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After a few hours of steady work as I chatted with the goddesses, I noticed the sky was already painted with the pinks and oranges of dusk. While I didn’t know the exact time of day, I was certain it was nearly nightfall. Still, it was well worth the effort.
“All dooone!” I whooped, looking up at the large, single-floor building that rose up before us. “Man, we sure finished that way faster than I expected.”
Aruna, Fouré, and Cult had all been amazing at construction. Their immense strength let them transport tons of lumber all at once, and since they were fairies, they could fly anywhere they wanted while working. Height wasn’t an issue for them.
On top of that, Cult was also processing the wood into perfect lumber, so we were able to build the house faster and better than if we’d used ordinary wood. She truly was a goddess—mere mortals wouldn’t be able to pull that off.
“Good job, Hisui. We made a pretty good house, didn’t we?” Aruna said triumphantly.
“Nice work, Huey! It’s as fancy as I imagined!” chirped Fouré.
“Wonderful!” Cult clapped her hands together. “It’s sturdy enough to withstand a punch from Aruna, as long as she holds back.”
I smiled. “Thanks for working so hard on it, everyone. It wouldn’t have been possible to make a house this nice without all of you pitching in.” I then thanked each of the goddesses in turn. “Thanks, Fouré, for drawing up the design plans with me, and thanks to Cult too—you helped make sure it looked as good as it does.” Each of them smiled pleasantly in satisfaction.
“Let’s work on furniture and decorations tomorrow,” I continued. “I’d like to set up a large bath too. We could make it outside while we’re at it—an open-air bath might be fun. It’d be awesome if a hot spring welled up here too...”
That being said, there was a lake literally right in front of me. I doubted there’d be anything as convenient as a hot spring source around here. But using regular old hot water to warm up would be plenty comfy anyway. As long as I could clean myself, I’d have nothing to complain about.
“A hot spring? I’ve heard of those. It’s a pool of hot water mortals sit in, isn’t it?”
My ears pricked up at Cult’s mumbling. Her words hadn’t been meant for me, but given her comment, it sounded like the goddesses knew of them. That must mean that, even in a sword-and-sorcery fantasy world, even hot springs were a common sight. The Lycoris estate didn’t have one, but maybe there were other towns that were famed for their hot springs.
“Is it different from just putting hot water into a bath?” Fouré wondered aloud.
“It is a little different, Fouré. Water’s ordinarily heated to make a bath, but a hot spring is filled with warm water that wells up naturally from deep underground. People can’t really make hot springs, per se.”
Personally, as far as bathing went, I didn’t think there was much difference between hot springs and filling a super huge tub with hot water. The real difference was how relaxing they were—the comfort provided by a bath and a hot spring were ostensibly on different levels. But as I’d only gone to a hot spring a handful of times in my previous life, I wasn’t entirely certain of the details.
“Hmm... So natural baths and created ones are different, huh? Is there something special about hot water from a spring?” asked Fouré, looking at me.
“Apparently it can do things like melt your fatigue away or clear up your skin... At least, that’s what I’ve heard. I don’t really know for sure,” I clarified.
“That’s amazing! Then all we need to do is have Aruna dig some holes in the ground! Let’s try to find a hot spring!”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Aruna sighed. “If you could find them just anywhere, then Hisui wouldn’t have bothered bringing it up. He’s obviously being wistful about having one because we can’t just find one here.”
“Since we’re directly next to a lake, we can’t just start digging holes wherever we want,” I agreed. “Even if we searched only in safe places that wouldn’t affect the landscape much, it’d take a lot of time.”
I was pretty sure the odds of discovering a hot spring here were just about zero—it would just be too convenient a coincidence. And the farther we got from the house we’d literally just built, the harder it’d be to maintain a hot spring even if we did find one.
“I’ll do my best to dig one up anyway! I wanna try a hot spring bath sooo bad!”
“If Hisui makes a barrier artifact, its upkeep shouldn’t be too hard to take care of... But no. Denied.”
“Awww...”
Aruna shot Fouré’s excitement down instantly. The latter’s expression darkened, and she glared at Aruna. But Aruna hadn’t meant to just shoot down Fouré’s idea because it was irrational—she immediately followed up with a suggestion of her own.
“If you want a hot spring so badly, we should simply have Cult create one.”
“You want me to make one?” Cult blinked.
“Oh! That’s a fantastic idea! Cult could make the perfect hot spring, and it’d be sooo easy to take care of if we made it here, right next to the house, Huey!”
“Can we really just go ahead and make a hot spring like that? We haven’t even asked Cult if she’d do it.”
“Hee hee. I don’t mind making one in the least. This house belongs to the four of us, after all—a hot spring of my own making wouldn’t be out of the ordinary here.”
I felt a little bad that the hard work was being shoved onto Cult’s plate, but I honestly wanted a hot spring too. Given that Cult didn’t refuse the job of making one, though, I decided to take her up on her offer.
“That’d be great, Cult. Thank you.”
“Think nothing of it. Anyway, let’s discuss what sort of hot spring we want to make.”
Fouré’s hand shot into the air. “Ooh, me first, me first! We have to make it so the water freshens up our skin and makes it pretty!” she exclaimed, passionately pushing for her idea.
“Skin care is a pretty common benefit of hot springs,” I said, nodding.
“I’d like the hot spring to take care of physical exhaustion well—the stronger the effect, the better. The aches and pains from training are best cured with a natural remedy,” remarked Aruna.
“But if Cult’s making it, can it really be called natural?”
“Of course.”
It technically wouldn’t be man-made, I supposed. But I figured having a way to wash away fatigue would be great, so I approved Aruna’s request as well.
“Dear one, do you know of any other effects I ought to incorporate?”
“Let me think... I guess some hot springs are said to be good for your health?”
“Is that different from the physical rejuvenation Aruna asked for?”
“I guess they are pretty much the same. Hmm, what else,” I mused, trying to think. “Maybe they improve your metabolism or repair frayed nerves?”
“I don’t get it,” groaned Fouré.
Urgh. Guess that was a clear-cut rejection of my idea. I shouldn’t be surprised—those were kind of abstract concepts people might not be able to wrap their minds around just from hearing...and to be honest, I didn’t really know exactly what I meant either.
“Well, for now, I’ll create a hot spring with Fouré’s and Aruna’s two requests in mind. With my power, it’ll be done in a jiffy.”
“As for the location,” I said pensively, “how about we put it behind the house?”
“Very well.”
With my guidance, Cult created a large hot spring. There was enough space in it to fit at least ten people with room to spare, which we managed to pull off through her ability to manipulate the properties of objects.
The spring was crafted so it was already filled with hot water. Steam wafted off its surface in billowing puffs, spreading a mysterious fragrance through the air.
“The water...smells like flowers?”
“The hot springs I’ve seen before have a rather caustic smell that I don’t enjoy, so I decided to change that as well. The effects of the water are still as requested. I only took the liberty of adjusting the scent.”
“Thanks Cult, I should’ve known you’d pick up on something like that. I’m pretty sure anyone else would be shocked to know how much you put yourself out there for me.”
Cult had made the hot spring such that the bath was fed directly from underground. I touched the water briefly and noticed she’d also already adjusted the temperature—it was probably around forty to forty-three degrees Celsius. Perfect.
“All right! Let’s jump in!” chirped Fouré.
“Huh? But I was just about to head back to town,” I replied, confused.