“Ha ha ha! That would be an honor.”
When the Madame arrived at the entrance of the hot springs with bewildered eyes, Luna hurried out with a brimming smile.
“Oh, Madame! What took you so long!? Come on, hurry!”
“Wow, you’re quite chipper today.”
Normally, Luna didn’t feel very comfortable around the Madame and her influence... But today was another story. Luna could finally brag to her heart’s content to the empress.
“Then I shall leave you now. Please enjoy your stay.”
As the Demon Lord said this, Luna gleefully tugged on the Madame’s hand and pulled her into the hot springs area. A long silence remained in the hallway afterward. Eventually, the Demon Lord exhaled a long sigh, and mumbled to himself.
“I was just playing along... Hope I didn’t peel the paint.”
Putting a cigarette in his mouth, the Demon Lord headed to the lobby with the satisfaction of a job well done.
——Hot Springs Resort, Women’s Quarters.
“Come on, Madame. Let’s go!”
“You really are in a good mood today, little Luna...”
After stripping down, they opened the door to find a sight the Madame had never even imagined before.
First of all, the area was enormous. There were bathtub-like structures in various shapes all around that filled the entire place with white steam. Tiles were neatly laid out throughout the entire floor. So meticulous, in fact, that the Madame was sure they were made and laid out by magic. In the distance, she could see a pathway laid out with flat rocks. The spaces in between the rocks were filled with small white pebbles. This was, indeed, almost a fantastical world for the Madame.
“Is all of it hot water...? I can’t believe it...”
“There’s a cold bath, too.”
That wasn’t really the point, the Madame thought, but decided to keep it to herself for now. There were so many things she didn’t understand without having Luna explain them to her. As Luna pressed some sort of button, a strand of forceful, thin streams of hot water came jetting out.
“Wh-What is this...!? What formation of Spell Stones could...!?”
“It’s called a shower. Now, let’s wash off first.”
“Allow me to wash your back, hoppity.”
With a bar of soap and towel in hand, Kyon approached and washed the Madame’s back with efficiency. With the Madame’s large body in mind, Kyon had practiced. As a result, Momo was left with a sore back, but her efforts seemed to pay off. While the Madame, since she couldn’t reach parts of her own back, was used to having someone wash it for her, the soap here felt especially refreshing. This was only natural, as the one-shot bar of soap made to be thrown in the arena and the top-shelf bar of soap kept at the Hot Springs Resort simply had different stats.
“I can feel every last speckle of dirt leave my skin...”
“Right? I can’t live without this anymore.”
Luna fervently washed herself, too. The more she scrubbed, the cleaner her skin became. In the end, Kyon rinsed the soap off of the Madame with the shower. The Madame felt like she had stripped an entire layer of skin. Now, Momo stood behind the Madame with a bottle of shampoo and conditioner, washing her hair while massaging her scalp. Her practice against Kyon paid off, too. Through the rigorous training, every last strand of Kyon’s fur, down to her ears, became silky smooth. Momo moved her fingers without saying a word (as Tahara had instructed her not to speak). Her fingers danced, as if to massage each strand of hair on the Madame’s head. Feeling the dust from her hair and the dirt from her scalp wash away, she couldn’t help but let out a moan.
“Ahhhh...”
The sun of Holylight shone harshly on the women here. The Madame could feel that damage heal by the second. True to an extent, the shampoo did cleanse her hair, and the conditioner did restore some damage. After another shower to rinse her scalp, the Madame mumbled in ecstasy.
“I feel so satisfied already...”
The Madame felt like this experience alone was worth paying several gold coins for. Hearing this, Luna jumped to object.
“Madame! What are you talking about!? I’m just braggi-... I mean, showing you the good stuff!”
“You’re headstrong and honest as always, little Luna...”
The Madame couldn’t help but chuckle, but it was refreshing in a way. Compared to her usual world of people wearing layers upon layers of masks, never speaking their mind or giving a straightforward answer — a world where hollow shells danced around each other — someone like Luna was practically an endangered species.
