Epilogue: Let This Grieving Soul Retire, Part Five
The town of Suls was encircled by a legion of knights clad in black armor and mounted atop horses. Flapping wildly in the wind was a flag with three crossed blades—the seal of Lord Gladis. A man in resplendent armor dismounted from the lead horse and looked up at the wall encompassing the town.
“What am I looking at?” he muttered.
“You sure are making a late arrival,” said a voice.
“Who are you?!” the knight yelled.
A shadow appeared under the town gate, to which the knights all drew their blades.
“Is that any way to greet someone? Terribly rude, considering we did your work for you. Well, it was just done on the side during our vacation.”
Sitri patted Killiam’s shoulders as it heaved with anticipation. With a grin, she drew out the quest brief and tossed it on the ground. The knight captain was shocked when he saw the seal of his lord on the document.
“This is hardly the sort of matter that requires us to cooperate with others. Since you dallied, we went ahead and crushed Barrel.”
“Cooperate? Are you saying you’re from Grieving Souls?!”
“Indeed. My name is Sitri Smart, I’m in charge of negotiating on behalf of our party. I’ve heard all about your heroic exploits.”
She had a mellow demeanor that didn’t suggest she was accustomed to violent work. Her short pink hair fluttered lightly in the wind. The captain of the knights was taken aback by her placid, endearing smile.
His subordinates also began to waver. They had heard that a named quest had been issued to treasure hunters. They weren’t enthused by the idea of cooperating with the types who preferred plundering treasure vaults to maintaining public safety, but they didn’t let their personal feelings interfere with their duty.
They were completely baffled. As far as they knew, the hunters hadn’t even arrived in the Gladis Earldom yet. It was only yesterday that they received word that a group matching the description of Bandit Squad Barrel was leaving the domain. Not wanting to wait on the hunters and seeking to repair their pride, the knights set out on horseback.
When they finally arrived at their destination and saw the hunters already there, they felt like they had stepped into another reality. But the quest brief was legitimate. The captain picked it up after it had been so rudely tossed on the ground.
Uncertain what to ask first, he eventually said: “Why are you here? We were waiting for you.”
“We were lying in wait. Perhaps it would be better to say we were luring them, but don’t worry on our behalf. Our main objective was dragon hunting, but we cast a wide net and caught Bandit Squad Barrel as well. Every last one of them.”
The esteemed captain couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Bandit Squad Barrel was prudent yet bold. They had repeatedly humiliated the elite knights of Lord Gladis by fighting them off. The bandits’ extreme caution had been a particular thorn in their side.
When attacking a town, Barrel always sent in scouts to determine what sort of resistance they might face. If it was more than they could handle, they didn’t even think about trying to attack. They were a roving band, so they had no headquarters, and none of their temporary bases had even been discovered.
They would simply slip away when large forces were assembled to exterminate them. They had some means of erecting major walls. They wreaked havoc in the Gladis Earldom, a place most criminals feared to tread, tarnishing the name of one of the blades that protected the empire. Barrel was truly devious.
Yet there were no signs the town had been pillaged, though it was clear something had happened. The knights were touching the stone wall and exchanging glances. It resembled the walls that appeared on numerous occasions when they were chasing the bandits.
“What’s this? I don’t remember this town having such a large wall around it,” the captain said.
Suls was a famous tourist destination. It was supposed to have next to nothing in the way of defenses.
Sitri pressed a finger to her lip. “This town was lacking in defenses, so we had Barrel put that up for us. I’ll admit it could use some reinforcement, but it should suffice for the time being. Are you acquainted with the foresight of the Thousand Tricks?”
The captain was, of course. But he still couldn’t believe it, even after seeing evidence before his very eyes. He could buy the story about lying in wait, but could any human being really manipulate events to such a degree? And how did the Thousand Tricks understand the movements of Barrel when so little was known about them? And what was this about a dragon?
The other knights looked like they could hardly believe what they were hearing.
“You needn’t thank us. Something like Bandit Squad Barrel is a mere trifle for the Thousand Tricks. Ultimately, our focus was enjoying a vacation.”
The captain knew he was being made a fool of, but he struggled to protest when it was so blatant. It frustrated him, but his priority was grasping the situation. He offered Sitri a preliminary thanks and began to survey the town.
***
I left the various details in Sitri’s hands, as I always did, and returned to the inn with Luke and everyone else.
This time around, trouble had erupted on a pretty large scale. There was, of course, the Troglodytes stalking the town, but the dragon had also destroyed a number of buildings. We also created a fair amount of trouble for Arnold and his companions. I knew that as the leader of Grieving Souls, it was my responsibility to apologize, but that only ever seemed to make things worse. I was left with no choice but to leave it to Sitri.
It had been far too long since I had seen the faces of Luke, Ansem, and Lucia. We had been friends since childhood and had seen one another almost every day, so going more than a month without meeting them was really unusual.
When we reached my room, Luke’s fittingly crimson eyes began to sparkle.
“So, Krai, where’s my share of the dragons and Cave People?”
“Nowhere.”
“What? Are you playing favorites?! Those Barrel guys weren’t enough, Lucia got rid of most of them!”
My friends hadn’t changed in the slightest since when they left for Night Palace. I didn’t see any of the wounds Sitri had mentioned and Luke’s coat was spotless. It seemed they had made it through the treasure vault just fine.
But what an absurd thing to say. Did he see the Troglodytes and the dragon as part of a welcome party? And what did he mean with Barrel? Did he take them out during the trip to Suls? What a free spirit.
“We waited for you,” I said. “And besides, this was a vacation.”
“So it wasn’t a Trial. I see. Well, it still would’ve been a good warmup. And I really wanted to see the Cave People. Didn’t you, Lucia?”
“I’m not an idiot, Leader. I came because I heard you were at a hot spring, only to have this mess thrown at me.”
I guess the frogifying spell must have really worn her out. Breathing raggedly, Lucia had collapsed on the floor the moment we arrived in my room. She turned only her head towards me when she spoke.
“Did you clean up a mess for me?” I asked.
“Huh?!”
Don’t get me wrong, I knew that Lucia was always pulling me out of the fire. She was too good of a sister for a guy like me. But she hadn’t done anything for me this time around. Sure, she cast the frogifying spell with perfect timing, but it’s not like she did that to save me or anyone else in our party. I wondered what else she could be talking about.
“If only you had been there when the Troglodytes were walking about the town,” I said.
“Aaah! Damn you, damn you, damn—” She then broke into a fit of coughing.
I handed her a glass of water.
“You all right?”
She took a big sip, coughed a few more times, and took a deep breath.
“Thank you. Very much. I pushed myself a bit too hard,” she replied.
Her voice was hoarse and her complexion was bad, but she seemed fine overall. She didn’t have any noteworthy wounds on her.
Like me, Lucia’s hair and eyes were black, but hers had a luster that mine lacked. Her slender frame made her seem fragile, not at all like a hunter. She was a bit prone to collapsing and it wasn’t due to illness or a poor constitution. Even though she had a large reserve of mana, she always needed to rest after casting a large spell.
She sat up, took another drink, and looked at me with cold eyes.
“‘Did you clean up a mess for me?’ he says. Can you stop gradually raising the bar?”
“I’m fine with the bar. It’s good training,” Luke said.
