As the shower curtain was drawn and warm, clean water poured over Horatio, the aches and fatigue in his body gradually receded as if he were bathing in holy water.
The treatment that almost every household on Terra enjoyed during the 3K era was now a privilege reserved for the elite in the 41st millennium. How times have changed.
The maintenance products on the gilded shelf were quite miraculous. Horatio, curious, used them all. After some fussing, when the foam receded, his skin became smooth and fair, as tender as a newborn baby's.
Back in the 3K Ancient Terra, you'd never find such effective maintenance products; 99% were commercial scams, and it was good if even 1% lived up to their advertised effects.
The 41st millennium hadn't been in vain; humanity always managed to come up with new ways to indulge in beauty and pleasure.
"Sir, I've placed your clothes in front of the dressing table, and I've taken your armor to be polished. Please change quickly; the young lady will be back soon."
"Understood, thank you."
The sound of the door closing echoed again.
Although he longed to continue enjoying the comfort of a bath, a shower was clearly the more suitable decision at the moment.
Horatio gently closed the golden tap and used a soft, warm towel to wipe the water droplets from his body.
He peeked his head out, saw no one, then extended his feet to step onto the plush slippers.
"This is truly wonderful. If this were my home, it would be amazing."
Horatio casually wrapped the large bath towel around himself, stood before the floor-to-ceiling window on the balcony, and stretched contentedly, looking at the sun-drenched outdoor garden, murmuring with a smack of his lips.
"Such beautiful sunshine, I really want to take a nap."
Horatio suddenly remembered something. Before closing his eyes, he entered the Dark Sight to check his prosthetic limb reserves and was surprised to find that the Corruption had decreased by two notches.
[Hmm, let me see what's going on?] Horatio lightly tapped on the Corruption explanation.
"Corruption will be continuously suppressed by the Saint's Hand and will not affect the user until it reaches the maximum suppression threshold. It will also be purified by the Saint's Hand as time passes, at a rate of one notch per day."
Horatio raised an eyebrow, squatted beside the power socket, and opened the small tendril that had activated the machine soul's favor, inserting it deeply.
Buzz— In a moment, the energy was quickly filled.
[Done! Sorry, young lady, just borrowing your electricity for a bit.]
Horatio pretended as if nothing had happened, leisurely strolling to the dressing table. He looked at the neatly arranged noble clothing on the table and reached out to touch it.
The fabric was like silk, exquisitely smooth, and felt cool to the touch.
Horatio put on the trousers. At that moment, a breeze picked up, carrying the refreshing scent of flowers.
He couldn't help but walk to the floor-to-ceiling window, spread his arms, bare-chested, letting the gentle breeze blow over him, drying the un-wiped water droplets, feeling incredibly refreshed.
Bang! The door was suddenly pushed open.
"Eh?" Horatio spun around sharply.
He saw Farida, with an expression that looked like she wanted to kill someone, her fists clenched, staring at him.
"You pervert… standing here without clothes, are you hoping that everyone in the manor sees a naked man standing in my room?"
Swish!— The girl pulled a blunt steel training sword from the weapon rack on the wall and walked towards Horatio with a gloomy expression.
"No, Miss Hood, why did you come in without knocking?"
"Oh? Do I need to knock to enter my own room?"
The girl raised her eyebrows, crossing her arms over her chest, and said, "Besides, I believe I had a maid inform you. Why aren't you quickly getting up and dressed, sitting upright on the sofa waiting for me to arrive, and instead you dare to stand naked in front of the balcony?"
"I am wearing trousers, though… Hiss!" Horatio's side was lightly poked with a sword.
"Talking back?" The young lady snorted softly.
Horatio rubbed his side, on the verge of tears, cursing inwardly.
[Whichever poor soul marries this girl in the future is in for a tough married life.]
"Get dressed!" Farida pointed the sword at the shirt, then frowned, turned around, and put the training sword back into the weapon rack.
Horatio shrugged and began putting on the silk shirt in front of the mirror.
After only two steps, Farida, curious and lingering, turned her head to glance diagonally behind her, at where the young man had been standing.
The unbuttoned embroidered white shirt fluttered in the breeze, perfectly outlining the young man's slender waist, making him appear tall and upright. His perfect waist-to-hip ratio was enough to make many girls drool.
His slightly long, damp black hair was swept back by the young man, temporarily tied into a small braid, making his entire demeanor appear more vibrant and energetic.
His low body fat allowed the muscles of his back to subtly appear and disappear with his movements as he dressed, as if each rise and fall of muscle released a tempting masculine signal.
Farida's face flushed hot. She quickly turned her head, her already furrowed brows knitting even tighter. After returning the sword to its scabbard, she pretended to be nonchalant, walked briskly to the Rococo-style sofa, picked up a book, and placed it between her thighs to appear more natural.
Lina, the personal maid, walked in carrying a pot of tea, heading directly to the coffee table, her eyes occasionally glancing at the strikingly well-built black-haired young man.
