Fourth Bath – The Secret Lies Beyond the Steam

The next morning, I awoke to a suffocating pressure. I opened my eyes to find Haruno’s and Clena’s faces to my right and left. There was zero space between us. Apparently they had turned around in their sleep and eventually ended up leaning into me. Oh, Haruno was drooling. She was normally so virtuous, so a face like this was a rare sight. I was happy knowing that she could relax herself so much here.

Meanwhile, I was trying my best to not look down. I did take a quick glance, but no more. Both of their pajamas were loose fits, exposing their chests. They were bulging into something impressive right now as they squeezed against me.

I would be getting up by now, but they were coiled around my arms so much that I could barely move. I’d wake them up if I tried. I could tell that my face was doing its own comedy routine right now.

Perking my ears to my surroundings, all I could hear were the faint sighs of sleep. No one else had woken up yet. Alright then, I might as well pretend to have fallen asleep again and enjoy my fill of these exquisite sensations. ...The problem was that these two girls were feigning sleep, too.

In the end, we pretended to be asleep until everyone else got up and made breakfast, and Daisy kicked me in the head. I could sometimes tell that the girls were feigning sleep, but couldn’t bring myself to ask if they were awake.

“...Are you okay? I can heal you, come over here.”

“Uugh... your head is too hard!” Daisy had taken the brunt of her own kick. After I healed her, she plopped herself on my head and we went downstairs.

We ate a light breakfast, and then I told everyone about my dream from last night. Haruno’s party breathed a sigh of relief when I relayed the Goddess of Wind’s message. Needless to say, the most shocking bit of information was that the Demon Dog, one of the Five Great Demon Generals, had come to the water capital.

“A demon general is here?!”

Hey now, don’t slap your hands on the table and lean over it. I can’t tell where to look since your shirt is so loose... Haruno was staring me in the eye, while I couldn’t focus on anything on her body for half a second. We continued our little skit until Rulitora presented a question as he munched on a piece of jerky.

“And did the Goddess of Water ask you to do anything?”

“Yeah, she suggested that we return to the surface. Though I told her that we’d come rescue her if the situation looks dangerous.”

“Mhmm. Dangerous, huh...” Rulitora thought about something as he dangled the jerky in his mouth. He was probably wondering what “dangerous” meant here.

“Apparently they came here to establish a trade agreement.”

“Do you believe that?”

“I’m not sure.” Judging from everything we’d seen thus far, they were most definitely up to something. However, this was a move they’d never made before, so I was honestly at a loss.

“If they really are negotiating a trade agreement, then we shouldn’t barge in...”

“Yeah, but only if it’s true...”

“And that’s the problem right now.” The only thing I could say for sure was that they wanted to meet with the Goddess of Water for whatever reason. We needed to plan our next moves while considering what the Demon Dog’s goal might be.

Alright, let’s put this in order. First, was it possible that the demon lord’s army really did want to establish trade here? After I brought this up, Clena grabbed a certain book from the bookshelf.

“Hey, this diary...”

The book was a diary from a merchant who had amassed his fortune through trade. Reading further, we learned that he traveled between Hades and Ares in a caravan, using Neptune as his base of operations. He still led the caravan even after establishing his wealth, and apparently that was so that he could enjoy delicacies from various lands. He had put a lot of focus into writing about those delicacies. He mentioned that the demon lord had been summoned, and that a festival in Hades was held to celebrate it. We could tell through the merchant’s writing that he was excited at the opportunity to make some sales.

He continued writing about his caravan’s travels after that, which meant that Hades still traded normally with its neighboring countries even after the demon lord, Amann Naga, was summoned. He even wrote that he had a contest with a merchant from Hephaestus and lost, implying that Hades’ trading partners weren’t just Ares and Neptune. Rakti didn’t descend to her corporeal form very often back then, so she had no idea of these events.

“Their economy was pretty normal, huh...” Haruno mumbled as she flipped through the pages. Thanks to the Goddess of Light’s blessing, she could also read ancient texts from this world.

“Considering that, maybe it isn’t too weird for them to have come here asking to trade...?”

“Putting aside the fact that this is the bottom of the ocean, at least.”

“Hmm, the water capital’s location wasn’t exactly a secret back then either...”

“But they didn’t trade, right?”

“If they did, then the bathynomus would have been mentioned in here.”

“Oh, you’re right.”

I see, it made sense for the demon general to be negotiating a trade agreement in itself. Even the demon lord’s army needed a way to fund themselves. However, it didn’t make sense for them to choose the water capital. We couldn’t deny the possibility that this was a trap, either.

In that case, let’s discuss the chance that this is a trap next. For example, they might be asking to trade as a way to arm themselves before an attack. That was definitely possible. There were many ways to do it, such as hiding some soldiers among their merchants. Though I didn’t know how effective that strategy might be, considering this was the ocean.

“Besides arming themselves... there’s also the chance that they want to have spies infiltrate the city.”

“Right. They might not want to attack, but use this place as a strategic ground.”

“Don’t spies gather information and then fight with a spy from somewhere else?”

“...What movie did you learn that from?”

“It’s from a game.”

Yukina was mistaken about a spy’s job, but everyone else was even more clueless about what we were talking about. They were all wearing quizzical expressions. Movies and games were a topic for just the three of us.

Then, Rakti timidly raised her hand. “Umm... I think there’s one more possibility. The gillman back at the island mentioned that the Dark Prince has been searching for a way to revive the demon lord.”

“...Oh.” Crap, I forgot about that one. I figured they would need the power of light or darkness or something to do it like how Rakti was unsealed, but that was just me being blinded by preconceptions. Everyone else was looking perplexed, too. Come to think of it, we didn’t even know what state the demon lord was in right now. I wouldn’t be surprised if the key to his revival was something the Goddess of Water could provide.

“So maybe the Demon Dog is working under the Dark Prince’s orders, too.”

“He’s apparently the son of the demon lord himself, so it’s very possible.”

“Now what? There’s much more of a chance that this is a trap.”

“More specifically, even if it’s not a trap, we have to make our move.” It was only conjecture to say that this was related to the demon lord’s revival, but we couldn’t overlook it, either. On the flip side, it was very unlikely that they just wanted to trade for the sake of it.

“It’s decided. Everyone, we’re going to see the Goddess of Water.”

“But this capital is really big, isn’t it? Do you know where to go?”

“Let’s ask the gillman who brings us our food.” We could have asked the one who brought us breakfast, but oh well. We started making preparations while waiting for the next one.

“Okay, let’s get ready. In the worst case scenario, we might have to fight a demon general. Rulitora, help ready our weapons.”

“Understood.”

“Rium, check the supplies on the Grande Nautilus.”

“Okay... I’ll ask the ketolts to help.”

As long as we were suspecting the demon lord’s army of planning something, we couldn’t deny the possibility of a battle. I finally stood up, having finished my preparations, but then Daisy plopped herself down on my shoulder.

“Hey, what if it’s not a trap and they really did come here to talk about trading? What’ll you do after you barge in?” she inquired.

That was indeed a problem. I had a plan, though.

“If that’s the case, then that means they’re open to discussion. All we have to do is talk to them normally. We have an excuse, too.”

