Chapter 6: Constructing a Hot Spring
“It’s really flowing!”
Water started to gush from the ground with billowing clouds of steam, signifying that it was hot.
After Ruri took Heat to Knies per his wishes, he made good on his promise. He must have really enjoyed himself. He’d been in a good mood ever since boozing with women surrounding him. Even after he returned to the castle, he remained in high spirits, basking in the afterglow of the experience.
Per their agreement, Ruri asked him to build the hot spring, and despite his usual arrogant attitude, he willingly complied. Honestly speaking, part of Ruri had doubted that her idea would actually come about, but the spirits truly exceeded human standards. She was surprised and impressed as she watched water gush up from the ground, releasing hot steam in its wake.
Construction workers and onlookers who’d caught wind of the Beloved’s plan stood all around. They gazed in surprise as hot water erupted from the earth. Impressively enough, the manager of the building office from the Nation of the Beast King seemed to be even more ecstatic than Ruri. He would undoubtedly be one of the spring’s regular patrons. Furthermore, news of the spring would spread by word of mouth from those who saw this scene. It would serve as a good advertisement.
With the most important part out of the way, the motivated manager urged his workers to get the lead out and hustle. At this rate, the building might be completed ahead of schedule.
Ruri hurried over to the commercial district, looking as if she were late to something. She was raring to start the next phase of her project.
Since she was now frequently visiting town, the townspeople had gotten used to seeing her. This made it easier for her to get around because it caused less of a commotion than when she first started coming. It seemed to also make life easier for Ewan and the other soldiers guarding her.
As Ruri walked through the commercial district, she looked around, searching for something.
“Maybe she still hasn’t come back yet?” Ruri wondered aloud. Her search was unexpectedly proving to be difficult, but before long, she managed to find the person she was looking for.
“Amarna-san!”
Amarna stopped opening up shop and lifted her head. “Oh, if it isn’t you, Lady Beloved. Good afternoon.”
“Good afternoon. I thought you’d be back to the kingdom by now. I’m glad you are.”
Amarna had been in the Nation of the Beast King at the same time Ruri had been. When Ruri met her there, Amarna had mentioned that she would be returning to the Nation of the Dragon King soon. This gave Ruri a good idea of the time frame.
“Might you need something from me?” Amarna asked.
“Yes, I need you to help me with something, Amarna-san!”
“Help you? I’d love to, but I have work I must attend to...”
Amarna was a penny-pincher. She wouldn’t work unless it meant she could line her pockets. Despite the smile on her face, she couldn’t hide the fact that she was annoyed by the request. However, her penny-pinching ways were exactly why Ruri was confident she would accept her offer.
“Would you like to manage a hot spring with me?”
“Manage a hot spring?”
“Yes, I’m building one as we speak,” Ruri said, launching into a fiery explanation about the hot spring under construction.
“So I see. A mixed hot spring and amusement facility? While I’m not sure what to think about the spring, I believe the attractions will bring in many people. Amusement is a valuable asset.”
“Right, right. But running it all by myself would be way too hard. I also can’t walk around the city without security detail, meaning I can’t always be around. That’s where you come in, Amarna-san. I’ll be the owner, and you’ll be my manager. What do you say? Please?”
“But why me?” Amarna asked.
“Well, for one thing, there aren’t any other merchants that I know. And since you were in the Nation of the Beast King for a while, I presume you know a fair share about hot springs.”
“Well, I did pick up a little from my stay over there, yes. And I was intrigued by hot springs and their ability to draw in tourists.”
Amarna had gone all the way to the Nation of the Beast King so she could make money. She was also aware of the power hot baths had to attract people. That was why it had to be Amarna. It was hard to entrust the people of the Nation of the Dragon King with a hot spring when the idea itself wasn’t known to the public yet. She wanted someone with a certain degree of familiarity to aid her.
“By the way, this would be your salary,” Ruri said, writing a value on a piece of paper and slipping it over to Amarna. Amarna’s eyes bulged out of her skull. “I can throw in a bonus depending on turnover. Plus, you can sell your merchandise within the facilities. All of those sales would go directly to you.”
