Rat Hole Village (1)
“What should we do now?”
On the way back to our inn, Maybel asked with a worried look on her face. It was only natural for her to feel anxious since the clue we’d chased down hadn’t been much help. But…
It wasn’t a total bust.
“Let’s grab a proper meal first. And then… hmm. How about hitting the bathhouse?”
“Huh? A bath? But we haven’t finished looking for Mom yet! Didn’t you say we’d go after?”
“Yeah, but things have changed a bit, haven’t they?”
At my words, Maybel puffed out her cheeks. It was adorable coming from such a tiny thing.
“This is for you, not me, so quit whining and follow along. Food first.”
“Okaaaay… You must have something in mind. I trust you!”
And so, Maybel and I veered off the path back to the inn and headed to a restaurant.
The restaurant was… well, it’s rude to say, but pretty mediocre.
The meat dishes were decent as bar snacks, but the cooking of this era… hmm. The seasoning was on the weak side. Spices were scarce, and salt was about the only thing for flavor—and even that was ridiculously expensive.
Anyway, cuisine in this slowly improving world still had a long way to go.
But.
“Lots of meat—awesome!”
“Yeah, I figured you’d like that.”
To a country girl like her… no, to anyone living in this era, this was plenty.
Whatever, we skipped past the underwhelming meal.
“Is it okay to go bathing when we need to find Mom?”
“I’ve got it all figured out, so don’t worry.”
With that, Maybel and I headed to the bathhouse together.
The bathhouse itself was pretty standard for the times. Less a proper bathhouse and more like a hot spring, really. They heated water piped in from the aqueducts and filled the tubs with it. Primitive, sure, but what could you expect?
Just dousing yourself with hot water was the height of luxury here.
Eh, it’d do. Yeah.
“I had no idea washing in hot water felt this good.”
“How’ve you been cleaning up till now?”
“Cold water, usually. Or if that was too hard, wiping down with a damp cloth. Tough in winter, though.”
Hmm… yeah, firewood for boiling water isn’t free. And not everyone can wield magic or spirits.
So naturally, a service like this—boiling water for a fee—springs up.
“But why the sudden bath?”
“Heh. Well, you see.”
I channeled a bit of mana into my palm, forming a small soap bubble. Well, technically a mana orb mimicking one, but details.
“When the priest mentioned smelling that scent on the woman he suspected was your mom, it got me thinking.”
“Thinking?”
“Yeah. Remember what the guards said when we entered Armen? How it’s super clean.”
Maybel nodded slightly at my words.
“Clean aqueducts for fresh water, sewers for waste. A city with top-notch plumbing like this—folks reeking of stench wouldn’t exactly blend in, right?”
“True, but…”
“That’s when it hit me. One possibility: your mom’s been somewhere that stinks, and it’s soaked into her.”
“Huh…?”
Maybel didn’t catch my drift.
“Simple. Your mom’s probably in the sewers—or nearby.”
“The sewers…?”
I nodded faintly.
“The priest said beastkin are rare in Armen.”
“Yeah, he did.”
“She could’ve come from elsewhere, sent the letter, and left—but that’s unlikely. Assuming she’s here in Armen…”
I laid out the clues.
“Rare beastkin. Musty smell. Armen’s sewers. Put it together…”
“Mom’s… in the sewers?”
“High chance. Though if she just passed through to mail the letter, I’m off-base.”
Still, I had a hunch her mom was here in Armen.
So.
“We could dive into the sewers ourselves, but I’m not keen on charging into a stinky hellhole blind. Better to scout first.”
“That bubble thing?”
“Yep. Remote-controlled, shares my sight and hearing.”
Bonus: night vision. But explaining that’s a hassle.
“Aha! That’s why the bathhouse!”
“Pretty much.”
I was curious about era baths too, but yeah, mainly this.
I floated the mana bubble gently on the water, letting it drift. It bobbed along without popping, slipping into the drain.
“Alright, setup’s good. Time to scout the sewers with this thing.”
If we find her mom down there… ugh, no avoiding a trip. Down we go.
With that, Maybel and I finished up and returned to the inn.
“Hmm…”
“What’s up?”
Back at the inn room, I remotely piloted the mana bubble through the sewers.
Dim, murky underground passages. Roughly hewn from stone, they looked brutal for humans. Slimes clung everywhere, processing waste, swept along in filth-mixed water.
I’d imagined something semi-modern, but nope. No way.
Could anyone live in this?
“Not here…?”
“Huh?”
“Been searching the sewers a while… nothing stands out. Did I bark up the wrong tree…?”
Maybel’s slender tail drooped at my words. She looked gutted.
Ugh. If not here… no choice. Make something to find what we want.
What kind? Classic compass? Nah, boring.
Hmm. Find the target. Finder…
I pondered, glancing at Maybel. What she seeks…
Suddenly, an image flashed: a famous bullet hell game character. Rat ears. Item-finding powers.
Yes. Dowsing. Dowsing rod it is.
Lost in thought on what to craft—
Splash.
A sound from the sewers. Not droplets—heavy, something plunging into water.
I steered toward it.
A small, human-like figure moved through the dark.
“Found it.”
“Huh?”
“People in the sewers.”
I tailed the figure with the bubble.
It navigated the twisting maze with ease. I memorized the paths as I followed.
Not just waste disposal—these sewers were labyrinthine.
A small human, deftly threading them. Rat beastkin, probably.
Looks like my guess was spot on.
“We’re tailing someone, so let’s confirm the spot and head down.”
“Yesss!”
But really, rat beastkin in underground sewers… reminds me of that game with a rat underworld city beneath humans.
Yeah, yeah. Unlike those evil rat folk, these beastkin aren’t that wicked.
Just… various shady stuff, probably.
So.
I kept shadowing the small figure and—
“Ho ho…”
Exiting the sewers, it reached a small village deep underground.
“A village underground.”
“Underground?”
“Not many folks around, but all rat beastkin. Like they built it to hide from human eyes.”
“Huh?”
I ignored Maybel’s stunned voice and scanned the village.
Hmm. If there’s a village… no need to trek through the stinky sewers.
I erased the sewer map from my mind, locking in the village coordinates.
“Get ready to go. Teleporting straight there.”
“O-okay!”
A village of just rat beastkin. Intriguing.
Why beneath Armen? What keeps them here?
Dunno, but… something smelled off.
A whiff of conspiracy, very suspicious.