Encounter at Paradise
The northern hot spring resort was nothing more than a recovery spot in the game that restored stamina and mana. There had never been any reason to wander around and admire the scenery or enjoy a leisurely healing session.
Anyone interested in that kind of playstyle would have stayed quietly at the Academy and enjoyed a proper romance fantasy instead.
For people like me, it was nothing more than a sweet recovery spot hidden in a harsh environment. At least, that had been the case until now.
“Welcome, Your Highness the Princess! And to your attendants as well! We are honored to have you at Paradise, the largest and finest hot spring resort in the north!”
I had worried we might have to hike up the snow-covered mountain, but the place was so famous that it even ran a basic shuttle bus service.
At least it’s not a pure medieval setting. A carriage would’ve been a nightmare here.
It was a relief that the world of Romance Tale was set in a fairly modernized era.
We were guided to our respective rooms by the resort staff, who bowed repeatedly and treated us with the utmost hospitality.
“We are overwhelmed that Your Highness has chosen to visit our Paradise. We will spare no effort to ensure you experience no inconvenience whatsoever. Please enjoy your stay to the fullest!”
“What kind of facilities do you have here? It seems far too large to be just a hot spring.”
At Serena’s question, the owner answered with obvious pride.
“Paradise offers services worthy of its name! Our chefs, the finest in the north, can prepare traditional northern dishes as well as cuisine from every corner of the Empire. We also provide sparring services with skilled guards for any knightly guests who feel their bodies are growing rusty!”
During the game, all I had known was the simple message: “Rested at the hot spring for a day! Stamina and mana fully recovered!” The actual scale was much larger than I had expected.
“We also operate a twenty-four-hour casino underground, always ready to welcome our guests! In addition to various casino games, we offer dazzling virtual reality experiences powered by magic, tarot reading shops, astrology houses, and many more attractions!”
Well, well. The exterior looked like a Japanese winter hot spring, but they had turned the basement into Las Vegas.
If they had implemented all this in the game, I would have done more than just rest and recover. I would have actually explored the place.
Still, it was not too late. I could enjoy it from now on.
Everyone was shown to their rooms. Since I was Serena’s bodyguard, I was assigned the room right next to hers so I could protect her at a moment’s notice.
The imperial family had apparently given very detailed instructions, even down to the room placement.
Calling it the “next room” was generous. It was really just one massive room divided by a single sliding door, so it was practically half the same room.
The layout was familiar to me from Japanese manga, but Serena, who had never seen anything like it, was horrified to learn I would be right next door.
“Th-the same room…?! Even if you’re my bodyguard, are you seriously telling me to share a room with a man right now?!”
The staff, thinking they had offended the princess, broke into cold sweats. Before they could speak, I quickly calmed Serena down.
“Please don’t be alarmed, Your Highness. It may look like one room, but there is a door here. If I slide it like this…”
Once the sliding door was pulled across, our rooms were properly separated.
“See? Now they’re two different rooms. You can’t even see me waving from here, can you?”
“…You’re right.”
“Do you really think the staff of Paradise would force the Princess of the Paulia Empire to share a room with a man? Your misunderstanding has frightened them. A single word from you could cost them their jobs. Is that what you want?”
“N-no, I just… I’ve never seen a room like this before! If I had known, I wouldn’t have said anything!”
“But you still scared them, didn’t you? Look at their faces.”
I pointed at the Paradise staff, who were drenched in sweat.
Serena scratched her head awkwardly.
“That wasn’t my intention…”
“Your Highness, this is the part where you apologize. Go on.”
“I… I’m sorry…”
The moment Serena apologized, the staff nearly jumped out of their skins.
“Oh no, not at all, Your Highness! It was our fault for not explaining properly! Please don’t worry about it!”
After that, the staff guided us around the facilities with even greater tension.
Once they left, Serena shot me a glare.
“Aran, sometimes you act like you’re my guardian or something.”
“Isn’t that my job? I’m supposed to protect you, Your Highness.”
“Ugh…”
Perhaps she had grown used to my teasing, because she did not snap back. Instead, she pointed at the sliding door between our rooms with a stern expression.
“You! Even if you’ve lost your mind, I’m sure you wouldn’t go that far, but don’t you dare enter my room without permission! Bodyguard or not, that’s absolutely not allowed! If you do, I won’t let it slide, got it?!”
She was trying to assert dominance with a pointless warning, but her premise was already wrong. Serena was undeniably beautiful—anyone would admit that at a glance—but I had zero intention of doing anything to the princess just because she had a pretty face.
There was an old saying about messing around and getting messed up for it. Why would I risk being caught targeting my charge, let alone the princess, and end up castrated?
I grinned and answered.
“Rest assured, Your Highness! Even if the sky falls, I won’t so much as glance at your room!”
“……Really?”
