The next morning.
The beach that was filled with lifeless corpses now has people of different races shambling around like zombies collecting trash.
Some try to escape, but the kids act as police and catch them.
They’re at the top even on an island filled with the strongest races, so people can’t escape from them that easily.
“All right, I think that does it.”
After the trash is picked up, everyone disperses.
The ones left are Reina, who wants to check the tools one last time, and the kids playing around her.
“Is there anything I can do, Reina?”
“No. I just want to clean a little more, so I can handle it.”
That leaves me with nothing to do.
Should I go play in the water with the kids again? I think, but then Livia and Merlin approach me.
“If it’s okay with you, can we test if we can go to the underwater temple?”
“The spell didn’t show any problems yesterday, but from what I heard it feels pretty advanced. It’s a little scary, so I do want to test how far it will go.”
“Yes, of course.”
If there is any sort of trouble, at least I’ll survive.
From what I tested yesterday, it should be okay for hundreds of meters, but I hear the underwater temple is further down.
“I’ll be right back, Reina.”
“Yes. See you later.”
Snow looks like she’s considering coming with me for a moment, but then chooses to stay with the others and waves.
I wave back, and follow Livia towards the entrance of the underwater temple.
◇ ◇ ◇
Surprisingly, she takes me to a forest.
I wonder where we’re going as we walk, and then I hear a big waterfall.
“This way.”
What I see is a giant waterfall worthy of that sound.
I’ve seen a few waterfalls in my travels, but nothing this big.
It’s not as big as the one in Niagara I saw on TV, but still…
It’s quite the scale.
“So it’s here?”
“Yes. If you dive into that waterfall lake, there should be a tunnel that connects to the center of the island.”
“Eh…”
I figured something like this would be connected to a river in the mountain, but no?
“Now let’s see how far we can go with our own power alone.”
“Eh? Me too?”
“Of course.”
Says Merlin as she strips to her swimsuit.
She uses magic energy to look younger, so her body is as beautiful as ever.
Livia is also in her swimsuit… Come to think of it, is this really okay?
It’d be one thing if another guy saw Reina or Tiltue in their swimsuits, but I wouldn’t want them looking at them with dirty eyes.
Livia is Elga’s wife, so I don’t mean to ogle but…
“No, thinking about it too much will make it worse.”
I’m fine with looking at a swimsuit. I’m being too self-conscious.
I look at them again with that in mind, and don’t really think anything in particular, so I’ll just jump in the water.
“Shall we?”
“I don’t know how far I can go, but I intend to come up before I reach my limit.”
“Yes, of course.”
Merlin casts magic on herself and me, and I’m enveloped in a thin film again.
Both go underwater, and I also dive, and I see Livia’s lower half changed into something like a fish or a dragon.
She’s more like a mermaid than an aquatic divine beast…
It reminds me of anime for kids I watched a long time ago. It’s nostalgic. And she’s swimming towards the bottom really fast.
So fast…!
I look to the side, and see Merlin is also using her water magic to advance swiftly.
I swim as fast as I can to catch up, but can’t.
Should I use wind magic like I did to catch up to the squid?
That idea crosses my mind, but we’re not in the ocean yet. It could go very wrong.
Come to think of it, I never went scuba diving in my old world, so this is my first time underwater like this.
I look around and see sea creatures moving far away from us as we swim really fast.
Among them is one big enough to swallow us whole, which frantically moves its tail to get away.
I’m treated the same underwater as above water.
I’m a bit shocked, because I kind of liked the idea of feeding animals in the ocean, but I still have to swim fast to try to keep up with Merlin and Livia.
How far are we going anyway?
We’ve been going for a while, but I can’t see the floor.
Then suddenly, Livia stops and turns around.
I think she’s checking if we’re still here.
“We are almost at the tunnel. Are you still all right?”
“Yes, no problem for now.”
“…Oh?”
“What is it?”
“Well… We can speak.”
I didn’t expect to be able to speak underwater.
