Chapter 20 : Snow White (2)

As befitting a place named “Winter Haven,” Belmonte Winterhaven was truly a land of snow.

Fresh fruit was rare, and when word got out that a large shipment of fresh fruit had arrived, nobles from everywhere flocked in.

“We sold out!”

“You worked hard.”

“We made more than twenty times the profit.”

The 15 gold coins I had invested returned as 320 gold coins.

Half of that was mine, so I had made 160 gold coins just sitting there.

“Now I think I kind of get how Chris managed to make that kind of money in just a year.”

“Luina, invest more. I’ll help you make a lot of money.”

“I’ll decide after I see what you’re selling next.”

Blind investments often lead to big losses.

You always had to weigh all the factors before jumping in.
Chris was definitely good at business, but the risks were too high.

Hadn’t there been a time he almost failed badly?

If you didn’t want to lose everything, it was best to tread carefully.

“Leon! Drink all you want! Today’s on me!”

“So now you’re using that weird semi-formal tone with Leon too? Just so you know, Leon only drinks milk.”

The place we unpacked our things at was a combination hot spring and inn, which was pretty fascinating.

Of course, there were hot springs in Medieval Land too, but they were usually public spaces that anyone could use.

They were never combined with lodging facilities.

Even if there were inns near the hot springs, they wouldn’t be built around them like this.

As expected of “Happy Medieval Land”—showing its unique charm compared to regular Medieval Land.

“Luina, did you see earlier? The room we got has a private hot spring inside.”

“At that price, I’d have been surprised if it didn’t.”

Suddenly, I became curious about who owned this inn.

There were already a lot of claims that hot springs had healing powers, and now, there were even suspicions that the hot springs in Belmonte Winterhaven really did hold magical healing power.

Was it okay for an individual to monopolize something like this?

Well, it’s not like Belmonte Winterhaven had only one hot spring…

Then again, nobles couldn’t exactly share the same hot springs as commoners.

From a lord or noble’s perspective, maintaining exclusivity like this might actually be better.

That probably meant the owner of this hot spring was either the lord or someone close to the lord.

Sounded about right.

“So, what should we do now?”

“Enjoy the hot spring, of course.”

Easy to forget, but we were here to search for the Holy Grail.

We had to check if the hot spring really did have healing powers.

“Weren’t we here to make money?”

“Of course not. Chris, is your brain made of gold coins?”

“Luina, in the merchant world, that’s actually a compliment.”

“It was meant as one.”

The inn we were staying at had two types of hot springs: one for shared use and one private bath attached to each room.

The shared bath was the largest, so we planned to use it for a proper investigation.

“Then I’ll go ahead and try the hot spring first.”

Feeling great after downing some honey wine, I grabbed a change of clothes and headed to the hot spring.

I checked out the inn’s hot spring facilities.

There were three communal baths in total, and the one in the middle was the largest.

I decided to go there.

At the entrance, I undressed, folded my clothes neatly, and stepped inside.

The central bath was really spacious—but oddly, there wasn’t a single person around.

Lucky me.

I poured water over myself, washed off lightly, and carefully dipped my toes into the water.

It was really hot.

Which meant—it was perfect.

I slowly sank my lower body into the bath, stretched out with a yawn, and looked up at the sky.

In a modern city, it’s hard to see stars even on a clear night.

Not because of air pollution, but because of all the lights.

With so many lights on the ground, you couldn’t see the ones in the sky.

But Happy Medieval Land was different.

There were hardly any lights, so even in the middle of a village, you could look up and see a sky full of stars.

Soaking in a wide open-air bath while gazing at the stars was a wonderful experience.

It was on a whole other level compared to squeezing into a tiny wooden tub.

I closed my eyes and soaked in the hot spring.

The sulfur smell stung my nose, but aside from that, nothing really stood out to my senses.

I didn’t feel any healing power.

So it was another dud?

Or maybe it just took time to work?

Not sure. Guess I’ll try going all the way under.

I took a deep breath and submerged myself completely.

That’s when it happened.

Creeaak.

Someone opened the door and stepped in.

They rinsed themselves off and slid into the hot spring.

“Whew.”

Sounding quite pleased, they let out a long sigh, stared up at the starry sky, then closed their eyes to soak in the moment.

Then, they opened them.

“Nothing again, huh.”

“It’s too soon to be sure. If the healing power was immediate, the rumors would’ve been more specific.”

Silence fell over the hot spring.

Then, someone—Leon—noticed me emerging from the water and stammered with a trembling voice.

“Luina?”

