"Who are you?" Kazuma asked calmly. However, his thoughts were entirely different from his expressed demeanor.
'Oh my god, two beauties with great bodies–especially the blonde one. Is my spring coming? Is it finally time for me to find love? Wait, I've been tricked before by Darkness. I need to know their personalities first.'
"You were thinking about something dirty, weren't you, kid?" said Fleur.
"Of course not. Please don't accuse me of anything without evidence."
"You know there are spells that can read minds, right?"
"So, you said you were looking for us? What for?" Kazuma blushed with shame before coughing slightly.
"First, let us introduce ourselves," said Hermione. "We are from the Arcane Party."
"Arcane Party? The one who ran us out of our business?" asked Aqua.
"We're sorry about that. We only wanted to make Axel Town safe."
"That still–"
Kazuma placed his hand on her mouth before saying with a smile, "We appreciate your hard work. So, what does such a famous party want with lowly ones like us?"
"We wanted the help of Aqua And Megumin with a few experiments," said Hermione directly.
"Experiment?" said Aqua as she crossed her arm across her chest, taking a defensive posture.
"Yes, we want to know what is so unique about a goddess; what makes you different from a normal human."
"Goddess? What are you talking about?" asked Kazuma with a perplexed look. One would think he was genuinely confused if anyone did not know him.
"There is no need to hide; we are from Earth, London to be precise," replied Hermione in English instead of the language of this world.
"If you are from the London Region, shouldn't you be in a different world?"
Hermione and Fleur's eyes lit up as these words confirmed their guess. There are other dimensions to which reincarnators from Earth will be sent after their death. And it is based on the country or region they are born in.
"We died in a bus crash in Japan, so they sent us to this region," said Hermione.
"This is against the rules. Eris should know better," muttered Aqua.
"So, what do you think of our proposal?"
"I'm sorry, but we have to decline," said Kazuma.
"We'll pay you a milliom eris."
"Deal," replied Kazuma swiftly and with no hesitation.
"Kazuma!" yelled Aqua and Megumin.
"How could you sell your teammates like that?" said Darkness with a crimson face, obviously aroused by the thoughts of being sold by her teammate.
"Do you know what we can do with a million eris?" said Kazuma with a loud voice. "We can pay our debt and still have enough money to live a life of luxury. Aqua, you want to go back home, right?"
"Yes."
"With that kind of money, we can hire the most elite adventurers to defeat the Demon King. No, better yet, we can ask this Arcane Party to help as a condition since they are so powerful.
"Megumin, think about your parents back in the village? Think how poor they are. You can change their life and become the richest Crimson Magic Clan ever."
The eyes of these two turned into money signs.
"Plus, you can use the money to buy Skill Up Potions and add all your Skill Points to level up [Explosion,]" said Fleur.
"I accept," immediately said Megumin.
"What about you, Aqua?" The blue hair goddess only nodded as she was distracted, thinking about everything she could buy.
"In that case, let's go to our castle."
"Excuse me, can I also be experimented on?" asked Darkness.
"You need to learn how to control your masochism," commented Hermione. "Wiz, you can also come with us." Then, she dragged Wiz to join the group before using the Teleport Spell to return to the castle.
After arriving, Hermione handed Kazuma a purple bank card.
"A platinum card from the Eris Bank?" said Aqua before taking the card from his hand before he could react. She checked to discover there was indeed a million on the account.
"Since you have your money, let's begin with the experiment."
"It's not going to hurt, right?"
"If necessary, we will give you anesthesia."
The group quickly took Aqua and Megumin into the laboratory, where Snape and Lily waited. They hooked the two to many machines and did many tests, including taking their blood.
The four had a holographic image showing them a bunch of data. Kazuma wondered how these people acquired such advanced technology, but he did not ask.
"So, did you find something?"
"Yes, and it is fascinating," said Hermione. "Firstly, she has a long lifespan compared to humans."
"Of course. As a goddess, I'm immortal."
"Not quite. You can naturally live for only a million years, but with more followers giving you faith, your lifespan is infinite. However, without them, you would die after a million years."
Aqua opened her mouth in shock as this was news to her. Hermione displayed a small crystal in the hologram.
"This is the source of your god's power. Do you have a name for it?"
"I think it's called Divine Spark."
