Chapter 882: The Demon Lord Army Has a Conspiracy
"This must be a conspiracy by the Eris followers!"
Aqua hastily jumped up, shouting righteously.
"No, I must have my adorable followers spread this news! It would be best to shatter the faith in Eris, then take the opportunity to gather all the faith-shattered followers under my command!"
Once this thought crossed her mind, Aqua charged toward the door with renewed vigor.
"Stop! Are you going to sling mud without even investigating? You just want to take this chance to badmouth Eris followers, don't you? Don't do something so disrespectful to the goddess!"
Darkness quickly wrapped her arms tightly around Aqua's waist, preventing her from taking even one step out of the inn.
"Darkness is unexpectedly devout in her faith toward the goddess Eris."
Megumin looked at her with surprise, having never seen Darkness make that kind of expression before.
"Well, she is a Crusader, so it's connected to faith."
Kazuma nodded in agreement.
Crusaders and Priests were both professions that required followers to become, one specializing in combat and the other in magic—similar to Swordsmen and Mages. The difference was that Crusaders and Priests both possessed holy attribute powers, while Swordsmen and Mages did not.
Of course, since Darkness had allocated all her skill points to defense without putting any into attack skills, she had almost no holy power—only maxed-out durability.
"Darkness, let go of me! This is definitely Eris's conspiracy, no doubt about it!"
"You've escalated the problem again, haven't you? Jumping straight from followers to the goddess level! Stop making baseless accusations! If you ask me, it's more likely a conspiracy by the Demon Lord Army!"
Aqua and Darkness wrestled with each other, stirring up dust in the process.
"What kind of nonsense is Darkness spouting? How could the Demon Lord Army possibly have any operations here, right, boss?"
Kazuma was amused by the idea.
The boss of the Demon Lord Army was right here enjoying the hot springs—who would dare cause trouble here? Wouldn't that be like digging dirt on the boss's head, asking for death?
"..."
Eiji remained silent.
"...Boss, aren't you going to say something? I'm feeling a bit uneasy now!"
Kazuma was immediately frightened, speaking timidly.
"Well... um, I'm not really in a position to say."
Eiji's tone was vague and evasive.
"Maybe we should head back, boss."
Kazuma proposed with a sincere expression. "Actually, the hot springs aren't that great anyway, right?"
"What are you afraid of? I'll handle everything!"
Eiji rolled his eyes, giving Kazuma a look of disdain.
"That's not what I meant, boss. I'm saying, isn't this operation here directed by the Demon King?"
Kazuma leaned in closer, implying something.
"I think it's acting on its own."
Eiji rolled his eyes again.
If this operation here was really directed by me, why would I come here to enjoy the hot springs?
And bring you troublemakers along?
"Then it's fine. Do your best, boss!"
Kazuma immediately relaxed, smiling peacefully.
If there's trouble, the boss handles it; if there are benefits, I take them!
"What are you two talking about?"
Megumin looked at the two suspiciously, feeling like there was some big secret between them.
"Don't worry about it, kid!"
"I'm almost an adult! Don't look down on me!"
Megumin immediately bristled and started arguing with Kazuma.
From the current perspective, it seemed highly likely that the actions in Alcanretia were Hans acting on his own authority. The so-called secret mission probably referred to this matter.
The Demon Lord Army had suffered losses here before, and they had taken a major hit from the Axis Cult at that. It wasn't strange for Hans to hold a grudge against the Axis Cult.
"Aqua, what exactly went wrong with the hot spring run by the church?"
Eiji stepped forward, separating Aqua and Darkness, intending to get more detailed information.
"They poisoned it!"
Aqua, being held by Eiji, immediately answered his question out of fear of being hit.
"If you bathe in that hot spring, you might develop skin diseases like rashes at best, or even die from weakness at worst!"
"Boo!"
She suddenly reached out and swiped at Darkness, who was being held on the other side.
Are you a cat?
"It seems we've confirmed it then."
Eiji released both of them, letting them continue wrestling as if no one else was around.
"Confirmed what?"
Megumin looked over curiously, the winged kitten resting on her upright chest.
"This is the work of Hans, the Deadly Poison Slime - one of the Demon Lord Army's executives. He can concoct various poisons, so he must be the one who poisoned the church's hot spring!"
"So certain?"
Megumin looked at Eiji suspiciously. Why would she assume it was the Demon Lord Army just based on poison alone?
This person really—
"Actually, I ran into Hans while I was bathing in the hot spring earlier."
Eiji said with a serious expression.
"I heard him say he was going to target the hot springs in the city, so of course I'm certain!"
"So you're just working backwards from that!"
Megumin rolled her eyes. And here you were putting on that deep, detective-solving-a-case act?
"But even if he said he's targeting hot springs, there are so many in the city. Which one would he attack?"
There were at least hundreds of hot springs here, of various sizes. If they had to check each one individually, by the time they found him, the city's hot springs would probably already be ruined!
"Darkness, come here!"
Eiji beckoned, calling over his summoned creature Darkness.
"What is it?"
"Take my badge and investigate at this city's guild. It shouldn't be just the Axis Cult's hot spring that got poisoned."
"The badge, let me play with it!"
The moment Aqua heard about the badge, her eyes turned green with excitement as she pounced over.
Eiji stepped forward, mercilessly stomping Aqua under his foot, and handed the royal badge to Darkness.
"Understood, I'll go right away!"
Darkness respectfully accepted the badge and headed out toward the guild branch.
The guild in this world was established by the state, with its headquarters in the royal capital and branches in every city, greatly accelerating the flow of information.
"Kazuma, Megumin, Aqua - you go out and investigate. Visit the hot spring shops in person and see if there's a brown-haired, muscular middle-aged man appearing around those places!"
"Why? I was just about to go to the hot spring. Hehehe, the long-awaited mixed bathing!"
"Yeah, at least let us bathe in the hot spring first!"
Both Megumin and Aqua echoed Kazuma's opinion.
"Three hundred million."
Eiji said expressionlessly.
"I'll go right away! I love working!"
"I'm the explosion mage destined to become the ultimate work master sooner or later!"
"Wait for me!"
The three of them hastily ran out of the inn.
The entrance suddenly fell silent.
"Ah, these people, none of them let me rest easy!"
Eiji felt inexplicably weary.
He had only come to soak in the hot springs, so why did both his underlings have to cause him such major troubles?
Kazuma was a troublemaker, and even the Demon Lord Army couldn't stay quiet. Do you all feel uncomfortable if you're not stirring up trouble?