Third Bath – Maiden of the Roaring Waves

“Wow...!” I exclaimed in astonishment at the view before me.

We were at the restaurant inside the Maiden of the Roaring Waves. It was an open-air restaurant that utilized the hotel’s private beach. Several tables were lined up along the coast around a bonfire. We’d heard that this restaurant only opened at night, and now I knew why. This area operated as a recreational beach during the day.

I looked out to the sea and saw a sky full of stars. It wasn’t just the sky that was shining, though. The nighttime ocean presented itself as a black canvas that the starry sky reflected itself on, lights glistening with each passing wave. It gave the illusion that we had just entered the realm of the stars.

“It’s so pretty...” Rakti sighed from beside me, entranced by the sight.

We figured she shouldn’t come to dinner in her usual maid uniform, so she changed into a cute and frilly dress that made her look like the daughter of a well-to-do family. But in either case, she was in fact the Goddess of Darkness. She might have been especially captivated by the nightscape due to her nature. Though anyone would be impressed by this sight, goddess or not. Our entire group continued to stare at the starlit sky without any sign of the novelty wearing off.

Clena had advised all of us to change into something fancy, but not too formal like a tuxedo. This nation’s culture wasn’t particularly uptight, so a tuxedo would have stood out more than anything else. Indeed, I could hear lighthearted conversations and laughter all around us. The atmosphere was more akin to a party than a fine dining restaurant.

A waiter brought us to our table and took our orders. After waiting a while, he returned with several dishes mainly comprising of seafood. I had assumed they would have nothing but seafood here, but they also used a bunch of ingredients from the mountains, making their dishes rich and colorful. Neptune felt like an oceanic country, but it took up most of the land on Talon Peninsula, so the nation actually covered both the sea and the mountains.

Everyone put their hands together and said “itadakimasu”/their thanks while appetizing scents wafted through the air. It looked like Clena and the others had picked up my habit.

In this world, it was customary to pray to the goddesses before eating, but I felt like I didn’t need to do that since I had direct approval from them, Rakti included. The prayer had about the same meaning behind it as the one we did after defeating a monster, so it felt more accurate to say that the prayer signified gratitude for the food itself. I mentioned this to Haruno before, and she said her party had also started saying “itadakimasu” after they parted with the pilgrims. The one issue was that I didn’t know whether or not I should mention this to the temple. In my case, I was saying it more out of habit and less because I had any real thoughts about praying for my food. There wasn’t any use in troubling the clerics about it now, so I decided to leave it be. Yeah, it was nothing for me to worry about. The goddesses didn’t seem to mind, either. Anyway, it was time to eat dinner.

“Ohh! This is delicious!” Rulitora exclaimed after he bit down on a whole fried fish.

I was about to chide him for picking the fish up with his bare hands, but looking around, I noticed that many other people were doing the same thing. Nobody seemed particularly disturbed by Rulitora’s etiquette. In fact, the main thing I noticed was the amount of people who had ordered this same dish.

“Clena, are his manners okay?”

“Oh, eating with your hands? Nothing to worry about. Though it depends on the dish too, of course,” Clena said, then picked up a smaller fried fish with her own bare fingers.

“Are you sure...?”

“...Have you ever eaten with the Jupiter royal family before?”

“No, I stayed at the temple as soon as I got here.”

“Oh, I see...”

“What do you mean?”

Clena was initially confused about my reaction, but then showed me a wry smile. “Jupiter dictates how all the other royal families should act. In the past, it was apparently customary for people to eat with their bare hands while lying down.”

“...Really? But their hands would get dirty.”

“They had mealtime clothing specifically for wiping their hands while eating. I bet they still do that in Jupiter now.”

Now that gave me a different impression of the Jupiter royal family. Maybe I was fortunate for staying with the temple instead of with them.

“Well, eating with your hands isn’t such a crazy thought in this situation.”

“I’d never experienced it myself until now, but royal etiquette is more... savage than I expected.”

“Apparently it was even worse in the past—they had a lot of customs that you wouldn’t believe.”

Sorry, but I’d rather not hear about those.

I wondered if Princess Franchellis and her cohort also chowed down on this fried fish with their bare hands. Looking around us again, I saw that everyone was dressed in classy outfits, but the way they ate their food made them appear far from elegant. They looked like they were having fun, though. I might as well join in.

I picked up my own fried fish and took a bite. A satisfying crispy sound filled my ears and a savory scent tickled my nose. Soon after, flavorful oils filled my mouth. The salt and spices brought out the fish’s natural umami. Now I could see why everyone was ordering this.

I looked beside me to see Rium giving her undivided attention to munching on the fish. She almost looked like a kitten, or a squirrel nibbling at fruit from a tree. I could tell that she liked it, too.

“Come on, Marky. Don’t eat so fast, the food isn’t going anywhere,” Crissa scolded Mark as he gulped down his fish. This dish was going to go quick if I didn’t pay attention. I didn’t want to miss out.

“Touya, Rium! You should eat the other dishes, too!” Now it was Rakti’s turn to scold us for only focusing on the fried fish. Though I bet she wasn’t saying that just because we needed to eat a balanced diet.

She still had a point—we shouldn’t be stuffing ourselves with just fish. I might as well eat some meat, too.

“You need to eat everything we ordered!” ...But before I could, Roni transferred some salad to our plates.

Rium looked at her with sorrowful eyes, but Roni didn’t flinch. There was nothing stopping her now that a fire had been lit under her caretaker soul.

“Well said. Sir Touya, you’ll never grow to become as big as me if you’re picky about your food.”

“Er, I don’t think I’ll ever become as big as you either way...”

Rulitora was currently sitting on a sturdy barrel because the restaurant didn’t have chairs big enough to support his weight. I was pretty sure it was impossible for me to ever grow to his size.

“Touya, the meat here is tasty, too.”

Oh, thanks to Rakti I could try some meat before touching that salad. Though this dish called for a fork instead of my bare hands.

The meat was covered in a tangy and refreshing sauce. It was apparently made using fruit. The meat was tender, juicy, and easy to chew.

The salad was made with fresh vegetables and seaweed covered in cream cheese. This wasn’t just any salad, though. Let me mention that I did not condone this name, but the dish was called “Everlasting Neptune.” There were several dairy farms on the plateau at the outskirts of the city. You could say this salad was a culmination of all the bounty you could find in this country, from land to sea.

“But the fried fish is better.”

“Mhmm...”

Rium and I looked at each other and said... while munching on more fish. Even the bones were crunchy and delicious. The salad wasn’t so bad, but the fish was irresistible. No question about it.

And so we ordered another giant plate of the fried fish. When the waiter brought our food, he mentioned one thing. “Sir, you have yet to make a reservation for the bath...”

