Speaking frankly, from the moment he laid eyes on the Redwood Town Bathhouse, Warren had been in a state of shock. It wasn't just the size of this establishment that came as a surprise, it was also the ingenuity of its design that amazed him.
Upon entering the bathhouse, the first thing Warren encountered was a reception area, where two young workers were on duty behind a tall desk. Walking up to the desk, Warren was offered a polite greeting and was about to be waved inside as he was together with the Town Lord, but Charles actually stopped the youths and insisted they give the middle-aged Steward the 'full experience'.
It was obvious when Charles said this that the two workers felt a bit awkward, but they quickly assumed a professional attitude like they had been trained to and began explaining the bathhouse's various rules, services, and prices.
There was really no need for this, as all of this information was written in big, bold letters on a sign-board right behind the reception desk, but at Charles' urging, the youths didn't have a choice.
The rules themselves were quite straightforward, mainly involving where one could leave their clothes and about how to respect other people's space and privacy in the baths.
Since it was so early in the day, there were only a couple dozen people using the bathhouse right now, so there wasn't much need to go over this etiquette, but Warren could still appreciate the thought which was put into these rules as they would surely be necessary when the evening crowds rolled in.
When it came to price, however, Warren was completely flummoxed.
3 Coppers for an individual 10 years and older, 2 Coppers for children age 5 to 10, kids younger than 5 were allowed in for free.
1 Copper to borrow a clean towel and washcloth, or you could bring your own from home for free.
10 Coppers for a small piece of soap big enough for 3 washes which you could take with you when you left if there was extra. Like with the cloth and towel, if you brought your own soap, it was naturally free.
The bathhouse didn't accept bartering for payment, so you couldn't use a duck or grain to gain admittance; however, there was one exception. If you brought a certain amount of firewood, you could wash up here for a reduced cost, or even for free.
And that was it, there were no other charges.
Of course, the two workers made a point of saying that the water supply was limited, so it was requested that each individual use no more than 50 litres total per wash, regardless of whether it was hot or cold, as both were available.
When Warren asked how much a litre was, as he had never heard of this unit before, one of the reception workers handed him a basin and ladle from a large pile next to the desk, saying the basin held 10 litres and the ladle held 2.
Obviously, the basin was for scooping water and the ladle was for rinsing oneself off with.
Thinking about how much 5 of these basins could hold, Warren felt that this was quite a generous amount for the price, especially if all the water you used was hot water.
In fact, Warren found the prices for everything here to be incredibly cheap, so much so that he doubted this bathhouse made a profit at all. For instance, the bars of soap he purchased from Redwood Town were good for about 20 washes and cost 2 Silvers, which meant soap here was being sold for a third that cost!
Even if Warren understood that the soap he bought had a big markup, he couldn't imagine it being much more than triple the production cost. At best, he figured soap was being sold in this bathhouse basically at cost. As for all the other things like water and heating, those naturally had costs associated with them too.
But if that was the case, why bother running this bathhouse in the first place? Was Redwood Town so wealthy it was willing to continuously lose money on such a big scale?
As Warren was pondering this issue, Charles threw down a handful of Coppers and then half-led, half-dragged the steward over to the men's side of the bathhouse, where Warren found a series of wooden shelves where he could store his clothes.
Having spent most of his life traveling across the Rockwell Kingdom, camping out in the wilderness together with merchants, guards, adventurers, clients, and mercenaries, Warren felt no shame getting undressed in front of others, so he quickly stripped down.
Just as he was about to store his clothes, though, Warren was surprised to find a pair of simple wooden sandals already on each of the shelves.
"Oh, those," Charles muttered when Warren asked him what these sandals were for, "They're a service the bathhouse provides. You use them in place of your own shoes to avoid bringing dirt inside the baths, then return them when you leave."
"Interesting," Warren commented, "Who came up with this idea?"
"It was Lu… er, someone in town suggested it," Charles nearly let Lucas' name slip out of habit, as this wasn't the first time he had explained the wooden sandals issue, but he managed to catch himself just in time.
Raising a brow, Warren's curiosity was piqued, but only mildly, so he simply shrugged a moment later and said, "Let's head inside then, shall we?"
"Hahaha, yes, lets!" Charles recovered quickly and then took the lead.
Upon entering the 'wet' area of the bathhouse, Warren was again shocked and couldn't help exclaiming, "Tiles! You actually tiled the entire floor for this place?"
"En," Charles nodded proudly before a slight look of embarrassment appeared on his face, "When we first built the bathhouse, it was all wood as that was faster and cheaper, but so many people began coming here that we quickly needed to expand it, and we also found that the resin coating we put on the wood was wearing out too quickly thanks to constantly needing to clean the floors, so we decided to use tiles instead."
"Just how much did Redwood Town spend on this bathhouse?" Warren asked incredulously, looking around at the massive space filled with hot water, steam, fresh cut wood, and expensive water-proof tiles.
Scratching his head, Charles wrinkled his nose and replied, "I think Sasha said it cost 300 Gold for the original building; but since then, we've done 2 rounds of expansions, so it's probably getting close to 1,000 Gold now."