“Mmm,” Ansem said with a deep nod. He lay on his side, unable to stand up even in my high-ceilinged room. At four meters tall, he couldn’t even fit in most rooms.
I couldn’t help but sigh. Lucia objected, Luke counter-objected, and Ansem nodded. The familiar scenery was reassuring. We had just gotten out of a terrible ordeal, but I felt like I was finally on a proper vacation.
“Since you guys came all this way, let’s find a hot spring that Ansem can fit in and have a good long rest.”
Even a room in a luxury inn was claustrophobic for Ansem, but I’d feel bad making him camp outside. Good thing we were in an area brimming with hot springs. I was certain we’d find a spot for him.
Worst case, I can just make Lucia dig one up.
“You’ve been resting this whole time, haven’t you?” Lucia asked.
“Oh, I just remembered. Tino’s been turned into a frog and all, but I assume you have a spell to undo that?”
“How could I? Just making the transforming spell was pushing the envelope. Tell me, was there an undo spell in that book you gave me?”
Panicking, Frog Tino began to ribbit while hopping about the vial. I looked at her pitifully, then snapped myself out of it. Lucia had a point, but this was no time for jokes. Liz was holding up the jar and snickering, but I guess sympathy wasn’t in her repertoire.
Weren’t Tino and Lucia supposed to be friends? I wondered, frozen still with a smile plastered on my face.
“It’s fine,” Lucia said with a small sigh. “Even though there’s no spell to make her human again, she’ll revert if she’s killed.”
That doesn’t sound fine at all.
Tino let out an agonized shriek.
I was at a loss. Was I going to have to tell her parents that my younger sister turned their daughter into a frog?
No way I could do that.
“D-Don’t worry, Tino. I’ll take responsibility and care for you,” I told her.
“Would you quit saying dumb things? Watch!”
Lucia raised a slender arm and snapped her fingers. The vial in Liz’s hands suddenly burst into flames.
It was the exact sort of thing I always imagined Magi being capable of. Setting something ablaze just by snapping your fingers was in my first volume of cool spells. Lucia, still in training at the time, spent a laborious month making that spell. I had bitter memories of getting walloped for laughing when I learned it took that long.
I was left speechless by the sudden immolation. But the moment Tino’s screams disappeared amid the flames, Human Tino appeared. Liz caught her in her arms. Tino was just as she was before she had been turned into a frog. A blue yukata with a tightly knotted obi. Eyes flanked by tear streaks.
So that’s what Lucia meant. I didn’t pay much attention until now, but her clothes disappeared with her when she became a frog. How does that even work?
Tino looked at me, then Lucia, Luke, and finally at Liz. Finally processing what had happened, she wrapped her arms around Liz.
“L-Lizzy! I thought I was gonna be a frog for the rest of my life!” she said as tears flooded down her cheeks.
“There there, T,” Liz said, holding Tino. “We’ll do special frog-training so you never become a frog ever again.”
“Maaaster, save me! Lucy!”
“T hasn’t changed a bit,” Luke observed. “Right, Krai, let’s go to a hot spring! You can’t swim, right? Look, I brought a swim ring!”
Sure. Why not?
I resigned myself to the clamor and breathed a sigh of relief knowing that normalcy had finally returned to me. We had had our ups and downs, but I was glad we went on a vacation. And everyone was together, so I decided it was a win in my book.
Noticing my mellow smile, Lucia seemed to remember something and she looked at me through narrowed eyes.
“I just remembered something, Leader. You might already know this, but the battle between Hidden Curse and Akashic Tower has been wreaking havoc on the imperial capital. We turned around quickly because of our vacation, but, well, everyone back there is calling for you. Is it true you instigated that battle?”
“Not true at all. Now, c’mon, Lucia, you must be tired too. Let’s take it easy in a hot spring!”
***
They were out of their minds. The Protean Sword had drawn his blade despite the hostages and his ignorance of the situation. While Geffroy had lain in the dirt, the Thousand Tricks had made light of him with simple jokes. The leaders of Barrel were outmatched, both in terms of strength and pragmatism.
Geffroy was lying near the town’s exit, bound in chains. The armored knight, the Immutable, had regenerated his right arm. His weapons had been confiscated, but he was allowed to move his body.
Patrolling nearby were the knights of Lord Gladis, those knights he had gotten the best of so many times previously. A number of them were keeping a close eye on Geffroy and Kardon, scrutinizing every tiny movement they made.
Bandit Squad Barrel had bounties all across the land. They were still alive only because they hadn’t resisted after being captured by the Thousand Tricks and his party. Normally, they would have been executed the moment they had been apprehended. And even though they were alive, they were still most likely fated for the gallows.
They had to escape their shackles by any means necessary. But this wasn’t the time to attempt anything.
Magic had been the deciding factor in their loss. Nothing was more troubling than a Magus capable of nullifying a numerical advantage. They had taken anti-magic countermeasures, but those hadn’t been enough.
Geffroy was confident he could hold his own against any number of Lord Gladis’s knights. But there was that man who wrote Geffroy off as a civilian. As long as he was around, escape seemed impossible.
That man was terrifying. Even when his victory had been assured, he continued to play the part of a weakling. It was prudence beyond even that of Barrel. Cold and calculating, he used humans as bait and manipulated monsters, tactics no upstanding hunter would easily consider. Something was wrong when a man like that was allowed to walk free.
Geffroy and Kardon had chosen the wrong path. They should have gone a similar route to the Thousand Tricks and worn the veneer of an ally of justice. Kardon was lying motionless on the ground, but he was most likely making plans for the future.
However, it was too late to change course. Geffroy, Kardon, and Bandit Squad Barrel were far too well-known. They would have to overcome Grieving Souls by being the bandits they had always been.
Grieving Souls was a party of seven, but Geffroy knew that Barrel alone wouldn’t be enough to beat them. Cooperation was going to be necessary. They would join forces with Akashic Tower and many other magic syndicates and criminal organizations. Until now, their interactions had been purely transactional, but that would have to change.
From a distance he could hear the knights, all clad in matching armor, talking among themselves.
“What are we going to do about these frogs?”
“We weren’t expecting to take all the bandits alive. We’ll have to leave them as frogs when we transport them.”
“There’s so many. The captain’s worried that there might be civilians and wandering hunters mixed in...”
“We’ll have to make sure no one slips away...”
“I’ve never seen or even heard of magic like this. It’s like something out of a fairy tale.”
It seemed Barrel weren’t the only ones puzzled by what had happened.
Grieving Souls was keeping some things secret. And that was to say nothing of the attack by the fiends, which probably complicated matters further. It was safe to assume there was mistrust towards the Thousand Tricks. And if that was the case, there was an opening that could be exploited.
Then, a man in ornate armor approached them. It was the captain of Lord Gladis’s knights, a man who might make an equal match for Geffroy in a direct engagement. Geffroy wasn’t going to resist, that would only give the knight justification to kill him. The captain seemed to guess as much and clicked his tongue.
“You, Geffroy Barrel,” he said. “How many were there in your group? Our investigations told us you had just over one hundred, but maybe it was closer to three hundred plus one?”
Kardon’s eyes widened, just slightly. Masking your strength was a fundamental part of battle. During their battles with the knights of Lord Gladis, Barrel had kept most of their members hidden. They certainly never brought them all out at once.
