We first ate a al to fill our stomachs, then moved to the water source. Two guards were standing at the entrance to the source. I stepped forward, showed the dal I had received from the Prince, and said,
"We're here to investigate the water source. Open the gate."
"Gasp! That's the royal crest! Ah, understood."
It was definitely a good thing I had gotten the free pass from the Prince. The Eris Church guards imdiately opened the gate. We passed through the entrance and headed inside toward the source. The source consisted of several large pond-like areas where hot spring water bubbled up from underground, spaced out. Each was connected by large pipes, through which the hot spring water was sent down to the town.
We stopped at one of the hot spring ponds. Kazuma looked at it and said in surprise,
"Hey, this water is pitch black!"
As Kazuma said, black water was pouring into the pond through a pipe connected to another pond. Seeing that, I analyzed it with [Eyes] and said,
"Hmm... This looks like poison. Soone seems to be releasing poison into the source. Let's go."
Hearing that, Aqua urged us to hurry.
"Let's hurry! If this continues, the town will be ruined!"
Aqua was willing to do anything for her followers. Perhaps because her followers were few in number and not growing, she treasured them even more.
We followed the pipe further inside. Then we ca to a massive pond. This appeared to be the main source of the hot spring water.
"Huh? Wait, there's soone there."
Kazuma, sensing soone in front of the source, signaled us to stop for a mont. I checked as well. Two people were standing in front of the source. One was Hans, and the other was Vanir.
"Oh? That's the guy who was shouting about detergent and soap, clearly stressed out by the church mbers, and his masked companion."
gumin, having seen them often in town, recognized them imdiately. Just then, Hans, who was in front of the source, sat down and was seen dipping his hand into the water.
"What are those guys doing at the source?"
Kazuma, also using [Clairvoyance] to check their actions, confird it.
"You're right. They're dipping their hands in the source? Let's go."
We stood in front of Hans and Vanir at the source. Hans, flustered by our sudden appearance, pretended to be an Axis Church follower.
"Well, well, are you here for sightseeing? This hot spring is highly praised by distinguished people from various countries for its effects on back pain, stiff shoulders, fatigue recovery, beauty, as well as depression, distracting thoughts, and various curses. So..."
I sighed and pointed out to Hans,
"Hey, if you're going to pretend to be an Axis Church follower, you should recomnd joining the church before the hot spring. And from the first ti we t in the bath, you clearly hated the Axis Church!"
Kazuma added,
"That's right! This guy threw the Axis Church's famous soap on the ground."
Then Vanir, who was standing beside him, laughed and said,
"Hahaha, it's too late. Sorry, Hans!"
"Sigh... We've been working on this quietly for ages. I suppose it can't be helped."
The two prepared to fight. Before that, I asked a question. I already knew, but Kazuma and the others needed to know.
"By the way, who are you? Why don't you introduce yourselves before we fight?"
Hearing that, Hans and Vanir began introducing themselves.
"Fine! Silver Flash and Crimson Mage! I am Hans, the Deadly Poison Sli, a general of the Demon King's army. And this guy is..."
"I'll introduce myself. I am also a Demon King's general, Vanir, the Arch-Duke of Hell who sees through everything. But... as before, I feel nothing."
Vanir continued to act strangely, looking at .
"How unexpected. To et two Demon King's generals here."
Then Hans spoke.
"That's because of you. Do you rember fighting the Demon King's army at the Royal Capital? Because of that, the Demon King's army was put on alert. When we heard that Verdia was defeated by a single person, no one believed it. But after seeing you fighting the Demon King's army, reports ca in saying that one general would never be able to defeat you. So, they decided that two of us would stick together and run operations from now on."
"If I had ti for this, I'd rather be extracting delicious emotions from the Demon King's army or building a dungeon."
Vanir, as if lanting the wasted ti, grumbled. In the end, because of , Vanir seed to be operating together with Hans. Hans continued,
"Even if I say it's fine, they don't listen. Anyway, if I take care of you here, my standing in the Demon King's army will rise."
Hearing that, Kazuma was terrified and said to us,
"Hey, hey, hey! Two Demon King's generals? I think we should run..."
Then Aqua stepped forward and said,
"No way! These guys are the culprits! If we leave them be, the Axis Church will collapse!"
"Aqua, still, let's retreat..."
I grabbed Kazuma's shoulder and explained,
"I'll take on one of them. The rest of you, help Kazuma take on the other one. Kazuma, this is a good chance to make a na for yourself."
Kazuma hesitated for a mont, then finally assud a fighting stance.
"Ugh... I suppose it can't be helped... Then at least let choose which one we fight."