Warren was flabbergasted to hear this. 1,000 Gold was a huge amount of money for a small town to spend on what was essentially a giant fireplace to burn money.
Unable to hold back his curiosity any more, Warren had to ask, "Why go through all the trouble and expense to build this place, especially when you're charging so little for people to use it?"
"Heh," Charles grinned and snickered, "I didn't understand at first, either, but after a few months of this place being open, I can tell you with absolute certainty that it would be worth it even if it cost five times as much!"
Turning to look at Charles, Warren had to admit, he was intrigued. Although all the business deals Redwood Town did with him were negotiated by Sasha because the Town Lord didn't have a knack for bargaining and haggling, Warren knew that Charles wasn't a fool.
If anything, Warren's evaluation of Charles was that this Baron was honest, upright, and practical, if not a bit muscle-headed.
If Charles said with such confidence that this bathhouse was worth every Copper they spent on building and running it, then there must be some truth to it.
Seeing Warren glancing his way with an inquisitive look on his face, Charles chuckled and explained, "After the latest expansion of the bathhouse was finished, somewhere between 1,000 and 1,500 people come here to use it every day. That means almost everyone in Redwood Town has a proper bath, usually with soap, once every two days."
This figure didn't surprise Warren as he had already guessed as much just from the size and scale of the bathhouse, but that still didn't answer his question.
Even if 1,500 people all used the most expensive services here, it would still generate less than 10 Gold a day in total revenue. Once expenses and wages were accounted for, Warren couldn't imagine the bathhouse earning more than a few Silvers a day at that price, and that was with under the most favourable of business circumstances, a point he felt compelled to ask about.
"That's right, this place basically breaks even most days and loses money the rest of the time," nodding, Charles didn't try to hide anything, freely admitting the bathhouse was costing more to run than it was taking in.
Walking over to a large reservoir on the far side of the bathhouse, Charles dipped his basin into the warm water before slowly pouring it over his head and shoulders, rinsing himself off completely.
Sitting down on the bench, Charles motioned Warren over and urged him to follow suit.
Pursing his lips, Steward Warren nodded and copied what Charles had just done.
Feeling the warm water pour over himself, the Rising Sun Merchant Guild steward had to admit it felt refreshing, and seeing the excess water slowly drain off towards a series of openings in the slightly sloped floor, he couldn't help marveling again at the clever design of this place.
"Let me ask you something," Charles suddenly said as he was lathering up a washcloth with a piece of soap, "What do you think are the biggest issues a Lord has to deal with when it comes to the wellbeing of his people?"
Warren, who was also lathering up his cloth, was slightly taken aback by this seemingly unrelated question, but he still quickly answered, "Keeping them fed, keeping them housed, and keeping them healthy."
"En," Charles nodded as he began scrubbing his hair, "Food in Redwood Town has rarely been an issue. The forest is filled with rich bounty, the fields are fertile and productive, and the rivers are teeming with fish. As for shelter, with so much wood and river clay around, building warm, sturdy homes is also not much of a problem."
"Indeed, this is a very good place to live," Warren agreed wholeheartedly. Having visited a few hundred different towns, villages, and cities, Warren could say without any hesitation that the environment in Redwood Town was among the best. It certainly wasn't the wealthiest or most developed settlement he had ever seen, but in terms of quality of life, it ranked near the top.
"Thanks for the compliment," Charles smiled, ladling some water over his head to wash off the soap, "But like all places where humans live, illness is always a problem."
"Ha… You're right. Sickness is a constant issue among the people, but there's only so much we can do about it," Warren lamented seriously.
During his travels, Warren had seen more than his fair share of death and disease. There were even some villages he had visited in the past that were entirely wiped out by plagues.
Much work had been put into dealing with disease over the centuries, but even with the knowledge of not drinking stagnant water and disposing of waste far away from where people lived being spread across the continent, the number of mortals who perished each year due to sickness was still staggering.
In fact, thanks to certain records kept by the Rising Sun Merchant Guild, Warren knew that illness wasn't just the leading cause of death in the Rockwell Kingdom, it was actually responsible for the majority of deaths!
This might come as a shock to some who thought that wars between countries, or battles between Cultivators were the primary cause of civilian deaths, but if one studied such incidents carefully, they would discover that while many did die fighting each year, it was the fallout from those conflicts that really wracked up the body count.
Wherever war appeared, disease tended to follow, and for every soldier slain on the battlefield, 10 times as many civilians succumbed to the ensuing waves of sickness.
"I also thought there was only so much we could do to fight against disease and plague," Charles mused before declaring solemnly, "But ever since we opened this bathhouse, improving the overall cleanliness of the town and townsfolk, the number of people falling ill has dropped dramatically."
Raising a brow, Warren took a moment to process what he just heard before hesitantly asking, "How dramatically?"
Smiling happily, Charles replied with a hint of pride in his voice, "We used to see 15 to 20 serious cases of sickness a month, but now we have 2 or 3 at most."