Chapter 538 – Ballroom of Water and Light

Using underwater breathing magic to move freely in the water while enjoying ourselves by riding the currents.

Simply swimming would be too plain. We tried various things—holding hands in turns and accelerating with water flow manipulation magic, gliding across the water’s surface, or creating water pipes to slide through inside them.

The water surface undulated with large waves, yet the crests never broke. Ashley and Marlene, holding hands, slid across the water surface with varying elevations like a roller coaster track, and once they passed through that area, both giggled happily.

I deployed a Magic Circle. The water at the front of the pool rose from both sides, connecting in an arch to form a tunnel-like structure—scattering colorful magical lights here and there created a scene where we passed through a curtain of water shining like an illumination.

“Ah… this is beautiful.”

“Thinking it’s only temporary magic makes it feel somewhat wasteful.”

Grace and Claudia, holding hands, lay back on the water surface, squinting at the curtain and illumination created by the water and light.

This seemed quite popular. Grace watched the scene happily for a while, then, as if noticing something, glanced around and called out to Rosemary.

“Lady Marie, it’s about time to switch.”

“Y-yes. Thank you, Grace.”

Rosemary nodded at Grace, who smiled at her, then cleared her throat softly and switched places. Without her feather fan in the pool, she seemed a bit at a loss. She hesitantly reached out her hand, and we held hands as we glided across the water surface.

After swimming like that for a while, Claudia and Ashley switched places. In turn, Claudia held hands with Marlene, stroking her hair. Marlene smiled happily.

“Please take care of me, Theodore-sama.”

“Sure. Ashley, over here.”

Saying that, I took Ashley’s hand as she smiled cheerfully. Though Ashley often maintains a dignified expression due to her work in the barony, now she had an innocent smile fitting for her age.

“Hmm, this is good.”

“We might be able to carry one or two more people.”

“I brought a Magic Tool, so I could pull Irm along too.”

Sheila’s voice and Irmhild’s cheerful voice. Looking over, I saw Irmhild swimming after releasing her Humanization Spell, and Sheila moving across the water surface as if riding on Irmhild’s tail. Seraphina was also on Irmhild’s shoulder.

They seemed to be enjoying themselves over there. A water flow manipulation Magic Tool, perhaps? They must have prepared it since we were going to the pool.

I alternated and played with everyone, holding hands and such… Eventually, perhaps inspired by the illumination, Flower Fairies came into the tunnel, emitting faint lights as they flew around joyfully like they were dancing, creating quite a lively scene.

Corulis and the others also seemed to blink at the sight. As we did various things, Queen Eldorene and her group, Princess Stephania and her group, Miriam, Forset and his group, Floria, Harvesta, and everyone else came to the poolside, making the lazy river pool area very bustling.

Like this—Harvesta and the Flower Fairies floating and moving through the tunnel—was quite fantastical, or something like that.

“This is wonderful.”

“It’s beautiful, Your Majesty.”

“Um… would it be alright if we released our Humanization Spell?”

“Hmm… I’d like to swim to my heart’s content, but we’re in bath robes. Hmm. I’ll go change.”

The mermaid trio seemed restless. “Changing” probably meant into clothes made from water spider silk. They’d likely be fine even after releasing the Humanization Spell.

Miriam and Sion and the others had similarly shining eyes, but that was usual.

Hmm. I’ve had my fill of swimming and playing, so maybe I should station myself near the pool and focus on maintaining the magic. There’s also the aspect of hospitality—we could have food brought over from the rest area.

So… Queen Eldorene and her group, having changed, released their Humanization Spell and swam freely in the illuminated lazy river pool.

Princess Stephania and her group, Sion and the others, and even Miriam rode on Corulis and Belius, playing happily with the Flower Fairies.

As for Floria… perhaps she’s not good at swimming, or maybe because Harvesta is there, she sat at the poolside, holding Harvesta on her lap, swinging her legs happily.

As for me, I was at the poolside. The fire spirit hot spring facilities were covered by a wind field, warmed inside by magic, so it wasn’t very cold even here. The pool itself is warm water too. Well, with Tephra’s Blessing, we wouldn’t be cold anyway.

But staying wet wasn’t ideal, so Grace and the others went back inside to change their bath robes. For winter, there are gown-like bath robes to wear over clothes. They’re for cold protection, so you can’t swim in them.

I used Water Magic to dry my bath robe, maintained the magic, and added variations to the light and water movements while having Caduceus bring me a jacket.

We also had chairs and a table brought from the rest area, so I sat there and continued using magic. Like real illuminations, I changed the colors of the floating lights with gradients, added patterns to make them blink, and so on.

“Things seem quite lively here.”

“Your Majesty.”

King Melvin and his group arrived, perhaps having come from the men’s bath. Dinner was also being brought out one after another.

“We’re enjoying ourselves. Are we not in the way?”

“No, I still have plenty of control to spare.”

“Is that so? As expected.”

King Melvin sat down in high spirits.

He then narrowed his eyes at the pool’s illumination and nodded quietly.

“Hmm… Your way of using magic like this is quite good.”

“Thank you.”

I answered with a quiet bow. For King Melvin… he probably prefers using magic to entertain others rather than for combat purposes. He also seems to feel troubled about me being on the front lines.

Conversely, being in a situation where I can use magic this way must be comforting, I suppose.

“The water tunnel could probably be maintained by setting up Magic Tools.”

Albert smiled. Yes, perhaps. It might be interesting to keep only part of it as a tunnel. Magic Tools might not move the lights as dynamically as now, but they could easily provide basic lighting.

“Oh! That’s the revived Cerberus, isn’t it?”

Prince Josiah’s eyes widened as he saw Belius circling the pool.

“Yes. I named him Belius.”

“I heard he was a Golem, but he looks just like a living creature.”

“That’s right. Classification-wise, he might be closer to a Magical Creature.”

As expected, upon first sight, he seems far from the impression of a Golem. While we were talking, Grace and the others returned after changing.

So, we had a leisurely dinner at the poolside while watching the illumination.

The royal castle’s chefs prepared the dishes on-site, so the Menu was quite lavish. Monster meat dishes, seafood from the Magic Light Water Vein, a platter of fresh fruits, and elaborately crafted candy art.

The candy art, in particular, reflected the illumination lights and was quite a sight. Perhaps because of the unexpected effect, the royal castle chefs looked pleased with the scene.

Those who were still swimming either came out from the poolside, dried off, and put on jackets, or continued swimming if they hadn’t had enough—everyone was spending time as they pleased.

Flower Fairies were feeding Ore to Corulis, who had come out of the pool.

“Hmm… The cuisine of the surface is truly diverse.”

“During celebrations in Grantios, surface dishes are sometimes served as well.”

“Oh ho.”

Eckels and his group, who seemed to be trying surface cuisine for the first time, were enjoying it heartily.

Irmhild began playing the Lute as a substitute musician. Marion responded by sitting at the poolside and singing, while Flower Fairies danced joyfully in the air… Combined with dinner and music, the atmosphere was like that of a ball. In such a light-filled setting, the dinner table became visually splendid.