indianbanksassociation #202 - The Law of Conservation of Smiles
#202 - The Law of Conservation of Smiles
“Oh, isn't this quite beautiful? As expected of the Temple of Arcanretia.”
Aqua couldn't help but praise.
They had already arrived inside the temple after breaking the barrier.
The interior of the temple wasn't as dilapidated as they had imagined. Although the edges and corners were covered in moss and seaweed, and lake water constantly dripped from the walls, it was indeed quite impressive in terms of its internal structure and decor, just as Aqua had said.
The Axis cultists, despite their mental issues, probably didn't have any problems with aesthetics.
“The blessing of the Water Goddess…?”
Kazuma looked around.
It was certain that this temple was built by the Axis Order, because its internal structure and layout were almost identical to the Axis Order's headquarters cathedral… No, to be precise, the headquarters cathedral was identical to this temple.
Suddenly, his arm was grabbed, and a warm, elastic sensation followed.
“Wah!?”
“What's wrong, Yunyun?”
“A drop of water fell on my head…”
“Be careful, this isn't a place to be so carefree.”
Megumin said, while subtly pulling Yunyun away.
Kazuma also looked around and sighed, “Speaking of which, this temple is submerged in the lake… If it's in Arcanretia, it must be a temple dedicated to Aqua, right?”
“Of course! Look, my statue is also enshrined… Ah! Wait, why is my statue so tattered!?”
Aqua pointed in a direction where there was a statue.
It was about 5 meters tall.
It looked similar to the statue standing on the main road of Arcanretia's hot springs. The only problem was that its entire left half was severely damaged, as if someone had violently smashed it.
The broken pieces of the left half hadn't disappeared, but had fallen at the foot of the statue. If pieced together, it would probably be a complete statue.
“Kazuma, look! My precious statue is actually…!”
“Could it be that you incurred some resentment?”
Considering the fanaticism of the Axis Order, this was understandable.
“Forget about that, let's move deeper in.”
“What do you mean 'forget about that'! Are you saying it doesn't matter that my beauty has been destroyed?!”
“It doesn't matter, so what?”
“Waaaaah——————”
Aqua shouted angrily and started wrestling with Kazuma.
Honestly, it didn't really matter. Anyway, it would sink back into the lake at sunset, and no one would come to this temple to pray, so even repairing it wouldn't make much sense.
“The labyrinth inside seems to be flooded too, so be careful of aquatic monsters. And we have to go back before sunset, so let's move quickly.”
At Yunyun's reminder, the group stopped fooling around and began exploring the interior of the temple.
They thought it would be similar to the headquarters cathedral, but they didn't expect it to be so different inside. The space inside was very large, with many paths extending out, but most of the paths were flooded and inaccessible. They could only walk forward along the steps above the water.
“...Hmm?”
“What's wrong, Darkness?”
As they walked into the spacious interior of the temple, Darkness suddenly stopped and frowned, looking at a certain spot.
“No, I just feel like something moved in the shadows over there…”
“Is it a monster? Kazuma, be careful.”
“Really? There's no sign of anything… Ugh, ugh, ugh?!”
Just as Kazuma was looking over with a skeptical attitude and without any vigilance, a black shadow launched forward with lightning speed and completely enveloped his head.
“W-What is this?!”
“It's a squid! A squid is wrapped around Kazuma's head!”
It was a large, turquoise-blue squid. Two strong and powerful tentacles trapped Kazuma's head, and the rest of its tentacles were constantly wrapping around his body. The powerful suckers deformed Kazuma's head.
Kazuma kept pulling at the squid, letting out muffled angry shouts: “What a big squid! And it's so slippery! Damn it, it's stuck to my face and I can't get it off…!”
No matter how much he pulled, the big squid wouldn't come off, making it difficult for him to breathe.
“Leave it to me!”
Darkness quickly stepped forward and said, “Okay, Kazuma, squat down.”
“Ah, it's being sucked by the suckers, pull it slowly… Ouch, ouch, ouch——————!”
Kazuma screamed in pain.
It was imaginable how strong the perverted female knight's grip was, but even so, she couldn't pull off the squid, and even she was a little helpless.
“Can't get it off like this? How troublesome.”
“Didn't I tell you to pull it slowly!? You're using so much strength, my head is going bald————Aaaaaah!”
Perhaps dissatisfied with Kazuma's shouting, Darkness puffed out her cheeks and pulled harder, causing him to grit his teeth and scream in pain, but he was helpless.
Aqua immediately covered her mouth and giggled.