“An excuse? Oh, like Rakti wanting to meet the Goddess of Water?”

That could work too. If the situation called for it, I could change our excuse to that. However, depending on their attitude, we could push ourselves a little more. I looked at Clena, which made everyone else do the same. They all wondered what she had to do with it, but I bet Clena knew the answer already. She sighed, giving me an exasperated look.

“Do you really think we can do that...?”

“As long as they’re open to discussion. This might be a once in a lifetime chance, you know?”

“...I guess so. The Demon Dog and Dark Prince are both part of the Five Great Demon Generals, so there’s no better information source than him.”

Yes, that was our excuse to visit the Goddess of Water. Of course, we’d protect the goddess if she was in danger, but this was one more thing we had to try. If we wanted to learn more about the Dark Prince, Clena’s possible father, then we had no better chance.

“If the Dark Prince really had a kid and then ran off somewhere, you can give him a good talking to.”

“Yeah. First we’ll ask him to admit it, and then ask him to take responsibility as a father.”

“Do you demand child support at times like these?”

“Child support? What’s that?”

A term that didn’t register in this world. This was yet another conversation for just the three of us.

We received our lunch delivery a little before noon. The Goddess of Water already knew we’d be coming, so she sent a cleric who would help guide us there. Our preparations were so that everyone could leave the ship for a brief time. Once we arrived, I’d have to close the door to the Unlimited Bath, or else I couldn’t move from my position.

According to the water cleric, there were two types of routes to get to the Temple of the Goddess of Water: one was a dry route, like the cave we were currently in, and the other was simply traveling through the sea. There were four entrances that eventually spread out across the mountain like a fish net. I asked why there were so many paths, and the cleric answered that it was simply because the Goddess of Water lived in the temple. In that sense, it was more like a castle.

The temple also had a room as spacious as our current cave, so everyone who wasn’t directly meeting with the Goddess of Water could wait there. The ones meeting with her would be the people who had a direct connection to the goddesses—Rakti, Haruno, Prae, and I. Next was Clena, who had a connection to the demon lord’s army. Yukina, Rulitora, Roni, Rium, Sera, and Daisy made up the rest, for a total of eleven. I was worried about leaving all the non-combatants behind, but with the three temple knights, the ketolts, and the glaupis warriors, they should have enough bodyguards.

We set off with the water cleric as our guide. Since the water capital was so vast and would take some time to traverse, we asked the cleric to board the Grande Nautilus as well. I stood on the deck and asked the cleric more about what the current situation was like.

“So the demons visited to talk about trade? How has that been faring?”

“...They’ve made absolutely no progress. You see, the goddess...”

“She’s not willing to accept or back down, huh?”

“H-heavens no! I would never be so insolent as to guess what the goddess is thinking...!” the cleric said in a fluster. If he were human, he’d be wiping the sweat off his forehead with a handkerchief right now. He was a gillman though, and I didn’t think they sweated.

“Have the demons been silent this whole time, meow?” Pardoe asked from the rudder, which made the cleric droop his shoulders even more. As an aside, Mark was currently in charge of the radar.

“I do not know... But at this rate, it may be a repeat of what happened to the Goddess of Wind...” I see, it would do them no good if she was surrounded. Maybe that was part of the reason why he was being so cooperative with us.

I had thought as much when I heard the Goddess of Wind talk in my dream, but the goddesses didn’t have much attachment to their corporeal forms. The Goddess of Water surely knew that she was in a risky situation right now. Despite that, she wasn’t taking any action because she wouldn’t mind losing her current body.

But even if she was okay with it, it would come as a huge shock to her followers. The same thing had happened to Prae and her friends. Even Haruno’s party had been affected by it. The people of this capital would absolutely be dismayed. Geez, could you think about the people who worry for you a little more?

The goddesses thought of me as a little brother and part of their family, so I wondered if I could say something to her once we were done with this. Maybe I could ask the Goddess of Light to lecture her in my dream? Oh, or maybe it’d be most effective to have Rakti say, “I hate you, sis!” to her. Well, that might have been going too far.

“By the way, how long have these negotiations been going on for?”

“Tomorrow... no, by the day after tomorrow, it’ll have been 20 days.”

“...The Demon Dog sure is patient.” He was pushing the negotiations in earnest. Was he stubborn, or just nice? You could convince me that he really did just want to trade at this rate.

“The Demon Dog might be patient, but what about his companions? Have they gotten mad at him?”

“Well... they’ve been shut away in their room, so I can’t say...”

According to the cleric, the Demon Dog had brought along three subordinates who could all use spirit magic. I recalled the story about a demon general who crossed the sea on foot, then launched a surprise attack against a fortress by the coast. They must have used the same method to get here. The simplest possibility was that they took turns using the water veil to progress. Seriously, there’s a limit to how much you can brute force your way through something.

Anyway, if they had such a small party, then I didn’t have to worry for the non-combatants’ safety. I should let everyone else know that the Demon Dog’s subordinates could all use magic, too.

On another note, the water capital sure was huge. Apparently the largest mountain standing in the center of the city was the main temple, but according to the radar, the center was still far ahead. I’d never looked at Jupiter from a bird’s eye perspective before, but the water capital was clearly bigger.

“......” As I gazed at the radar next to Mark, I realized one thing. “...That story about the demon general who walked across the sea to launch a surprise attack—was that the Demon Dog?”

“I’ve heard the story before, but I do not know their name...”

Unfortunately, the water cleric couldn’t offer any details. Navigating the ocean floor to launch a surprise attack... maybe only one of them could have done it. No, that was a dangerous way of thinking. If multiple people knew how to cast the water veil, then surely others could launch the surprise attack, too.

“Mark, pay attention to our surroundings more closely.”

“Why?”

“There’s a chance that other demon generals have come here. It’d work for them as long as they can use the water veil.”

“I-I see, meow...” The Demon Dog might have been taking his sweet time right now, but maybe he was also waiting for reinforcements. Considering that, figuring out his true intentions was even more vital now. We needed to hurry. I asked Pardoe to pick up the Grande Nautilus’ speed.

We eventually reached the head temple a while after lunch with no signs of an attack against us.

We surrounded the bow of the ship with a water veil and opened the dome to let the guards know that a cleric was already here to guide us. The temple was heavily guarded by gillmen and bathynomus warriors wielding spears. I couldn’t tell if their defenses were up because of the demon army or if they were normally like this.

The water cleric began to lead us to an entrance that would let us avoid crossing paths with the demon army. However, a moment later, Mark shouted at us from his post at the radar.

“Something’s heading toward us from above! There are a lot of them, meow!”

“What?!” I looked at the radar from above Mark’s head and saw that it was indeed detecting several objects above. They were currently about sea level, but were quickly sinking down toward us. At this rate, they’d arrive in only a few minutes.

“Touya! The guards haven’t noticed them yet!”

“...Oh yeah! Summon spirit!” I pressed my hand against a magic crystal, then aimed a starboard cannon upward and fired light spirits through it. The flash of light quickly flew far above us and revealed the shadows of the beings sinking down.

There were several bubbles, each with something like an anchor inside. Figures were riding on each anchor, floating down to our location. The guards had apparently noticed the presence now and had started frantically moving about.