"Okay? Who will you fight?"
"We'll take Hans. We'll leave that masked guy, Vanir, to you."
"Got it."
Hearing that, Darkness was impressed.
"Kazuma, you've made up your mind. To take on a powerful sli!"
"Huh? Aren't slis the weakest monsters?"
"Where did you hear such nonsense? Slis are strong! First of all, physical attacks barely work on them. And it's best to assu that once they catch you, it's over. You'll be dissolved by their digestive fluids or suffocate and die imdiately!"
"What the hell! That's scary!"
Kazuma was extrely flustered. gumin continued the explanation.
"Plus, that guy is the owner of a deadly poison that can contaminate the hot springs all over town! Consider it instant death if you touch it!"
"Instant death???"
Just then, Aqua reassured Kazuma.
"It's okay, Kazuma, even if you die, I'm here! But don't let yourself be eaten. If you get digested, you won't co back."
"Gasp!"
Kazuma seed to have lost his will to fight before even starting. So I patted him on the shoulder and said,
"Don't worry too much. You have Yunyun and Cecily with you. You should be able to take him down. And if I win quickly, I'll co to help you too."
"Right! We have Yunyun, and Cecily is... well, I don't know her skill yet, but anyway."
Kazuma gained a little courage from my words. Just then, Vanir said to us,
"Hahaha, is your strategy eting over? Silver Flash, you'd better not underestimate . I am also considered one who might be even stronger than the Demon King himself."
"Since we've decided our opponents, shall we move to a more open area?"
"Sure."
Seeing that, Hans was displeased.
"Tch! I have to deal with the small fry. Anyway, I'll eliminate these guys quickly and join you."
Vanir and I moved to a nearby clearing and stood facing each other. I glanced briefly toward Kazuma's group. Over there, the ground was already freezing, and various magic circles were appearing.
"I'm very curious. Why I can't read your mind. As an arch-devil who sees through everything, this is quite a shock."
"Well, maybe it's an equipnt effect, or maybe a skill effect."
"Hmm... It seems you won't tell . Oh well, I suppose it can't be helped. Then let's begin as well."
I quickly approached Vanir and swung my sword, but he retreated hastily and snapped his fingers several tis. The surrounding space distorted and suddenly began to explode. I quickly used [Flash Step] to retreat. Honestly, if not for [Observation Color] and [Eyes], those attacks ca with such good timing that I might have had trouble dodging them.
I'm sure he didn't use attacks like this in the original story. Is Vanir also not letting his guard down and doing his best?
"Well, well, I can see why the Demon King's army is wary of you. I thought that was unavoidable. And your speed is incredible."
This ti, I moved quickly again, approached Vanir, and swung my sword. Unlike the first attack, I anticipated him dodging and fired a [Wind Moon Slash] at the predicted spot.
Swish!
"Ugh!"
Vanir, seemingly not expecting this attack, barely dodged to the side, but his side was cut deeply. However, instead of blood, his body showed a cross-section like cut dirt.
"That body of yours isn't your real one, is it."
Having seen the original story, I already knew. Since Vanir could only be destroyed, not killed, I needed to hide my full power. There was no need to reveal my strength to other demons.
"Well, well, I was trying to hide it more, but you're too strong."
As Vanir finished speaking, countless lumps of earth rose from the ground, transforming into human-shaped dolls of Vanir and began attacking .
Poof! Poof! Poof!
The dolls exploded as soon as they touched my sword. There were so many that this wouldn't work. I tried to charge at Vanir himself, but he dodged while using explosions in the air, as in his first attack, to block my path, constantly keeping his distance.
Snap! Snap!
Poof! Poof!
"Tch! How long are you going to keep running?"
"You could say the sa. It seems close combat isn't in my favor. So, would you get tired quickly, or give up? Hahaha."
Vanir had lived a long ti and had plenty of experience, and was quick to adapt to situations. I wondered if I could catch him using only Konosuba's samurai swordsmanship. I stopped chasing for a mont to catch my breath.
"Phew... I suppose I have no choice. I'll have to use sothing I've been hiding."
I imdiately jumped into the air and used [Konosuba Advanced Magic] to strike the ground with a powerful lightning bolt.
"Lightning Strike!!!"
KABOOM~!!
As the lightning struck the ground, the dolls beneath it began to chain-explode, all detonating.
Poof! Poof!
"Oh no! He even uses magic!"
The mont I landed, I fired a [Light of Saber] at Vanir.
"Light of Saber!!"
KABOOM!!!
"Tch!!"
As Vanir dodged hastily, I used [Flash Step] to close the distance and, in an instant, slashed him from shoulder to side, bisecting him.
