Chapter 127 Welfare of Eldoria's Commoners
"Father, that hamburger was delicious. I want more, especially the one with extra meat." Gael's young voice sounded devoid of the initial discontent he had when they entered the city.
"Alright, we'll get more later. You've already had enough." Soro glanced at his son's slightly bloated belly.
Indeed, the meat hamburger was delicious, with its soft cake and juicy filling. It was far better than the overpriced ones in the Royal City, which cost three times as much.
If this place hadn't been so far away, Soro would have bought hundreds of them to bring back and share with the nobles and maybe even start a business. Unfortunately, the distance made it impossible, as the burgers would have gone bad by the time they reached the city.
"Alright, I'll have two, no, three meat hamburgers." Gael held up two fingers, then quickly changed it to three.
"Sure, I'll get as many as you want." Soro ruffled his son's hair, still unable to locate the public bathhouse.
"Father, what are you looking for?" Gael asked, puzzled.
"A place to take a bath," Soro replied casually. He had also heard about the public bathhouse from the merchants, but he had been searching for it for a while now without success.
"Why don't you ask someone, father?" Gael suggested.
Soro was at a loss for words. Ask someone? He had asked around, but he still couldn't find it. It was frustrating.
He would never admit that he had a terrible sense of direction. Never! If only he hadn't sent the servants away, he wouldn't be in this situation, unable to find his way back to the inn.
"Father!" Gael tugged at Soro's sleeve and pointed to a building not far away. "There's a lot of smoke coming from that house!"
"Smoke?" Soro turned his head and immediately saw the words on the signboard - the public bathhouse!
Soro wondered, 'Wasn't that the place they had just passed by? How did we miss it? Could it be that I was going blind? No, the signboard must have been too small. That's why I didn't see it. Yes, that's it!'
"Let's go!" Soro grabbed Gael's hand and dashed towards the public bathhouse, his eyes fixed on it.
"We're here!"
Soro looked at the 9.8-feet signboard above his head and then turned his head. He muttered, "This signboard is too small!"
As they entered, Soro saw a counter with two men and two women in their thirties, all folding towels made of linen.
A middle-aged female attendant looked up and saw Soro and Gael and asked, "Are you here to take a bath, sir?"
"Yes!" Soro nodded repeatedly, relieved that they had finally found the place.
Just then, another person came in, a commoner, covered in dirt, obviously from doing hard labor.
"Sir, are you here to take a bath?" another male attendant asked.
"Yes, I'm dirty. My wife kicked me out of the house," the commoner said with a bitter smile, holding a change of clothes in his hand.
"Something you never dared to dream of before, right? After a busy day, you can actually take a bath." the male attendant laughed.
"Yeah! I never thought about it. I have to thank Lord Henry for this." the commoner nodded repeatedly.
"Alright, do you want to use the public bath or a private one?" the male attendant asked.
"The public bath. The private ones are too expensive." The commoner said, taking out the Social Security Card from his pocket and handing over three steel coins.
The male attendant carefully examined the Social Security Card, nodded, and said, "Alright, you can go to the No. 1 public bath. It was just used by a group of customers."
The commoner took back his Social Security Card, feeling a bit strange. Usually, they wouldn't change the water at this time.
The middle-aged female attendant looked at Soro and asked, "Sir, do you want to use the public bath or a private one?"
"The public bath." Soro said, imitating the commoner.
"Alright, do you have your Social Security Card?"
"Social Security Card? What's that?" Soro was a bit confused. He thought, 'Do I need a Social Security Card to take a bath?'
"It's an identification for the citizens of this city. If you don't have one, it's fine. You can take a bath by paying five steel coins per person," the middle-aged female attendant explained.
"But the person just now only paid three steel coins, right?" Soro was a bit puzzled. Were they openly raising the price?
The middle-aged female attendant chuckled and said, "If you have the Social Security Card, you can take a bath for three steel coins. That's the benefit Lord Henry gives to the citizens of our city."
Soro was speechless and reluctantly took out a copper coin and handed it over. "Two people!"
"Alright!" The middle-aged female attendant took the coin and said, "Go to the No. 1 bathhouse!"
Soro looked inside and saw two doors, one labeled Men and the other labeled Women. He led Gael towards the door with Men and entered, seeing a series of doors with numbers, the first one being number one.
"That should be the No. 1 public bath!"
Soro pushed open the door and saw a rectangular room. He then saw the commoner from earlier undressing, soon standing naked and putting his clothes into a numbered wooden box before entering another door.
Soro was confused. Do they undress here? He looked around and saw no one.
Soro quickly undressed Gael and himself, imitating the commoner by putting their clothes into the wooden box, and then they entered.
Inside the room, Soro saw a large, clear bathtub about 32.8 feet long, with three connected in a row.
One of them, the commoner who entered first, was scrubbing his body. When he saw Soro and Gael, he smiled friendly.
Soro nodded, then took Gael to another pool. "It's so comfortable!"
The warm water made them feel relaxed. But in the next moment, Soro felt awkward. The water around him had turned murky. How dirty was he?
He discreetly moved to another spot, but the water quickly became murky again. Soro had to move three times in a row to keep the water clear.
Soro wondered if the water would be changed after a few merchants who hadn't bathed for months came in.
Half an hour later, Soro, with a dazed Gael, left the bathhouse. If it weren't for the attendant urging them, they might have fainted inside.
Soro looked at the door of the public bathhouse, filled with envy. It was so good to have such a bathhouse. Why didn't the Royal City have one?
"Go and see. Henry is about to set out to suppress the bandits, and he's preparing to leave the city now."
The commoner's shout came from the side, and Soro saw a group of commoners running towards the front.
"The Lord? Could it be a noble from Eldoria?"
Soro's eyes lit up, and he took Gael and followed the commoners. He wanted to get a good look at the genius noble who invented public toilets and bathhouses to see what he really looked like. Was he a bearded old scholar or a wise noble with white hair?
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