But what were they? They were diving—no, sinking—directly toward us, which meant that they knew where the water capital was located. If that weren’t the case, then they would just be on a suicide mission. Judging by the guards’ reactions, these people weren’t their allies. The most likely possibility was the demon army. The Demon Dog must have used some method to tell the army how to get here.

“Ah...” Haruno gasped as she looked above her, stunned, as if she had just realized something. “Oh yeah, this might be the bottom of the ocean, but it’s only a few hundred stuto from the surface... it’d be much faster that way rather than walking here from the shore.”

Oh, that’s what she was thinking. Considering how the demon army could transport themselves, it’d be much faster for them to head straight down here from sea level rather than walk along the ocean floor from shore. The Demon Dog certainly might have suggested such a route. They could carry anchors and spirit magic users out to sea by ship, then use the water veil and anchor to sink down. That was the army’s descent strategy... or sinking strategy?

“...How are they planning to get back?” Daisy asked from atop my head, bewildered. That was my line.

The demon army was rapidly approaching, and now I could see who exactly was sitting on those anchors. Men and women with silver hair, wings, and feathers—the same types of demons as Yukina and Balsamina.

Yukina had told me that she focused MP into her wings to fly, unlike actual birds. Perhaps these demons would do the same to get back home. It made sense as long as they were willing to abandon the anchors.

They sure had this planned out. We weren’t going to let them follow through with those plans, though.

“Close the dome! We’re going to fight back using the radar!” I ordered everyone to up our defenses and get ready for battle. Now that Clena didn’t need to maintain the water veil, the two of us could manage the magic cannons.

We were about to float the ship upward so that the guards wouldn’t get caught by stray bullets, when the radar suddenly detected several spirit readings. Not a moment later, the ship shook from a heavy impact.

“Did they hit us?! Clena, prepare for a counterattack!”

“Help me with the light spirits!”

“Oh, right!” I quickly realized her plan and ran toward her. We overlapped our hands together on the same magic crystal.

“Summon spirit!”

“O sparks, pierce them!!”

We combined our spells and fired a beam of light from the cannon on port. Unfortunately it wasn’t a critical hit, but the signals on the radar were in disarray. They might not have known how to react to the sudden light attack.

That was enough for now. The gillmen used the opportunity to rush at the demon army, and the bathynomus followed quickly right behind.

Now we couldn’t keep firing recklessly without getting the guards caught in the blast. I mulled over how we should support the guards when one of the anchors suddenly escaped the fracas and bolted to the ocean floor. The radar picked up a mass of power coming from the anchor. Crap, they were aiming a spell into the skirmish.

“Clena, one more time!”

“Got it!”

We fired another beam of light from the cannon at the bow. However, a blast also came from the anchor at the ocean floor, which collided with our attack and created a giant explosion.

“Kyaah?!” The water trembled and the whole ship wobbled. I planted my feet firmly on the ground and absorbed the vibrations with the Magic Eater, then grabbed Clena’s shoulders as she was about to fall over.

“Where’s the enemy now?!”

“He’s headed to the temple! How fast!!” the cleric wailed in response as he gazed at the radar from beside Mark. The mystery enemy had left the rest of the army behind and was making a beeline to the temple. Judging by his movements, he was the strongest out of their entire group. He was likely their leader.

“...Do you think the guards can handle the rest of them?”

“I-I believe so!”

We risked getting the guards caught in the crossfire if we tried to interfere, not to mention it’d be a bad idea to ignore the temple at this rate. If this mystery enemy managed to find the Demon Dog, they might be unbeatable. Thus, we had only one choice. Everyone around me had seemingly come to the same decision as they resolutely nodded their heads.

“Okay, we’re chasing the enemy into the temple!!” At my command, the Grande Nautilus picked up its speed and approached the temple. We followed the signal of the enemy’s leader past the front gate. The passages inside were barely wide enough to fit the Grande Nautilus. We had to proceed with caution.

According to the cleric, the Demon Dog has used this exact same path. I didn’t think that was a coincidence. They had definitely exchanged some sort of intel.

Meanwhile, the enemy was moving a little too quickly, as his readings were getting farther and farther away from us. Maybe he was flying like Yukina, or using some other movement technique. We frantically chased after the signal, but then the enemy suddenly stopped and produced a giant amount of MP.

“He’s attacking!”

“Prepare a counter...!” Right as I tried to launch a counterattack, a larger tremor than ever before rocked the ship. Everyone besides me couldn’t keep their balance and fell to the floor.

“What happened?!”

“I-I don’t know, meow!”

I tried to open the dome for a peek, but it wouldn’t budge.

“Is something riding on it?” Rulitora asked as he gazed at the dome above. Indeed, the radar was showing that the ship’s hull was pointed slightly downward.

“Don’t tell me he used that attack to make the passage collapse?!”

That was the only possibility. The rubble must have been weighing down on the ship right now.

“He could have crushed the passage around us instead... how reckless,” said Haruno, looking shocked.

I agreed, but we weren’t just going to sit here twiddling our thumbs. “I have a way to get the rubble off the hull of the ship.”

As long as some part of the rubble touched one of the cannons, then I could summon earth spirits to move them. Rock was still rock, even if it was at the bottom of the sea. I made quick work of moving the rubble aside. I utilized the spirits to repair the path enough for the Grande Nautilus to pass through. The enemy had made forward progress in the meantime though, so now he was quite a ways ahead of us.

“The target’s not mewving anymore. But I’m picking up other signals around him!”

“They look like the temple guards... Touya, a battle has already begun!”

“We were too late! Let’s hurry it up!”

We picked up speed with the cleric as our guide. Eventually, we arrived at the end of a canal that led us to a spacious room with breathable air. The light blue walls formed the shape of a half-dome and radiated a faint light. At the opposite end of the room was a large hallway.

I opened the dome of the ship, only to witness the fight that had already broken out. The first sight that leaped into my eyes was the large pools of red blood. There were already many casualties.

“E-everyone! We have to help them!” The water cleric jumped out of the ship in a panic after he saw the tragedy. Sera jumped out after him, quickly followed by Prae. They were fellow clerics, so they couldn’t leave the wounded be. I was still worried about their safety, so I had Sandra, Lumis, and Rin run after them.

Many of the gillmen warriors were surrounding three people in the center of the room. I also noticed that one demon had already been defeated. The demons may have been strong, but the gillmen were no pushovers either.

There were two demons with silver hair and wings, and one large man with bluish-black skin. He was brandishing a cross-shaped lance that looked as imposing as his own physique. I could tell from this distance that they were all dressed rather shoddily. The tall man seemed to be their leader.

Meanwhile, plenty of gillmen were still left standing. They should be able to overpower the demons at this rate, but...

“The tall guy is our biggest worry, huh.”

“I think... he might be a dark elf.”

“You don’t sound too confident.”

“I’ll spare you the details, but dark elves followed the Goddess of Darkness. His skin color looks the same as what I’ve found in my readings. I’ve never heard of an elf being that big, though.”

Indeed, the elf named Foley in Cosmos’ party was pretty petite. A giant dark elf, huh...

