In a Different World with a Smartphone (LN) - Volume 28 - Chapter 4.5

 Interlude: Water Park Rhapsody

“Wow, this is incredible!”

“It is huge, it is!”

My wives, gathered together after changing into their swimsuits, all expressed their amazement. The representatives of foreign countries and their families who I had invited were also marveling at the sight.

We were currently standing in Brunhild’s newly constructed all-weather indoor water park. It was an amusement park with all manner of water facilities, from wave pools, to pools that you could simply float down, to whole waterslides. It was the culmination of Babylon’s magical research and a combination of Water and Earth magic.

All the water being utilized here was provided by a massive water spellstone, and it was constantly circulated to maintain the water quality, with any dirty water being purified by Slimes before then being rotated back in. I’d suggested using Sludge Slimes at first, but the Babylon dev team instantly rejected the idea. Apparently, when Sludge Slimes died, they released a horrific odor, so it was best to avoid them on the off chance one somehow lost their life.

Though their efficiency at purifying water wasn’t as good as the Sludge Slimes, we settled on regular Water Slimes. After all, we could make up for the weaker purifying ability with numbers. Naturally, they were kept separate from the pool so the guests would never see them. Thanks to the Slimes, the water in the facility could be kept clean twenty-four seven.

The royals, their families, and my wives were all praising how great and amazing the water park was, but my kids weren’t all that surprised. They were just at the same level of excitement as they usually were. It wasn’t quite the reaction I wanted, but I knew it made sense. The water park already existed in the future, so it wasn’t that new of a sight to them.

Kuon, wearing swim shorts just as I was, flashed an awkward smile at me when he saw my disappointment.

“We have paid a visit to this water park several times already, you see. We’re used to it.”

“Mmm, I just thought you guys would be happier, I guess.”

“But we are. It has been quite some time since we were all able to come here as a family.”

If that was true, then it made me feel a little better. I had gotten a little overconfident and made the water park quite elaborate, so the kids’ reactions being so comparatively reserved had me feeling worried. If they were still happy regardless, though, then that was all I could ask for.

“Mommy! Let’s go to the lazy river!”

“Oh, it certainly does flow like a river, doesn’t it? It looks fun!”

Steph and Sue ran toward the lazy river with one of those floaties shaped like an eight that was meant for two people in tow. The foreign princes and princesses grabbed their own floaties and followed after them.

Incidentally, we had all kinds of items available to rent such as floaties and beach balls at the poolside.

“Kuon, let’s go down the waterslide together!”

Allis yanked on Kuon’s arm, dragging him up the stairs to the waterslide.

“I’ll go with you!” Ende tried to shout. However, Ney stopped him dead in his tracks.

“You stay put. Don’t get in the way of the children.”

Melle and Lycee were observing the scene in exasperation from the side.

I had also invited the Ende family (or I guess it would be more accurate to refer to them as the Melle family) to the water park. The Dominant Construct trio were coating their skin with mirages as per usual, but they were wearing swimsuits this time as well. Nothing about them looked out of place.

“Touya? I don’t think it’s very polite to stare so much at another’s wives, do you?” Linze said. She was smiling, but that was most definitely not reflected in her eyes. I felt a chill run down my back.

“Oh, um, yes, I do apologize...”

Was I really staring that much?

It wasn’t only the foreign royals and their families that were dressed for the occasion, but their guards as well. Bringing weapons to a pool wasn’t allowed, as one would expect, but we had them wear swimming caps so they would be easily identifiable. It made them look like lifeguards, but they were essentially playing that role, so it wasn’t so far off the mark. They were looking out from the lifeguard towers for anyone at risk of drowning. We had to be careful, since there were so many children here.

“WOOOOOOOOO!”

The king of Belfast slid down the waterslide and went flying into the pool below.

We had many kinds of waterslides at our water park. The one His Majesty went down was just your ordinary twisty-turvy waterslide, but we also had those that were a simple straight slide down, ones that would twist all over the place, and even those that went round in circles like a whirlpool. There was also a large waterslide that was much wider than the others, which allowed guests to slide down on boats or floaties.

The most extreme waterslide out of all of them definitely had to be the one that was practically a straight drop. It was a terrifying waterfall that made you feel like you really were falling as you slid down it. I gave it a shot and it was one hell of a ride. Of course we’d made sure it was safe, but there was still that sense of “What if something does go wrong?” and that feeling of falling gave you quite the rush.

