An ordinary profession creates the world's strongest

They entered Ankaji through the gleaming, massive gates. To prevent the intrusion of sand and dust, the gates themselves seemed to be shielded by magical shields. The guards at the gates only widened their eyes slightly when they saw Brittier, but didn't react much.

Perhaps influenced by Ankaji's current situation, the guards looked depressed, listless, and somewhat self-destructive. However, when they realized that the next lord was sitting in the back seat, they immediately stood at attention and regained their spirits.

The entrance gate of Ankaji is built on a high platform. This design seems to allow people who visit here to take in the beauty of Ankaji at first sight.

The oasis to the east reflects sunlight, creating a shimmering surface. Numerous trees grow around it, creating a lush green scene. Water from the oasis flows into the city through several rivers. Despite being located in the heart of the desert, small boats are moored everywhere. Lush green plazas are scattered throughout the city, clearly demonstrating the careful use of the vast land.

The north side appeared to be agricultural land, as if attesting to Ankaji's abundant fruit production. From a distance, one could discern a variety of fruit cultivation. To the west, a particularly magnificent palace stood out, its white, a stark contrast to the other buildings. Its stately appearance and scale, unlike the others, suggested it was the lord's residence. Surrounding the palace were blocks of neatly arranged, crudely constructed buildings, likely representing administrative districts.

It is clearly a desert country, but it makes people want to use water to describe it... The Principality of Ankaji is such a place.

"This is truly spectacular..."

"...Mm, it's a beautiful city."

Hajime couldn't help but express his feelings, and Yue agreed. The other members seemed to be in the same mood and exclaimed in praise in unison.

"But... this city seems to have lost its spirit."

Miao said quietly.

As she said, in contrast to the spectacular cityscape, Ankaji is shrouded in a gloomy atmosphere.

Normally, this place is a bustling hub for the Eneson and its fruit and vegetable trade. It's also a popular tourist destination, a vibrant and bustling city. But now... the streets are deserted, and almost all shops are closed. Every household has its doors and windows shut, as if quietly waiting for the storm to pass. A dead silence shrouds the city.

"...I really want to show the Apostle and Mr. Hajime the vibrant Principality, but I'm sorry, I don't have the time right now. Once everything is settled, I'll personally lead you on a city tour. The first thing we need to do is go to that palace and meet my father."

Hajime and the others agreed with Biz's opinion and headed towards the palace, turning their backs on the oasis that was the cause of the incident.

"Father!"

"Biz! Why... no, wait, what is that!?"

Led by Biz, Hajime and his group enter the palace and are taken directly to Lord Longy's office. Although they say the lord is in poor health, he seems to be handling his official duties through willpower, relying on recovery magic and a large amount of magic potion.

Langji was surprised to see his son, who had gone to the capital a day earlier to seek help, return. Seeing his son's current state, he shared the same stunned reaction as the palace staff had earlier.

But this is not surprising, because Biz is now floating in the air.

To be more precise, Biz was lying on the cross floater floating in the air, letting the cross floater carry him.

Biz was very weak, and although he felt somewhat better after resting in the car, he still had difficulty walking.

Kaori couldn't bear to see this and wanted to help him, but...

As Biz blushed and looked at Kaori with an emotional expression and said, "Ahh, the Apostle personally supported me...", Hajime rammed him with the cross floater.

Incidentally, Hajime wasn't jealous, even though Kaori thought so and kept stealing glances at him with a blushing face, but Hajime just didn't want to create a second or third Kouki or Hiyama.

Despite the somewhat embarrassing sight of Biz clinging to the cross-shaped floater, he quickly explained what had happened. As he spoke, he took the serene stone powder brought by someone who looked like his butler, and his body gradually recovered. After Kaori cast a healing spell, he wasn't completely recovered, but he was well enough to move around without any problems.

Furthermore, even complete recovery doesn't mean the toxins dissolved in the body's water have vanished; rather, the effects of the Jingyin Stone have rendered them ineffective. Since the toxins are dissolved in the body's water, they are likely to be excreted over time, so for now, we can only wait and see.

"Let's get started. Kaori, take Shia to the infirmary and the patient accommodation facility, and take the magic crystal with you. We'll go treat the water source. Lord, is there an open area larger than 200 meters square?"

"Hmm? Well, there are places like that in agricultural areas..."

"Everyone except Kaori and Shia, come with me there. Once the magic crystal is fully charged, Shia will give it to Yue."