“Madame! Come on, let’s go!”
“Yes, little Luna...”
The Madame Roars
“Go in here first, Madame. It’s called a carbonic spring.”
“This is a strange bath...”
Watching the tiny bubbles bunch together on the surface of the water, the Madame showed a slight frown. Luna, on the other hand, didn’t hesitate to dunk her whole body right in with a completely relaxed expression. The Madame couldn’t imagine that Luna was faking this bliss. The Madame gingerly stepped into the spring before taking the plunge. The water wasn’t too hot, rather it was just warm enough that she felt like she could stay in it for a long time.
With her eyes closed in satisfaction, Luna called to the Madame beside her. “Don’t move, Madame... The bubbles will cling to you.”
The Madame didn’t understand what she meant at first until she saw it happen. Bubbles actually began to cling onto her skin.
“This is...”
The most notable benefit of a carbonic spring is improving circulation. It helps prevent high blood-pressure, diabetes, and blood clots, as well as mitigate the symptoms of these ailments. Better circulation relieved sensitivity to cold, as well as shoulder, back, and joint pains. For someone of the Madame’s size, this was the perfect remedy.
“...Wonderful... I feel like my body is being set free...”
Since the Madame had spent most of her life dedicated to self-beautification, she immediately felt the effects of the hot spring. She had spent an incredible amount of money and time on her body. One could say she had a sense of super-awareness about her physicality. She had never gained this much weight by choice in the first place. A family gene was the culprit of that, and her sister (along with her departed parents) all had mountainous statures. When she was still a child, the Madame was ridiculed and insulted by other nobles, and lived through miserable experiences on the party scene. Those harsh times drove the Madame to the way of self-beautification and her sister to find beauty in art.
“Oh, Madame... This water works wonders on your skin, too.”
With that, Luna gently splashed her face with water. She wasn’t lying. Carbonic spring water worked as a sort of gentle cleanser and prevented damage to the skin. Hearing this, the Madame hurried to splash water onto her face, too.
“The damage on my skin...”
Of course, these effects weren’t exactly immediate, save for a very subtle effect. Still, the Madame could sense the spring water improving her skin.
“Alright, Madame! Let’s go to the next one!”
“Wha... H-Hold on, little Luna...”
“Come on!”
Pulling the Madame out of the tub with no mercy, Luna dragged her to the next spring. In fact, if only to the Madame, Luna served as the perfect tour guide of the facility. If left alone, the Madame would have spent hours in the carbonic spring. Luna was just about the only person in this world who could act so brazenly around her.
“The herbal bath is next. It smells so good!”
“Herbal, you say...”
She was taken to a series of five tubs, each big enough to fit the Madame easily. Some of them looked cute and cuddly while others were more seductive.
“This is my favorite!”
Luna jumped in the tub labeled ‘Pink & Gold.’ The others were labeled ‘Yellow Beam,’ ‘Night Fever,’ ‘Green Forest,’ and ‘Deep Blu
e.’ The Madame decided to take a bath in the emerald water, as it had a color she often liked to wear. This was the Green Forest, a bath that evoked the image of a crisp morning in the woods. There were 35 of these herbal (if you can call it that) baths in total, and the selection of five types changed every day. These baths were selected completely at random, making it impossible for even the Demon Lord to predict which baths would be implemented on a particular day.
“A forest... The scent is so refreshing.”
To boot, these tubs were designed to be enjoyed lying down. The tubs each had a metal headrest that was chilled by circulating cold water, allowing the occupant to stay in longer. It seemed quite easy to snooze away in one of these tubs.
“These scents just soak right into your skin!”
Watching Luna exclaim with joy, the Madame couldn’t help but smile. The little Holy Maiden had changed a lot, recently. She was always this innocent, but also used to carry a dangerous air about her that made others keep their distance, as if she was always baring her fangs.
