by Funa
“Breehehe, brrr.”
“That’s why...”
“Reehehe, brehehe!”
“Brethat’s brehewhy, I brehehad herhehe brehegive mehehe thehe breheability to speheheak to brehanimals! It’s far more convenient this way. Now, I can also talk to the other horses and dogs, as well as crows and stray... I mean, independent... dogs, and properly thank them for their help. It’s perfect!”
“Brehehe, breeehehe!”
“Breeehe! Heheeebrehe, brrr!”
“Breehehehe!”
＊ ＊
“...So, you’re saying it was a normal horse that couldn’t speak the human tongue. Did you think I would be satisfied with such a report?!”
“I’m sorry!”
This nation of Beliscas had a king and nobles, but it wasn’t ruled by a single king, and national policy was made by a council of upper-class nobles. Moreover, merchants held much stronger sway here than in other kingdoms and empires. Of course, this did have its drawbacks, as well. Nobles, merchants, commoners, and of course, the royal family... they had all heard of the miracle that had occurred in a provincial seaside city.
It was a somewhat, no, an extremely dubious story, about a young girl of a small noble house being saved by the blessing of the Goddess, allowing her to avenge her family and protect her house. One would normally dismiss such a tale with a laugh, but the viscount’s heir in question had sent a report outlining her full account of the event, which was then followed by a report... or, rather, a written submission of opinions... by the count of her parent house.
National policies couldn’t be decided by the king alone, but he did have the authority to determine whether or not there was an issue with a legitimate heiress punishing a family member who had committed a crime. He was respecting the rights of a small noble house, so there was no way the other nobles would actually object.
...But this was no ordinary incident.
The Goddess’s miracle! A beautiful, young, female head of a noble house who was blessed by the Goddess! And she was unmarried! The king couldn’t give up such a juicy story to those grubby nobles. This was the perfect opportunity to take in the girl who had been blessed by the Goddess, in order to increase his royal power and authority.
At the same time, there was a very real risk of the nobles taking her as their own tool to further their own influence. Which is why the king immediately sent a count who supported the royal family to confirm the truth, but he had returned without any real results. It was only natural for him to be upset.
“I will need to make my next move... The nobles have surely heard the news by now. I must hurry...”
Chapter 34: Hot Springs
“Let’s go to the hot springs!”
“Yes!”
“Huh?”
“?”
Emile and Belle agreed to my suggestion without question or thought, pretty much by reflex alone. Roland and Francette responded inquisitively. As for Layette, it seemed she didn’t even know what hot springs were.
“So, what’s a ‘hot spring’?”
You too, Emile and Belle?!
“Hot springs are where hot water flows out naturally, and it’s good for health and beauty...”
“Let’s go!”
I wasn’t even done speaking, but Francette and Belle were fully on board.
So quick to respond...
And so, we decided to go on a hot springs trip.
...Roland’s input? That was never even in consideration.
In any case, humans can’t just be working all the time. We need to play every once in a while! And so, the staff of Convenience Store Belle, plus lodgers, were off on a company trip!
＊ ＊
“So, this seems like the place...”
We looked up a place on the map, asked around at the Hunter’s Guild and Commerce Guild, bought a drink to get some info from an old man who claimed to have traveled all over, and then finally arrived at our destination, Fire Dragon Mountain.
No, a dragon didn’t actually live there. It was just called that due to the white smoke and heat billowing up locally, which meant it was highly likely to have some hot springs. Or maybe magma flowed here long ago, and that’s where the “fire dragon” part of its name came from.
And so...
“Hot springs? Yeah, they’re here.”
Bingo.
I’d found it right away. That was anticlimactic...
“But I haven’t heard from many people who’ve actually been there... It’s pretty far.”
I found this out when gathering information at a tavern... The first guy I spoke to explained that there were hot springs around, but they were also in a mountainous region far from town, and even if you went there to soak and relax your muscles, you’d be covered in sweat and sore all over from the walk back, so it was all rather pointless.
That made sense. But since we’d come this far, I couldn’t just go home. And we weren’t in a hurry, so we could just walk slowly and camp out on the way back. I always had my camping gear in my Item Box, anyway. Besides, maybe we would end up running into some other hot springs nearby.
Yeah, no problem!
And so, I bought some local food products as camouflage, stuffed them into a dummy bag, and off we went!
“Hmm, where is it...” I muttered to myself while wearing the sensor for detecting hot springs, the “Hot Springs Sensor.”
The Hot Springs Sensor was actually the “Searcher,” a glasses-shaped target-detecting device. I had just set the target to “hot springs” this time. A reusable, eco-friendly product.
But according to the Hot Springs Sensor, it seemed that there were no other hot springs around.
...So, we ended up going all the way to the hot springs that I had originally been told about. Though, really, I should have expected this. If there had been hot springs close by, the locals would have found them at some point in the last several hundred years. Since no one had found any, they obviously didn’t exist...
