A Single Mother's Farm of the Gods
Chapter 243: Hot Bath

Chapter 243: Hot Bath

Upon arrival at the mines, the place is no better than other places. Not only is the cold still permeating her skin through her bones but the snow is knee deep. The entrance of the mines is also a bit covered with snow so to fully enter without getting stuck, Elaina took out her shovel from her bag and started shoveling the snow around the entrance, freeing it from the pile of snow.

Despite the work being focused on moving around and racking up some sweat, the cold seems to prevent her from earning some good sweat that would at least warm her up. She is annoyed by this but she has no choice about this.

With the entrance cleared up, Elaina entered the mines hoping the temperature would be slightly better than the dropping temperature outside. And although she was not expecting that was the case...it seems her hopes have come true.

"This place...is unexpectedly warm for some reason!" Elaina stopped hugging herself and loosened her jacket for a bit. She is now sweating a bit which is a good change. It is still cold, but it is not as bad as outside and she prefers this coldness to what she is experiencing outside.

After making sure that she was no longer feeling the effects of the cold, Elaina entered the elevator. She plans to handle a few monsters for a bit and gather their mana stones before she heads over to her ultimate destination. Work before leisure first.

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Julia sighed in relief as she finished her magic buff application to the surroundings of the house. It was not perfect, but it was enough to fend off the very cold weather that they were experiencing. Everyone sighed in relief as well as they didn’t need to huddle together just to ensure the coldness of the weather did not cause them to freeze over.

"Hah...that cost me more mana than expected..." Julia sighed as she slumped down to the sofa and popped open a bottle of mana potion, replenishing all of the mana she had used up.

"Good job, girl! Didn’t think you would come out to be like that. I clearly underestimated you. You are quite gifted in magic like what the Farmer says!" the Harvest Goddess said as she slowly zipped open the jacket to free herself from the jacket’s tightness.

"Hah...thanks...still long way to go though," Julia smiled before gulping the mana potion a bit before her face winced from the disgust she was feeling from the taste of the potion.

Emptying the whole bottle despite the taste, Julia managed to calm down after the taste in her mouth disappeared completely. It was hard for her throat to take for a while but she managed to endure.

"The Farmer is still very busy even during winter huh? Even when it should be her resting time during winter, she never catches a break. I am sometimes jealous of how industrious the farmer is on her job. As someone who likes to ditch work just so I can rest and laze around, I feel ashamed that I am not doing some work with her doing most of it," the Harvest Goddess scratches her head.

"I agree. Even when she was still an empress and had not entered farming, I barely saw her not working at all. She usually does all her work diligently I believe she is the main backbone of the Luminiera Kingdom’s business industry as she makes all the actions there."

"So she was like this already back then?" the Harvest Goddess was surprised.

"Indeed. But sometimes I feel like she is just working too much. So much so that she forgets to relax. It was like she was taking all of the burden of everything. I want to help out...but I don’t want to intrude on what Sister is doing. If she is not asking for any help, then I should not force myself to do so.

The Harvest Goddess tilted her head and frowned. "Is that how she says it? Or is this just your decision for not intruding on her business?"

When faced with the question, she shook her head. "I couldn’t answer that as even now, I am not sure if I can answer that question at all."

"Eh? Why?" the Harvest Goddess is confused, but Julia didn’t respond.

As for Julia, she remained silent, contemplating the question herself.

’Is it really my decision to not intrude in her business? Or I was just imagining all of that and Sister really did push me away?’

As much as she ponders over this question, she will not arrive at the conclusion that she wanted to achieve and she will not know this for the longest time.

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Elaina wiped off her sweat. As she arrived at the 15th floor and returned to the elevator, she pondered for a bit and checked the haul she got.

"Aside from the monster drops, there is some equipment that dropped as well which I wasn’t expecting to appear, perhaps I got lucky?" Elaina smiled as she took a good look at the items in her bag. Although they don’t fetch too much, she can sell them for a quick buck of money, or she can keep them for their intended uses as well. They might not be good in rarity, but they are in good condition and anyone can use it.

"[I didn’t expect someone like you would be happy over meager trash items that monsters dropped.]" The Goddess of Taming chuckled seeing Elaina’s reaction.

"Hey, don’t judge me. I am not an adventurer so things like taking loot from monsters weren’t part of my training. And besides, regular monsters like this are something that I am not regularly fighting so I don’t know them much.

And what she said is true. Sure, she had killed a few monsters on her own but they didn’t drop any items like this she got so getting things like this on her own made her a bit ecstatic about the new experience.

Elaina couldn’t banter any longer and decided to press the button of the elevator to bring her to the 5th floor.

DING!

The elevator shook a bit before it ascended and soon went to a stop after arriving on the floor.

Even when she is still inside the elevator, the smell of the hot spring is already apparent and she is not used to it. After all, it partially smelled like rotten eggs. Thankfully, it wasn’t so bad and it is not enough to cause her stomach to churn and go wild.

"[Are you planning on taking a bath over there? Hotsprings are great but have you already tried it out yourself if it is safe?]" the Goddess of Taming asked.

"I already tested it and although I didn’t fully soak my body just yet, I can tell it is safe and there is no danger of soaking myself in the water. Also, do the other gods are not looking?"

"[Yep, yep. You can undress yourself and do your job over without fear of being peeped by these guys," the Goddess of Taming grinned as she glanced over at the two gods who were on the corner and were doing their stuff.

"[Hey, even though we already ascended as gods, we haven’t forgotten decency at all. Don’t label us as some sort of pervert even though we are not.]" the God of Farming said, reasoning himself.

The God of Fishing did not say anything. He preferred to keep quiet than to drag himself to more trouble if he decided to say anything that might cause him to blurt out something offensive to girls. He still values his life after all.

With that, Elaina undresses herself. Since the coldness in the cave is no longer present on the 5th floor, Elaina no longer fears the cold to make her bare body shiver in the process.

Now that her clothes were in the safe area of the bath that would not get wet, Elaina headed over to the cold water and scooped herself some water. It is the only area where fresh water is present. With the soap in her hand, Elaina started to pour water in herself and expected it to be really cold.

But it seems that the water is lukewarm at best. It wasn’t cold or hot that would ruin her experience. It is a good temperature for washing herself for a bit. Elaina quickly put soap in her body, and scrubbed all of the dirt and grime that had accumulated over her battles earlier, she thoroughly scrubbed herself clean before she cleansed herself with another pour of water in her body.

Fresh, clean, and quite relaxing, Elaina felt bliss just by taking a regular rinse. It was like the water had some sort of calming effect on her. Once she finished rinsing herself. Elaina made sure there was no soap left on her body and nodded in satisfaction once she confirmed she was set.

Heading over to the hot spring, the Goddess of Taming felt a bit jealous of Elaina.

"[Ah...if only I could join in and have a good rinse as well...it would be a relaxing thing for me. I am quite jealous of you, Elaina dear.]"

Elaina smiled before she tested the water with her toes. It is hot. Much hotter than the lukewarm water she rinsed her body with. But it was not hot enough that would boil and scald her skin in the process.

Confirming the temperature was good, Elaina put her left foot first then her right foot next, and slowly descended over to the water pool. The water isn’t too deep. It only reaches around her thigh. As she sits down over at the pool, her body suddenly felt a strange experience that she didn’t expect to feel.

"Did...did my fatigue suddenly disappeared?"