The two of them changed their posture and angle multiple times as they attempted to dig into the hard ground.
“Roche, we can’t use brute force here! We have to be more careful!”
“Yes, milord!”
The sight of two giant dragons digging in the dirt looked quite adorable. Perhaps the others thought so too, as we all sat back and oversaw the two dragons working with warm expressions.
The hot spring source must have been quite deep under the surface, as the two dragons were now half obscured. At this point, they had been digging for about two hours without rest. While the knights insisted that they take a break, they remained stubborn, saying “We can keep going!” as they dug. The knights tried to turn to me for help too, but I knew that the two of them wouldn’t stop once they had gotten like that. I simply let them do as they wished.
While we waited, we started taste testing the snow-mushroom and cheese sandwiches. We distributed sandwiches to the knights and attendants and asked for their opinions. All of them approved of the taste. Having the approval of these knights and attendants from noble families was a relief. The sandwiches would be a hit with the common people.
“Now, we only need to think about what to serve the noble guests,” I muttered.
What would they like? Commoners would usually enjoy tastes that they were familiar with, but nobles were more interested in the unusual and exotic. We would need something unique and brand-new. Madeleine and I tilted our heads in the same direction as we considered this, but neither of us could come up with an idea.
I wanted Lady Opera’s opinion. “Aura, do you have any ideas?”
“Hmm... Perhaps something visually impressive would be good,” she suggested.
“I see... So a novel appearance is important.”
“Correct.”
Since it would be a delicacy, it should also have a connection to Diamant. White snow stretched out in all corners of this region. Another notable thing here was the white volcano with the Great Spirit of Fire living within it. There were many things in this region, of course, but since the only real information we had was the snow and the fields of white, it was difficult to think of any ideas.
“A novel food that represents the Diamant region...”
Suddenly, the ground beneath us split apart, perhaps due to the excavation. But what erupted from the cracks was not spring water but hot steam. This steam shot up toward the sky with great force.
Lady Opera, shocked by the sudden eruption, clung to me. “What is that?! It’s not poisonous, is it?!” she cried out right by my ear.
“Aura, that’s hot steam erupting from the hot springs. It’s not poisonous.”
The erupting steam froze in the air and fell back to the ground as frost. I had read about all this in a book before and had learned that it proved there were hot springs nearby.
A knight who had seen the cracks in the ground shouted for us to stay clear of the steam due to the high temperature.
Parfeil, hearing the knights’ conversation, whispered something to me. “The water seems to be boiling hot. It’s probably hot enough to steam food.”
“That’s it!!!” I exclaimed.
White mountains, steam hot enough to cook food, and steamed foods...
“What about a steamed cake in the image of the white volcano?” I said.
I remembered the delicious steamed cakes that Lady Opera had shared with us previously. We could make a similar cake that was decorated using themes of the Diamant region.
“What a good idea. We’ll create a steamed cake in the shape of the white volcano,” I suggested.
The steamed breads from the capital were yellow because of the eggs used in them. Meanwhile, the bread here in Diamant was white and fluffy. While the bread here wasn’t made with sugar, it would definitely be even tastier if it was made to be as sweet as the types in the capital.
A fluffy white cake steamed to perfection... I was sure that we could make it look exactly like the white volcano of Diamant. I looked forward to making a sample.
“We could fill the white cake with jam made with berries picked in Diamant as well,” I suggested.
“Wow, that sounds great!” Parfeil exclaimed.
First, I had to learn how to make the local bread from the cooks here. Then, I’d just use that knowledge to make the steamed cakes.
“Wouldn’t it be even better if we could make it using the steam from the hot springs too?” I added.
“It definitely would,” Parfeil agreed.
People visiting from the capital would be sure to marvel at the mere sight of steam rising up from the ground.
With that, I finished my brilliant plan for the resort. I was sure this would be popular among nobles.
While Parfeil and I had been talking about plans for delicacies, Van and Roche were quickly retreating from the excavation site. They were flying straight at us with dirt still stuck to their faces.
“Everyone, stand back! Get as far away from the ground as you can!”
I got on top of Van’s back, and Lady Opera rode on Roche. Everyone else mounted wyverns and flew straight up into the sky.
What is going on? But just as I thought that, a pillar of water erupted from the hole that Van and Roche had dug.
Or...I had thought it was water. In actuality, hot steam was erupting from the ground instead.
“That’s the hot spring!!!” I exclaimed.
“Yes, that’s right!” Van shouted.
It looked like we had succeeded in digging it up.
“Van, you did it! This is incredible!”
“Oho, right?” Van looked very satisfied as I rubbed his neck. “I licked a bit of the hot spring water as it came out, but it didn’t seem to be poisonous,” Van said.
“You didn’t have to do that, you know.” I had brought the Evaluation Glasses just for that purpose, so there was no need for Van to test the waters.
“These hot springs will be used by the subjects of the Dragon Duchy of Éclair, so I, the Dragon Duke, had to be the one to test it first,” Van declared.
“Don’t push yourself, okay?”
“I know.”
Van laughed mirthfully while I petted his back as a reward for his hard work. I hadn’t thought the excavation would go so smoothly. It wouldn’t have been done this quickly if we had relied on labor done in human form. We needed to thank Van and Roche for their great efforts.
The others started returning to the ground after having confirmed that it was safe to land.