GILF Hunter

Chapter 383 Fairy Spring

’Heave-h...’

Tanya carefully opened the door and entered the building.

The site where the hot spring had been excavated not long ago. In that place where only a hot spring had been gushing out from empty land, a decent building had already been constructed.

It seemed the exterior work still required a bit more labor, but the interior was nearly finished.

Of course, that only meant the building itself was complete. The inside of the building was empty, without a single piece of furniture.

From now on, Tanya had to fill this place up.

’Phew... Where should I even start?’

Standing in the middle of the empty room, Tanya looked around with a perplexed face.

To be honest, since she had no experience with this kind of thing, she was at a loss as to where and how to begin.

──!

Tanya looked at the spirit floating near her. The reason she had stepped up despite not knowing how to do it was precisely because of this spirit.

’Don’t worry... I’ll definitely make this a place you’ll love!’

Tanya spoke to the spirit with a determined face. The spirit also smiled and nodded toward Tanya.

’First... the floor...’

Tanya pulled a notebook from her pocket and opened to the section where she had been making notes.

Truthfully, she had never learned interior design, nor did she know much about it. This was naturally her first time doing it herself.

Still, for this occasion, she had gone around to various pretty shops in the city to investigate how they decorated their interiors.

Unfortunately, since there were no hot springs nearby, she had even resorted to visiting public bathhouses as a temporary measure.

She also referred to her memories of visiting Mirshil’s hot spring not long ago.

’Alright, shall we begin!’

Holding the materials she had diligently organized, Tanya shouted with an energetic face.

＊ ＊ ＊

Late at night, the door to the lodging opened. Tanya entered the room quietly with an exhausted expression.

The members who hadn’t fallen asleep yet waved their hands at Tanya.

’Tanya. You just got back?’

’Yeah...’

Looking worn out, Tanya collapsed onto her bed.

It seems things aren’t going well. Thinking that, the members asked Tanya.

’How’s it going?’

’Shouldn’t it be about time for it to finish?’

Everyone already knew that Tanya was in charge of the interior design for the new hot spring.

Initially, they had visited a few times, but they stopped because going during the work felt like they were interfering. Besides, there wasn’t much fun to be had visiting in the middle of construction anyway.

Since then, no one knew how the work was progressing.

When the members asked about the progress, Tanya’s expression darkened further.

’...It’s not going well. I think the spirit doesn’t like something.’

After brooding over it, Tanya finally confessed the problem to everyone.

Tanya had expected it wouldn’t be easy, but it was far more difficult than she had imagined.

’Tanya... you had no sense for interior design.’

’It’s not that I lack it! It just doesn’t like anything I do!’

Hearing Mika’s murmur, Tanya cried out as if it were unfair.

However, no matter how much she made excuses, it only resulted in the conclusion that Tanya was bad at interior design.

’Then you guys try it too!’

’Us?’

Everyone was flustered by Tanya’s sudden suggestion, yet they felt intrigued.

None of them had learned such a thing, but that was true for Tanya as well.

Could there be a possibility they might be better at it than Tanya?

Thinking that, the members felt a bit of interest in Tanya’s proposal.

’...Fine! We’ll give it a try!’

’If we succeed, you have to admit it, okay?’

’Give it a shot then!’

Rin and Mika stepped forward.

Additionally, Lia, who seemed to have nothing to do, joined in.

Unfortunately, Airi looked a bit busy lately, so they couldn’t invite her.

Rin immediately got permission from Ian, and the number of people challenging the task instantly grew to four.

＊ ＊ ＊

The next day. Tanya and the members opened the door to the hot spring building together and entered.

The neatly organized interior came into view.

’...It seems okay. It says it hates this?’

’Yeah... It seems it doesn’t like it.’

’....’

Unexpectedly, the interior of the hot spring was quite properly decorated.

Although Tanya hadn’t learned formally, it was thanks to her hard work investigating reference materials while visiting many shops.

There was no particular part that stood out as something to nitpick or change.

Actually seeing it in person, their confidence that they could do better than this dropped a bit.

’Well, let’s just try it for now!’

Rin stepped forward confidently first.

...And so, it had already been a week since the new members joined and started changing the interior design.

Rin carefully placed two new flowerpots she bought from the market on the windowsill.

──.

’...It says it’s not good.’

Once again, the spirit’s reaction was lukewarm.

’I have no idea what it wants!’

’Since you can communicate, can’t you just ask directly what’s good?’

Tanya shook her head.

