Never Die Extra - Chapter 63
Evan D. Sherden. Opening a Hot Spring (1)
The Marquis and the rest of the party, who returned to the dungeon city within a month after finishing work in the Royal City, was warmly welcomed by the mansion people.
“There you are, Miriam. I was very busy while I was away.”
“Honey!”
“You are here!”
“Ahhh!”
“Oh, Liz. Will you be able to recognize dad?”
The Marquis greeted his two wives fondly in return, after having kissed Eric on the forehead and held her daughter in his arms. All of them looked like a happy family that would appear in a fairy tale.
“Aaaaaah, Master!”
“Maybell, I’m sorry, but I’m confused right now. You are laughing and crying at the same time. Could you just do one thing?”
“Huh, oh. Yes, Master.”
“Yeah, you just decided to cry.”
On the other hand, Evan was feeling constricted while receiving a hug from Maybell, who was crying. She was holding onto him so tightly as if she would never let go of him again.
‘It’s definitely the same family, but why is the scene so dramatic all of a sudden?’
How could any maid in the world behave like Maybell without hiding it from her masters? It was completely out of Evan’s grasp.
“I missed you so much, Master. Oh, oh oh!”
“Yes, I know… I also missed you, Maybell.”
Evan prayed that Maybell’s runny nose didn’t get on his clothes.
Sometimes he wondered if Maybell was younger than Belois, but she had certainly become 15 years old this year. 15 years old!
“It’s finally over! The days of dealing with Maybell’s daily hysterias are beyond us!”
“Young Master, please take Maybell with you, wherever you go. We can’t handle her.”
“Ah, the evil has been safely sealed after all. Master, thank you very much.”
The servants who had dark circles around their eyes looked a lot desperate to ask him this kind of request. They all sighed with relief after Evan had arrived.
“Master, you must be tired a lot. Shine, unpack the Master’s baggage and come to me. Belois, you also have been called by the maid.”
“Okay. Master, excuse us.”
“No, you…”
Meanwhile, Shine and Belois looked fatigued.
As soon as they had returned home, they were immediately called by the butler and the maid.
Evan tried to tell the butler to let them rest for one day, but Shine and Belois shook their heads at his words.
“I have had enough rest in Steama on the way, Master Evan. It’s time to start serving you again. I have to grow up to become a trustworthy butler of the Young Master in the future.”
“Take a break, Master. I will see you tomorrow.”
“Lua, wait a minute!”
However, someone grabbed Belois by the arm before Evan could say anything more. It was none other than Maybell. She asked Belois in a quiet voice.
“Was there a girl who was disturbing our Master? A girl who kept sticking to him and irritated him because she apparently loved him?”
“Not now, Sis Maybell.”
“So there was such a girl. We can talk to each other later in the room.”
“… Hmm, yes. Okay.”
It was strange to think that Belois had ignored Evan’s call and responded to Maybell instead!? Evan could only conclude that he was hallucinating at the moment.
He kept looking at Belois’s back, who had turned without glancing back at him. Evan was shocked to see that. He would have never imagined that there would be a consensus between Maybell and Belois.
“By the way, Master. Shine was wearing a bracelet, and Belois was wearing new earrings. Am I missing anything? It was easy to notice.”
Evan smiled bitterly and pulled out a simple necklace with silver heart-shaped metal ornaments.
Maybell, who had recently trained her eyes to detect unusual things while working alongside him, quickly noticed that the necklace’s quality was exceptional too.
“It’s so precious…!”
“I hate to admit it, but yes it is, Maybell. Thanks to the treasure hunt, I already have a lot of artifacts at the moment so I don’t mind giving it to you as a gift.”
Of course, it wasn’t an artifact, but because the necklace was made of expensive precious metals, it contained a considerable amount of magical power. Just wearing it had the effect of boosting body functions to some extent. It deserved to be called a ‘semi artifact.’
‘Speaking of which, it is an item that serves as a raw material for other artifacts. If you take special measures or add something to it, it will be a complete artifact with powers of its own. That was why such an item cannot be called an artifact just yet.’
Maybell received the necklace from Evan and hung it around her neck. Evan was worried about what he would do if Maybell asked him to hang it around her neck, but it seemed that it wouldn’t come to that.
“Thank you so much, Master!”
“In the future, when you will be acting as the representative of the Brotherhood Pharmacy, be sure to wear it as evidence that you are representing me.”
“I feel like I can hear my own heartbeat. I will cherish it forever…!”
“No, wait. Did you even listen to me? Maybell, can you hear me? Can you hear me?”
Maybell, let go of Evan as she started hopping around. After some time, she calmed down. Only then was Evan able to greet his two mothers and older brother and hug his younger sister.
“Liz, how are you?”
“Ahhh! Oh ah!”
Elizabeth, who was transferred from the Marquis to Evan’s arms, smiled as she touched Evan’s face with her small hands’ palm. It was clearly a different reaction from when she was in her father’s arms!
“Of course, Liz likes Evan the most.”
“She hasn’t laughed properly once within the whole month, but now look at how she is laughing heartily!”
“Liz missed you a lot, Evan.”
“Kaah!”
Elizabeth smiled wide and fluttered her hands as if she wanted to confirm what everyone was trying to say.
Of course, Evan had always wanted to be with his sister… But he shrugged and shook his head.
“Ah… Well, I want to be with her that too, but I have a job to do.”
