"Aqua, Yunyun, Chris cast every privacy spells you can think of, make sure no sound and no information comes out of this room," I said while rolling out a bunch of plans on a large table I ordered just for this room.
After some colorful flashes of light, everyone is assembled. There are three teams in this meeting. Team Eris consisting of Darkness and Chris. Team Neutral consisting of Taylor, Yunyun, and Keith. And Team Aqua consisting of Aqua, Megumin, Dust, Lynn, and myself.
Most of team Neutral has recovered thanks to the hot springs. They're still a little bit jittery at the sight of any paper resembling a registration form. And they have this phobia against the Axis Order's symbol.
"So, team Eris, please make your speech."
Chris stood up and took a deep breath. She gave Aqua a sweet smile before turning to everyone else.
"I think it is a lot of work. The hatred of the Axis Cult to the Eris Sect runs as deep as the youths… This is impossible, but… I say we give this place a chance."
"Thank you, team Eris, team Neutral, please make your speech."
Taylor stood up and cleared his throat.
"Personally, I think we should burn this place down,"
Megumin cringed a little after hearing that, but didn't say anything.
"Every single person here, even a little girl half Megumin's age, was a fanatic who'd do everything in their power to gain more believers. It is sickening and both my comrades are traumatized for life…"
I nodded understandingly.
"Okay, lastly, from Aqua's team. Lynn and Dust, what do you got?"
Lynn stood up and took a deep breath.
"As much as I hate to say this, they're not that bad," she gestured at the necklace around her neck. "If they think you're a part of the Axis Order, they will treat you as their own. They have a powerful bond with one another, willing to help anyone of their own, even for the slightest trouble. They gave us gifts, thinking that Dust and I were… couple… And they also gave us some sort of bonus or discount when we're shopping or eating together."
Then it's my turn.
"I went to the Axis Church and I can say that the faith of the believers aren't really controlled by the church itself. It's not that crowded as one might believe from these fanatics. This is also an opportunity for us as we do not really need the backing of the church to help us. Instead, we can use the backing of another organization here, that is, the Adventurer's Guild."
Everyone nodded in agreement after hearing that. If there's anything we can always rely upon, that is the adventurer's guild. They are the single most powerful authority when it comes to monster threats and the likes.
"Alright, now let's begin the next part of our plan…"
With that, I told everyone my whole plan, making sure not to tell any of you about it. The reason is because the TV Tropes about the unspoken plan guarantee. As long as I don't explain the plan to you, it will work. But if I explain it, then it wouldn't work or it will be counted as spoilers.
After our meeting briefings, we decided to go to the bath.
"Yosh, let's go to the bath Megumin," I told the Crimson Demon. "This is the City of Hot Springs isn't it?"
"Yes, however," Megumin shot me a flat look. "I'm not going to the mixed bath. You might be comfortable but I am not going to take a bath with them," she gestured at Keith and Dust who has their eyes on the mixed bath.
Ahh… Well I guess that's okay…
"Are you going to bring Liz with you? You think she'll like hot spring?"
"I dunno, I hope she like it, bathing is a good thing you know?" she turned towards Liza who's eating some cookies on a table. "Come on Liza chan, let's try bathing."
With that, we all went to the respective bath selection. Almost all girls went straight to the girl's bath, the men all went to the mixed bath and… Yunyun and Chris apparently…
"Oi, Yunyun, Chris, this is the way to the mixed bath, are you sure about this?" I asked them.
They blushed a little.
"W-well…" Chris rubbed the back of her head. "We don't want miss out the actual hot springs you know? Aqua sama's power will turn the girl's bath into regular hot water."
"Yes and…" Yunyun looked down in embarrassment. "Concealment!"
They both turned turned invisible. We couldn't help but groan a little in disappointment, even with farsight, we'd only see in infrared and not their… you know, assets…
We were about to step into the mixed bath when…
"That damn cult's finally going to be destroyed. The work in destroying the secret hot spring is now complete; the progress in the other hot spring is also proceeding smoothly. Now, we just need to wait. For us who have long lifespans, waiting a decade or two's no big deal."
Huh, no wonder Paradox forbid us from going after the demon king general first, they're stupid enough to talk about their plans in a mixed bath!
"Hans, you don't need to report such things one by one, I've already said this plenty of times. I'm here to recover using the hot springs, so don't drag me in too."
There's two of them one man and one woman. I motioned everyone around me to go back as silently as possible.
"Megumin, we found two demon king general bathing in the mixed bath. They're singing their plans right now, I don't think we're spotted."
"Hey, don't say that Wolbach. This is a great chance to destroy the cult we have no chance of defeating head on. I'll come here to report periodically, so you have to keep visiting the hot spring in this hotel."
Wolbach? Oi, oi, don't joke around with me! Wolbach is behind this door? THAT Wolbach? The woman who taught my girlfriend explosion, Wolbach? The other half of Chomsuke Wolbach? Should I tell Megumin?
"Megumin… One of them is Wolbach, we're not spotted yet, what are your orders…"
"A-are you sure?"
"The other called her Wolbach, and I can sense two powerful presence behind this door."
For a moment, Megumin said nothing. I was about to ask her again when she replied.
"I trust your judgement, what do you want me to do, Kazuma?"
"Have you entered the bath yet?"
"No, we're still in the changing room,"
"Tell everyone to get ready, I will see if I can talk to them first,"
I focused my attention back to the scheming duo behind the door.
"Why the hot spring in this hotel?"
"Because this place isn't infested with any of those freaks!!!"
