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Soon after, the arena itself had finished building. It still had to be filled with furnishings and equipment, but there were already tourists coming to see the actual building.

Unconcerned about such people, one youth entered the branch right away.

“I came to pick you up!”
“Y-York?!”

York, the tool to make the elder leave, finally arrived. He ignored the trembling elder and headed straight for me, then bowed his head.

“Lady Illya, I arrived late despite your calling… This York feels truly ashamed.”

I felt like he was acting even more uptight than before. Did something happen with the water dragon? I hope he wasn’t indoctrinated with some weird ideas.

York continued to single-mindedly apologize and reflect, not noticing what I was thinking.

“—Please punish me in any way.”
“I don’t plan to do that, but I do have one request.”

Both the geezer and York looked shocked at that. But they were different in the fact that one of them looked puzzled while the other delighted.

Not paying that any mind, I took one commission from the notice board.

It was the commission to “Subjugate the giant monster rampaging in the Ford Sea” that the Eredist branch located in the east of Acradist had issued.

The great spirits could be considered to be the elemental factors itself that crystal pillars transformed to under the influence of Spiricules that were the source of life force.

Even a Divine Beast would be no match against Undine which could be said to be the incarnation of water factors when it came to manipulating water.

The only other thing necessary was the power to hold that giant body still.

“Gabril, Parsha.”

I called the two over and showed the three of them the commission.

“Could you accept this commission with the three of you?”
“Huh?”
“Got it.”
“Huh?!”
“Understood.”
“Huuh?!”

Only Parsha continued yelping in confusion. Gabril and York accepted right away, but I still had to explain it.

Without registering the commission, we headed to the second floor to explain the details first.

“The monster that is causing damage to Acradist at the moment is actually not a monster but a Divine Beast.”
“““!!”””

The three stiffened in shock so I continued my explanation.

“As such, what I would like to ask of you is not subjugation but protection. According to the mermaids that live in the adjacent seas, the Divine Beast doesn’t harbor any ill will, and this is all caused by a divine tool that is stuck in her body and is tormenting her.”
“I see. If it’s the sea… that is, water, Undine’s power can be utilized to the utmost.”

I nodded to York’s words and was about to ask Undine directly for help, but before I did.

“Understood, o Child of God.”

He beat me to it.

I wanted to use this opportunity to make it clear that I was in a lower position, but he displayed unshakable loyalty.

However, he might say something unnecessary if I start remonstrating with him here, so I decided to move on.

I bowed my head in appreciation and then faced Gabril and continued.

“Gabril, I want you to stop the Divine Beast’s movements.”
“…Alright.”

His tone felt a little hesitant.

Being a dependent of the Ogre God, the ogre factors made his physical abilities incredibly high.

Because of that power, he ended up breaking countless things and tended to hesitate to face off against beings he didn’t consider enemies. That’s why, while he accepted a lot of subjugation commissions while in Luneville, he never took any capture commissions.

…I do understand where he’s coming from really well.

“Parsha, I want you to take care of strengthening and recovering the Divine Beast using magic and holy magic.”
“Okay. Got i-…huh? Uhhh… why strengthen it?”

Gabril and York looked just as puzzled as she.

Their question was probably why we needed to strengthen a being we were supposed to capture, even if it was for her own protection.

“I want you to raise the Divine Beast’s ability based on her difference with Gabril. You know Gabril’s strength the best here, and you’re the only one who can see through the Divine Beast’s power too.”
“O-Okay…”

It seems I added unneeded pressure on her.

“Gabril also knows how to hold back, so it will be alright. Just think of it as insurance if things go south.”
“…Parsha. Believe in me. I’ll believe in you too.”
“R-Right!”

The power of love sure is magnificent~ ☆

The divine tool was problematic, but it should be alright since Bahamut’s divine factors should be quite weakened.

The true way to use a divine tool… the ability to interfere directly with information, should be unusable for her, and even if she did use it, it shouldn’t be that strong.

I convinced myself and then faced York.

“Parsha will be supporting, Undine and Gabril will be restricting the Divine Beast. I want you to secure the divine tool, York.”
“As you wish.”

Once we confirmed the details, I took the three’s registration cards and registered the commission to them.

It was fortunate that the subjugation commission wasn’t accepted at Acradist’s branch yet, perhaps because of the ongoing chaos.

“Here are your registration cards.”
“Priestess, what shall I do?”
“Gnome, you support Gabril.”

I answered but then suddenly remembered something else.

“Also, bury the divine tool.”
“Would that be alright?”

I nodded at Undine’s question.

“Please bury the retrieved divine tool at the bottom of the ocean.”

The divine tools were the transformed remains of the various gods —beast gods, bird gods, fish gods— that existed in the distant past in great numbers. The reason they discover divine tools in ruins and altars is that after weathering, the divine factors from their corpses merge into other factors.

I’d like it to remain sleeping silently if that is what is needed to keep it from the world finding it.

That said, I know it was all just my arrogance speaking.

”The divine tool matter is not part of the commission, so I don’t mind if you make your own judgment. I only ask that you don’t forget the influence it holds.”

Gabril and Parsha nodded deeply along with York.

Even according to my knowledge, there were less than ten mutations born with divine factors, excluding the dependents.

And most of them were oppressed due to the immortality those divine factors bring, and have lost all interest in the human world… or wished ruin and destruction upon it.

Manipulating weather without magic power, creating a thousand blades with one swing, and dealing attacks that ignore defense and the assistance of skills… There were ranks even among divine factors so setting aside whether they could use it or not, it would still be too dangerous to allow them to hold a divine tool.

I could remember someone named Orion as an example, who was quite a rare type considering he was a beastman who awakened to divine factors.

Setting aside how to deal with the divine tool, we concluded our conversation for the time being, so we headed outside where we were supposed to meet up with Helly.

When I introduced the trio in charge of protection, Helly showed slight confusion.

There were few of them and considering Gabril and Parsha’s atmosphere and appearances, it couldn’t be helped… That’s what I thought was the problem, but her dissatisfaction lay elsewhere.

“U-Um… Are you not coming along, Lady Illya…?”

Oh…

Well, I suppose I was too ambiguous.

“The people here are my friends whom I trust. If not them, I would’ve of course accompanied you.”
“…I see.”

She still looked unsatisfied with it.

“Just like Seiren relied on me, I trusted their strength and asked them to do this. I’m not directly involved… but I think having connections like this is part of someone’s power. Could I ask you to trust in them whom I trust?”
“Huh? Oh, no, that goes without saying!”

She replied assertively, and it didn’t seem like she was forcing or keeping up appearances.

What was the problem then? My thoughts apparently showed on my face, Helly looked away with a blush and spoke.

“…Umm, I was just happy that I would get to travel with you.”

I see. So she’s the same type as Lula. Can’t be helped then.

“I’m sorry that I can’t meet your expectations.”

While I do prefer girls over guys, I’m not planning to act upon it. Seeing me lower my head, she became flustered.

“No such thing! It’s just that, although she didn’t say it out loud, Lady Seiren wanted to see you too…”