Dual wielding volcanoes, killing through the west

Lydia clearly sensed something, but at the moment, the information she could gather was too little to make any judgments. She remained silent throughout, communicating only with Zhang Renfeng through eye contact. Unsure of the other party's intentions, Zhang Renfeng also tensed his muscles, preparing for a potential conflict at any moment.

However, the city has surprisingly few residents.

After walking for a long time, the clean and tidy streets were completely deserted. It was only after walking for a long time that I came across a young man—he was wearing a gray woolen Shimashin poet's robe, holding a manuscript in one hand and supporting his crooked laurel wreath on his head with the other, his face beaming with joy.

He brushed past Zhang Renfeng and the other two, a look of delight on his face, and ran toward the towering wall not far away.

“He’s a young poet,” Henderson explained to the two, already used to such things. “He’s probably studying poetry, and once he has some new research, he can’t wait to publish it.”

"poet?"

Zhang Renfeng was somewhat puzzled. He had traveled to so many cities, and at least in western America, he had never seen a second profession similar to this.

Lydia asked, "Where did he publish his poems?"

"Over there, behind the wall, lies a garden called the 'Sanctuary of Venus.' The city's poets often hold salons and afternoon tea parties there. These young poets, brimming with energy and nowhere to vent it, dabble in writing those ornate Roman love poems, or those petty Victorian-style poems... Ah..."

As he spoke, Henderson let out a cold snort, and the muscles in his face slumped.

Since they met, Zhang Renfeng had always had a rather respectable impression of this old gentleman, and he believed that if the old gentleman wanted to, he could easily cover up that cold snort.

But he didn't.

Not only that, but his casual pointing gesture perfectly expressed his disdain for these young poets: "Among the pillars, there is a place where silk curtains are hung, and they will hang their written poems there."

Now that we've come this far, Henderson moved his finger a few inches to a tall building not far away and continued, "That building, the one with the stone lion sculptures at the entrance, is the Minerva Library. It has many hardcover books, most of which are history reference books... which might be too difficult for those who write love poems to understand."

"Next to the library, that building with the semi-circular dome is the Fortuna Opera House. We used some techniques to recreate a performance of the lyre and olse."

"Several of these plays were personally directed by me, such as Antigone, Medea, Prometheus, and the famous tragedy Oedipus Rex. If you have the opportunity to stay in this city, you are welcome to come and enjoy them."

"..."

Zhang Renfeng's eyebrows twitched slightly. The title of the play that Henderson mentioned sounded somewhat familiar to him.

But before you could even process it, a massive building, far larger than the garden, theater, and library, suddenly appeared before your eyes!

Its walls are cut from travertine and carved with scrollwork, griffins, and reliefs of the goddess of victory. The tall columns are Corinthian white marble columns, their shafts gilded with gold leaf, stacked together in a remarkably elegant manner. On the base of the tallest and thickest column, visible to the eye, is inscribed the following phrase.

Virtus in Arce.

“Virtue in the fortress,” Lydia recited.

Its roof is made of pieces of terracotta tiles, and bronze wind chimes hang from the eaves.

----

"Good heavens..." Zhang Renfeng had to look up to fully take in the magnificent building, which could only be described as grand and imposing. He subconsciously swallowed hard. "Are you sure this is a bathhouse? Are we sure we didn't come to the wrong place?"

"This is one of Oak City's most iconic landmarks, the Baths of Diocletian. There are separate baths for men and women, so I won't accompany you inside. There will be staff to guide you; just follow them."

……

Zhang Renfeng had never seen a bathhouse of this scale before. Upon entering, he saw that the floor was made of square stones pieced together. The layout of the bathhouse was very grand, with a red carpet dividing the pure white floor tiles in two.

As Henderson described, before the two stone archways marked with male and female symbols stood two maids, both dressed in creamy white linen stolas with pale purple trim, and with a string of numbered nameplates hanging from their slender waists. They were barefoot, their fair, soft feet resting on the ground.

The air was filled with a relaxing aroma of incense, and the faint sound of rushing water echoed from the thick walls, soothing their weary nerves.

“I have a bad feeling about this.” After looking around, Lydia leaned close to Zhang Renfeng’s ear and whispered, “The public buildings in this city are constructed in a way that completely disregards cost. I just took a look, and the amount of funding required for the scale of this bathhouse is about the same as that for the city halls of other cities.”

"And the salon garden, library, theater, and square I just saw are all very finely constructed. To be honest, this kind of classical architectural style is hard to find in America today. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't have believed that so many large-scale projects could be concentrated in one city."