Hearing my description, the daredevils of our group had instantly run off to give it a try.

“Th-This is rather high!”

“Stop wasting time! Get sliding!”

“Hang on, I need to brace myself fir—AHHHHHH!”

A scream rang out from the waterfall as an escort knight fell...I mean, slid down. His lord must have made him go down first so he could see if it really was safe.

For those who were unable to persuade themselves to take the plunge, the waterfall was made so that you had no choice but to go down by having the floor of the enclosed starting area suddenly disappear from under you. You could activate it manually, but it would also automatically do it if you had been standing there for more than thirty seconds. If we didn’t implement something like that, we wouldn’t be able to have a good turnover for the queue. The line would just pile up if they all took too long.

At the far end of the waterslide area was the wave pool, where as the name implied, the waves came and went just like the ocean. This was also split into several areas with varying strengths of waves. The weakest area was like the calm sea, which was safe for young children, but the strongest area was where large waves were created with magic.

The king of Egret was currently having the time of his life surfing on those waves.

“These are some good waves, even if they’re not natural!”

The Kingdom of Egret was an island country to the south, and before the Tentaculars had started making their home there, the king and his people would enjoy surfing every day. No wonder he was so good at it.

Me? I’d tried surfing before, but I got caught up in the waves straight off the bat and ended up having a pretty bad time. His Majesty invited me to join him, but I refused.

It wasn’t all wild waterslides, though. There were regular pools, deeper pools to dive-bomb into, and pools where you could enjoy water polo.

Brunhild’s water park was a water paradise where you could spend the whole day having fun.

“Father, there are some stalls over there! Let’s go get something to eat together!” Arcia exclaimed as she pulled both me and Lu toward the food court area.

“Okay, okay, I’m coming.”

“Oh, do calm down, Arcia!”

The food court had various stalls lined up, as well as terrace seats for people to sit on. We allowed guests to enter the area with swimsuits still on.

The stalls ranged from drinks to shaved ice, ice cream, hot dogs, and even yakitori.

The food court area was separated from the pool area so that guests wouldn’t bring their food over from it. It would make one hell of a mess if someone dropped their ice cream or something into the water.

While the three of us were eating some ice cream, Linne came running over, absolutely soaked.

“So this is where you went! Dad, let’s go down the waterslide!”

The girl grabbed me and started pulling me along just as Arcia had.

Man, being popular sure is tiring.

Lu and Arcia accompanied us until we all realized that Linne had meant the waterfall...

“We’ll watch from the bottom with Linze.”

Lu laughed nervously, rejecting Linne’s request. Meanwhile, I was dragged up the stairs by Linne.

It’s just as tall as I remember...

I’d seen the Beastking of Mismede enter the starting capsule a few moments earlier. He had been nervously looking around, wondering what was going to happen, and then he just instantly vanished. All I heard after that was his fading screams. This was not good for my heart.

“It’s your turn now, Dad!”

Linne pushed me right in.

No matter how many times I did this, it got no better. Entering the space that felt just like a closed coffin, I gripped my hands in front of my chest so they wouldn’t collide with the walls and prayed.

God Almighty, please keep me safe!

Just as I thought I heard a voice say, “I’m not sure what you want me to do about this,” the platform underneath me disappeared and gravity pulled me down.

What left my mouth wasn’t even proper vocalized sounds as I simply let myself fall. I doubt it took more than three seconds, but it felt much longer. Regardless, before I realized it, I was suddenly sliding down at a much less vertical angle and catapulting into the pool.

That was the thing with this ride. You panic a little when you’re dropped, but then you’re sliding down and are suddenly made to actually fly into the air.

I wobbled a bit as I stood myself up.

“Wah hah hah! One more time!” the Beastking joyfully bellowed as he began climbing up the stairs again.

I can’t believe there are people like him... I’m sure the daredevils are having the time of their lives, but I just can’t handle this kind of thing...

“Eeeeeeeeek!”

There was a huge splash, and then Linne started laughing while she swam over to the edge.

“Dad, let’s do it again!”

“Sorry, I don’t think your dad can take any more...”

It seemed my daughter was a comrade of the Beastking.

“You’re no fun.”

Linne pouted. But then, she immediately ran over to Arcia and began dragging her up the stairs instead. Did she not feel confident enough about doing it without making someone else go down first?