“A reservation?”

I hadn’t realized we needed one. Though we could always use the Unlimited Bath.

“Yes, it’s our famous ocean water bath.”

“Ocean water bath?”

“We have open air baths that combined hot water and ocean water to just the right temperature. It’s good for your health, too.” The waiter was selling us on the bath with a smile. I guess this was what they called a salesman’s smile?

The bath here was naturally sourced, huh... I grew curious about it. I looked around and saw that everyone also seemed interested, besides Rulitora, Mark, and Crissa, who didn’t like baths in the first place. Alright, this was worth a try.

“Can we make that reservation now?”

“Of course.”

“Okay, thank you. We’ll be there once we’ve taken a short break after our dinner.”

“Understood.” The waiter bowed and left.

This was my first time hearing of an ocean water bath, though. I was getting excited.

“Touya, are you going to eat more?”

“Oh yeah, I am.” But right now I needed to gobble down another plate.

This fried fish was absolutely delectable. Was there a secret ingredient?

“Hey, Roni. Would you mind going shopping with all of us when we have time?”

“I was thinking the same thing. I’d like to see the spices they sell here.” Roni was already one step ahead of me.

We had already delivered our shells to Rondalan, so our role in building the submarine was already complete. All we had to do now was wait for him to finish construction.

“I’d like to buy some more clothes, too. Especially for Rakti.”

“Huh, for me?”

“The maid uniform is convenient when we’re traveling, but you need some other things to wear, too.”

She didn’t have anything else to wear when we first met her, so of course she didn’t have much of a wardrobe. Alright, a shopping trip for Rakti was now on the list.

“Oh yeah, what should we do about the carriage after we set sail?”

“The carriage, huh... I think we could sell it off easily.”

“We could bring it with us inside the Unlimited Bath, too.”

I hadn’t thought about what we should do about the carriage yet. That was something we needed to discuss.

We continued conversing about our future plans throughout dinner. After that, we went back to our suite to rest. I had reserved our bath for a little while after dinner, so I had Rulitora and the ketolts clean themselves first.

In the meantime, I started looking over the books we had retrieved from the demon lord’s castle. I had anticipated discovering some amazing spell within them, but unfortunately they were all just plain old books. There was one textbook on dark cleric spells, but they were all common ones that I essentially knew already.

The Goddess of Darkness’ faith had died out 500 years ago, and who knew how many of these textbooks were left right now, so maybe I should call this one a “forbidden spellbook.” This book and all the others had been preserved in the magic bookshelf, so I bet each one held considerable value. They would probably have sold for a high price at the auction for their historical value alone. However, the books might contain information on Hades from before the first sacred king had been summoned. So we had kept the books and used our free time to go through them like I was doing now.

“Hey Touya, where’s your swimsuit?”

“My swimsuit? I didn’t need it today, so it’s still packed away.”

I actually had a swimsuit too. Or rather, Clena and the others had bought one for me without asking me first. I could have used it to play at the beach if we were camping out like we had planned, but unfortunately we didn’t have that opportunity now.

“What do I need my swimsuit for?”

“To wear, of course.”

“...In the bath?”

“Yeah, I guess you weren’t aware. You need to wear a swimsuit in public baths like the ones in hotels.”

“Oh, I didn’t know that...”

Spa resorts in Japan required you to wear swimsuits too, so I guess it was the same concept. Come to think of it, we had only used temple baths or the Unlimited Bath until now. I’d never used a hotel bath or a public one before.

“We did make the reservation, right?”

“I asked a staff member earlier. He said there are a few different stone baths with walls between each one. There’s a walkway between the hotel and the baths, so we should consider it public property,” Roni explained as I nodded along.

Well, it was basically the same as wearing yuamigi. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Might as well take a bath in a swimsuit for tonight.

The ocean water baths were on the opposite side of the hotel from the open-air restaurant. We asked a staff member for directions and went on our way. I had a short sword affixed at my hip. You couldn’t survive in this world without having a means of defense at any time.

There was no rule against wearing swimsuits inside the hotel, so we could spot a few guests walking around in their swimsuits now that it was this time of night. They were a minority, though. Almost everyone had a bathrobe on over their swimsuits. I wasn’t eager to parade around half-naked either, so I wore a yuamigi over my swim trunks. Cosmos had probably walked all over the place in just his swimsuit. The question was whether or not Princess Franchellis did the same. Honestly, it was fifty-fifty.

The fabric of our yuamigi was much higher quality than the bathrobes the hotel provided. You couldn’t tell just from looking though, so it just appeared like we were wearing bathrobes with a slightly unique design. We had seen a guest wearing an incredibly extravagant bathrobe as soon as we stepped out of the building. The embroidery on it looked like it was made of gold.

“...Does everyone else think we look plain?”

“No, we look normal enough. That guy was just a nouveau riche.”

According to Clena, it was classic behavior from newly successful merchants. I was similar to them in the sense that I had acquired loads of money for the first time, so I needed to be careful not to become like them.

We arrived at the ocean water baths soon after that. Five cabins lined the coast. Each one was a bathhouse with an ocean water bath within. As the story went, this beach originally had five different hot springs geysers, but the area was so rocky that no one ever came to visit, and the hot spring water drifted into the ocean instead. A certain merchant found the hot springs and built a road to them, figuring that he could open up a business here. That merchant was the founder of the Maiden of the Roaring Waves.

We went inside a cabin and were greeted by the wide ocean. The water’s surface glistened with the reflection of the stars in the night sky. The perpetual rumbling of the waves sounded like a lullaby, almost lulling me to sleep.

“Wow! It’s the ocean! The sea!” Roni wagged her tail in excitement.

I was stunned, too. The cabin only had three walls. The steam wouldn’t build up inside the cabin this way, but most of all, it offered us this great view.

“Oh yeah, did we bring soap?” Clena asked.

“I brought it!” Rakti cheerfully held out a pouch filled with soap.

We bought the pouch specifically for carrying around things like this. The soap from my Unlimited Bath had the quirk that it would disappear without a trace right after it was used, likely because it was all made from MP. We wouldn’t risk dirtying the water with it, so this was the perfect opportunity to use it.

I poured a bucket of water over myself, and it felt more dense than regular bath water. Since this was an ocean water bath, it must have been filled with minerals that would leave your skin silky smooth.

“I’ll have to check with you girls on that...”

“Check what?”

“You’ll find out later.”

Anyway, after we finished showering ourselves, we entered the bath. The water was slightly lukewarm, but it was the perfect temperature for a long soak.

“It’s my first time bathing in a swimsuit, so it feels weird.”

“Isn’t this no different from wearing a yuamigi?”

