Chapter 136 – Astonishing Development

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Translated by Sylph

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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[Jalpha]

Led by Van, I came near the building I had seen from afar. There, Mulsia’s advance party was already preparing to camp under his command. They were pitching tents around the building with competitive speed, but after such a rapid march, I found it strange that they could still move so well.

Perhaps sensing my gaze, Van, walking ahead of us, turned back this way and pointed at the building.

“This building is a rest facility we hurriedly prepared for the various knight orders. The first floor is a large bath divided half-and-half between men and women, and from the second floor up there are private rooms that can lodge up to two hundred people. For the time being, I thought the heads of each house and those accompanying them as guards could stay over in Seat Village, but what will you do, Lord Jalpha?”

At Van saying such a thing as if it were nothing, I wrinkled my brow and snorted.

“It is admirable that you built such a large structure, but you say the first floor of that gigantic building is a bathhouse…? How exactly do you intend to prepare so much hot water? At best, it would amount to only a tenth of that.”

When I said that, Van pointed deeper inside with a troubled look.

“That’s exactly the problem. Preparing the hot water was really difficult. You can’t see it because the building blocks the view, but there is a waterwheel in the back carrying water to a storage tank. A portion of the water flowing from there is constantly heated and sent into the bath. So once the bath is filled once, it stays in a state where hot water keeps being supplied all the time, so the temperature remains constant. If you don’t mind even if ordinary soldiers are inside, you can go in and take a look.”

“Ordinary soldiers are entering the bath first? You fool, even if it is only bathing, those with rank are to go first…!”

How could I make use of a bathhouse that men without even noble rank had already entered? Thinking that, I shouted, but Van gave a wry smile, waved one hand, and spoke.

“No, properly speaking, I have separately prepared bath chambers for His Majesty and the heads of the various houses to use. There is also a three-story large bathhouse in the town over there that I made for adventurers and traveling merchants, and I made a large bathhouse in Seat Village too. Please think of this facility only as one for those of baron rank and below, or for ordinary soldiers.”

“Absurd. There is no way I can believe such a thing…”

Even as I said that, I recalled how, back in Scudetto, Van had made some sort of gigantic catapult-like object right before my eyes. I do not know the details of what production-type magic truly is, but there is no doubt that Van possesses some sort of special power.

Thinking that, I looked down at Van once more.

“Very well. Then show me.”

“…This way, please.”

At my words, Van blinked in surprise, then immediately floated a suggestive smile and changed course toward the building.

The more I looked at the building, the stranger it seemed. Not only did I not know what material it was made of, but its construction itself felt like something I had never seen before.

“Ah, Father…!”

And there, inside the building already, was Mulsia. It seemed he had been speaking with the captains in a room like a large hall lined with chairs and tables. And farther in the back, I saw Dee as well.

“Ohh! Lord Jalpha! I am glad to see you seem unchanged!”

Dee noticed me, bowed deeply once, and greeted me.

“Hm. Dee, you too seem well. I heard you cut off a dragon’s head, but it appears you suffered no major injury.”

When I said that, Dee thumped his chest and nodded.

“Ha, ha, ha! As you can see, I am completely unharmed!”

Seeing Dee laugh in such high spirits, I found myself wondering whether this man even remembered that he had one-sidedly withdrawn from the marquis house’s knight order.

However, it is common enough for capable knights to be poached into other knight orders, and I myself have pulled many highly capable knights away from neighboring territories, so I cannot speak of it.

While I was thinking that, Stradale stepped out from behind me.

“Sir Dee, it has been a long time.”

Respectfully, Stradale bowed once to Dee. Dee is older than he is, and now belongs to another knight order, so Stradale was likely being considerate. Looking at such a Stradale, Dee broadly lifted the corner of his mouth.

“Ohh! Knight Commander Stradale! It has indeed been a long while! Wah-ha-ha! You still have that unfriendly face!”

“I am glad to see you are also as lively as ever.”

The two exchanged such words and welcomed their reunion after a long time. Watching that from the side, Van pointed deeper inside.

“I have installed toilets to the left and right of this hall. In the back, the left side is the entrance to the women’s large bath, and the right side is the entrance to the men’s large bath. Inside there is a changing room, and beyond that it immediately becomes the large bath.”

As he said that, Van promptly walked farther in. Left with no choice, I followed after him, and when we entered the changing room, the ordinary soldiers there, half-undressed in the middle of removing their clothes, looked this way and hurriedly straightened themselves. Saying things like, “We’re just taking a quick look. Please relax,” Van walked past them and opened what appeared to be the bathhouse door.

Then warm steam and heat softly spilled out from the door, and a large bath spread out before my eyes.

A floor, pillars, and walls made of stone. Since the only windows were narrow ones lined up near the ceiling, lamps of some sort had been attached to the walls to brighten the room.

Its size was unquestionably greater than the marquis house’s bathhouse. Rather, if one counts the men’s and women’s sides together, would it not be a great bath of a scale that even the royal house does not possess?

As I stood there dumbfounded, Van pointed toward the exit.

“Now then, shall we go to the next place?”

“…Y-yes.”

Without even knowing what I should say, I merely gave that reply. What in the world happened after he left my house? Even to make only this much should have taken several months.

And yet, with nothing but a run-down village of roughly a hundred people, plus only Espada and Dee, how did he…?

Going up to the second floor and checking the private rooms furnished with beds and other furniture, the toilets, and so on, my thoughts spun in circles inside my head.

However, of course, no answer was ever going to come.