looked down on his face highlighted by the faint moonlight drifting in from the windows nearby. She wore a comfortable and relieved expression on her face, one that didn't suit her normal appearance. She seemed content.

"I'm glad I got to meet you, I was starting to get lonely," said Bythre as she sank down into the blankets next to Si Sheng.

She laid there with her head resting on Si Sheng's c.h.e.s.t. The scene of the two intertwined in a dance of drowsiness was peaceful and comfortable. With Bythre in her negligee and Si Sheng in a nightgown they bought, it was like a married couple retiring to bed after a hard day's work.

They laid there and enjoyed their rest, Bythre carrying a faint smile on her face being comforted by Si Sheng's presence. They soundly slept through the night and woke up to a brilliant, fiery morning sky.

***

Si Sheng woke up to Bythre sprawled out hugging him with a drowsy expression. Si Sheng couldn't help chuckle at Bythre's appearance as it was so far removed from her usual sly personality.

He hadn't felt as refreshed as he was in that moment in a long time, possibly even back on Earth. Si Sheng breathed in the brand new air of the elven morning as he carefully got out of bed and went into Bythre's office.

When he walked in the prior night, he was particularly interested in the books decorating every wall. In particular, the history and magic books took Si Sheng's interest.

After he heard about the Fujin Empire, he had a thirst to learn about them. He considered them a liability as he knew virtually nothing about them, but he did know that they were supposed to be very powerful.

From the description of the empire that Bythre gave Si Sheng, the empire was great. He believed that their infrastructure should be at least that of post-industrial Great Britain, but other than that, he didn't know anything. He didn't know their war technology, any weaponry, vehicle technology, etc. Given that guns were virtually useless in this world, he'd guessed that they wouldn't be made or that they would be very poorly made if they were made since the interest would be low due to magic.

Given all the reasoning, he needed to and wanted to learn about the Fujin Empire.

He found a couple of books on the empire, but, unfortunately, they were from hundreds of years ago. Still, it was good to learn about it even if it was about a time so long in the past.

Most of the books talked about the royalty and hero's of the empire in the past, the wars that took place, other events like a dragon raid, etc.

In all, the information wasn't helpful. It was fun to read about, but it gave little insight into what the empire might be like now.

Si Sheng did, however, learn that there is a standardized currency across all nations and races that was established some 2000 years ago when a worldwide empire was the ruling party.

That empire, unfortunately, collapsed after internal conflict due to greed causing it to implode in on itself. The result was an important war dubbed the [100 Years War] that established the borders after the breakup. Apparently, the boarders were established mainly by race, although there were some exceptions.

The elves, obviously, took the [Elven Forest], while humans took most of the biggest area of the central continent, which was then broken up into different kingdoms.

In all, he learned that the currency of this world is called a Kreis, named after the imperial family of the Kreis Empire 2000 years ago. Incidentally, the value of a Kreis was equivalent to about 10 American cents, or a dime.

Further on the currency, there are multiple levels for it. The following is how the currency comes out to be:

$0.10 = 1 Kreis

10 Zekreis = 1 Einkreis

10 Einkreis = 1 Taukreis

10 Taukreis = 1 Rokreis

Those were all the different values of currency. Despite the fact that this was the currency Si Sheng learned about, the actual value of the currency most likely changed since then due to the information being old. However, the names and conversion rates between the different levels stayed the same. He knew this due to when Bythre paid for their afternoon snack.

Although the book Si Sheng read indicated 1 Kries was the same as 10 cents, he'd have guessed that it was closer to 1 Kreis equals 5 dollars, based on the previous day's snack.

Nevertheless, information is power and what Si Sheng needed was power, so he continued his studies until Bythre woke up.