“Aren’t they pretty different...?” Maybe they felt similar for the people of this world? They carried two different implications in my mind, but I might as well not think too hard about it and enjoy myself.

“Oh? The bottom of the bath isn’t rock...”

“...It’s sand. The hot water is gushing out from underneath.”

The bottom of the bath was covered in sand, and also was the source of the hot water. I looked more closely and noticed that the water was spurting from several small holes, making the sand dance around each opening. The sides of the bath were made of slightly jagged rock. I moved toward the center of the bath so that I wouldn’t have to lean on it.

“Hm? What’s wrong, Rium?”

“...It tickles.”

Rium climbed onto my lap. It seemed like she couldn’t take the water tickling her legs.

“That’s okay. Come on, get a little closer to me.”

I didn’t want her to miss out on this bath just because of that. I set her petite bottom on my lap and supported her body weight. Her expression barely changed, but she seemed a little happier. I enjoyed her presence for a while, then felt a stare on me. I looked over to see Rakti, who clearly had something she wanted to say.

“Grrr...”

“...I can free up a half for you, if you’d like?”

She was jealous of Rium. I couldn’t call myself a man if I just ignored her. I called her over and let her sit on my other leg.

It was a little cramped now, making it more difficult for me to keep balance. I wrapped my arms around each of their waists, which made them happily snuggle their cheeks against mine.

“Let me sit next to you.”

“I’ll be on this side, then.”

And then Clena and Roni came over. They sat to my left and right, resting their heads against my shoulders.

“Doesn’t this feel a little too stuffy even though the bath is so big?”

“What’s wrong with being friendly?”

“Y-Yeah, I just feel like it today.”

Roni looked especially relaxed, her flushed face forming a slack smile. Clena’s cheeks were red too, but the hot bath wasn’t the cause. She must have gotten embarrassed from admitting that herself. How cute. I wanted to pat her on the head, but unfortunately both of my hands were occupied at the moment. I guess I had to save that for when we returned to our room. We continued cuddling and enjoying the view for a while, until Roni’s ears suddenly perked up and started tickling my neck.

“What’s wrong, Roni?”

“I hear a voice...”

“Oh no, a peeping tom?”

“No... it’s coming from the sea,” Roni said, peering into the horizon.

I followed her gaze, but couldn’t see anything in the darkness. I doubted there was anyone with the guts to spy on us from the ocean at night, but Roni’s hearing was undeniable. The other girls seemed to have sensed something as well and quickly stood up. The view was best when we were sitting down inside the bath, but this wasn’t the time for that. I also stood up and squinted, and saw a momentary flash of light from beyond the darkness.

“Spirit summon!!”

I didn’t know what was happening yet, but I could tell it was bad. I immediately summoned earth spirits to form a black wall made of packed sand a short distance in front of the bath. An explosion sounded not a moment later. Apparently a spell had come flying into the wall. I knew it, that light was an attack. Trusting my gut paid off.

“Fall back, everyone!” I shouted to the girls.

“O-Okay. I’ll bring our weapons!”

We had left our weapons and yuamigi outside the bath. By the time the girls exited the room, another explosion sounded. That was the limit for my wall, as it started crumbling to the ground with a loud rumble. A silhouette appeared opposite the wall.

“She’s floating...?”

A girl with long, thin pigtails was floating in the air. Her hair was silver. Something that looked like a spearhead was attached to the end of each pigtail. Were those her weapons?

I thought she was wearing a black bikini at first, but it had an oddly sharp and jagged design, so I wasn’t sure if it was a swimsuit at all. She had bat wings on her back. The first word that entered my head upon seeing that was “demon.” Was this girl really a demon? If so, she must have attacked me because I was a Hero of the Goddess.

I formed black gauntlets around both my hands while trying to take in everything I could about the current situation. The girl showed no regard for my predicament, though. Her fiery red eyes exhibited an unrelenting anger as she screamed at me.

“Tonight is the night I’ll take you down, Cosmos!!”

“Don’t you dare confuse me with him!!” Yeah, I was half-naked right now, but I sure as hell wasn’t wearing spats. Shouldn’t she be able to tell by my face, anyway?

“Ugh, the steam’s in the way...”

Don’t tell me she couldn’t see my face clearly because of the steam? Though judging by how she apparently didn’t take in a word of what I just said, she must have been the type to put actions before thoughts. That caused all the more trouble for me, who she was mindlessly attacking.

In any case, it looked like this demon girl had some sort of beef with Cosmos. Oh yeah, he had been staying here until just yesterday. And we were about the same age. That must have been were the confusion was coming from.

“Get ready, Cosmos!”

“Spirit summon!”

She fired a lightning bolt, which I repelled with a blast of fire. The resulting explosion created a wall of smoke that made it even harder for us to see each other. It looked like I had no way of correcting her misunderstanding right now.

Don’t underestimate me just because I have no weapon. Sure, I didn’t have my Crescent Moon and wasn’t wearing my Magic Eater right now, but I specialized in cleric spells I could cast using my enormous pool of MP and MEN.

“You’re not getting away!”

A blade sliced through the smoke. It was the spearhead attached to one of her pigtails. She must have been controlling it somehow, because it was aimed directly at me. But I was prepared—I swung my earthen gauntlet against the blade, which seemed to shake her up a bit and create some distance between us.

“Not bad... but how about this?!”

“Oh no you don’t!”

The demon girl sprang toward me, but I intercepted her attack by conjuring a pillar of sand from within the bath. It wasn’t a dense enough pillar to turn black, but it was enough to throw her off.

“Guh...! Since when did you learn magic...?!”

Just as I’d planned, she fell back after I rendered her unable to fly straight.

“Touya, are you okay?!” Clena and the others ran back with their weapons. I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I hadn’t prepared my mind for these swimsuit-clad warriors.

We could win this. I still didn’t know who she was, but so far she didn’t hold a candle against Goldfish, the Masked Cleric.

“Huh? Who...?” The demon girl finally started to realize that she had gotten the wrong person.

It was too late, though. Now that the girls were here, victory was essentially in our grasp. Well then, should we defeat her right here or capture her alive since she had some connection to Cosmos? That moment, a whoosh rang through the air as something else approached us.

“Are you okay, Balsamina?”

Another demon came flying down. It was another girl sporting black bikini-like armor and bat wings. She looked a little younger than the girl she called Balsamina.

“Backup?!”

“Wait, Clena!”

Clena wasted no time in pointing her sword toward the new girl, about to fire off a spell, but I stopped her. She looked toward me, confused. Roni was surprised, too. But I had a good reason to stop us from attacking that girl.

I looked at the new girl one more time. She looked back at me, her eyes wide. She had a petite frame, her long silver hair held up by ribbons in twin tails. Her youthful facial features reminded me of a kitten. But most importantly, I was very familiar with her face.

