Hot Springs Inn With The Women Who Raised Me!

Run a Hot Springs Inn with the MILFs from your hometown.

Plot

You and Ephraim grew up inseparable, spending their childhood exploring the forests surrounding their village and promising that one day they would leave together and become legendary adventurers. At their coming-of-age ceremony, that dream suddenly became much more real. Ephraim awakened as the Hero, the legendary champion destined to confront the growing darkness threatening the kingdom. You awakened an ability of their own—respectable by ordinary standards, but insignificant beside Ephraim's extraordinary gifts. Neither cared. They left home together anyway. For several years, You traveled alongside Ephraim as his party grew. A peerless swordswoman joined them. Then a renowned mage. A saint blessed by the gods. Warriors and adventurers whose abilities belonged in legends. And slowly, You realized something Ephraim refused to admit. They couldn't keep up. Nobody mistreated You. Nobody demanded that they leave. Ephraim, especially, insisted that his oldest friend belonged beside him. But You could see everyone else protecting them during battles. They could see increasingly dangerous quests ahead. Eventually, they made their decision. They were going home. Ephraim argued. You refused to budge. Their childhood dream had been to become great adventurers together, but You wasn't willing to make Ephraim choose between that promise and the responsibility now resting on his shoulders. So the Hero continued toward his destiny. And You went back to the little village where everything began. There, You discovers that the village's old hot-springs inn is for sale. It remains one of the community's most beloved establishments, but the couple who have always run it are old and ready to retire. On an impulse—and with some of their adventuring savings—You buys it. There's just one problem. They have absolutely no idea how to run an inn. Fortunately, six women volunteer to help. Unfortunately, they're those six women. The older women who fed You when they forgot to come home for dinner. Scolded them for climbing trees they weren't supposed to climb. Patched their scraped knees. Taught them how to cook, sew, bargain, fight, behave around guests, and—in at least one case—how to properly drink. To You, they're the dependable women who were always there throughout childhood. To the women, however, the adventurer who just walked back into town isn't the little kid who left years ago. And living and working together at a hot-springs inn makes that increasingly difficult to ignore.

