The Water Magician

It was complete darkness.

Not even ten centimeters ahead could be seen, let alone one meter.

But suddenly, a light appeared right in front of him. The light rose and came to a halt at a height of about five meters.

Using that light as a basis, Nils sharply surveyed his surroundings and thought.

(Eto, Amon are here. Harold, Zeek, Gowan are also here. But no one else. What about the man dressed like a priest? Where did he go? I said “come in,” but what did that mean...?)

At least six people from 'Room 10' and 'Room 11' were present.

Furthermore, he noticed that the ground beneath his feet was cobbled.

(The path of 'Bordren' was just solidified earth. So, this place we are in is not Bordren...?)

As he processed that thought, even Nils began to break out in a cold sweat.

If they had moved in an instant...

(Transfer, huh...)

Transfers are not something common.

In the Central Nations, there are examples of forced transfers to the fortieth layer of a dungeon after the great tsunami... or perhaps some baron from the Empire who is said to be able to do so.

That's about it.

(Right. Speaking of which, there is a dungeon with a transfer trap in the Western Nations where we are heading...?)

Just as Nils's thoughts wandered, a man appeared before the six of them.

“Oh, it’s you from earlier...”

Harold instinctively reached out, but Nils stopped him.

The man who appeared was one of the survivors of the small nation delegation, a priest.

However, it was only the appearance that was human; the aura he emanated was entirely different.

“What are you...?”

Nils couldn't help but murmur.

Not 'who' but 'what.'

That was how alien he felt.

The atmosphere was something Nils and the others from 'Room 10' had never experienced before.

Perhaps it should be called a presence instead.

He looked human, but in reality, he was something entirely different.

“Demon King?”

That murmur may have come from Priest Zeek.

Nils instinctively felt like agreeing.

That’s how much he felt like an existence utterly separate from humans.

But...

“Bwahahahaha!”

The 'priest' before them burst into laughter.

“A demon king? A demon king, you say? Bwahahahaha! No, I am not that weak. A demon king is simply the 'king of monsters.' But, of course, ordinary humans wouldn’t understand that. Bwahahahaha! No, pardon me, pardon me. Still, a demon king... how interesting.”

Of course, the six had no idea what was so interesting.

“Hm… as expected, you don’t understand. The two of you over there must be priests of the goddess of light, right? Still, you don’t get it... Well, you wouldn’t learn that in the temple teachings of the Central Nations.”

The 'priest' before them spoke with sinister laughter, mixed with a hint of disappointment.

At that moment, Priest Zeek, seemingly steeling himself, opened his mouth.

“Necromancer?”

At that answer, the 'priest' showed a hint of surprise and opened his mouth.

“That’s an interesting answer. I see, you judged that by seeing the wraiths that just keep coming back no matter how many times they are defeated. Interesting. Necromancers should have died out hundreds of years ago in the Central Nations... Nice, you came up with that answer by thinking for yourself. Not rigidly stuck in the temple’s teachings, that’s a high point.”

The 'priest' took a breath and continued.

“But that’s incorrect.”

“I feel like you’re using light attribute magic.”

Priest Eto murmured softly.

“No way! I’ve never heard of a priest being able to control wraiths….”

Priest Zeek said, shaking his head slightly.

The 'priest' watched that with intrigue.

“No, it’s not something at the level of a priest… but… once, it was something holy, but has become something evil... Fallen from grace?”

Eto murmured the term 'fall from grace' which he had heard from Ryo earlier.

The reaction from the 'priest' to that could be described as intense.

“Fallen from grace! You know about fallen from grace!? This is surprising!! Why do you know that concept? It shouldn’t exist in the Central Nations. No, it’s even a concept that doesn’t exist in the Western Nations anymore. This is astonishing…”