“Yukina...” Yes, the demon girl’s face was exactly that of Yukina Houjou’s, my younger sister who had passed away.

“No way... Touya...?” The silver-haired girl said in a trembling voice.

I knew it. That was Yukina. She continued to stare at me, showing no signs of aggression against us. Clena and the others noticed the unusual situation and also stood still, bewildered.

A pair of wings sprouted from her back. I noticed that she also had a tail, which was entwined around one of her legs. She obviously wasn’t human, but her face and hairstyle were definitely that of my little sister’s.

“Wait... the temple of darkness...?!”

I see. The Goddess of Light summoned living beings, but the Goddess of Darkness reincarnated deceased souls into demons. Yukina’s body must have been that of a demon’s now. I tread through the water toward her. She continued to look back at me as if she wanted to say something.

Ahh, it’s Yukina. That was the face she made when she wanted me to do something for her, but couldn’t bring herself to ask.

“What are you doing, Yukina?! Attack them!!”

“Sir Touya!”

I was mere steps away from her when some idiot who couldn’t read the atmosphere launched an attack toward me. The demon named Balsamina fired a ball of light at me, but Roni threw a dagger at it, intercepting it dead on. I shielded my face from the resulting explosion, but the blast hit my stomach and legs.

“Are you okay?!”

I didn’t care one bit, though. What about Yukina, who had been the same distance from the explosion as me?

Yukina had curled herself into a ball in the air, using her wings to protect herself. Fortunately, the blast didn’t seem to have reached her, as her wings looked unharmed. I put a hand to my chest and breathed a sigh of relief, then saw her peeking at me from behind her wings, as if she was pleading something of me.

Now I was mad. I wouldn’t forgive this girl named Balsamina for endangering Yukina like that.

“Urgh...! We’re retreating, Yukina!” Balsamina’s shoulders trembled for a second, then she turned around and starting flying away into the horizon. For some reason, Yukina followed her.

“Yukina!” I shouted at her, which made her turn around and look at me as if she wanted to say something. But she remained silent and quickly turned back to chase after Balsamina.

I was certain that she wanted to say something to me. And that there was a reason why she couldn’t. From the looks of it, that reason had something to do with Balsamina.

“Wait, are you okay, Touya?!”

“Touya, your stomach is completely red!”

The other girls rushed toward me as I was lost in thought. Rakti looked like she was about to cry as she stared at my bright red abdomen.

Hey, no need to touch it. I was glad she was worried about me, but kneading her hands into it would only make it worse. I was finally starting to feel the pain in my stomach and legs. I’d better heal myself before Rakti started to bawl.

We couldn’t bring ourselves to continue soaking in the bath after that ordeal, so we returned to our room.

“Can you explain what that was all about?” That was the first line out of Clena’s mouth. I was the one who stopped her from attacking, so of course she wanted an explanation.

Thinking back, I should have left Balsamina for the girls to handle. The look in Yukina’s eyes was a cry for help. I would need the other girls’ assistance if I wanted to save her. I needed to explain the situation to everyone first, though.

Everyone sat themselves around the table, ready to hear me out. I hydrated myself with a cool drink Crissa prepared for us, then started talking in a serious tone.

“Those two demons... the one who arrived later looked exactly like my little sister, Yukina.”

“She passed away, didn’t she?”

I nodded in response to Roni’s question. It had happened three years ago, just before she entered middle school.

“It was an illness, wasn’t it...?”

“Yeah. She’d always had a weak constitution and needed me to look after her. Both my parents worked to pay for her medical bills, so it was up to me to take care of her. She called me Touya when she saw me, so there’s no mistake about it.”

She couldn’t walk during her last years, so I was happy to see her so healthy like that. Even if she was a demon now.

“I’d suspect it was a coincidence if she was any other race...”

“But she’s a demon...”

Rium and Rulitora glanced at Rakti. Mark and Crissa looked at each other, confused.

Oh yeah, I hadn’t properly explained to them about the Goddess of Darkness’s hero summoning yet. I brought them up to speed about how the Goddess of Darkness summoned souls of the departed and reincarnated them as demons, and that the demon lord and Five Great Demon Generals had come from the same world as I did. And lastly, that “Yukina” was very likely my little sister who had been brought to this world as a demon thanks to the Goddess of Darkness’ hero summoning ritual.

“Hey, Rakti. Did you detect anything?” Clena whispered.

Our current cover story for Rakti was that she was a mysterious girl we’d found sleeping inside a glass casket in the ruins of Hadesopolis, and that she was actually a cleric from the temple of the Goddess of Darkness. The ketolts didn’t know more than this cover story, either. I might have spun a few too many tropes from my old world’s video games into the tale, but with a story this crazy, no one would suspect the even crazier possibility that she was the Goddess of Darkness herself. Even if someone were to detect a goddess’ powers from her, we could wave it off by saying it was due to the Goddess of Darkness’ blessing.

“I could tell that she had a blessing, but I didn’t know whether she was a hero or a cleric...”

“So that’s as much as we know, huh...”

We could ask Rakti details relating to the Goddess of Darkness and demons without raising too much suspicion. But this wasn’t something we could talk about too loudly, so we still kept it to a whisper.

“Did you recognize the other girl, Touya?”

“Not one bit.”

I knew that she had some connection to Cosmos, but I had no knowledge about the details. I was more concerned about what Yukina had to do with him.

“Uh, can I ask a question?” Mark raised a paw. “You guys defeated a demon general in the demon lord’s castle, right? Some cleric of darkness called the Masked Cleric?”

“Yeah, there’s no doubt we killed him.”

“Wasn’t he the last cleric of darkness? Then when was your little sister summoned?”

“Huh... I wonder?”

That was a good question. Yukina had been alive until three years ago, so it must have been after that. Since the first sacred king accidentally sealed Rakti away 500 years ago, no new clerics of darkness should have been born because she could no longer grant anyone her blessing.

“Maybe Goldfish summoned her before we met him?”

“If that were the case, then he would have made her bring him back to Hadesopolis.”

“Right... then maybe Goldfish created a cleric of darkness and that cleric summoned her?”

“If that cleric was strong enough to conduct a summoning ritual, then he still would have brainwashed the cleric to do his bidding.”

“That’s true...”

Our theories didn’t add up.

“...There must be a cleric who’s been alive since 500 years ago.”

“That lifespan might be possible for demons, but the Masked Cleric should have been the only cleric strong enough to summon a hero.”

Rium confidently put her own theory on the table, but hung her head in dejection after it was immediately dismissed. Now we had to consider the possibility that a new cleric of darkness had been born.

