Hot springs, collecting plants, walking around trying different foods for market research… I fully enjoyed getting to pursue nothing but fun, to the point that I began to wonder if it was entirely acceptable for me to be enjoying myself by the time the assessment of the monster situation in Hawke’s Domain finally came to a close.
The knights had conclusively determined that fewer monsters were spawning. Everyone was excited by the good news, and we held another celebratory banquet.
A few days after the banquet, it was time for us to return to the royal capital. We stood in front of the carriage, where I said my final goodbye to Lord Hawke.
“Thank you for hosting us on this occasion.”
“Don’t mention it. It is we who should be thanking you for improving our lands in more ways than one.”
Lord Hawke had already thanked me multiple times for my services. Maybe it was because of my nature as a Japanese person, but I felt kind of awful having him bow to me so much. I just couldn’t get used to it.
I somehow managed to return Lord Hawke’s gentle smile, but I worried that it looked forced.
“We shall head to the royal capital when the social season begins,” Lady Hawke said. “I do so hope you’ll come and visit us at our manor there.”
“I believe that by then, we will have completed the draft plan for turning our hot springs into a tourist attraction, so hopefully I can call upon you to seek your opinion,” Lord Hawke added.
After I returned from the hot spring, I had taken tea with Lady Hawke and we had discussed beauty treatments. We had spoken in excited detail when I mentioned that cosmetics could be made from hot spring waters, but I’d realized that it unfortunately wouldn’t be possible to make them from the springs in Hawke’s Domain. The ones here just didn’t do anything for skin conditions.
Instead, I suggested developing the village where the hot springs were located. Lady Hawke remembered our previous conversation during our first banquet and asked how hot spring villages operated back in my birthplace. I told her about the deluxe public bath houses and spas they had in Japan, which got Lady Hawke incredibly pumped up. I tried to change the subject to calm her down a bit by suggesting that the hot springs could be made available to the public instead of just the soldiers. The soldiers could use them for free as a professional perk while they could have commoners pay a fee to use the facilities.
While the hot springs in the village weren’t beneficial for skin conditions, they did remedy inflammation of muscles, joints, and lungs. I believed there would be a demand for these benefits even among the general populace.
Once I mentioned this, I had not only Lady Hawke’s but Lord Hawke’s interest. He started asking me questions too, and after telling him about all the different kinds of hot spring facilities in Japan, he quickly decided to develop the village as a tourist attraction. It probably came as no surprise, but he made up his mind lightning fast.
As I debated how to respond to Lord and Lady Hawke’s invitations, Lady Hawke turned to her son. “Al, I hope you’ll come to visit every so often as well.”
“Of course. Let me know when you arrive in the capital.”
It was kind of heartwarming to see this exchange between mother and child. As I looked on, full of warm and fluffy feelings, Albert told his parents to send their invitations to me through the palace.
All of my invitations to tea parties and the like were sent there. This measure had been put in place when I still knew nothing about the noble factions and the relationships between the houses; they’d wanted to ensure that I didn’t accidentally accept an invitation from someone with untoward intentions.
However, after my lessons at the palace, I was pretty sure that I knew who to be on the lookout for. It was a pain to properly word rejection letters, though, so I continued having the palace decline on my behalf.
A son of House Hawke had previously married a princess, so they had close ties to the royal family. As such, the palace would probably send an invitation from House Hawke straight to me, just as they had when Marchioness Ashley reached out.
Even so, I was unsure if it would be all right to accept their invitation without initially routing it through the palace, so I didn’t quite know how to respond. I was therefore incredibly grateful that Albert spoke up on my behalf. All noble houses had been informed that invitations addressed to me had to be sent in this manner, so his parents were understanding.
“Well, we should get on our way,” I said.
“Indeed. I hope we see one another soon,” Lord Hawke said.
“Lady Takanashi, thank you again. I shall look forward to visiting you in the capital,” Lady Hawke said.
“Thank you. I shall look forward to visiting you both again as well.”
With that, we departed. Albert helped me into the carriage, and a moment later, the vehicle started to move. I waved out the window to Lord and Lady Hawke.
And so, I finished purifying the black swamps and my work as the Saint came to an end, at least for the time being.