Moonlight washed over the Great Holy Spring on the back mountain of Arcanletia.
This place was not only the source of every hot spring in the city, but also the holiest sanctuary in the hearts of the Axis Order faithful.
Yet at this moment, that sacred water was shrouded in a chilling, sinister aura.
Kōichi and Aqua were lying in the bushes less than ten meters from the spring source.
Kōichi had one hand pressing firmly down on the back of Aqua's head, while his other hand clamped over her mouth like an iron vise. Just ahead of them, a man with long blond hair and a finely tailored suit was wearing an ecstatic, perverted smile as he plunged his entire right hand deep into the surging spring.
With his movements, the once-clear spring water instantly rippled with strange purple waves, accompanied by the sizzling sound of corrosion.
"Mmmph! Mmmph mmmph!"
Aqua struggled madly in Kōichi's arms, her eyes bulging as if she wanted nothing more than to rush over and bite the man's hand off.
"Shut up! Keep quiet, you idiot!" Kōichi leaned close to her ear and growled in a low voice, his tone filled with unquestionable, devilish authority. "Are you stupid? That guy is obviously not some normal tourist. With magic fluctuations that strong, he might be a Demon King's General! Are you trying to jump out and serve yourself up as afternoon tea? Stay right here. Once he finishes poisoning it and leaves, then we clean the place up!"
Perhaps sensing the pressure coming off Kōichi, which felt even more terrifying than the Demon King's Army, Aqua finally shrank back and went quiet with tears in her eyes. Even so, the way she stared at the spring made it clear she was determined to scrub the pool a hundred times once he left.
The blond man, Hans, seemed completely unaware of the two people hiding nearby.
He elegantly pulled out his right hand, now dyed deep purple, shook the slime from his fingertips, and let out a satisfied chuckle.
"Hehe. By tomorrow morning, this city will become the perfect paradise of deadly poison. Those lunatics of the Axis Order can serve as the sacrifice for my promotion."
With that, his body turned into a purple afterimage and vanished into the foggy depths of the forest.
Only after confirming Hans had gone far enough did Kōichi finally release Aqua.
"Go, Pika... Ahem, go, Aqua! Make yourself useful for once and scrub this pool clean!"
"Sacred Highness Purification!!!" Aqua practically roared as she charged to the spring.
This time, she held nothing back. Blinding holy light lit up the entire back mountain like daylight, and the purple poison that had not yet flowed downstream was completely vaporized beneath the Goddess's fury.
She cast Purification Magic again and again until the spring water was purer than distilled water, and even the pebbles at the bottom of the pool had been washed until they sparkled.
"Hah... hah... Kōichi, there isn't... there isn't a single drop of poison left."
Aqua collapsed beside the spring, her face pale, but her voice was full of the satisfaction of revenge.
...
By the time the two of them returned to the inn, it was already late at night.
After hearing Kōichi's vivid account, Wiz, who had been lying there like a dead fish, suddenly sat upright, her face filled with sheer terror.
"Blond hair... a suit... the ability to turn part of his body into a Poison Slime..." Wiz's voice trembled. "Kōichi-san, Aqua-sama, that man... that man is one of the Demon King's Generals, Deadly Poison Slime Hans! He's my... former colleague. He has extremely strong resistance to physical attacks, and as long as even one drop of his body remains in a water source, he can regenerate endlessly!"
The room instantly erupted into chaos.
"Huh? A Demon King's General?!" Kazuma sprang out of bed and began packing his luggage with practiced speed. "Kōichi, we should split the luggage and go our separate ways. That's a Slime. Physical attacks don't work, and it's poisonous too. That is not something Adventurers like us from the starter village can handle!"
"Slime..." Darkness, however, flushed in a deeply suspicious way and cupped her cheeks with both hands. "A Monster that melts clothes, covers your whole body in slime, and even seeps into the gaps in your armor... And it's a Demon King's General? Ah... Arcanletia truly is the City of Dreams!"
"Everybody shut up! Let me think."