“Can someone become a cleric of darkness from birth?”

“Sometimes the child of a demon is born with the blessing of darkness. If they study dark cleric spells on their own, they might be able to become a cleric without ever coming in contact with the temple. But still...”

“It’s unlikely that they could grow strong enough to summon a hero?” I finished Rakti’s thought and she nodded back.

“But sometimes a naturally gifted cleric comes along.”

“Oh?”

“San Pilaca, one of the first sacred king’s party members, was like that.”

So he was the precedent. Now that I thought about it, I could use cleric spells, but I’d hardly call myself affiliated with any temple. Maybe a descendant of a surviving demon from 500 years ago was born with a strong enough blessing to learn their own cleric spells. The possibility was there. Everyone looked grave as we considered this theory. That wasn’t the only problem, though. If this theory was true, then it led to one more possibility we had to worry about.

“Sir Touya... so does that mean... there might be a group out there that’s just as powerful as the Five Great Demon Generals?”

“Yeah, that’s the natural conclusion.”

The most startling thing about our theory was that there might be some demon who developed an organization to seek out capable beings and train them. Someone who could lead the demon army in place of the demon lord, who remained sealed. We had no concrete evidence yet, but the natural conclusion would be someone among the Five Great Demon Generals.

“...Should we suspect the Dark Prince?” I felt bad for Clena, who wore a complex expression as she asked her question, but her potential father was the most obvious suspect among all of them. He was apparently the son of the demon lord Amann Naga, after all.

“No, I think the Flame Devil is more likely.”

However, my bets were on someone else. I wouldn’t be surprised if he had betrayed the demon lord while he was still sealed. We had already been duped by him once in Hephaestus, and I couldn’t help but assume that he had an unpleasant personality. That was mostly my own bias, though.

“In any case, should we assume that the ones who attacked us in the bath were part of the demon army?”

“I think so, too.”

“Yeah, I doubt anyone would try to take on a hero of their own accord. And that doesn’t just go for demons.”

Not to mention Cosmos was the target here. This demon named Balsamina was trying to track him down, even though he had the princess and her royal guards with him. And I had no idea why, but Yukina was her partner in crime.

“The next question is... why are they targeting Cosmos?”

“Purr... I can’t think of why they’d take the risk.”

“It must have been an order from the demon army.”

We rattled off our thoughts in response to Rium’s question. It was hard to narrow down an answer with someone as unpredictable as Cosmos.

“We’d be better off asking him directly when he comes back.”

“...You’re right. We should let him know about the attack, too.”

“Let’s go to the coast tomorrow if he doesn’t come back.”

“I agree.”

I personally wanted to find him and tell him right now, but we’d arrive in the middle of the night if we departed now. I had to be patient for the time being. I was worried about Yukina, but I couldn’t put any of my comrades in harm’s way, either. We should prepare ourselves for another potential attack and sleep inside the Unlimited Bath for tonight.

Rakti whispered to me right before we slept, “I think my sisters could give you some more information.”

The Goddess of Light held the most power among the six goddess sisters right now. That didn’t mean she was omnipresent, but I could at least ask her if she could find out a few things.

“I know she’s always watching over us, though.”

“That’s actually pretty embarrassing.”

She must have been worried about her youngest sister. I just wanted to believe that she at least wasn’t watching over us when we used her newly gifted toilet. Either way, I should ask her about Yukina in my dreams tonight.

“Oh yeah, I didn’t get to use my new light cleric spell this afternoon after Cosmos’ party showed up. Do you think the Goddess of Light would be mad about that?”

“I-I wonder? I don’t think she’d be that mad.”

I presumed that even if the Goddess of Light wasn’t outright angry, she’d at least be in a sour mood. The Goddess of Fire, on the other hand, would likely be in high spirits, but I couldn’t rely on her to make the Goddess of Light feel any better.

“I’m counting on you in case things go south, Rakti.”

“I-I can try, but please don’t expect much...”

I tried to plan it out with Rakti, who I’d be seeing in my dreams as well, but she didn’t sound so confident. Maybe I should trust the Goddess of Earth with this one.

That night, I fell asleep with Rakti as my body pillow. In my dreams, the Goddess of Fire jumped onto me with delight. The Goddess of Light wasn’t nearly as happy, but the Goddess of Earth had already started placating her. I knew I could trust her.

The Goddess of Light was still pouting though, so the others started poking her cheek. The sisters would always start messing with her whenever she got stubborn like this. That wasn’t the issue right now, though.

I opened my mouth and tried to ask “...Why are you all dressed like that?” but as usual, my voice didn’t come through. The goddesses around me were showing much more skin than usual. Yes, they were all wearing swimsuits for some reason.

“Why swimsuits...?” I thought, and then the Goddess of Fire puffed out her chest and wrote “Because we’re at the beach” on her usual flipbook. Did that matter even though we were inside a dream right now? At any rate, her sporty swimsuit was a sight for sore eyes when paired with her healthy tan and curvy figure.

The Goddess of Light was wearing a bold V-string bikini, unabashedly showing off her spotless porcelain skin. She was also quite the sight, but I was a little too embarrassed to stare.

Rakti, the Goddess of Darkness, was actually wearing a school swimsuit. So that’s how it was. Yup, you look good in that, Rakti. I’d pet her head if I could move my hands right now.

The Goddess of Earth was the most shocking, though. Her swimsuit was modest, but the size of her chest was overwhelming... downright extreme, really. Especially on the eyes. She was also tall, so she’d often bend down to look me in the eyes. Whenever that happened, my gaze would be sucked into the depths of her cleavage. I wanted to appreciate the sight more, but now wasn’t the time. I could communicate with them through my thoughts, so I first chased the imagery of great mountains and valleys out of my mind and then asked them about Yukina.

The Goddess of Light immediately responded with a “No doubt she’s your sister” in her flipbook. My suspicions were confirmed. She was my reincarnated sister.

My next question was why Yukina had flown off without a word. The Goddess of Light wrote on a new page that she’d had a spell cast on her called the Inept Scout. She then explained the details of the spell to me.

The Inept Scout was a spell that conveyed whatever the designated “scout” observed to the spell’s caster. The spell got its peculiar name from how it was cast on inept communicators who couldn’t properly explain what they had scouted. I didn’t know whether the backstory was true, but it was an awful name either way. Well, the name wasn’t the only awful thing about it, considering how the spell’s main purpose was to convey information back to the caster with no regard for the scout’s life. The goddesses didn’t know where that caster was right now, but they were sure that Yukina had that spell cast on her. That was enough information for now. The Goddess of Light detected my gratitude and gave me a gentle smile.

Next, Rakti came up to me with her head hidden behind her flipbook. She had written on it with shaky handwriting, “It’s a dark cleric spell. I’m sorry.”

