19 Bathhouse

The next day.

After we finished our breakfast, Nicola and I went to Delica's house.

From the fountain in the south square, we left the main street and walked along the side road for a bit, then we found a store.

The store building was made of wood. Because there were many stone buildings in this town, this store stood out among the other buildings.

And this store was Delica's house, "Gauche Construction Store."

As we approached the store, Delica's mother, who was cleaning the front of the store, noticed us.

Her hair was read and had strong-willed eyes just like Delica.

「Oya? Mark and Nicola, good morning. It's been a while since you came here. And… Nicola, you're really cute as always! Ahh, if only my daughter had your cuteness even if only a little」

「Auntie, good morning~ *smile*」

After Nicola greets with her angelic smile, Delica's mother stroked her head.

She seemed to be steadily increasing her status as the neighborhood idol.

「So, what brought these two cute children to our store? Wait… don't tell me Delica made trouble again」

「This time, she didn't. We came because we have business with Boss」

「I see… Boss, huh… pfftttー *holding a laughter* Delicaー! You have guestsー!」

As I thought. Even her family seemed to be thinking it was funny.

But, after all this time, I couldn't just change the way I called her.

Besides, I already decided not to stop calling her 'Boss' even until Delica became an adult.

After a while, Delica appeared from inside.

It seemed she was helping with the work; she brushed off small wood chips around her clothes.

「Yo! Mark, Nicola, what's up!」

「Yo, Boss. Do you have pieces of board you don't need? Would you like to give me some if you have?」

「If you're okay with thin pieces of wood, I can bring you some. We will just burn them anyway. It's okay, right Mom?」

「Of course. Also, because you always share your delicious tomatoes, auntie will give you some of these boards」

Delica's mother pointed at the fine boards inside the store.

「Waah! Really? Thank you, auntie! Well then, I'll take two of them」

「Yes, go ahead. But it's quite big. Can you take it home?」

「Un. Don't worry」

I used my item box, and then the boards got sucked inside.

Delica had seen it many times, but her mother looked a little surprised because it was her first time seeing it.

Nicola told me to not show it off too much to people, but if it's a friend's mother, it's okay, right?

「Auntie, Boss, thank you very much! We're going home」

「Eehhー You guys are going home already? Are you in a hurry? And what are you gonna do with those boards?」

「I'll show you when it's done. Well then, until tomorrowー」

We waved at Delica and her mother and went home.

♦

After we got home, Nicola and I headed to the corner of the backyard where I made a bathtub yesterday.

For now, I released the mana from the bathtub and returned it to sand.

First, I made a proper floor with earth magic.

A stone floor of about two tsubo was completed.

*/ a tsubo = 3.3 m２

After that, I made stone walls surrounding the floor, and then I made the entrance in a position that was hard to see from the inn.

With this, a stone hut without a ceiling was completed.

I was still afraid to make the ceiling with earth magic because it might collapse, so I used the boards that I got from Delica's house as the ceiling and made some kind of clips around the boards with earth magic so that it didn't move.

I was prioritizing safety for now, but someday, I wanted to make the ceiling out of stone.

After that, I entered the hut and made a bathtub. I made it a little bigger than yesterday.

And then the bathhouse with a dressing room was completed.

「Fuuhh….. Just as I thought, it's really tiring. I'll add water later after mom is done with her work」

「If so, then I'll take the first bath, okay? Can you watch outside?」

「Alright… But you have to make the hot water on your own. I'm tired. And if you have any idea to improve this bathhouse, tell me」

「Hmm… let's see… For now, maybe you should make a small window for the light. Also, make a hanger or something to put a lantern on because it would be really dark here at night」

「Aahh… you're right. Guess my work still not finished yet then」

I went back to work for a bit more and modified it as Nicola said.

This time, the bathhouse was finished completely.

After that, Nicola went inside. I left the bathhouse, made a chair with earth magic and sat down, taking a rest while enjoying the backyard.

After a while, Nicola called out from the bath.

「Onii-chan, do you think we can make business with this bathhouse?」

「Hmm… we need magic to boil the water, so it would be me or you. Moreover, we have to take care of the bath all the time. Well, if the customers can use magic, we can make it self-service, but the number of customers would be limited to only people who can use magic. I also have to use my item box to throw away the used water. I think it would be very troublesome」

「Maybe you're right… If I think about it carefully, I also don't feel like we would be making profit. By the way onii-chan, don't use my used water for strange things, okay!」

「As if I would do that!」

After I said that, Nicola got out of the bath.

♦

Evening.

After dinner time was over and today's work was done, I took dad and mom to the bathhouse.

It was already dark outside, so dad brought a lantern in one hand. He opened his eyes wide while mom was surprised with her hand covering her mouth after seeing the bathhouse.

「Waahhー What a splendid bath! You two are amazing! Good work! Can Mom enter now?」

「Of course. I already put hot water in it, but if you feel it's a bit lukewarm, you can warm it up. Mom and Dad are good at fire magic, right?」

「Okay~ Fire magic is necessary for cooking, so we're good. Well then, I'm going inー」

「Ah, wait, one more thing. Everytime you want to take a bath, please call me or dad to watch over, okay?」

Dad nodded in silent.

「Ara, ara~ I'm cherished by my son! Okay, I promise!」

After answering while making an 'okay' pose, Mom went into the bathhouse.

「Well then, I leave the lookout to Dad」

After Dad nodded, I left the backyard.

From this moment, the bath became an indispensable part of our family life.

♦♦♦

Several days later after I built the bathhouse, I was at the second floor window looking at the backyard, and then I witnessed Mom and Dad coming out of the bathhouse together. Their faces were shining.

I decided to pretend I saw nothing.