CH 167

A few days later, Ellis and the other girls received some joyous news from the Workshop Guild. It was a notice that the third phase of construction work in the western fishing village had finally been finished.

“Ellis, I need to check the restaurant and the resort hotel, so I’ll be heading out first.”

“Ah, just wait Frau. I got a request from Master to check on the water pipes and sewage as well. I’m going too.”

“Hold on nya. I want to go see Dad nya!”

And just like that Frau, Claire, and Katie jumped out of the house with their dragons and were on their way. The only people left behind were Ellis, Reeve, and Reeve’s two older sisters Bizon and Gurre.

Mebett had been out of the house since the early morning, playing in Freedom Promenade’s central square with a bunch of other children who were here as tourists. The Mechanized Dragon was naturally popular with the kids, and Ka-kun belonged to Mebett. There’s no way she wouldn’t be having fun. Because the mere presence of the Mechanized Dragon acts as security for the city, none of the adults say anything about it. Most of them would actually stop and watch with a warm smile. And even better, it acted as a free and safe daycare for those tourist parents.

Ellis on the other hand had been making a glum face these last few days. Right now it looks like there aren’t any other Sabbaths being held after the Hero crushed the last several of them. Neither Cliff nor Dams nor anyone else had been seen coming or going from their office either. People have already started saying that even attempting to hold a Sabbath is equal to suicide.

Since then the only word from Duke Marsfield is “The King has yet to make a move.” The Demon Lord is still making regular trips to visit Margherita, and Berunal can often be found playing at Ril Rush with Reeve or enjoying Trans Happy. The Mazoku Marcosia had been told beforehand about how the Demon Lord and his top assistant had been visiting the city incognito. They would do their best to give her a warning as much in advance as possible, so she was supposed to hide whenever they were there.

As Ellis expected however, neither the Demon Lord nor Berunal showed any interest in Marcosia. This was a heartless world where the president of a large company and his secretary would never remember the face of a part-time janitor.

But it was still a whole lot of work for nothing to come out of it though. A whole lot of anxiety on Ellis’s part when she could have been relaxing instead.

“Miss, I said the same thing to my older sisters as well, but don’t you think your putting too much thought into this right now?”

“Shut up! There’s no such thing. Rather than thinking there’s nothing to be done about it, it’s much better to predict the future and develop countermeasures for it!”

Ellis’s reprimand caused Reeve to back away.

So Ellis started to think. What could she do to free the King? What could she do with the information she has?

“It’s always better to be prepared.”

Ellis let out a tired sigh before turning around and giving Reeve and her sisters a smile.

“Reeve, Big Sisters, let’s get ready and head out west ourselves.”

After a bit, Ellis, Bizon, Gurre, Mebett, and the five guild masters rode on the Ra-chin Shuttle towards the western fishing village.

While enjoying the smooth ride on top of Ra-chin’s back, Ellis was sitting next to Baltis, Theseus was sitting beside Maria, and Flint was sitting next to the new guild master of the Magician’s Guild, Izerina. Together they started discussing the current affairs in Skycastle.

And once the full situation had been stated for review’s sake, Maria made a deep frown.

“No matter how you think about it, Warren’s going to be a huge sore spot for the demon that has taken control of His Majesty.”

Theseus crossed his arms and nodded.

“The Dragon Maidens would be issue enough, but the Hero also recently set up Warren as a base camp and is frequently seen coming and going. I don’t know which one is a bigger draw.”

Baltis put his head in his palm and sighed.

“If I was this demon, I’d definitely find some way to invade Warren.”

Flint was scornfully laughing.

“Let ’em try invading if they want. We’ll drive ’em back every time. We won’t even need the girls’ help with that.”

Izerina started laughing as well.

“It’s nice to see that Flint hasn’t changed at all. But, this kind of thing could be really stressful for the ordinary citizens, so we should make sure our fighters are fully prepared for the worst.”

Ellis hadn’t told the guild masters yet, but the Demon Lord and his right-hand were in Warren at this very moment. But, considering everything that was already going on, she figured trying to explain about the masochistic Demon Lord would just muddle things even more, so she left it alone.

In the meantime, the group continued discussing their plans as they arrived at the western fishing village.

“I was expecting to see as big a change here as when I came back to Warren, but this is so much more!”

After seeing how much the fishing village had changed, the first person to say anything was Izerina who had spent the last several years living in Wisdom.

“Ellis told me to make it a place you would want to stay over in. I was unsure of myself when I first started, but I’d definitely want to stay here a while now.”

The next person to say something was Flint who at this point knew every single corner of this town.

