From RE0, Sato Kazuma decided to cheat on food and drink

It shouldn't get damaged by water, right?

"...Probably."

Beatrice didn't know how to answer.

"Anyway, the other one isn't very waterproof..."

Kazuma Sato turned to look at Echidna beside him.

Aqua has arrived beside Echidna.

"Kazuma, look at me!"

Aqua then used her power as the goddess of water, and water spouted from Echidna's mouth like a fountain. The little fish that had been stuck in her mouth earlier jumped out with a splash, and even took a moment to slap Echidna's face twice with its tail.

“…”

Even Kazuma Sato finds it hard to understand what is happening now.

However, the most crucial thing right now is not Echidna.

Instead, it was the desperate inhabitants of the Holy Land standing nearby.

Originally, after the liberation of the Holy Land, most of them planned to stay and live here.

Just when they had barely escaped the threat of the forest fire, the Aquayana floods had already destroyed the area, washing away almost all the houses.

The Sanctuary can be said to have been completely destroyed...

These residents still have to leave the Sanctuary and live elsewhere...

Sato Kazuma scratched his head somewhat guiltily and said to the other residents who were gradually waking up:

"Well, I'll arrange accommodations for everyone afterwards... As for compensation and such... please don't worry about it..."

This was completely unexpected by Kazuma Sato.

"Kazuma, quick, look at me!"

At this moment, Aqua came to the side of the unconscious Roswaal. He had been in the water for the longest time and almost drowned.

This was the closest Roswaal had come to death in nearly four hundred years.

Aqua raised her hand, and a miniature fountain appeared in Roswaal's mouth.

With Echidna in her left hand and Roswaal in her right, the fountain's gushing rhythm even seemed to have a certain rhythm to it.

"Enough! It's all your fault, you useless goddess!"

Kazuma Sato reached out and smashed his hand down hard on Aqua's head.

"You hit me! You hit me! You actually hit me! You were just begging me for help!"

Aqua looked at Kazuma Sato with a wronged expression, then squatted on the ground, holding her head in her hands.

"Isn't it all because you created such a huge flood!"

"I already warned you!"

"But, but who would have thought you could actually do it?!"

Sato Kazuma felt a little guilty after saying that.

Aqua did say that, but Kazuma Sato simply dismissed it as bragging.

Who would have thought that Aqua, who usually can't even beat a thug, would actually be this strong?

"Then what did you do to these two people? Were you treating them like a fountain?"

"No way! I was clearing the water out of their lungs, okay! Humph! Do you think I'm the kind of goddess who does nothing but idle around?"

“…”

For the time being, Kazuma Sato was unable to refute the other party, and could only cast his gaze upon the surrounding crowd.

Such egregious damage will likely cost them a huge sum of money.

Fortunately, the slum area has been renovated, so the space should be relatively ample.

If only everything could start over...

Wait, let's start over?

Kazuma Sato's gaze immediately fell on Subaru Natsuki, who was not far away.

Natsuki Subaru felt a chill behind him and quickly turned around, but he didn't notice anything amiss.

"Strange, am I just overthinking it?"

Subaru Natsuki frowned.

Kazuma Sato had already shifted his attention to the other people and turned his head to look elsewhere.

"What happened? What happened?"

Echidna slowly awoke from her pain.

She felt something in her mouth and quickly spat it out.

Wood, pebbles, soil...

Echidna's mind went blank; she had no idea what had just happened.

"Dona Dona, you almost drowned just now."

"This is karma, Donna! You just set this on fire!"

"Um...we should be alright now, right?"

"I never imagined that the mighty Witch of Greed would almost drown just now?"

"so tired."

The voices of the five witches rang out instantly, and Echidna felt a splitting headache.

Damn it, damn it, damn it!

In the end what happened.

Echidna vaguely remembered that she seemed to have been submerged by a flood.

Wait, wait, did Aqua just create the flood?

As she gradually regained consciousness, Echidna remembered what had just happened.

Even at my peak, I could never have done that.

What kind of monster is Aqua...?