“Pfft, pfft! Getting wrapped by a squid is too pathetic! It's because you're too careless that you got targeted, you deserve it! In a labyrinth, you need to pay more attention to your surroundings… Eh!?”
Before she could react, a squid fell from the ceiling and wrapped around her head.
“Pfft——”
The smile didn't disappear, it just moved.
Yunyun couldn't hold back like some ghost rider and laughed out loud.
Yunyun exclaimed in fear: “Oh no, the squid is on Aqua-sama's face again!”
“Really… Didn't I say to be careful of aquatic monsters? We don't know where they're hiding, so we have to be careful.”
Megumin, as a senior adventurer, lectured the conceited idiot goddess Aqua.
“Ugh, ugh, ugh——————!”
Aqua flailed around like a headless fly, probably not listening to Megumin's words.
Yunyun couldn't let the two of them waste time in this place, so she used lightning magic to completely paralyze the squid, rescuing the two from the squid's grasp, and the result was—
“Waaah… Thank you, Yunyun… Thank you!”
“Yunyun, you are my god!”
The two hugged his thigh and cried.
Enough!
I might as well just leave these two idiots here.
After that, Aqua kept clamoring to go back, but she didn't take any action, probably because this was her temple. Kazuma didn't shout to leave, but he turned on the Enemy Detection and Clairvoyance skills, diligently acting as a scout.
After a lot of trouble, they were able to continue moving forward.
They came to the next room.
“What is this? It looks like an altar…”
“There's a hole in the base, it might be a trap, so it's best not to touch it randomly.”
“Hmm, it doesn't feel like something will fly out. Is there anything that can be inserted into it?”
Megumin looked at the hole in the base of the altar and thought it was probably some kind of mechanism.
Darkness suddenly said, “I see, so it's that kind of mechanism.”
“If we find something that can be inserted, let's come back here and take a look. Anyway, let's explore other places first.” Yunyun said.
So the group began to pay attention to their surroundings.
Whether the original Axis cultists knew that this temple would sink into the lake, or the Axis Order at that time was just terribly poor, they couldn't find anything in the rooms they passed through, not even a piece of information. It felt like everything had been completely emptied.
Until a certain room.
In this room, which was filled with water, there was a path leading to the next room. The others quickly walked to the next room, while Yunyun, who was walking at the back, noticed a glowing reflection in the corner of his eye.
Huh, what's that…
“Kazuma, wait a moment.”
“Hmm? What's wrong, Yunyun? …Hey, where are you going!?”
Under Kazuma's puzzled and confused gaze, Yunyun jumped into the water with a plop.
“I found something good, wait a moment.”
After saying that, he swam towards the bottom of the water.
“...He jumped in without hesitation. Hey, hey, is it okay?”
Kazuma was a little worried.
Everything here was unknown, what if there were monsters? With their mismatched group, they might not be able to help much.
Just as he was uneasy.
Yunyun pointed underwater and said, “Ah, he's back!”
“So fast!”
Kazuma said in astonishment.
Yunyun emerged from the water, smoothed his wet hair, and held something in his right hand.
“...Hah!”
“Yunyun, are you okay? You scared me when you suddenly jumped in.”
“Sorry for scaring you.”
He grabbed the hand Kazuma offered and climbed up, stepping on the edge of the passage.
Megumin handed over his cloak.
“You don't mind?”
“No, the water is very clean! It's cool and comfortable when you dive down.”
Probably because Aqua kept purifying the hot springs, the water in Arcanretia was now very clean and didn't make people feel disgusted.
“That's not important.”
Yunyun handed over the thing in his hand, “Look! Something was glowing in the water, and I was wondering if it was something.”
“This is… a ceremonial short sword?”
Everyone was slightly surprised.
The short sword in Yunyun's hand was about 30 centimeters long. The whole body was silver-white, engraved with intricate and mysterious patterns. There were turquoise gems on the hilt, the blade, and the top of the sword. Overall, it looked very gorgeous, like a work of art.
Such weapons are generally for decoration, and using it to fight enemies would be suicide.
“Wow, how beautiful…!”
“I think it was probably decorated in the temple. Although it's a bit dirty, it should be clean after wiping it.”
Yunyun grinned.
Aqua praised slightly: “I'm impressed you could find it. I don't think most people would notice it in the water.”
“I just happened to see it.” Yunyun waved his hand and said, “More than that, don't you think we just discussed this short sword?”
“Ah, the altar!” xN
Everyone reacted one after another.