"Onii-chan, over here! Over here!"
"Hanna-chan, wait up..."
Today, Jin had accompanied Hanna into the mountains not for a leisurely hike, but to forage for medicinal herbs.
"Whew, whew... You sure are full of energy, Hanna-chan..."
"Yup!"
As expected of a girl raised in the countryside, her baseline stamina was on a completely different level from Jin's. Of course, Jin was also carrying the handicap of a woven basket on his back.
On top of that, when his burned and battered body had been restored during the teleportation, his physical strength and endurance had reset to their default values—effectively wiping out the benefits of any prior conditioning—though he remained blissfully unaware of the fact.
"Phew, we finally made it to the top..."
It was a small mountain north of the village, rising roughly two hundred meters above the surrounding terrain. After an hour's climb, the summit opened up to a sweeping panorama.
"Look, there's the village!"
Where Hanna pointed, her hair fluttering in the breeze, Kaina Village appeared as a tiny cluster in the distance.
"Ooh, what a magnificent view."
"Isn't it?!"
The area around the summit formed a grassy plateau that offered a clear view of the village below. Turning around, even taller snow-capped peaks loomed to the north.
"Ah, with all that snow, it makes sense why water is so plentiful here."
Though the region received little rainfall overall, the snow accumulated on the high peaks clearly fed a rich reserve of groundwater, or so Jin reasoned.
And looking to the west...
"...A barren mountain, huh?"
A solitary, naked knoll stood out, utterly devoid of grass or trees. Upon closer inspection, patches of the rocky slope were stained yellow, with what appeared to be plumes of steam drifting upward.
"Could that be a volcano?"
While he was lost in thought, Hanna chimed in.
"Onii-chan, here you go!"
She had returned with an armful of freshly picked herbs.
"So these are the medicinal herbs?"
"Yup! You crush these up to put on cuts and scrapes. And these over here, you dry them to brew into medicine."
Apparently, they gathered plants for both poultices and decoctions. Using the herbs Hanna had brought as reference samples, Jin set about gathering more.
With the two of them working together, they quickly reached their quota. In foraging, taking more than necessary out of greed was strictly forbidden.
"Well then, shall we have our lunch?"
"Okaaay!"
A simple meal of bread and an apple-like fruit. They shared the food between them.
"This is so yummy!"
"Yeah, it really is. Eating out in the open air like this makes it taste even better."
As he ate, Jin continued to study the volcano and its topography. Noticing where his gaze lingered, Hanna asked,
"Onii-chan, are you looking at Death Mountain?"
"Death Mountain?"
"Uh-huh. Birds that fly too close to that mountain drop right out of the sky. And sometimes there's a weird smell. The adults in the village say it's 'miasma.'"
"Miasma?"
Volcanic gases. Toxic compounds like hydrogen sulfide and sulfur dioxide would indeed be lethal to living creatures if inhaled. It was hardly surprising that the locals gave the place such an ominous name.
"I see. Don't worry, I won't go near it. Well, shall we head back down?"
"Okay!"
Having secured the herbs they needed and finished their lunch, they began a leisurely descent. Free of dangerous predators, this mountainside served as an essential foraging ground for the villagers.
"Magical beasts don't show up here either, do they?"
According to what Martha had told him, most of the magical beasts and monsters across the continent had been wiped out during the Great Magic War. The few that survived had reportedly retreated far into the frozen north.
"We're back, Grandma!"
"Welcome home, Hanna, Jin."
Martha stepped out to greet them.
"Man, I really worked up a sweat."
"I drew some water over there. Go on and wipe yourselves down."
"Okaaay!"
Hanna quickly peeled off her clothes and began wiping the grime from her skin. At just eight years old, she paid no mind to Jin's presence. Jin, having routinely helped bathe the younger kids back at the orphanage, didn't bat an eye either—though he couldn't help feeling that his nonchalance made him seem a bit too world-weary for his age.
"Still, I'd really love to soak in a proper bath..."
Drawing water had become far easier thanks to the pump's installation, but firewood remained a precious commodity. Boiling enough water to fill a full-sized tub was an unthinkable luxury.
"A hot spring really would be the ideal solution, wouldn't it?"
After wiping himself clean, Jin looked back toward the mountain. With a volcano sitting right over there, the local geology practically guaranteed the existence of a thermal vein running underground.
"I suppose my best bet is to scout it out with magic."
Even with vast knowledge at his fingertips, Jin was still adjusting to the habit of solving problems through magic.
"Let's see... Was there an earth-attribute spell suited for this sort of thing?"
He mentally flipped through his internal catalogue of spells until he found the one he needed.
"...All right. Grand Search. Target change: Hot Spring."
It was a spell originally designed to locate mineral deposits, but with a slight tweak in parameters, it worked just as effectively for tracing thermal veins. The title of Magi Craft Meister was certainly not just for show.
