99 Silver and 1 Gold Are Different
Hot steam billowed in the center of the space. Sedric lay prone on a smooth bed carved from steel tree wood. His body trembled like a fish on a cutting board.
Whoosh. A massive shadow loomed over Sedric's back, cutting through the steam. It was Crok, the former Red Fang chieftain, clad only in green panties with a giant Italian towel wrapped around his hand.
"Customer, if it hurts, say so."
At Crok's words, Kailan nodded with a satisfied smile instead of Sedric.
'Good. Good. The lines I taught him are perfect.'
A faint aura gathered in Crok's hand. Soon, the massive towel touched Sedric's hunched back.
"Gaaah! My lord! Save m—huh?"
Scrub scrub. Swish swish. As Crok's enormous palm swept over his back, Sedric's scream instantly morphed into a sound too odd to share with anyone.
"Haaaang... It doesn't... hurt...?"
"Customer, your dead skin's thicker than wolf hide. I'll scrape it right off."
Decades of battlefield grime caked under his armor. The itchy nooks and crannies his thick back muscles had kept out of reach even after baths—Crok's rough towel began coolly scratching them away.
Far from wounding the skin, Crok's touch stimulated blood flow, making every hair on Sedric's body stand on end.
"Oh... Ooooh! Right there...! A bit lower... Yes...! Right there a little more...!!"
A moan burst from Sedric's lips. The other retainers were the same.
"Aaaah...! This is paradise!!"
"To wield aura so precisely...!"
"For service like this, even a 1-gold tip wouldn't be too much!!"
The orcs' rough breaths and the retainers' refreshing groans wove a bizarre harmony echoing through the bathhouse.
Kailan chuckled at his subordinates' blissful faces.
"Pass."
With reactions like this, the scrubbing service was sure to become the hot spring resort's top draw.
'Give it a fancy name and charge 10 silver. Premium Battlefield Fatigue Recovery Course or something.'
Kailan left the men lost in the orcs' scrubbing bliss and quietly turned away. While his retainers unwound, the privileges due a lord awaited him too.
He headed to the resort's innermost depths: a private open-air bath completely cut off from the outside.
Slide. As Kailan opened the sliding door and entered, Eleanor greeted him with flushed cheeks, her white shoulders gleaming through the steam.
Kailan, in his robe, slipped into the warm hot spring water beside her. Moonlight from the night sky mingled with the soft glow of her artificial sun, casting fantastical ripples across the water.
"Haa..."
A sigh escaped as the hot water soaked in. From the orc crisis to city redevelopment—how relentlessly he'd pushed on. His knotted muscles finally began to loosen.
"Your Grace, is the fatigue easing?"
Eleanor splashed over, wrapping her wet hands gently around Kailan's nape. Her damp platinum hair clung to her collarbone, dazzlingly beautiful.
"Haha. I just got in..."
"This hot water and rising steam... they all look like gold filling the territory's coffers to me."
A starkly capitalist remark amid the romantic open-air bath. Kailan grinned and pulled Eleanor's slender waist close.
"To me, you in my arms outshine a mountain of gold coins."
"Oh my... Your Grace."
Their private bath. Amid the lapping water, the ducal couple's hot, sweet respite deepened.
At last, the grand opening day of the Winternationalt Hot Spring Resort dawned. Ahead of the official launch, posters plastered the square before the ducal castle. The retainers who checked them from morning looked pale as ghosts.
In the soon-after conference room, Count Lian rarely spoke up.
"Y-Your Grace! Even if the facilities are superb, 1 gold per night base?!"
Beside him, Viscount Arzen, who belatedly got a flyer, trembled the paper.
"Th-Three... 3 gold...?"
He shot up from his seat, shouting.
"And the private villas are a whopping 3 gold! Even with continent's tycoons flocking, who pays that for a wash and sleep?!"
1 gold for wash and sleep was outrageous. 3 gold for a villa, needless to say. Even with the new city's enriched residents, it wasn't pocket change.
But Kailan just smiled leisurely.
"No worries. If our hot spring were mere hot water, none would come... but you've all experienced it's not, right?"
At Kailan's words, Sedric and the weary retainers gulped. They attended today's meeting with baby-smooth skin and sparkling eyes, reborn.
The hot spring's effects needed no further words.
'Jackpot I never dreamed of.'
Kailan was certain after a full day soaking with Eleanor. What the orcs dug wasn't just any hot spring—it was the Life Spring Eleanor discovered mid-to-late in the original tale.
The location differed from his memory, but similar effects meant little. It healed fatigue, minor ailments, muscle aches—instantly upon soaking.
