“The lake has been in a terrible state as of late. Tourists have been littering without restraint, and fishermen have been introducing foreign fish to the waters.”
“This is the first time I’ve heard of that,” I said. It would seem that the rush of tourists visiting the lake was causing tangible damage.
“I was about to suggest a lake tourism ban to the Dragon Duke,” Lady Opera said, though she hadn’t pushed it through as she knew that it would bring about protests from the populace. “Now that the Dragon Duke has returned to ruling directly, it would be a faux pas to announce such heavy-handed measures.”
Lady Opera then praised us for contemplating new alternative destinations to the lake.
“Still, we’re at a loss as to what exactly those other tourist destinations and attractions should be,” I confessed.
“Hmm, let’s see... Why don’t you think of what attracts people to the lake and work from there?” Lady Opera suggested.
I took her up on that and started thinking about what made the lake popular. “Whenever I think of the lake, I think of its beautiful scenery and being able to relax on a boat...”
After bringing up those two points, I turned to Madeleine for her opinion.
“Hmm... I think it’s popular because it’s only three hours away from the capital by carriage. It’s quite convenient to access,” she said.
Finally, I turned to Parfeil. Perhaps because we had already offered several opinions, she seemed to be struggling to think of anything. Her brow furrowed and her ears trembled a bit.
“I think it’s because people want to take a break from their daily lives,” she said. “They want to experience something unusual in an unfamiliar place.”
Lady Opera nodded, and Parfeil let out a sigh of relief.
“So, to summarize your opinions: the people just want to enjoy something!” Lady Opera said.
I was unsure if that was an accurate assessment of our statements, but I still nodded in agreement.
Lady Opera then asked us what we’d come up with so far, so I told her about the circus and swimming in the ocean. While she seemed interested at first, her expression clouded over once I mentioned the kinds of performances the jesters did at the circus and again when I described the swimwear.
“We cannot go with anything too novel,” she said. “The majority of our subjects are quite conservative. While the nobles are more adventurous, they are merely a small portion of our populace. Anything too unfamiliar would no longer be an attraction that everyone could enjoy.”
I suddenly remembered something. The dragonkin had formerly been a minority within a larger nation and had lived in a small, close-knit community. Most of our people were slow to accept anything new and lived modest lives. Most dragonkin wouldn’t be interested in novel forms of entertainment.
“Investing resources into a new tourist destination would be completely meaningless if it didn’t succeed...” I muttered. If I failed, Van would certainly be reprimanded by his council. The gravity of the responsibility that I had taken on suddenly dawned on me.
“Hmm... What should we do...?”
“This is quite a difficult problem...”
The circus might be too terrifying for children. Swimming in the ocean was too dangerous and involved exposing too much skin. I had to think of something other than those two ideas that would be enjoyable and let people experience something unlike their daily lives.
I think I know about something similar to swimming in the ocean... I tried to remember what it was. Suddenly, my vision went white, and I was assaulted by a wave of dizziness.
A memory flashed before me. It was from Charlotte—my previous incarnation. I voiced it out. “Hot springs... What about hot springs?”
Lady Opera looked confused at my sudden suggestion. It was no surprise as I had never seen the words “hot springs” in the history of all dragonkin. “Mille-Feuille, what are these ‘hot springs’ you speak of?”
“It’s a type of bath that springs up from underground. If you dig deep into the ground, hot water will come up from below. It’s quite refreshing,” I explained.
“Oh?” Lady Opera seemed curious.
Madeleine couldn’t seem to imagine it, but Parfeil was apparently aware of their existence. The rabbitkin’s expression brightened, and she gestured as if a thought had just fallen into place.
“Hot springs! I’ve heard people talk about those! It’s when you dig down deep and a stream of hot water wells up, right? I heard the water is good for the body too!” Parfeil seemed to have heard of them during her time as an adventurer.
“Yes, that’s right,” I replied.
“Going to hot springs was a pastime for nobles, so commoners couldn’t enter them at all,” Parfeil added. Nobles referred to those closed-off hot springs as “spas.” They were popular due to their rumored health benefits. “Wow, hot springs, huh? I’ve always wanted to go to one!”
There had been no hot springs in the Kingdom of Sacristain either, which was probably why Charlotte had been so interested in them.
“But how does hot water come out of the ground?” Madeleine asked, tilting her head in puzzlement.
“There are usually volcanoes near them,” I answered. The chambers of magma underneath volcanoes usually contained water, steam, and hot gasses. The heat warmed up those underground springs, allowing for hot springs to be made on the surface.
“There are also ones without volcanoes near them,” I continued. Those would be called nonvolcanic hot springs, and they were usually due to underground pools of water from rain or floods that were heated up by the natural heat underground.
“I see! Mille-Feuille, you sure do know a lot,” Madeleine said, impressed.
“No, these are just all things I found out from Charlotte. I didn’t learn any of that myself,” I corrected her.
“Oh, I see.”
Lady Opera didn’t know anything about my past life, but she completely ignored my explanation. I wasn’t trying to hide that my previous incarnation had been Charlotte, but I tried not to bring it up as long as it wasn’t touched upon in conversation.
Regardless, Charlotte’s memories had helped me again. She’d had several different and unique interests, and she’d learned a lot from all of them. I was frustrated that I could never come up with any of those ideas on my own, but this time I was grateful to her.
“Hot springs, eh? That sounds quite pleasant,” Lady Opera said.
“Indeed...”
A hundred years ago, Charlotte had apparently suggested digging up a hot spring to her father, the king. If they had done that, she’d wanted to set up a facility for relaxation. However, it seemed that the Kingdom of Sacristain had regarded hot springs as something foreign and unknowable, so her suggestion had been rejected and it had never gone any further. Though she’d been disappointed, she had quickly recovered and found something new that piqued her interest.
What an enviable personality. If that were me, I would have locked myself up for three whole days.
I tried to recall Charlotte’s knowledge of hot springs. “If I’m not mistaken, there should be a spring source within the duchy!”
Without a word, Parfeil fetched a map that had been stored in the room and spread it open on the table.
“I think it was right here.” I pointed to an area in the north. It was a region called Diamant—an area that was covered in snow all year round.
Lady Opera squinted at the map. “That area should be the property of the Dragon Duke’s family. Ah... Yes, that region has been under the supervision of House Noisette, a branch family,” she explained.
According to her, a Great Spirit of Snow slumbered there, causing the area to be blanketed in snow all year. The extreme cold made it difficult to raise crops or livestock there, so the region was considered to be barren. However, that hadn’t always been the case.
“Diamant only turned into a cold, barren land within the last two hundred years. Back then, the Great Spirit of Snow living there fell in love with the Great Spirit of Fire that ruled the nearby volcano, but the Great Spirit of Snow was rejected. In a fit of great sorrow, it buried the volcano and its surrounding area in snow.”