They left the inn and headed for the public bath. Nina glanced this way and that as they walked, probably thinking of ways she could improve life in the slum.
And here I thought we were here to relax... Emily thought glumly.
“You look like you wish you were kicking back on the beach,” Astrid remarked.
“Well yeah, duh. And stop reading into my expressions, would you?”
“This isn’t so bad, is it? Look how much Nina’s perked up.”
It was true. The shadow that had lurked in Nina’s eyes since they left Thundergard had cleared away. Now that she’d found something she wanted to do, the best course was to let her do it.
“She’s a workaholic,” Emily muttered.
“You could say that,” Astrid agreed. “I do worry... The problems of slums are so complicated and entangled that I don’t know if Nina’s efforts alone will be enough to find a solution. Still, I’ll do whatever I can to help her.”
“Look at that, our inventor’s all fired up.”
“I mean, I was as good as useless back in Thundergard.”
When hell broke loose back at the mercenary mansion, Astrid had been the only one absent, having been away on a job for the inventors’ society. Her work had paid for their travel and lodging costs, but all the same, Emily could tell it bothered her that she hadn’t been there.
“You shouldn’t get hung up on that,” Emily told her.
“Oh really? Then I suppose you won’t mind gritting your teeth and putting up with being useless this time around.”
“Gah...” Astrid was right. Emily couldn’t think of any way she could help with the public bath.
“Nina,” Tien said suddenly. “That building smells strange.”
She pointed ahead of them at a wooden, single-story building that was even older and more run-down than the Sable Fin Inn. They were far enough from the beach here that the smell of the ocean was overpowered by a rotten stench. It had to be awful for Tien with her keen nose.
“Huh? According to the map, that’s the public bath...” Astrid said.
“Seriously? But there’s no one there. Are you sure that’s it?”
“Seems so.”
They approached the building only to find its double doors shut fast and a sign that read CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. There was no one else on the street. It felt like a ghost town.
Tien, who was pinching her nose, said nasally, “There is someone inside.”
Her ears twitched. She must have heard something.
“Let’s go in,” Nina said. “Hello? Is anyone there?”
She pushed the door open, letting in a ray of light that illuminated a cozy entranceway and a reception desk with no one behind it. To the left was a sign that said WOMEN and on the right a sign that read MEN. There was also a shelf for bathers to leave their shoes. It was old and battered, but otherwise spotless.
“I wonder what ‘closed until further notice’ means,” Nina wondered aloud.
Just then, they heard footsteps.
“My, my. And who might you be then?” An old woman appeared, her back hunched. “Tourists, are you? I’m afraid we’re closed for business...”
“When are you opening again?!” Emily demanded. She was, after all, the most invested in finding a hot spring—but then, none of the others had experienced them before.
“I wish I knew...” said the old woman. “It’s been two years and two months since the hot water stopped flowing.”
“NOOOO!!!” Emily cried, dropping to her knees.
“Whoa. You can’t be that disappointed,” Astrid said, alarmed.
“Are you the manager of this facility, ma’am?” Nina asked.
“I am. I keep it clean just in case the spring comes back to life again. But after two years, well... It may be a lost cause.”
“You don’t have any idea what happened?” Astrid asked. “A malfunction with the magical pump or something?”
A problem like that was something she could fix. But the old woman shook her head.
“We called in an inventor to take a look, but they said that wasn’t it.”
“I know it’s a lot to ask, but would you mind if I took a look at it?” Astrid asked. “I’m an inventor myself.” She produced her inventor credentials from the Freja Kingdom.
The old woman hesitated. “That’s very kind of you, but I’m afraid I’ve nothing to pay you with.”
“Oh, I don’t need any payment. We—well, mostly my friend here—just really, really wanted a soak in a hot spring. We’d be happy with a free bath after it’s fixed.”
“That’s certainly no trouble. It’s only a copper to use the bath in any case.”
Nina blinked in surprise. These days, there was almost nothing you could buy for a single copper. Even the cheapest meat skewer at a street stall would cost five coppers at least.
She couldn’t help but cast her eyes around the entrance. It was as old and run-down as the building itself. There was no way the old woman could afford to maintain the place charging only one copper coin, but despite the wear and tear of age, everything else was neat and orderly.
That old lady must be taking care of it, Nina realized.
As a maid, she could tell from a room not only how skilled the person who cleaned it was, but the attitude with which they approached their work. Since the hot spring stopped flowing, the old woman’s gentle and caring hands had tended to this bathhouse every day without a break for the whole of the two years and two months. Nina could feel her warmth.
She and the others took off their shoes in the entrance then followed the old woman down the wooden hallway. Taking off one’s shoes was a rarity in this world—presumably this place just had the rule because it was a bathhouse. It did seem a little odd when Emily slipped her own shoes off without a second’s hesitation.
As they headed for the bath, the old woman explained that although the bathhouse was a public facility, they didn’t receive any funding from the governing lord—which, because Côte Sud was one of the empire’s premier resort towns, was the imperial family itself. The local magistrate had no interest in the place beyond how much he could raise his tax revenue, but when she only charged one copper for entry, there was nothing left over to pay taxes with.
The bathhouse had been around for such a long time that they had permission to continue to draw water from the hot springs, but otherwise, they’d more or less been abandoned.
“People came to bathe here every day back when the water was still flowing...” the old woman said with a wistful smile. “It was so full of life and energy. But no water means no people...”
She gazed ahead of them into a large room. All the windows were shut so no light came in, but it appeared to be a hall of some sort. Nina and the others only saw an empty room, but perhaps the old woman could still see it as it was in the old days, bustling with people.
“I suppose there’s no reason for me to be here anymore...” she said. “That’s a sad thought. For us women, this was a place to share gossip. There’s no secrets when you’re all naked in the bath together. And the men always said the bath was a place where anyone could get along. They’d come here to make up after they got into fights then moan about how the hot water stung their scratches... Ah, here we are.”
The door to the bath was ajar. And the bath itself...was outside.
There was a stone path that was comfortable to walk on even barefoot and what seemed to be an area to wash off complete with a drainage channel. The area was hidden from view by tall walls and trees that kept it concealed even from the resort hotels in the distance. Farther back, they came to the bath itself.
It was far, far larger than Nina had imagined, and dotted with artfully arranged rocks. The worn and rounded edges were a testament to its many years of use. It was, of course, empty. Astrid went to inspect the magical pump, but she returned with a frown.
There was nothing wrong with it.