"...We've come this far, we'll deal with whatever comes our way." Zhang Renfeng was quite relaxed, and strode towards the archway not far away. "I'd like to see what kind of tricks they can pull off in a bathhouse."

Chapter 772: Did I do something to displease you?

"Sir, please, please come with me..."

The girl's face flushed slightly as she uttered those words, as if reciting lines from a script.

Then, perhaps because she was too nervous, she didn't even check if Zhang Renfeng was following her, and actually started walking directly into the corridor.

Zhang Renfeng noticed that there was a small patch of skin on the bridge of her nose that was a different color from the rest of her skin, which was probably a result of wearing glasses for a long time.

This surprised him greatly.

In this era, there were no ubiquitous electronic products like those of later generations. The only way to worsen eyesight was by reading. Therefore, nearsightedness was considered a disease of affluence.

In other words, this bathhouse maid might be more educated than he was.

He was led into a room filled with layers of wooden cabinets. Looking up, he saw a colorful painting on the ceiling depicting the sun god driving his chariot. The god in the painting was tall and mighty, glaring fiercely, and the action of pulling on the reins was portrayed with great power.

Zhang Renfeng's hometown wasn't badly equipped, but from childhood to adulthood, he only ever bathed in wooden tubs. In the early stages of practicing Qigong, he would pour some medicinal wine into the tub, but he stopped doing so after achieving mastery.

His understanding of bathing was limited to "soaking in a wooden tub filled with hot water." Everything that happened inside this building was something he had never seen before.

He was incredibly curious about this.

Looking around and holding his breath, he heard the sound of running water coming from inside the wall.

"Dang! Dang!"

He curled his fingers and tapped the wall, gleaning information from the echo: "There are metal pipes in this wall, aren't there? All the water in the bath is brought in from outside?"

"I'm not quite sure," the maid said, shaking her head. She simply opened one of the cabinet doors and said, "Please change into your bathrobe first."

The so-called bathrobe is just a white towel wrapped around the waist, which can barely cover the area between the legs.

Zhang Renfeng was also dumbfounded. What happened to the promised "submission"? This was practically the same as being completely naked!

But then again, taking a shower is simply a process of cleaning the body. Getting completely naked is normal, the problem is...

He looked at the maid standing beside him, who was also staring straight at him. The two of them stared at each other for a while.

"Um, this... lady?" Zhang Renfeng thought she was probably only sixteen or seventeen years old, or even younger, and his tone became gentler.

The girl, upon being addressed in this way, became alarmed, her lips pressed tightly together, her head slightly bowed, and she looked at him with a fearful expression.

"I'll change my clothes, could you... please not stand there watching?"

"Why?" The maid looked puzzled, her face still slightly flushed. "At the Baths of Diocletian, from the moment guests enter until they leave after their bath, all services are provided by the bath maids. This includes changing clothes; it's one of the rules here... I... I can't..."

"What's your name?" Zhang Renfeng asked.

“Luna…”

“Okay, Luna, but this isn’t your problem.” Zhang Renfeng explained calmly, “You should have noticed that I’m not from this country and I’m not used to this way of doing things. You don’t have to follow me around all the time.”

"..." Luna's expression was very conflicted. This girl was very stubborn and stuck to her own ideas. Zhang Renfeng talked to her for a long time and finally reached an agreement with her, letting her go to the bathhouse in front to wait for him.

From her, Zhang Renfeng also learned about the next steps: there were three baths in total—a cold water pool, a hot water pool, and a "noble pool" reserved for the upper class.

Their instructions to Zhang Renfeng and Lydia were similar to those given to ordinary citizens in the city: their bathing would end once they reached the hot tub. During this time, the bathhouse maids would be responsible for wiping the guests' bodies and providing other "various" services.

At this point, Luna refused to budge no matter what.

Being rejected in public by her customer was a very shameful thing, and she couldn't accept it happening in public. Zhang Renfeng also compromised and agreed to let her help him wash his body after entering the bath. This level of physical contact was barely within his acceptable range.

----

The girl sighed and walked out from the inside of the archway.

As soon as she stepped onto the cold water pool floor, she was immediately surrounded by a large group of young girls. They were all maids at the bathhouse, and they all looked to be around the same age as Luna. They had clear voices, light steps, and smiles on their faces, with sparkling eyes that gave them a somewhat innocent and childlike quality.

However, the topics they discussed were rather serious.

"So, Luna, did you see him? Is he big?"

"I heard that the men there keep a braid at the back of their heads. Their hair is so long that it's hard to manage. And it smells absolutely disgusting."

"After you're done with him, you'd better wash yourself in the ice water pool to avoid getting fleas or bugs. Last time, Violet hosted that scruffy barbarian, and she got lice in her hair. It took a lot of effort to pull them out!"

