Level 1 Strongest Sage ~

“T-Too fast — kyaahhhh?!”

“Ahahaha”

“Hey, hey. Did you try the current over there, too?”

“Yup! I shot up midway! It’s way too fun!!”

“Really? Then I’ll go try it for a bit!”

“Ah, me too! One more round!”

The mermaids were happily playing in the currents that had been generated within my shrine.

This place was basically open, so mermaids and mermen could go in and out as they pleased.

There was too little entertainment in this undersea world, so the merfolks always looked forward to the currents I created on a whim, but —

They found this Halt boy’s currents far more interesting than the currents of mine that were only fast.

Hoh. So there’s a sudden drop from that point, I see.

Whoa! The bend is at that angle over there!?

Fumu, fumu.

Spiraling, then — whoosh.

I see… Yeah, it’s fun alright.

I also wanted to try it for myself, but I can’t help but be conscious of what the shikigami and the merfolks would think if I, the Sea God himself, were to play in the currents created by a human.

Then, I just have to make a similar current and secretly play there.

“Halt, is it?”

“Yes. I’m Halt Vie Silveray. A Sage from Glendale.”

“Sage at that tender age… Perhaps, are you a transmigrator?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Halt answered my questions honestly.

No plans to hide?

Or was it because I’m a deity that he thought it would be futile to hide anything from me…?

Well, I don’t care anyway. I like this Halt.

He’s young, but he’s courteous, and the amount of mana he had based on the several currents he generated inside my shrine, coupled with the manipulation skills he had told me this boy was powerful.

I like strong guys.

The deities also have powerful guys like the Martial God and the Dragon God, but we can’t just battle freely.

Gramps — Creator God — will scold us.

That’s why I get pretty excited when I meet strong people among humans.

Not only that, this guy went out of his way to visit me.

He defeated Kraken and Leviathan underwater, and he even came to me.

There’s no other choice but to battle it out with him, right?

— Wait, calm down.

It’s said that Halt chased after shikigami until he reached this place. Then maybe he can move really fast underwater?

I’d be stumped if he were to run away.

Well, I don’t think he’d be able to run away from me underwater, but… It’s kinda boring chasing after someone who ran away and forcing them to fight.

I want to fight to my heart’s content against the person I wanted to battle it out with.

That’s why —

“By the way, do you have some kind of motive for coming all the way here, Halt?”

I decided to ask what he wished for first.

In exchange for granting his wish, I would have him fight me.

I’m a deity. Moreover, not just any ordinary one, but the Sea God that governed the world’s oceans.

I’m also connected to the Sky God that governs the skies, and the Earth God that manages the earth.

Sky God, Earth God, Sea God — that’s me — and the Evil God made up the so-called Four Great Deities.

We stand at the highest echelons of the deity ranking — yes, that’s who we are.

Only Gramps, the Creator God, stood above us.

That’s why I could grant wishes if I was in the mood for it.

It’s just that I’ll be troubled if the wish is something along the lines of ‘please return me to my previous world’...

Besides, granting wishes consumes quite a considerable amount of Divine Energy, so I can’t just do it arbitrarily. I couldn’t even just do whatever I wanted while preparing myself to get scolded by Gramps.

Well, it’s not like I want to do that…

That’s why I need to confirm first if Halt’s wish is something I can grant.

“Motive? Hmmm, well…”

Halt seemed troubled for some reason.

“A giant squid and a sea dragon started thrashing around and rampaging near the ship I was on, so I stopped them. That’s when I noticed that girl underwater, and she suddenly rushed off with great speed, so I unwittingly chased after her until I ended up here.”

That’s also what Shikigami told me.

Halt apparently chased after her due to a conditioned reflex.

I think he’s amazing for being able to keep up with the Shikigami’s speed and moving that fast just so he won’t lose sight of her.

“I was surprised to see such a colossal structure at the depths of the sea. Moreover, we’re in the deepest part of the ocean, and yet the building was faintly glowing so it’s bright…”

Oh. That’s my power illuminating this place.

It’s not like the dark poses any problem for me living here, but there are those who are worried when the lower ranked deities visit.

“It piqued my interest, and since I didn’t see any guard and everything’s open… I went in just like that.”

“So that’s what happened…Hm?”

Eh, don’t tell me.

“Wait a minute, Halt. Don’t tell me you don’t know who I am?”

“Eh?! Eh, er… I apologize.”

… Seriously?

Then, there’s no way he would know that this is my shrine.

“Yeah, sorry. I honestly thought you already knew who I am, so I didn’t introduce myself. Okay — I’m Poseidon, the God of Sea.”

“Sea God, Posei — Ehh?!”

“You know me?”

“Y-Yes. Of course! One of the Four Great Deities, am I right?”

“Yeah.”

It seems that even the transmigrators already have that kind of knowledge.

“Then this place must be… the Shrine of the Sea God?”

“Yeah. My home.”

“I-I’m so sorry! I did something weird inside the Shrine without knowing anything!”

He’s probably referring to the currents he made so that the mermaids can play.

“Nah, don’t worry about it. The merfolks seem to be enjoying themselves, too.”

Halt’s mana control was perfect, and the currents he created using his mana didn’t break any of the ornaments, much less the shrine itself.

Rather than that, what bothered me was —

“You came here without knowing this is my Shrine, so you don’t have any sort of wish for me, the deity, right?”

“...Yes.”

Oh, so that’s how it was.

This became quite troublesome.

I wouldn’t be able to have him fight against me in exchange for granting his wish.

In this world, Gramps Creator God forbids us deities to make a move on humans.

The only exception was for the human to make a move on the deity first.

Deities were allowed to retaliate in that case.

That’s why I wanted Halt to be the first one to attack so that we could start a battle.

However, since Halt came here without any sort of expectation, I couldn’t negotiate with him.

I’m the deity of sea creatures, so I don’t know what the earth people want in the first place.

This is turning more troublesome by the second.

“Hey, Halt. Wanna battle with me?”

It’s a pain in the neck coming up with ideas, so I just asked him directly.

If he refused, then there’s nothing I could do.

A wish from him… The chance is pretty slim.

Anyone willing to fight against deities would either be an idiot with a few loose screws in the head, an overconfident fool who blindly believed in the power he had, or a Bakemono that was far more powerful than us deities.

Halt may look young but he did come off as intelligent, and it was also kind of amazing that he managed to make it this far, but I didn’t sense any sort of Bakemono-level power from him.

That’s why I didn’t really think he would be willing to fight against me.

That’s what I thought, but —

“Yes, it’s fine with me. Let’s do it!”

Halt confidently declared that he would fight against me.