“Ah... You’ve fallen in love, little Luna.”
“H-hah!? W-What do you mean!?”
“Don’t try denying it. You’re in love with that Demon Lord, aren’t you?”
“D-D-Don’t be stupid! Why would I ever...!?”
Seeing this reaction, the Madame chuckled. Even for someone who had never been in love before, Luna’s reaction was just too obvious. It nearly made the Madame blush, too.
“He’s a tough nut to crack, little Luna. He won’t fall for any old broad. You have to really work on yourself.”
As far as the Madame was considered, the Demon Lord was no ordinary existence. Building these facilities was one thing, but she had heard rumors that he defeated a gang of Satanists in an instant, and also that he blew up a medium-rank Devil as if he was playing with a toy. The Madame would not have been surprised to hear that he was something other than human. Even if he was, though, the Madame wouldn’t mind it a bit.
(That Demon Lord sees significant value in me...)
If he didn’t, she wouldn’t have been treated so exceptionally. Then, she thought, all she had to do was further improve her value to him. For a high-power noble like her, a business-like relationship was not only commonplace, but preferred. Nothing was more comforting to her than a win-win situation.
“S-S-S-S-S-Stop talking about him already! We’re going to the next one!”
“W-Wait, little Luna... Let me at least soak for a little bit.”
“No! No no no!”
With a bright red face, Luna pulled the Madame up again and energetically led the way. Their next destination was a sauna. A salt sauna, at that. This particular amenity and the Madame were, apparently, destined to be.
“This is the salt sauna.”
“Salt...”
Holylight held a large mountain range to the south of it, cutting the nation off from the sea. Therefore, salt was an imported good here, and was far from cheap.
As Luna opened the door, a comfortable amount of steam flowed out. The contents of the room astonished the Madame. With a few chairs and benches here and there, there was a huge pile of salt in the middle of the room. More surprisingly, the floor was covered with enough salt to bury her ankles. The room was covered in a blanket of white.
“It’s like... snow. I’ve seen it in the city-states, a long time ago.”
While the Madame recalled a particular memory, that blanket of white literally fell from the sky at no cost. The white room in front of her now held a much different significance.
“Come, Madame. Sit down. I’ll show you the ropes.”
“A-Alright...”
Luna instructed proudly, as if she were a professor on the subject. Despite only learning all of this from Yu the other day, Luna acted as if she was a seasoned expert. Besides, using a salt sauna wasn’t particularly difficult. All she had to do was wait inside it until she started to sweat, then melt some salt on her skin before rubbing it in. After some time, she would rinse it off, and repeat the process. The effects of the sauna, however, were everything a woman could want. Performing this on the face would get rid of oils and grime, renewing her skin. While it could be dangerous to go too far, a moderate scrub was said to remove any hardened skin cells, brightening the skin overall.
“I tried this yesterday, and it worked wonders.”
“Really...?”
Luna realized that the Madame wasn’t entirely herself, but kept on with her lecture. The effect the salt had on her face was paltry compared to how it would affect her body. When rubbed into her body, the salt would have the effect of washing out fat. This was a dream come true for the Madame. In any world, fat was difficult to get rid of. In her case, no matter how much she exercised, minded her diet, or tried any magical item she could get her hands on, the fat stubbornly remained. As she repeated the process of rubbing in salt, sweating, and rinsing, the Madame’s expression changed. She could sense the effect of the routine. It drastically increased her metabolism and started burning away fat. What’s more, she could target any specific portion of her body. If this room was an ordinary sauna with ordinary salt, the effects would vary by person, but would not be anywhere near immediate. Just like the wheel on the well, though, this facility was created as part of the Game. Its setting guaranteed results. Just as 2 plus 2 would equal 4, the Madame’s skin would be revitalized, and her fat would melt. It was inevitable according to the facility’s setting.
“See? Your skin will glow, and even your thighs will... Madame?”
“Ogh...”
“What’s wrong, Madame!?”
