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This was supposed to be posted last week but I didn"t really feel that well so I couldn"t finish it on time. That"s why I just decided to post it together with the MaouMuji chapter this week.

Chapter 31: This here is h.e.l.l! But there was still more waiting ahead!

AN: Data was blown away (´・ω・｀) Will do my best to rewrite it all~

Everyone was silent the whole time.
The four adventurers were sitting crossed-legged around a small bonfire and was chewing on their provisions restlessly.

With nutritional value and preservability in mind, strong tasting medicinal herbs were kneaded into the already clay-like texture which adds a strong bitter taste to it.
Preserved food was already unpopular among the adventurers even at the best of times so eating that demoralized the worn out adventurers even more.

Light can"t reach the dense forest so it"s not clear for them whether it"s currently midday or night time.
An eerie silence surrounds the place where not even a single chirp of a bird could be heard.

You could easily understand why the animals are hiding.
It"s because of the large number of gazes pointed at them. Their gazes are paired with a piercing bloodl.u.s.t as well.
That unknown existence who hasn"t taken a single break is still observing the adventurers till this day.

「……this is h.e.l.l……」

Who was it that muttered that?
Not a single one of them reacted to that sentiment.
Was it because it was just repeating the obvious reality of the situation they"re in?

The lights in their eyes were already gone, their cheeks sunken, and they don"t even have the leeway to fix their disheveled hair.
The mental fatigue that they"re experiencing has even influenced their body.

The figure of a skillful adventurer was already gone and was replaced by the look of a victim.

The leader with the greatsword sluggishly stood up.
The other members silently extinguished the flame and picked up their luggage.

They had no time to sleep.
Even their drowsiness has been taken over by fear.
Anyone would get worn out being observed by an opponent they can"t see for this long.

And with that, they started advancing with their legs that already felt as heavy as lead.
The adventurers moved forward as they walked the walk of the dead.

「Wan (Hmm, this is terrible)」

I groaned while looking at the spectacle from the top of a hill.

At the place that Garo lead us to, we saw the figure of the adventurers who were limping as they walked.
All of them have the same blank look on their face and it seems like they"re not thinking of anything else other than walking.

They"re totally exhausted and in such a sad state.
It"s kinda nostalgic.
I"ve also felt like that in my previous life.

「Nya~n (This is…… Could it be……? This is "that", isn"t it……)」

「Chuuー (Umu, it"s most likely. That is the only possible answer)」

Ren and Nafra nodded in agreement.

「Wan (So you guys noticed it as well. To be honest, I also think that it can"t be anything but that)」

Our goal was to provide a safe journey for the adventurers.
However, even though there are so many guards present, the adventurers" condition still hasn"t improved.
It"s as if they"re journeying through h.e.l.l.

There could only be one reason why those guys are in such a state.

「「「WanNya~Chuuー (The number of guards is still not enough!」」」[TL: lol]

The three of us voiced out our conclusion at the same time.

「Gau (I see! That certainly is true!)」

Garo"s ears moved in consent so I wonder if she thought of the same thing. [TL: How does one"s ears move in consent?]

「Gau (If I may be honest, even I did not expect for the humans to be this weak. I will deploy the maximum amount of guards at once!)」

After saying that, Garo gave instructions to Bar and the others who were waiting on her.
Then, the demon wolves immediately scattered to all directions to call for reinforcements.

「Wan (Umu umu. We haven"t really offered the adventurers a safe journey, have we?)」

「Nya~ (Fufu~. Doing something nice feels good doesn"t it~)」

「Chuuー (I feel like we"re spoiling them too much though. However, it can"t be helped since it"s to protect our comfortable lifestyle in that mansion. Because of that, we will provide them with excessive care wherever they go)**」

All of us nodded in agreement.

「Gau (My king, please leave it to us. We swear by our names as Demon Wolves that we won"t let even a single ant get past our defense network without us detecting it!)」

「「「Gau gau gau! (Our king! Our king! Our king!」」」

Just hearing the yell of the Demon Wolves is more than enough. If it"s like this then I"m sure that the adventurers will be able to safely conduct their investigation.