“Wait, is he the Dark Giant?!” If that was the case, then this battle wasn’t just a question of numbers anymore. I wanted to help, but... I couldn’t. As long as people were inside the Unlimited Bath, I couldn’t close the door. I could only move around within the ship—maybe the outer edge of the deck, at best. Our original plan was to make everyone disembark the ship, but those plans were no longer. I couldn’t force everyone who couldn’t fight into the situation outside. However, I could still command the party from here and provide backup with the magic cannons. We had to do something. But how do we take on one of the Five Great Demon Generals?

“Sir Touya, I shall volunteer myself...” As I fumbled through my thoughts for a plan, Rulitora offered to take on the dark elf himself.

“...Can you do it?”

“I will. There is no one else as capable.”

“...Please.” There was no time to hesitate. I just had to believe in him for now.

“Rium, be on standby! Get some silver ballistae ready!”

“Understood.”

“I’ll also be on standby at the cannon in front! Rulitora, we’ll fire a blast if it comes down to it!”

“If so, I shall take him down with me...!”

“Don’t you dare! Make sure you dodge it!”

Rulitora nodded, let out a ferocious howl from the bow of the ship, then sprang forth in the direction of the dark elf. I hoped he really acknowledged what I said.

Damn that dark elf, though. If only he had planned his attack a little deeper into the room, then I could have at least let everyone off the ship and acted as Rulitora’s shield. Attack, though? That would be tough. I could already tell from what I’d seen so far that he was an extraordinary warrior.

“Touya, I’ll be going, too. I should be able to take on those other two demons.”

“We’re leaving too.”

Haruno, Clena, Roni, and Yukina said. I was worried about them, but I couldn’t hold them back. The other two demons might not have been as formidable as the dark elf, but they were capable enough to participate in this invasion with him. They had been protecting the dark elf’s back even while they were outnumbered. As long as we could keep the two demons busy, Rulitora had less to worry about. I had to let the girls go to ensure our victory.

“We shall also go forth!” The glaupis knights emerged, now fully armed. Their group could provide cover for the four girls.

I asked the ketolts to leave the helm and guard the door to the Unlimited Bath. My role was to guard Rium, who was on standby at the deck.

“Daisy, stay with Rakti.” She’d risk getting herself in danger if she stuck to me. She must have realized the same thing, as she obediently flew over to Rakti’s shoulder. The two of them could stay on lookout. I couldn’t oversee the entire battlefield alone.

I might as well summon some spirits, too. I’d be using wind spirits today. It was a spell I had learned just this morning. I could summon a giant whirlwind that sliced through the enemies—or so I wished, but the most I could do was redirect some enemy flames, listen from afar, or carry my voice a distance away. I readied the spirits so that they could be fired from the cannons at any moment, then kept a watchful eye on the battlefield.

“Prepare yourself!!” The flow of the battle had massively changed ever since Rulitora got involved.

“Tch!!”

The dark elf, who had effortlessly swept away countless gillmen with a single swing of his lance, was finally on the defensive now that Rulitora was attacking him. The gillmen watched for an opening and charged at the dark elf all together, but he kicked Rulitora aside and then mowed the gillmen down using the same momentum.

“A lizard... were you on board that odd ship? I even blocked the road for you, yet you still came here to die.” His voice was that of an angry dog who was threatening to bite at any moment. The tone alone conveyed his ruthlessness.

He was about the same height as Rulitora, which was about two heads taller than me. Observing him a little more closely, I noticed that he was barely wearing anything you could call armor. I guess he didn’t have the opportunity to change, but it really emphasized his savage aura. He was slender but had a muscular physique, and his bluish-black skin almost made him look like a bronze statue. His hair was paler than silver, almost white. I suppose it was platinum blonde.

“Do you even know who I am?”

“My master said that you might be the Dark Giant.”

“Huh... Well, you’re absolutely right! Let me give you a little reward!”

So that dark elf really was the Dark Giant. I wasn’t exactly happy about guessing correctly.

The gillmen from earlier couldn’t move after being mowed to the ground. Sera and the other clerics wanted to treat them, but they couldn’t approach since the Dark Giant was still nearby. Haruno’s group was waiting for an opportunity to single out the two demons, but they weren’t having any luck either.

“...But if you knew that and still attacked me, then you must be quite the fool, eh?”

“Now... I wonder about that!”

In the end, only Rulitora and the Dark Giant made their moves. Their glaive and cross-shaped lance repeatedly clanged against each other. Rulitora seemed to be the only one on the offensive, but the Dark Giant wasn’t breaking a sweat. In fact, he seemed to be merely measuring Rulitora’s strength right now.

But Rulitora wasn’t just attacking mindlessly, either. He relentlessly swung at the Dark Giant and gradually moved their fight deeper and deeper into the room. The clerics used this chance to approach the injured and started treating them.

The two other demons tried to aim for Rulitora’s back, but Clena and Roni, and then Haruno and Yukina, blocked each of them with their own attacks. The glaupis were covering them, so I didn’t need to worry too much about their group.

Our biggest problem was still the Dark Giant. After being pushed back for a while, he finally started to switch up his movements. He effortlessly blocked Rulitora’s attacks, then started parrying them.

Wait, had he purposely let the other demons deal with the rest of us to create a one-on-one fight with Rulitora? Several gillmen were still surrounding them, but he probably didn’t see them as any more than pebbles by the road. He figured he would win as long as he beat Rulitora. Haruno’s group could join the fight if they beat the other two demons, but he must have been confident that he could deal Rulitora a finishing blow before that happened. I didn’t know about that, but if it did happen, it’d be our loss.

In any case, if the Demon Dog showed up around now, then we’d be caught between a rock and a hard place. I’d say we were the ones who needed to hurry up and deal that finishing blow.

“Hey, let me ask you one thing! That armor... is it made of bone?”

“...? Yes, it’s dragon bone...”

“I see, I see... that’s damn nice! Hahahah...!” the Dark Giant suddenly started laughing.

He’d asked a strange question. Why did he care about the armor’s materials?

“I’ve cut apart human bones time and time again, but I’ve never cut dragon bone before! This sounds like fun... let me test out my ‘Human Husk’ on it!!”

Not a second after that shout, the Dark Giant shifted his balance and began his attack. Rulitora was almost caught off guard by the sudden shift and switched to defense, but he hadn’t lost yet. He used his glaive and the giant jawbone on his armor to parry the ferocious onslaught of attacks that I doubted my Magic Eater would have even been able to withstand.

“Tch, let me cut you down already!”

“I refuse!!”

The next moment, the Dark Giant lost his balance. It was Rulitora’s tail. He had used his tail to set up a sneak attack from the ground.

Rulitora used the opening to strike. However, he didn’t choose a wide brandish that would have left himself open, but a series of short and quick strikes.

“That’s nothing!” The enemy wouldn’t be going down so easily, though—he quickly got back up, where their glaive and lance clashed against each other once again. I didn’t have to use the wind spirits to hear the sounds of their heavy weapons in battle.

They were on equal footing right now. Rulitora was blocking each and every attack with great agility. However, he couldn’t go on forever. His opponent was one of the Five Great Demon Generals—not someone you could simply beat through endurance.

The gillmen were still surrounding them all the meanwhile, but they couldn’t find an opening to intervene in this heated battle. The two other demons were plenty capable as well, seeing as they worked directly under the demon general. Haruno’s group was gradually wearing them down, but they hadn’t decisively won yet. I couldn’t jump in, either.

