novelraw Chapter 80 : Chapter 80
Chapter 80 : Chapter 80
Chapter 80. Hot Spring Construction (2)
The Marquis' castle. No, what used to be the Marquis' castle was becoming a giant stag beetle.
“Ah… how truly beautiful.”
Rude, who was an insect enthusiast before he was a sage, muttered with a pleased face.
This place was originally a solemn and majestic Marquis' castle, but now it was transforming into a form where the magnificent jaws of a stag beetle were wide open towards the sky.
The size remained the same, but the roof was covered with a hard carapace, and the castle gate was transformed into large elytra. The sight of golems newly refining the castle walls to further emphasize the majesty of the stag beetle was just bizarre.
“I can leave this to the golems. Now, shall we change the village?”
Rude raised his hand high.
Then, new golems that soared from the earth began to reconstruct the village.
The round square became the body of a butterfly, and the roads around it were arranged in a splendid wing pattern.
The roofs were painted in various colors, trying to make the entire village look like a giant butterfly.
The villagers wailed.
“Your house… was it always that colorful?”
“No way. I want to die.”
“Mom, where is our house?”
“Probably at the tip of the left wing.”
“This is weird. Is this a house or an insect? I don’t want to live there.”
“What the. Our house has become a hind leg!”
The villagers looked at each other with dumbfounded expressions.
But Rude did not stop there.
“Good! Now it’s the armory’s turn.”
He made the armory, which was full of gunpowder, look like a giant ant’s face.
With antennae sticking out, the sharp jaws were the entrance.
The path became narrow and winding like an ant tunnel.
Moreover, giant ant golems made of magic carried things in bundles, creating a real ant society.
Then, one of them accidentally set off some gunpowder, but the other ants didn't even pay attention and went about their business.
“I have to add a beehive too!”
Rude then placed beehive-shaped buildings throughout the village.
The buildings with hexagonal windows looked like part of a beehive, and the area below was decorated as if honey were flowing.
The boats floating in the canal were transformed into the shape of bees, even giving the feeling that the harvested bees were carrying honey every time they visited a house.
In the end, there was no place that Rude’s hand had not touched.
The entire village was transformed into the shape of insects, and from the sky, the whole village looked like a giant insect habitat.
That’s not the end of it.
Rude even told the villagers to raise insects instead of farming.
“If you raise silkworms, you can get not only silk but also pupae. That means you can get both fiber and food at the same time.”
“Have you ever heard the chirping of a cricket up close? There is no better healing method than that. Try raising a few.”
“There is no food more nutritious than dried mealworm larvae. Are you kidding me? Of course not.”
The Marquis' castle, transformed into a village of insects in an instant.
What would the Marquis, the original owner of this place, have said if he had seen all this?
Looking at the stag beetle castle in front of him, he would have begun to seriously wonder if he was dreaming.
That’s how drastic the change Rude had made was.
***
The Marquis' castle was not the only place busy with construction.
The dragons’ paradise was also bustling with the sound of hammering coming from all over.
“Come on, let’s work together and put this golden pipe in place!”
“Heave-ho!”
In the middle of a high mountain area.
On a snow-covered cliff that seemed to touch the sky, humans and dragons were gathered together, engrossed in construction. An unprecedented project was underway, with dragons transformed into humans and the residents of Rarc Village building a hot spring together.
On one side, pipes made of pure gold were being connected along the mountain ridge.
The task of lifting the heavy golden pipes was entrusted to the strong dragons.
In their original forms, it would have been a mouthful, but now they were in human form, so cooperation was essential.
“Ugh. It’s heavy to lift in a human body.”
When a black-haired dragon complained, a human blacksmith next to him threw a word.
“Then why don’t you just lift it in your original form?”
“I can’t do that. The Queen told us never to undo this form.”
There was a reason.
There were no more groups to attack this place, but I planned to raise this place into a new world where dragons and humans live together.
‘Their different appearances are one thing, but their sizes are too different, so it’s difficult to undo the humanization. Doing it like this will rather foster a sense of unity and build friendship.’
The sight of them shouting ‘heave-ho’ together and proceeding with the construction is quite nice to see.
This must be what coexistence of diversity is.
Meanwhile, in the center of the hot spring, the demons were working on receiving the hot water.
It wasn't hot spring water, but they were testing the appropriate temperature using boiled water.
Of course, they were also in human form.
In the form of a 100% pure human, with no horns on their heads or wings on their backs.
“Ouch, ouch. Damn it. Why am I here doing this.”
“Be quiet. Work diligently if you don’t want your soul blown away.”
At Mammon’s lecture, Satan shed a tear and sighed.
They were now my slaves.
Since their souls were mortgaged to the sword, they would not be able to disobey my words.
The words of Beelzebub, the demon of gluttony, tickled my ear, but I didn’t think much of it.
“Slurp. It would be delicious to cook and eat a human here.”
“Stop talking nonsense and move quickly. It’s losing heat. One, two…”
While the demons were bickering.
On the opposite side, Bruno could be seen digging the ground.
“Damn it. Damn it. Damn it.”
He was digging so hard that I felt I should give him a bonus.
The guy was shoveling like a madman.
Why was he working so hard?
Because Anonymous was sticking right next to him, watching him with an eagle eye.