「Wan (Alright, we"re here~)」

The moonlight shined on us after cutting through the thicket.
We have arrived at our destination.
We went ahead of the adventurers and exited the forest first.

Beneath us was a stream flowing on a wide riverbed.

It would probably still take 2~3 days before the adventurers get here so we have plenty of time to do our preparations.

「Chuー (My dear, what are we still doing here? We should head towards the site of our battle you know?)」

Just like what Ren said, if we headed even further north of our current location we would reach the site of our battle, which was a cave behind a waterfall.
However, that isn"t the reason why we"re here.

「Nya~ (You still haven"t told us what you meant when you said you"re going to give the adventurers a grand reception, right~?)」

「Wan (That"s what we"re going to start the preparations for right now. I"ll have the two of you help me okay?)」

After I told them that, I started looking for a suitable place.
It would be better if it was close to the river but it would be problematic if it was too close.

Because of that, I decided on a location that"s about 20 meters away from the river. Then, I started rolling a boulder that has been naturally cut by the river onto the designated place as a landmark.

「Wan (Now then, finally……)」

I opened my mouth a bit and let out a howl.
A magic circle appeared in front of my lips and a thick beam shot out.

The target is right in front of my forefeet. The spear of light immediately radiated as I faced downward and went through the soil, stone, and even the bedrock as if they were nothing.

「Chuー (……my dear, what in the world are you doing?)」

「Nya~ (Are you looking for Mr.earthworms to eat? They aren"t really tasty you know?)」

That"s not it.
I won"t be eating them you know?
Wait, does that mean that Nafra has already eaten earthworms before?

「Wan (Look, this area is close to the mountain right?)」

I looked up at the mountains towering ahead of the waterfall that"s referred to as the Sacred Mountains.

「Wan (If we dig a hole like this, a hot spring would well out.……at least that"s what I think)」

With that said, I once again fired the spew beam at the same spot.

In order to reach further this time, I tried doing a longer howl.

As long as I keep howling, the spear of light would keep on extending.
I continued digging until it was very deep.

The intensity and distance traveled by the beam changes depending on the volume and how long I hold the howl as I had expected. I"ve already figured out a lot of ways to use this beam.

As for activating the beam itself, it"s important that I get the feeling of throwing up when I do it.
Bleghhhhhh.

「Chuー (The more I look at it, the more ridiculous your mastery over it seems. What"s more, you"re even using the ultimate destruction magic for such a menial task)」

「Wan (What? Can Ren not do something like this?)」

「Chuー! (D-don"t you look down on me! I am a member of the dragon tribe. There isn"t a single magic in this world that we can"t use you know? Even the ultimate destruction magic is no problem. The caveat to that is that we"re bad at converting our mana into magic efficiently. That"s why it"s strange to me that you"re shooting out such powerful magic unreservedly……)」

「Wan (Ahー, yeah yeah. Admit it, you"re just a sore loser~)」

「(Chuー! (That"s not trueー!)」

Then, as I continued digging, I heard a rumbling sound coming from deep underground.

「Wan (Oh, is it about to come out?)」[TL: ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)]

「Chuー (What is it that"s coming?)」

「Nya~ (What does a "hot spring" mean in the first place?)」

Ren and Nafra peeked through the hole.

「Wafuu (Ah, idiotsー)」

The grumbling sound turned into a quiet hum and at the next moment, water came gushing out of the hole.

「Chuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu! (W-whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!?)」

「Nyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! (H-hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!)」

The strong pressure of the gushing water made Ren and Nafra fly in the sky.

The two of them aren"t just your average animals so they"ll probably be alright but I ran towards the direction of where they"re going to fall then caught Ren with my mouth and received Nafra on my back.

「Nyaー (Hauu……)」

「Chuー (I feel dizzyyy……)」

It was delayed but the water that gushed out poured down like rainfall.