"I've got it! If Hans finds out the town is fine the day after he poisons it, he'll definitely come back at night to poison it again. So all we need to do is have Aqua wait there. After Hans finishes poisoning the spring, Aqua goes in and purifies it. That way, we can solve the problem without fighting Hans head-on."
The atmosphere in the small inn room had been stretched tight to the breaking point, but the moment Kōichi said that genius plan out loud, it fell into dead silence.
"Wait, Kōichi, you mean..." Kazuma put down the luggage he had already packed and asked cautiously, "We don't fight him? We just let him poison it, then wait until he leaves before cleaning it up? We play a sanitation-worker game every night where he dumps garbage and we sweep it away?"
"Exactly." Kōichi crossed his legs and gave an extremely wicked, lazy grin. "Charging head-on at a Demon King's General is what Heroes do. We're just Adventurers here on vacation. Hans thinks no one knows what he's doing. As long as we don't show ourselves, he'll keep assuming the dose wasn't strong enough. Since he wants to poison it, let him poison it as much as he wants. Aqua's magic is infinite anyway, right?"
"Whoa! Kōichi, that idea is amazing!" Aqua jumped up excitedly, completely failing to realize she was about to become a walking human water purifier. "This is what they call a righteous tug-of-war! I'll use my endless divine power to wring that Slime dry!"
"Tch. It sounds cowardly, but it surprisingly suits us." Megumin lowered her staff in disappointment. "I was hoping to see the grand spectacle of a Slime melting in a giant fireball."
"We're... not fighting?" Darkness looked unusually dejected, her whole body seeming to darken. "I was looking forward to being swallowed by that huge Slime, having my entire body corroded by slime, my clothes torn to shreds... The thrill of being personally ravaged by a Demon King's General..."
"Go dream about that kind of thing!"
Kōichi chopped Darkness on the head with the side of his hand.
And so, over the next few days, Arcanletia witnessed an unprecedented and utterly absurd series of late-night battles.
Monday night: Kōichi brought Aqua. Hans hummed as he spat into the spring. After Hans left, Aqua cursed under her breath while washing the pool until it reflected light.
Tuesday night: Kazuma brought Aqua. Hans noticed yesterday's poison seemed to have had no effect, so he increased the dose and even dropped a lump of his own body into the water. After Hans left, Aqua cast an enhanced purification while retching.
Wednesday night: Darkness brought Aqua. Hans had already begun questioning his life. He roared at the spring, "Why?! Why is it still plain water the next day?!" Then he frantically poured poison into the water. After Hans left, Aqua not only purified the water, but also purified Darkness, who had been hiding nearby trying to get splashed by the poisoned water, leaving her feeling refreshed and clear-headed.
By Friday night, everyone had gathered in the inn to watch Wiz observe Hans's condition through a Crystal Ball.
Inside the Crystal Ball, Hans's once-flowing golden hair had become thin and dry, and his carefully tailored suit hung wrinkled from his body. He had shrunk by a full three sizes. He was kneeling beside the Great Holy Spring, howling miserably at the moon.
"Impossible... This is impossible! I am a Deadly Poison Slime! My poison is strong enough to corrode a dragon! Why... why have this city's hot springs not turned foul? Why do they taste sweeter and sweeter instead?! Could it be... Could I actually be a mutant Pure Water Slime?!"
Watching Hans on the verge of collapse, Kōichi calmly took a sip of the Holy Water Aqua had just "produced."
"See? I told you mental torture works much better than violence. Aqua, tonight Yunyun is going with you. Remember to add extra magic. He still looks a little too energetic, so let's make him question his own species tonight."
"No problem! Watch me! Sacred Highness Purification!!!" Aqua was already hooked. By now, she thought this game of him poisoning and her cleaning was even more fun than Nature's Beauty.
Wiz watched from the side as her former colleague was tortured into this state, a huge drop of cold sweat running down her forehead.
"Um... Kōichi-san, Hans-san really looks like he's about to lose his mind... If he finds out the truth, there might be a terrifying explosive mutation..."