Chapter 100

"Where were you going? You wanted to come to the river? But, Valkyrie, I’m not going to take a bath in this cold weather."

"Kyu kyu"

"Hmm? What’s that over there?"

The place Valkyrie brought me to was a river in the south of Valkania. However, it wasn’t a river near the castle. It was a spot a little distance away from the riverbank. I had suspected that Valkyrie was thinking of making me take a bath in this freezing cold, but it seemed that wasn’t the case. When we reached the river, I realized what it was.

"Smoke... no, that’s steam. Could the water here be warm?"

When I arrived at the river, what caught my eye was the steam rising gently from the water surface. I’ve seen magic power rise like steam, but this seemed different. It was undoubtedly steam from the water, warm enough to combat the cold.

"Oh, a hot spring. There’s a hot spring here?"

It was then that I finally understood why Valkyrie had brought me here.

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"I see, when you were engaged in field battles with the Fontana army, you crossed the river from here, didn’t you?"

As I re-examined the area near the river, I noticed something. There were faint traces of a game trail on the riverbank. However, the trail, which was originally narrow, had been widened as if something had pushed through it. This was probably the path the herd of Valkyries took when they executed a flanking maneuver during the field battle. The widened trail was gradually erasing the traces, indicating that some time had passed since it was widened.

The Valkyries crossed the river from here and attacked the flank of the enemy army. They must have noticed that the river water was warm at that time. This time, Valkyrie might have remembered when I was talking about baths with Kyle. She’s as smart as ever. I gently stroked Valkyrie’s head and looked at the steaming river water again.

"But, Valkyrie, if I take a bath in this natural hot spring, I’ll catch a cold."

"Kyu..."

I was grateful to Valkyrie for finding the hot spring, but if I took a bath here, I would definitely get sick. I really wanted to, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. So, I just dipped my feet in the water and did a foot bath before heading home.

※ ※ ※

"Vargas, I’m going to get some unused land from the neighboring village."

"Huh? What’s up, boss? I mean, the village has some unused land, but Valkania still has plenty of land left, right?"

"No, I was thinking of diverting a hot spring from the river to the neighboring Linda village. I want to build a hot spring inn where people can stay overnight and enjoy the hot spring."

"An inn? I don’t quite understand, but it sounds good, I guess."

"Then, please inform the mayor of the neighboring village for me."

The day after I did the foot bath, I came up with the idea of building a hot spring inn. From my brief investigation, I found that the hot spring water from the river was quite hot. In some places, the water was so hot it could be called boiling.

I decided to use this hot water. The neighboring village was to the north of the spring pool. I planned to divert the hot water there. Here’s how I planned to do it:

I would bury cylindrical hardened bricks in the ground to create a pipe from the spring pool to the neighboring village. Using my magic, I would connect the pipe directly from the underground spring to maintain the water temperature as it traveled to the village.

Then, I would prepare a bath in the neighboring village and set up an inn. The idea was to create a place where people could enjoy a warm hot spring even in the cold winter and stay overnight. I needed to complete the work before the snow started falling.

First, I would channel magic into the ground of the spring pool to understand the underground conditions. I would create a pipe that extends to the ground to prevent sand and soil from entering, ensuring only the hot spring water flows through.

Next, I would dig the ground towards the neighboring village and lay the hardened brick pipes. I would also have the villagers, who were no longer busy with farming, help build the bath. However, it was a mistake to entrust the bath construction to people who didn’t know what a bath was. They ended up building something that looked like an outdoor pool.

Well, there’s no helping it. I’ll just think of it as an outdoor hot spring. If I set up an inn nearby, it shouldn’t be too cold. The high-temperature water from the underground would have cooled down to a comfortable temperature by the time it reached the village. Since I couldn’t adjust the temperature, it would be just right.

I would ensure the hot spring water flows into the outdoor hot spring. I would also set up a mechanism to stop the water flow so that I could clean it with the [Purification] spell. Additionally, I would install a drainage system. The hot spring water in the bath would be sent further north, to the moat outside our town, Valkania. This way, the moat, which was previously dry, would be filled with water.

I planned to add more types of baths in the future. It would be good to have various options, not just an outdoor hot spring.

"Alus, did you really need to divert hot spring water from the river?"

"Huh? Well, Valkania doesn’t have any other hot springs, right?"

"If you just wanted to take a bath, you could have heated well water, couldn’t you?"

"…No, it’s different… Hot springs have different components. They help you recover from fatigue."

"I think you can recover from most fatigue with a good night’s sleep using [Meditation]."

But as I was taking a break after completing the major construction, Kyle gave me a calm and pointed critique. It was then that I realized I had done quite a lot just because I wanted to take a bath.

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