The merchant’s eyes sparkled. She quickly grasped Ruri’s hand, saying, “A pleasure to be doing business with you, boss. I will carry out my duties as manager to the fullest!”
Ruri grasped Amarna’s hand back. “Let’s spread the good word of hot springs all over this kingdom!”
“Yes, we will be raking in the cash!”
Now with her somewhat money-hungry manager secured, Ruri jumped right into management talk with Amarna.
“There are going to be amusement facilities in addition to the springs themselves, correct?” Amarna asked. “I believe that will make for quite a large establishment, but do you plan on hiring other people?”
Ruri nodded. “I think I would need to. But who would want to work in a place so foreign to them?” Ruri pondered.
“No, the fact it’s being run by a Beloved makes it more likely that people will be fighting for the opportunity to work there.”
This facility would be run by a Beloved herself. Many would come pawing for the job, even if the establishment was a tad suspicious, as long as it meant getting acquainted with a Beloved. Amarna assured it would practically cause riots. While it was nice to know there was no shortage of workers, Ruri didn’t want to incite fighting in the streets because of it.
“Still, we’ll need other personnel,” Ruri stated. It would be difficult for Amarna to run the place all by herself.
Amarna then proposed, rather formally, “Lady Beloved, would you consider hiring people from the slums?”
“Slums? There are slums in the royal capital?”
“Why, yes, of course. The bigger the city, the greater the gap between the rich and the poor. Although the nation has various countermeasures set in place, it’s difficult to escape poverty once you’ve fallen into it. I used to be from the slums myself. I may lead a normal life now, but that is a privilege only a handful can obtain.”
Ruri wondered if this was the reason Amarna was so money-hungry. She must have worked very hard to escape a life of poverty.
Amarna continued, “If you have no issue with people from the slums, would you mind giving them a chance to work their way up?”
“No, I wouldn’t mind. But slums or not, I need people who are honest workers, so I’d like to interview them.”
“Yes, understandable,” Amarna said, nodding. “I’ll go and find some promising candidates, then. Believe it or not, I have some clout in the slums. I would appreciate you meeting with whoever I bring in.”
“Yes, absolutely. I’ll talk to you later, then.”
They then parted ways that day, making plans to meet later.
When the day finally came to conduct the interviews, Amarna brought a selection of people, male and female alike. They were all younger than Ruri expected. Rather, half of them looked like children, which took her aback.
“Amarna-san, are these children...” Ruri started.
“Yes, the candidates!” Amarna excitedly answered.
“But they’re children, aren’t they? Shouldn’t kids this age be going to school, not working?” Ruri asked, knowing that the hot spring would essentially operate during the daytime. These children looked like they’d be preoccupied with school, so it was unlikely they’d be able to work.
“No, these children don’t attend school; they’re regular workers.”
Ruri allowed Amarna to explain in detail. The realistic plight of the poor in this world made her want to rub her temples. If their parents were poor, children started working at an early age to help support their families. Because of this, they neither attended school nor received a proper education. And without that education, they wouldn’t be able to find decent jobs, which would toss them into the vicious, inescapable cycle of poverty.
However, working with a Beloved would raise their stock. Amarna wanted to hire them because it would increase their chances of getting decent work in the future. Every child Ruri spoke to came across as serious and diligent. None of them were lazy by any stretch of the imagination. One good chance might change their lives drastically. This was probably a little two-faced of her, but if her desire to create a hot spring could help someone else, then it was like killing two birds with one stone. Ruri decided to hire all of them.
There was just one problem. All of them were uneducated. So uneducated, in fact, that they struggled with simple addition. She couldn’t let them calculate money. Customer service also proved a tad difficult.
Ruri racked her brain. It was hard to turn any of them down when Amarna practically begged her to hire them. These were very motivated children, and Ruri wanted to give them positions. After some thought, she came to a simple conclusion—if they’re not educated, why not educate them?