She even had a long whip in one hand, a weapon truly befitting of a queen.
Before long, the first hot spring bath was finally completed.
The pure gold pipes sparkled and emitted a brilliant golden steam.
Chiiik.
Chwaaaa!
Was it because many people, including humans, dragons, and demons, had joined forces?
In an instant, hot water gushed out from the pipes.
The old man of the village behind me said with a touched expression.
“To think I would see such a luxurious hot spring in my lifetime. This is a luxury that even nobles can’t enjoy.”
Hehe. You’ve suffered a lot.
The villagers will be able to use this place for free, so please bathe to your heart’s content from now on.
Isn’t this what 21st-century resident welfare is?
After all the commotion, the top-class high-altitude golden hot spring was finally completed.
As the clear hot spring water flowed gently and a golden mist rose, humans, dragons, and demons began to relieve their fatigue in the same space for the first time.
I, too, disguised myself and joined the group to enjoy the hot spring bath.
“But hey.”
“What?”
“Who are you? I haven’t seen your face before.”
When a dragon asked Lucifer, he squeezed his eyes shut.
Mammon burst out laughing while looking at Lucifer.
“Kahaha. Even the great Lucifer is no exception.”
On the other hand, at the end of the hot spring, a naked Bruno was covering his important parts and avoiding the sharp gazes of the demons.
He mutters in a low voice.
“Son of a… What kind of crazy place is this.”
Tell me about it.
But it will become even more so in the future.
Because I plan to open this place to the public and make it a tourist product.
***
Sgeung.
A head separates from its body and rolls on the floor.
Iris licked the blood off the blade with an indifferent face.
Her expression looked so playful that it was chilling.
Number 1, who had appeared from somewhere, clapped his hands and nodded.
“With this, all the anti-emperor faction has been killed. Good work.”
Iris' brow furrowed.
“It’s already over? I’m not done yet.”
“Calm down. What we are doing is cleaning, not extermination.”
Iris stuck out her tongue as if she were disappointed and kicked the corpse rolling on the floor with one foot.
“Nothing special. I thought the prime minister would have hired some decent guys.”
“It’s because you’ve become too strong.”
In fact, Iris had a knack for assassination.
No, she was so skilled that it made one wonder if she wasn’t a genius of assassination.
Stealth, agility, and quick judgment.
Even if she hadn’t been the master of the Unseen Ones, with her level of skill, she would have risen to a single-digit member in an instant.
Perhaps she had awakened late as a Child of God.
“Are there any more to kill?”
“I’m sorry, but not for the time being.”
“Can’t we just kill Primus ourselves? I feel like we could take care of everything ourselves in this mood.”
Had her personality changed due to the successive murders?
Her speech and behavior. The person had changed 180 degrees.
“Are you feeling the urge to kill?”
At Number 1’s words, she slowly shook her head.
“It’s not like that. Just for fun.”
“There are no assassins who kill for fun. That only hastens one’s demise.”
“Hmph. You’re the one who taught me how to kill.”
Number 1 seemed to be thinking about something and then said this.
“The time to meet him has come.”
“Him?”
“Yes. It’s time to have an audience with the emperor and ask for his cooperation.”
At the word ’emperor’, Iris' eyes were filled with curiosity.
“If it’s the emperor, there must be a lot to gain from him.”
“It would be best to be moderate. He is a person who lives in a different time from us.”
Number 1 said something incomprehensible.
All people are the same, how can there be a person who lives in a different time?
But Iris would soon realize what those words meant.
***
After the construction of the hot spring was finished.
I racked my brain to promote this place.
‘It would be best to attract people of high status first. Then it will automatically spread to the lower classes, and it will become a place that everyone wants to come to.’
There is a term called the trickle-down effect.
If royalty or nobles take the lead, the trend will naturally spread like wildfire among the common people.
The opposite is not impossible, but it would be better to package it luxuriously to maintain the price.
This is not a charity project.
‘To stand against Primus, it would be best to diligently save money from now on.’
Gold is good, but there was a limit to that alone.
In addition, if I develop this place as a tourist destination, capable people will flock here, so it will be much easier to select useful talents from among them.
‘Soon, this place will emerge as a new center, not a frontier.’
Having hardened my resolve, I wrote the following on a letter coated with gold leaf in an old-fashioned way.
I sent this to the royalty and influential nobles of each country.
I also sent it to Isabel and Iris, but it was unknown how they would react.
In the meantime, a merchant who said he was from the Marquis' castle said something out of the blue.
“My lord, is this truly what you wanted?”
“What do you mean?”
“Haha. At first, it was absurd, but now it’s a huge hit! That mealworm, it was really delicious. Thanks to it, no one in the village is starving to death anymore.”
I couldn’t understand a single word he was saying.
It had already been 3 months since Rude left this place.
For some reason, he hadn’t contacted me once, not even the common kind.
Even if it wasn't a letter, he could have easily contacted me through the magic crystal ball.
It is the lord’s responsibility and duty to check on how his subordinates are doing.
I immediately left for the Marquis' castle.
No, the place that is now called the Sage’s Castle.
But when I arrived, the Marquis' castle I knew had become something of a completely different nature.
…?!
W-what is this!