By the Grace of the Gods (LN) - Volume 9 - Chapter 19

Chapter 6 Episode 19: Hot Spring Cleaning, Part 1

Early next morning, I was atop a small boat crossing the lake with the guide Lord Fatoma had sent and the members of Sikum’s Pier, who had volunteered to help me.

“I didn’t know you could sail a boat, Kai.”

“In our village, everyone can. Right, guys?”

“It’s got to be our biggest mode of transport.”

“You could be going to a big city for supplies or taking someone sick to the next village, but going by boat is the quickest way. Kids learn to sail a boat from their parents, whether they’re fishermen or not.”

“I see.” Different landscapes call for different modes of transportation, I suppose.

“Look at that, Ryoma,” Thane said.

I followed his gaze. “Those are...isle rats, aren’t they?”

Kei had told me about them during the tour on my first day here. They were lake-dwelling monsters that resembled an otter or beaver. I could see a group of about seven or eight of them pushing their raft-like nest.

“Once you see them moving their nests, it won’t be long until there aren’t any more mad salamanders. And that’s the end of the fishing season.”

“Really?”

“Apparently, they can sense the waves of salamanders swimming up the river. At the end of the season, they move their nests from the lake to the mouth of an outflowing river and spend the winter there.”

“If they move them sooner, the salamanders might destroy their nests.”

Peyron and Shin’s interjections were helpful. The isle rats watched the monsters in the water to gauge the flow of the seasons. The sign of shifting seasons meant that mad salamander hunting would soon come to an end, and with that, my days in this village.

I resolved to enjoy every day I had left in this little fishing village and to leave no adventure neglected.

■ ■ ■

The boat carried on across the lake for another thirty minutes as we chatted away, and we reached the port of a large town.

While the setup on the shore looked similar to the village of Sikum, this town had far more docks and a much larger processing station. Even in the wee small hours, there was a constant flow of boats going in and out; many of them were likely shoppers from other villages. The large population on the shore was creating considerable hustle and bustle, and I could see large buildings along the streets beyond the beach.

“Hey!” A man called repeatedly to us from a dock, waving a small flag in one hand, apparently directing traffic.

Kai steered the boat as directed, and we tied it to one of the vacant docks.

“All right, we’re good to disembark now.”

“Thank you.”

“Brr, I’m freezing.”

“It’s pretty cold out on the lake at this hour.”

“Let’s grab some hot soup,” Peyron suggested. After that ride through the chilly, nearly wintery air, nobody objected to that idea.

It seemed like a lot of other people had the same idea, as the main street off of the beach was lined on both sides with food stands selling hot soup and stew. Just in a short glance, I counted sixty stands. I would have had a hard time deciding where to eat, but the Sikum’s Pier crew kept walking.

“Do you have a place in mind?” I asked.

“Huh? Oh, right. We haven’t told you, Ryoma, but our brother has a food stand here. We pretty much always eat there when we come.”

“I see.”

We soon arrived at the food stand, where the team quickly said their hellos and ordered before jumping into catching up with each other, introducing me to the people there in the process. While there was some difference in ingredients and seasoning, the dish did remind me of their mother’s cooking.

With our stomachs full of warmth, we headed directly towards Lord Fatoma’s manor.

In about twenty minutes, we arrived via the communal carriage. The lord’s manor stood at the end of the main street, a straight shot from the beach. It was an ordinary mansion, as contradictory as that seemed, unlike the duke’s manor that resembled a castle. It was functional, but rather plain. Despite the large size, it didn’t seem as impressive but reminded me of an apartment complex, given it was built from brick. Fencing encircled the building, and a pig beastkin stood guard at the gate.

We told the guard our business, and he responded very promptly. “We’ve been expecting you. I’ll call down your guide straight away.”

Soon, the guide came out. “Thank you for your patience, Ryoma Takebayashi. And you all must be the Sikum’s Pier. My name is Pigu; I’ll be serving as your guide today.”

“Nice to meet you,” we answered.

Pigu appeared to be in his fifties, sixties, or perhaps older, but I couldn’t tell for sure. He was another pig beastkin on the portly side, his saggy cheeks contributing to a kind, grandfatherly look. He had prepared us one of the count’s carriages for the day, so we climbed right in.

We reached the mountain with the hot spring within the hour, but then...

“Whoa!”

“Thane!”

“I’m okay! Just slipped!”

“Careful now.”

“With how steep this path is, you’ll roll all the way down.”

“Terribly sorry...” Pigu panted. “There were...more accessible...paths back in the day...”

“Shin. Everyone. Can we take a break?”

