After finishing the wood shavings and telling the carpentry and woodworking teams that help would arrive later, I came up to the top of the hill.
「All right, time to make the bathhouse!」
Full of enthusiasm, I began digging with earth magic while simultaneously firming up the foundation.
「In times like this, it’s the foundation, right? Should I drive in piles or something?」
I have no idea… Maybe Appraisal will tell me?
「Hmm… 『——Appraisal』」
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Name: 【Soil】・Condition: 【Good】
Soil with good drainage suitable for farmland. Because it is soft, the ground must be reinforced if building structures.
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「There it is… Super convenient…」
So the ground needs to be reinforced after all. I wonder if any of the carpenters know how?
◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆
「Oi, if that’s the case, I’ll teach ya!」
A demon youth who stood a head taller than the surrounding soldiers approached.
「That’d be a huge help. What do I need to do?」
「Oi, I gotta see the land first. Where is it?」
「Then I’ll show you.」
We walked up the hill together while talking.
「So, Holy Knight-aniki, you’re trying to build a bath big enough for everyone to use?」
「Pretty much. Cleanliness is important. If colds or infectious diseases spread, we won’t be in any shape to fight.」
Also, everyone’s just plain sweaty and smelly.
In this world, women are conscious about it, they use perfume or wipe themselves down every day, but most men don’t really care… They bathe maybe once a week.
I remember Noctarl-san turning pale and collapsing when Liliana told him 「Father, you stink…」…
Nowadays he bathes every other day.
By the way, I’m on a three-day schedule… Whenever I try to take a bath, someone blocks me or tries to sneak in for mixed bathing, so I’ve been hopping around using drum-can baths.
「So, Holy Knight-aniki, how big do you want the bath?」
While I was lost in thought, the youth tilted his head and asked.
「Let’s see… The tubs should hold about thirty people each. Depth-wise, standard-sized demons can stand with the water at my knees. For larger demons, maybe up to my waist or chest?」
「Got it. And how many tubs?」
「Three for standard size, one for large?」
「Understood. Then the top of the hill is fine. Now, what about the hot water? You’re not planning to boil it one pot at a time over a stove, right?」
「Ah, don’t worry about that. There’s a method that isn’t used in this world yet, but it’ll work great.」
「Ooh… so you flow hot air under the floor to keep the bathwater temperature steady…」
「In my knowledge, during winter they combine it with hot water and run it under the floorboards. It’s called floor heating and it’s used even in ordinary houses.」
「Yeah, that’s right! That’s brand new to us!」
Well, it’s not really my original idea… I’m not hiding it or anything, but explaining everything about my world takes way too much time…
While we were talking like that, we arrived at the planned site for the bathhouse.
「All right, let’s start with the foundation work. But… what exactly do we do?」
「Got it. I’ll teach ya. Dig a hole the same size as the building, then pack it tightly with flagstones. Pound them down to compact them. After that, just build on top the usual way.」
「I see. Stones about this size okay?」
I took fist-sized stones out of spatial storage (item box).
「Nah, those are way too big.」
——Crack crack crack!
「Phew… how about this size?」
I crushed the previous ones in my hand and showed him the finer pieces.
「Y-Yeah… that’s about right…」
Huh? Why is he backing away?
「Then I’ll make them this size… like this?」
I split the stones as I laid them out. Is this amount about right?
「Is this height for the stones okay?」
「Y-Yeah… that’s plenty…」
Eventually I ran out of stones, so I started making more with earth magic while laying them down.
「All right… next… 『——Create Rock』」
I created a single large stone slab on top to cap it all off.
「Huh? What’s wrong?」
When I turned around, the youth was clutching his head.
「Man… I just can’t believe my common sense has been completely obliterated…」
Ah… yeah… I casually crushed stones and made huge slabs like it was nothing. That was pretty insane… yeah…
「A-Anyway, let’s keep going. I need bricks for the stove, but… they weren’t for sale anywhere…」
「Oi, heat-resistant bricks? Bricks are all handmade here. The soil in this country works great for kilns. Mix it with water to make clay, shape it, and it can be used for both kilns and forging.」
「Hee… 『——Appraisal』」
When I checked, the soil in demon territory, unlike in my world, turns into mud very easily when mixed with water. There’s also some unknown substance in it that bonds with water molecules and makes it fairly heat-resistant.
「That’s amazing…」
「Yeah. That’s why fires are extremely rare in this country.」
「Right. Demons can breathe fire by nature too.」
「Exactly.」
I mixed the soil with water, shaped it, and then decided to fire it with fire magic.
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