Was there any way to change the flow of this battle and seize victory...? There was. Just one way.

It involved the magic cannons. I could fire a shot directly at the battlefield. That was all I could do. If I missed, I might injure multiple people on our side and catalyze our own defeat. I had to do this, though. We had no idea when the Demon Dog would arrive.

My palms were sweaty as I wrapped my hand around the magic crystal. I couldn’t fire right now. The fallen gillmen were still in the way.

I used wind spirits to tell Sera’s group to move the injured away from the line of fire. They promptly started carrying the gillmen away, but the Dark Giant would notice their movements soon enough. The water cleric must have told our plan to the gillmen who were closer to the fight, as they surrounded the group at more of a distance to hide the clerics’ movements. However, our opponent wasn’t naive. I shouldn’t assume that this was buying us any more time.

I waited for a good time to tell Haruno’s group my plan. They immediately led their battles away from the line of fire.

Alright, even Yukina was properly fighting. Haruno was leading their battle, but she was doing an excellent job supporting her from behind.

Haruno really was impressive, though. The demon was firing spell upon spell at her, but everything bounced off of her and vanished. That must have been her Unlimited Reflection. It was proving extremely useful in a real battle.

The demon they were fighting could wield both magic and swords—a magic knight. Their opponent’s sword skills weren’t half bad, but Haruno had a slight upper hand when it came to pure swordsmanship.

Meanwhile, Clena and Roni’s fight had the opposite development. They were also fighting a magic knight, but Clena had quickly broken their opponent’s sword in half. Roni kept darting to the demon’s flank for an attack, but since neither of them could nullify spells, they had yet to find the opportunity to deal a decisive blow.

Rulitora had gradually been getting pushed back. I wouldn’t be able to help him even if my voice could reach. He didn’t have the spare attention to listen right now.

Of the two demons, the one Haruno’s pair was fighting excelled at swordsmanship, while the one Clena’s pair was fighting excelled at magic. Had they switched, their battles might have ended already, but things weren’t going according to plan. We couldn’t exactly have them trade places, either. They had put a good distance between the two battles by now, most likely so that the demons couldn’t communicate with each other.

However... I could still intervene. No matter how fast and strong they were, they still didn’t hold a candle to the Dark Giant.

“Summon spirit...!” I raised my hands in the air and generated two balls of light. This was the time for light spirits. I could control them as long as they remained within my sights. I guided the spheres of light closer to each demon from above. They would actually be difficult to notice from there, especially since they were so focused on battle at the moment.

“Now!” Once the spheres were above each demon’s head, I quickly dropped them. Each ball of light drew an arc and slammed themselves right in the back of each demon’s head. Of course, they had no way to guard themselves from an attack they didn’t notice. That one hit didn’t do much damage, but...

“We’re not letting...”

“...that chance go!”

...it was more than enough to create a distraction for the girls to use. In the one moment the demons stopped in their tracks, the four girls dashed directly toward them.

Clena pierced her opponent from the side, then Roni used a knife for the finishing blow. Haruno knocked the sword out of her opponent’s hands, then Yukina fired an explosion of dark spirits at point-blank range in their face. Dark spirits could rob someone of their consciousness. There was no way the demon could resist at that range.

Alright, the four girls were finally free. Now we just had to deal with the Dark Giant, but that wouldn’t be easy. Rulitora was trying his best to gain the upper hand, but he wasn’t quite accomplishing it. The only sounds around us were their weapons ringing in the air. No one else could even say a word. Needless to say, none of them could interrupt the fight, either. If they tried, they’d just throw off the balance of the battle.

It’d be great if Rulitora could win for us, but judging by the battle right now, it wasn’t going that way. That was simply their difference in strength. In fact, it was impressive that he’d managed to hold out until now.

Thanks to Sera and the other clerics, all of the injured had been transported to safety. The line of fire was all clear. I could shoot any time. However, there was nothing I could do. If only we could create some distance between them...! And then, the wind spirits carried a voice to my ear.

“...?!” Its message was shocking, but I had no time to spare.

I aimed the magic cannon. My target was the Dark Giant, but Rulitora was entwined in battle right next to him. He would no doubt get caught in the blast.

“...I’ll trust you! Blazing Dance!!”

Even so, I fired. A heat ray soared from the cannon to the two still caught in their fight. The fire was as hot and powerful as I could muster. The scorching light was about to envelope them both. However, at the last moment, a figure suddenly appeared before Rulitora as his shield.

It was Haruno. She had used the wind to dash to that spot.

“Unlimited Reflection!!” Half of the heat ray was deflected—yes, just the part that would have hit Haruno and Rulitora.

Even one of the Five Great Demon Generals couldn’t intercept a surprise attack during a sword fight, so he was swallowed up by the light before he could even scream. He was no longer bluish-black, but a “dark giant,” just like his namesake. Well, that attack had come at the speed of light. If he had managed to avoid it, then we had no chance of winning. Haruno was the impressive one for making it in time. Was that the power of the Goddess of Wind?

Yes, the voice from earlier had been Haruno’s. “I can do something about it, so fire at Rulitora too,” she said. I had honestly been terrified, but I was glad it worked out.

Oh, but we shouldn’t let our guards down just yet, I told everyone using the wind spirits. The dark elf wasn’t moving one bit, but I bet Phoenix could revive from that state. Though he was special... I thought, and suddenly—

“Gaaaah!!”

I knew it wouldn’t be so easy.

The Dark Giant roared and swung his cross-shaped lance, the one with the unsettling name “Human Husk,” but no one was around him anymore. Everyone was keeping their distance.

I had seen this coming. I might as well fire another shot.

“Alright then, one more time!”

In any case, he had sustained a lot of damage. Every last inch of the Dark Giant’s body was engulfed by the heat ray. I shot through the wall behind him as well, but I can fix it later, so please don’t yell at me.

“That one had to have done it, right...?”

The temperature of the room had risen after two Blazing Dances. But I still couldn’t take my eyes off the Dark Giant, and didn’t even let myself wipe the sweat off my forehead.

Everyone stared at him silently. The waves crashing against the ship sounded painfully loud. The magic crystal was cold. My sweaty hands must have been cooling it.

The one who eventually broke the eternity of silence was the Dark Giant. His charred body was finally... not breaking apart?! He was trying to stand using the lance as a cane! Rulitora and the others braced themselves for battle again. I also readied myself for a third blast, but stopped. The Dark Giant hadn’t moved another inch from his stance. Was he... trying to die while standing? I hadn’t imagined that I would witness something like this ever since coming to this world.

Rium came to my side, then used something that looked like opera glasses to peer at the scene, but she confirmed that he wasn’t moving a muscle. Rakti also borrowed the glasses for a look.

We should be fine now, I was about to tell everyone, but then Rakti jumped onto me.

“H-his finger moved!”

“He’s still alive?!”

We both shouted unwittingly. How robust was he?

I bet the rest of them heard us even without the wind spirits. After a stir, they all put their guards up again.

I couldn’t tell if he was feigning his own death or if he had lost consciousness for a bit, but the Dark Giant roared again and lifted his lance. He was covered from head to toe in wounds. His breathing was ragged. However, his eyes still possessed a fierce glare. I didn’t think he’d simply collapse again at this rate.

