Volume 8 - CH 8

Chapter 8 – Completion of Rock Bath and Cave Information

I hope I can manage to build a rock bath today. If I ask the dark elves, they might make me a big wooden bathtub, but I’m longing for a rock bath too.

“So, Wataru-san. What do you want us to do?”

I think about Alessia-san’s question about today’s schedule… I wonder if I’ll be done in a day. Well, there are eight people with considerable physical strength and power, plus me, so we should be able to handle it.

“Yes, that’s right. First, we will drive in some stakes, and then we will clear the ground at the source and level it off. After that, we will pound the ground with a mallet. After that, we will bring in the rock bath that was built yesterday, and then we will build another rock bath and bring it in.”

“It sounds like a lot of work. It will take a long time, so let’s get started.”

But is this really the right way to go? I think when people built their houses, they drove stakes into the ground… The problem is that all we have is raw wood… Even raw wood is better than no wood… Right?

“Yes, I’m counting on you.”

For now, we’ll make a simple flume and run the hot spring to another location. I cut down a hard, sturdy tree Felicia picked out for me and pointed to it. The appropriateness of this is unsettling. Should I have asked the carpenter from the dark elf village first?

Alessia-san easily cuts the tree down with her sword, and when she swings the sword, it’s in the shape of a stake. It’s a fantasy. I saw on TV that it is less likely to rot if the surface is scorched, so I asked Ines to scorch the surface with her flame magic.

I drive four of the finished stakes into each of the approximate positions. Will this work out…? I’m so anxious with TV knowledge. Well, we’re not building a house, so let’s trust that everything will be okay.

“Well, then, I’ll ask you to make it as flat and level as possible and to dig down about 50 centimeters lower where the second rock bath is going to be placed.”

The women immediately began to move in response to my simple explanation. The raised areas will be scraped away, and the low areas will be filled with soil. After leveling the ground to a certain extent, we pound the ground with a large wooden mallet.

After pounding the ground, we put soil on the dented areas and pounded the ground again. All of the workers are incredibly strong, so the ground is being leveled rapidly. Carla-san’s work, in particular, was tremendous.

Carla-san is a wonder, isn’t she? She is a tall, slender, beautiful woman with big breasts. She is a bit contradictory; when it comes to food, she is a glutton… and she has too many childish and monstrous attributes. And it’s a shame that she lacks attributes in the sexy direction.

Working while thinking about silly things, we finished the work of leveling the ground in the morning. Just having a jump in strength and stamina has a terrific effect.

“Thank you all very much. It’s time for lunch.”

“Phew, it’s lunchtime. This kind of work makes me hungry.”

“Haha, thank you, Alessia-san. I’m sorry it’s not the same as usual, but please eat plenty.”

“I’m hungry! Wataru-san, can I eat a lot too?”

I think Carla-san always eats a lot, but has she been restraining herself?

“Yes, please eat a lot.”

It is a secret that I felt a little uneasy at the pleased Carla-san.

We washed our hands and faces and had lunch on the deck of the Hideaway. As usual, I summoned the food storage ship, and we each took out a dish of our choice. What shall I eat?

…It’s meat since I’ll be doing manual labor again this afternoon. I also want to eat rice, so I’ll simply have a steak bowl. Rimu told me the same is fine, so I’ll cut up two hot sirloins and pour the meat juices on top of the rice.

For the sauce… let’s use the gravy provided with the steaks. For a moment, I was tempted to pour the curry over the steak bowl, but that would be overkill. …But the sirloin curry bowl looks good too. I’ll try it next time I’m alone.

We take our dishes as we like and start eating. Carla-san, who has declared that she will eat a lot of food, is off to a rocket start. I guess she’s going to eat as much as she can. I’m glad that the luxury liner and the ferry brought us a full range of dishes and desserts.

She and Claretta-san are also trying out some recipes from a cookbook. We have a larger repertoire of dishes. I feel like we’ve grown closer, but I’m sad to say that it’s all just friendship.