「Wan (It"s not that hot at all……)」

It felt like it was just the right temperature.
I guess the water is not necessarily as hot as the source.

How convenient, I was thinking of adding water from the river to cool it but this is better since we can use it as it is.

「Wan (Nafra, can you transport a huge boulder to plug that hole?)」

「Nya, nyaー (Y-yesー. Leave it to me~)」

The unconscious Nafra woke up then hid herself under my belly.
She poked her head out in between my forefoot and made a boulder that was hidden under the riverbed float.

「Wan (……why did you get under me?)」

「Nya~ (I"m taking shelter against the rain desu~. I absolutely detest getting wet after all)」

Come to think of it, this one even hates taking baths.
When the onsen is complete, I"m going to force her to bathe in it.
She"s starting to get a bit stinky after all.
She smells like some kind of dust cloth.

「Nya~ (How is that?)」

With the large boulder on top of the hole, the momentum of the gushing hot water has been completely stopped.

「Wan (Good, good. That"s perfectー)」

I spewed a larger beam by the center of the boulder in order to make a hole.
It didn"t cause any cracks, just a cleanly cut tunnel.

This time, I got on top of the boulder and fired a beam that"s thinner than the one earlier, directly below.
I placed it right on top of the previous hole where the water was gushing out from.

Of course, doing that would obviously make the water spurt out into three directions.
The two holes on the sides are that big so that the flow rate would get reduced but the strength of the hot water coming out of the hole I made on top is not that different from earlier.

「Wan (Nafra, plug up this hole this time. I"m talking about the hole up top)」

「Nya~ (Yes yes desu. I see that even Routsan works his cat hard~)」

Nafra shoved a similarly sized stone into the hole with magic while still hiding under me.

With that, the water is only flowing from each of the holes on the sides.
Now. the flow of the hot water is too strong and it just draws an arc to the ground at around 1 meter away from the source.

「Wan (Okay, now close the holes on the sides)」

Just like earlier, she shoved a stone into the hole.

「Chuー (Uーmu, I have absolutely no idea why you"re trying to do)」

「Wan (You"re going to get it soon)」

After I declared that, I started savagely digging around the vicinity of the boulder.

「Wan (Well, that"s pretty much it I guess)」

With the boulder at the center, I dug a doughnut-shaped hole by the riverbed.
It"s only about 50 cm deep but since I made sure to widen the excavated area, I can guarantee that it"s pretty s.p.a.cious.

「Wan (Alright~. With this, we can now open the holes on the sides)」

「Nya~(Okay desu~)」

The stones came off with a pop and the hot water vigorously gushed out.

The hot water started pouring into the hole I dug and gradually filled it up.

Since the flooring was just bare soil, the hot water"s color immediately turned into a muddy brown but that"s fine for now.

「Wan (Collecting this much should probably be enough. Stop the water)」

By the time the hot water stopped coming out, the hot spring was filled to the brim with muddy water.

「Wan (Let"s just end this here for today. The soil would probably have already settled at the bottom by the time we come back tomorrow)」

「Nya~ (Then, I"ll just set the anchor here so that we can come back okay~)」

「Chuー (I still don"t really understand what you"re trying to do my dear)」

Together with Ren who was tilting her head in confusion and Nafra who still doesn"t understand what"s going to happen to her in the future, we teleported back to the mansion.

I washed my body that has been soiled by mud in the fountain at the mansion"s courtyard then shook all of the water off.
Then, while acting innocent, I returned to the bed where Ojou-sama was sleeping.

「Hnn…… Routa……」

「Ku~n (Yes yes. I"m here okay~)」

With the soft sensation of Ojou-sama who unconsciously hugged me tight and the creaking sound of the bed under my pillow, I immediately fell asleep.

Path spattered in baths (Routa"s POV) (´・ω・｀) Path spattered in blood (Adventurer"s POV) [TL: The author did a wordplay here but this is the best I could do]