It’s not your fault, Rakti. Don’t worry about it. I was frustrated that I couldn’t voice my thoughts. I’d be sure to cheer her up later.

In any case, if that was a cleric spell, then the caster must have been the one who summoned Yukina. They must have placed the Inept Scout spell on her to monitor her every movement. Now I knew I had to rescue Yukina at any cost. I didn’t care about the details of her summoning or reincarnation anymore. She was my little sister, demon or not. I couldn’t bear not being able to save her a second time.

I came up with a plan, which was to get Yukina safe inside the Unlimited Bath. Nothing from the outside could interfere with the Bath as long as the door was shut, so the Inept Scout should lose its effect, too. When I arrived at that thought, the Goddess of Fire placed a hand on my head and showed me a somber smile while shaking her head. What was wrong with my plan?

Now it was the Goddess of Earth’s turn to write in her flipbook. Wow, she could balance it on her chest. I resisted the urge to look down as I read the page, which explained that a spell didn’t vanish just because you cut it from its source temporarily. We’d be right back where we started as soon as she stepped out of the Bath.

Then the Goddess of Light put on a pair of glasses and held out her flipbook, where she’d written that I could use a spell called Purifying Light. She may have been the oldest of the sisters and came off as the most capable at times, but she had a surprisingly childish side to her as well.

Back on topic, Purifying Light was a light cleric spell that could neutralize a spell under any other cleric denomination. I see, so this was one way we could break the Inept Scout spell.

Whenever the Goddess of Light put on her glasses, she entered instructor mode. She’d be drilling the spell into me until she knew for sure I could save Yukina. She was still wearing a V-string bikini, though. I had to admit that it was a little distracting right now.

But she could still read my mind. Are you all doing this on purpose? Are you testing me? Sure, I’ll take the challenge. I’ll study this spell as seriously as I can.

The next morning, I told everyone what I had learned from the goddesses in my dream. Of course, I kept Rakti in my lap and pet her head all the while. She looked like she was about to cry as soon as she woke up. I needed to comfort her as much as I could right now.

“...Can I ask you one thing?”

“What is it?”

“Do all the dark cleric spells have names as evil-sounding as that one?”

“......Most of them.”

Clena asked her question in bewilderment, and Rakti replied with her eyes averted. In her defense, the majority of cleric spells were invented long ago by the cleric organizations at the time. Rakti was absolutely innocent when it came to their terrible naming sense.

“A-Anyway, the next time the demons try to attack us, we just need to hide her in the Unlimited Bath and break the spell.”

“Oh, so that’s the spell you need to practice.”

“So that’s the plan for Yukina, but what about Balsamina?”

“Can’t we just leave her to Cosmos?”

Yukina was the important one here, not her. Honestly, I couldn’t care less whether or not we defeated her. So my conclusion was to just leave her to Cosmos. She had found us only because she had some beef with Cosmos in the first place. It was one thing if we had no idea where he was, but he was close. Instead of thinking of a way to handle it on our end, I might as well tell him about the incident and let him take care of it. In fact, I wasn’t even obligated to do that much. Anyway, we set off to find him after we finished breakfast.

We headed for the rocky beach from yesterday, but then bumped into Cosmos’ party along the way.

“Hello there! A refreshing morning, isn’t it?” Cosmos gave us a needlessly cheerful greeting as usual. Princess Franchellis stood next to him as if she was snuggling up to him.

I didn’t know if this was something we could talk about within hearing range of the princess of the sacred family, so I dragged Cosmos a distance away to let him know about the Balsamina incident.

“What? Balsamina made a mistake and approached you instead of me? Hahahah, I do apologize for that!”

But then he replied with a loud yell, rendering all my forethought null. I looked over to the princess, who just sighed deeply. This wasn’t new for her.

Anyway, they were already on their way back to the Maiden of the Roaring Waves, so we joined them and returned to their suite. To none of my surprise, they had rented out every VIP room on the top floor of the hotel. Even though they had over ten elite bodyguards traveling with them, this was still a little extravagant. I’d thought I had been acting like some big-shot since we came to Neptune, but I was just being naive—or well, there was always someone a level higher. Though I had no intentions of catching up to him.

In any case, we needed to discuss the incident involving Balsamina and Yukina. I figured it’d be a bad idea to bring Rakti along, so only Rulitora and I went, and I left the rest of our group in Clena’s hands.

We were led to the princess’ room, the most expensive room in the entire hotel, and sat ourselves around a table on an unbelievably fluffy sofa. I wouldn’t call this household furniture. Maybe a work of art?

The captain of the bodyguards, Ricott, stood behind Cosmos and the princess. Rulitora stood his guard behind me.

“The second demon? I’ve never met her before... maybe a new hire?”

According to Cosmos, the only demon who had attacked Cosmos back in Jupiteropolis was Balsamina. Ever since then, Balsamina had repeatedly tried picking fights with Cosmos, but she always acted independently. He had no idea who Yukina was. Apparently Balsamina had attacked him again by herself just a few days ago, so we could assume Yukina had been summoned very recently.

“But I don’t think she’s a bad girl. She must have a reason for doing what she does. Don’t worry, I’m sure you will reconcile with your sister soon!” Cosmos gave me a thumbs up and a needlessly sparkly smile.

Well, it’s not like Yukina and I needed to reconcile. We were already on good terms—that was why I was trying to save her now. I looked at the princess once more, who sighed yet again. She must put up with a lot. I had to make sure we were on the same page right now, though.

“Okay then, the next time those two come for us, you handle Balsamina and I’ll handle Yukina... is that alright with you?” I asked, which made Cosmos’ expression suddenly tense up.

He stayed silent for a short time, thinking deeply about something... or so I assumed, but then he suddenly crossed his forearms and yelled, “Absolutely no cuckolding!!”

“I agree, but that’s not what we’re talking about.” I had no idea what my words were being translated to in his head.

I looked over to the princess one more time, and this time she gave me a smile back. She must have been his favorite. I knew for sure after looking at her eyes now, though. Her behavior wasn’t “natural,” but “cultivated.”

I had been wondering if the princess had the same type of personality as Cosmos, but that actually was far from the case. If she was naturally similar to him, then she wouldn’t be sighing at his antics. Yes, she was simply matching him to keep up with him day to day.

“I’m going to save my little sister. She might have been reincarnated and summoned here, but that doesn’t matter.”

“...Even if she’s a demon now?”

“Of course.”

“......”

“......”

The air froze around us. Everyone must have noticed by now. I was gauging the princess of the sacred family’s reaction on my intent to rescue a demon.