Evan replied and was suddenly caught up in an odd little sentiment. Wasn’t he behaving like a man who took his kids on holiday and told his wife that he had to go to work overtime on holidays?
“Work? You mean the Brotherhood Pharmacy?”
“No, it’s different from that… This time it’s a hot spring.”
“Brother… Are you talking about a bathhouse?”
Eric D. Sherden, who would be one of the Brotherhood Bathhouse co-founders, dreamed of seeing it for the first time. Evan exchanged a faint smile with the Marquis.
Evan put his hand on his brother’s shoulder.
“I’ll explain it to you.”
The most important thing in the establishment of the Brotherhood Bathhouse was the location in correspondence to the Brotherhood Pharmacy.
Of course, there were a lot of land and buildings that had been secured by the Marquis, so it was possible to clear a large space on the street connected directly to the dungeon, in the center of the city, not far from the Pharmacy.
“A space like that…”
“Yes, unlike the Brotherhood Pharmacy, it is impossible to branch out. So we have no choice but to expand the scale of the bath as much as possible.” He went on.
“And the entrance fee will be quite expensive. If the Brotherhood Pharmacy was seen as public project that takes into account the common people, then the Brotherhood Bathhouse will be a high-end service for explorers actively entering the dungeons.”
“Maybe they would pay a lot of money to come in. The recovery and strengthening effect of the hot water is excellent for the body.”
And because it was a reaction that was clearly felt by the people.
“Therefore, those who have healed their bodies and replenished their staminas will re-enter the dungeon at a faster rate, and as a result, it will make the dungeon city more advanced. It can be a perfect business.”
Evan would have had worries about the bath’s strong healing effects, but now that the Church’s relationship was smooth-going, he had no reason to fret about that. Maybe even the priests would quarrel amongst themselves to help them. Evan was confident about it.
Although there was no such facility in Yo-Ma Great War 3, Evan would assure that the Brotherhood Bathhouse would be a very popular facility. It would definitely become even more famous than Steama Hot Springs!
“Tada! And here is Mr. Bernard Garcia, an expert who can enhance the medicinal properties of hot springs.”
“Ah, get rid of it, boy. I was told about what you were doing on the Royal City, and now I’ve come to know that you are building hot springs.”
Bernard had come to find out his disciple Evan’s whereabouts, who had returned after a month. He had been working at the Brotherhood Pharmacy and was quick to identify slate that Evan presented to him.
Evan didn’t know for sure, but he thought Bernard was one of the people who would have searched and cleared the most dungeons among all humans living in the world right now.
Bernard called the slate as the core of the dungeon or the dungeon core. However, he was the first to have seen such a peculiarly altered dungeon core.
“This is part of the dungeon core. It has been dug out. It was an object that has enough power to change the environment but has no power to create a dungeon.”
“That’s correct.”
“And as it was buried in the ground, it was continuously influencing the hot spring area for hundreds of years, and a product was born that had changed the surrounding environment into a hot springs area… Such miraculous objects are rare.”
Bernard’s analysis was indeed accurate. Evan wanted to ask him if he had read the item description itself as he knew so much about it. Evan, who was also a legendary alchemist, murmured.
“I couldn’t just soak in that good water by myself. Grandpa also likes hot springs, right?”
“Hey, of course, I don’t hate them… Let me take a closer look.”
Bernard never said it himself, but the Marquis already knew that Bernard was an extraordinary person.
Bernard strapped unusual goggles over his eyes and started touching the slate back and forth.
The Marquis muttered quietly while watching.
“He was also the one who was successful to popularize alchemy once again.”
“Everyone was confused. He is the one who made and improved the cure for infectious diseases.”
Ignoring the whispers of the Marquis and Eric, Bernard continued to measure and analyze the slate. It was 10 minutes later that he stopped and declared.
“It is impossible to change this slate itself. But it would be possible to add a simple effect to the hot springs from this slab.”
“Is it possible with Grandpa’s ability?”
“There’s nothing that can’t be improved by my secrets of alchemy. With that and a little herbalism, we can create a large hot spring… Probably, Steama hot springs would be no match for it.”
“Grandpa Bernard can do it!”
Evan thought it was probable that only Bernard Garcia was that one who could be able to it right now!
When Evan excitedly praised Bernard, he smiled back at him as if he appreciated it.
“Will the employees of the Brotherhood Pharmacy including me, use it for free?”
“Of course you all will!”
“Okay, then let’s jump right in. Little boy, you have to cooperate with me as you do in an alchemy practical class.”
At this, the Marquis and Eric exchanged looks and nodded vigorously. There were tons of things to do to build a bathhouse in a space where there was nothing.
“Oh, and father… Could you please acquire a little more land near the Brotherhood Bathhouse? Just enough to build a training center.”
“It’s not that difficult. But why is that so, Evan?”
“Actually, I want to build a training center for the Dungeon Knights there… It would good for the knights to enter the bathhouse right after the training. Hehehe.”
“Obviously my son, but sometimes Evan you scare me. That’s a very good idea. I will also obtain some area for a site for the Ironwall Knights training facility.”
In this way, the Brotherhood Bathhouse’s construction began in earnest, with the support of the riches of Marquis of Sherden and the legendary alchemist.
With the Brotherhood Pharmacy alone, the whole country had already become prosperous, and now more projects were being implemented this time.
No one could ever guess what direction this dungeon city was heading in. The same was probably true for the production crew of the entire Yo-Ma Great War series!