Hajime gave his companions instructions. Their tasks were simple, and the plan was as follows: Just like the treatment she had given Biz, Kaori would use "Returning Saint" to absorb some of the patient's magic power, and then use "Manten" to delay the disease. The absorbed magic power would be stored in the magic crystal, and when it was full, it would be given to Yue to replenish the magic power for water production.

After assisting Yue in digging the reservoir, Hajime headed directly to the oasis to investigate the cause of the illness. If they could find the cause, they could solve the problem. If they couldn't, they would head directly to the Gulun Volcano.

At Hajime's command, everyone nodded in response with full energy.

After bidding farewell to Kaori and Shia who were heading to the infirmary, Hajime and the others, accompanied by Lord Langji and many guards and followers, arrived at a place in the agricultural area north of Ankaji.

There was a vast expanse of flat land, more than two hundred meters square, perhaps three times larger. Normally, it seemed to be used for growing some kind of crop, but at this time, it was fallow land.

Langji was still skeptical, glaring at Shi and the others with a look that seemed to say that if they dared to deceive him during this extraordinary period, he would sentence them to death immediately.

Although he held on to a glimmer of hope, he gave them the drinking water they needed to ensure their lives, but common sense told him that it was impossible to do so, so it was understandable that Langji had that look in his eyes.

However, his suspicious look was soon filled with astonishment because of what happened next.

The surroundings were calm and windless, but Yue's golden hair fluttered in the air. The huge magic power shook the atmosphere, and the overflowing magic light dyed the world golden.

The Moon wields the magic of the Age of Gods, an extraordinary power that is enough to crush everything.

“—‘Bad Tribulation’.”

Where the snow-white, delicate hand pointed, a rotating black sphere appeared right above the farmland.

The sphere changed shape over the farmland, gradually flattening into a square, and finally becoming a thin membrane two hundred meters square. After a moment's pause, the membrane fell silently to the ground, crushing the earth as if nothing had happened.

The earth sank under the immense pressure.

A local earthquake occurred on the ground, like a wail from the earth.

In the blink of an eye, the farmland squeezed by the super gravity turned into a huge water reservoir 200 meters square and 5 meters deep.

Hajime glanced at Longi and the others, and saw that everyone, including the entourage, had their mouths and eyes wide open.

They were so shocked that they seemed speechless, but they were clearly screaming "What the hell!?"

Yue finished casting Age of Gods magic at 50% power and exhaled. While not completely drained of magic power, it was still a significant amount consumed in one go, and Yue felt a slight sense of fatigue.

Even though he could absorb the magic power stored in the magic crystals as he had done during the Battle of Ur, considering that he still had to capture the [Gulun Volcano] later, it was best to conserve the magic power in the magic crystals as much as possible. Furthermore, unlike during the war, time was not a priority, so Yue adopted another method of replenishing magic power.

Yue's body swayed and she fell backwards, but she showed no sign of struggling to stand. This was intentional, and she knew that she wouldn't fall even if she didn't have to stand. As expected, with a thud, Yue's body fell into Shi's arms.

Shi hugged Yue tightly from behind, and directly embraced her body, and this time hugged her from the front; Yue also smiled happily, put her arms around Shi's neck, and hugged Shi tightly.

Then--

“…I’m starting.”

He bit down on Hajime's neck.

——Bite! Suck~

As blood continued to flow from Shi's body, Yue revealed an intoxicated look, licking Shi's neck repeatedly. Yue usually exuded a sensual aura that contradicted her appearance, and after drinking Shi's blood, her sexiness became even more pronounced. Her entire body seemed to emit pheromones, giving off a very seductive impression.

——Mmm, ah, lick, huh~

Normally, the thought of bloodsucking would make one feel horrified, but the beautiful girl's soft moans and the way she licked the neck sexily made the men around her forget to doubt her race and couldn't help but bend down.

The lord, true to his lordship, was the only one who quickly recovered from his shock. He cast a sharp gaze at Hajime and the others, his mind undoubtedly occupied with many thoughts. Although his breathing was a little rapid and his eyes bloodshot, he was undoubtedly examining the situation with great concentration.

Incidentally, Tio also revealed her perverted personality, but she still knew her limits and understood that such a scene was too stimulating for Myuu. Although she was very excited, Tio still firmly blocked Myuu's view from behind.