We arrived there without getting lost, thanks to the Hot Springs Sensor, and set up the tents (that I’d produced from the Item Box, of course) next to the hot springs. One for the girls, one for the guys, a tent with just a roof for resting under, and a table set.
Setup was done by Francette, Emile, and Belle. Roland was useless... Though, honestly, that went for me too.
There were obviously no buildings around the hot springs, and so it was just a pool of hot water that was welling up from the ground. The hot water that overflowed cooled immediately, flowing down to the lower levels in a small stream. I didn’t know if that led into some river or just got absorbed into the ground.
There was a man-made groove where water flowed down from the hot well, leading into a hollow in the stone. This was about four and a half mats in size, with water draining out of the other side and into a stream, and it was used as a tub.
In addition, normal mountain water, which seemed to be drawn from somewhere else, was flowing next to the tub, and the amount of water flowing into it could be adjusted by moving the partition board.
“Wow, this is really well made... Though, I guess this sort of ingenuity could be expected if it’s been around for several hundred years... Okay, Roland and Emile, shoo for now.”
“Yes, ma’am!”
“...All right.”
Yeah, I didn’t expect them to argue with that.
After they left, we all took off our clothes, and it was time for the hot springs!
“Hot, hot, hot, hot, hot!!!”
When I stuck my right foot into the tub, I leapt into the air from the sheer heat.
...It obviously wasn’t going to be the right temperature, considering that no one had adjusted it beforehand. I might even have died if I’d jumped right in. It would have been pretty pathetic if my second life ended because I got boiled alive in a hot spring.
I closed the partition board on the hot water, then opened the side with the cold water, and waited.
It seemed like it would take a while, but luckily, it wasn’t too cold and there wasn’t much wind, and with the heat coming from the water, it was manageable even while naked. We were planning on camping out for the day, anyhow, so there was no rush. It seemed like we could take our time, since Emile and Roland were probably off looking for animals or fruit to eat.
And so, the four of us were leisurely talking while naked, when...
Rustle... Three men suddenly appeared out of the bushes. Then they looked at us and froze.
“Kyaaaaaaaaa!!!”
Screams filled the air.
...From the men.
Francette and I have both lived for about thirty years. I may not have had a boyfriend for just as long, but I wasn’t going to screech in panic from kids seeing me naked at my age.
Belle had grown up in a deserted house full of boys and girls, with just one room to provide any shelter from the weather. Layette still didn’t understand any of that stuff.
In my eyes, I supposed these kids were “men,” but by the standards of the people here, they were probably only about thirteen to fourteen years old. They just happened to have bigger bodies. Basically, they were just “boys.”
And before the three of them stood Francette, brandishing the divine sword Exgram, which had been placed nearby, high above her head... naked.
In any case... “Kyaaa”?
They sounded pretty girly...
“What happened?!”
“Are you all right, Lady Kaoru?!”
Roland and Emile appeared.
I guess they would, huh...
“Gyaaaaaaaaa!!!”
This time, it was Francette and I who screamed.
Yeah, even we couldn’t keep our cool about Roland seeing us naked.
But even though Francette was screaming, she had to maintain her position to defend us, so she just stood there, trembling, face bright red.
...But our instinctive yell was “Gyaaa.”
We were so not girly...
And didn’t Roland and Emile appear a little too quickly? Where had they been this whole time?!
＊ ＊
“...So, you’re from a nearby village?”
“Y-Yeah, we live in the village over that way. We come here once in a while...”
It was a bit far from the town, but apparently, there was a village nearby. The boys explained that they were residents there.
Well, the village was on the opposite side from the town where we’d learned about the hot springs, so I guess there was no reason for the townsfolk to mention it. There were probably other towns on the village’s side of the hot springs, so there probably weren’t a lot of opportunities for them to interact.
...Oh, and I’d already gone back to the girls’ tent to put on some clothes, of course. We would’ve been too flustered to have a conversation, otherwise.
“Well, now that you’re here, why don’t you go in after us? It’s not like the hot springs belong to us. In fact, the people from your village are the ones who have been maintaining them, so we’re probably the ones in your way... It’s probably supposed to be a mixed bath, but that’s a little... you know. So, I’m gonna have to ask you to wait.”
The boys nodded. I felt bad about making them wait, but in this case, I’d say it was definitely first come, first served. I mean, we wanted to go in first. These boys could go in later, with Roland and Emile. That way, it wouldn’t be like we forced them out.
...But the villagers probably used this place as a mixed bath, so I wondered why they had freaked out when they saw us naked.
Could it be that they were surprised by how flat I was...?
Hey, shut up!
Curious, I asked them about it, and they turned bright red. Ah, so young... I thought, then realized they were looking at Francette and Belle.
Is it my chest? My eyes? ...Both? Damn it! Wait, why was one of the three boys looking at Layette?! Wh-Why you... Don’t tell me...
Oh, she just reminded him of his younger sister, from when he used to take care of her? I-I see...
And so, I let Roland and Emile keep watch on the boys, while the rest of us enjoyed the hot springs.
Oh, I know!