“Don’t try to fool us. We can look into it ourselves and know if you’re lying.”
The knight cast a sharp gaze at Geffroy. It seemed he wasn’t going to rest easy even after Barrel had fallen so far. But never mind that, the knight’s count was a bit high.
“Counting each frog one by one will take time. Grieving Souls sure put us in a lousy position.”
These knights were slow and cautious, but that was why they had been outmaneuvered by Barrel so many times. It seemed unlikely that their count was wrong, but, unless Geffroy was mistaken, they were off by three.
“That number’s correct,” Kardon answered in a low voice, looking at the ground.
Then Geffroy remembered. They had captured three fake Grieving Souls and kept them in a space separate from the other captives. They must have been turned into frogs.
They had been the ones who had started all this. They hadn’t been the most competent accomplices. Geffroy didn’t know what their relationship with the Thousand Tricks was, but...
“Yeah. That’s right,” Geffroy agreed.
“I see.”
He was going to at least take those three down with him. The faintest hint of a smile formed on Kardon’s lips. It seemed he was thinking the same thing. Barrel had taken a major blow, but its leaders were still able to read one another’s thoughts.
Geffroy was shoved into a carriage brought by the knights and Kardon was thrown into another. The frogs were packed into sacks.
They had lost members, weapons, funds, and more, but Bandit Squad Barrel still lingered on. They had lost this time, but Geffroy and Kardon weren’t dead yet. They rekindled their determination: one day, they would make those hunters regret not finishing them off.
With the bandits loaded in, the carriage slowly rolled out of Suls.
***
“Hmm? What was that? Already fatigued from the treasure vault, I return to the imperial capital only to find you’ve gone to a hot spring. Then I make my way to the hot spring and find myself cleaning up a mess. And after all that, this is what you have to say? Did I mishear you? I really hope so.”
Lucia’s eyebrows twitched, she looked at me with a sharp glare most people didn’t direct at their siblings. Her complexion had improved significantly, suggesting that a night’s rest had done her a lot of good. That’s what’s important.
Lucia got right up in my face, to which I smiled awkwardly and took a step back. Cold sweat ran down my back. I hadn’t meant anything by it. I just said what was on my mind, but doing so incurred my sister’s wrath.
“Y-Yeah. Um... You did really well back there? Mm-hmm. I can always count on my little sister.”
I tried complimenting her, but her expression didn’t change. Though we were adoptive siblings, we had been around each other a long time and she knew very well what sort of person I was.
Luke and Liz never came to my aid at times like these, they just watched with amusement. Even Tino was watching while taking cover behind Liz’s back. I had no allies.
Lucy intertwined her slender fingers and smiled.
“Please, say it again, Leader. It’s possible my ears were deceiving me.”
I remained silent.
“Oh, dear brother?”
“Th-The frogs you turned them into,” I said. “They were the wrong variety.”
Lucia clenched her teeth.
“You turned them into tree frogs. It’s usually bullfrogs...”
“I’ve never heard that! Look at this book, it’s the one you made! Look! Look! Look!” she yelled as she shoved the spellbook before my face. It was the one I had made so long ago. On an old worn page was the line “Spell that transforms the target into a frog.” There were no further details, the margins were filled with Lucia’s notes.
“Where does it specify bullfrogs?! Tell me! Where? Where? Where?”
“S-Sure, but the spell is Witch’s Miracle, and that implies bullfrogs. There’s nothing witchlike about tree frogs.”
The spellbook I wrote only described spell effects because it was just a child’s list of fantasies. I hadn’t even remotely considered things like convenience and just filled the pages with my dreams. But that’s exactly why I was willing to fuss over details.
“D-Don’t worry. If you can turn people into tree frogs then you should be able to turn people into bullfrogs.”
“No, I can’t! It’s not that easy! Tell me these things before I make the spell! The current spell was enough trouble as it is! Try to be impressed! You’re not going to tell me to remake it, are you?”
My sister’s lips trembled. She always did this when she got upset.
From an amateur’s perspective, it didn’t seem that difficult, but apparently, there was a world of difference separating tree frog spells and bullfrog spells. Of course, I wasn’t going to tell her to make the spell all over again.
I held out my hands placatingly.
“I would never do that. The tree frog spell is plenty amazing. I guess it may not be very witchlike, but I’m not gonna tell you to redo it! By the way, I was hoping you could use your magic to dig up a hot spring. One that Ansem can fit in.”
“There’s no such spell.”
“Can you make it? I’m sure if anyone can do it, you can.”
Lucia glared at me and tears welled up in her eyes. In one snazzy movement, she snapped her fingers. Something large fell in front of me. Tino looked at it with wide eyes.
It was a plushie. A fairly large one, clearly modeled after me.
Without saying a word, Lucia gripped the neck of the plushie with her left hand, and with her right, she slammed her fist into the plushie’s solar plexus. The room vibrated from the impact. It seemed she had a lot of pent-up resentment. It happens when you’re in a rebellious phase.
“Oooh, Lucy’s losing it. Even though she’s always so calm when Krai Baby’s not around,” Liz commented.
“It’s all good, Lucia. If we need a hot spring, then I can dig it up,” Luke offered. “Someone get me a shovel.”
“I want a plushie like that...” Tino mumbled.
I just looked the other way.
And then Sitri returned from her negotiations. In her hands was a mop with a meter-long handle. She looked briefly taken aback by the sight of Lucia punching the plushie, but she quickly recovered.
“Unfortunately, it appears there are no hot springs large enough to accommodate my brother. I did, however, receive permission to dig up a spring. Does that sound suitable?”
Sounds perfect.
“I sold so many golem cores!” Sitri said as we followed her out of the room.
We linked up with Ansem, who was waiting in the inn’s dining hall on account of his size. Sitri then guided us to the site designated for her hot spring. Seeing everyone but myself and Ansem in yukatas added a bit of novelty to the experience.
Tino furtively glanced my way. She was the only one present who wasn’t part of Grieving Souls, but this was hardly the first time we had included her. She was among friends.
“B-By the way, Master, how are you going to dig up the spring?” she asked.
It was a perfectly reasonable question.
“What are you saying, T? With a shovel, how else?” Luke answered without the slightest hesitation.
“Huh? But, Luke, there’s no guarantee you’ll hit a spring, and you might have to dig meters deep...”
“We’ll dig as deep as we have to. That’s what training’s all about! The path of the sword crosses all corners of existence. In other words, hole digging is also a form of training! Right, Krai?”
“Yeah, uh-huh.”
Luke, do you really get stronger, no matter what you do? I don’t get it.
If confiscating his sword wasn’t enough to stop him, then he would continue to grow no matter what I did. Lately, he hadn’t had many moments in the spotlight, but Luke Sykol wasn’t the sort of man to be discouraged by that.
Having vented her anger on the Krai plushie, Lucia cleared her throat and said, “Still, I’m relieved you chose a hot spring and not the ocean.”
“Hm? Why’s that?”
The ocean. That didn’t sound too bad. This time I was in a hot spring mood, but I enjoyed playing in the sea. I couldn’t swim, but just enjoying the sun and sea breeze was enough for me to relax.
Next trip, we’re going to the ocean.
Lucia furrowed her brow and rubbed her temples.
