After enjoying the aquarium with Hesty, we headed towards the surface.

  『I’ll be, arranging the, baggage so go on, ahead』


  Hesty had said, so my golem and I went up ahead.

  …….as I thought, I didn’t get the opportunity to use the air golem.

  Honestly it didn’t take as much effort as I thought to rise to the surface. It was quite easy.

  However, this kind of design might unexpectedly be useful to make wood armor. Those were my thoughts as I emerged from the lake.

  I had relaxed and let the current carry me so I was quite some distance from the cottage but that was alright.

  I swam to the nearest beach when,

  「Hyahaa~ You’re here Boss?!」


  From the beach I saw a baldie I recognized.

  The Adventurer Leader, Ash.

  「It’s been a while. Since Manaril’s concert I think?」


  「Hyahha~ sounds about right. To meet in such a place, it was the right decision to follow the knights on their training.」


  「Oh? You came with the knights?」


  「Hyahha~ This area is pretty much our backyard after all. We were originally people of the Fort City you know? We just gave our greetings to the Princess.」


  Now that he mentions it…


  This lake was close to the Fort City so of course they’d know it well.

  「By the way, why did you come out of the lake like that Boss?」


  「Well…I was just diving around down there.」


  The moment I said that Ash’s face paled.

  「To be diving in this lake…..seriously Boss….」


  「Hm? Was that bad?」


  I thought this was a fairly popular spot for people to swim.

  It shouldn’t be that strange.

  「Well, since this water has magic stones mixed within it…once you reach a certain depth and distance it becomes so thick that you can get drunk on the magic and have abnormal things happen. Actually that’s where you came out of Boss.」


  「Really? I don’t feel any different though.」


  「Hyahha…as expected of Boss…….」


  Still, this was a place where such symptoms could occur? This lake was diverse in many ways.

  「Hm? That means that things should have gotten weirder near the bottom?」


  「Eh…..? B-bottom?」


  「Yeah, I was diving to the bottom of the lake.」


  「Wh-th-this lake is really deep you know!?」


  Ash said with shock on his face. Did he really have to ham it up like this?

  Certainly it was deep and you wouldn’t usually be able to dive down without equipment…


  「If you use magic then you can dive down right? No matter how deep it is you have a technique that allows you to breathe.」


  「Hya-hyahha~ Boss is amazing, but there aren’t many who can breathe underwater you know!? Plus this lake is nearly 600 meters deep, some of the best mages in the country can only go down around 200 meters at best. There are none who have beaten the 300 meter record either.」


  Uhh…I just got some unexpected information.

  The people around me can all use the underwater breathing magic so I really didn’t understand how rare it was to be able to do so.

  「Needless to mention the water pressure after going that deep. Even if you ignored your own well-being and dove rapidly to 300 meters your internal organs would get injured and you’d probably die vomiting blood and guts.」


  「That’s gross oi」


  「Hyahha~ It’s just the truth. But for you to be diving even deeper than that and able to talk normally after…as expected Boss is incredible…!」


  Ash’s eyes and head glittered in the sun as he looked at me.

  It felt weird to receive such a reaction just from diving into a lake.

  「Well, umm…so Ash are you going back to the Knights’ place?」


  「No, we’ll be heading back to another place…..ahh that’s right. I’ve got some friends coming so could I introduce you? They’ll be returning from the Fort City with alcohol so I’d be glad if you’d join us.」


  Local Alcohol?

  That by itself caught my interest.

  「I see. Then I won’t hold back and indulge a bit.」


  「Hyahha~ ok then let’s go!」


  And so, I started walking along the beach with the adventurer Ash.