Exhausted, I sat down at the poolside, but then the back of my head was suddenly squirted with water.

Bwuh?! What was that?!

“Ha ha ha ha! Bull’s-eye!”

I turned back and saw that Frei was pointing one of those huge pump-action water guns at me. It was one of the ones on loan with the other water park goods. Usually, they would only be allowed in designated areas, but since we all knew each other and it was the preopening, we’d given special permission to let people take them to other areas.

“You’re wide open!”

“Pwah!”

Quun caught me in my flank next.

“Heh heh heh, do you really think you can match up to my modified Super-Ultra-Super-Duper Water Pistol, Frei?”

Hey, those are children’s toys—they’re not there to be modified! And do you even realize you used “super” twice in that name?

A fierce shoot-out started between Frei and Quun. The little princes and princesses from the other countries also joined the fray, and a lively water fight ensued.

I took that opportunity to make my escape and headed to the lazy river area. A wise man does not court danger...

“Oh my, did you make your escape as well?”

Leen was gracefully floating in the pool on a float, reading a book.

“Won’t your book get wet if you read it in there?”

“I’ve cast [Protection] on it, so there is no need to fear. Have a look.”

Leen shoved her book into the pool, then pulled it back out, and right enough, it wasn’t even slightly damp.

I see.

“It gets hard keeping up with the kids, does it not?”

Why are you out here sounding like an old woman? A thought I made sure not to say out loud passed through my mind. Making any age-related comments around Leen was taboo. Speech is silver; silence is golden.

“They are going absolutely crazy out there.”

Thankfully(?), there were other children and their grandparents here who were able to keep them company whenever we needed to rest.

Even right now, Xenoahs’s overlord was trying to show off to Sakura and Yoshino by leaping off the diving board.

Oh, Paula pushed him off...

He slammed into the water right on his stomach. Was he okay?

...Oh god, he’s just floating there.

When one of the lifeguard knights started to approach, he came to and unsteadily exited the pool while holding his stomach. He seemed all right, at least. Good thing he went from the lowest board. Yoshino was naturally angry at Paula for what she had just done.

Yeah, apologize to His Wickedness. Misbehaving by the pool is dangerous.

I swam breaststroke against the current of the lazy river. Yeah, this was the perfect speed. I could just swim in the same place forever, and the pool was pretty wide, so I wasn’t getting in anyone’s way. Though if the place was packed, it would be impossible.

Sango and Kokuyou comfortably floated on past me. They really were making sure to get the most out of this.

Oh, and was that the Phrase trio making their way down on a large float? Where was Ende?

“Endymion is over there if you’re searching for him.”

I looked at the poolside where Ney was pointing and saw Ende glaring in one direction. As I thought, following his gaze led me to the sight of Kuon and Allis playing together. He was staring fixedly right at them.

Those narrowed eyes and furrowed brow of his felt dangerous, so I threw a beach ball that had floated down the pool right at him.

“Ow! What was that for, Touya?!”

“Quit giving my son a death glare. You’re looking like some pervert.”

“Excuse me?! The only pervert here is your son! He’s clinging to Allis while half-naked! What a despicable thing for the prince of a duchy to be doing!”

Uh, no, Allis is the one doing the clinging here. But it really shouldn’t even matter. They’re betrothed.

“That’s different! A relationship remaining innocent until marriage shows your sincerity to your partner! Try giving him a better education!”

“Oh ho. You have some guts saying that in front of me, as a previous retainer of Lady Melle. How about I let everyone here know just what this innocent relationship you speak of looks like, hm?”

“Stop, Ney! You’re going to make me look bad as well...” Melle frantically cut in.

Guess they didn’t have the purest relationship, huh? Well, it is true that they eloped.

Still, I didn’t think it was a parent’s place to interfere in their child’s love life. A father should simply calm themselves down and...

“Hey, Touya, I saw your daughters get chatted up by some foreign princes just a bit ago.”

“Tell me their names. I just want to have a chat.”

What little brat tried to pick up my daughters, huh?! I need to sit ’em down and have a nice. Lovely. Chat!

“They’re both rather similar, after all.”

“Birds of a feather flock together.”

“Both are so overprotective. It’s embarrassing to watch.”

“Don’t lump me in with him!”

Shit, we harmonized!

We glared at each other for a bit before we turned away with a huff.