“You never know what might come out of the ocean,” she said. “A hot spring is far safer.”
“But, Lucy, out here we had dragons and Troglodytes,” Tino pointed out.
“I wish I had gotten here sooner. Krai, now I’m looking for an eight-armed Swordsman! I’m counting on you!” Luke told me.
Our world was full of dangers. I guess visiting cafes in the imperial capital really was the safest thing to do. And now I had Luke counting on me for something.
“Why not fight four Swordsmen at once?” I suggested haphazardly.
“Hm? What do you mean?”
“Four guys make a total of eight arms.”
I wanted to point out that anything with eight arms would just be a monster, but then I remembered the Troglodytes. They didn’t carry swords, but they probably could have, with their hair and all.
Luke thought it over for a moment, then clapped his hands.
“You’re a genius! I’ll do that. To be honest, I was worried about what I’d do after conquering an eight-armed foe, but this way I can go as high as I want!”
“Yeah, uh-huh.”
Sitting atop Ansem’s shoulder, Liz watched us with exasperation. Personally, I was looking forward to seeing how far Luke could go.
Following Sitri, we arrived at an empty lot roughly one hundred square meters wide. It was completely empty except for the occasional rock and patch of grass.
“I received this lot as a part of the payment for my golems!” she said with her usual grin and clap of the hands. “I don’t have a hideaway in Suls, so I thought this was a perfect opportunity.”
Baffled, Lucia looked at the lot. “A hideaway? What are you going to do with such an open plot of land?” she asked.
It was a spot at the edge of town and in an inconvenient location. We didn’t live here, we spent most of our time in the imperial capital. Not to mention the absurd cost of building a house. But we had the whole party (except Eliza) together; the sky was the limit for us.
I snapped my fingers. “All right, Lucia! Give us a hot spring!”
“Excuse me?”
“Don’t forget the waterfall!” Luke added.
Lucia was an outstanding Magus. Sitri could also do just about anything, but Lucia’s spells didn’t require any preparation beforehand. She would usually tell us our requests were impossible, but all we had to do was give her a bit of time and she would eventually figure something out. Such was Lucia Rogier.
I looked at her expectantly. She looked back with irritation.
“Oh and after that could you make an inn that we can stay in? Make it big enough for Ansem,” I added.
“And add rapids and a whirlpool!” Luke said. “You can just put it off to the side—”
“I want a sauna! A reeeally hot one!” Liz said, cutting Luke off. “That way I can train my heat resistance at the same time!”
“Don’t worry, Lucy, I’ve prepared a potion for you,” Sitri reassured her.
“Um, can I get a plushie of Master?” Tino asked.
“Do you think Magi can do just anything?” Lucia sighed.
We were certain that she could do it. I decided that next time I wrote a spellbook, it would be for everyday things like this. She probably wouldn’t be thrilled by that.
Then Ansem spoke up for the first time during our get-together. His deep voice echoed throughout his Relic armor.
“My apologies. I have no objections to camping out and I can live without getting in a hot spring. I’m accustomed to it.”
Unlike his younger sisters, Ansem Smart was a person of few words. He was the oldest of our group and had always been there for us. If I hadn’t been forced to be our leader, he probably would have taken the role. He was our most humane member, popular in the imperial capital, and his church rebuilt itself so it could accommodate him.
But Ansem had a tendency to place the needs of others before his own. I suppose if you added his selfishness with Liz’s and divided it by two, you’d come out even. It was in order to protect us that he became a giant.
Even though he said it was fine, I couldn’t abide by that.
Luke shrugged with resignation and rapped his fist against Ansem’s armor.
“Hey, Ansem, take a look at this land. You’re just four meters, there’s plenty of space for you! Think about it, if it’s one hundred square meters, then there’s room for, uh, twenty-five of you.”
I didn’t really get what Luke was on about, but I agreed with him wholeheartedly.
“He’s right,” I said, supporting Luke. “Don’t sweat it. If there’s not enough space then we can just have Lucia warp space. Easy peasy.”
“Hold on! Can you think before saying things like that?” Lucia said. Then she thought about it. “Well, I can’t make an inn appear out of nowhere, but digging a hole shouldn’t be beyond me. You don’t need to fret, Ansem. I’ll put our lazy leader to work.”
“I’ll do what I can to help!” Tino offered.
“You have my gratitude,” Ansem said as he dipped his head.
I had caused far more trouble for him than he ever had for me. Digging a hot spring was no big deal.
C’mon, get to digging! Now’s the time to make use of your stupidly powerful bodies! This is way easier than fighting monsters!
Liz nimbly hopped off Ansem’s shoulder and Luke rolled up his sleeves.
“Leader, there’s more to this than just digging. We have to do something to pump the water,” Lucia said.
“Ah. Why not use that spell? Y’know, the one you showed me all those years ago. The one that creates fountains.”
It was a spell that caused water to shoot up from the ground. I had asked Lucia to make the spell because I wanted to test the possibilities of magic. I might add that I recall her grumbling about it. Some things never change.
Lucia seemed displeased by the memory.
“We later used that spell to blow apart a castle,” she said.
“Then why not adjust the strength? I’m sure it’ll work out. It has so far.”
“That’s because I’ve made it work.”
“Well, I don’t see anyone better to leave in charge of the large-scale construction,” Sitri said. “We’ll handle the details. This shouldn’t take more than a few days. After that, we can hire some workers to fix our errors while we take it easy.”
As always, she did a good job directing things. I felt like it had been some time since I had seen us working together like this. I would always just sit around and watch because I couldn’t do anything useful, but today I was in a working mood.
I dashed across Sitri’s lot and stood near the center.
“Okay, Lucia. For now, start digging right here!”
“There you go again, saying whatever...”
“Don’t worry, Lucy. You can hit hot water by digging just about anywhere in this region. And if this doesn’t work, we can just try again until we succeed.”
Lucia accepted Sitri’s reasoning and began to walk over to me, albeit reluctantly. It was just part of her rebellious phase.
According to Sitri’s research, this incident was the only case of construction workers bumping into Troglodyte tunnels, so we could rest easy on that front. Between that and the hot spring dragon, I wasn’t sure my luck could even get any worse.
Lucia took a deep breath, opened her eyes, and began an incantation. There was no wind, but her long hair began to float idly. Even though I had next to no ability to sense mana, I could tell she was mustering a large sum and cohering it into a spell.
I gulped and watched for any hot water that might come up. But, no matter how long I waited, nothing sprang up.
“Huh? Where’s the hot spring?” I asked.
“I bored down about two thousand meters, but didn’t come across a spring,” Lucia explained. “A swing and a miss, just as I expected.”
What do you mean “just as I expected”?
This was supposed to be an area where you could find a spring just about anywhere. What a letdown. Sure, all we had to do was dig somewhere else, but god was my luck terrible. Even Sitri wore a chagrined grin. I peeked into the hole. Seeing as this one was a miss, I began to wonder if maybe this whole lot was no good.
But then, a familiar tentacle poked up from the hole and gripped the ground. I found myself being greeted by a creature I was very tired of seeing.
“Ryuu,” said the Troglodyte.
“Ryu-u,” I replied automatically.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Lucia kicked the tentacle away. The soft, yet sturdy appendage silently disappeared down the hole.