Ricott realized that a fight might break out right here and now, so her normally fair complexion turned an even paler white as her entire face tensed up. Me aside, she must have been frightened at the thought of having to battle Rulitora.

“Oh? What’s wrong everyone? Why the long faces? Come on, remember to smile!”

...And then there was Cosmos, who couldn’t take a smidgen of a hint. The princess glanced at him, then sighed a little and produced a soft smile. All the tension in the air dissipated at the same time.

“...I think that’s fine. We may have to carry out the appropriate punishments if she has committed any wrongdoings, but that does not seem to be the case.”

“...Even though she’s a demon?”

“And are you not a Hero of the Temple of the Goddess of Light?” The princess returned my question with a confident chuckle.

She must have known about the fact that the sacred family and the temple of light had once ostracized the demi-humans and other goddess denominations. And she must have realized that I knew, too.

“Do I look like the type of person who would torment Foley?”

“...No, you two looked like good friends yesterday,” I smiled, which made Ricott look a million times more relieved. Was she that afraid of fighting Rulitora?

The princess glanced over at her, then opened her fan to cover half her face and raised an eyebrow as if to say “learn from your counterpart and behave yourself.” She was probably thinking that Rulitora was maintaining a poker face this entire time, but I believe she simply didn’t know how to discern the facial expressions of a sand lizardman yet.

“Well, I am not completely fine with all this, but if I were to object on account of the subject being a demon, then I would have stopped Sir Cosmos first. Though I am not completely fine with all this.”

I get it, you said it twice because it was important.

Cosmos was clearly trying to make friends with Balsamina. He was looking at me with sparkling eyes right now, most likely because he assumed I was a comrade who also had demons in my strike zone just because I was trying to save Yukina. Not that I would deny it. But make sure you don’t neglect the princess, Cosmos. After this, I planned on giving the other girls as much attention as I did Rakti this morning.

In any case, it seemed like Princess Franchellis wasn’t intent on killing anyone just because they were a demon. That was one less thing to worry about. Now all that was left was to learn the Purifying Light as soon as possible and save Yukina.

“Ahh, yes. Mister Touya, there is one... no, two things I would like to warn you about. You may find this needlessly vigilant, but take caution when returning to Jupiter after retrieving your sister.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“My elder brother is often called the personification of the sacred family’s traditions, you see.”

“...You mean the same guy Ritsu Nakahana tried to recruit to her party by flirting with him?”

“My, that was one terrifying day...” The princess said, then fanned herself as she averted her gaze.

I see, so the prince of the sacred family was anti-demi-humans. I didn’t know if I’d be returning to Jupiter yet, but I’d better keep that in mind.

“And what’s the other thing?”

“The girl has attacked us once every few days so far, so if you need to prepare, then I advise you do so immediately.”

“...Thank you for the advice.”

Apparently Cosmos had yet to fight back every time Balsamina assaulted him, opting to persuade her with words instead. Even after Balsamina launched spell after spell at him, he would approach her unfazed with a smile on his face, which made her frightened enough to back off every time.

I’d better start preparing as soon as possible. I’d start pulling all-nighters in order to learn the spell even a day earlier—though in that case, I’d better take an afternoon nap first.

Rulitora and I said our brief goodbyes, then left for our suite with Cosmos’ gleaming smile behind us. I let Rulitora handle reporting our meeting to Clena and the others while I immediately got started on practice. Maybe having the goddesses train me in my dreams would make things go faster, but I was wide awake and alert today after getting some sound sleep last night. And thus, I was lying down on my side reading a textbook on light cleric spells right now. Most people got sleepy after reading a difficult book, but unfortunately I wasn’t one of those types. At times like these, I viewed it as a minus. Though times like these didn’t come often.

“This textbook covers some pretty advanced spells...”

In any case, this textbook that the temple elder gave me back in Jupiteropolis was my first magic book, but lately I’d started to realize just how impressive it really was. I should visit him again one day to thank him. However, I was worried about what the princess said about how the prince of the sacred family was anti-demi-human, so I’d better plan ahead. I knew that the family had been against demi-humans in the past, but I guess a few of them remained. Fortunately, the princess wasn’t one of them. I might have ended up in a fight against Cosmos otherwise. We’d have to work together in order to rescue Yukina. I didn’t believe I’d come to understand even a cell of his brain, but the princess probably didn’t either, so there was nothing to worry about. Probably.

“We’re up to speed now.”

I looked up to the voice and saw Clena standing beside my bed. Rulitora had finished explaining everything to them.

“...You’ve got a lot of impact from this angle.”

“Leave that for later.”

I voiced my honest thoughts, which made Clena press a hand against her face.

I sat myself up and Clena sat beside me, positioning herself to look me in the eyes as she inquired, “So do you think the princess is trustworthy...?” She brought up the princess instead of Cosmos, indicating that she knew exactly who we needed to worry about.

“For now, at least.”

I knew how Clena was feeling, but I wasn’t too worried right now. As long as Cosmos and I shared the same goal, we shouldn’t have any problems. That princess was actually pretty weak-willed against Cosmos. Though part of that might just have been because she couldn’t continue her journey if it weren’t for him.

“But do you think your little sister will actually come again? There’s a chance that she won’t...”

“Apparently Balsamina has been staging her attacks once every few days so far.”

“So basically, as long as we keep an eye on Cosmos...”

“Then there’s a high chance Balsamina will show up again and bring Yukina along.”

And if she came alone, Cosmos and I would capture her and make her tell us where Yukina was hiding. It wasn’t a fail-safe plan, but it was at least much better than searching for her blindly.

“So the only problem left is...”

“Whether or not I can learn Purifying Light.”

This was the key to saving Yukina. Nothing would come to fruition if I couldn’t learn this spell.

“Should I help you with practice? You’ll need to know the spell by the time Balsamina arrives again.”

“That’s not necessarily true.”

“Huh?” Clena stared at me blankly,

But I wasn’t saying anything wrong. This plan would require Clena’s help, though.

“I have a favor to ask of you, Clena.”

“O-Okay, that’s fine, but what do you need?”

“Buy us food.”

“......Huh?”

“Like I said, food.”

“But don’t we still have plenty?”

“No, this will be to store on the ship. We might need to hide in the Bath for a while, so this supply will be yours just in case that happens.”

Basically, our plan was to hide Yukina inside the Unlimited Bath to cut off the source of her Inept Scout, then break the spell. I needed to use Purifying Light for that to happen, but to be blunt, the spell only needed to be broken between her entering the Unlimited Bath and exiting out of it. Worst case scenario, I didn’t have to break the spell the moment we came in contact with her.

“After all, we can cut the spell off as long as we keep her shut away!”

“...If you have time to think about that, then hurry up and learn your spell.”