A lion-head-shaped container with a little bit of potion inside. Hot water that runs through it will absorb some of its nutrients, providing beautifying, healing, and relaxing properties. Appears perfectly fitted where the hot water comes out!
I pictured the details in my mind perfectly, so it’d work.
And it appeared, just as I imagined. You know, that lion head thing that spouts hot water from its mouth. Like it’s barfing... Wait, that’s actually kinda gross! No, not like barf! Anyway, the lion head was stuck to the stone, and water being poured into the back of the head came out of its mouth. It was just an ornament... or so it seemed.
We’d traveled all the way out here, so I wanted to do something a little nice for the always hard-working Francette. Every once in a while, she’d go to sword-training dojos to fight the students there, usually ten at a time, so she wouldn’t lose her edge, and she always came back with bruises on her body. Whenever I tried to heal her with potions, she refused, saying it wasn’t necessary for such minor wounds. But I’d feel guilty for Roland’s sake if she ended up sustaining too many bruises and wounds. So, I made the effects more subtle.
And don’t pick on people weaker than you too much, Francette.
...Don’t come home with a signboard, okay?!
“Wh-What is that...?”
“You gotta have one of these in the hot springs. In my world, every hot spring has a lion at the spout. Yup!”
That wasn’t true, of course. Besides, a lion would probably look out of place in Japanese hot springs.
“I-I see...”
Francette looked at it dubiously, but Belle and Layette were all over the lion head. The potion wouldn’t affect their hands or anything just by touching the lion head, so I didn’t stop them.
I also made it so the lion head would break and lose all of its effects if forcefully removed, just in case. Everything I made had a self-destruct mechanism, besides the single-use stuff. Even if it only had a mild effect, some influential or rich person could abuse it and cause a lot of trouble.
The women of the world would be greatly drawn to such an item, even if the effects were minute, so it was possible that one of them would make their influential husband or lover fight for it. How fearsome a woman’s desire for beauty can be...
...Me? Give me kind-looking eyes, breasts, and more height! Damn it, I should have negotiated with Celes better...
No, I was going to fight fair and square with this appearance and with the genes I’d been given by my parents! I wasn’t gonna cheat with my potions! I’d play the hand I’d been dealt...
“Why are you making funny faces?”
I wasn’t!!!
Anyway, us four girls started doing girl talk, but...
There was nothing to talk about! My age was equivalent to my history without a boyfriend. Belle and Emile were technically a couple, but they didn’t seem any different from when they had been orphans together. Layette was out of the question. That left...
“Francette, how are things with Roland?”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“Oh, you know, just wondering how far you’ve gone...”
“What? We’ve been with you this entire time, so we haven’t gone anywhere else since we left Grua...”
“...”
Belle and I exchanged looks, then I sighed.
She’s hopeless...
So, I soaked in the water until my fingertips got wrinkly, then put my clothes on and called the guys over.
“That was way too long!”
Oh, I guess it was...
“Whoa, what the heck is that?!”
They were surprised by the unfamiliar object.
“What kind of animal is that?”
Huh? They didn’t know what a lion was? Maybe lions didn’t exist i
n this world, or at least not around here...
Well, there was no TV or animal encyclopedia, so maybe that wasn’t unusual. If there wasn’t any TV to watch, weren’t any books to read, or any zoos to visit, I probably wouldn’t have had an opportunity to see a lion, either. Not like they had lion mascots or anything like that, either.
I just laid around the girls’ tent, listening to them talk in awe.
＊ ＊
“You want us to visit your village?”
“Y-Yeah. It’s really close, only about two hours away. It’s a small village, but a nice place. There are freshly picked vegetables, yams, and we’ve even got dishes with deer and boar meat! They’re all really good!”
Oooh, deer and boar meat! And yams! ...But why were they looking around with shifty eyes?
Well, I was gonna go anyway. In this world, a two-hour walk was considered “really close.” Though, I had to say, I was having a hard time believing that children would invite three armed strangers from another land to their homes so readily. Rural villagers are far more insular and suspicious of outsiders than most city folk might think. Well, maybe that’s biased on my end, but at least it was true in my own experience.
“Why did you accept their invitation? Wasn’t it a bit suspicious?”
“It was pretty suspicious.”
“It was...”
Afterward, when I told the boys, “I guess we can check it out, then,” one of them stayed behind to be our guide, and the other two said they were returning to the village because they ‘had something to do.’ They were obviously heading back first to prepare something...
We still hadn’t gotten a chance to enjoy the hot springs to the fullest, so we weren’t leaving quite yet. The plan was to stay for two nights and three days before heading out. Even in Japan, a hot springs trip of only one night and two days meant that you’d arrive in the evening, have a meal, and soak in the water once, only to leave in the morning, which just left you tired from going there and back with no time to relax. If you’re going to the hot springs, you’re supposed to stay there for a while and spend your time in blissful leisure. Get into the hot springs, get out, repeat. And, occasionally, maybe walk around to check out the local tourist sites...