I gave Sitri a glance that said: I thought we didn’t have to worry about this. She simply grinned, almost like she thought this was my fault or something.
“Why does this always happen with you?” Lucia snapped. “I’m closing the hole. I take it there are no objections?”
Luke and Liz both tossed their shovel aside and rushed to the hole.
“Hold it, Lucia! That was a Cave Person, right? Wasn’t it?! I’m going down there!”
“Wait, Lucy! I wanna see the underground kingdom Krai Baby was talking about. C’mon, T, we’re going!”
I decided not to worry about it and instead turned my thoughts to how much I wanted to enjoy a hot spring with everyone.
Liz and Luke, not needing to do their usual patrol duty, played around while Sitri and Lucia labored away. Ansem used his magic to recover their energy and Tino blew up the swim ring Luke had brought for me. It was very kind of him to remember that I like swim rings.
Lucia’s second attempt had proven successful and a pool of water was forming. Sitri cheerfully hummed a tune as she used potions to harden the ground. The ground around Sitri’s plot jutted up, forming a wall that even Ansem could be hidden by. It was taller than the wall around Suls.
“Master, um, what sort of magic is Lucy using?” Tino asked as she continued to blow up the swim ring.
“Hm? I dunno.”
Tino seemed alarmed by this.
I wasn’t an expert on magic. All I knew was that Lucia was incredible and just about anything was possible when she and Sitri worked together. Well, I did know she was combining preexisting spells.
“This happens all the time. She once constructed a palace in the desert.”
I was sure some people could build better structures, but I didn’t think anyone could have beaten Lucia when it came to speed.
Sitri planted seeds which grew into trees, which the golems cut down. With magic, the lumber was trimmed and dried, then put together atop a large foundation. I had fun just watching the whole process.
Enough hot water to almost fill a pond had been collected. I didn’t need to get in to know it was clearly too hot for human beings. Luke’s robes swelled with hot air as he jumped in. Droplets of water splashed Tino, causing her to let out a small yelp.
“Augh! Krai, it’s hot!” Luke cried. “Oh, I get it. This is more training! Oh, that burns. Makes me think of that treasure vault in the volcanic crater. Ah, Lucia, don’t lower the temperature!”
“This is training of my own,” Lucia replied.
“Hm? That so? Damn, I can’t argue with that. I’ll yield to you, just this once. But I won’t be so kind next time!”
Energetic as ever.
I yawned as I floated about on my swim ring. The distinct smell of a hot spring drifted across my nose. Just as I began to doze off, I heard something I really didn’t want to. I pulled myself up and looked in the direction of the entrance, the one gap in the wall. Luke got very excited.
Standing there was the Troglodyte princess and her entourage.
The princess stared intently at me.
Luke watched them restlessly.
Unable to bear the atmosphere, I turned to Sitri. “I thought you sealed that hole?” I asked her.
“They must have dug another hole,” she said.
They can do that? Sounds claustrophobic.
The princess clasped her small hands and made a simple sound.
“Ryu-u,” she said.
Sitri translated. “She said, ‘Thanks to these subjects enhanced by our king, we can now dig through bedrock.’”
On multiple levels, I struggled to believe that. How could the princess convey so much with just a few sounds? And then there was the shocking nature of the words themselves. Had I really given the Troglodytes a new weapon by accident? And what were we going to do now that they could just come up to the surface whenever they pleased?
The Troglodytes weren’t that strong, but they were much stronger than the average human. They were smart enough that they could wreak serious havoc if they really tried.
I told Sitri to tell them that there was no need to thank me and that they should just go home.
“Forgive me,” she said, “my vocal cords aren’t adequate for their language.”
So what the hell have I been saying all this time?
Lucia gave me an icy glare. That wasn’t good. Her opinion of me was already low enough as it was.
The princess, however, was quite calm. She made another brief sound, which was translated by the ever-convenient Sitri.
“She said, ‘You saved us from that malevolent god. You may not be one of us, but you are no doubt our king.’”
“Way to go, Krai Baby!” Liz yelled. “You’re probably the first human to be a king of Cave People.”
I appreciated her positivity, but I was fairly certain it was only the sheer stupidity of the situation that had allowed me to be first.
I want to tell them to go home.
“‘We await your orders, Your Majesty. If it’s for your benefit, we’ll wage a campaign of decimation, even in the malevolent god’s homeland.’”
I want to tell them to go home.
I noticed the princess’s guards seemed like they were wary of something. Maybe they never would have returned to the surface if not for me. Unlike her guards, the princess looked about curiously.
“She says, ‘Your Majesty, am I mistaken or are you constructing a palace?’”
No. What are you talking about? This is a hot spring.
It occurred to me that underground there had been flowing hot water and magma. Perhaps Troglodytes and hot springs were closely intertwined? Not that it mattered.
“She says, ‘We await your orders, Your Majesty. We’ll construct a palace far superior to anything these foolish humans might make.’”
There’s no need to do that. And Sitri really knows her way around their language.
The princess pressed her hands together and ryu-ryued imploringly at me.
“She said, ‘Why do you ignore me?’”
What could I say? Look what happened last time I just said whatever came to mind. I didn’t want to agitate the Troglodytes a second time.
I turned towards my friends. Luke and Liz looked at me eagerly. Lucia glared at me with silent disapproval. Sitri grinned. Ansem simply sat there, like he usually did.
I took a deep breath. I was determined to tell the princess to go home.
“Ryuu-ryuu-ryuu-ryu-ryu,” I said.
The princess’s eyes bulged. Sitri’s eyebrows twitched and she looked at me uncomfortably. I affixed a smile on my face, wondering what I had just said.
“Krai,” Sitri said, sounding quite terrified. “Why did you order them to commit a massacre?”
Why did it have to be so specific?! Wait, hold on.
Making a very humanlike expression, the princess blinked with confusion. She then tilted her head slightly and then ryu-ryued with a smile on her face.
“She said, ‘Understood. You request our assistance.’”
Despite my floundering, they somehow understood me. I found that awfully scary.
“Wh-Wh-What is this?!” someone cried.
Chloe and some of the hunters had arrived and were staring in disbelief at our hot spring. Construction on Sitri’s lot was proceeding at a rapid pace. I didn’t understand it any better than they did.
“These Cave People are incredible,” Luke said.
“This is my first time encountering Troglodytes. They’re even more coordinated than Barrel,” Sitri said, also quite impressed.
She wasn’t wrong; the Troglodytes moved as though they were one. The princess had called up an immense horde of her kin and a single order was all it took to get them to work. They dug through the dirt, packed it in, broke stones they got somewhere, and stacked them all up. It was like magic, except it wasn’t magic.
“Troglodytes can’t use magic,” Sitri reminded me.
“They hardly need it,” I said.
“You don’t suppose they might like swords, do you?” Luke wondered. He sounded truly disappointed.
That’s when I realized the Troglodytes didn’t use weapons. But I didn’t want them getting any stronger, so I silently begged Luke to stop.
Thanks to their hair-appendages, they were able to build at an extraordinary pace. Even though a crowd of townsfolk had gathered to watch, the Troglodytes maintained complete focus, not getting distracted for even an instant.
What in the world are these creatures? And there’s so many. How many did the princess summon? And there are probably still more who couldn’t make it up here and stayed underground.
“Good thing they didn’t live aboveground,” I said.
