Water Magician

In the tent.

“Arthur-san, please explain what happened in detail. What happened on the 40th floor?”

Hugh poured water into his and Arthur’s cup and sat down on a chair.

“Let me see. Well, I shall start from after we were transported.”

Arthur took a gulp of water and began his recollection.

“We were suddenly moved to the 40th floor. At the same time, Clive and his team who seemed to be working on the 10th floor were also transported. Furthermore, Clive and his team were transported in front of a group of Devils.”

Arthur reported the facts in short sentences, like in bullet points.

“Debiru? Devil? Eh? Are these Devils the Devils that appear in the teachings of the temple?”

“Yeah, those Devils.”

Hugh was surprised.

Naturally.

There had been no encounters with Devils in Central Nations for the last 200 years.

200 years would roughly equate to eight generations ago.

It was the age of his grandfather’s, grandfather’s, grandfather’s, grandfather’s … it was a daunting length of time ago.

Stories from such an era were almost all legends by now.

He barely knew about the name 『Devil』 because it appeared in the 『Story』 that the temple taught and spread, but that was all he knew about them.

“And there were fifty of them, including three stronger individuals, and to top it off, a Devil Prince as well.”

“Devil Prince … those that will eventually become the Devil King? I’m surprised you all survived and managed to return after encountering something like that … No, I’m sorry. That’s because Arthur and Abel and the others were there.”

Hugh said, shaking his head thinking that it would be impossible to survive that normally.

However, Advisor Arthur shook his head and denied it.

“No … Abel was certainly amazing. As expected. Without him, we would have been wiped out early. But even Abel was inches away from being killed by the Devil Prince … … “

“Eh …? Then how … no way …”

“Yeah, Ryo appeared at that moment.”

The sight of Ryo breaking through the 40th-floor ceiling and descending from the sky was truly stunning even for Arthur.

First of all, he had never heard of breaking through the floor of a dungeon.

And when he asked after it was over, Ryo told him that he traveled all the way from the surface to the 40th floor by relying on that method …

Impossible!

Yes, it was impossible by common sense.

Some of Arthur’s acquaintances were top-notch Water-Attribute Magicians. He was well acquainted with several of them.

But probably none of them could break through the floor of the dungeon.

Neither could Fire-Attribute or Wind-Attribute Magicians.

In fact, he couldn’t do it even with the Earth-Attribute … he was sure of it because he once personally attempted it on-site and it didn’t work.

It was possible to scrape the surface slightly, but … it would regenerate after a while.

That was the characteristic of the floors and walls of the dungeon.

And … a young man who manipulated Water-Attribute Magic that he had never seen or heard before … was doing ridiculous things as if it was commonplace.

“Hugh. Who the hell is that young man named Ryo …”

That was a question that remained in Arthur’s mind since the battle between Ryo and the Devils.

But, of course, he couldn’t get a satisfactory answer.

“Even if you ask me … he’s just the one who brought Abel back from beyond the Devil’s Mountain …”

Hugh then told Advisor Arthur about Abel’s return.

“I see, so he is Abel’s friend …”

“Yeah, they’re definitely on good terms.”

As a person who knew Abel from an early age, for Abel to have a 『friend』 after becoming independent was an extremely significant matter.

At the same time, he was somewhat happy.

For Abel, Rihya, Rin, and Warren were, of course, his precious companions.

Irreplaceable companions.

However, they were not 『friends』.

They might develop a man and woman relationship, but not a relationship of friends.

Friends, after all, must be on an equal footing.

Unfortunately, those three who knew about Abel’s various circumstances cannot and will not wish to be on an equal footing with Abel.

And apart from those three, nobody in the City of Rune had a possibility of establishing an equal relationship with Abel …

There were only a few in the royal capital who could … but how far could they be considered 『friends』 …?

Abel was adored by his juniors, but that wasn’t friendship.

Perhaps Phelps of the B-rank party White Brigade could be a friend, but Phelps probably didn’t want to.

Even though he treated him in a relaxed manner, to Phelps, Abel was essentially a person he should follow.

Whereas now, a young man named Ryo was said to be Abel’s 『friend』.

Arthur found that to be great.

Moreover, that young man was absurdly strong!

In this world, or any world, strength was justice.

No matter how correct you are, it will not be accepted without the 『strength』 to back that claim.

Overturn the opposition’s 『strength』.

It’s not a question of what is right or wrong, but whoever has the greatest strength.

Thinking to that point, Arthur shook his head a little and stopped.

“Ryo is terrifyingly strong. No, he was terrifyingly strong. How strong was he? He was strong enough to kill the Devil Prince in an instant.”

“……Ha?”

Hugh couldn’t comprehend.

He knew that Ryo was strong. Abel claimed so and he had heard stories from others as well.

However, killing the Devil Prince instantly …?

“Is that … possible?”

“Because I saw it first-hand, the question of whether it is possible or impossible is now meaningless.”

Arthur was right, but … Hugh could not easily accept it.

“By the way, he also killed three of the Devil Prince’s followers in an instant. All three at the same time. As to how he defeated them, I have completely no clue.”

At that point, Arthur had no choice but to laugh.

He had asked Abel on the way back, but Abel said he couldn’t see it either.

“Abel did say that Ryo was extraordinary.”

“I’m not sure if that alone is sufficient to express it …”

“Nevertheless, what else can we do? I believe the most important thing now is for that extraordinary Magician to remain on good terms with Abel and not turn hostile to our country. Hugh feels the same way too, right?”

“For the same reason, he would not be hostile to the City of Rune.”

Then Hugh exhaled a deep sigh.

“As a friend of Abel, we can say that he is on our side, but it would be troublesome if some idiotic noble tries to touch Ryo. I’m not going to write about Ryo in the report. That’s okay with you, right?”

“Okay, I will not include Ryo’s name in the report either.”

In that way, Ryo once again avoided being involved in the power struggle of the nobles.