Chapter 8 - Impact
Even two months after the dungeon's creation, the Hot Spring Dungeon continued to attract hordes of female knights every single day.
However, by this point, most of these knights weren’t coming to soak in the hot springs themselves. Instead, they were serving as escorts for nobles who were eager to experience the springs' miraculous effects.
With so many people visibly transforming—their skin and hair becoming radiant—it was nearly impossible to keep the hot springs' effects a secret.
Rumors of the Hot Spring Dungeon spread like wildfire through noble society, and soon, countless noblewomen began clamoring for access.
But let’s not forget, a dungeon is an extremely dangerous place teeming with monsters that kill people.
No matter how much the noble ladies and their daughters begged to enter, it wasn’t something that could be easily permitted.
As a result, nobles had to bring an absurdly excessive number of guards to escort them safely to the baths.
The cost of this, of course, fell on the nobles. With knights alone insufficient, skilled female adventurers and mercenaries were also enlisted as escorts to the Hot Spring Dungeon.
The first-floor bath had now grown large enough to accommodate 5,000 people.
Compared to the dungeon's modest cave-like structure, the hot spring area had expanded into a massive pool-like space, making it a bizarre and incomprehensible dungeon.
When Her Majesty the Queen visited, hundreds of knights formed an impenetrable guard, ensuring not even a mouse could slip through.
The sheer number of guards and the associated costs became so burdensome that the rates for escort services dropped daily. Yet, the number of volunteers for these escort missions hardly decreased.
This was because, in exchange for their services, escorts demanded the right to soak in the hot springs themselves.
For nobles, allowing their escorts an hour to bathe significantly reduced their escort fees, so few refused this arrangement.
While there were a handful of mercenaries who prioritized money over beauty and refused to lower their rates, they were still put to good use as lookouts during the bathing sessions, ensuring everyone’s safety.
"My, your hair is so lovely. Have you been to the second-floor spring?"
Asked a viscount's daughter, her skin glowing with moisture, to a baron's daughter.
"Yes... And you, have you been to the sixth-floor spring? I can see how radiant your skin has become!"
"Ohohoho~ Does it really show~?"
Well, yes, your skin is beautiful... I’ll admit that.
But why don’t you go find a spring that turns you into a beauty and flaunt that, you hag?
The baron's daughter inwardly cursed while outwardly praising the viscount's daughter's skin to keep her in good spirits.
At the same time, she couldn’t help but feel envious, thinking, I must go to the sixth-floor and dip in the Moisture Spring someday...
And so, one by one, the noble daughters became ensnared by the allure of beauty offered by the Hot Spring Dungeon.
In reality, safely escorting non-combatants to the sixth floor was prohibitively expensive, even for high-ranking nobles.
If they minimized their guards too much and failed to protect themselves, ending up with a permanent scar on their face, it would be completely counterproductive.
Already, several young ladies had suffered severe injuries while attempting to reach the sixth floor with minimal protection.
Around the time when many, in their pursuit of beauty, instead ended up with scars on their faces and fell into despair...
...The 8th floor emerged.
A large number of knights immediately set out to investigate the 8th floor, and upon discovering the hot spring, they took a dip. The result?
The numerous scars etched onto their bodies from past battles gradually faded away.
The eighth-floor spring was the "Scar-Erasing Spring."
Once this information spread across the kingdom, the hearts of the scarred and despairing noble daughters were reignited with determination and urge to venture deeper into the dungeon.
However, reaching the eighth floor was no longer feasible with individual escorts.
To ensure safety, nobles who shared the same desire pooled their exploration funds to support the investigation of the Hot Spring Dungeon...
In return, they had established a system that granted them the right to join the deployment of a massive royal-class escort force, ensuring their safety.
A single painful failure had taught them the value of careful planning.
Thus, the exploration of the Hot Spring Dungeon evolved from individual pursuits of desire into a massive investment business, with great nobles forming alliances and pooling resources.
— Current Knight Expedition Report —
Hot Spring Effects:
1st Floor: Beauty Skin Spring
2nd Floor: Hair Luster Spring
3rd Floor: Blemish-Removing Spring
4th Floor: Youth-Restoring Spring (reduces apparent age by about 3 years; one-time effect)
5th Floor: (Effects unknown)
6th Floor: Moisture Spring
7th Floor: Wrinkle-Removing Spring
8th Floor: Scar-Erasing Spring
The strength of the monsters appearing in the dungeon is below that of an average dungeon.
While there are many natural hazards, no malicious traps have been observed.
As a result, the overall difficulty of dungeon exploration is categorized as extremely low-level.
On the other hand, reports indicate that a particularly difficult boss monster appears on the 5th floor.
The respawn rate of the boss after defeat is high, with it reviving within a few days.
Up to the 2nd layer, safety can be almost guaranteed with a group of about five guards. However, from the 3rd layer onward, non-combatants risk serious injury or even death if unlucky.
Without large-scale preparations, it is advised to turn back at the 2nd floor.
Additionally, it has been confirmed that only the hot spring water from the 1st floor retains its effects when taken outside.
It is recommended that the hot spring water from the 1st floor be sold as a beauty product to various countries, establishing a new source of national revenue.
Comments
Post a Comment