Hot Spring

Day four of inn construction.

We have plenty of lumber now, so I'll have Ichika and Niku do some sparring.

Niku and Ichika donned Cloth Golem Version 2, the maid uniform golem.

I prepared a wooden dagger and a wooden kitchen knife for each of them, respectively. Just the shapes, nothing more.

"Whoa?! What's with these clothes? I'm not putting in any strength at all, but there's this crazy power… Heeeh, so this is the secret behind Niku-senpai's strength. With this, you'd definitely get way better mobility than your appearance suggests, and move exactly how you want."

"For Goshujin-sama's sake too, let's try out all kinds of movements."

My job was to watch their sparring… though to be precise, it was to open up the monitor from the menu and record everything.

After that, I just need a mannequin golem, one made closer to a human shape than regular golems, to wear my clothes and repeat the recorded movements in practice. That'll complete the cloth golem's motion assist function.

Not having to create each motion myself is so easy. If this were a robot, I'd have to program every single angle of the feet and arms myself.

Still, even if I'm useless, it's fine as long as these two are strong. Party rank really is a great safety net. I don't want to be an adventurer in the first place; I just want to sleep comfortably.

And yet lately I feel like I've been working non-stop for one reason or another. I don't get it.

Alright, time to rest with all my might! With that thought, I spread out my futon in my room at the inn while recording the two of them sparring outside.

"Kehma! I struck an underground water source! And it's the warm kind!"

… Just when I was about to rest, this happens.

Well, it's fine though. We found a hot spring after all…

"Then let's draw it into the onsen area right away."

"By the way, what exactly is an onsen?"

"A warm pool, basically. It feels great when you get in. Improves blood circulation and is good for your health."

"Heeeh, so I can get in too, right?"

"Sure, but I can't guarantee it'll have any effect on a Dungeon Core who doesn't need [Purify] and can keep going without rest or sleep, you know?"

"I'm the owner here, so I want to properly check these things!"

Rokuko bounced around excitedly.

It's good that she's motivated. Work hard in my place.

"Oh. Though depending on the quality of the hot spring, it might be really smelly."

"Smelly?! Humans sure are strange, deliberately getting into smelly water… Would [Purify] get rid of the smell, I wonder?"

"… …"

Yeah, sorry. Honestly, I was only thinking about how nice it would be to sleep after a good soak in the hot spring.

Some people say they like the smell of sulfur, but since it's described as a pungent odor like rotten eggs, it's pretty harsh for those who aren't used to it…

… If it's a sulfur spring, it might be bad for weapons and such. That could make it tricky for an inn catering to adventurers?

Well, I'll see what the actual hot spring is like first.

 

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The hot spring was struck at a point one hundred meters underground. Shallower than I expected.

I designated the hot spring source's chamber as part of the dungeon, then used [Collection] to put a little of the water into a bucket I'd made from a wood golem. (Hot springs just have to have buckets, right? So I put real effort into this one.)

"… It's transparent. The temperature's pretty high too, and it doesn't smell."

I can't exactly just go ahead and taste-test it, but it looks clean enough to drink.

Hmm? Wait, come to think of it, Ichika said she was good at poison-tasting.

I won't tell her to drink it, but she might be able to tell if it seems poisonous or not.

"Ichika, pause the sparring and come here for a sec."

"Hm? Got it, be right there."

I called out to Ichika, who was sparring with Niku outside the window. She came over immediately.

For now, I showed her the bucket and the hot water inside.

"I'd like you to check out this water—is it safe from poison and stuff?"

"Hm? Lemme see."

Ichika took the bucket in her hands, then without hesitation put her mouth to it and took a big gulp.

"Wha, Ichika, what are you doing?!"

"Puhaaah. Ah, if nothin' happens to me in about two hours, there's probably no poison!"

"What if there was poison in it?!"

"Aah, it's fine, it's fine. At worst I'd just get the runs. I can pretty much tell that much from the smell, the look, the taste, and how it goes down… Kufufu, were ya worried about me? Thanks～"

Ichika smiled bashfully.