All but the gluttonous trio finish eating and relax over a cup of tea. It’s interesting to see Rimu and Fuu-chan take up positions next to Carla-san and secure their food before I know it. But Carla-san, please don’t tell me you can’t move because you’re so full, okay?

After Carla-san, Rimu, and Fuu-chan are satisfied and take a little food break, we move on to carry the rock bath.

“…Wataru-san, I think it’s too big, don’t you think?”

Alessia-san looked at me with a look that said, “Common sense is important, you know?” I can’t accept that people in a fantasy world would question my common sense.

“I’ll have Ines cut the part used in the bath, so we won’t be carrying everything at once. The width is not much different. The height will be less than a meter.”

If the rock bath is vertical, we should be able to carry it with no problem. If it doesn’t break, though.

“…It’s still big enough, right?”

She was right.　

“Hey, Wataru-san, if it’s that tall, it’s going to be hard to take it down, and wouldn’t it be easier to carry it on the deck of the Hideaway? If you summon the Hideaway next to it, we can just shift it to the side and carry it, right?”

There’s a genius. As expected of the leader of an A-rank party, right?

“‘I see… It’s definitely easier that way. Shall we simply clear the area next to the rock?”

“Okay.”　　

With simple magic, the plants and the ground will be blown away and leveled. I hope the goddess of the forest doesn’t get mad at us. She’s around because the dark elves believe in her, right? If I ever get summoned by Creator God-sama, I’ll ask him to pass a message on to her.

“I’ll summon it then.”

I repatriate the Hideaway near the hot springs and summon it next to the big rock. It’s just the right height. We push the rock bath from one side and carry it to the Hideaway.

The rock bath could break, so we moved it carefully. I don’t know how many hundreds of kilograms or how many tons it weighs, but the huge mass of rock is carried by eight beautiful women. It’s truly a fantasy, a physical strengthening experience. I’m in on it, but I don’t feel like I’m helping much.

We carefully lower the rock bath onto the deck. After lowering the rock bath, I check it and found no cracks anywhere. It looks like it’s going to be okay.

I returned the Hideaway back to the source, and it was even more difficult to lower it down from the 2-meter drop-off point.

Alessia-san said it would be a little easier if not for the fear of breaking it. I hope you do it carefully because I don’t want you to break it.

We manage to set up a rock bath at the base of the spring. I just said that a hot spring is a rock bath… and that’s all it is, but that’s a big overreaction. We need to carry the rock bath once more; it’s going to break my heart.

We went back to the rocky place, and Ines cut the rocks as she did yesterday, and the rest of us carried out the cut rocks. The nine of us quickly leveled off the rocky ledge and completed the rock bath.

We tied them with a rope and pulled them up to the Hideaway, sliding them against a leaning tree. Returning to the source, we set it up in front of the first rock bath. It looks like a terraced field. The rest is done by making a depression in the second rock bath to allow the hot water to flow.

“Whew, it’s done. Thank you all.”

“Fufu, it was harder than I thought. But it looks so nice when it’s finished. We’ll be able to fill it with hot water, won’t we?”

Alessia-san was right; two large monolithic rock baths, side by side, create a great atmosphere. When the first bath is filled with hot water, and the overflowing water is collected in the second bath, it should cool down a little.

Basically, I plan to take the second bath, but I can take the first rock bath as well if we add water. The way I see it, not only Alessia-san but the rest of the ladies like it as well.

“Before that, let’s wash it with water. There are some small pieces of rock, after all.”

“Oh, that’s true. Let’s hurry up and wash. I want to get in quickly.”

“I understand. Let’s wash quickly.”

The women washed with enthusiasm, and the bath was quickly cleaned. The gutter that was changing the flow of the hot spring water was removed, and the hot spring water poured into the rock bath. I was a little impressed. I hadn’t thought about making my own hot spring.

“It’s going to take a while, so let’s take a break on the Hideaway. We’ll have to change clothes for the hot spring.”