Myuu kept complaining that she couldn't see, but Tio hugged her tightly from behind, with the back of her head completely buried in Shia's huge breasts, making her unable to resist.

Yue absorbed Hajime's blood and converted it into magic power using "Blood Power Conversion". Then, he left Hajime's neck, licked his lower lip, and kissed Hajime's lips.

As Hajime and Yue gazed passionately at each other, the lord and his hunched attendants coughed dryly. Hajime and Yue gave awkward, wry smiles... and turned around, kissing again.

“No, no, no, we’re not coughing to prevent you from seeing us. I have a lot of questions, like what kind of magic was that just now, or how bloodsucking works, but I want you to do what you need to do right now… Don’t you understand?!”

Hearing the lord's complaints, Hajime and Yue shrugged helplessly. Langji and the others were displeased by their actions, but Hajime and Yue ignored them and went back to their work.

Hajime jumped down from the reservoir, retrieved the Blije from the "treasure vault," and rode it. Hajime used Blije's land preparation function to extract minerals from the soil through "mineral separation." To prevent the water from being absorbed by the soil, he laid a layer of metal on the surface of the reservoir.

When Shi came back after paving the ground, Huan Yue reached out and cast water-attribute magic at the makeshift water reservoir.

"—'Tragedy Wave'."

This magic is an advanced water-attribute magic that can create huge waves to attack the opponent.

A wave created by an ordinary sorcerer would only create a tsunami ten to twenty meters square at most. But when Yue cast the same magic, the scale was completely different. A tsunami fifty meters wide and a hundred meters high suddenly appeared out of nowhere, pouring into the reservoir. The reservoir held approximately two hundred thousand tons of water. She drew on Hajime's blood several more times, replenishing her mana, and then filled it with about half the water, but Hajime's blood had its limits.

Just as Hajime was about to collapse from anemia, Shia rushed to the scene, bearing the magic crystal Kaori had given her. While only a small amount of magic power was drawn from each patient, the sheer number of patients, thousands of whom had accumulated a considerable amount of magic power. Kaori had spent less than two hours at the medical center and related facilities, and in that short time, she had already treated thousands of people. This clearly demonstrated Kaori's abilities to be considered a true hacker.

Afterward, Shia returned to help Kaori, while Yue cast Waves of Trouble again. Soon, the two-hundred-meter-square reservoir was filled with clean, unpolluted water.

“To think such a thing could happen…”

Seeing the impossible situation, Langji stared blankly at the pool in front of him that reflected the sunlight and sparkled like an oasis.

"Anyway, this should hold us over for a while. Next, we need to investigate the oasis... If we can't find the cause, we can use the time we gain to seek support from Shimizu."

"Yes, yes. I have many questions, but... I am truly grateful to you. This will save our people from dying of thirst. I will take you to the oasis now."

Langji seemed to have not yet recovered from the shock, but even so, he still knew what he had to do. He changed his previous attitude and sincerely thanked Shi and the others.

Hajime and his group headed to the oasis.

The oasis still reflected the sunlight and sparkled beautifully, and there was no sign of toxins in the water.

however……

"Um?"

"……beginning?"

Shi frowned and stared at a point in the oasis; Yue noticed that Shi's expression was different and looked at him with confusion.

"No, it seems the Eye Stone reacted just now... Lord, what is the extent of the investigation team's work?"

"...I remember the information saying they investigated the oasis and its tributaries, as well as the water quality of various wells and underground water veins. The water quality was just as my son described to you: it contained toxins, but no abnormalities were found in the underground water veins. However, the area they investigated only reached a few dozen meters below the oasis, and the bottom has yet to be confirmed."

"Is there any artifact at the bottom of the oasis?"

"No. The oasis is guarded and managed using a certain artifact, but it's located on the ground and is a barrier-type, so it's impossible to contaminate the entire oasis. In fact, the oasis has never been contaminated to this day."

The artifact that Langji mentioned is called "True Judgment", which is actually the Dome of Light that protects Ankaji.

It blocks sand and dust intrusion while allowing essential substances like air and moisture to pass through, making it a very convenient barrier. The user can also determine what substances are allowed through. Beyond its barrier function, it also possesses a detection function, allowing users to set what to detect. The range of detection settings is very wide, perhaps using dark magic or even detecting mental states.

