The crowd fell silent again.
There was a HUMMMM as the pump came to life, followed by a WHOOSH as the air was sucked out of the pipe, creating a vacuum. No one said a word.
Ten seconds passed. Then twenty.
“Aw, what?” came a voice from the crowd. “Nothing’s happen—”
GLUB.
The pipe trembled.
GLUB GLUB GLUB GLUB GLUB GLUB.
The shaking intensified until suddenly, the hose swelled. Starting from the end of the pipe, the swelling rushed down the hose and toward the magical pump, from which a great surge of muddy water gushed forth. It was hot and giving off billowing clouds of steam.
“Th-There it is...” someone gasped, and a cheer went up from the crowd.
“Look, water!”
“It’s water!”
“The hot spring’s back.”
“The hot spring!”
It was hard to make out through the steam, but the murky color of the water faded to a paler brown.
“O-Oh my gosh!”
“The hot spring’s back!”
“Aw man, I’d kill for a bath!”
“Oy, you hate washin’ yerself!”
While the children babbled excitedly, the old woman sat on the ground beside the magical pump. The water splashed her knees, but she didn’t seem to mind. She scooped up a handful from the ground and stared at it.
“It’s a miracle... A miracle...” she said. “To think I’d live to see the hot spring back again...”
Tears began to spill from her eyes.
“You’ll reopen the public bath, won’t you?” someone in the crowd called to her.
“We’ve been holding out for it!”
“I just wish we coulda helped you...”
Just like the dwarf and the old woman had said, increases in taxes had made it hard for everyone to get by. It was all they could do just to take care of themselves and their own families—but they were, at heart, good people. The way they cared for the old woman was proof of that.
“Good work, Tien,” Nina said.
“It was nothing special,” Tien said, taking the towel Nina proffered. A moment later, however, her stomach growled loudly.
“It’s time for lunch!” Nina declared.
“I-It is nothing. Chi was much, much hungrier than this when Chi first met Nina.”
Nina gave a little laugh, and when she brought out the mountain of sandwiches she’d made for lunch, Tien wolfed down enough for three people in no time. The children dug in with delight, and by the time they were finished, the bath was full of steaming water. One after another, they plunged in.
For the first time in two years, the bathhouse rang with a chorus of happy voices.
“Surely not... That grimy old bath is up and running again?”
“Yes, sir. I saw the hot spring flowing with my own eyes.”
Inside the gleaming hotel wrapped in gold leaves, the man Tien had twice sensed watching them was delivering his report—he worked for the golden hotel. Before him sat a portly man, the head of the merchant house that operated this very hotel, the Golden Sunrise Resort. They were at his office, which also doubled as the manager’s office.
“But how can that be? Didn’t our expert say that if we guzzled up the water from deep underground, the public bath would dry up?”
“I’m afraid I’m not sure, sir... Perhaps we could increase our water intake?”
“Not easily. We’d have to improve the power output of our magical pump, and that costs money...”
“Shall I sabotage the pump at the public bath, then?”
The portly man considered it for a moment. “A decent idea, but the timing is bad. The tax inspector from the Thundergard Accounting Bureau will be here in five days, and it’ll be a real bother if they catch wind of this business. Leave it for now. Even if the bath’s open, it won’t get any customers. They won’t be able to squeeze any more taxes out of them.”
“Very good, sir.”
“It won’t be long now. Once this audit shows that tax revenue is low across that whole area, it’s all but guaranteed to be included in this year’s redevelopment plan. Then we can build another hotel on top of that slum!”
The portly man roared with laughter.
“Things went well with the hot spring, huh?”
Astrid arrived back that evening to find the public bathhouse bustling with customers. And yet Emily and Tien, the two main architects of this success, still looked disheveled. Nina, meanwhile, was neat and tidy.
“What’s up, Emily?” Astrid asked. “You haven’t tried the bath? I thought you’d be first in line.”
“Well, y’know... I thought I should let the locals enjoy it first. I bet there’s all kinds of stuff they can only talk about here, memories of how it used to be... It’d be awkward with a stranger like me hanging around. I can wait a few days. It’s not like the hot spring’s going anywhere.”
“Huh...” Astrid said, surprised. “I didn’t know you had it in you, Emily. I’m genuinely impressed. There aren’t many who’d do that.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Embarrassed, Emily changed the subject. “A-Anyway, how’d it go with those magic items you were making?”
“Just who do you think you’re talking to? I’m a Freja Kingdom inventor.”
Emily turned to Nina. “Right, then. Your time to shine, Nina!”
“Then let’s get started!”
Nina and Tien were holding a large basket full of fruit, leaves, small fish, and shellfish that the children had gathered that morning.
“Wait, you’re going to cook that now? You guys are tough...”
“Don’t be silly, Astrid!” Emily said cheerfully. “That’s our dinner too—we’ve gotta make an effort.”
“There’s enough for a proper feast here,” Nina added.
“You hear that? Just so you know, this kind of food will go great with wine.”
At this, Astrid immediately perked up. “All right, I’m listening. I’ll go buy the drinks, then. How many bottles, do you think?”
Emily and Tien rolled their eyes at Astrid’s sudden enthusiasm, while Nina just smiled.
The four of them turned away from the bustling bathhouse and walked away.
Panther and the other children gathered at the bathhouse around noon the next day, looking even better groomed. Some told Nina about how much they loved the hot spring and how much fun it was, while others were excited about the cooking area she and Tien had set up in the huts.
“Did you bring what you gathered today?” Nina asked.
“Yeah. Um... There’s six coconuts and loads o’ little fish. And we cut some sugarcane with the sickle we got. What’re you guys gonna do with all this?”
“First, I’d like you to try this for me.”
“Eh?”
Nina held out a large leaf—one that the children had gathered yesterday—on which laid out were little, golden brown fish. Nina had seasoned them, coated them in batter, and deep fried them.
“Smells good... A-Ah! Ith’ot!”
“Oh dear, don’t burn yourself!” Nina said quickly. “I just fried them.”
But despite her warning, the children rushed in to grab a piece and gobbled them down. The fish fit perfectly in their tiny hands.
“Ith’ot, but yummy!”
“So crispy! You can even eat the bones!”
It was rave reviews all round.
“What about this, then?” Nina said. Tien brought over a plate of crackers, beige speckled with pinkish patches—although this world didn’t have a word like “cracker,” as this sort of snack, whether made from rice or wheat flour, wasn’t common.
“Wh-What’re those...?”
“Just try them,” Emily told him. “Then guess what’s in them!” The recipe had been her idea.
Panther took a cautious nibble, then exclaimed, “Whoa, I never tried nuthin’ like this before!”
“Huh? Panther, what’s in it? What’s in it?”
“This is octopus, right?” Panther said to Emily.
She grinned. “Got it in one! There was an octopus in what you brought us yesterday, so we used that.”