The man ran.
Not metaphorically with his actual legs.
“Damn iiit! I’m definitely quitting this job! The moment this case is over, I’m quitting for sure!!”
He ran, panting and gasping for breath.
His destination: the Attica region.
“Damn it, could they at least arrange a carriage?!”
He was an excellent covert operative. Having received orders from his master, Klaus (somewhat)·Reinhardt (idiot), he had tracked down the whereabouts of Lady Miyako and Lady Fuuka, who had vanished at the speed of light.
After reporting to Klaus that the carriage carrying them had headed for the Attica region, where Miyako Florence’s family home was located, a rather overconfident command was issued:
『Go fetch them right now! They must be lonely without me to keep them company!!』
That was one hour ago.
In the dead of night.
“You can’t possibly mean ‘right now’ literally! Normally, no one would!!”
Exhausted and about to head home for the first time in three days, he was stopped by his oh-so-kind master.
『Hey, where do you think you’re going… eh, home? What are you talking about? I said head for the Attica region immediately. Or what, is this a joke?』
He said.
You’re the joke.
He thought about catching a hackney carriage somewhere, but whether it was peak hours or not, he couldn’t catch one at all. From his master Klaus came the decree: “Make for the Attica region without a moment’s delay.”
No, no, that’s just impossible.
And so, he had no choice but to run. Toward the Attica region, a place that would take nearly a full day to reach even by fast carriage.
“Damn iiit! What the hell are you doing, Miyakooo?!”
His name was Odina.
Odina Florence (……..).
He was Miyako Florence’s brother—the one who, right after being dumped by Klaus Reinhardt, had whisked away Lady Fuuka Hamilton.
“I did it!”
“What is this? A pit trap?”
A hole dug in the garden.
Inside, rounded stones were laid out.
Its appearance was not that of a pit trap.
That’s right…
“Behold! Miyako’s special open-air bath (handmade)!”
“A… a bath? This?”
Fuuka tilted her head.
And not without reason. After all, hauling enough hot water to fill this place was nearly impossible. The water would likely go cold long before it got here.
“Ehehe, your hot pot gave me the idea… this!”
Saying “this,” Miyako produced a heated stone.
So that was why she’d been making a bonfire in the corner of the garden.
“If we put a few of these heated stones into the water collected in the hole.”
“Ah, it becomes hot water?”
“Correct!”
Indeed, then whenever the water cooled, they could just add more heated stones to keep it warm. It would save them the trouble of going out to an open-air bath.
Since evenings often grew chilly, it would be a blessing.
But…
“But, Miyako.”
“What is it, Fuuka-chan?”
“Just how do you plan to get the water to fill this?”
“…………Ah.”
Oh no, Miyako thought.
They mainly used boiled well water for cooking and drinking, but hauling it all the way out here would be backbreaking.
“Rainwater, maybe?”
“Just how many days are you expecting me to go without a bath?!”
The Attica region got plenty of snow in winter, but rainfall during summer was never abundant. If they waited for enough rain to fill this hole, mosquito larvae would probably start breeding in the water.
Not a pleasant thought.
“Wh-what should we do?”
“How should I know?!”
Yeah, fair enough.
Miyako pressed her temples.
She’d dreamed of a place with a bath and spent a whole day digging this hole, only for the result to be: ‘Dug a giant, pointless hole in the garden.’
She’d thought Fuuka-chan would be overjoyed if their cabin had an open-air bath too, since Fuuka-chan looked utterly happy from every angle whenever she took an open-air bath.
Ever since her corporate drone days, she felt she’d been born under a star where everything she did backfired and just increased her overtime.
Well, since coming here, thanks to her precognition, she could avoid unpleasant situations.
“S-sorry, Fuuka-chan…”
“W-well, it’s not that I mind, but…”
“Uu,”
“It’s… a shame, isn’t it?”
Waaah, being comforted like that just makes me want to cry!
As Miyako sniffled dejectedly…
CLATTER-R-R!
“Wh-what was that noise?!”
