[Whereabouts of the Saintess]

Thus, we immediately started a strategy meeting to rescue Elma, but unsurprisingly, we had a difficult time figuring out her whereabouts because she had no Phoenix Seal. Shiva-san’s ‘Clairvoyance’ found no lead either, maybe because Elysium’s power was interfering.

It would have been slightly reassuring if Elma at least had her Hallowed Sacred Treasure with her, but unfortunately, she was disarmed upon being captured, so she had no weapon to defend herself with.

Just in case, Phinis-sama tried to look in the former headquarters of the saints who were now deprived of power, but to no one’s surprise, they weren’t hiding in such an obvious place…

And now, we were in a deadlock.

“For goodness’ sake… Just where did they bring Elma to…” I muttered.

“Hm, why don’t we try thinking in ‘reverse’?” Arca suggested.

“Reverse?” I tilted my head.

“Yeah,” Arca nodded and continued, “They should be lurking in the ‘most difficult place to find’ in this world. After all, we have the Goddesses of Genesis on our side even though they’ve been deprived of their power. The place can’t be ordinary.”

“Indeed. At least they’re not hiding in the ‘sea’, that I can assure you. I may have lost my power, but I’m still the god who rules over ‘water’—with the amount of power they have, I should be able to instantly notice if they enter the sea.”

The one nodding vigorously was Sinus-sama, who still had to stay outside and look into the room through the window.

Although I had abruptly left in the middle of the feast the other day, Seleia-san and the others thankfully had forgiven me with a smile.

“If anything, the fact that we’re not able to sense individuals possessing such great power is the strange one. And for what it’s worth, we are gods. With that being the case, it should only be natural that we can resonate with those possessing power of god, in this case, that former demi-human. Especially because the power he possesses is originally ours.” Igniver-sama said.

“So, do you mean to say that the fact you can’t sense him signifies that Saint Elysium is not in this world?” Magmell inquired.

“Well, you can take it that way,” Igniver-sama shrugged her shoulders. “I completely have no clue how that can be, however.”

『……』

Normally, you might think that he was using powerful concealment magic.

However, we were talking about Elysium, here.

Maybe he really was not in this world.

Needless to say, the opposite of this world was the ‘afterworld’, but that would mean Elysium was already dead.

In other words, he was somewhere neither the afterworld nor this world.

A world that was separated from the afterworld and this world.

“A separated, different world…?”

At that moment, what came into my sight was Phinis-sama, who tilted her head in confusion, “Is something wrong…?”

Where had she been until recently?

She had been sealed in a world that was cut off from everything, where even the goddesses couldn’t easily interfere.

Yes—

“《World of Oblivion》…”

『……』

The others widened their eyes upon hearing the words I muttered.

“I see,” Shiva-san, in the meantime, nodded and said, “If it’s《World of Oblivion》, then it is no wonder I couldn’t find Elma with my ‘Clairvoyance’. It is highly likely she is being held there.”

“Mm. Elma is surely there.” Tirna nodded.

“But how do we get there? Knowing that place, there is no guarantee of a safe return, right?” asked Zana.

“Don’t worry about the small details, princess. What matters is that tiny-breasted girl is there, ain’t it? All we gotta do is go there and take her back lickety-split!”

Ophir put on a fearless smile, but then tilted her head, “By the way,” and asked, “What’s this 《World of Oblivion》?”

『……』

No, if you didn’t know, then don’t make that “D-don’t tell me, it’s!?” face…

◇ ◇

Meanwhile.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!?”

Crackle crackle! Electric currents ran through Elma’s body, whose limbs were restricted.

“Fuhi, what a pleasant-sounding cry.”

Needless to say, the one who subjected her to this torture was Tougen. He was using her as a guinea pig for his new trap magic art.

“A, uh…”

Thud, Elma collapsed to the ground, drained of strength.

“Ugh.”

Roughly pulling Elma’s hair, Tougen forced her to look up and said, “What’s this? Worn out already? Look at your face, smeared with tears and snot. It’s so unbecoming of you, Miss Saintess. Fuhihi, but the experiment has just begun, you know? All right, I wonder which one I should try nex—”

Just then.

“Hey~!? Why are you using her as a guinea pig without telling us~!?”

“Tsk, time’s up, huh…”

At Patty’s sudden intrusion, Tougen clicked his tongue, apparent displeasure on his face.