“We could make friends with them, but then they would dominate us through civil means,” Tino mumbled.
That didn’t sound very fun.
The building being erected before my eyes was magnificent, even if it was a bit different from most human architecture. We had planned to use wood, but the Troglodytes had brought lustrous stones from somewhere, making our building needlessly austere and imposing.
Come to think of it, didn’t they say this was going to be a palace or something?
Watching the construction, the princess nodded knowingly before she seemed to remember something and came over to me.
“Ryu-u?” she said.
“Ryuu,” I replied.
“Again, Krai, why are you ordering massacres?” Sitri asked me.
I’m not! And that was clearly different from what I said earlier!
The princess tilted her head and gave some directions, to which half the Troglodytes suddenly dashed off. Watching from outside the construction site, Chloe let out a small scream as a male Troglodyte darted past her.
“Should we be worried about this?”
“It seems they’re going to fix the houses destroyed by the hot spring dragon.”
So we didn’t need to worry. The most worrisome element was me—the guy accidentally ordering massacres.
“She’s a lot like you, Siddy,” Liz said with exasperation. “Always desperate to earn Krai Baby’s favor.”
What a terrible thing to say.
As the sun began to set, construction of Suls’s most extravagant hot spring inn, no, hot spring palace was completed.
“Ryuuu!” the princess yelled triumphantly.
Her underlings yelled in response. A tentacle was held out before me and I high-fived it on instinct.
A building white as chalk stood in what had been an empty lot only a day prior. It was a peculiar-looking building, with its combination of lumber and shiny, white stonework. The Troglodytes had filled the ceiling with sparkling rocks, which served as a light source.
Both the width and height of the building were more than enough to accommodate Ansem. In a testament to the power of overwhelming numbers, this was more than just Sitri and Lucia could have accomplished, even if they had gone all out.
Just like the exterior, the interior was gorgeous. It appeared the Troglodytes had a knack for architecture. Pipes extending from someplace transported hot water from who knows where and filled a large bath. Sitri had directed the construction of the drainage system, but it was still impressive.
Wait, why are there rooms with tatami flooring? And isn’t it strange that they used wood? Don’t these guys live underground? And these rooms are way nicer than what I saw in their kingdom.
“It would seem they took notes from the buildings in Suls,” Sitri explained.
At this point, I was more scared than impressed.
“Krai, would you teach me how to properly enunciate in Troglodytian?” she asked in a low voice. “They make for far cheaper labor than golems...”
I’d teach you if I knew how, but I don’t.
The princess yelled something and the majority of the Troglodytes rushed off. Off to the lower levels of the palace, that is. At some point, they had built a spiral staircase under the palace. I looked down and couldn’t even see the bottom.
Does this go all the way down to their—
“It seems they also took notes about staircases,” Sitri said.
I stopped thinking about it. After all, no one could stop the Troglodytes now that they were capable of breaking through bedrock. There was no point in thinking about it, so I didn’t. I was going to enjoy the new hot spring.
A lot had happened, but a vacation like this had its own merits. Yawning, I looked down from my perch at the newly constructed large bath. The building was less an inn and more of a hotel, and the thing before me was less of a bath and more like a pool, but I wasn’t going to be nitpicky. An opening in the roof served as a vent which dispersed all the hot air. What a pleasant space it was.
For Grieving Souls, causing a commotion had become part of our lives. I adored festivals. Luke and Liz both loved to have fun. Sitri didn’t hate it and Ansem was a kind brother who put his younger sisters first. And Lucia would always tell us off.
We used to celebrate on a smaller scale, but things increased as our wealth and power did. Generally speaking, hunters enjoyed fleeting pleasures, but none of them made merry on the same scale as us. I thought that was just fine.
A good while had passed since I stopped going on treasure hunts. Because our time together was so brief, we had to make up for that with quality.
Tino was quite taken aback. She probably had never seen such a large-scale banquet before. I waved to her and she rushed over like a puppy and sat down next to me.
“Good work out there, Tino. Take a well-deserved rest.”
“Y-Yes, Master! This is really something else.”
Perhaps due to the steam, her cheeks flushed slightly.
From an elevated veranda, I could watch over the entire hot spring palace. The Troglodytes had built massive facilities, all to the personal tastes of everyone in Grieving Souls. In terms of area and number of baths, this place far exceeded even the high-class inns we had been staying at.
I wondered if hot springs were perhaps a core part of life as a Troglodyte. There were a number of different baths including one big enough for Ansem, a shallow one, one you could lay down in, as well as baths set to varying temperatures.
The work had been split up with the Troglodytes handling most of the labor, Sitri directing the drainage system, and Lucia using her magic to adjust the temperatures. So as to fill the room with steam, there were canals of hot water running here and there. This seemed like something the Troglodytes would have come up with.
Tino’s gaze fell on the center of the main bath.
“M-Master, what is that? That waterfall?”
“It’s a waterfall.”
Luke was standing beneath a waterfall in the middle of the main bath. What a loon. The source of the falling deluge was a spring pumped high up via magic. This was possible because of the elemental Lucia had formed a contract with. Luke seemed quite pleased by this, not that I could actually see his face amid all the water.
“Typically, a human can only form a contract with one elemental, and vice versa,” Lucia said, tired from her constant spell-casting. “So I’m always asking myself, has anyone else ever entered into a contract with a water spirit, all in the name of waterfall training?”
“It’s not my fault that happened,” I said.
“It’s because you’re always putting funny ideas in Luke’s head! Honestly, what does he mean training and waterfalls go hand in hand?”
It’s proving useful, so I don’t see the problem. Water’s nice. I like water. I wanna form a contract.
Unfortunately, forming a contract with an elemental was about as great of a challenge as any Magus could overcome. I didn’t know the specifics, but while borrowing the power of an elemental wasn’t too difficult, commanding one was apparently much more challenging.
“M-Master, what’s that bath at the edge? The one with the whirlpool.”
“It’s a whirlpool bath.”
Maintaining a whirlpool burned through mana, but Lucia’s reserves were up to the task. Just what you’d expect from my little sister.
“Krai Baby, we’ve got the food and booze!”
Liz joyfully rolled three large barrels into the room. They were full of alcohol and big enough to fit a person inside. It seemed she was in a drinking mood. Behind her, Ansem carried two tables stacked with food and some of our new gray friends were carrying tables with their tentacles.
Hmm. I thought this was a pretty large area, but maybe not?
It was enough for our party and there was a second and third floor, but there was lots of food and the Troglodytes were joining us.
Eh, if we run out of space, we can just figure something out.
I was getting in a festive mood when Sitri came in with an armful of fireworks.
“Krai, I bought fireworks.”
“Ooh, good idea.”
Perfect. This was the vacation I had been hoping for. I was with my friends at a hot spring with food, booze, and even fireworks. It would have been even better if Eliza were here, but there was no point in trying to rein in our number one free spirit.
Everyone was assembled and the food had been set out. I couldn’t see the scenery beyond the large walls, but the moon was shining in the sky. It was time for my vacation to begin. With a serious look on my face, I stood up, swim ring in hand.
“Um, Master, is there only a men’s bath?” Tino asked as though it had just occurred to her.
“Oh, we just do mixed bathing. You can’t bathe in the wild if you let things like that bother you, y’know? We’re behind walls, so don’t let it get to you.”