Then from inside the city, Claire, the village chief Gattis, and village’s deputy chief Selkis came over to greet them.

“Hello hello members of the Warren Council who we are especially indebted to gya. Allow me to guide you through our town myself gya.”

Gattis greeted the masters on behalf of all the villagers and began leading everyone through the town.

The town could be roughly divided into three districts.

This first was a shopping area. It was here you would find the town’s numerous restaurants and other stores lined up together side by side. Most of the food sold here were the town’s specialty seafood products, and you could find many of the specialty goods and crafts made by the seal beastmen. Beyond that there was also the residential area where most of the villagers lived and where foreigners could buy villas if they wanted to move here on a more permanent basis.

The second area was the sandy white beach that extended along the coast where tourists could swim and sunbathe. Here you could rent or buy beach chairs, various kinds of drinks to keep cool, and different toys children could play with while at the beach.

The third area was the actual resort located on the rocky area near the reef. This was a resort hotel that encompassed the hot springs as well, so a person could take an extended vacation here. Due to Frau’s aid, a system was worked out where the village’s specialty food would be sold in the shopping area while the resort would sell the same dishes as you’d find in Warren. So even if a person were to stay here for an extended period of time, they shouldn’t get sick of the food any time soon.

Ellis had a three step plan for the village.

The first was to set up a fish market and show the villagers how the numerous fish they thought were trash were actually delectable treats waiting to be marketed.

The second was to maintain the hot springs and different restaurants and prove to the villagers that ‘entertainment’ could be its own commodity that could turn a profit.

The third step is to create a resort that can capture the hearts of its customers with the quality of its goods and entertainment to get them to stay in the village for an extended period of time.

Of course all of this depends on the quality of the hospitality given here which meant the villagers needed more work done than anything else. This was an extremely poor village at first where everyone was going hungry and trash lined the streets. But through hard work, these villagers have gained a boost not just economically, but socially as well. With increased confidence in their futures, the residents of this village can now smile from the bottom of their hearts. And if all the villagers here are smiling, then the tourists who come to visit here will be able to better enjoy themselves as well. Plus that strength of spirit will be necessary for those old aristocrats, leisure-seeking rich, and holiday-seeking aunties who would be looking to come here for an extended vacation.

Just imagine those wealthy bourgeois coming to this village to rest and relax. Then during their vacation, they decide to stop by the nearby Warren, dropping a ludicrous amount of money on the numerous facilities there designed to suck them dry. Afterwards they return to resort where their spirits can be healed, and with renewed confidence, they venture towards Warren again. And repeat. Yes, Ellis designed an area where the rich could have an extended stay as they spend their money in downtown Warren.

Ellis looked out at the beastmen as each one worked hard with smiles on their faces and chuckled to herself, “This is even better than I could have hoped.”

“Well, all that’s left is to give the village a proper name.”

Gattis pulled out a signboard when he overheard Ellis’s words and laughed.

“We’ve actually already thought about that, and we’ve actually come up with an answer gya.”

Digging the sign into the ground, the words “WELCOME TO HOPE COAST” were now displayed at the village’s entrance.

Starting the next day, Hope Coast went into full-scale operation.

Today, Grandpa Ferdinand visited the beach with Bizon, Gurre, and Mebett in tow. In fact, Ferdinand had already spread the word around, and as such, multiple aristocrats and wealthy merchants from Marsfield and Wheat Grace have already set up future reservations for long-term stays. Some had even already bought villas. In addition, there were some Warren citizens who were planning to buy one of the old, refurbished homes and retire here after leaving their businesses to their children. Because the Adventurer’s Guild regularly runs carriages between Hope Coast and Warren, it would be possible for family to easily visit each other afterwards or keep in touch through letters.

As for the opening day however, most of the customers gathered here were the elderly and already retired creating a quiet, relaxed atmosphere.

“How is everything Gattis, Selkis?”

The two men answered Ellis’s question with a smile.

“I was surprised at first over how elegant all our customers are gya.”

“It’s a welcome sight seeing people enjoy our hard work though.”

Hope Coast was already living up to its name.

After a long time, Ellis was able to relax. Just her, her girlfriends, and their five dragons.

The five girls each rested on the beach in their own unique way and enjoyed watching the scenery change color as the sun slowly set.

Over time the coast’s edge was dyed a bright orange.

“That’s right, the sun sets on the coast in the west.”

“A beautiful sight.”

“It’s captivating.”

“So the way the color works is………”

“Shut up nya”

A happy moment in time that felt like it could go on forever.

But, eventually all good things must come to an end.