I called out to the women who were staring at the pool of hot spring water.

“Right. Let’s take a break.”

We returned to the Hideaway, drank coffee, and waited for the hot spring water to fill up.

“If the hot spring keeps running all the time, that means we can take a bath anytime we want, right?”

“Yes, Alessia-san is right. Except for when we wash the bath, the water will always be running.”

This means that the water will be free-flowing from the source, right? This is really luxurious, isn’t it?

“If you think about it, hot springs are amazing. If we build a village here, the villagers will be able to take a bath every day whenever they want… I wonder if there are any near Lucca?”

I wonder about that? The chances of them coming out if you keep digging holes all over the place are not zero, I guess. As it stands, you’d have to find a place where it’s out of the ground from the start.

With magic, would it be possible to dig a hole deep into the ground? As I recall, you had to dig a thousand meters or something… but is it possible to have a shot with great magic?

“I think it’s mostly in the mountains or something, so we’ll just have to look for it. It’s hard to be sure, though, because there could be dangerous gases in the air.”

“It’s okay to check, but in the mountains, it’s hard to find monsters.”

There were some monsters. On this island, only weak monsters have been found, so there are no problems at the moment, but…

“Speaking of which, do you think the monsters in the cave are safe? It’s close to here, isn’t it?”

“…The ranks of the monsters in the cave are low, so I think we’ll be fine. But it could be dangerous if the giant ants come out in swarms. I think we can thin them out as we explore, but even the villagers should consider thinning them out from time to time.”

“I see. I should tell the village chief about this.”

If the monsters are not strong, it will be okay if they can be prevented from coming out in swarms. Thinning out, huh…? Is it too much trouble to build a village here? The rock baths we worked so hard to build might go to waste…

“Wataru-san, the hot springs are full.”

Carla-san, who had been watching the hot springs, came to tell me. She was so happy with the hot spring we had created that she frequently went to check on it.

“Thank you very much, Carla-san. Now let’s all change into our bathing suits and go to the hot springs.”

Everyone returned to their rooms and changed into their bathing suits.

“Felicia, do you think the people in the dark elf village can thin out the giant ant population?”

“If they are not in large swarms, I think they can be dealt with. Master, I would like to check the inside of the cave, and I would like to follow the Girasole people on their exploration. Is that alright?”

What should I do? Is it possible to just have Felicia go with them? …It’s not, isn’t it? But it’s important to check the inside of the cave. …I’d like to avoid caves that are crawling with big ants, if possible.

Either way, if the giant ants overflow, this island will be in danger. If that happens, I feel that I am responsible for bringing the dark elves to this island.

Giant ants have never come out of the cave before. But it’s hard for me to say that they won’t come out of the cave in the future. …I don’t like it, but should I follow them in their exploration of the caves? I hate it.

“All right. I’ll go with you, and I’ll ask Girasole. In the meantime, let’s go to the hot springs.”

“Yes, thank you very much, Master.”

Felicia is also relieved. After all, it’s still a concern, right? We changed into our bathing suits and went outside. We’re late because we talked a little.

“I’m sorry, I’m late.”

“It’s okay; let’s get going.”

Alessia-san also seems to be unable to suppress her eagerness. The bath set in her hand is also rattling; is it because she can’t wait? She had already been to the hot spring yesterday. …Yesterday was like an experiment, so maybe she wasn’t satisfied, huh?

When I looked at them, they seemed to be getting various shampoos, conditioners, body soaps, face washes, and cosmetics from cosmetics stores and spas, and the items they had were all slightly different from each other. I guess they choose what suits them best. I have no idea.

Ines and Felicia were also happily discussing their evaluations of the products they bought with their allowance. They seemed to be exchanging information with Girasole, too, and their interest was so strong that it was a little scary.

“All right. Shall we go?”

Rock bath, huh…? Now that I think about it, which is better, a rock bath or a wooden bath? I made it with an image in mind.