This was now a test of endurance. The Blazing Dance used up a lot of my energy, but I’ll keep firing them until he never got up again.

“Stop there, brother.”

However, right when I pressed my hand against the magic crystal, a familiar voice rang in my ears. Before I could put a name to the voice, water started gushing in from the hole I had created in the wall.

“What...?!” The water flowed toward the Dark Giant and the two demons as if it had a mind of its own, then swallowed them all and brought them toward me. “This is bad...!”

It was too late to move the Grande Nautilus out of the way. I quickly hugged Rakti, Rium, and Daisy tight to shield them with my own body.

A second later, the raging stream rocked the ship. I firmly kept my balance and protected the girls from the swaying as best I could. When the rocking subsided, the Dark Giant’s body was nowhere to be found. I asked the gillmen, who didn’t see where he had gone off to either, but our entire party was unhurt.

“Do not worry. I let them rise back to the surface.”

The same voice entered my ears again. I looked toward the opposite side of the room, where a large ball of water had emerged from the hallway.

“I knew it...”

“Sister...!”

Yes, the figure inside the ball of water was none other than the Goddess of Water who I had met in my dreams. The raging stream from just now must have been her doing.

I noticed that something was protruding from the ball of water. Or rather, the ball itself extended to form something like a thread. I looked to see what was on the other end of the thread, then inadvertently mumbled, “That’s surreal...” Everyone else in the room kept glancing at each other, unsure of how to react either.

“Woof...”

Yes, the Goddess of Water had brought a large dog along with her. The water leash wrapped itself around its huge body.

“...Uh, Rium. Take Rakti with you to the Goddess of Water.” I stared blankly for a while, then came to my senses and gave out an order. Rakti could tell the Goddess of Water about everything that had just transpired.

In the meantime, I let everyone out of the Unlimited Bath so that I could finally move around. The ketolts and glaupis helped everyone off the ship. Since I couldn’t disembark just yet, I stayed on the deck and watched the radar to make sure no more enemies were coming. Fortunately I picked up nothing from the canal, and all the movement I could see in the room was Sera and the other clerics treating the injured.

The four girls, including Yukina, had gone to speak with the Goddess of Water. From what I could pick up using the wind spirits, Haruno was giving her thanks for letting them take shelter here. I’d need to say my own words of appreciation later, too. After they were done, Yukina flew back to my side.

“Touya, it looks like the battle outside is already over, too. The Goddess took all the demons and sent them on a current back to the surface.”

“...Does that mean she’s invincible as long as she’s underwater?”

Come to think of it, Rakti had lost her powers because the country that believed in her, Hades, had fallen to ruin. The land was now a barren desert that people called the “void.” On the other hand, the Goddess of Water was in her prime since her followers lived in all the seas throughout the world. I didn’t know the ratio between water and land on this planet, but the land had to be split between the five other goddess sisters, while the Goddess of Water had sole control over all of the water. She must have been the goddess with the most followers out of all of them. No wonder she was so strong.

The dog seemed to be grumbling about something to the Goddess of Water. I used the wind spirits to listen in again—the dog was saying that one of his demon cohorts had leaked information to the Dark Giant without his knowing. Judging by their conversation, he must have been the Demon Dog. So he could talk like a normal person, huh.

“What’s wrong, meow?”

“...No, it’s nothing.”

The ketolts looked exactly like cats on the outside, so he must have been from some similar race. The Goddess of Water had gone out of her way to catch him, so we might as well ask him some questions later. No more enemies had shown up on the radar by the time all the glaupis exited the ship safely, so I finally walked toward the Goddess of Water for a belated greeting.

“Thank you very much. You helped all of us.”

“Do not worry. You seem to have saved some of my followers as well.”

I came here thinking that the Goddess of Water was in trouble after hearing about the Demon Dog in my dream last night, but maybe we hadn’t needed to. She must have said that she recommended we go back to the surface because she knew she could handle this herself.

“...The five of you, come with me,” she pointed to Rakti, Haruno, Prae, Clena, and me. Maybe she already knew that Clena had something to do with the demon lord. The rest of us had close connections to the goddesses.

The goddess guided us deeper inside the temple. The rest of our group would be taken care of like guests, so I let the clerics handle it.

The Demon Dog was obediently following the goddess, still trapped within his water leash. He looked like a big dog standing up, but he was walking on two legs like it was the most natural thing in the world. He was much taller than the ketolts, reaching up to about my chin. As far as breeds went, I’d say he looked close to a Shiba Inu.

I asked Clena if Shibas existed in this world, and she responded that a similar variety of sweep dogs lived in the mountains in the south. Huh, so I guess they did exist.

“I think the Demon Dog is a lycaon.”

“The same race as Roni...? Does that mean he’s a ‘dark lycaon’ or something?”

“Actually, Roni would be a ‘light lycaon.’ It’s the opposite relationship that the elves and dark elves have.”

Apparently lycaons who had the full visage of a dog or wolf were the original ones. Roni’s race had transformed into a form closer to that of a human’s after they started following the Goddess of Light. I think I’d heard the story somewhere before.

We kept our pace behind the Goddess of Water as she led us through many branching passageways, until we finally arrived at a dead end. There was a wall of water, and even though nothing was keeping the water in place, it wasn’t streaming out into the hallway.

The ball of water surrounding the Goddess merged with the rest of the wall as they intersected, and then she walked farther inside. She then created a tunnel out behind her so that the rest of us could walk through, though Prae had to crawl on all fours.

Inside, my vision was immediately swamped with deep blue. I squinted and looked around to see that the room was a half-dome shape. The Goddess of Water walked to the center of the dome and turned around so that her thin water veil and the Demon Dog faced us.

“Now then... you all have questions you would like to ask the Demon Dog, don’t you? Go ahead, I have him captured here for you.” The Goddess of Water cut right to the chase. She could read my mind, which made things easier.

Well, I may as well take her up on her hospitality. I had a mountain of questions for this dog.

The Demon Dog was also getting into the mindset as he drooped his ears and said, “Umm, as long as it’s something I can answer?” He really did seem a lot more harmless than the Dark Giant. He wasn’t just frightened of us either. In fact, he seemed rather composed.

“You can go first, Touya.”

“Yeah, I can wait.”

Haruno and Clena urged me to be first batter.

“You had said that one of your companions leaked information without your knowledge... but in that case, why would a demon send a spy to a fellow member of the demon army?” I phrased it to frame the Demon Dog as the victim in this incident, but there was still a chance that he was lying.

“Well, there are actually two factions within the demon lord’s army right now. I’ll leave it up to you to believe my words or not.”

“So the Dark Giant was part of another faction?”

“That’s the case... Oh, but I act as a mediator so that fights don’t break out between the two factions, so you could say I’m a neutral party, or something to that effect.”

All of us looked toward Rakti. As soon as she noticed, she shook her head and exclaimed, “I don’t know! I really don’t!”

I’d heard that the Olympus Alliance wasn’t free of internal conflict either, so I guess it was no surprise that the demon lord’s army was the same...

I was stuck trying to figure out how to continue the conversation when Haruno chimed in. “Um, what are the principles behind each faction?”