"… Y-yeah. You had me worried for a second there. If you died from some deadly poison, my fifty silver coins would go to waste."

"Is that sooo, is that sooo～. Well, I figure if I serve ya devotedly and keep on yer good side, maybe I'll get emancipated eventually～"

"… Unfortunately, now that you've been involved with the dungeon's inner workings, emancipation is off the table."

"That's fine too. Goshujin-sama feeds me good stuff after all. Well then, I'm headin' back to the sparring～"

Ichika waved her hand with a smile as she headed back outside.

Two hours later, Ichika was perfectly fine without any issues. Seems like there's no problem with the water.

… I really didn't expect her to just drink it like that, though. Seriously. I was shocked.

 

＊ ＊ ＊

 

I filled the onsen with hot water. The steam was incredible; it still looks too hot.

I like taking long baths in lukewarm water. I'll get in nice and slow later.

And with that, the onsen was complete, which meant the inn was finally finished.

Having me or Rokuko use [Collection] to resupply the hot water every time it needs changing would be a pain, so in the future I plan to use the tunnel dug by a thirty-centimeter drill golem as piping to pump the hot spring water up. The tunnels dug by the golem have already become dungeon walls, so there's no worry about them collapsing.

For now, I don't have DP to spare, and I want rubber materials to make a pump, so it's still under consideration. For the time being, I'll use [Collection] to dump the water into a stone golem tank, storing it so it doesn't cool down. If needed, I can always fire a Fireball in to reheat it.

Including the hot spring excavation, the total DP spent on the inn was roughly 5,000 DP.

I also installed a [Water Source (1,000 DP)] in the inn for plumbing. The hot spring digging was mainly 4,000 DP… Wait, wouldn't it have been way cheaper to just heat the [Water Source] water with something…? No, I got a natural hot spring out of it. Let's call it a win.

It turned out much cheaper than building a house with DP (200,000 DP and up), but the remaining DP is about 15,000… no, let me get the exact number.

16,390 DP remaining. This excludes the reserved amount for dungeon floors four and five, as well as what I gave Rokuko to use freely before.

I'm going to have to keep a close eye on income and expenditures again… Aaah, I hate this. I just want to hurry up and profit so I can spend my days sleeping.

"So, Kehma. This onsen thing—how do you use it?"

"Well, first you take off your clothes, wash your body, then get in."

"… You take off your clothes? Having my underwear seen would be embarrassing… Ah, so that's why you surrounded it with walls so no one can see inside."

Rokuko nodded in understanding.

"No, wait. You take off your underwear too, you know?"

"Huh?"

"You don't wear clothes into a bath… That's common sense."

"Hold on a second… This isn't something you enter alone, right? Are humans okay with that sort of thing?"

"… … Right, I forgot about the cultural differences."

A bit late now, but I asked Ichika about baths. Teach me, Ichika-sensei～

"Hmm, there was a bathhouse in the Imperial Capital, I think. You'd change into simple clothes before gettin' in."

"Washing your body sounds like a pain… no, wait, they have [Purify]…!"

Kuh, and here I went and made a proper space for washing up too!

I should've asked beforehand… I even made faucets and showers (the wall-mounted kind without hoses) for each washing spot… All that extra effort just makes it sadder…

"… No nudity at all?"

"Aah, umm… There was this one bathhouse left behind by a Hero where apparently full nude with just a towel was allowed? … Well, that was just Hero-sama's taste, so ya probably shouldn't use it as reference for the inn."

"… Got it. Then we'll allow clothed bathing… We'll recommend bathing wear and sell or rent it at the inn."

Well, I just wanted to get in the hot spring myself anyway, so whatever.

"Ah, Niku-senpai and I are slaves, so there'd be no problem if we got in together naked, ya know? Whaddya say?"

"… The men's and women's baths are separate, so that won't work. Oh, Ichika. Teach Rokuko and Niku how to use the bath. In the women's bath."

I mean, it's not like I don't want to look. Their feet and legs are definitely on my mind.

Besides the large bath, I also made a footbath that's designed to be used with clothes on from the start. I'll get my fill of viewing there. Hehehe.