“It came from inside the house… Could it be, pursuers?!”
They had strictly sworn to secrecy the only person who came and went from this cabin—the beautiful girl… ahem, the young adult merchant woman, Shanly.
If pursuers had found them, they had to flee.
Miyako’s plan to enjoy a two-week… preferably longer vacation (banque) with Fuuka would be ruined!
“I’ll go check!”
She rushed into the kitchen.
An overturned wooden pail.
It had contained the leftovers from yesterday’s stone hot pot, saved for today’s lunch.
The stone hot pot, rich with seafood broth, was not scattered across the floor.
Why on earth?
It should have had leftovers inside.
Where did the contents go?
“I-Is someone there?!”
Miyako called out timidly.
『U, unyaaah—』
Came an unfamiliar voice.
It sounded like a little girl’s voice.
Maybe a lost child had wandered in?
“Who’s there?!”
『To ask who I am is disrespect, disrespect! Great disrespect, nyaa—』
Thump, a sound.
Hopping up from the floor onto the table was… a cat.
“A stray cat?”
『Nyaa—, that’s disrespectful in itself—!』
The cat, which hissed looked strange somehow.
Fur a shade of light blue she’d never seen before.
Moreover, on its back was something shaped like a dorsal fin… water, no, something like a slime, attached to it.
Furthermore, that frilly, swaying tail was.
“Eek, a snake!”
It was shaped like a snake.
Miyako, who’d always been bad with snakes, jumped.
“What’s wrong, Miyako!”
“Fuuka-chan~! There’s some weird cat-snake-slime thingy~!”
『Giving me such an absurd name, nyaa—, you fool!』
The cat-snake-slime raised its snake-like tail stiffly and glared at Miyako.
What is this creature?
“Eh, could this be…”
Fuuka gasped.
“A water spirit, an Undine?!”
“Un-dee-ne?”
“They’re a high-ranking type of spirit. I’ve only ever seen them in picture books.”
Fuuka was bewildered.
Water spirits were one of the four great elemental spirits—fire, water, wind, earth.
They rarely showed themselves to humans, and their population was unknown.
For summoners or tamers, they were ultra-rare, ultra-powerful magical beings whose power they dreamed of wielding at least once.
So why was one here, in this shabby cabin?
『Funyanyaa—, you seem to be a woman who understands a thing or two, nya. Indeed, I am of the Undine clan. What you call water spirits, nya.』
“Cat-snake-slime.”
『I said—! That’s wrong, nyaa!』
The Undine flew into a rage at Miyako’s naming.
And at the corner of its mouth, something was stuck.
“…Ah, our hot pot.”
『Nya?』
Putting together the story from the Undine, who had devoured Miyako and the others’ stone hot pot lunch, it went like this:
“So, there was a shrine in this garden where you were sealed as the ‘Water God’… and over time, it weathered and got buried, and…”
“Miyako dug it up…?”
The Undine nodded. 『Exactly, nya.』
“And then, after eating the hot pot, you found it unexpectedly delicious, so…”
“You wish to form a contract with us?”
『Exact—ly, nyaa!! You should be grateful, nya?』
“Ha, if you’re a water spirit… can you maybe fill the hole in the garden with water?!”
『For one such as I, it’s a trifling matter, nya.』
“Thank you!!”
“Wait, Miyako! A contract with a water spirit Undine is something on the level of a national project!? And you’re using it for something like a bath…?”
“It’s not ‘something like’! Baths are important!?”
“More importantly! Such a major event—couldn’t you foresee it with your 【Clairvoyance】?!”
“…………Ah.”
“Ah?”
Miyako suddenly remembered.
A dream she had yesterday.
A dream where she dug a hole and hot springs and oil gushed out like crazy.
She’d thought it was like the dreams she often had during her corporate drone days. Dreams of becoming filthy rich from oil gushing out of her garden—and ignored it, but…
“Could it have been about this…?”
Anyway.
Trying to make a bath, she dug a hole in the garden and ended up forming a contract with a water spirit Undine.
This is…
“QOL just went up!?”