“Hmm... using names you all might recognize, the White-Faced Ogre is trying to revive the demon lord.”

The White-Faced Ogre was one of the Five Great Demon Generals that we had barely any information on.

“On the opposite side, some people have been wanting to name the Dark Prince the new demon lord, then have him overthrow the sacred family...”

“A successor, huh? So the Dark Prince really is the demon lord’s son?”

“That was the case in their previous lives, at least...”

“Family bonds don’t change even after you revive,” I said sternly. This was Yukina’s older brother talking.

“...Yes, I agree,” the Demon Dog muttered. His gaze looked a little milder. I glanced at Clena, who was listening to our conversation with an earnest expression.

“Though I’m neutral, I lean toward the White-Faced Ogre’s faction, while the Dark Giant is part of the Dark Prince’s faction...”

So that was why a spy had been sent his way? Assuming his was telling the truth, that is.

Alright, let me ask about the other generals now. “How about the last of the Five Great Demon Generals?”

“Oh, the Flame Devil? I haven’t seen him in about a hundred years... Oh, but he should be part of the White-Faced Ogre’s faction. Though I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s betrayed us since then.”

You’re not very well trusted, Flame Devil.

“He built a tea house near Hephaestus. Though it looked like it had been abandoned for more than a hundred years.”

“What’s that? Never heard of it...”

I figured I should give the Demon Dog some information as well, but he only responded wide-eyed in surprise. So he built that entire tea house without letting any of his comrades know?

Well, that aside... There was one more problem demon.

“What about Phoenix?”

“...Huh? He’s still alive?”

How would he even die? I wanted to ask. He might still be playing dumb though, so I didn’t back down from the interrogation.

“A demon working under him by the name of Balsamina let it slip while she was running away from us that the Dark Prince was currently trying to revive the demon lord...” I said, which made the Demon Dog’s eyes dart around the room. Did he realize that his statements contradicted what we had heard from Balsamina?

The Goddess of Water tightened the leash, which made him cry, “Eek!” and then he started explaining it to us while fidgeting. “I-I wasn’t lying, you see. The Dark Prince has always done things without rhyme or reason. We weren’t even sure if he had sworn his allegiance to the demon lord back in the day...”

“Yet he’s trying to revive that same demon lord right now?”

“I don’t know. I have no idea why he would be trying to do that...”

We were getting nowhere. What should I do... Oh yeah—

“Your mind is the only one I can read.”

She beat me to the punch. So we couldn’t ask the Goddess of Water to tell us if he was telling the truth or not. And she could only read my mind, huh? I guess that was another side effect of my dreams. I was curious about this new revelation, but first was getting more information from the Demon Dog.

“I don’t think Phoenix has contact with either faction right now... He might have been referring to a time long ago when the Dark Prince had tried to revive the demon lord.”

“You mean Phoenix had outdated knowledge?”

“The Dark Prince only declared that he would become the new demon lord about ten years ago.”

Huh, that was pretty recent. Though I guess that made sense, because any earlier and he might have accomplished his goal already. Even Haruno was having trouble telling from the dog’s face if he was lying right now or not.

“I don’t think we’ll gain any more information by chasing this topic further.”

“Well, we’re not going to get any irrefutable proof, at least.”

Clena was having trouble discerning the truth, too. She said it was fifty-fifty right now. On that note, both Rakti and Prae were thinking that he might not be lying.

“...Can I go next?” Haruno slightly raised her hand. I’ll leave the next part of the conversation to her. “Let’s say you’re telling the truth about there being two factions in the demon lord’s army, and that one of your comrades sent a spy after you. Oh, do you know what ‘spy’ means?”

The Demon Dog nodded, and Haruno gave a slow nod in response.

“So that means that you came here for some purpose separate from the Dark Giant. What might that be?”

I see. Assuming he really wasn’t in cahoots with the Dark Giant, he must have had some other goal in mind.

“Um... that’s what we’ve been saying from the beginning, to make an offer to trade...” the Demon Dog replied timidly, looking a little stunned.

“But why is the demon lord’s army trying to establish trade...?”

“What do you mean? It’s always been like this.”

“Huh?”

“That has always been the demon lord army’s objective. We wanted to use our central location in the continent to advance trading and commerce,” he explained bluntly, without any particular enthusiasm. Even I was almost convinced that he was telling the truth right now. The demon lord army’s objective was to advance commerce? What in the world?

“Wait a second. Didn’t Hades initiate war with its surrounding countries back then?” Though that was only the story passed down by the sacred family... maybe the sacred family had actually instigated the attack.

“Oh... we didn’t mean that, but that might have been how the other countries interpreted our actions...” the Demon Dog drooped his shoulders dejectedly.

“...What does that mean?”

“It was all our trading. The demon lord’s commerce went far too well...”

Commerce going well led them to war?

“For example, even if we were happy with our profits, our neighboring countries wouldn’t have been as pleased on their end. Though I can only reflect on it like this since it’s been so long.”

Hold on a second, did he really mean...? Clena was still trying to mull over what he just said, Rakti had her head tilted in confusion, and for Prae, it sounded like nonsensical babble. Only Haruno had arrived at the same conclusion as I did. Her lips trembled as she spoke in a feeble voice.

“Do you mean... the war that the demon lord’s army started was... an economic war?”

“Economic... war?”

“It’s when you steal or hoard resources to weaken another country’s economy... Basically, did the other countries fall to poverty by trading with Hades?” Haruno asked, which made the Demon Dog turn his face away.

I grabbed both his cheeks and forced him to look back our way. How fluffy.

“What did you do?”

“W-we didn’t do anything evil! But... in the end, Jupiter allied with other countries to fight against us, so I suppose we went a liiittle too far with the trading...” Apparently the Demon Dog was fuzzy on the details of how exactly it had gone down. Haruno and I glanced at each other, as we still had no concrete answers.

We tried asking the two goddesses, too. The Goddess of Water said that she hadn’t paid attention to the events above water, but that ships frequently passed by at the time. The country of Ares sat on the opposite end of the bay, on Dragon’s Talon Peninsula. It was the first to fall to the demon lord’s rule and remained their ally for the duration of the war, so those were most likely trade ships and not warships. Rakti didn’t know the details either, but apparently Hades had developed magnificently in the years following the demon lord’s summoning, and they lived in an era of peace.

I asked the Demon Dog what kind of business the demon lord conducted, and apparently he had taken ideas from merchants he used to know to develop his own style of a market economy. The Demon Dog said he loved calculating money more than he loved to eat, so he gladly helped develop the demon lord’s plan.

Apparently they abolished the countless barricades that kept travelers from freely moving around in the country and established the famous rakuichi rakuza, a free market system that encouraged merchants to set up shop. Come to think of it, we had never come across gated communities within a country itself. Maybe the other countries imitated the demon lord’s policies after he was sealed.

In addition, he introduced a paper money system and created a bank himself.

I remembered learning about rakuichi rakuza in school. It didn’t sound like a particularly unfair market system at the time, but I wonder? Haruno also had her head tilted beside me. On the other end, Clena’s face had stiffened up.

“What’s wrong?”

