The Defeated Dragon Chapter 229

Chapter 229 – Cheers for the Hot Bath

The bath house needs a lot of hot water. Lots of hot water.

In this period of human history, to heat up water, most civilians used firewood while aristocrats used charcoal. There was no record of using coal yet — coal was not a dragon's byproduct since non-metals such as coal are not precious stones. Probably no human has understood the mineral coal yet, at least the Grand Duchy of Sapphire has not heard of the combustible mineral.

 There were no records of other energy sources such as oil, natural gas, or similar fossil fuels available.

Liszt speculates that since there existed a salt mine in this world, and the volcanoes here can also spew out basalt, then coal, oil and natural gas couldn't be far behind.

But he couldn't say for sure.

After all, metal ore originates from dragons. There is no naturally occurring metal ore, so it is not unusual to have no naturally formed coal or oil.

All in all, in this world, firewood and charcoal are the most important sources of energy.

Firewood is from dry branches, straws and the like, while charcoal is the result of inadequate burning of wood to remove moisture and impurities, resulting into a solid fuel. Firewood burns because it contains moisture, so it smokes up and cannot be fully burned; charcoal has no smoke, burns fully, and is lightweight.

But firewood is cheap and charcoal is expensive.

After cutting down the trees in Thorns Ridge, Flower Town had accumulated a large number of wood. With the exception of timber used for construction, many of the what remained were used to make charcoal for the castle. Civilians picked up a lot of dry wood and piled it up to cook on fire. The shower hall was opened to civilians but was not using charcoal. 

Before there were no other options, only firewood was used to heat water. But a large pool holds a lot of water which in turn needs a lot of firewood to keep the water temperature.

It takes labor, too much resources, and is even harmful to the environment.

After having the Magic Dragon, Liszt decided to build the bath house immediately. It was naturally pollution-free, does not consume fuel energy, and lasts for more than 24 hours.

Liszt designed the men's bath with a hot-pot shape with the middle separated by a fence. The little fire dragon's magic would boil the water, and the people surrounding it would have their bath.

With Tremblingwoods carrying the rock pillars, and the construction of the bath was not difficult.

They would dig a pit, lay a stone, hoop a wooden board to make the structure waterproof, and quickly dig the bath. The next step is to fill the bath with water then Liszt will release the magic little fire dragon himself. He constantly adjusts the total amount of magic and in the end, it was determined that a bath requires a magical fire dragon the size of a bucket to burn to 40 degrees.

So far.

The two bath houses were built with a wooden house outside the bath.

It took no more than five days to complete and on December 16th, the company officially had a soft opening –  it was free of charge from 6 to 12 pm every day, and the bath time must not exceed five minutes. It was open from 8 am to 6 pm in exchange for one copper plate per person with unlimited time usage.

Liszt has his own hot tub, so it was not unusual for him to come to the bath.

Gort and others have long been staring at the bathhouse. This kind of bath was usually only available in metropolises. Coral City is barely a big city, but it is still far from the city level, so there were no bathhouses-ordinary bath houses burn firewood, which is the non expensive option.

“Alas, comfortable!  comfortable in the bones…” Gort was sitting in the hot pot bath, soaked in warm water, moaning comfortably.

Taking a bath on a cold day is truly a top-notch luxury.

The men's bath was located in the business district with a prominent sign, the' Flower Town Public Men's Bath'.

The women's bathhouse was located in the civilian residential area where it is connected to the administration office. It also has a sign that reads 'Flower Town Public Ladies' Bath'. Liszt has specifically asked Karl to recruit several female rangers who would be responsible for the safety of the bath hall, to prevent voyeurism of the female citizens who would take a bath there.

Paris, with her sister, Maggie, was lying in the bath and enjoying a warm dip.

“So comfortable, sister.”

“It's really comfortable, I didn't expect to be able to have such a comfortable hot bath in a rural town.” She rubbed the dirt on her body, she had not had a serious shower since the long journey.  “I could eat delicious food every day, work easily, take a hot bath, and live in a clean and tidy house. Maggie, your sister really likes this."

“Well, Maggie also likes Flower Town.” Maggie was swimming in the middle of the bath, and then came over to help her sister rub her back. She continued to mutter, “Praise the Lord, praise the noble Lord of Flowers Town!”

Paris enjoyed the pleasure of someone rubbing her back.

She began to close her eyes, and felt comfortable enough to want to sleep. She could not help but agree. “Baron… Lord Baron is truly extraordinary.”

Because of Liszt's deliberate cover-up, no one asked how the water in this big pool was heated.

During the first day of the soft opening, there weren't many people coming to take a bath.

It was because civilians were used to not taking a bath. Some people don't even take a bath all winter. Not to mention the cost of a copper plate for bathing. They were not stupid. With this money, it was better to warm up and wipe their bodies at home, and save four large pieces of black bread and eat them for several days.

But after six o'clock in the evening, people came to bathe in groups.

The workers who came from the construction site and wasteland stood in long lines, no one wanted to let go of this chance to have a hot bath for free! Fortunately, the pool was big enough, and the prescribed time was only five minutes. After only one round, the water in the pond turned black, and a thick layer of mud floated.

The serfs didn't mind.

Workers in the bathhouse yelled, "This is a great leader, who looks after the welfare of the common people. We can all enjoy this happy moment brought by the Lord!”

The serfs responded, “Praise the Lord!”

After the washing, the workers were shouting again, “The great Lord gives us hot water!”

“Praise the Lord!”

“Lord is too great.”

“Great Lord, great Flower Town.”

Various slogans were constantly uttered from the serfs' mouths, including those new serfs, who also stuttered the snake text “Praise the Lord.”

This was Gort's idea of crude brainwashing propaganda.

Liszt has no objection-he thinks that the civilians should of course be thankful.In the entire Coral Island, only Flower Town has a bathhouse, which was open to free people and serfs.

Although he originally established the bathhouse to complete the smoke mission, the people should still praise him for doing good things.

Shouldn't they?

Chapter end