Merlin looks exasperated.
“Hum… Didn’t I explain this magic with Reina?”
“Well…”
I did hear a lot about it, but I forgot.
“Good grief. How does that even work, using magic without any knowledge of it?”
“Hahaha… Don’t try to make sense of it.”
It’s a cheat god came up with and gave to me.
Merlin says that’s not something I should say about myself, and I bow while she glares.
And Livia giggles.
“If you are struggling to breathe, tell me right away.”
“Yes. I’m fine for now. If necessary, I’ll reroute Arata’s magic energy to me.”
“Won’t I drown?”
“Do something before that happens.”
This is an experiment, so Merlin cast magic on me, but when we’re really going there, I’ll cast it myself. It’s safer that way.
Her technique is better than mine, but judging by the capacity of my Storage Magic, my magic energy is immense.
After a while, we reach the tunnel.
I see Livia go in, and when we go after her, we hit a wall and continue down.
“This is the center of the island.”
I hear as we go deeper, and Merlin gets progressively slower.
“Are you okay?”
“My magic energy is fine. I just don’t think I can take the water pressure…”
Merlin points to the magic energy pipe connected to the surface.
If it becomes narrower, then naturally, there will be less oxygen.
“I think if I go any further I’ll either faint because the oxygen is too thin, or the tube will be cut.”
“Apparently. How about using my magic energy?”
“I should be able to go double the distance, but…”
We don’t know where the underwater temple is, so suffice to say, we don’t know how far it is.
I can see Livia thinking about something.
“We will have to go a little deeper.”
“The pipe won’t be able to take this water pressure with my magic energy.”
Merlin touches it with her finger and assesses the situation calmly.
“We should go back before anything bad happens.”
“Yes. Sorry.”
“It’s okay. The whole point was to test how far we can go.”
“Yes… But to think I would ever hold someone back underwater…”
She says with regret, but I think coming down this far is amazing.
Not to mention that she brought me here too.
Actually, I didn’t realize it, but my tube is pretty thin.
The fact that I don’t have any trouble breathing really shows how not normal my body is.
I guess I should’ve thought about it before, but would I even drown if I didn’t have this magic?
Maybe I should test it…
But Reina would get mad and call me an idiot, so I won’t tell her.
As I think about that, we return to the surface.
I go back home with Merlin, and after we explain what happened, they start discussing it.
“Then it looks like you won’t have enough magic energy.”
“Yes. Air was flowing nicely, so the problem is the strength of the tube.”
“Then should we just increase the magic energy being infused?”
“Then the durability…”
They start listing what went well and what didn’t, and talking about what to do about the latter.
There’s some magic theory in there that I honestly don’t understand.
I’m sure they’d be first class workers or entrepreneurs if they were born in my world.
And all I do is think about how this is a conversation between top grade mages.
Maybe that’s why it didn’t work out, but it’s too late for that now.
“We’re happy now, so it’s fine.”
I lightly stroke Snow’s hair on a blanket spread on the floor.
“If Reina was in my old world…”
I start picturing her there.
With glasses like when she reads and a corporate uniform. A career woman through and through… No, she’d be more like a skilled manager or a private secretary.
I peek at her and think of other possible futures.
If she was in my old world, she’d still be a student. That means wearing a uniform and going to school.
“She’d definitely be out of my league. Like a student council president.”
Someone really serious who was respected by the teachers, accomplished in school and sports, and admired by boys and girls.
It’s very easy to imagine.
And would I be the slovenly childhood friend?
She’d come wake me up after I overslept, and we’d go to school together.
Our parents and people around us would see us as friends, but they’d ask why Reina is with that guy. And my junior Tiltue would hug me…
“I think I just read too many light novels.”
Ah, I haven’t really thought about my old world that much, but picturing that is fun.
But I shouldn’t do that too much.
I’m happy here, and I have my family.
You best start believing in lightnovel stories, Mister Arata… you’re in one!
Thanks. 🖖