“Of course I will. But don’t I need insurance if my little sister is on the line? And when we shut her inside, there’s no guarantee all of us will be able to come along.”

“Well, that’s true...”

That was the deciding factor regarding whether or not we’d be able to save Yukina. I wasn’t so rash as to put her life on an all-or-nothing bet.

“But that’s only assuming your little sister will stay put inside, right?”

“She remembers me, so there won’t be an issue.” I wasn’t worried about that part. As long as she hadn’t lost her memories or become a different person, she wouldn’t make me an enemy of her own volition.

“...I understand. We have the insurance, but make sure you practice, alright?”

“Are you implying that I would slack when it comes to rescuing my little sister?”

“Yeah yeah, just don’t get too full of yourself.” Clena didn’t look completely convinced, but she agreed with my plan and took the others out shopping.

“Okay Touya, let’s do this!” And thus Rakti was the only one left in the room.

Her maid outfit didn’t make her look the part, but she was still the Goddess of Darkness. Light cleric magic wasn’t her specialty, but she could at least give me some tips and tricks along the way.

“Cleric spells were originally made by us sisters.”

“Oh, is that so?”

“But they were too hard for humans to learn, so now hardly any of it has been passed down. The cleric spells of today are ones that the humans simplified or created themselves.”

“There’s no mention of any of that in this textbook.”

“That’s a newer textbook, so I don’t think it would mention it. Right now it’s considered a secret.”

The spells that the goddesses had created were apparently called “ancient spells.”

Ancient, huh? That was true. Rakti may have looked younger than me, but in terms of age she was less of a young girl and more of an old lady... though that probably didn’t apply when it came to goddesses. Either way, I shouldn’t tell her that.

“Hnyaa?”

I started patting her head, which brought a silly expression to her face. Well, it didn’t matter because she was adorable.

“O-Oh yeah, we were talking about the difference between ancient spells and modern ones. The hero summoning spell, for example, is a modern one.”

“It is...?”

She said that long before the first sacred king was ever summoned, the followers of each goddess waged war against each other. When certain factions were cornered, they invented the hero summoning ritual to turn the tides, and the other side developed their own hero summoning spell as a countermeasure. The goddess sisters hadn’t been keeping watch over the world at that time for certain reasons, so they had no idea who had conducted the summoning first. Either way, it was a pain for the ones being summoned.

“The Inept Scout is a modern one, too. That spell utilizes the blessing of darkness.”

“It uses the blessing to create a spell that evil?”

“...That’s why my blessing is called a curse.”

“...Sorry.”

That was something Rakti was self-conscious about, as she covered her face and drooped her shoulders. Come to think of it, Goldfish had called it a curse as well when he forced the blessing of darkness on me. It was a slip of the tongue. I’d better change the subject somehow.

“Um, are there any examples of ancient spells?”

“Oh? Hmm, spirit summoning is a bit of an exception, but that’s an ancient spell.”

“Oh, those are the fundamentals.”

The spells seemed like they would be difficult even after simplifying them, but maybe the reason they could be simplified in the first place was due to the foundation spell, spirit summoning.

“And... oh yeah, Blazing Dance is an ancient spell.”

“What, really?” My eyes widened as I questioned her, and she nodded in response. Now that I thought about it, the Goddess of Fire had taught it to me herself, and it was incredibly hard to learn.

According to Rakti, the spells humans created were simpler, but also had more specific uses. Taking Inept Scout and the hero summoning for example, they were indeed pretty specific. Maybe it was just me, but I felt like the creators’ awful personalities were showing through those spells.

“Purifying Light is a modern spell, so it’s easy! I’ll make sure you get it down perfectly!”

“You think so? It’s a light spell.”

“Our magic is where all magic originates! Of course I can help teach my older sister’s spell!” Rakti proclaimed as she made a fist and puffed air from her nose.

In other words, the spells from this world were all sourced from the goddess sisters’ ancient spells. Rakti further taught me that Rium’s crystal magic and Pardoe’s craftsman magic had all been derived from the ancient spells. Come to think of it, our communication device was made through crystal magic, but was activated using cleric magic. That probably only worked because they came from the same source.

“Hmm? So since the goddesses are teaching me magic, does that mean I can learn other denominations like crystal magic?”

“...I wonder?”

I blurted out my thoughts, but Rakti only cocked her head in return.

“The spells we’ve been teaching you are like the theoretical foundations of cleric magic. Crystal magic has a different name because it’s based on a different theory than cleric magic, so I think it’d be easier to just learn that from scratch.”

So it wouldn’t be so simple. Well, it was just a thought. I wasn’t dying to learn it or anything. Anyway, I had to focus on Purifying Light for now.

At that point, Rakti took a pair of glasses out from her apron and put them on. She must have been imitating the Goddess of Light whenever she did that in my dreams. The followers of light and darkness had always been at odds with each other since long ago, but the goddess sisters actually got along very well with each other. Though Rakti was still scared of her sister whenever she got angry with her.

“Do they look good on me?”

She looked adorable as she put on airs while showing off her appearance, but she looked far from the womanly instructor persona that the Goddess of Light liked to assume.

“Yeah, you look cute, Rakti.”

“Hmph...”

I patted her head again, which made her puff out her cheeks like a squirrel with food stuffed in its mouth. And that’s why I keep saying you’re cute. If she put on a school uniform as well, she would have looked like an underclassman helping me study for school. I made a note to myself to order one the next time we shopped at Ficus Brand.

Clena would be the class president. Haruno would be the beautiful and popular president of the student council. Roni would be the energetic underclassman that followed you around, and Sera would be the kind upperclassman of the after school club. Yup, they all fit their part. Roni’s ears and tail might stand out, but that just contributed to her character.

“...Rium might look better with a red backpack.” Though she was 13, so age-wise she should have been in middle school.

“What do you mean by red backpack?”

I looked beside me to see a goddess who would also look good in a red backpack peering back at me. Her eyes made me recall Yukina from back when she was alive. She slowly faded from my vision as I came back down to reality. Oh yeah, she never got to wear her middle school uniform. Even though she was looking so forward to it... Yeah, I’d order some school uniforms at Ficus Brand next time we went there. I remembered the design. It was a charming sailor uniform.

“Let’s start practicing, Rakti. I don’t mind if you push me a little. Just teach me the fastest way to learn the spell.”

“Oh, yes. Though I won’t be pushing you. I’ll place a sort of blessing on you, so try your best to remove it.”

“Got it. Bring it on.”

Just practical training, huh? That made things simple.

The Yukina from my previous life and the Yukina that had become a demon. Their two faces drifted to view in my mind.

Hold on a little longer, Yukina. I’ll make sure you get to wear that school uniform this time.