The hot spring was still under construction, and luck would have it that it would take a little more time for it to be completed. She could simply use that time to educate the kids so they were equipped to serve patrons. First, she would teach them math so that they could calculate money properly. Then, she would teach them how to write while Amarna taught them customer service etiquette. This would make it easier for them to find their next job when they were ready to move on.
Before all that, though, she needed to do something about their appearances. None of them had the money for new clothes, so they were all in tattered, patchwork outfits.
Ruri had made up her mind. If she was going to do this, she knew she couldn’t go halfway. She needed to go all in and give these kids a complete makeover.
◆ ◆ ◆ ◆
Ever since the Church of God’s Light issue was resolved, life had been relatively peaceful in the capital. There had been a few small skirmishes here and there, but no major crimes or notable conflicts to report.
In contrast to the peaceful capital, the castle was preparing for the upcoming tournament and things were hectic. The busiest among all of them was Jade, who was swamped with paperwork as usual. He was giving off such a negative aura that his frustration was virtually palpable. The reason? He had come down with an acute case of Ruri Deficiency. His busy schedule played a part, but that wasn’t the entire reason. It was because he barely got any petting time in with Ruri over the past few days.
Normally, Ruri would be curled up on his lap while he worked. It was the only thing that helped him work through the monotony of tedious deskwork with peace of mind. However, in recent days, Ruri had been going out to make her supposed hot spring and rarely stopped by the royal office.
Jade couldn’t shake the feeling that she was using this project as an excuse to avoid him, but digging any deeper into it only made him sadder, so he kept it to himself. After all, if she was avoiding him, there was only one reason he could think of. He started to think that perhaps he’d been too hasty in handing over his dragonheart after all. Jade wanted to feel secure letting Ruri go off elsewhere, but if she was avoiding him, then that made everything he did pointless.
Jade naturally had no intention of letting Ruri slip away from him, but he was growing impatient from lack of petting time. This was compounded by the fact that Jade was too busy to go and see her. If it weren’t for that, he’d go into town with her and be there twenty-four seven. He knew that no one would try to court Ruri while she had his dragonheart, but Ewan reported that she was getting along quite well with the construction workers. He was not at all amused by the fact that she was getting cozy with random men who-knows-where.
Jade’s wish would be for her to just stay in the castle, but Ruri was such an active person that it seemed entirely unlikely. “Maybe I should confine her,” he muttered aloud. Jade knew that some dragonkin wouldn’t let their mates out of the house, to keep them from the prying eyes of other men, and he finally understood how they felt.
Jade’s whispered desire fell upon the quiet office. Claus, who was also working in the same room, heard it clearly though.
“Your Majesty, you’ve let quite a dangerous comment slip from your mouth.”
“It was a joke.”
No, anyone with eyes could see the dead serious look on his face.
“Even if you were able to confine Ruri, the spirits would immediately aid in her escape, Sire.”
“Yes, I’m well aware,” snapped Jade. He sometimes wished Ruri was a regular human being, but he wouldn’t admit it.
“She’s finally back home after all this time too. I swear, that Ruri...” Jade lamented, his hopes of spending time with her dashed because of her active pursuit of building a hot spring. He found the sight of Ruri happily running back and forth charming, but he wanted her to slow down and sit still as well.
“I can understand how Master Quartz felt,” Jade admitted.
“Yes, even among dragonkin, the way he treated his mate was especially overcareful.”
Quartz, the former Dragon King, had a mate of his own and was famous for carefully keeping her away from any men—his aides included. In fact, he didn’t let another man lay eyes on her, not even after she had passed.
“It’s a relief to see him doing well,” Claus whispered.
Jade knew whom he was referring to and gave a small nod.
When Quartz had lost his mate, he started to waste away to an unsightly degree. Everyone feared that he might take his own life. They placed him under constant surveillance to ensure that wouldn’t come to pass. Be that as it may, what kept Quartz alive was a promise he shared with his mate. That promise made him give up the throne and leave the Nation of the Dragon King.
