Kays Translations
Just another Isekai Lover~
Chapter 142: Hot Springs
There must have been advance notice that members of House Heine were coming. By the time our carriage stopped, all the employees of the inn where we’d be staying were already lined up in front of the entrance.
People nearby began making a commotion when they saw them.
Oh no. We were standing out far too much.
Brother Cain must have been used to this sort of thing, because he carried himself with perfect confidence. Somehow, I was the only one acting like a nervous little commoner.
“We’ve been awaiting your arrival.”
A pleasant-looking middle-aged man stepped forward to greet us. Was he the manager of the inn? He wore a refreshing smile.
“Thank you for welcoming us. We’ll be in your care again. This is my younger brother, Julius.”
“Thank you for having me.”
I bowed in response to the welcome.
Would we be received like this every single time we came here? That would make the place a little difficult for me to use. Personally, I’d be much happier if it felt more like we were travelling incognito. I didn’t like the feeling that every little thing I did might be watched.
Hmm?
“Um, has something happened?”
The manager flinched at my question.
The ability I’d cultivated during the horse-racing season, when I’d gone around greeting nobles and carefully watched their expressions, wasn’t just for show. I wouldn’t miss even a slight change in someone’s complexion.
Brother Cain, standing beside me, tilted his head in confusion.
“Well… At present, one of this town’s famous attractions, the hot springs, has stopped producing hot water…”
“W-what?!”
I couldn’t stop myself from shouting when the manager apologetically told us the news.
I mean, Brother Cain had told me there were hot springs here, and I’d really been looking forward to them. You couldn’t blame me.
Incidentally, Brother Cain looked startled by my reaction.
His face practically said, “Is that really something to be so shocked about?”
Hot springs are special to Japanese people, Brother.
Ah. The manager was making almost the same face as Brother Cain.
Was I the only one who’d been excited about them?
“I’m truly sorry.”
“Ah, no, I’m not angry or anything…”
I hurriedly got the apologetic manager to raise his head. First things first, we still needed him to show us around the inn.
Perhaps relieved that I wasn’t angry, he immediately led us to our room.
“It’s enormous, Brother Cain. Isn’t this a little too large for just the two of us?”
The room we were shown to was on the top floor and had an excellent view. From the window, I could see the nearby forest and, beyond it, a small lake. Naturally, we could also look down over the entire town.
Since nobles stayed here, the interior was decorated in cool, refreshing shades of white and blue. The carpet underfoot was wonderfully soft and fluffy.
It would probably feel great to walk over it barefoot.
If I actually did that, though, someone would probably scold me for having bad manners.
“This is the room I always use when I travel to the royal capital,” Brother Cain said. “It might be a little large, but that means we can relax properly.”
Brother Cain sat down on the sofa as naturally as if he were at home.
He really looked the part of a noble child.
Meanwhile, I sat at the table like a guest who couldn’t quite settle down. Even my feet felt restless.
“There’s a lake over there. I didn’t expect to find a lake in a place like this.”
“That lake is famous around here. They say the spirit of the lake grants wishes.”
“Does that mean you throw a woodcutter’s axe into the lake or something?!”
Could this be that story about the golden axe and the silver axe?
If so, I wanted to throw something in and see what happened.
“Why would that be your first thought…? If you did that, the Lake Spirit would get angry. Don’t do it.”
Brother Cain stared at me with utter exasperation.
So that wasn’t it.
What a shame.
Still, a Lake Spirit sounded interesting. Maybe we should go and take a look.
Ah, wait.
“When you said there were other famous places in this town, did you mean that lake?”
“That’s right. There’s also a place in the nearby forest called the Green Corridor, where they built a boardwalk.”
“The Green Corridor! I want to go!”
There had to be something there. There absolutely had to be ingredients I could use for magic potions.
My internal ‘magic-potion ingredient sensor’ was going wild!
I leaned towards Brother Cain so eagerly that he recoiled into the sofa.
“A-all right, I get it. We have plenty of time, so we’ll go together.”
“Yes! I’m looking forward to it. Oh, and let’s visit the lake too.”
“Sure. But we’re not bringing a woodcutter’s axe, all right?”
“…What a shame.”
“I mean it.”
Tch. No good, huh?
Brother Cain’s face had gone stiff. Apparently, he genuinely wanted me to give up on that idea.
In that case, maybe I could throw in a coin instead. It might bring some sort of blessing or good luck.
After taking a short break in our room, Brother Cain decided to show me around town.
Our first stop was the hot-spring district, even though the hot springs themselves had turned out to be a disappointment. Brother Cain had said it was one of the town’s tourist attractions, so even without the springs there should at least be some hot-spring steamed buns for sale.
“There really aren’t many people here.”
“No. It looks like the hot springs truly have stopped flowing. Some of the shops are closed too.”
Brother Cain looked over the district with his eyebrows lowered.
He’d probably wanted to show me a lively hot-spring town.
It really was a shame.
While eating a hot-spring steamed bun, I asked one of the shop workers a question.
“When did the hot springs stop flowing?”
“Well, I heard the amount of hot water started decreasing around two months ago. Then, before even a month had passed, it stopped completely. At first, some places apparently tried to hide it by heating ordinary water…”
That was absolutely not the way to handle it.
Maybe that was why the entire district had become so lifeless. The shop that did it had probably gone out of business. Perhaps one of those shuttered stores was the culprit.
There were other people wandering around the hot-spring district with empty, listless expressions.
They were probably people who worked in the area.
They might have been thinking, “Whoever did that made everything worse for the rest of us.”