Meanwhile, Roswaal gradually regained consciousness.

However, as soon as he woke up, he saw Otto looking for something everywhere.

"Lord Kazuma, we really can't find a saw!"

Otto shouted loudly at Kazuma Sato.

"Goddess of Uselessness, hurry up and make a saw! A chainsaw would be much better!"

"How did you manage to turn into a chainsaw in this world? Did you use me as a wishing well?!"

Aqua walked up to Roswaal while complaining.

The reason they were looking for the saw was to remove the Demon-Sealing Stone from Roswaal's hand.

After all, the key was already missing, and with the recent flood, finding it would be even more difficult.

"I have an idea. Just like Kazuma did, we could burn him to a crisp first, pull his hand out, and then revive him?"

Aqua looked at Kazuma Sato very seriously and asked.

"There's no need for that, Lady Aqua."

Roswaal spoke slowly, a somewhat forced smile on his face.

"But that would be a waste of time!"

"Lady Aqua, I think we have plenty of time. I can wait a little while."

"It might take a long time—"

"I can wait."

"..."

"Let's get it done on the way. We need to leave the Holy Land as soon as possible. After all, these residents have no place to live right now, and we need to get them back to the capital quickly."

"That's what Kazuma Sato said."

. . . . . .

Meanwhile, in the Vladia Empire, in a hidden cave.

Countless corpses were neatly piled up, as if a horrific massacre had just taken place here.

A half-elf girl stood among them, her body shrouded in a long, black robe.

She has an appearance almost identical to other Ryuzu clones, except that her cute and delicate face is devoid of any emotion.

It was as if he were just an emotionless puppet.

Sphinx.

Echidna's first experiment in soul transfer.

It was also a failure.

She only inherited the most vile part of Echidna's soul.

Without feelings, one cannot understand the feelings of others.

The Sphinx had only one purpose in walking the world: to fill the emptiness in its heart and become a complete being like its creator mother.

She once instigated a war between demi-humans, but Sphinx didn't care at all who would win in the end.

The only thing the Sphinx cared about was the result of the experiment.

This war between demi-humans was nothing more than an experiment by Sphinx.

Experiments related to the sacraments of the Immortal King.

This is a forbidden magic that can resurrect the dead as puppets—beings that are like corpse soldiers.

The Sphinx studied the Holy Relics of the Undead King precisely so that the Witch of Greed, Echidna, could reappear in the world.

However, it's not simply about resurrecting one's creator.

Instead, she wanted to become the truly complete Echidna.

The vessel must be matched with the soul; only by possessing the body of the Witch of Greed can one unleash the Witch of Greed's talents and powers.

Sphinx was defeated in the Demi-human War, in which Roswaal was involved.

However, she did not actually die, but was secretly taken away by Lep Balier.

Lepp was Priscilla's ex-husband and the former head of the Balier family.

He was a high-ranking figure in Lugnica, and had even previously been in charge of matters related to the Dragonstone.

Using the Dragonstone, Lepp foresaw Priscilla's identity and planned to use her candidate status and the Sphinx he secretly kept to realize his ambitions.

However, Rape was eventually defeated by Priscilla and Al, became demented, and died soon after.

The imprisoned Sphinx sensed something was wrong and used magic to successfully escape her confinement.

Unaware of the new lord's identity, Sphinx plans to remain hidden within the Baliel family's territory for some time.

That was her original plan.

However, Sphinx met another person who took her away from the territory of Baliel, and even away from Lugnica, to the Vladia Empire, and gave her all kinds of support so that Sphinx could conduct experiments on the holy rites of the Undead King.

Sphinx's body had been severely damaged due to the demi-human war, and even after decades, it had not fully recovered. However, the aider only said one sentence, and her body miraculously recovered to its full strength.

"How diligent you are, Sphinx!"

A gentle, feather-like voice rang out, and a girl with almost white hair appeared out of thin air, standing in front of Sphinx.

She was only wrapped in a white cloth, and her slender, clean bare feet were directly on the ground without getting a speck of dust on them.