"Found it. One, two... Perfect, let's go with this one."
From the various thermal veins flowing deep below, he selected one with an abundant flow that passed conveniently close to the village. The next step was securing a proper location.
"Onii-chan, where are you going?"
Noticing Jin heading for the door, Hanna trotted over.
"I'm going to make a hot spring. Want to come along?"
"Yeah!"
Though she had no real concept of what a hot spring was, Hanna seemed delighted simply to accompany him.
"Still, I can't just go digging up a hot spring wherever I please."
With that thought in mind, Jin first made his way to the Village Chief's residence.
"Ah, it's Jin-niichan!"
"Jin-niichan, where are you off to?"
Having earned the gratitude of the entire village from the well pump project, Jin had settled in completely. The village children in particular had grown very fond of him.
With a small troupe of children trailing in his wake, Jin knocked on the door of the Village Chief's house.
"Who is it? Ah, Jin-kun. What brings you here?"
A middle-aged man poked his head out. It was Giebeck, the Village Chief of Kaina Village.
"Hello. There's something I'd like to consult with you about."
"Oh? What sort of thing?"
Jin laid out the details of his plan—excavating a hot spring, constructing a shed over it, and everything else the project would entail.
"I see... So you want to dig a well that produces piping-hot water and build a bathhouse around it? I certainly have no reason to object. In fact, I'd welcome it with open arms. Is there anything you need?"
Having someone who understood the value of a hot bath made the discussion remarkably straightforward.
"Well, I'll need some lumber to frame the shed."
"That's easily arranged. Take whatever timber you need from the lumberyard."
"Thank you very much."
With official permission granted, Jin promptly made his way to the prospective site—a slightly sunken depression near the center of the village.
"All right. This is definitely the spot."
After reconfirming the thermal vein with Grand Search, he used earth magic to carve out two tubs—one hot and one lukewarm. He designed them to be relatively shallow so bathers could stretch their legs out comfortably, compensating by giving them generous surface area.
"Whoa! That's so cool!"
"Jin-nii is amazing!"
The children who had tagged along showed no fear of Jin's magic; instead, they watched with wide-eyed fascination. Having never encountered magic-users before, they held no preconceived prejudices against the craft.
"All right, that takes care of the tubs."
Next was framing the shed. That said, it was a straightforward affair consisting of four corner pillars and a sturdy roof. The children eagerly pitched in, helping haul the smaller logs into position.
"Heave-ho, heave-ho!"
"Watch your footing, don't trip!"
"We're fine!"
"Good, now hold this steady for a second."
Thanks to the children's enthusiastic assistance, the shed's frame was completed in no time. For the time being, Jin leaned wooden planks around the exterior to serve as a makeshift privacy partition.
"Now then, let's finally tap the hot spring. Dig. Followed by Hardening."
He opened a vertical shaft down to the thermal vein, instantly petrifying and smoothing the inner walls to function as a conduit. Within moments, steaming water surged to the surface.
"Yep, the temperature is plenty hot... Actually, wait, that's way too hot! Ouch, hot, hot!"
Flustered, he quickly shaped an overflow basin to pool the boiling water temporarily. In the meantime, he bored another channel into a nearby cold-water vein so the two sources could be blended.
Guiding the hot and cold water through wooden flumes to mix in ideal proportions into the tubs...
"And there you have it—the hot spring is complete!"
"Whoa!"
"Niichan, are we supposed to swim in there?"
Smiling at the bewildered children, Jin explained:
"No, no. This is a place where you soak to wash your body clean and soothe away your aches. So, as a reward for helping out, you kids get the honor of being the very first in the village to try it."
"Ooh!"
"Yay!"
The children stripped off their clothes on the spot, bounding toward the tubs stark naked. Boys and girls leaped in together without a second thought. Well, they're just little kids, Jin thought, finding an amused sense of peace with the situation.
"Make sure you splash some warm water over yourselves before you dive in!"
Calling out that brief reminder, Jin began shedding his own clothes to join them.
"Waaah, this feels so good!"
"Hey now, don't roughhouse too much in there."
Overjoyed by their first hot spring experience, the children splashed, paddled, and frolicked about inside the warm pool.
"Onii-chan."
Hanna waded over to Jin's side.
"Grandma is going to love this too, isn't she?"
"Yeah. I really hope so."
The hot spring Jin built was met with universal praise from the entire village, prompting him to expand the facility with additional tubs.
Thanks to the hydrogen carbonate springs leaving bathers' skin remarkably smooth, the bathhouse became an immense hit with the local women, leading the rough shelter to be renovated into a sturdy, well-crafted bathhouse.
With separate sections for men and women, alongside dedicated changing rooms, it quickly evolved into a proper hot spring facility.