Hm?

I saw Elze and Yae running along the floating bridge in the athletics area. Hilde was there too. I was impressed, since it wasn’t easy running across a surface as slippery as that.

The obstacle course was made up of balloons floating in the pool. You had to jump, leap, climb, and drop, weaving your way around the course. It wasn’t really supposed to be something to do time trials on...

“Ah!”

“Whoa?!”

Neither were able to complete the curve and they slid right out of the course. After a splish and then a splash, they landed right into the water one after the other. Everything that made up the course was wet, so going that fast around the corner was just asking for disaster.

At one of the pools to the side, Yakumo and Elna were having fun inside the water ball. The water ball was just a big transparent sphere filled with air that you could roll around in. It was able to take in air with spatial magic so there was no risk of suffocating if they stayed in too long.

It was already hard enough controlling it with one person, but with two it was practically uncontrollable. They were stuck rolling around everywhere inside of it, but they both seemed to be enjoying themselves, so I was glad I had made it.

Starting to get tired, I got out of the pool and spread out over one of the deck chairs. I sipped from the tropical drink I had prepared and took a break.

“This really is paradise...”

“Haaah... I very much agree... This is absolute paradise... Getting to see young girls frolic and play in their swimsuits...ahhh...is just such a sight for sore eyes that my nose won’t stop bleeding. Mmmh...”

Beside me was Atlantica, the gynoid terminal of the laboratory, breathing heavily while she held a tissue to her bleeding nose.

Why would you bring her here?!

“Rest assured. Atlantica has been strictly forbidden from laying a hand on any of them.”

Doc Babylon was lounging on a deck chair beside her. Couldn’t say that gave me much reassurance.

Also, this barely mattered, but why was she wearing a lab coat over her swimsuit?

“That’s not the only problem here. The kids are gonna get scared off if they see someone stare at them like that!”

“Hmm, then how about we put a paper bag over her head?”

“That’ll just make it worse!”

She was going to give them some weird trauma at this rate!

Whatever. I could just use [Prison] so she couldn’t move from her spot and then place [Mirage] around it to hide her presence. Oh, and I should shut out any noise while I was at it.

“You’re awfully harsh, aren’t you?”

“Why, in any scenario, would you bring someone like her down here?”

“All the rest of the gynoid sisters are getting to enjoy their holiday to the fullest, so why shouldn’t she?”

I wasn’t so heartless that I didn’t understand where she was coming from, but Noel had been sleeping in that deck chair this whole time, and Fam was reading a book beside her. They weren’t doing anything different than usual.

“Awawa! We’ve got-a big trouble!”

Just as I was making remarks in my mind, I saw Lileleparshe come running over in a one-piece swimsuit.

“Master, it’s-a big trouble! Ouchie!”

Unable to see the [Prison] I had encased Tica in, she slammed right into it... She was usually clumsy anyway, but this time was definitely my fault.

Sorry about that.

“What’s wrong, Parshe? Has Touya’s infidelity finally been discovered by his wives?”

“Where’d you get that one from?! I’ve done nothing wrong!”

This damned lady was playing a dangerous game with her jokes. That was absolutely taking it too far! You’re meant to laugh with others, not at them!

“So, what’s the matter?”

“The Water Slimes-a in the purifying tanks have all-a escaped!”

“What?! How did that happen?!”

The Water Slimes were being used to keep the water clean. How did they escape?

“Sooo, to make a long-a story short, I accidentally slipped on a banana peel-a, and I yanked the tablecloth I had grabbed without thinking off the table, and all the plates-a on top of it came-a tumbling down, and they all hit the champagne in front of them, and the impact made the cork go-a nyoom! and land a direct hit on the button to open the purifying tank.”

Hold up, when did this become a YouTube prank show?!

Why was there a banana peel, plates, and champagne in the room with the switch to the purifying tank?!

“Logic doesn’t work when you’re dealing with someone as airheaded as Parshe.”

“Personally, I think she’s gone way beyond just an airhead...”

This was starting to feel like a curse. Though when you considered the personality of her creator, it definitely wasn’t out of the question for her to do something like that.

“What happened with the Water Slimes?”

“I closed-a the water tank right away, but a number of them made it out. They probably made it to one of the pools-a through the water system...”

