Mari Yamazaki

When Roman architect Lucius is criticized for his outdated thermae designs,he retreatsto the local bath to collect his thoughts. All Lucius wants is torecapture the Rome ofearlier days, when one could enjoy a relaxing bathwithout the pressure of merchantsand roughhousing patrons. But as he slipsdeeper into the water, Lucius is caught inthe drainage and dragged throughthe bottom of the bath! He emerges amid a group of strange-looking foreignerswith the most peculiarbathhouse customs...over 1,500 years in the future inmodern-day Japan! Hiscontemporaries wanted him to modernize,so—borrowing the customs of thesemysterious bath-lovingpeople—Lucius opens what quickly becomes the most popularnew bathhousein Rome: Thermae Romae! Soak in Mari Yamazaki's fantastic story andart inthis deluxe omnibus!

Though he has been trapped in the twenty-first century for several weeks, Lucius is still amazed at the wondrous innovations of the flat-faced people, and meeting Satsuki has given him an even greater understanding of the things he has seen - not to mention an undeniable flutter in his heart. But despite his curiosity for this land, Lucius worries at the amount of time that has passed since he left Rome. The political atmosphere was already tense after the death of the emperor's heir, and Lucius fears what may befall Rome and the ailing Hadrian in his absence. Yet matters are no less precarious in the hot-springs town of Ito. With aggressive developers bullying the established inns, Lucius may be called upon to save the sacred appreciation for the bath both in the past and in the present in this final volume of THERMAE ROMAE!