Deep in the maze-like alleys of Arcanletia, behind an abandoned warehouse that reeked of salted fish, three suspicious figures finally cut off the blue figure trying to duck into a dead end.
"Got you! You useless Goddess who only knows how to run!"
Kazuma pounced and grabbed Aqua firmly by the shoulders.
"Waaah! Don't kill me! I haven't even eaten today's special hot spring steamed bun yet! Kōichi, help! Kazuma's going to sell me to the Eris Cult for the bounty!"
Aqua flailed wildly, tears and snot running down her face.
"Shut up! Scream again and I'll stuff you into that sewer over there!"
Kōichi hissed. At the same time, he pulled out a huge sun hat he had probably swiped from some street stall, while Dust handed over an old cloak. The three of them moved with the practiced efficiency of people handling contraband, quickly wrapping Aqua's signature, sparkling blue hair tightly beneath the hat.
With the oversized cloak, sunglasses, and hat, Aqua looked less like a Goddess and more like some broke auntie about to rob a bank.
"Waaah... my hair... my divine aura is being buried under this cheap linen smell..."
Aqua huddled in the corner, pouting as she fidgeted with her fingers.
Kōichi leaned against the wall and listened as the sounds of the search outside the alley gradually faded. Only then did he wipe away his sweat and stare at Aqua seriously.
"Alright, no one can recognize you now. Aqua, tell us the truth. What exactly did you do? Why have all the springs in the city turned into plain water?"
Aqua raised her head. Her large eyes, usually filled with a kind of crystal clear stupidity, now held a rare seriousness, even a trace of sorrow.
"I... I just felt it. When I was walking through the streets earlier, I suddenly noticed that the smell in the air had changed. Those hot springs were supposed to be full of natural magic, but suddenly there was something disgusting, thick, and horribly toxic mixed in... It was like some giant Slime was spitting into the veins of the whole city!"
Kōichi's heart sank. He remembered Hans in the Royal Bathhouse, and those purple bubbles.
"So you went and purified them?" Kazuma raised an eyebrow, his voice carrying his usual sarcasm. "Hey, I get that you meant well, but you obviously overdid it again, didn't you? You purified away all the minerals, magic, and healing components people depend on. Now everything flowing out of those pools is pure water! Do you have any idea that with one wave of your hand, you just wiped out ninety percent of Arcanletia's GDP?"
"But if I hadn't purified them, everyone in the city would be dead by tomorrow morning!" Aqua suddenly stood up. There were tears in her voice, but she was strangely firm. "I know they hate me right now, and they even want to arrest me... Even if everyone misunderstands me and curses me, they're still my followers! As a Goddess, how could I just watch my children be eaten away by poison? Even if I can only save one more spring, I have to help them..."
For a moment, silence filled the air.
Dust scratched his head and muttered, looking oddly moved, "What the hell? She suddenly got so cool that I can't even make fun of her..."
Kazuma awkwardly looked away too. "Tch. Acting this much like a Goddess at a time like this just makes those of us trying to run away look like scum."
Kōichi looked at Aqua's determined face, though her hat was crooked, and let out a heavy sigh.
He knew Aqua's instincts were right. This idiot Goddess was using her own clumsy and incredibly destructive method to fight a conspiracy all by herself.
"Alright, stop looking like you're about to become a martyr." Kōichi walked over, straightened Aqua's hat for her, and flashed a wicked, confident grin. "Since you put it that way, if we just stand by and do nothing, wouldn't that make us even worse than you? Listen, Aqua. We've already met the guy poisoning the springs. Since you want to save this city, we'll go crazy with you this once!"
...
The Royal Premium Mixed Bathhouse was still brightly lit under the night sky, but the air's once elegant sandalwood scent had been replaced by a nauseating, sweet, fishy stench.
Kōichi led the way, with Kazuma and Dust supporting the fully armed Aqua from both sides. The four of them moved like a line of ghosts pressed against the wall, slipping silently back into the Golden Holy Spring District through the gap in the side door they had used to escape earlier.
"Shh! Keep it down. If the guards catch us here, a heart attack won't be enough to explain this away. This is breaking in at night, and we'll be eating prison food for sure!"
Kōichi warned them in a low voice, his sharp gaze sweeping the area.
"Damn it, Kōichi, you've got some nerve saying that! I didn't even get to warm up my ten thousand Eris ticket, and now we're climbing in through a window. This is a disgrace to adventurers everywhere!"
Kazuma complained while smoothly activating [Lurk], his entire body almost melting into the shadows.
The four of them returned to the golden pool that symbolized wealth and privilege. The water was no longer that noble pale purple. Instead, it had become a murky, deep purple, as thick as mucus. It was even slowly writhing, giving off bubbles filled with malice.
"Ugh... that's the smell! A hundred times worse than Kazuma's stinky socks!" Even through the thick veil and hat, Aqua's expression twisted in disgust. She crouched down and hovered one finger above the water's surface. "Confirmed! This is exactly the same aura I sensed in the city. This isn't any hot spring component. It's the secretion of some evil creature! If we don't deal with it, this spring will soon become a breeding ground for Monsters!"
"Then stop wasting time and do it!" Kōichi stood guard at the entrance, listening to the patrol's footsteps in the distance, his heart pounding.
Aqua took a deep breath, and her eyes lit up with sacred blue light in the darkness.
She suddenly swept aside a corner of her cloak and pointed her slender finger at the filthy pool, her voice carrying undeniable authority.
"Let this filth vanish beneath the Goddess's mercy! Sacred Highness Purification!!"
Hummmm!
A dazzling pure white light, bright enough to illuminate almost half the bathhouse, burst from Aqua's fingertip.
Under that sacred radiance, the sticky, writhing purple poison was like snow meeting the blazing sun. It let out an ear piercing shriek and evaporated in an instant.
Immediately after that, in less than three seconds, the entire golden pool went from murky purple to crystal clear, even faintly glowing... pure water.
The magic was so strong that even a few of the gems embedded along the edge of the pool were purified into ordinary transparent glass.
"Done! Hehe, as expected of me!"
Aqua proudly put her hands on her hips and was just about to launch into a speech.
"Done, my ass! That was so bright the whole city could see it!" Kōichi rushed forward, put Aqua in a textbook headlock, and dragged her back while shooting Kazuma and Dust a look. "Move! Hurry! The patrol's coming!"
"Hey! Over there! There was a blinding light! Hurry, catch those thugs destroying the hot springs!"
From the guardroom in the distance came frantic whistles and the clanking of armor.
"Go, go, go! Dust, stop staring at that pool. Staring at it won't turn you back into a lady!"
Kazuma grabbed Dust, who was still standing there in a daze, and the four of them smashed through the rear window like a gust of wind, throwing themselves into the nighttime streets of Arcanletia.
Only after running three streets away and ducking into an abandoned bell tower did the four of them collapse onto the ground, panting heavily.
"Hah... hah... Kōichi... what... what does that make us now?" Dust asked while wiping sweat from his face.
"What does it make us?" Kōichi looked at Aqua's sun hat, now crooked from all the running, and flashed a wicked grin. "We are now the greatest and most wanted Water Purifiers in Arcanletia's history. Aqua, nice work. You may have turned that hot spring into boiled tap water, but you really did save a lot of your followers!"
"Sniff... Kōichi, you actually praised me... I really hate that boiled tap water comment, but out of my boundless mercy, I'll forgive you!"
Aqua wiped her tears and once again showed that bright, clear smile.
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