Awakening to a Special-Grade Explorer
Vol. 5 - Ch. 230 - A plan and an appalling aura

Two deep green hell gates appeared before Tenji, responding to his call.

The two gates were covered with oil screens. One of them was dyed in blue colour, radiating a calm and cleansing aura, while the other was dyed in an intimidating red colour, reminiscent of ferocious purgatory flames.

From there, two hell beasts appeared quietly, with no ripples to be seen on the oil screen.

"Sai is here to heed your call, Third Lord!! Kuhihi, Are you happy?"

"It's been a while, isn't it? My beloved lord. I, Touka, couldn't have been more pleased to receive your call."

The beings summoned were the new third-grade hell beasts.

'Sai' of the Purgatory Demon Soldier from red demon species, and 'Touka,' a Shaman Demon Soldier from blue demon species.

The two made a flashy entrance, but quickly regained their act and knelt down in front of their new king.

"It's been a while, Sai, Touka. How have you been?"

"Kuhihihi, spirited more than ever! So over the top that I ate 100 prisoners today!"

"Just hearing your concern for me has already filled me with unprecedented energy. Oh......my beloved master."

Facing the lively entrance of two, Tenji pulled a fprced smile.

To be candid, Tenji was unsure how to act around them.

As a denizen of hell, obviously, their standards were based on it as well, and not the modern world that Tenji was living in. Sai, while bearing no ill-intent, often liked to talk about how many people he had eaten that day, or rejoicing the torture was.

Touka, on another hand, had the tendency to deify Tenji too much.

Touka being the first contracted female hell beast of Tenji, it was hard to tell if it was a thing predisposed to them or some other reason. However what had been set was that she revered Tenji, the new King of Hell, like he was a god.

Tenji was a bit pleased to ear praise coming out from someone of the opposite gender, however at the same time, Tenji felt he was carrying a burden too big.

(Uh-huh, it's a bit hard to communicate with them. But a beggar can't be chooser.)

Pushing himself to act no matter what, for when it's a battle of life and death there would be no chance to choose the mean, Tenji continued with a smile and gave the two his orders.

"I'm right now in a battle of scrambling points with other people of this world—"

"Kuhihihi, great! Fights are always welcome!"

"No humans can dare match our beloved lord, for I'm sure of that."

Hearing their words, laced with their sincerity, caused Tenji to smile bitterly in his mind. Nevertheless he didn't stop, as that would mean losing his way among their pace, and continued.

"Do you know what a watermelon is?"

"But of course! If anything, they're my favourites!"

"Inside red and black, a strange green fruit, is it? I, Touka, is aware."

"You will be rewarded watermelons when you found. So—"

"All that required is to search for the fruit called watermelon, right!? Yes, I have got it all down!"

Sai sprang up to his feet, flashing an innocuous smile.

It was a while later when Tenji came to know it was by this innocuous smile that Sai had charmed peerless maidens, informed to him by Ancient Caged Fire. And he had to agree, the smile could indeed flatter many human women too. Plus, with those Oni-like horns, he was an outright adonis. But that aside—

Tenji hurriedly turned to grab Sai's shoulder.

"Hold on there. I believe quiet manoeuvring should be impossible for you, right?"

"Kuhihi, impossible indeed!"

"So what I want you to do is something else, and it's just that."

"Oh, ask me anything!"

"You're here as suppressor. You just walk in the area without doing anything, and your intimidating aura would be enough to keep other from stepping in this area."

"And then Lord can hog all the watermelons of this place, right?! Kuhihihi, brilliant!"

"Thanks."

Then, Tenji turned to Touka, who had been looking at him as he gave orders with an enraptured expression.

"Touka, you do as usual and move in the background quietly, look for any watermelons and movements of other contestants and inform that to me."

"This Touka has been extremely glad to be honoured with this task. Please be relieved, I will complete it even if I have to forsake this life."

Touka replied, her eyes sparkling bright, as she stood up with graceful gestures. Had she been a human, maybe Tenji would have fallen head over heels for her.

Such was her peerless beauty, and maybe attributed to her shyness, every inch of her skin, except the face, was hidden behind her clothes.

"Speaking of, I think I didn't speak the meaning behind summoning you huh."

"This is but a trivial matter! It shouldn't have more than to come out of your restraint, right? It always means serious business when our lord calls us out."

