Chapter 38:
The Start of a New Journey
“Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?!?!”
Lenny’s initial response, when the Crimson Vow told her of their travel plans after the lunch rush, was as expected.
However, the response immediately following was more subdued than they imagined. “…I see.”
They had assumed the girl might start on some half-crazed rampage, and had been on their guard in the event they needed to subdue her, and yet…
“Why do you all look like you were expecting something else?!” Lenny asked, looking sullen. “Guests come to stay here, and someday they leave. That’s just life around here. Plus, this is better than having you leave your things here for safekeeping while you’re hunting and then never returning, or seeing you come home in bloody pieces. If you’re leaving on a journey in the
pursuit of knowledge, anyway. Plus, I’m sure you’ll be back again someday, won’t you? It’s not like this is farewell forever.”
She was handling this with much more maturity than expected. The Crimson Vow were moved.
Meanwhile, upon hearing “coming home in bloody pieces,” the guests enjoying rare steaks nearby suddenly stopped eating. Their forks hung frozen in place, overcome with a sense of unease.
“But won’t it be a bother for you to open your full bath, unlimited water deal once we’re gone?” Mile asked. “Even if you keep it partitioned, hiring people to supply the hot water is going to be a lot more expensive than us doing it, and you won’t really get much profit once you cover the costs of labor, will you? So when we aren’t here, running the baths is pretty much only a free amenity to attract customers. You really only make a profit on it when we’re here, don’t you?”
As Mile said this, Lenny’s words caught in her throat.
Indeed, when Mile and the others weren’t present, they managed by hiring orphans to draw water from the well, and paid mages in free food and drink to heat the water. This was only effective for the small portion of the bath Mile had previously partitioned off for them.
When they did use the entire bath, the full space was three by four meters, and fifty centimeters deep, which meant approximately six tons of water were required to fill it. That didn’t include the extra water needed for topping off the bath and showering. To achieve all this manually would mean carrying a ten-liter bucket from the well hundreds and hundreds of times. And one or two mages would be nowhere near enough to heat it all with fire magic.
However, if they partitioned the baths down to a small area, they had a space only one meter by one-and-a-half meters, fifty centimeters deep, to account for. If they limited the amount of water used for showers, even counting the reserve tank, producing that could be completed in a fraction of the time.
Even so, without the Crimson Vow’s magic, preparing this took a great amount of time and effort. And, because the baths would be so small, and the water would be limited, the number of guests coming through would be limited as well.
Therefore, the only time when they could open the full baths and expect them to be sufficiently profitable was when the Crimson Vow were present.
“Without us, managing the baths is going to be a pain. You can’t hike up the admission price much, so there won’t be much profit. It’ll take a lot of time and effort, and it’ll be a huge burden on you in particular, won’t it, Lenny? Honestly it might be better if I just tore the whole thing down…”
“You can’t!” Lenny cut in, interrupting Mile’s worrying. “We were never struggling in the first place. This is a family business, so there are no general labor costs, after all. But, well, previously we were nothing but your standard tiny inn for commoners. Now, thanks to those baths, and all the work you’ve done attracting customers for us, we’ve got a reputation, and we’re really on the up-and-up. So, if we were to lose both you all and the baths…”
Lenny paused and then continued.
“We are an inn. The people who stay in this inn are people who don’t have homes in this city. Most of them are travelers and outsiders who might stay here only once. We were always prepared for the fact that you all might leave us someday. So I decided a while ago that when the time came, I would do whatever it took to keep those baths running and keep this business thriving. No matter how hard or painful it is for me.”
Lenny’s eyes flashed with determination.
“Just know that this girl’s never gonna give up. No matter what happens!”
***
“Mile. What in the world are you doing?”
Later that evening in their room, the other three watched, as Mile, clad only in her underwear and a cape, practiced some strange motion.
“Oh, well, I figured if I was Etou Ranze, I’d better get ready for my naked cape dance, since the ending is coming up soon…”
“We have no idea what you’re talking about!!”
***
Late that night, Mile softly stepped out of bed and quietly slipped from the room. The other three quietly followed behind her. They remembered to include Pauline this time.
It wasn’t as though they assumed Mile was going to run away. Unlike last time, Mile was still in her pajamas.
Reina thought to herself, What is she going to do if she runs into someone?!
Indeed, a lady should never present herself before a gentleman the way she was dressed.
The others had the forethought to don their own capes, so they were safe. Or so Reina thought, anyway.
Mile didn’t activate her location magic until she was already in a safe place. It was a bother to do so. Besides, having a surprise now and then added spice to life.
Of course, she wouldn’t hesitate to use her skills if it came down to it.
Because of that, Mile didn’t notice the others tailing her as she crept along. As it turned out, the place she was heading to was…
…The baths?
Indeed, it was the bathhouse in the courtyard.
Is she hoping to take one last commemorative bath? Reina wondered, but Mile didn’t enter the structure, instead stopping just outside.
And then, she silently began casting earth magic.
A hole opened in the ground, and an earthen enclosure formed around it. That earth then solidified, transforming into something like rock. Mile summoned a small ball of flame and casually dropped it into the hole.
After peeking into the hole and silently confirming something, Mile turned with a look of satisfaction to head back to the room. And then…
“Wh-what are you all doing here?!”
“You have to stop sneaking off on your own! We’re your allies, aren’t we?! For better or worse, we discuss everything as one, do everything as one, and take responsibility as one!” Reina chastised. Mavis and Pauline nodded emphatically.
“I’m sorry.” Mile hung her head in shame, but somehow, she also seemed rather happy.
