Flashbang Throw
“Fuck, what did you just say?”
A few days had passed since the knights arrived at the Magic Tower. Lee Dam glared at Beldora, who had secretly summoned her to speak.
Who in the world could curse out loud right in front of a Tower Master?
No one.
But Lee Dam was a woman who fell outside normal human categories, so Beldora didn’t care.
If it had been another mage, they would have been scolded on the spot for rudeness.
“Reduce the output of the Knight Armor. It’s too high right now.”
“Bullshit. If it’s too high, that’s good, right? Why lower it?”
“Hah… we have to lower it. It’s a set order anyway, lower it.”
“Why? Did you get a kickback?”
Lee Dam folded her arms and got angry, and Beldora clutched her face and let out another deep sigh.
“Not a kickback. The Archmage personally ordered it. Our Tower doesn’t export any technology above a certain level outside.”
“…”
“The Knight Armor has been judged to carry enough danger to shake the balance of war.”
“Ha.”
Lee Dam let out a fart.
It was so absurd she felt like grabbing the Archmage by the throat right then and there.
“If lowering the output turns the war around, isn’t that a good thing? It just proves how valuable it really is.”
“Lee Dam, if the Knight Armor is built with our current output…”
“Archmage you fucking idiot, spouting that kind of nonsense? Either way, if the war drags on, everyone dies the same. Just blow them all to hell in one go and end it.”
“You’re really—”
It sounded too extreme, but…
In reality, Lee Dam wasn’t wrong at all.
If the war kept going, she’d die anyway.
A long war.
The people who got involved there weren’t fighting to win.
They were only fighting to buy more time before they died.
“Lower the output? Hell no. We already bent over backward making the Knight Armor as good as possible, you damn—”
Originally she wanted to build something else, but there was no need right now, so she was satisfied with the Knight Armor for now.
“Lee Dam, the Archmage said so.”
“Ah, what’s the old bastard scared of? Just shoot and it’ll be fine, right?”
“It seems like it’s because you don’t know how strong the Archmage is. That guy is a monster. While the Tower Masters keep changing, it’s only the Archmage who’s kept that position.”
“Because the old man is holding on tight, the Tower is so conservative. You think you’ll work with the Archmage for long? You think you’ll work with me for long?”
“…What kind of blackmail is that?”
Beldora looked utterly confused and tilted her head.
But soon she answered honestly and straightforwardly.
“Honestly, I think I’ll work with the Archmage longer. You’re the kind who’ll die young.”
“…”
Lee Dam folded her arms and couldn’t say anything more.
She herself had secretly thought the same.
But even if she died, if she lived with her personality intact, it wouldn’t be her life.
Lee Dam, who had lived through a world where anything could be wrapped in personality like “individuality,” had no room to back down.
“Enough! Output reduction?! You’re fucking laughing! Technology! Oh god, technology!”
“Lee Dam?!”
“We won’t be slaves!”
“Lee Dam?!”
With her slender fist raised, Lee Dam marched out.
Watching her, Beldora could only sigh heavily once more.
* * *
“Complete.”
“Mm.”
The earth mages looked at their masterpiece with a proud smile.
Next to the giant blast furnace, a tall building of soot-colored stone walls rose.
From the outside it looked roughly finished, but inside it carried the distinctive steam-and-iron smell of a hot spring.
“How is it?”
She could feel the swagger.
Lee Dam nodded as she thought that.
“It’s passable.”
“…”
Normally you didn’t argue with swagger like that. Such guys usually wanted extra bonuses.
They had done too well for mere praise to satisfy them.
“Sigh, look at this. Stone’s been cut. I told you to make it pretty. What’s this scratch here?”
“Ah, no. That’s the charm. Fitting for a name like ‘Soebultang’—”
“Soebultang or balls bath, who told you to do it this way? If you trim the outer wall like this, how is it going to look?”
Lee Dam thought to herself.
‘The rough cut is actually charming.’
“…”
“Ugh, it’s a bit of a shame, but I’ll do the rest separately. The cost is covered by the earth Tower.”
Lee Dam thought to herself.
‘There’s nothing to touch.’
The earth mages hesitated at her words. They glanced between the Soebultang and Lee Dam, then cautiously asked.
“Um, Mage Lee Dam. If it’s okay, could we use the Soebultang?”
“Fuh, why? You think it looks fun?”
“…”
They couldn’t answer.
They were the ones who had built it, so they wanted to use it the most.
“I’ll suggest operating it for money later. You get the first entry discount.”
“Only the first entry?”
“No discount.”
At Lee Dam’s firm declaration, the earth mages somehow persuaded her again.
After the earth mages left with their shoulders slumped and their spirits crushed.
Lee Dam hummed as she entered the Soebultang.
The distinctive scent of a bathhouse filled the air as soon as she stepped inside.