"Ahem." Farida coughed a few times. Horatio turned to look at her, his hand buttoning his shirt from top to bottom, reaching the third button, revealing his abdominal muscles and sculpted lines.
[This guy looks frail, but his muscle definition is quite good. Such deep V-lines… ]
Farida was so engrossed in staring at Horatio's V-lines that she forgot to test the tea's temperature, directly pressing her rosy lips to it.
"Hot!"
"Young lady!" Lina quickly stepped forward to wipe Farida's lips and apply burn-specific lip balm, blaming herself for being distracted and forgetting to warn her about the hot water.
"It's fine now. You go prepare dinner, Lina. Bring it in later. If the butler asks why we're not in the dining room, just say I'm very tired. Remember, use one food cover for both meals, don't let anyone see it's for two people!"
"Yes, young lady." Lina bowed and quickly exited the room.
[I wonder what the young lady wants this gentleman to do in here.]
"By the way, whose clothes are these?" Horatio looked at himself in the mirror. Adorned in high-end attire, he indeed looked more handsome, his demeanor completely different from before, perfectly embodying the saying, 'Clothes make the man, as saddles make the horse.'
"My father's clothes that he no longer wears. Aside from being a bit wide, they fit quite well."
Horatio blinked, his mouth wide open: "Why not use the servants' clothes? Taking your father's clothes, won't it really…"
"Coincidentally, the old butler knows the exact number of every male servant's uniform. But my father has far too many clothes, and this set hasn't been worn in a very long time. He won't find out."
"Alright then, when are we going to the study?"
"Right now. I've sent Lina and the butler away. Other servants are not authorized to pass through this corridor from my room to the study without their permission."
"Excellent." Horatio stood up.
"Before we go, won't you have a cup of tea first?"
—
Horatio was stunned, his mind once again violently impacted by the inhumane extravagance of the Warhammer Naval Officer nobility.
Although the corridor was shorter than the three-story mansion, only two stories high, these two stories were extraordinary.
—It was several hundred meters long, with the first floor accessible by vehicle, meaning Miss Farida could drive her luxury car to her father's main residence!!!
The second floor was a walking French corridor with countless double-door rooms, each filled with various rare collections gathered by Lord Alexander Hood during his travels across the vast star sea.
At the same time, Horatio also noticed that the two walls were equipped with gilded empty gun racks and hammock hooks, and in the center of the embossed window sills were heavy weapon firing ports that perfectly blended with the mansion's style, not at all out of place.
"When Abyss Port enters a state of war, the entire official residence can be armed into a fortress within an hour. My father said that ancient sailing Naval Officers would place cannons in the restaurants and bedrooms on their ships, which would then become gun positions during wartime." Farida proudly introduced to Horatio.
The two walked one after another on the clean, soft blue velvet carpet, looking very much like noble siblings.
"Uh… To be precise, their bedrooms and restaurants were next to the gun positions on the warship." Horatio subtly corrected her.
"Hmph, what right do you, a fellow raised in the Lower Hive, have to correct me? A Captain is the master of their warship; how could they stoop to arranging a bedroom next to a gun position?" Farida snorted mockingly, her expression blank, her gaze fixed on the reconnaissance augur in her hand, to avoid running into the old butler head-on.
The old butler was a stealthy and highly perceptive person, rumored to have once been a retired Voidsmen-at-Arms Officer from the warship's intelligence department.
Because such Voidsmen-at-Arms Officers, promoted from among the crew and Sailors, were privately hired by the Captain rather than commissioned, they were usually arranged for re-employment by the Captain after retirement, providing a decent retirement for these veterans who had fought alongside him across the galaxy.
Although she didn't know his true capabilities, Farida dared not underestimate him and had brought the augur in advance, ready to escape immediately if any life signs approached.
"Although sailing warships were the largest weapons of war that people of that era could build, their design was extremely meticulous; every bit of space was useful."
Horatio pointed to a huge three-masted sailing ship model in the corner of the opposite wall:
"To lose firepower is to lose the war."
[Tsk, even if he really is the offspring of a Naval Officer, having lived in the Lower Hive all these years, what would he know about naval warfare?] she thought.
But she did not know that the Horatio Cochrane before her was an 'ancient man' from the 3K Ancient Terra, who had received a good education in navigation.
"Oh, really? Then let me ask you, what are all these sails and ropes on the ship for?" Seeing Horatio's interest, Farida raised her eyebrows, pointing to one of the ropes.
Next to the ship model was a complementary sailing ship annotation book written in high gothic. By comparing it with the book, she would quickly know whether Horatio's words were correct.
Even for Naval Officers of the 41st millennium, identifying the ropes of ancient warships was an absolute challenge; even her father might not know them all, let alone this boy who pretended to know everything?
"Answer correctly, and there's a reward; answer incorrectly, and there's a punishment." The Female Hunter-Duke tilted her head slightly, teasing with an expression that said, 'I'm challenging you today.'