"Divine Spark? A barely acceptable name. Nevertheless, it is truly a remarkable organ."
"It's not an organ; it's a gift," corrected Aqua.
"It's located in your brain and connected to your nervous system, so it is part of you. Adding the fact it has a function: it's an organ."
Aqua slightly snorted without rebutting.
"So, what does this spark thingy does?" asked Megumin.
"The Divine Spark has many functions. The main one is to convert the faith of Aqua's followers into mana."
"Is that why she has an unlimited amount of mana?" asked Kazuma.
"Basically," replied Hermione. "However, the interesting thing about the Divine Spark is its natural ability to purify faith."
The others may not know what this means, but the four from the Empire knew. The Gods in their universe need to use the Divine Flame to purify their faith, and even then, it is still not enough as it corrupts their soul. But this Divine Spark does not have this issue.
Of course, they also know there could be a limit to the Divine Spark. After all, based on their calculation, the Gods in this world are at the peak of their power in the Heavenly Realm, not in the mortal world. And the most powerful of them are probably between Tier 4 and 5, with a few reaching Tier 6.
Regrettably, they do not have enough data to know for sure.
"Does faith need to be purified?" asked Aqua.
"How can you be a goddess and not know these things?" said Kazuma.
"How can you blame me? I spent most of my time in Heaven reading manga, so I didn't pay attention to many things."
"Just know that without purifying faith, it will corrupt your soul, forcibly changing your personality."
Aqua frowned as she remembered Wolbach, the dark Goddess of Violence and Sloth. Many of her believers were demons, creatures that feed on negative human emotions. So, it could be the reason she turned evil.
Of course, she failed to consider that her followers from the Axis Church just randomly labeled Wolbach a "dark goddess" before sealing her.
"Does that thing have other purposes?" asked Aqua, now curious about her ability.
"Yes. It has an attribute, and yours is water."
The others knew the Divine Spark of these gods did not have [Authorities] like the DivineSparks of Elder Gods back home: just attributes.
"Is that why I'm the Goddess of Water, and Eris is the Goddess of Fortune?"
"Don't ask such an obvious and stupid question."
"Kazuma, who are you calling stupid."
Snape, silently processing data with the other three, gave these two a look, and they immediately stopped bickering. Meanwhile, Darkness was jealous that she was not the one who received such a stern stare, and Megumin was playing with her cat, Chumuske. As for Wiz, she was looking at everything around the lab with shining eyes.
"The Divine Spark is responsible for the divine aura your body naturally emits, which attracts undead and magical beasts. And more importantly, it is why you gods can use Sacred Spells."
If there is one thing the group desired after studying the Divine Spark, it's the ability to use sacred spells, which are an enhanced version or boosted version of any spells.
For example, Aqua can only use Tier 3 Level Spells in the mortal world, but her Sacred Spells reach Tier 4. If they can replicate this method and allow it to keep the one-tier boost no matter what, Arcanists would be able to skip ranks in battles.
A Tier 8 Arcanist could use a Sacred Spell to defeat a Tier 9 Mage.
"So, this goddess is special."
Everyone rolled their eyes.
"I still cannot wrap my head that Aqua is the goddess worshipped by the Axel Church," said Darkness.
"Forget about her. What about my results?" asked Megumin.
"Your Crimson Magic Clan's DNA has been modified to grant all of you a high talent for magic," Fleur responded this time.
"That's it?"
Fleur smiled but did not say anything further. They all knew she was even more valuable than Aqua. Her DNA can be analyzed and recreated. And once that is done, it means that the Empire will enter the era where every single individual can be Arcanist through genetic engineering.
What's more, the Crimson Magic Clan's bloodline is a Tier 3 one, so it is guaranteed that every citizen will eventually reach that level.
'This might not be good news for the safety and governing of the citizens,' thought Hermione. Currently, 95% of citizens have practiced [Aura Method] since it is now mandatory. So, even the average citizen can easily lift a ton.
At first, controlling such a large population with superpowers was difficult, but they got things under control. Now, things will become even more complicated if all citizens can use magic.
'Well, let's leave all this trouble for Edward and Aunt Amelia to figure out.'
"Is that it? Are we done?" asked Kazuma.
"No, we still require many tests from the two of you over the next few months. However, you can go home for today."