“I’ve never heard of paper money or banks... is that different from a moneylender? Um... did the people from 500 years ago even stand a chance against the demon lord’s economic policies?”

“Oh...” Even now, 500 years later, this world’s culture was still far behind that of the world I had come from.

“Maybe it’s like a fantasy medieval Europe?”

“I actually think they’ve developed exactly into ancient Rome...” According to Haruno, the aqueducts, public bathhouses, and the raver market all were in line with the customs of ancient Rome.

I see, we only thought those business schemes were fair because we were thinking from the perspective of modern Japan. People from 500 years ago would have a wildly different mindset.

When the Demon Dog said that things had gone too well, he must have meant that Hades had gained an enormous profit at the expense of its neighboring countries. That “Demon King of the Sixth Heaven” had plenty of legends about him, so claiming that he wouldn’t leave anything half-done, including commerce, was probably more fact than opinion.

“I have one more question. How was the relationship between the demon lord and the temple of darkness? We’ve heard that he didn’t like religion interfering with politics back in our world.”

“Hmm, he was hardly the only one to hold that viewpoint.”

“So was he antagonistic toward them?”

“I don’t know about that. He completely separated politics and religion, but I don’t think he was antagonistic...”

Rakti said that she didn’t remember him being particularly unfriendly, either. He did pay them respect, but didn’t tolerate them trying to get involved in politics.

“Hey, Touya...” Clena had something on her mind after that. I was just about to speak to her as well.

“We’re probably thinking the same thing. The Masked Cleric, right?”

Clena nodded in response. We had fought Goldfish, AKA the Masked Cleric, one of the 16 demon generals, back in Hadesopolis. He had claimed that the demon lord started disrespecting the temple of darkness. The demon lord apparently wasn’t antagonistic toward them, but did those in the temple think the same?

The Masked Cleric had led the first sacred king to Hades back then. As a result, the demon lord was sealed and Hades fell to ruin. In other words, the demon lord’s policies had angered the temple. The real story was slowly becoming clearer.

“The world at the time had no way to counter the demon lord’s aggressive business practices, and all the wealth from their surrounding countries fell into Hades’ hands.”

“From the other countries’ perspectives, they were losing money to circulate. Their economy stagnated.” I didn’t understand everything, but that was pretty serious.

“And banks, too... there’s a saying about a merchant of Lombardy who claimed he could create money using magic...”

“People in the past must have thought it was essentially magic...”

The barricades within countries might have been abolished to this day, but banks didn’t remain. The most similar system was converting between money and gems. Even if they had tried to imitate Hades’ policies, no one could have understood how it all worked after the country was destroyed.

A country going through severe recession, but they couldn’t understand how. Meanwhile, Hades was flourishing like never before. Perhaps the other nations thought of the demon lord’s market as more of a “demon lord’s curse.”

“Also, his policy of not letting the temple get involved in political matters angered the clerics there.”

“I doubt the temple of darkness was the only one who got angry. If the rich were gathering in Hades, that meant the nation itself started gaining more influence.”

“So the wealthy wanted to gain more power...”

I didn’t feel like we were thinking too hard about this. The leaders of each nation sensed the impending danger, and their temples would have fanned the flames as well. What resulted was an alliance formed with Jupiter as its center, an attack, and the so-called war from the legends. The sacred family’s story stated that the demon lord’s army initiated the attack, which wasn’t exactly false. The demon lord’s economy was viewed as just that much of a threat.

All of us looked despondent when we reached that conclusion.

“I feel like we just learned something inconceivable...”

“Me too...”

I was jealous of Prae right now, who kept on smiling as if she hadn’t understood a word of this. Rakti was also looking a little perplexed, so she might not have absorbed the whole story either. In fact, Clena might have been an exception to the rule for being able to follow along with us all the way. Oh yeah, maybe that was because she might have been blood-related to the demon lord himself.

“That’s all for my questions, but Clena...”

“Ah, yeah. I suppose I’ll try asking.”

It was now Clena’s turn. Needless to say, she’d be asking about the Dark Prince.

She took out her sword together with its sheath, then showed the Demon Dog the crest on its clasp. He stared intently at it, then after a moment, became so shocked that his tail stood on end.

“W-wait a moment. Why do you have this? Did you already fight him? Was he defeated?”

“No, we’re having so much trouble exactly because we can’t find him...” Clena sighed deeply, then explained that this sword was gifted to her mother from her father, that she didn’t know who her father was, and that no one knew his whereabouts right now.

“So you mean...”

“For now, can you tell us if you know anything about the Dark Prince having a child, or if he might have given the sword to another demon?” I added, and then the Demon Dog promptly shook his head in a furious fashion.

“No no no no! Absolutely positively not! There is utterly no way he could have given a sword with the Crest of Five Quinces to someone else!!”

Clena had it in her hands right now, though. Well, Clena’s mother might not have been just “someone else” to the Dark Prince.

However, the Demon Dog had never heard of the Dark Prince having a child before, so we weren’t able to get any more clues regarding Clena’s lineage. Though the Demon Dog seemed convinced that it was true already.

“Do you know anyone else we might be able to ask?”

“I doubt the Dark Giant would know, either... You’ll know as soon as you meet him, though. The demon lord had been in the same situation.”

“Hm? What are you talking about?”

“You see, when we were first summoned to this world, we were transformed into demons.”

The hero of darkness summoning ritual, huh?

“The demon lord and the prince were transformed into different races, but they still knew they were father and son at a glance. I’m not sure how to put it, but you get that instinct.”

Come to think of it, I had recognized Yukina at one glance too. Her hair had turned silver and she gave off a completely different aura, but I was sure of it. So the demon lord and the Dark Prince had gone through the same?

“Do you think it would work with a grandfather and granddaughter, too? Oh, but he’s sealed right now...”

“It should work even if he is sealed. As his granddaughter, you’ll be able to tell. I would absolutely recommend that you go see for yourself, as our possible princess.”

“Does that mean you’ll guide me to where the demon lord is sealed?”

“No, I’m being held captive here... I can tell you the location, so please do travel there yourselves.”

Oh yeah, even though we were talking to him so much right now, he was still the Goddess of Water’s prisoner.

“Do you want to go, Clena?”

“Hmm... It might be dangerous, but I don’t want to let this chance slip by.”

Alright, we’ll go there as long as Clena wished for it. The White-Faced Ogre was likely guarding the demon lord’s body. It’d be easier if the Demon Dog could come with us. I wondered what the Goddess of Water planned to do with him? If she wanted to keep him as a pet, then I’d like to borrow him for the trip.

“I can give him to you if you wish, brother.”

“...Are you sure?”

“I only kept him because you all wanted to speak with him. I would have sent him drifting back to the surface afterward.”

The Demon Dog curled his tail in fear. Well in that case, we’d gladly take him.

The goddess freed him from his water leash. He first walked up to Clena and gave her a bow. It seemed like we wouldn’t have to worry about his behavior.

“So where’s the demon lord sealed?”

“Not far from here. The demon lord is currently in Ares.”

Ares, the nation that allied with the demon lord’s army until the very end. We had planned to go there next anyway, but now we had one more important goal to accomplish. This visit wouldn’t affect just Clena, but potentially the future of this entire world. My mind was filled with resolve, and I firmly nodded.