“Yes, I think that’ll be best.”

There were stairs on the first part of the path leading up the mountain to the hot spring, but that quickly turned into a steep hiking trail that we had been struggling up for the last three hours.

Eventually, however, we did reach the hot spring.

“Is this the hot spring?” I asked.

“A bit different from what I pictured,” Kei said.

I could smell the sulfur, hear the water, and see the steam ahead, but the only building I could see was a dingy shack.

“Yes, it is... Pheoink... The last lord who built it disliked decorations. He said that it only needed a small cottage...”

“Could I take a look inside? You could have a seat while we inspect the place, Pigu.”

“Absolutely. Here’s the key. There isn’t too much room in there, and I’ll be right here if you need anything.”

The road was apparently a bit too rough for someone his age. He sat down on a bush, or rather, an old bench covered in vines.

We opened the cottage door with the key. It really was a tight space, barely fitting the lot of us—five adults and a child. Considering the girth of Lord Fatoma, this cottage would have barely been large enough for him, let alone any company. The only things in the tiny cottage were a few chairs, some clothes baskets, and a hand-drawn map on the wall, but they were covered in dust and cobwebs.

“Cleaning here shouldn’t be a problem, so there must be something else...”

Straight across from the entrance, we opened another door and found a narrow set of stairs that descended three steps into an open, outdoor bathing area.

“Oof...”

“This is something...” Shin muttered.

“It’s seen better days, that’s for sure,” Peyron chimed in.

The bath simply drew water from the hot spring into a large tub. From a cursory glance, I could see that the hot water flowed over the tub, across the floor and through the drainage trough to dump the water outside. However, the drain seemed to have been clogged by the leaves and branches that had blown in. The draining had stopped, and something other than sulfur was stinking up the area. And that wasn’t all.

“I wonder if there’s iron in the calcium carbonate.” The tub, and even a large area of the floor around it, was covered in a thick layer of buildup. Reddish-brown chunks speckled the mirrors on the wall alongside handprints of the same color. These solidified minerals wouldn’t be easy to clean.

“Let’s start with what we can do. Dimension Home.” I called out the scavenger slimes and had them drink up the puddles of water, leaves and all. “Be thorough with that clogged drain, please.”

Sensing the scavengers’ compliance, I stepped outside.

Pigu called out to me nervously. “Is something the matter?”

“I’m draining the water from the bath, so I’m preparing for our next course of action in the meantime.”

“I see... Do you think it can be cleaned?”

“Well... I assume the buildup is what’s giving you trouble?”

“It is indeed. I’ve tried cleaning it myself, but I’ve never been able to get it off.”

No surprise there. The minerals in the water had been deposited by the change in temperature or pressure. In Japan, this kind of spring sediment was said to give hot spring locations a sort of character. On the other hand, they also posed a problem for those maintaining the spring, as it caused buildup on the tub, floor, or drain, as I witnessed here.

Pigu had gestured a scrubbing motion, complete with a bitter, defeated expression, but I doubted that scrubbing alone stood a chance.

“This is a bit of a spur-of-the-moment idea, but I’m going to create a fluid that could get rid of it.”

“You can make such a thing?!”

“Hopefully it’ll work.” With earth magic, I crafted a pot that would hold the cleaner. Then I summoned some sticky slimes and acid slimes and had them spew sticky solution and acid. “That buildup is called calcium carbide. It’s a similar material to seashells, and it’s susceptible to acid, so I think this should do the trick.”

“Really?!”

“In theory, anyway.”

I expected the acid would melt the buildup like an acidic cleaner would, but I didn’t want the acid to be too powerful and end up damaging the floor or walls, so I diluted the acid with the sticky solution with the hopes of raising its viscosity as well.

I experimented with the mixture for a while until it looked good.

“Right, time to try this out,” I said, and returned to the bath.

Since the scavengers had already drained the tub, I decided to test out the cleaner on a corner of the tub. I had the acid slimes form a small circle and carefully poured the cleaner into the center.

“Wow!” Cheers erupted behind me as the Sikum’s Pier watched the cleaner rapidly bubble from the acid, reacting with the calcium carbide. While the acid was activated just fine, it still seemed too concentrated for cleaning, and it was more viscous than pure acid, but not by much. I decided the mixture needed a little more work.

After several rounds of experimentation, I created three different variations of the cleaner—a more acidic and less viscous one for thick layers of buildup, a less acidic and more viscous one for thinner layers of buildup and for the walls, where the cleaner would drip more easily, and a third variation with an even balance of acid and viscosity.