Any adventurer who'd tried once would pay 2 gold and call it a steal. Kailan's only worry: too many regulars, needing more springs.
"Plus, look at those posters. Where does it say 1 gold?"
The retainers puzzled over the posters again.
[1 Gold 50 Silver X → Opening Special: 99 Silver!! (Breakfast Included)]
"1 gold... right...?"
"Your eyes must be pea-sized. Look closer."
"It says ninety-nine silver, but still..."
Kailan sighed, shaking his head. Eleanor had spotted the 99 silver vs. 1 gold difference at a glance.
"You're right. 99 silver's as good as 1 gold."
Kailan grinned, continuing.
"But the human mind is shallow. Drop from gold to silver units, change the leading digit, and subconsciously it feels like a steal."
"...Is that so?"
Throw in breakfast, and it feels like massive value—for food they funded themselves. The classic TV shopping '39,900 won' ploy, still in use.
Eleanor, her beauty enhanced by the soak, smiled.
"Your Grace always seems ahead of the times."
"Heh. You're no slouch yourself."
"Hyungnim...! Sniff...! Sob...!"
"What's with you this morning?"
"My neck... it's stiff as a gargoyle statue, won't turn...!"
In a Winternationalt New City diner, southern vet adventurer Rick clutched his rigid neck, groaning.
"Yesterday's dire wolf hunt was rough..."
"You too, hyungnim...? At this rate, I'll wreck my body before snagging a pretty wife and popping out bunny kids...!"
Gail chugged beer, snorting.
"Think back to gnawing rotten bread crumbs in the south! Slay monsters, do site labor—gold multiplies. No time to rest!"
As Gail said, their purses in Winternationalt dwarfed southern days. But mounting fatigue was undeniable—earnings too good, no days off, bodies abused.
Then, Sena beside Gail sighed softly, twirling her slim wrist.
"Ah... my wrist. Why's the hide on monsters here so tough? My arms tingle lately too."
Her murmur barely out, Gail—who'd ignored Rick—jerked toward her.
"W-Wrist hurts? Overdid it lately? Want me to grab a potion?"
Guild covered 80% potion costs, but not for minor aches. Money-obsessed Gail fidgeted, eyeing Sena.
As Rick gaped at the blatant favoritism—
"Hyungnim! Hyungnim!! Jackpot! His Grace made something new!"
A southern adventurer burst in, slamming a poster on the table.
"What now. No heavy labor for a while."
"Me neither~"
Gail and Sena waved off; the comrade spat excitedly.
"Not that! Hot spring resort—adventurers who went say they're reborn!"
Rick scanned curiously, then scowled.
"Look, hyungnim! 1 gold 50 silver for 4 people a night! Insane? We just got a house—pay that?!"
Gail nodded, shoving the flyer.
"Obviously not. Southern luxury unimaginable. Save for a bigger house!"
As Gail stonewalled—
[1 Gold 50 Silver X → Opening Special: 99 Silver!! (Breakfast Included)]
"Huh? Wait, hyungnim! Closer look: not 1 gold 50 silver—99 silver!? Opening special! Free breakfast too? Meat pie included!"
"Idiot. Classic sales trick! 99 silver or 1 gold—1 silver diff, same thing! No!"
Gail scoffed. Rick could read now, still dumb.
"But hyungnim...!"
The bringer persisted.
"Hans hyungnim beat an ogre, ranked up to mithril—thanks to this hot spring!"
"Mithril...?"
Gail's eyes widened. Mithril was adventurer pinnacle. Adamantite above, but national disaster quests only—mere title.
"Just rumor... Soak and mithril? Pfft."
"I'm going."
Sena leaned lazily toward Gail.
"Always wanted a hot spring. Skin gets super smooth soaking."
"......"
Gail's eyes wandered airily, imagining. They lingered on Sena's flowing hair and shoulders.
Bam! Gail slammed the table, leaping up.
"To the hot spring now! An adventurer's body is prime asset!"
"Huh?!"
Rick gawked.
"Hyungnim! You said no wasting, sales trick!!"
Sena poked Gail's side with a sly smile.
"Hehe. Yeah. Why the flip? Maybe... for me?"
Gail flushed beet red. Coughing, he jabbed at Rick.
"S-Seena's wrist hurts—our top fighter! Leader's welfare call! Stingy? Stay home alone, Rick!"
"When'd I say nooo~!!"
Rick wailed innocence, but Gail tuned out. As Sena hooked his arm, his face burned anew.
In gold-ruled Winternationalt, adventurers' youth still bloomed.