She slid open the narrow locker compartments—thirty-two in total—then stripped down in the very first one.
She had decided to enter first even before she arrived.
Past the changing room, into the bath, the fierce steam immediately obscured her vision.
A night sky visible through the deliberately open ceiling.
The hot spring, decorated with rocks, sprayed heat through the copper pipes connected to the blast furnace, and the wooden walls around it had no practical purpose but captured the atmosphere perfectly.
She dipped her fingertips in. It felt scorching.
That was why the corners of Lee Dam’s mouth lifted.
This was proper hot spring.
Quiet yet heavy.
The first guest of the day was Lee Dam.
“Uhhhheeeeeeh!”
She sank deep into the water up to her shoulders, and a triumphant moan burst from her mouth.
All fatigue vanished in an instant, and a sense of rebirth as a civilized being filled her with joy.
“Ah, fuck. I should have made it sooner.”
Leaning against a rock, she looked up at the night sky. Her red face kept twitching.
While the fatigue from the Archmage was gone, she was still worrying how to reject the absurd suggestion of output limitation.
“Whoa, it’s really finished.”
“This is the hot spring?”
“Good scent.”
“Is this the entrance?”
At that moment, a familiar voice came from outside.
The door opened and it was the iron mages and knights.
It was late evening, after work had ended.
They had come in curious after stepping out of the blast furnace and seen the Soebultang building.
Creak!
When they opened the door and entered the hot spring, they saw Lee Dam inside and flinched.
She was submerged completely, and because of her messy hair it was hard to tell, but the pale shoulders rising from the water proved she was naked.
The mages and knights froze the instant their eyes met Lee Dam’s.
“Um? Who is this?”
Someone asked, looking at Lee Dam’s clothes left in the changing room.
Everyone in her mind answered.
I know.
And our asses are grass.
Lee Dam was already dirty-tempered. She thought that just showing herself in the bath was enough to make her go crazy.
“What? It’s quitting time? Good. Come in and use it.”
An unexpected reaction.
Lee Dam offered the hot spring to them without hesitation.
“B-but is that all right?”
The question from Winston, at the front, and Lee Dam shrugged her shoulders in reply.
“Because you’re sweating, go wash first. You’ve finished work, so you’ll be in paradise, you bastards.”
Her teasing laugh was so light that even the thought crossed her mind that Lee Dam might not be male.
So the mages and knights awkwardly stripped in the changing room.
The mages felt a little shy even among themselves, but the knights, who had seen everything during training, simply stripped.
“Captain, isn’t that—”
At that moment one knight approached Winston. The other knights instantly moved in as if waiting.
Suddenly a group of bulky naked men gathered.
“Noland didn’t do it, so it’s our turn next.”
“Perfect timing today, since he said the fatigue is gone.”
“I-I’m nervous.”
Noland stayed silent.
The rumors that he had been with Lee Dam at night were already spreading wildly among the knights.
“…”
“…”
“…”
The knights, after talking, quickly headed for the hot spring. Because they imagined the men huddled together and getting excited.
But that wasn’t the real reason.
“E-excuse us.”
“Fine.”
The knights entered the bath, and the mages followed, hesitantly sinking in.
“Oooh?”
“Whoa, it’s crazy…”
The fatigue is gone.
“I-I’m a bit hot.”
Various reactions appeared, but all of them wore satisfied smiles.
Having worked drenched in sweat, the hot spring felt even better.
“We should separate men’s and women’s times.”
Dividing into men’s and women’s baths would basically double the resource usage.
It would be better to set a time and take turns.
“More men, so—”
Lee Dam muttered.
And as she glanced at her, the lower bodies of the men began to harden.
Among the men, the lone woman was the most unselfconscious. It felt like a bizarre sight.
Yet everyone thought the same.
It was hard to see right now because of the bath and steam.
‘When we go out, we have no choice.’
‘There’s no towel to cover.’
‘How are we going to hide it?’
If it had been Lee Dam’s personality, she would have walked out proudly. That would have been the best outcome.
On the contrary, it wouldn’t have been bad to cover herself shyly with her hands or request a towel.
It was nice to see a cute side of her different from usual.
“Ugh, I’ve been in here long enough. I’m heading out. Enjoy cleanly. If you shit inside, you’re dead.”
And the moment everyone had been waiting for arrived sooner than expected.
‘Finally!’
‘Really?’
‘Whatever! Whatever!’
What reaction would come?
How would she exit?
The moment all eyes focused.
“Flash.”
Thud!
With the sound of a finger snap, a blinding light exploded in every direction and a “peep” rang in their ears.
“Aaaaah! My eyes are burning!”
“Ahh! Turn it off! What the hell!”
“My, my eyes! My eyes are burning!”
The struggle through the light and flash lasted about three minutes.
By the time they regained their senses, Lee Dam was already gone.