This was bad. Water Slimes were typically docile creatures who wouldn’t attack anything bigger than them, so there was almost no danger of them attacking the guests, but there was no doubt that if they saw Slimes swimming about in the pools, our water park’s reputation would be ruined before it even opened.

I have to gather the Slimes before someone spots them!

I took my phone out of [Storage] and did a search for them... Or I tried to, at least. However, the Slimes were camouflaging themselves as water, so how was I meant to detect them?! When I fell to my knees in defeat, Parshe spoke up.

“Doctor! We still have-a the Slime Radar in the warehouse!”

“Oh, so we do. That’ll make our job a whole lot easier.”

“You’ve got a radar for these things?”

“Of course. Slimes are useful creatures depending on their type, so we have artifacts to help us find them more easily.”

True, if you weren’t able to use magic like [Search], trying to find Slimes would be a pain, so an artifact like that existing made sense.

“Well, whatever. Then Parshe, can you go grab that Slime Radar and... Wait! No, if you go, you’ll definitely break it or lose it or something. Tica, can you go?”

Tica glared at me, clearly unhappy with my request.

“Whaaat? I want to continue observing all these angelic girls, though...”

“...If you go grab it, I’ll let you use these binoculars.”

“But of course, Master! I’ll get them right away!”

The moment she saw me pull out some binoculars from [Storage], Tica teleported off at the speed of light. She was certainly honest about her desires, that was for sure.

“I got it! Now give me the binoculars!”

“It’s been, like, two seconds!”

And she was way too desperate. I really wanted my daughters as far away from her as possible...

“This is the Slime Radar! Now, the binoculars, haaah... Haaah!”

I began thinking I had made a very terrible decision as I watched Tica standing there, breathing intensely, but I had promised to give them to her. She whipped the binoculars out of my hand and began staring, nose bleeding, at the girls playing about in the pool, letting out all sorts of excited noises.

I had at least made it so they couldn’t see her. If they weren’t being bothered by it, then there was no harm, I guess... At the very least, I added a ward against teleporting to the [Prison]. Perverts should be quarantined.

“So, this is the Slime Radar, is it? Gonna be honest, it just looks like some shades.”

The frames of the radar were a flashy red. It had a design that made it look like I would transform into a giant red-and-silver ultra alien by putting them on. At least it wouldn’t look too strange for me to be wearing these.

I wasted no more time and gave the Slime Radar a try. Similar to wearing sunglasses, my sight got a little darker after putting them on.

“Feel that button on the side of the frames? Press that and it should open up a map showing you the location of the Slimes. It’s made so that it can detect the Slimes no matter where they’re hiding.”

“Neat... Huh?”

There was a dimly glowing light wavering side to side in the pool in front of me. Was that a Water Slime? Oh no, it was heading right toward the holy king of Allent!

With the Slime Radar equipped, I dived into the water without hesitation and swam to where the Slime was before sending it back to the purifying tank with [Teleport].

I made it just in time too! A few centimeters more and it would’ve ended up touching him!

I splashed my head out of the water, gasping for breath.

“Hah, hah... Th-That was so close...”

“A-Are you quite all right, Touya? Did your foot cramp? Do take care you don’t drown.”

“I’m... I’m good, thanks. Sorry for...all the racket...”

Exhausted, I stumbled my way back to the poolside.

This isn’t good for my health...

As much as I wanted to rest, I had to deal with the rest of the Slimes as soon as possible. And so, I pressed the button on the frames and with a little beep, a map appeared in the right lens. There were three glowing spots, most likely the Slimes, which meant a total of four Slimes had escaped.

The closest one from here would be...the wave pool. I used [Teleport] to get there as swiftly as possible.

Same as before, the small kids and their parents were in the area with the weak waves, while the adults who loved surfing were in the strong wave area. And as my terrible luck would have it, the Slime was in the surfing area!

I looked down at the surfing guests’ feet with the Slime Radar, and right enough, there was a little Water Slime left at the mercy of the waves, spinning round and round as if it had been shoved into a washing machine.

I didn’t think it likely that it would be spotted like that, but there was always the chance one of the surfers could fall and touch it by accident. As such, retrieving it as soon as possible was for the best.

I had no idea how to approach this, though. With it being twirled around the way it was, it would be difficult to use [Teleport] on it. And if I messed up, I’d end up teleporting one of the guests instead. That only left touching it directly.

Okay, I can do this!

Having steeled myself, I grabbed one of the rental surfboards by the poolside and entered the wave pool.

