The Vanquish Domain—and in particular, the lands surrounding Lake Sitting—boasted some of the best natural hot springs in all of Yugria. The finest of these lay within the grounds of the Vanquish holiday estate. The estate had been purchased and remodeled by Godolphen von Vanquish himself, and was the sole luxury the usually frugal Sage allowed himself. With three stories (or four, if you included the generous basement), the main building alone featured nearly two thousand square meters of usable floor space. Godolphen’s earlier description of the place as “not particularly spacious” couldn’t have been further from the truth, and a passing traveler could have easily mistaken the so-called secondary estate as a castle.
In fact, it had once been the primary residence of a great noble who’d ruled over the nearby lands in antiquity, and had housed over a hundred people—most of them servants—in its prime. There was slightly less room to house quite the same number of people these days, however, after Godolphen (well known for being a hot springs enthusiast) had redesigned the place to allow for the bathing areas to be expanded and a number of saunas to be installed. Per the Sage’s wishes, the estate usually functioned as a sort of rehabilitation facility for wounded soldiers, offering them lodging and access to the springs at rates nominal enough that it was essentially a charity.
The estate boasted seven large bathing areas, ranging from vast tubs made of wood or stone to replicas of the simple cauldron-style baths used during military campaigns, and four roomy saunas of various temperatures. The most popular area among the students was the open-air bath on the estate’s rooftop, which looked out over Lake Sitting.
However, in addition to those seven luxurious baths, there was one more bathing area hidden within the Vanquish estate...
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“Still, to think he’d prefer a shabby servant’s bath like this... Allen’s tastes are as baffling as ever.”
“Indeed—but really, could we ever have expected anything to the contrary?”
An “IN USE” sign hung on a simple wooden door, in front of which Fey and Jewel were standing, bathing supplies in hand. The previous night, Allen had sampled every bath on offer at the estate, and earlier that morning, he’d boasted to Tudeo about the secret, unisex bath the caretaker had shown him. Some mild eavesdropping had revealed this secret bath was apparently the finest of them all, and was also where Allen planned to spend the morning. Standing before it now, though, the two girls hesitated, not quite able to bring themselves to take that final step.
“Perhaps you should return to the others, Jewel. We Dragoons are rather well known for our indecency, but the noble Reverence family has a far more virtuous reputation, no? If word got out about you bathing with a male classmate, it could lead to some rather unpleasant rumors...” Fey said in a clearly mocking tone.
Jewel didn’t reply but instead flipped the sign around to the other side, so that it now read “VACANT.” “Whatever do you mean, Fey? This will be merely an accident, of course—I simply didn’t realize anyone was in the bathing area already...” She smiled sweetly. “And on the contrary, I’d actually rather welcome a few unseemly rumors, since I have no intention of marrying into the Sterite clergy—despite what a certain archbishop might think. But what about you, Fey? Your voice is a little high-pitched... Are you perhaps nervous?”
Fey giggled. “Me, nervous? Come now, Jewel. Do you take me for the kind of girl who’d get nervous over something like this? Especially when it’s just an accident, like you said...”
The two girls shared another giggle before turning back toward the door. Both took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, and the faint tremors in their hands quickly stilled. Such resolve would be impossible for most girls their age, but Fey and Jewel were not most girls. Perhaps their determination came from their upbringing as the daughters of marquesal families, burdened with immense pressure since before they could even walk—or perhaps it was simply the determination of women whose hearts had already chosen their mark.
Fey flipped the sign again, and in they went, exchanging idle chatter as they shed their clothes without even a hint of hesitation. Now completely naked, Fey swept her hair behind her ears, slung a towel over her shoulder, and threw open the second door that led to the bathing area proper with a dramatic clatter.
“Huh? No one’s here...” Fey said, frowning.
Indeed, the bathing area was completely empty.
“How odd,” Jewel replied. “There was a robe in the changing area, though... Perhaps someone left it behind by mistake?”
Slight disappointment aside, it would be silly to leave without sampling the bath, so the two girls continued to make lighthearted conversation as they quickly lowered themselves into the amber-colored water. The servant’s bath was a partially open-air one, with a thatched roof but no walls apart from the one at the entry. The small wooden veranda which surrounded the small tub extended slightly farther out to the front, beyond which lay the untouched mountainside.
It was only a minute or two later when Fey noticed something unusual about that veranda, though—namely, that the section leading to the mountainside was slightly damp.
“Well, would you look at that? Someone’s been here recently,” she said, giggling excitedly. Water gushed out of the tub as she shot to her feet, draping the nearby towel over her shoulders once more. Though her lips had curved into a smile, her eyes had narrowed into those of a predator who’d just sensed the most delicious prey.
Jewel, dripping wet, slipped on a pair of the guest sandals conveniently placed at the edge of the veranda and strode onto the sloping mountainside. She’d only taken a few steps before she crouched down in a most unladylike manner, inspecting the ground like a forensic investigator at a murder scene.
“Footprints... They’re still fresh too,” she called out, flashing Fey an uncommonly dangerous smile of her own.