Serena stared at me in silence for a moment…
BOOM!
Whether it was my imagination or not, she slammed the door far harder than necessary.
#####
Our original purpose for coming north was to visit the Northern Wall and figure out why it would eventually be breached, but we could not head there right away.
Everyone needed rest, and since Bryden had gone out of his way to suggest this reward, there was definitely a trap waiting. We had to deal with that first.
But I still had no idea what the trap was.
He might send assassins again, or he could have bribed the staff here to poison our food.
Of course, none of that would work on me.
I could see mana flows themselves. I had learned at Ksiri Mountain that anything containing poison would cause the surrounding mana to twist in a grotesque way.
Even colorless, odorless, and tasteless poison could not disguise its effect on mana, so poisoning was out of the question.
So what was that bastard planning?
Just then, I heard Serena and her maids’ voices melting with pleasure from the women’s outdoor bath.
“Haaah…♡ It’s so warm…♡”
“Your Highness, this hot spring is wonderful! I saw a sign on the way in. It says soaking here smooths out wrinkles and makes your skin firm! You should soak a little deeper!”
“Huh…? I’m not old enough to worry about that yet…”
“You mustn’t say that! If you take care of yourself while you’re young, you’ll keep your current beauty even as you age! Come on, soak a little more!”
Serena and her maids were chatting away happily while soaking in the outdoor bath with a view of the snowy mountains.
Just in case something happened, I had brought my sword all the way to the men’s bath and was only half-submerged, ready to fight even naked if necessary. Still, the water felt incredibly good.
“Mmm… This is perfect.”
The attendants who had come with us also let out satisfied sighs as they soaked.
Everyone was forgetting the fatigue of the journey, and Serena and I even managed to push the thought of Bryden’s trap out of our minds for a while as we enjoyed a leisurely soak.
After dozens of minutes, Serena called out to me from the other side of the fence.
“Aran, are you there?”
“Yes, Your Highness. Do you need something?”
“No, I don’t need anything. If you’ve enjoyed the bath, you can take some time to rest on your own. You can stay in your room or go to the casino.”
“Are you telling your bodyguard to leave you alone and do whatever he wants?”
“If there was anything strange, you would have noticed it first, right? Is there anything suspicious here?”
Serena had asked a sharp question.
I had already concentrated my senses earlier and scanned the widest possible area for any hidden threats. There had been nothing unusual, not just inside Paradise but across a wide stretch of the surrounding snowy mountains.
“No, there isn’t.”
“Then go enjoy yourself for about thirty minutes. It’s a consideration from your liege, so you should be grateful.”
“Haha, I’m so honored I could cry.”
“You’re saying that with a straight face again.”
“Then I’ll go take a look around the facilities. Knowing the internal layout will make it easier to act if something happens.”
With Serena’s permission, I swam through the passage connecting the outdoor bath to the indoor area, got dressed, and headed out.
Since I did not know the layout either, exploring it was necessary in case of an emergency. I walked through every corner of Paradise, observing my surroundings.
Shops, restaurants, saunas, lounges…
After checking all the facilities, I made my way down to the underground casino.
The imperial family had rented out the entire facility for several days, so there were no other guests. Even so, the casino staff were standing by, fully prepared to receive customers at any moment.
“Welcome! Are you here to try your luck?”
“We also have tarot and astrology shops! Please take a look around!”
The moment the staff saw me, they switched into full sales mode.
The problem was their outfits…
“Ugh.”
Every single one of them was wearing an extremely revealing bunny girl costume.
Were they trying to paralyze men’s brains and lower halves with those clothes so they would let their guard down and spend money like crazy?
Unfortunately for them, I was not the type to fall for such cheap tricks.
“I’ll just take a quick look at the fortune-telling shops.”
Since I had no interest in gambling, I ignored the main casino floor and headed toward the tarot shop, which was curtained off to the side.
I was only going to check people’s faces, just in case. Nothing more.
As I approached the tarot shop, a lively voice greeted me.
“Have you come to learn your fate? I’m Melia, the famous tarot reader everyone’s been talking about! My skills are on a completely different level from the ordinary fortune-tellers you see in the city! One question is ten thousand shillings, a basic fifteen-minute consultation is twenty thousand shillings, and a comprehensive in-depth session from thirty minutes to an hour is fifty thousand shillings!”
The moment I heard the name and saw the face of the tarot reader delivering her sales pitch, I froze on the spot.
“……Wh-what are you doing here?”
The pink-haired commoner girl who was skilled at tarot.
An enigmatic figure whose activities before entering the Academy were completely unknown.
The one who received overwhelming affection from countless male characters simply by existing.
The woman who, because of that presence, was often severely bullied by villainesses like Amari.
The sole heroine of Romance Tale stood right in front of me.
Wearing an incredibly revealing bunny girl outfit.