“Oh, coming to join us, Touya?”

“W-Well, I thought I could try it just for a bit.”

I gave as vague a response as I could to the tanned king of Egret, then crawled on top of my surfboard as it floated on the water. The waves were coming at me from diagonally behind, and being an advanced course, they were high.

Just as the surfboard started to be pushed by the wave, I stood up with perfect timing and began riding the wave.

I was putting on a cool show, surfing smoothly along the massive wave, but to be honest...I was actually using [Fly]. The most I was doing was keeping my feet planted on the surfboard. There was no way I could ride a wave like that normally!

When I made it to the problem Slime, I deliberately lost my balance and fell into the pool. Even while I was gurgling through the tumbling waves, I somehow managed to touch the Slime and teleport it back to the cleansing tank.

All right, two down!

“Oh, you were so close! You were riding the board a little strangely. Try lowering your hips more next time and you’ll be able to keep your balance better!”

His Majesty gave me advice as I wobbled to my feet.

Sorry that my surfing technique was weird, but I wasn’t even trying to surf properly... Oh well, on to the next!

When I checked the map again, I realized the next closest was inside the longest waterslide in our park... It wasn’t moving, though. What was going on? If it was somewhere along the waterslide, you would think it would be getting swept away along with the water and other people sliding down it. There didn’t seem to be any panic going on either. Guess I would just have to go and find out for myself.

“Oh! Did you come for the ride too, Your Grace...? What’s with the weird glasses?”

Allis and Kuon were happily lined up in front of the long waterslide when I made it to the top of the stairs. They were still sliding down this thing?

I know the glasses look strange, but you could at least have the tact to not mention it.

“Just doing a little spot check. No problems here?”

“I can’t say there is anything particularly strange, but...has something happened?”

My boy was as sharp as ever. I momentarily considered just asking Kuon to help me with the search but realized it would be bad for my reputation if I interrupted my son’s date over something like this.

“No? There’s nothing wrong at all. Look, it’s your turn.”

Kuon looked at me with suspicion, but with Allis dragging him along, he had no choice but to enter the slide.

Due to its length and height, the long waterslide wasn’t the usual semicircular shape, but a whole tunnel. There were see-through areas dotted about so people could still catch glimpses of the outside while sliding down. Kids were small enough that you could fit two side by side, but it was really made for one adult. The slide itself was about one and a half meters in radius so that one’s body would sway side to side while going around the curves.

Apparently, if you got enough momentum, you could even end up doing a whole twirl. Of course we’d made sure to test the safety of the slide with magic to ensure people didn’t fall weirdly and injure themselves. Not that that changed how scary it was, mind you. Or, I guess it did. It would be way scarier if safety wasn’t guaranteed.

I braced myself and pushed my body down the slide with the radar still displaying the map.

“Whoa! This is faster than I thought it would be!”

My body swayed left and right as I zoomed down the slide. Were the kids really all right with this? I would think the speed with which you slid down would change depending on your weight!

No getting distracted, I’m almost at the point in question. Just where is the damn thing?

I ran my eyes along the slide as I went.

Hm?

I could see something sparkling ahead!

“Is that it?!”

It is! It’s attached to the ceiling of the slide! Wait, hang on, noooooo! Neat, I found it, but I sure didn’t think about how to stop myself, though! I’m telling you, this is way too fast!

The course went round and round like a whirlpool before finally spitting me out into the pool. Allis and Kuon were there waiting for me.

“Ha ha ha! How was it, Your Grace? Did you find it fun?”

“Ha ha, yeah, it was greaaat. Thinkin’ I might give it another go...”

Allis was innocently excited, unaware of the true feelings behind my words as I went up the stairs once more.

This is bad... If I don’t catch it this time, I’m gonna have to keep sliding down until I do.

I mentally prepared myself and slid down the tube once more.

Aim carefully this time so you don’t miss it... There!

“[Teleport]!”

This time, I definitely managed to transport the Slime to the cleansing tank, and I continued my descent down the waterslide at a much more relaxed pace than before, leaving my body at the mercy of the water and the slide. Was this what it was like to be a piece of nagashi somen?

With no takers, the human somen was spat out into the pool.

Kuon and Allis had already gone off somewhere, so I felt kind of lonely...

In any case, there was only one more left.

I lifted my weary body out of the water and checked the radar map again.

