Chapter 53: Frolicking in the Great Bathhouse!

“High Priestess Iona, does the Cat God not wish to see me?”

Another day of communication without results.

Phyllis finally couldn’t help but ask Iona.

“How could that be? With the Cat God’s blessing so high upon you, how could the Cat God not want to see you?” Iona comforted Phyllis. “It’s probably because the Cat God has been busy with other things lately? So temporarily unable to respond to our calls. Actually, we High Priestesses haven’t been able to contact the Cat God recently either.”

“Eh? Really?”

Hearing Iona’s explanation, Phyllis felt relieved.

‘So it wasn’t my problem after all?’

‘Wait… if none of you can contact the Cat God, then why did you have me meditate and try to communicate with the Cat God all this time, High Priestess Iona?’

“We High Priestesses thought that since the Cat God favors you so much, maybe if you tried to communicate, the Cat God would respond?”

Phyllis was speechless at Iona’s words.

‘So that’s what the High Priestesses were thinking…’

No wonder they’d had her sit before the statue meditating all this time.

“Come to think of it, does the Cat God sometimes get busy too?”

Phyllis noticed a blind spot.

In her limited understanding, weren’t gods supposed to be omnipotent?

“Why wouldn’t they? Even gods need rest. The Cat God was once a member of the Catkin race, and only became a god through great power.”

Iona patiently explained to Phyllis.

“So, if you ever manage to make contact with the Cat God, don’t be nervous. Just treat the Cat God as a senior of the Catkin race.”

“Eh? I-I understand.”

For some reason, Phyllis felt that sounded strange coming from Iona’s mouth.

Were these the words of a High Priestess who served the Cat God?

That was ridiculous…

“On the other hand, you, Phyllis…” Iona leaned closer to her, “have you been sleeping well lately?”

“V-very well, meow!”

Phyllis lied without a blush or a racing heart.

These past few days, Carola’s actions had been getting more and more excessive.

She often couldn’t fall asleep until the wee hours of the morning.

Her energy might indeed be a bit lacking.

“Is that so?”

Iona straightened up, her gaze sweeping across Phyllis’s neck.

It was now completely covered by the high-collared training clothes, hiding the mark Carola had left.

“But I still feel you’ve been a bit tired lately. You need to rest, since your course training has just begun.”

“Yes! Thank you for your concern, High Priestess Iona!”

Phyllis quickly bowed, feeling like cold sweat was forming on her back.

“Come on, let’s go eat together. Want to go soak in the Great Bathhouse after the meal?”

Iona suggested.

“Sure.”

Phyllis agreed.

After a quick meal, Phyllis followed Iona through the Sacred Ground’s corridors to the Great Bathhouse.

The Great Bathhouse was located on the western side of the Sacred Ground. It was a spacious hall built from white marble, perpetually shrouded in warm mist.

It was said that the pool water was sourced from a hot spring imbued with magic. Not only was it comfortable to soak in, but it was also remarkably effective at relieving training fatigue.

Because it was so precious, the Sacred Ground wasn’t extravagant enough to allow all the Catkin within to bathe there every day.

Of course, the Candidate Saintesses and Priestesses weren’t subject to this restriction.

The Great Bathhouse was also divided into male and female sections.

When Phyllis first came, she had almost instinctively opened the door to the male side.

Pushing open the heavy wooden door to the female bathhouse, humid, hot air rushed toward her.

At that moment, over a dozen Candidate Saintesses were already soaking in one of the pools, their laughter and splashing echoing through the spacious hall.

“Phyllis! Over here, over here!”

Mia waved to her from the pool, surrounded by several other Candidate Saintesses Phyllis was familiar with.

Phyllis secretly sighed in relief.

With Mia around, Iona probably wouldn’t keep staring at her.

“Go soak with them!” Iona said. “I’ll head to the single bath.”

“Okay, meow!”

Phyllis slipped off her training clothes and hung them on the nearby rack, then quickly walked over to Mia and the others.

“Phyllis, your skin is so white!”

A brown-haired cat-girl said enviously.

“Yeah, and especially your hair, it’s so shiny and black!” Mia suddenly stood up and reached out to touch Phyllis’s hair, but Phyllis dodged her with agility.

“Stop messing around, meow!”

Phyllis stepped into the warm pool water with a splash, kept a proper distance from the few cat-girls, then leaned against the pool wall and let out a comfortable sigh.

The exhaustion of the past few days seemed to actually be easing a bit.

She’d really been put through the wringer by Carola these past few days—not sleeping until late every night, waking up early the next day, training in the morning, and then spending the afternoon meditating in front of the Cat God’s statue with High Priestess Iona.

If meditation’s effects weren’t similar to sleep, she probably would have collapsed by now.

“Phyllis, what’s wrong with you lately?” Mia swam over. “I noticed you were distracted during dinner, and now you look like you’re about to fall asleep while soaking.”

“I’m fine, meow… haah~” Phyllis yawned and blinked her blue eyes. “I’ve just been too tired from training lately.”

“That’s true. Some of those training courses are really boring. They make me want to fall asleep too.”

Mia nodded in agreement.

“I’ll take a nap.”

Phyllis soaked in the warm pool water, almost dozing off from sheer comfort.

The sound of Mia and the other Candidate Saintesses chattering filled her ears. Amid the hazy mist, everything felt so peaceful.

“Phyllis, your cat ears look so soft! I wanna pet them~”

Mia swam over again, this time with a clear target—Phyllis’s ears.

“Don’t even think about touching them, meow!”

Phyllis dodged sharply, her cat ears twitching.

Was it her imagination, or had her ears become more sensitive ever since she got together with Carola?

‘It couldn’t be that Carola… trained them… could it?’

“Stingy!”

Mia pouted.

“Then let me touch yours first!”

Phyllis retaliated by reaching for Mia’s cat ears.

“Hmph! I’m not letting you touch them either~”

Mia tried to dodge Phyllis’s hand, but it was no match for Phyllis’s 50 Agility.

She easily managed to touch Mia’s cat ears.

“Eek!”

Mia let out a yelp.

“Damn it, you touched mine, so I’m getting revenge!”

Mia launched another attack on Phyllis’s cat ears.

Unfortunately, she was dodged again.

“I don’t believe I can’t touch your ears today!”

Phyllis’s evasion stirred Mia’s competitive spirit.

“Mia, I’ll help you!”

The brown-haired cat-girl’s eyes lit up as she joined the “battle.”

“Hey, hey, don’t do this, meow!”

Phyllis stepped back while waving her hands, but she couldn’t help the smile spreading across her face.

“Gotcha!” Mia grabbed Phyllis’s wrist when she wasn’t paying attention. “Now try dodging!”

“Oh dear… Mia… spare me, meow~”

At Phyllis’s plea, Mia felt her ears for a bit before letting go.

“Not fair, it’s two against one, meow!”

Phyllis complained.

“Then find a helper!”

Mia said with a grin.

“Okay! Let’s split into two teams and play water splashing!”

The other Candidate Saintesses in the pool were also interested now.

Soon, the atmosphere in the pool grew lively.

Over a dozen cat-girls split into two teams and started splashing water at each other, playing around.

Water flew everywhere, and laughter echoed through the bathhouse.