Chapter 29 – I had water pipes made!

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“Is this…a hot spring!?”

 

As Fule asked the question, the sounds of rushing water echoed throughout the cave.

 

There was a small hole in the spot that I was digging, and hot water was flowing out of it.

 

“Hot spring? That’s like a natural bath, right?”

 

I asked. Fule nodded cheerfully.

 

“Yes! There was a hot spring in our homeland. That’s where everyone would go to bathe!”

 

According to Fule, the Berdan goblins bathed there every day.

I had noticed that the goblins liked to stay clean more than most. So, there was a reason for that…

 

“Huh… If we use this properly, it would mean we don’t have to use magic water anymore. And it won’t be cold either…”

 

However, what was happening underground?

Was there a lot of hot water being stored below…

 

Was it connected to the sea?

No, as far as I knew, the sea didn’t get this hot…

 

In any case, the last thing I wanted was to dig into the sea.

Though, it was likely that Cave King’s support features would help me avoid that…

 

But more importantly…wouldn’t the cave become flooded if the water kept coming out like this?

 

Then Erevan called from behind me.

 

“Ah! What a wonderful thing you’ve discovered, Chief!”

“Yeah. But I think we’ll have to inspect it to make sure it’s safe to drink or bathe in… Ah…”

 

Once again, a man who was boldly willing to be a test subject had appeared.

 

Before I could tell him to stop, the man, who was indeed Mappa, started to drink the hot water.

 

I prepared to use healing magic, just in case… But Mappa did not collapse this time.

If anything, he seemed to like the taste, as he smiled and drank more of it.

 

So, I suppose it did not have any harmful effects after all.

 

Though, it was also possible that there were less immediate effects that were still harmful.

And so I used a spell called Extraction, which detected poison.

 

“…It seems like there is no poison either. Haines.”

 

I turned to look at the kobold who was behind me.

 

Haines had a very good sense of smell.

 

Yesterday, I had been told that he had the ‘Hunter’ crest, and was also very skilled as an archer.

But more importantly, ‘Hunter’ enhanced your ability to differentiate between smells.

And kobolds already had sharp noses from birth, so Haines was known as the best hunter in the Tibris tribe.

 

“Can you smell anything strange?”

“No, there is nothing odd in particular… But, uh. With Mister Mappa here… Uh, never mind. I didn’t mean to be rude.”

 

Haines seemed like he wanted to say something but stopped.

 

I knew what it was.

Mappa was made to bathe regularly, but he sweated more than anyone since he was a blacksmith.

It wasn’t so bad for us, but the smell would probably come off more strongly to kobolds because of their noses.

 

Well, that was just another reason that we should make a hot spring.

 

“I see… So it’s harmless after all. But how can I do this…”

 

Turn it into a well that we could draw water from?

But we would have to constantly be taking water out or it would cause a flood.

 

Would it be possible to make something like the raised aqueducts in the royal capital?

However, those slowly carried water down from the mountains.

It would be difficult to carry water upwards without using magic.

 

Even as I considered this, the water kept pouring into the room.

It was starting to reach my feet.

 

While I did not have high hopes, I decided to ask Mappa about it.

 

“Mappa, listen to me.”

 

Mappa stopped drinking the water and turned to look at me.

 

“Would it be possible to carry this water out of here?”

 

I pointed at the water and then pointed towards the entrance of the cave.

 

Then Mappa folded his arms and seemed to think about it with a serious expression.

It wasn’t that he didn’t understand what I was trying to say. He was trying figure out how to accomplish it.

 

Finally, he nodded.

 

“Oh? You can do it?”

 

Mappa nodded again and gestured for me to follow him.

 

He led me back to the smithy.

Then he turned to me and started to hit different kinds of ore.

 

“Ore? Okay, wait a minute.”

 

It seemed like he wanted me to give him some.

We had gotten to the point that we understood when the other person wanted something.

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The Cave King will live a Paradise Life -Becoming the strongest with the mining skill?-