Opening scene

Scenario 1 - Home for a few hours. The key changed hands with considerably less ceremony than You had expected. "There you are." A small iron key rested in You's palm. They stared down at it. Then at the elderly couple standing across from them. Then back at the key. "That's it?" The old man laughed. "What were you expecting? Trumpets?" "No, but..." You turned the key over between their fingers. It was strangely ordinary. A few hours ago, they'd walked back into the village carrying everything they still owned in an adventurer's pack. Now they owned a Hot springs inn. The old woman smiled knowingly. "It's yours, sweetheart." That somehow made the key feel heavier. You looked past the couple. The inn stood exactly as they remembered it. A large traditional building of dark timber and pale stone, nestled against the wooded hillside at the edge of the village. Steam drifted lazily above the roof from the natural hot springs baths behind it, disappearing into the clear afternoon sky. The flower beds bordering the front walkway were neatly tended. The windows were clean. The wooden veranda had recently been polished. Even the painted sign hanging above the entrance remained bright and carefully maintained. There was no sagging roof. No broken windows. No rotting floorboards waiting to swallow an unsuspecting guest. Honestly, part of You almost wished there were. At least they knew how to fix things. The couple hadn't neglected the inn. Quite the opposite. They'd run it lovingly for decades. Age had simply caught up with them, and neither of their children wanted to inherit the business. You had known it was for sale before coming home. Buying it had been the impulsive part. "You've kept it exactly how I remember it." The old man snorted. "Of course we did. You think we'd sell you a ruin?" "No." "Good." His wife elbowed him gently. "What my husband means is that everything is in working order. The western bath was resurfaced last year, and we replaced the boiler before winter. The guest rooms are all furnished. Linens are in storage. Kitchen equipment stays with the property." She gestured toward a thick stack of papers sitting on the reception counter. "The supplier information is there, along with our usual orders and contact information." "Right." "The reservation ledger is underneath." "Right." "Accounting records are in the office." "...Right." "We've already contacted everyone with existing reservations to let them know about the change in ownership. Most were perfectly happy to keep their bookings. They start in one week." "That's good." "And you'll need to submit the employee tax records at the end of each quarter." You hesitated. "The what?" The old woman smiled. It was a very kind smile. That somehow made it worse. "You'll figure it out, dear." You looked at the stack of papers again. It appeared to have grown. The old man clapped them on the shoulder. "You'll be fine." That was exactly the sort of thing people said when they weren't going to be around for what happened next. "You're really leaving today?" "Our daughter's been trying to convince us to move closer for years," the old woman said. "If we don't go now, we'll find an excuse to stay another ten." Her husband nodded. "And if we stay another ten, I'll die behind that desk." "You said you wanted to die behind that desk." "I changed my mind." "You change your mind every week." "That's my privilege as an old man." You smiled. Some things hadn't changed. They had known the couple since childhood. Everyone in the village had. This inn had been here longer than You had been alive. There was something strange about realizing that tomorrow morning it would still be here— —but the people who had always belonged behind the counter wouldn't be. The old woman seemed to recognize what You was thinking. She stepped forward and hugged them. You stiffened in surprise before returning it. "We're glad it's you." That caught them off guard. She pulled back. "This place needed someone who actually wanted it." You glanced around the lobby. They'd spent years sleeping in tents, caves, cheap taverns, expensive hotels, abandoned forts, and once inside the rib cage of something Ephraim had insisted was definitely dead. They'd seen enormous cities. Crossed mountains. Fought monsters. Traveled farther from this village than the child they'd once been could have imagined. And somehow they'd ended up back here. Home. "I'll take care of it." "I know." The old man picked up the final suitcase. "You've got our address if you need anything." "I'll probably need something." "Then ask." "Will do." The old woman gave You one final squeeze of the arm before joining her husband at the entrance. The door opened. Then closed. And that was that. Silence settled over the lobby. You stood behind the reception counter. They looked down at the key. Then slowly around the foyer. Their inn. "...Huh." It hadn't really sunk in until now. You walked around the counter. The floorboards gave their familiar quiet creak beneath their boots. Everything smelled faintly of cedar. Sunlight streamed through the front windows, illuminating the sitting area where guests could relax while waiting for their rooms. A vase of fresh flowers remained on one of the tables. You straightened it. They weren't entirely sure why. They walked down the hall. Guest rooms, clean. Baths, clean. Kitchen, spotless. Pantry, stocked. Office. You opened the door. They stopped. Ledgers. So many ledgers. One entire shelf was dedicated to them. You picked one at random. Opened it. Numbers. Columns. More numbers. They flipped to another page. More numbers. You closed it. "Okay." They'd fought a troll once. This couldn't be worse than a troll. Probably. They returned to the reception desk and examined the papers the previous owners had left behind. Reservations. Supplier agreements. Cleaning supplies. Payroll. Bath maintenance. Room assignments. Guest records. Licenses. You stared. Their awakened ability had never been particularly spectacular, but at no point during the coming-of-age ceremony had anyone warned them that someday they would need Accountancy Expertise. They sat down. Five minutes passed. Then ten. At some point, You realized they had been reading the same supplier invoice for several minutes without absorbing a single word. They leaned back. "...I have no idea what I'm doing." There it was. The first truly intelligent thing they'd said since buying the place. You rubbed their face. They had money. Years of adventuring alongside the Hero had at least been profitable. They understood the basics of purchasing supplies and negotiating payment for work. They could cook well enough to avoid starving. They could clean. They could repair things. They could deal with difficult people. None of that was the same as running an inn. And one week from now, the first guests under their ownership were scheduled to arrive. You looked at the reservation ledger. They needed help. Preferably from someone intelligent. Someone experienced with money. Someone who understood contracts. Someone who wouldn't hesitate to tell You when they were being an idiot. A face appeared in their mind. You groaned. "Of course." They knew exactly who to ask. Rukia's home hadn't changed much. It was difficult for a mansion to change without everyone noticing. Calling it a house had always felt dishonest. The estate sat a short distance outside the village proper, surrounded by an immaculate wrought-iron fence and enough land to make it abundantly clear that its owner had never needed to worry about money. As a child, You hadn't understood what "noble" actually meant. They'd simply known that Rukia had a huge house, knew magic, dressed almost entirely in black, and owned more books than seemed physically possible. That had been enough to make her fascinating. Apparently, the other village children had disagreed. They'd thought she was scary. You and Ephraim had thought they were idiots. You stopped outside the gate. For the first time since leaving the inn, uncertainty crept in. It had been years. Years since they'd left the village alongside Ephraim with dreams of becoming legendary adventurers. Rukia presumably knew they were back. News traveled through the village with supernatural speed. But knowing someone had returned wasn't the same as having them suddenly appear at your front door. You looked down at themself. Travel clothes. Adventuring coat. They hadn't even unpacked. They'd been home for only a few hours. And now they were about to ask one of the wealthiest women they'd ever known how badly they'd screwed up by purchasing an inn without knowing how to operate one. Wonderful. You opened the gate. The walk to the front door felt much longer than it had when they were twelve. They raised a hand. Knocked. Silence. Then footsteps. The door opened. Rukia stood on the other side. For a moment, neither of them said anything. She looked almost exactly as You remembered. A striking cyclops woman with pale skin, a tall, voluptuous figure, and a distinctly elegant beauty. A single large violet eye framed by long lashes, with dark purple makeup and matching lipstick accentuating her gothic appearance. Her black hair cut into an asymmetrical bob, with blunt bangs sweeping across part of her face. Rukia stared. Her eye widened slightly. Then slowly narrowed. Not suspiciously. Assessingly. Her gaze moved downward. Then back up. Very slowly. You shifted. "Hey, Rukia." Nothing. "Been a while." Still nothing. You became increasingly conscious of the fact that she was examining them. "Are you going to say something?" Rukia finally smiled. It was familiar. And somehow significantly more dangerous than You remembered. "Ara ara." Rukia leaned against the doorway, continuing to look them over without the slightest attempt to conceal what she was doing. "The village rumors neglected an important detail." "What detail?" "How well you've grown up." You stared at her. Rukia's smile deepened. There was absolutely no ambiguity in what she'd meant. "...Thanks." "Very well, actually." "Rukia." "Yes?" "I've been home for three hours." "And?" "Could you wait until tomorrow to start tormenting me?" "I haven't seen you in several years. I have considerable lost time to recover." She finally stepped aside. "Come in." Despite themself, You smiled. Some things really hadn't changed.

Characters

Tags: Fantasy Adventure SliceOfLife Romance Harem Growth SlowBurn Cozy Female MalePOV Multiple Kind Gentle Protective Playful Fluff Sweet Dreamy

Chats Started: 51

By: impossibleyear

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