It’s at the obstacle course, huh? Talk about choosing the worst places.

I returned to where Elze and Yae had been running about earlier. At least they were all still having fun. I had to find that Slime as soon as I could so those smiles didn’t disappear.

“Now, where did it run off to?”

With my darkened vision, I continued looking around for the Water Slime.

Any sparkling spots here...? Oh, there it is.

It was clinging to a corner of the course made up of balloons. It really just looked like a pool of water to the naked eye. But hey, at least it was in an easy-to-reach place.

I entered the pool for the obstacle course and swam my way over to the Slime.

Just as I was about to reach it, though, one of the guests running the course kicked it with their feet, and the Slime ended up bouncing along the water’s surface like a skimming stone.

No way...

The one who had kicked it must have assumed they were just feeling the wet balloon, since they didn’t even stop to look.

Dammit, where’d it go?

I scanned the area and caught sight of it attached to the water ball that Elna and Yakumo were playing in. It was attached to the outside of it, and it spun round and round every time the two moved too much.

I approached their water ball to try to catch the Slime, but when the two girls noticed me, they excitedly rolled the sphere in my direction.

No, I didn’t come here to play!

“Gwah!”

I was run over by the water ball and it pushed my head under the water. With it sitting where it was, I couldn’t rise to the surface.

I swam sideways so I could find a spot to get myself back up and broke the surface with a sharp inhale. Turning back, I tried looking at the water ball for the Slime, but it was no longer there.

Huh?! Where’d it go now?!

I scanned the place with the radar glasses before eventually choosing to climb onto the poolside for a change of angle. I finally found it squirming away at a surprisingly swift pace. It just looked as if there was water flowing down the poolside—and that was likely what it looked like to the guests as well.

Dammit, not that direction!

The Water Slime was headed right in the direction of the girls’ bathroom. I couldn’t let it get in there. If it did, and the girls noticed it, there was no doubt they would cause a commotion.

The best option right now might have been to teleport myself in front of the restroom in order to capture it. Or at least, that was going to be my plan until the Slime suddenly stopped.

Huh?

“So it was a Slime.”

Kuon, standing in front of the girls’ bathroom, was looking at the Slime, one eye turned a yellow-gold. That was his Mystic Eye of Immobilization.

“I did think the water was moving awfully strangely. Was this why you were acting so odd earlier?”

“Oh, uh, yeah...”

Kuon handed the still-petrified Slime over to me when I reached him, and I immediately teleported it away. He must have guessed what was going on. I could feel my dignity slowly withering away...

“Sorry to keep you waiting, Kuon!”

Allis came out of the restroom, and the two held hands as they went off together. Kuon had caught me, but for now this was mission complete. It was a good thing it didn’t become a much bigger deal.

Exhausted, I dragged myself back to where the Babylon crew were waiting.

“Good job out there.”

“I am goddamn pooped...”

I handed Doc Babylon the glasses and slumped down onto one of the deck chairs.

The whole point of a preopening was to check that there were no problems before the official opening, so the fact that we were able to resolve this trouble in advance was a silver lining to the whole mess, at least.

“Change the purifying tank lock to a password-style one, would you?”

“Sure. Parshe won’t usually be down here, though, so I doubt you have to worry that much.”

“Just playing it safe.”

All it would take is someone accidentally stumbling onto the switch for this to happen again, so it was better safe than sorry.

“Actually, where is Parshe?”

Tica was still there being a creep toward the little girls, but the source of all this trouble wasn’t here, and that gave me a very bad feeling.

“Oh, she went off, saying that she’d clean the purifying tank—”

“Awawa, big trouble! When I was cleaning up-a the purifying tank, I accidentally slipped on a yam, and then I ended up throwing the bass guitar I had into a stepladder, which then fell over into the silk hat that we keep for magic tricks-a, and then the pigeons inside it got all surprised and flew out straight into the switch for the tank-a!”

“GRAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

I’d had enough of this clumsy dolt! Why was a yam, a bass guitar, and a silk hat all there in the first place?!

I yanked the Slime Radar out of Doc Babylon’s hand when she silently held it out to me.

“You’re forbidden from ever going into any of these pools.”

“What? But why?!”

Was she really acting as if she didn’t know? There were SO many reasons.

I’d better make sure there was a double lock on the tank. Anything to make sure this didn’t happen again.