"You're right. I will be counting on you then, Sai, Touka."

" "We will put our everything!" "

After nodding to Tenji's response, the two momentarily vanished from Tenji's sight.

With their agility, it was impossible to sight even their afterimages as they departed to achieve their respective task as fast as possible.

Tenji, now alone, lightly stretched himself and pepped himself with a short 'alright!' shout.

"Now It's time to start reaping the points."

†　†　†

The final preliminary after that was like a one big melting hodgepodge.

Sai, the summoned being of Tenji, grandly showed himself before the contestant or patrolling professional explorers.

For others, he was a mysterious humanoid monster, an entity so scary his aura—which was released at full force, for Sai hated the idea to suppress himself—just by being in his presence rattled their bones to core. Mizue had commented about this specifically; any 'explorer with eyes' should feel the call of their instinct to never usher in battle against a monster like Sai.

But again, Tenji couldn't have asked for more. He was having the area for himself as Sai curbed others' advancement. Touka would search for watermelon, Sai would patrol around and finally Tenji would reap the points. A perfect royal road.

"My beloved master, I have found another watermelon."

Touka appeared beside Tenji in a flash and informed him as she kneeled.

Tenji rejoices and swiftly broke into a run.

"Amazing, Touka. Guide the way."

"Yes, please."

Barely a few moments later, Tenji confirmed his fingerprint on the just discovered watermelon. A second after, watermelon split open, displaying 'Tenji Amagi 136P.'

He had just confirmed when Sai called out to him.

"Kuhihi, how is it going, Third Lord?"

"Oh, Sai. Why did you come here?"

"I am temporarily taking an exit after displaying my strength. Kuhihi, now those bunch would be mad searching for me who is longer to found! They're but puppets dancing on my palm, kuhihi!"

Sai burst into a delightful chuckle.

This was the plan that Tenji had in his bag, to use Sai within the capacity that it didn't suspend the final preliminary.

After all, the final preliminary might truly be paused if Sai rampaged around without a care for the world. So he had asked Sai to adjust accordingly and make it more like a game of tag.

He would appear but would do nothing. By creating a situation of formless terror, Tenji would be able to sustain the limit.

"It's good, but I think we have still gone too hard on it. Well, I have already secured the minimum number of points for now, so let's stop here today. I wouldn't want the tournament to be paused due to uproar."

"Kuhihi, a pity humans are such a doll!"

"Oh, how I would love to always be by your side, my beloved master."

"Sai, Touka......thank you. I will call you out again, alright?"

" "Yes, it will be our honour." "

The hell gate made their appearance once again, and with a look of reluctance, Sai and Touka returned back to hell.

Tenji, now being the only one, dashed through the place.

(I believe we should be at peak, so how long till the final preliminary is called out huh. It's going to cross the 20 hours mark soon. The sun is about to set as well...... It seemed like today's not the final day.)

They had rest on the last evening, but it was still taxing for students to continue giving their all for twenty hours in just two days.

Tenji had presumed the second day would be the call considering the stamina of students.

Tenji was proceeding through the doubt when a loud sound rung.

WOO-WOO-WOO WOO-WOO-WOO

Sirens, which were meant for notifying about any emergency, suddenly started ringing all over the venue.

"What's going on?"

Tenji halted on his steps and strained his ear at the sudden happening. A little after that, the static sound of speakers connecting resounded, followed by the voice of an unfamiliar woman's voice.

<Seeker Olympic's Final Preliminary has been suspended as of the moment. Contestants are advised to stay there and wait for the appearance of professional explorers. I repeat—>

Contestants everywhere flashed a perplexed expression at the sudden announcement about suspension of game.

As they say, those who did no evil have no guilty conscience. Though this announcement couldn't have sounded more intimidating for Tenji, with what he had been thinking a while, his heartbeat quickened.

"C-Could it be......because of me?"

He muttered, but that doubt, too, remained only for an instant.

Boom

His murmur was overpowered by the sound of a grand explosion.

Tenji swiftly looked into that direction and noticed some kind of incident was taking place several kilometres away from his spot.

"Phew, it's not me. But......that aura feels appalling."

What Tenji felt was a sensation similar to that white monster he had fought in the Mallorca. He ignored the announcement instruction the instant he felt that and galloped in the direction of explosion.

(That scent feels similar to that guy. I need to hurry up.)

His figure blitzed through the forest at full speed.