I gestured at everyone to stand back. I turned towards where I think Chris is standing and put a hand on my mouth. Hopefully she gets what I meant and quickly turn on her lip reading skill. Then I mouthed to her my plan.
'Chris, I need you to grab some seeds out of my pouch, then I want you and Yunyun to spy on whoever is stepping out of this place first. Do not engage them okay? I'll handle the one in here,'
There was no response but I felt a presence disappear. I'm guessing they're both enhancing their invisibility with Lurk at this point.
I motioned the rest of the boys to stand back.
After a moment, I felt something being put on my palm. It's handful of seed, a bit too much but it'll work. I gave the empty air beside a thumbs up before going for one hell of a word scuffle.
I opened the door, revealing a red haired woman with a diamond shaped mark on her forehead and a large muscular man with spiky hair. They both turned at me and I simply waved at them.
"Good evening," I dipped myself into the hot springs and sighed a little. "Ahh… This is the best…" I muttered to myself.
"Did he hear what we said…?"
"No idea… And he's staring at me…"
Well, yeah, I'm just double checking if this is the same Wolbach I saw in Megumin's memories.
"… Hey, he seems to be only looking at me. What's going on…?"
"… Eh, well… He doesn't seem to have heard what we discussed. That isn't a suspicious gaze, but one filled with curiosity."
I dipped three seeds into the warm water and controlled the water to bring the seed right behind Wolbach.
"Hey, hey, this is…"
"It… It's better than being suspected by him. Ah, I have something to do, so I'll make a move first!"
After saying that, the man left in a hurry.
"So, was that your boyfriend?" I asked Wolbach.
"Hu-huh? I mean no, he's not, can you stop staring at me?"
I looked away from her. "Sorry, you just remind me of someone I used to know," I told her. "Also, the man's right, it's better if he thinks I'm a perv instead of thinking I heard your conversation right?"
"What do you mean?"
"I dunno, I didn't hear it, but you guys sound like you were dealing drugs or something," I told her while controlling the hidden seed to grow at the stones behind her. They grow so flimsy and weakly, but then they latched on to her right below the nape of her neck.
She was about to turn around when I moved closer. "No, seriously, you look very similar to a person I used to know… Well, not know exactly, but a very important person of a friend of mine," I told her.
The woman tilted her head in slight confusion. "I'm not sure I'm the one you're looking for…" she sighed a little and relaxed some more.
"Very relaxing bath isn't it?" I asked her while using the plant to slowly drain her mp. I also used 'Forced Suggestion' to manipulate her. It works better if the target already believes it or has a sneaking suspicion. "This bath is said to have some very, very good healing property…"
"You're right…" she exhaled a deep breath. "So, are you here to recover your health?"
I exhaled a deep breath and chuckled a little. "Mental health, I'm a bit stressed, lots of stuff is happening around me… Just because people call me the Strongest Adventurer of Axel City, they started giving me these impossible missions… Good lord, my head… I can't even begin to imagine how the gods above might feel, hearing them whining about the little things and asking for impossible stuff…"
Wolbach chuckled a little after hearing that. "Well, as for me… While I was fighting my other half, I couldn't snatch my powers back completely. So, to recover my original powers, I'm here for therapeutic hot spring baths."
Well you're an honest one aren't you?
"Oh, really now? I know a friend of mine who would bought up your story."
"Hahaha, is your teammate a Crimson Demon? I wonder how that Crimson Demon girl's doing. I even taught her magic… I won't need to take a bath in the hot spring if I find my other half. However, it won't be so easy to do so."
At this point, the magic vine has grown large enough and started burrowing to the ground to accommodate the magic power it absorbed. I made sure to keep using 'Forced Suggestion' to keep her comfortable and not notice her depleting magic power.
"Megumin, are you listening?"
"Yes, I'm listening, I can see your vine from behind this wooden wall. I've already notified everyone else to prepare themselves…"
"What about the man?"
"Yunyun and Chris is spying on him…"
"Got it,"
"I think she has mastered whatever magic you taught her, get herself a billionaire boyfriend from another world, and a dragon as her step daughter," I told her.
The woman chuckled and leaned back on to the stones. "That sounds like a nice future… I feel happy for her…"
"You know, it's okay if you sleep now, I promise I will protect you,"
"Somehow I doubted that," the woman replied, yet her eyelids started to flutter. "Ahh… I know this is supposed to be refreshing, but I feel so drained and sleepy…"
At this point, her magical power is lower than Lynn. It wouldn't be long until she fell unconscious out of magical exhaustion.
"It's okay, just 'Sleep'," I ended my words with a literal spell and the woman fell unconscious. The tentacle plant behind her back held her up and I swam towards her.
"Megumin, get Liz here,"
"Huh? Why?"
"Just do it,"
The dragon flew above the open top wall and landed next to me.
I drained Wolbach some more and motioned the boys to come over and take her away. They felt a little bit uncomfortable handling an unconscious naked woman, anyone seeing this scene will have some wild thoughts about what's about to happen.
Then I walked towards the giant plant and started filling Emperor Liz with Wolbach's mana. The dragon seems to accept any magic as she just purred happily on my palm. It went on for like three minutes before the vine has shrunk completely into nothing.
"So, I handled that pretty well didn't I?"
"Yeah, yeah,"
"Now you can talk to her,"
"Don't worry, I will… And, thank you, Kazuma kun… For not hurting her…"
"You're welcome!"
With that, I went to the changing room and prepared myself for one heck of reunion.