Chapter 531: The Lake of Blood

――――The 87th day of training.

「After that, the gathered members struggled a lot to rule the world in an interesting way. Like the current members, we had so many different personalities that it was hard to get them all to agree on something! Old man Vakala and Maria gave up the first seat to me and made me the moderator, I had to deal with unfamiliar tasks and the members of the first generation, and the atmosphere at the meetings was more stagnant than it is now―― but even so, everything we did was new and fun. Every single one of them had a funny idea and did something out of the ordinary. I would never have been able to have such a spectacular experience if I had remained under the control of the hard-headed goddess. I think life is all about having fun. Don’t you think so, Deris?」

「…… Ha?」

Agalia, who had been talking about himself for a while, suddenly asked me so.

「Hey, I’m asking whether you agree with me.」

「Why the hell do I have to agree with you…?」

I am currently fishing at the Lake of Blood in Carmine’s territory, and for some reason, this guy has been following me from the beginning and has been sitting next to me on the edge of the lake since we arrived. And while I was fishing, he talked about the world’s god, another world’s heroes, the past demon king generation system, and so on. Just so you know, I’m not interested in such an old story, and I didn’t even ask him to tell me about it. Agalia was talking on his own, and I was just listening without saying a word.

「Ehh~, it was a very easy-to-understand episode of my extreme reluctance to take out the gate. Were you listening properly? Haruna’s return to her original world depends on my ability, you know?」

「Well, I’ve confirmed your trial. I’m going to have a serious fight against Haru, Chinatsu, and Touko, and the outcome doesn’t matter, right? Whoever wins, they will be able to go home.」

「Hey, have you forgotten the most important point? I’m telling you to fight seriously, you know? By serious, I mean fighting with the intention to kill each other. Deris, can you kill your beloved disciples?」

Agalia has a mean smile on his face. On the other hand, I let out a sigh.

「You don’t have to go out of your way to explain it to me, I know what you’re talking about. There’s no way Haru won’t be serious, and I will do it seriously on that day. I’m preparing for that.」

「Hmm, it doesn’t look like that…. Haruna and the others have returned to Adelheit and are training hard against the Irygal Sisters, you know? Do you really have the time to go fishing in a place like this? Or rather, is that really fishing? I mean, you’re using that instead of bait, right?」n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

「Yeah, I’m using my black staff.」

「What the hell are you doing……?」

「I told you, it’s necessary. To clear the rules you presented is easy, but for me, it’s like being forced to do something I’m not very good at. The venue is off-limits until the day of the event, so I can’t set traps, and I can’t even launch mental attacks behind the scenes to increase my winning rate because my opponents are those girls. In the first place, a trial where we just need to fight head-on doesn’t suit me. Nell is more suitable for this, don’t you think?」

If my opponent is Agalia, I would have been able to do whatever I want. It’s really regrettable.

「Ugh, I’m getting a weird chill…. W-Well, it’s true that Nell is suited for this trial, but in her case, I’m a little worried that she might miscalculate the amount of firepower and cause a lot of unfortunate accidents. Touko’s master, Lilyvia, seems to be good enough in terms of strength, but she had a serious battle once before, so a second attempt isn’t suitable for the last trial. That’s why it’s perfectly reasonable to choose Deris, who is as strong as Nell, relatively safe, and has yet to have a serious battle against the disciples.」

「…… Well, I guess so.」

I imagine Nell fighting with great enthusiasm, and I find myself agreeing with him from the bottom of my heart. It’s no laughing matter if the disciples were to die in the hands of the master after coming this far. Yeah, I would stop it if Nell was chosen.

「So, what does this fishing have to do with the trial? This lake is a powerful bottomless poisonous swamp, right? It looks like red water, but it’s as muddy as blood, and it’s rumored that your legs will be taken away.」

「Oh, you sure know it well. Actually, I sank the items I used in my adventurer days at the bottom of this lake to hide them. I thought I’d retrieve them all before the decisive battle. There are no restrictions on the equipment or items we can use in the battle, right?」

「Well, yeah…. Why are you fishing with the black staff to retrieve them?」

「This lake’s viscosity, poisonous substance, and color are from magic power. The black staff is made of black magic stone, which means that it can repel all of these harmful properties and create a path to the bottom. Then, I just need to use this special string made by Zex to adjust the position of the fall―― oh, I feel the response. Well then, I’m going to go for a quick swim.」

「Eww! Even though you’ve made it non-toxic and liquefied, you’re still going to swim through that path!? Just like the disciple, the master is also mad!」

「You betrayed God and sold the world to the Demon Kings, so you shouldn’t be surprised by such a thing now.」

I took off my clothes and changed into the swimsuit I was wearing beforehand. If this much is enough to be considered madness, then you won’t be able to beat Haru’s madness. In her case, it seems that she would swim directly with her Doggan Staff in one hand.

「Oh, you were properly listening to my story….」

「I wasn’t interested, but it was brand new information. Still, it was somehow within my expectations, so it wasn’t that surprising.」

「I see…. By the way, what kind of items you hid at the bottom of this swamp?」

「Small tools that seem usable in the battle, and some doping drugs.」

「…… Deris, what do you think about a master who’s doping in the fight against the disciple? It’s not against the rules, but isn’t it a little too shameless?」

「Hahaha, you sure are saying something funny. It’s not like we’re doing sports, you know? What a wonderful master I am that I will do everything I can without worrying about my reputation!」

In contrast to Agalia, who was making an exasperated expression, I made a good expression. Unlike the past when my stats were overwhelmingly higher than the girls’, now they have grown to the extent that some of their stats exceed mine. I’m a support magician with low physical strength and agility, so I will have a hard time if I at least don’t do this much.

「Well, just think of this as my own sincerity. In Maria’s trial, I couldn’t retrieve them since I didn’t have the time to come here, but I’m staying in Carmine now. There’s no way I wouldn’t use this chance. Well then, I’m going to dive now.」

「Sure, be careful not to get a cramp while diving.」

「………」

「Ah, he’s starting to do some stretching….」

After that, after meticulous warm-up exercises, I was able to obtain the desired items without incident.