Tino froze. “Huh?”
We used to separate, but one time Liz jumped over the wall, which incited Sitri and Lucia to break it down. Splitting up made less space for Ansem and we were all more or less family, so it didn’t really matter. Instead, we just minded our manners. The Troglodytes also seemed just fine with this arrangement.
“All right, Tino, time for training! By tempering your will, you can cut through that of your enemies!” Luke said as he casually emerged from the waterfall.
Tino was quite shocked by what she saw.
Luke was completely naked. A cloud of steam concealed his waist, but he still should’ve shown some delicacy instead of just standing there with his arms crossed. He didn’t even look cool due to his damp hair clinging to his head.
Tino’s face turned a deep red and she let out a strange shriek and hid behind me. It seemed she still had a ways to go before she could live as Grieving Souls did.
And so began our vacation.
Steam permeated the Troglodytes’ masterpiece palace and tables of food and drink were just a short distance from the baths.
“Krai, find a dragon for me too!” Luke said. He then jumped into the baths, all the while yelling in a voice loud enough to wake the neighbors. He splashed water everywhere, but no one here was going to criticize him for something like that.
Liz pursed her lips and undid the sash on her robe, letting it slip to the ground. Her tanned skin shined in the light given off by the fires and glowing stones. Apparently, she hadn’t been wearing any underwear.
She hadn’t hesitated in the slightest, even though she had been so bashful back in the Galest mountains. Because they were usually hidden, the sight of her legs was a bit alluring. Apex Roots made for a nice accessory when it was on standby.
“Luke, I wanted to get in first!” Liz yelled as she jumped in.
“Lizzy?! Y-You shouldn’t do that when Krai’s right there!” Tino cried. If anyone was embarrassed by the situation, it was her.
“Shaddup, T! No use being bashful after all these years! A little skin doesn’t matter among us. If you don’t want to get in, then just do something else.”
“That’s—”
“Liz,” I interjected.
“Master!” Tino smiled, relieved that someone seemed to have come to her aid.
I tossed a soft sponge to Liz.
“You need to wash off before getting in,” I said.
Liz’s eyes sparkled. “Okaaay! I knew you’d see it my way!”
“Master?!” Tino wailed.
Liz was right. Unfortunately, it was too late to be worrying about showing skin. We went way back and she wasn’t the bashful type. In the past, she had burst into the men’s baths. She didn’t do it all the time, but if she felt like it, she didn’t hesitate to do so. And with her lightning speed, she would fling out any unwanted outsiders.
Her normal outfit already left a fair amount of her exposed and this was hardly the first time she had gotten in a hot spring with us. To put it simply, nudity was something she was, well, accustomed to. And that was fine as long as she didn’t go clinging to people.
Liz might not have been the type to have reservations about skin contact, but that was no problem as long as Lucia was around. Our Magus would just blast Liz back with a spell and even put up visual filters. For the moment, she just sighed, but didn’t do anything more.
Tino seemed to be experiencing culture shock, but this was bound to happen when we built a hot spring.
“We’re all equals at the hot spring. Eat, drink, and be merry,” I told her.
“T, I’m stating the obvious, but you don’t need to get naked,” Sitri pointed out.
“You can wear a towel or a swimsuit. You can even get in the bath with your clothes on.”
I sympathized with Tino’s plight. There were two beasts without a swimsuit or towel and completely unbothered by it, but those two could be ignored. They were like wild animals. Tino could just ignore them. Even the enhanced Troglodytes, who had stayed behind after the construction was finished, were swimming about.
“Look, Krai! I can stand under a pounding waterfall just fine! This is the result of my training! My legs and hips are stronger than ever!” Luke shouted while proudly treading water beneath the waterfall.
Just watching him put me in a good mood and helped me relax. The room was sweltering, so I unbuttoned my clothes. For the time being, I just took off my shirt, jacket, and all my Relics, leaving just one Safety Ring on. With all my friends nearby, I was fine removing even the Relics that I slept with.
“M-Master, you too?!”
You’re still fretting about this?
I cared less than anyone here. No one was going to be bothered because I took off my shirt. Besides, Tino was the one who destroyed a wall to enter the men’s bath earlier. But I wasn’t going to revive those memories.
Still in her yukata, Lucia snapped her fingers and a glass filled itself as she brought it over to me. The drink was sweet and had a low alcohol content, so even I could enjoy it. I accepted the drink and raised it gratefully with a smile on my face.
“Getting in the bath straight after a drink isn’t good for you,” I told her.
“Then why did you order it?”
I didn’t. Liz brought it in without asking me. Well, it’s fine. I’m not gonna stand on ceremony on a day like today.
I brought the glass to my lips and drank it down in one gulp.
“M-Master,” Tino said with renewed determination, “I’m going to get changed.”
“Yeah, uh-huh.”
Tino then jogged off and grabbed a towel.
I smiled and watched my friends frolicking about.
“Luciaaa, there are no rapids! I can’t train without rapids!” Luke moaned.
“Lucy, I want a sauna!” Liz demanded.
“Shut up! Shut up already! I can only use so many spells at once!” the Magus cried out.
A large barrel floated up and doused Luke and Liz with its contents, barraging them with golden ale stronger than what we had been drinking so far. Lucia was a deft Magus; not a bit of it got in the hot spring or on the food.
“What the hell was that for?!” Liz shouted as she ran a hand through her alcohol-drenched hair.
“Is this so I can train drunken boxing?” Luke asked.
Soaked with ale, their skin glimmered and yet they didn’t seem affected in the slightest.
“Master, is this what they call a ‘symposium’?”
Tino, they stopped calling them that a long time ago.
“Why not have something to eat?” I offered.
“I can’t relax like this,” she replied.
She looked down at herself and her shoulders trembled. A long towel was wrapped around her, quite tightly so as to not fall off. It wasn’t that much more revealing than the usual gear she wore, but she still seemed embarrassed. Perhaps because of the steam, her shoulders were a deep red.
Not far from us, Sitri wore a towel in the same manner as Tino and was wielding a mop. She moved like was cleaning a large wall, but it was Ansem’s back she was washing.
“Thank you for all your hard work out there. Did you bring it back with you?” she asked.
“Mmm. It’s in the imperial capital,” he replied.
Sitri was grinning pleasantly. She cared deeply for her older brother, as shown by her use of a stepping stool so she could wash every inch of his enormous, muscular back.
Ansem’s back was covered in scars, the result of his dedication to taking the lead and receiving incoming attacks. He was both our healer and the main pillar of our defense. His healing magic was powerful enough to earn him requests from some of the most powerful people in the empire. But healing magic was a tricky thing and didn’t work on its caster.
He didn’t seem to be in any pain, but I still felt guilty knowing that it was thanks to him that I had never been wounded once. I got up, carrying my swim ring with me, and walked over to Ansem, Tino following after like a duckling.
“Good work today, Ansem. Here, I’ll wash you back, since it’s been so long,” I said.
“Mmm.”
“Are you certain?” Sitri asked. “Well then, in place of that, I’ll wash Krai’s back! Is that fine with you, Ansem?”
“Mmm.”