’Because it’s a spirit... it’s hard to understand exactly what it wants.’

’You communicate well with the fairies, don’t you?’

The fairies understood everything Tanya said, and they would even make requests like asking her to buy food from a certain shop.

’That’s because fairies wander around so much... they’re used to the city.’

They knew how to use spatial movement and liked places with many people, so the fairies had been wandering around the city long before they met Tanya. They were terrifyingly accustomed to the human world and city life.

Thanks to that, the fairies knew the exact names and uses of items and understood Tanya’s words well.

’So I can communicate well with the fairies... but this one was buried underground. Should I say we don’t speak the same language well...’

The energy of nature is faint. The flow of luck is blocked. Most expressions were in that vein. It was difficult for Tanya to grasp exactly what the problem was, or how good or bad it felt.

Rin murmured while slightly changing the arrangement of the flowerpots.

’Should I plant different flowers... I’ve already changed the type ten times.’

Lia, watching them worry about the types of flowers to plant, spoke up.

’Can’t we just put one of everything?’

’You sound just like the Captain...’

’...Wait, I’m not that bad.’

It seemed Lia’s pride was a bit wounded by those words, as she denied it quite vehemently.

’Sigh...’

Was it really impossible for amateurs to gather and do interior design, especially in a way that would please a spirit?

As the atmosphere drifted toward giving up, Mika shouted to encourage them.

’Let’s try a bit more! If we all put our heads together, we’ll manage somehow!’

’Hmm... should we? Since we’ve come this far...’

’Alright, then I’ll go buy one more flowerpot!’

They all looked at each other and nodded.

The spirit, finding the scene interesting, circled around them, watching the members move busily here and there.

＊ ＊ ＊

A few days later.

Tanya, bowing her head with a weary face, declared her surrender to Ian.

’So... you’re saying you can’t do it?’

’Yes... I’m sorry.’

’No, it’s okay. It was a difficult task for a first time.’

He had entrusted it to Tanya out of curiosity about what kind of synergy effect communication with a spirit would create, but it seemed things didn’t work out that well.

Lucky events like the Fairy Spring wouldn’t happen that often.

The layout Ian knew was also something that had been improved through the hands of many people over a long period. He had thought it wouldn’t be easy for Tanya to surpass that on her own.

’I expected as much, so I ordered everything in advance.’

’A-Are you really going to do that thing from back then?’

Since Tanya’s challenge had failed, the progression according to the draft Ian had in mind was inevitable.

As if it were true that he had prepared in advance, the items ordered arrived at the hot spring that very day.

Watching the numerous pieces of furniture being moved in by workers, Tanya apologized to the spirit in her heart.

I’m sorry...

Whether the spirit of the hot spring knew Tanya’s heart or not.

It flew around nearby, watching the furniture enter the building in a line with interest.

Since the plan for how to arrange the furniture had already been finished, Ian’s interior design was completed in an instant.

The result.

Approaching the exceptionally sparkling hot spring water, Ian checked the information of the spring.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

[Spirit’s Hot Spring] (Stage 5)

- Obtains HP and MP recovery bonuses while inside the spring.

- Purifies a small amount of Erosion at set intervals.

- Cures 2 status ailments.

- Increases all stats and resistances for a certain period.

- Grants a permanent [All Stats +10] upon first use.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The effect of the hot spring had changed to an incomparable degree compared to when he first checked it.

Ian nodded seeing the recovery effects increased to the desired levels. It had properly risen to the level that was his goal.

If he tried, he could raise it slightly more, but that would require more precise optimization. As the values got higher, they demanded increasingly higher conditions. The difference in values wasn’t significant enough to put in that much effort.

Ian suddenly wondered how the spirit would react. It was an arrangement tuned to the values in the game. Would the spirit actually like it too?

Ian asked Tanya, who was standing beside him.

’What does the spirit say?’

’Uh...’

Tanya spoke while following the spirit’s active movements with her eyes.

──!

’It... likes it...’

A flowerpot table where various plants were neatly arranged in a row, one of each kind.

Flower paintings packed tightly like tiles on the wall behind it.

Small indoor fountains placed in random locations.

Chairs filled into every gap to save space.

The spirit, wandering around the place, nodded vigorously.

This spirit... its reactions were so shallow that she thought it had a blunt personality, but it seems what Tanya had done just wasn’t very good.

It was a shocking fact, but Ian’s aesthetic sense seemed to work well for the spirit.

Is the Captain... perhaps a spirit?

Tanya pondered with a serious face.