“Now, what should we do?”
While returning to the inn where we were staying, Maybel asked with a worried look on her face.
We came all this way following a lead that turned out not to be much help, so it’s only natural she’d be anxious.
But… it’s not like we have nothing to show for it.
“First of all, let’s have a proper meal. And… hmm… how about we visit the bathhouse?”
“Huh? A bath? We haven’t finished looking for Mom yet, right? Weren’t you going to say we’d do it after we’re done?”
“Hmm… things have changed a bit from before, haven’t they?”
Maybel puffed out her cheeks at my words. It’s kind of cute coming from such a little one.
“It’s not for me but for you, so stop complaining and follow along. First, let’s eat.”
“Yes… I’m sure you’re thinking of something. I’ll trust you.”
With that, Maybel and I slightly altered our course back to the inn and headed toward a restaurant.
—
The restaurant was… well, it’s kind of embarrassing to say, but it was just okay.
The meat dishes served as bar snacks were decent, but the cooking of this age… hmm… the seasoning was a bit weak.
There weren’t enough spices, and aside from salt, there wasn’t much else to adjust the taste, which was also incredibly expensive.
Anyway, the world is improving bit by bit, but cooking still has a long way to go here.
“But…”
“There’s a lot of meat, which is good.”
“Yeah. That makes sense.”
To a country girl like her… no, to anyone living in this era, that would be more than enough.
Let’s move past the insufficient meal.
“Is it really okay to take a bath when we’re supposed to be looking for Mom?”
“I’ve got everything figured out, so don’t worry.”
With that, Maybel and I headed to the bathhouse together.
—
The bathhouse itself was average considering the times.
It was less of a bathhouse and more like an onsen. The feeling was that they boiled water using aqueducts and filled the baths with it.
Well, since it’s a primitive bathhouse, there’s not much you can do. All they could do was heat up some water and wash off.
Still, this will probably do. Yeah.
“The sensation of washing with hot water… I didn’t know it could feel this good.”
“How did you clean yourself until now?”
“Well, either with cold water or, if that was tough, wiping myself down with a wet cloth. Though that gets harder in winter.”
Hmm… true. Heating water isn’t free either.
And not everyone can use magic or spirits.
In the end, it’s natural to have a service where people pay to have their water heated for them.
“By the way, why did you suddenly want to take a bath?”
“Heheh. Well, you see…”
I used magic to create a small soap bubble on the palm of my hand.
It was technically a lump of magic shaped like a soap bubble, but let’s skip the details.
“Earlier, the priest mentioned that your mother had a certain smell. Something clicked in my mind.”
“A click?”
“Yeah. Didn’t you hear the guard when we entered Armen? He said this place was exceptionally clean.”
At my words, Maybel nodded slightly.
“Clean water supply through aqueducts and sewage systems for dirty water. A city with these facilities well-organized. Wouldn’t you agree it’s unlikely for someone to smell bad here?”
“That’s true, but…”
“From there, I thought of a possibility. Your mother might have been around somewhere smelly, which caused the odor to stick to her.”
“Huh?”
Maybel didn’t seem to catch onto what I was getting at.
“To make a long story short, your mother… most likely has a high probability of being near the sewer system.”
“Sewers…?”
I nodded slightly.
“The priest did say water fae are rare in Armen.”
“Yeah, he did.”
“While it’s not impossible that someone came from elsewhere to send a letter in Armen, the chances aren’t high. So, if we assume your mother is here in Armen…”
I gave her a few hints.
“A rare beastman, a musty smell, and the sewers of Armen. If you consider all these factors…”
“Are you saying Mom is in the sewers?”
“There’s a high likelihood. Of course, if she visited from somewhere else and sent the letter here… well, it would be a wasted effort.”
But for some reason, I feel like your mother is in this Armen.
So…
“We could directly enter the sewer to search, but I don’t particularly want to blindly walk into a smelly place. Hence, I’ll employ a little trick.”
“You mean that bubble?”
“Yeah. Roughly speaking… it can be remotely controlled and shares my sight and hearing.”
It also has the function to see clearly in the dark, but explaining all that is too troublesome.
“Ah! So that’s why we came to the bathhouse!”
“More or less.”
Part of the reason was curiosity about bathing in this era, but the main reason is what you just said.
I gently floated the magic bubble in the water, letting it drift away.
As it flowed without bursting through the bath’s drain, it was pushed further down.
“Alright, preparations are roughly complete. Now, let’s explore the sewers using this bubble.”
“If we find Maybel’s mother down there… Hmm. Even though I don’t want to go down there, there’s no helping it.”
Thus, we finished bathing and returned to the inn.
—
“Hmm…”
“What’s wrong?”
Back at the inn, I was remotely operating the magic bubble to examine the sewers.
The dim underground sewer made from roughly carved stones was honestly… quite difficult for humans to navigate.
Slimes clung everywhere, dealing with waste, and objects were swept away by the wastewater.
I briefly thought about modern sewer systems, but obviously, that was wishful thinking.
Could a human live in such an environment?
“Is this not it…?”
“Huh?”
“After searching the sewers for a while… there’s nothing particularly noticeable. Did I misjudge?”
At my words, Maybel’s thin tail drooped disappointingly. She truly seems disheartened.
If this isn’t it… then there’s no choice.
I’ll have to create something that helps find what we’re looking for.
What should I make it out of? Perhaps a compass? No, that’s a bit boring.
An image suddenly flashed through my mind.
A character from a famous bullet-hell shooting game. A character with mouse ears who had the ability to find things.
That’s it. Let’s go with dowsing. Dowsing sounds good.
While lost in thought about what to create, suddenly…
Splash.
A sound came from the sewer.
Unlike the gentle drip of water, it was the heavy splash of something plunging into the water.
I directed my gaze toward the source of the sound. A small figure resembling a person was moving through the dark sewer.
“I found something.”
“Huh?”
“There’s a person in the sewer.”
I began chasing the figure with the bubble.
A small shape navigating the complex sewer system.
I started memorizing the structure of the sewer as I followed the figure.
This sewer was too intricate to simply be for waste disposal.
The small human skillfully maneuvered through the complex paths. Most likely a mouse beastman.
Looks like my guess was correct.
“Let’s confirm their location and head down after them.”
“Yessir!”
Seriously, a mouse beastman in the underground sewer…
Hmm… reminds me of a game where mice built an underground city beneath a human town. Yeah-yeah.
Not like the evil mouse beastmen from that game though. Mouse beastmen here… aren’t that evil. Just… you know, stuff happens. So.
Continuing to follow the small figure, I noticed…
“Hooh…”
The small figure emerged into a small village deep beneath the ground.
“Underground, there’s a village.”
“Huh? Underground?”
“Not many people walking around… but they’re all mouse beastmen. It’s like a village hidden away from other humans’ gazes.”
“Huh?”
Ignoring Maybel’s dumbfounded voice, I took a look around the small village.
Hmm. With a village like this… there wouldn’t be any need to pass through the smelly sewer.
I erased the sewer’s layout from my mind and memorized the village’s coordinates instead.
“Prepare to leave. We’ll teleport there momentarily.”
“Ah, yes!”
A village inhabited solely by mouse beastmen. Quite intriguing indeed.
Why is there a village under Armen? Why are the mouse beastmen here?
I’m not entirely sure… but something smells fishy.
A very suspicious smell of conspiracy.