I didn’t know what was in place of what, but I accepted the mop from Sitri and gave Ansem’s back a thorough scrub. I couldn’t be of any use during hunts, but I could wash a wall as well as anyone else could. The ridges of his muscles proved difficult, but I put my back into it and scrubbed away. It was tiring, but I had a hot spring waiting for me when I finished. And I never did any work, so it was sort of fun.
“Master, um, could you let me do that?” Tino asked. “Is that fine, Anssy?”
“Mmm.”
Even after all these years, Ansem was still a reticent man. But I could tell from his voice that he was glad to have so many friends around.
Luke and Liz both came rushing over when they noticed me handing the proverbial baton (the mop) off to Tino.
“No fair! Is this some sort of training? It is, isn’t it?! Let me have a go!” Luke yelled.
“If it’s now T’s turn then it’s only natural that I come next! You can be happy with just a drink, so here! This is another type of training!” Liz said and shoved a half-drunk mug off onto Luke.
“You think I’m gonna believe there’s training that just involves drinking?! You think I’m an idiot?”
“So you’ll listen to Krai Baby, but not me?”
“Well, yeah, I don’t trust a word you say!”
Luke, it’s not like you listen to me either. I think trusting me is an even worse idea than trusting Liz.
As Ansem sat perfectly still, those two continued to argue, just as they always did. Those fights were proof of how deep their bond was.
“Never mind them, Krai. Now, allow me to wash your back. I’ve never done this before,” Sitri said, sounding particularly excited.
“Siddy! You’re too—”
Just as Sitri’s chest was about to press against me, she was sent flying. Her body corkscrewed and she plunged into the hot spring headfirst, splashing water everywhere.
Tino stood there, stunned.
“That’s a red card, Siddy,” Lucia said, idly holding a mug in one hand. “Honestly, I can’t even look away for a moment.”
“Lucy, was that— Did you use an attack spell?”
“It’s because of you guys I got this strong! Do you have any idea how much I hate getting asked how I got so powerful?!” she said while munching on a drumstick.
Lucia didn’t hold her alcohol well (though she was still better than me) and what Liz could take just fine would cause her to black out. Taking mana potions seemed to make it even worse. And yet, even while intoxicated, my younger sister could still use magic just fine. Wasn’t that incredible? Amazing?
“Master, I would have died if that spell had been meant for me!” Tino wailed.
“Don’t worry, she’s holding back.”
Besides, you won’t get hit as long as you don’t do anything dumb. I’ve never been hit because I’m a careful man.
Trembling, Sitri gripped the edge of the bath and pulled herself up. Her towel had been knocked off and nothing was left to cover her slightly flushed skin.
“For heaven’s sake! All that work and not even a reward! Why do I even need your permission to wash Krai’s back?!”
The situation intensified when Lucia crossed her arms and stood in Sitri’s way.
“If you want to cling to him, I can turn you into a towel,” Lucia offered. “I can’t guarantee I’ll be able to turn you back.”
“Eek!”
“Ah! Sitri, become a towel!” Lucia incanted.
“Auugh!”
“Become a towel! Become a towel! Aah, there’s no such spell!”
The blood drained from Sitri’s face and she began to swim away desperately. Lucia finished the meat she was snacking on and reduced the remaining bone to ashes. She removed her yukata and went after Sitri. All the while, lightning bolts shot from the cloud she used to generate the waterfall. Tino watched with terror.
“I-I’ve never heard Siddy scream. And Lucia...”
Lucia and Sitri were very good friends, you see.
“Ansem, is that enough?” I asked.
“Mmm.”
Ignoring Liz and Luke, who were still squawking over the mop, Ansem slowly lowered himself into the hot water. Gripping my swim ring, I followed after him.
Resting on my swim ring, I gently floated across the water. Tino used a cord to tie my swim ring to a pillar so I didn’t get pulled too far out. I didn’t know if it would do me any good.
Listening to my friends goof around and looking at the moon was blissful. Next to me, Tino sat sullenly, the water up to her mouth.
“I’ve never been to something so lively,” she mumbled.
Luke and Liz were having swim races. Sitri and Lucia were soaking in the water and seemed to be having a drinking contest. Ansem had his eyes closed and was sitting quietly in the deepest part of the bath. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking, but he seemed content.
Despite it being a vacation, all sorts of things had happened. There had been the storm, Arnold’s pursuit, and the appearance of the dragon and the Troglodytes. We had our troubles, but looking back on them, they were good memories. I had put Tino through a number of ordeals, but I hoped she could at least enjoy this one trip.
Treasure hunting was dangerous work, but it wasn’t without its fun times. My talents were nonexistent, so I had given up on going anywhere with my friends, but I was certain a talented girl like Tino had plenty of fun experiences in her future.
“Tino, did you enjoy yourself?”
“Huh?!” she yelped, caught off guard by my sudden question.
A number of emotions flitted across her eyes, as though she were looking back on everything that had happened. I quietly waited for her reply. Eventually, her cheeks flushed and she sank down into the water and nodded a few times.
I guess they were good memories. That’s a relief.
All’s well that ends well. All that was left was to buy souvenirs for everyone back at the capital. Then I could brag all about the trip. It sounded like all sorts of things had happened back home, but I invited them to come along, they just didn’t want to go.
I thought about getting out of the bath after a little bit. Then I would drink, enjoy the fireworks, then get back in. My hope was that by then Liz and everyone else would have calmed down.
The princess and some of her entourage swam up to me. It seemed Troglodytes were also fans of hot springs because they all seemed happy as clams.
“Ryuu-ryuu,” she said.
They had scared me when I first met them, but now I saw them in a more endearing light. Put to it, I’d say our other gray friend, Killiam, was much scarier. Most likely mimicking Sitri and Lucia, the princess used a tray floating on the water to pour out a drink.
Speaking of gray things, whatever happened to Gray?
“Master, let me pour you a drink!”
“Ryuu-ryu!”
I smiled and watched as Tino and the princess began to fight over the bottle. It seemed I was awfully popular. Suddenly, a sky-blue dragon cut in, pulling me from my moment of peace.
What are you doing here?! Didn’t you go back home? Back to the mountains? What’s this town’s security doing?
But I didn’t want to put a damper on our vacation, not after all that had happened. With Lucia around, I figured it would be fine.
The dragon then looked at me and let out a cry, as if it were saying hello. Everyone’s eyes instantly locked onto the dragon. The fastest was Luke, whose eyes glimmered like he had found a new toy. Lucia, however, looked deadpan. But the strongest reaction of all came from the Troglodytes. The princess jumped up, knocking over the floating tray.
“Ryu-u-u-u-u! Ryu-u-ryu-u!” she screeched, eyes bulging with panic.
The other Troglodytes screamed in response. The hot spring dragon looked around wildly. This wasn’t good. It seemed the Troglodytes were afraid even of the young dragons. If I didn’t do something, the whole vacation would be ruined.
“Ryu-u-u-u-u-u!” I said in an effort to calm them down.
Lucia was completely stunned as she watched the princess wrap her hair around me and leap up. The other Troglodytes followed after.
“Krai, what do you mean you plan to spend the rest of your life underground?!” Sitri cried.
“I never said anything of the sort-ryu!”
The princess and her cohorts dashed off, with Luke and the other following after. The young hot spring dragon let out a surprised squeal and the adult dragon hovered overhead.
Helpless to do anything, I was once again dragged downward, to the underground kingdom.
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