“Yes.”

“Why are you here…?”

“Looks like this is a mixed bath.”

I gently patted Leon on the shoulder as he squeezed his eyes shut.

“It’s fine. Just relax.”

“This massive hot spring for one… well, two now. Honestly, having only a few people use it feels like a win, don’t you think?”

“…Luina, I’ll be heading out, so would you mind looking the other way?”

“Leaving already? Why not stay a bit longer?”

“Luina.”

“Alright, alright.”

Really, it was fine, but he sure was shy.

As Leon wanted, I turned around to face the opposite side of the entrance.

I heard a brief splash and then the door close.

I gently kicked the water with my feet and relaxed a bit more before standing up.

I should check out other hot springs too.

The inn room we booked was quite expensive.

You would understand if I said it was twice as expensive as the other rooms.

This expensive price included the cost of a private hot spring in the room, so if we didn’t use the private hot spring, it would be like throwing money away into the air.

I returned to the room and immediately went into the private hot spring to soak.

“Phew.”

“Luina-sama? Weren’t you going to use the public hot spring?”

“I used that too.”

The private hot spring was already being used by Kris.

She was enjoying a sort of half-body bath, only soaking her lower half in the water.

I squinted my eyes at Kris’s figure.

There was something strange.

“Kris-sama.”

“Hm?”

“What is that? Is it magic?”

“What are you talking about, Luina-sama? It’s just my chest.”

Kris tilted her head while adjusting her chest.

It was me who wanted to tilt my head.

Where had that large thing been hiding all this time?

It should have been a small, plate-like chest, right?

“Of course, I covered it with bandages. I was cross-dressing, remember?”

“Does that mean the bandages cover it?”

It was truly a mystery of the human body.

I stared intently into Kris’s pink eyes.

Or more precisely, I stared at the strands of her hair that slightly covered her eyes.

“Kris-sama, did you dye that brown?”

“Hm? How did you know?”

“One strand of hair there is pink.”

“Ah, one didn’t get dyed. Yeah, that’s right. I dyed it. Pink stands out, and it’s not the color of a man, right? So, if I didn’t dye it, the cross-dressing effect would have been less convincing.”

“I see.”

It really hit me how Kris must be going through all kinds of hardships.

“Luina-sama.”

Kris approached me with a subtle voice.

I nodded as I leaned against the hot spring wall, looking at her, and Kris continued.

“You know…”

“Yes?”

“Would you like to start a big business with me? With your magic, we can do anything.”

“Was my body the goal all along?”

“The magic is the goal.”

“No.”

“Why?”

“Clearly, it will take up my time.”

I barely had enough time to learn magic, so I couldn’t afford to waste time on trivial matters.

“That’s too bad.”

“Isn’t what we’re doing right now enough?”

“It’s not enough. It’s very insufficient.”

Kris’s eyes momentarily flashed golden.

It wasn’t literally golden, but it felt like a golden glow.

Maybe her eyes and brain were turning into gold coins.

“What are you going to do with all that money?”

“What are you going to do with all your magic?”

“I’ll use it.”

“I’m the same.”

It made sense that, like my desire for magic, Kris’s desire was for gold coins.

I sank into the hot spring, relaxing my body.

“Luina-sama, would you like to do some side work? It won’t take up much of your time.”

“I’ll get up now.”

There were only two hot springs I hadn’t experienced yet.

The female public hot spring and the male public hot spring.

Since Leon was going to check out the male one, I decided to go to the female public hot spring.

I entered the female public hot spring and soaked in the warm water.

Maybe because I had been moving between several hot springs in a short time, my body felt a little tingly.

It was just a sensation, and it was unlikely that it was actually happening.

It wasn’t because I was a magician; my body was just like that. It didn’t change easily.

Unless I was burned by fire.

I enjoyed the hot spring with my whole body, but again, I didn’t feel any healing power.

I clicked my tongue.

“Is the healing power just a rumor after all?”

“Maybe. If a hot spring had healing power, recovery potions would have already lost their value.”

That was obvious.

I looked up at the sudden voice.

And when I saw the scene in front of me, my mouth dropped open.

Pink covered the world.

It didn’t seem possible in the middle of winter, in the cold north, but there was life force exuding from everything.

Under that life force,

Under the peach tree,

A woman in her mid-20s was lying naked, puffing on a pipe.

It was when I blinked at that surreal sight.

The woman slowly opened her mouth after exhaling a long puff of smoke.

“No matter how much you stare, I’m not giving you any peaches.”

“I didn’t even ask for any.”