In other words, if it's set to "anyone or anything with ill intentions towards the Oasis," the "True Judgment" will react, relaying the information to Longi, who has the power to set it. The actual settings are, of course, confidential, known only to the Lord. Furthermore, due to the current investigation, the Oasis has been contaminated by the large number of people entering and leaving, so the alert level has been set to the minimum.

“…Oh~ Then, what is that thing?”

[Ankaji Park]'s proud oasis was polluted. Longji clenched his fists in dismay, while Hajime, standing beside him, smiled. Hajime's Mystic Eye Stone had indeed spotted something "foreign" near the center of the oasis.

Langji and others were shocked to hear that there were things under the oasis that shouldn't exist.

Hajime walked to the oasis and took out a metal block shaped like a 500ml plastic bottle from the "treasure house". He poured his magic power directly into the metal block and threw it into the oasis.

Hajime quickly left the oasis and stood beside Yue. Everyone stared at Hajime with confusion, but Hajime remained silent. Just as Langji was about to ask what Hajime had done, a powerful explosion erupted, and a massive column of water erupted from the center of the oasis. Langji and the others were once again left with their mouths wide open, their eyes wide open in astonishment.

"Hmm, surprisingly agile... No, is it because of the high defense?"

This time, Hajime took out about ten of the same items and threw them into the oasis one after another. After a few seconds, explosions erupted again in various locations throughout the oasis, sending up huge columns of water.

What Hajime had thrown in were torpedoes. Since the Melkinen Undersea Ruins, one of the seven labyrinths they were about to visit via Enisen, was located on the ocean floor (according to Meredith), Hajime had the idea that torpedoes might be the weapons used underwater. He had therefore prepared some prototypes. Since this was a rare opportunity, he decided to test it out. For experimental purposes, Hajime threw some torpedoes in. While they were quite powerful, their tracking and speed were insufficient, necessitating improvements.

Incidentally, Hajime used creation magic to imbue ore with the abilities of "detection" and "tracking." This torpedo was created by adding that ore; once locked onto a target, the torpedo automatically tracks and explodes upon contact. In other words, the foreign object in the water is being pursued by an unknown weapon.

"Hey, hey, hey! Mr. Hajime! What the hell did you do! Aaaaaa! The dock's been blown up! There's fish fillets everywhere! The oasis is dyed red!"

"Hmph! Haven't caught any yet? Okay, fifty more..."

The oasis's landscape was gradually destroyed. Langi and the others cried out in pain, but Hajime ignored them, muttering dangerous words as he prepared to advance. Langi and his men shouted, "Stop!" and hugged Hajime, desperately trying to stop him.

Langji and the others were unaware of the "foreign object" the Mystic Eye had seen. To them, the situation was as if Hajime had suddenly dropped an unidentified object into the oasis, destroying the docks and other facilities, and killing the freshwater fish.

However, judging by the barrier's reaction, Hajime's act of destruction had no malicious intent. Even Langji couldn't hide his confusion at this inexplicable situation. In any case, he took the lead in protecting the oasis.

Hajime was getting annoyed with Langji and the others hugging him, and was about to shake them off and move on.

Just at this time--

「!?」

Only the sound of breaking wind was heard, and countless tentacles made of water attacked Shi and others.

Hajime instantly drew out Donal & Shulak to counter the attack, blocking the water tentacles. Yue froze the tentacles, but Tio used fire to instantly vaporize them.

Langji and the others looked toward the oasis, only to be met with a scene that startled them once again, for the umpteenth time that day. As if enraged by Hajime's relentless bombardment, the water surface suddenly rose, defying gravity and rising to form a hill nearly ten meters high.

"What's this……"

Langji muttered to himself in a daze, but his voice sounded particularly loud.

A monster emerged from the oasis, ten meters long, with countless writhing tentacles and a glowing red magic stone within its body. If I were to describe it... the most appropriate name would probably be slime.

However, this slime's size was unusual. Slime-type monsters typically only reached about a meter in length, and they probably couldn't manipulate the water around them. At the very least, they could only use their own bodies as tentacles.

"What exactly is this monster? ...Is it Bachuram?"

Langji said blankly. The so-called Bachuram is the slime-like monster from Todas.

"It doesn't matter what it is. This thing is the cause of the oasis pollution, right? I bet it has some special magic that releases toxins."

"...This speculation is indeed reasonable, but can you defeat it?"

While Hajime was talking to Langji, Oasis Bachuram launched a furious tentacle attack, and Yue and Tio were fighting back with magic.