Swish!
"Gwaaah!! Is this where I end..."
Struck by the slash, Vanir's body turned to dirt and crumbled to the ground.
"Did I get him? It wasn't his real body, though..."
I went over to where Vanir's body had fallen and turned to dirt. On the pile of dirt lay Vanir's mask.
"At the mont you think that!! Hot!"
Slap!
As I got closer, I suddenly heard Vanir's voice, and the mask jumped up and forcibly attached itself to my face.
"Hahaha! Did you think you'd finished off? Sorry! Unfortunately, no damage— huh? Why isn't the possession working??"
"Sorry, but that sort of thing doesn't work on !"
"Well, then..."
Thanks to [(EX) Status Ailnt Immunity], things like possession and brainwashing don't work on . Besides, having seen the original story, I already knew the mask was his real body. So I had deliberately acted to use that to easily deal with Vanir. I imdiately grabbed the mask with my hand and peeled it off my face.
"As expected, the mask is your real body."
"Hahaha, you knew? I've lost. See you next ti."
Vanir laughed and readily admitted defeat. I imdiately crushed the mask in my hand.
Crack!
As expected, even killing Vanir didn't let obtain his ability. Since demons can't be completely killed unless I go to Hell and kill them myself, I had to be satisfied with just the experience points.
I imdiately went to Kazuma and the others. Upon arriving, I saw Aqua vigorously pounding a much-reduced Hans with God Blow. Yunyun and gumin, apparently out of mana, were sitting on the ground resting, with Cecily looking after them. But Kazuma was nowhere to be seen.
"Where's Kazuma?"
As I approached, Yunyun greeted happily.
"Tae-jin! You won as well, didn't you? I believed in you."
"Yeah."
"Kazuma used himself as bait and got eaten by Hans, so he's currently..."
Yunyun pointed to a skeleton lying on the ground nearby.
"I see."
As in the original story, Kazuma had sacrificed himself this ti too to help capture Hans. Just then, Aqua, as if about to finish him off, said to Hans,
"For the cri of dirtying the precious hot springs of my cute followers! You deserve to die ten thousand tis! I'll send you off, hoping for salvation!"
An imnse amount of divine power was concentrated into Aqua's fist. She was really angry.
"God...!! Requiem!!!"
"Gwaaaaah!!!"
Hans, hit by Aqua's divine-power-filled punch, disappeared without a trace. With that done, Aqua resurrected Kazuma.
"I'm glad we caught a Demon King's general, but what about the water source?"
From what Aqua said, because I had strongly told her not to purify the hot springs, she didn't purify them this ti, unlike the original. That was probably for the best. If Aqua, without the power of the Axis Church followers like in the original, had purified the water, it would have turned into plain water, not holy water.
"Well, we just need to remove the poison. I'll try. I got a good item a while ago."
I pretended to take a random item out of my inventory and used [Matter Manipulation] to remove all the poisonous components from the hot spring water.
"Wow~ So you had an item like that. That's a relief."
Not only the main source, but we also went to each branch and removed all the poisonous components from the contaminated hot spring water.
"Phew~ This is the last one."
Aqua repeatedly thanked .
"If it weren't for you, Tae-jin, we would have been in big trouble. Thank you."
"Now let's go back to the inn and rest."
"Yeah, let's do that."
We were about to return to town when we saw the townspeople coming up. The sound of our battle with the Demon King's generals must have reached the village. So Cecily and I explained that we had used magic to check if there were other water veins because the water quality had deteriorated. We reassured the townspeople and sent them back. Then we imdiately went down to the inn. The others, being tired, collapsed and fell asleep as soon as they got there.
On the second day, as we ate, we talked about what had happened yesterday. Kazuma had used himself as bait to lure Hans to a suitable location, then Yunyun, using all the mana she had saved up in the mana savings bank bracelet I had made, repeatedly froze and destroyed Hans, gradually reducing his size. Finally, Aqua had finished him off. That was the story.
"You all worked hard. And this is the first ti Kazuma's party has caught a Demon King's general. Congratulations!"
When I praised them, Aqua bragged,
"Right! We got so help, but we also caught a Demon King's general now. At this level, aren't we a pretty good party?"
This ti, even Kazuma didn't tease her. He just smiled silently and gave Aqua a thumbs-up, praising her for a job well done. Seeing that, Aqua also smiled and gave a thumbs-up. Then gumin, Darkness, Yunyun, and Cecily all gave thumbs-ups and smiled together.
That day, we stayed at the inn, enjoyed the hot springs, and rested thoroughly. The next day, we boarded the carriage again and returned to Axel Village.
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