Everyone knew it was an extremely rash and unrealistic promise, but Quartz had faith. He had faith it would be fulfilled. In fact, it might have been the only thing he had to cling to. After all, that promise was the only ray of hope Quartz had.
Once Quartz decided he would leave the kingdom, all of his aides expressed concern. They were afraid he’d just go on to vanish without a trace. But everyone feared that stopping Quartz, who was clinging to his last thread of hope, would break him mentally. No one could oppose him because of that, so all they could do was watch him fly off into the sunset. That was just how much Quartz’s mate meant to him.
Both Jade and Claus remembered the events of that time well. They lamented that they hadn’t been able to do anything to help him.
Quartz’s loss and departure wound up affecting Jade greatly from then on. He started to fear the male dragonkin’s nature to dedicate that much to their mate. He thought maybe it would be best if he didn’t have a mate at all if that was the trouble it caused. As a result, he’d continuously rebuffed the elders and their hopes of matrimony. However, he ended up finding Ruri, rendering his efforts useless. He had no idea what it would all yield, but now that he had Ruri, Jade was painfully aware of how Quartz felt when he lost his mate.
After pondering what would have happened if he was in Quartz’s shoes, Jade felt it was a miracle that Quartz came back with the smile he’d lost when he initially left. Jade couldn’t comprehend how much pain he must have endured in order to regain his smile.
Just then, there was a knock at the door and in came the man himself—Quartz.
“Hello, hello, hello! Hard at work, are we?” Quartz greeted in an awfully cheerful tone.
Upon closer inspection, Quartz’s clothes were covered in vicious bloodstains. Ruri would have shrieked her head off if she were in the office. Nevertheless, Jade and Claus were unconcerned. His wounds were nothing by dragonkin standards. Still, the bloodstains had them curious.
“What happened to your outfit, if I may ask?” Claus inquired.
“There were a lot of hot-blooded soldiers in the training grounds, you see. I was just giving them some practice in preparation for the tournament,” Quartz explained.
“And there were no...casualties, I take it?” Claus asked, slightly concerned. Although he was the former king, he was still the individual who’d claimed the honor by defeating the dragonkin general, someone who loved the thrill of battle more than eating three square meals a day. Needless to say, he was amazingly skilled.
“I’m no fool. I know how to hold back. Granted, I don’t think they’ll be walking upright for a while. Anyway, that didn’t provide me with enough exercise, so I dropped by to see if Jade could help me out, but...” Quartz trailed off, his eyes moving over to the stacks of papers piled on Jade’s desk. “That seems like a no-go, eh?”
Jade nodded, looking regretful. “Yes, correct. And thanks to all this work, I can’t even spend time with Ruri.”
“Inevitable, what with the tournament on the horizon, yeah,” Quartz concurred. “But are you going to be all right as you are? If you don’t maintain your physique, I’m worried Finn might end up wiping the floor with you in the tournament.”
“You needn’t worry for me. I’ve been exercising my body in between work.” As the current Dragon King, he couldn’t put on a disgraceful fight. Since Finn was the top contender, he was much more dedicated to training than Jade. Jade couldn’t afford to lose to him.
“Well, that’s good, then. By the way, what’s Ruri up to?” Quartz asked.
“She said she’s teaching children in town. She’s educating them so she can hire them to work at her hot spring,” Jade replied.
“Well, that sounds like she’s up to something fun. I guess I should go check on how she’s doing. I’ll make sure to have fun for you, Jade,” Quartz teased.
Jade couldn’t be with her right now even if he wanted. If he could, he would throw everything by the wayside just to go to her, but Jade’s character wouldn’t allow for that. The fact that Quartz made that comment with that knowledge in mind was playfully mean-spirited.
Jade’s hand tensed so much from that remark that he snapped the pen he was holding in two.
“Welp, keep up the good work!” Quartz said as he walked off at a jaunty pace, leaving Jade to his bitterness.
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