“Ogh.... Orghhhhhhhhh!”
“Ahh!”
“Ooooohhhhhhh yeahhhhhhhhh!”
The Madame roared. It was a thunderous roar, like that of a warrior on the battlefront. Who could have blamed her for it? She felt it. No, she heard it. She heard the thick layer of fat under her skin scream in agony. It screamed in terror as it faced down an inescapable enemy. Never before in her life could she hear that scream. Now it was ringing in her ears!
“W-What is it!? Are you mad!? Something you didn’t like...?”
“Little Luna. I’ve made a decision.”
“W-What...?”
“...I’m going to move to this village. Today.”
“What!?”
——In the Pine room of the Hot Springs Resort, the same night.
There were two down futons in the room. Luna was already asleep in one of them. The Madame lay awake in the other, quietly looking up at the ceiling. She was met with more surprise seeing the interior of the room, the most astonishing part of which was the floor woven of strange grass. It was just a tatami floor, of course, but it was a very peculiar thing for the Madame. Once she was used to it, though, the flooring seemed strangely aesthetic. Perhaps it was the fact that it was of the Madame’s favorite colors (along with its pleasant scent) that did the trick.
(At this rate, I think I’ll actually fall asleep...)
The Madame’s large body always creaked her bed at night. No matter what bed she used, the annoying noises persisted. Frustrated by it, the Madame had become accustomed to sleepless nights. In fact, she had developed full-blown insomnia by this point. But now, the down futon made in the Empire cradled her body with ease. It even held the Madame up with its softness and overpowering resilience. It almost seemed to taunt her with a brazen smile, as if to say ‘you think this is heavy?’
(Such a boisterous, handsome bed...)
Trustworthy, yet somehow annoying. With a mixed bag of emotions, the Madame could feel a good night’s rest falling upon her for the first time in decades, as she was finally relieved from the maddening sound.
Move? You know someone of your status can’t just up and move like that!
As slumber cradled her, the Madame recalled their earlier conversation:
“Yes. A relocation by someone like me would never be accepted. Worst case scenario, they’ll think I’m making allies undergro
und to stage a coup.”
“S-See...?”
“But there’s one precedent... or loophole to that.”
“Loophole?”
“That’s right. Rehabilitation.”
In fact, there were some cases where old nobles with terminal illnesses retired to the far countryside. There was also an example where a dying noble had crashed at a war buddy’s manor to spend his last days, albeit short, with his friend. In some cases, the patient had moved out of the country to rehabilitate under a renowned doctor. Since no country in this world had particularly advanced medicine, most no one bothered with such an ordeal, and even when they did, it was rarely approved. While these were extreme examples, they could pass as precedent if push came to shove. Of course, the Madame herself was completely healthy without any illness.
(Who cares what hoops I have to jump through?) The Madame thought, with unyielding determination. She remembered how much she had been put down because of her weight. Infamous on the party scene, she was always laughed at behind her back. As distant memories came flooding back, anger kindled within her. She had shut down the whispers and snickers with her power and influence, but she couldn’t give up on becoming beautiful. With determination in mind, the Madame closed her eyes.
(I defy my fate...!)
Her determination and longing as a woman would fly miles above the thoughts of some Demon Lord and end up shaking up the entire nation.
The Demon Lord’s Devious Scheme
(I didn’t expect her to want to live here... This is more than anticipated.)
The Demon Lord and the Madame were enjoying a leisurely breakfast in the lobby. A koto, a traditional Japanese harp, played on the speakers, adding to the atmosphere. While each of them had completely different intentions, they both shared a smile.
“I see. If there are no legal ramifications here, I don’t mind at all.”
“Thank you, Mister Demon Lord.”
“I do have a few stipulations, however...”
Here it comes, the Madame thought. She was expecting him to ask for a price worthy of her unconventional request. Of course, the Madame was willing to do anything.
Demon Lord, Retry! Volume 2 Page 10