"I've also heard that when Huang Fan (a derogatory term for foreigners) is in their teens, they drink a kind of wine infused with horsewhip. And their penises are different from normal men's; I think they have two. Be careful later, don't let him pin you down, or you'll be finished!"

"seriously?"

"Where's that yellow-faced guy? Why didn't he come with you?"

……

As Luna listened, she turned pale with fright, and her shoulders trembled slightly.

"Alright! All of you chatting here, don't you have anything better to do?" a dignified female voice rang out. "The arena will be over soon, and lots of guests will be arriving. Go check the water in the tubs; if it's cold, change it to hot water. Hurry up!"

The head maid looked older, and under her direction, the girls scattered like a flock of ducks being herded away.

"Are you nervous?"

The head maid noticed Luna's expression and asked in a tone of absolute certainty, "Is this your first time with a man?"

“…” Luna nodded.

"Where are you from outside?"

“I…I used to be…a student at 'St. Freya Academy'…” Luna took a deep breath, twisting her fingers together, and whispered, “My father…”

"Stop." The head maid held up a finger and said coldly, "Everyone who comes here is pretty much the same; I have no interest in knowing."

“What I’m telling you now is that although you signed a contract, it also states that you can stop the ‘performance’ at any time; that’s your right. If you find it unbearable, you can quit.” The head maid’s expression remained unchanged. “Do you want to quit?”

"..."

Luna gritted her teeth and shook her head.

“Very well, so, since you're going to play the role of a medieval ‘bath maid,’ you need to realize…” The head maid stared intently at him, “Whether he’s a barbarian, a red barbarian, a Viking pirate, or even a horse, once he calls your name, you have to do everything in your power to please him!”

"You can control the process yourself, but generally speaking, do whatever makes him feel inferior and whatever he likes. Even if he slaps your left butt, you have to put your right butt down on his face too, understand?"

Luna's expression was somewhat humiliated, but she still nodded and showed a look of resignation.

……

The door to the cold water pool was pushed open.

Zhang Renfeng, having fastened his "bath robe," walked in somewhat hesitantly.

Amidst the billowing steam, he and the young girls looked at each other, both momentarily bewildered.

Chapter 773: The Mysterious City

Wow!

"He...he's so strong!!!"

"This is completely different from what I imagined. I thought it would be the short and fat type... But it is a little dirty though..."

"Those who write love poems are all liars. They have no evidence to back it up. They've fooled us again!"

"Black hair, and pure black eyes...that's so rare..."

"If it were just to experience what it would feel like to have sex with someone like that, it wouldn't be entirely unacceptable..."

"At least you're lucky. Among men, he's one of the healthy ones, without any infectious diseases." The head maid, clearly experienced with men, offered a consolation that wasn't exactly comforting. "Being with him is better than being with those sickly, weak poets. Maybe you can even enjoy it."

……

With Zhang Renfeng's hearing, the whispers these girls made were no different from whispering in his ear, which made him frown.

He became increasingly suspicious of the bathhouse's legitimacy and more wary of what was about to happen.

Just like the "warm-up" that often happens before sports activities, there's a similar step at this bathhouse, only the temperature is reversed. First, you "cool down" by scooping up a basin of cold water and splashing it over your head, and then you soak in a large pool with a warm water source.

It is said that muscles will feel unprecedented comfort under intense alternation of hot and cold.

"Whoosh—!"

Zhang Renfeng's sensitivity to hot and cold had become extremely dulled through his relentless training in both hot and cold weather. He felt almost nothing from the cold water earlier; only when he immersed himself in the hot water did his body experience a brief moment of relaxation.

All the fatigue accumulated over the days, including the muscle fatigue from pulling the train, seemed to be swept away by the warm current.

"Sir..." Luna asked cautiously, "Is this force alright?"

"Strength? What strength?" Zhang Renfeng felt strange. He turned his head and realized that the girl was kneeling on the ground, massaging his shoulders.

But because he was too weak, he couldn't feel it at all.

"Your shoulders are just...too stiff..." Luna's voice grew softer and softer. The milky white linen she wore clung to her body because of the steam rising from the hot water pool, outlining her slender, youthful figure.

Because Zhang Renfeng was soaking in the hot water pool with his back against the pool wall, there was a height difference between them. She had to kneel on the ground and lean forward slightly to touch his shoulder.

Her rounded shoulders, fair back, and slightly arched, firm hips, glistening with the girl's sweat, formed a graceful, curved bridge with the rising steam from the hot water pool.

Zhang Renfeng didn't say anything, he just stared at her hands.