***
“Thank you for helping us out all this time!”
“Please, you girls have been such a big help to us, in so many ways! You brought us souvenirs from your jobs, built us the baths, and brought in customers. Thanks to you, our vacancy ratio has gone way down, and out profits have gone up. You’re our saviors, really. I can’t thank you enough for keeping my Lenny company, as well.”
Receiving such lavish praise from the matron of the inn made the girls blush.
And so, with the matron, the owner, Lenny, and all the guests who were staying there to see them off, the Crimson Vow left the inn behind.
“So, they’re gone, then,” said the matron calmly.
“Yeah, looks like they’re really gone…” said her husband in kind.
Meanwhile Lenny, who had been all smiles, suddenly scrunched up her whole face.
“W-we-weeeeeehhhhh…” She clung to her mother, shoving her face against her.
Her mother patted her gently upon the head, but Lenny’s tears didn’t stop flowing.
Several hours later…
The moment Lenny learned of the well that had suddenly appeared near the bathhouse, she was overjoyed.
There was another well rather near here, which meant an underground water vein had to be running through the area. This meant that, if you dug down far enough, there was a strong chance you would hit water. Of course, even knowing that, they had never possessed the financial means to do so.
But, with this new well, the labors of drawing water would decrease immensely.
Well, no, the amount of labor would remain unchanged, but there was almost no distance that it had to be carried. Which meant the amount they would need to pay the orphans would go way down… No, those children were far too pitiful. So instead, maybe they could aim to open the full baths and earn some independent profit from that?
“Aha… Aha ha ha ha ha ha…”
Then Lenny had a thought. Miss Mile, you could have made a cover and a bucket too, while you were at it.
Naturally, Mile hadn’t thought that far ahead.
As she walked along with the others, Mile thought: I really should have attached some useful apparatus for drawing the water out of the well, huh?
However, such mechanisms easily broke down. And until they were repaired, the whole structure would be useless. Plus, if there was a special mechanism at work, then merchants or people in power might set their sights on it.
So, what if it was something unique, impossible to reproduce?
What if she made a golem that could only move its upper half, its lower half fixed in place? Just like a factory robot?
It would be the world’s first ever robot. Naturally, she would have to name it “Robby.”
However, the people of this world had no concept of things like robots. If things went poorly, it would be considered a monster. Less “Robby” and more “Forbidden Robot.”
Sadly, there wasn’t a person alive in this world who would understand her clever wordplay.
Once again, Mile shed a tear over the cruel world she now lived in.
“What are you moping for? Come on, let’s go! This is the start of a new journey! We’re going to grow our reputation even more and seize that B-rank!”
“And after that, we’ll climb right up to A-rank. I can be a knight!”
“I can save up a ton of money and even start my very own company!”
“…Um, all I really want to do is find happiness as a normal, average girl…”
“Let’s do this, everyone!”
“Yeah!!!”
“Um…”
No one appeared to hear a word Mile said.
***
A few days later, Dr. Clairia appeared at the inn’s doorstep.
“Pardon me, but I heard the all-female hunting party, the Crimson Vow, was staying at this inn?”
“Hm? Who might you be? Do you have some business with those young ladies?”
It wasn’t at all strange for people to come barging in, hoping to repay or meddle with the Crimson Vow. This one must be hoping to join their party , Lenny thought to herself, but she handled the visitor just the same as any other.
Which is to say, she masked her faint disdain with polite words and a curt reply.
“Ah, do forgive me. Please let them know that Dr. Clairia stopped by.” With the wisdom that came with age, the scholar knew to use polite phrasing when it came to professional conversation. Even with a child.
However, the response she received was cold and business-like. “The Crimson Vow have left this inn.”
“Wh…”
It hadn’t even been a week since their job had been completed. Dr. Clairia was stunned. Because it had been such a short amount of time, she had assumed they would still be on a break.
“Wh-what sort of job did they take? Where did they go?”
“I don’t know. Even if I did know, I would never give away information about our guests. We take pride in respecting our customers’ privacy.”
Because this was a professional conversation, Dr. Clairia had been concise in her wording. Even so, the fact remained that she had underestimated the girl. So she was stunned at Lenny’s incredibly mature manner.
“Ah… I apologize. In that case, would you at least be able to tell me when you believe they will return?”
“I don’t know.”
“Are you sure that there’s nothing…?” The professor was growing desperate, so Lenny decided to tell her only what was safe to tell.
“I said that the Crimson Vow left . I didn’t say they went out . In other words, they departed this inn to go on a journey. They may never even return.”
“Wh…”
Dr. Clairia, shaken to her core, rushed silently from the inn and ran straight to the Hunters’ Guild at full tilt.
“Where did the Crimson Vow go?!” Dr. Clairia screamed as she burst into the guildhall. Her polite speech had flown out the window.
“They left on a journey, just a few days ago…” the receptionist, who was in the middle of assisting another guest, replied to this meddlesome newcomer.
“Wh-where?! Where did they go?!”
The air Dr. Clairia was giving off suggested that she needed this information immediately and didn’t care what else might be happening around her.
“I don’t know. It didn’t seem like they had a destination in mind. I heard they were just going to wander in the pursuit of knowledge.”
“Th-this can’t be…” Dr. Clairia slumped to her knees. “That girl’s secrets! The mystery of her powers! I spent so much time coming up with the perfect jokes to help pass the time!”
The scholar stood, gritting her teeth.
“I won’t let you go… I won’t let you get away from meeeeee!!!”
And so, the Crimson Vow walked on.
In search of a new town, a new adventure, and some new gold.
And of course, “normal happiness.”
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