Unfortunately, Arudapu never anticipated this outcome…
No—more accurately, even Makusuweru himself failed to anticipate it.
Within the reality he was about to distort, there existed two absolute anomalies—two beings who simply did not belong within the bounds of normal causality.
Makusuweru did indeed possess the power to manipulate causality itself, to twist reality and overwrite truth. However, no power in this world was truly absolute. If such an omnipotent force existed, Makusuweru would have been invincible long ago.
What Makusuweru's ability actually did was alter the memories of events that had truly occurred, subtly rewriting what people believed they had witnessed. This process happened imperceptibly, without coercion or mind-control magic.
Those whose memories were altered would sincerely believe that Makusuweru's version of events was the truth.
But as always, power had limits.
Makusuweru could only influence beings weaker than himself. Otherwise, with his abilities, he would already reign supreme over everything.
In the past, the targets Arudapu ordered him to manipulate were nothing more than ordinary civilians or low-ranking nobles—tasks that were effortless for one of Hell's Seven Demon Dukes.
Even this time, most of the affected individuals were adventurers, which should have posed no difficulty whatsoever.
And yet—
During the process, Makusuweru discovered two existences his power could not affect at all.
One of them radiated such overwhelming divine attributes that even he was taken aback. The moment his power approached that individual, it was forcibly dispersed by the sheer intensity of the holy presence.
As for the other—
That individual's strength was no weaker than his own.
When Makusuweru's power reached toward them, it was consciously resisted—blocked outright.
At that very moment, far away inside Wiz's Magic Item Shop, Ren Kuroda had been calmly pondering how to trick the adventurers of Akuseru into buying Wiz's newly stocked merchandise—
When suddenly, his Mind's Eye skill activated on its own.
At high levels, Mind's Eye no longer merely pierced illusions or detected stealth. It also reinforced mental fortitude, allowing resistance against external psychic interference.
The fact that it had activated without warning immediately put Ren on high alert.
He expanded his senses to their limit—but detected no unusual presence nearby.
Which meant…
Was this some kind of long-distance curse?
Or an indirect ability?
"Get out here, you scum of humanity!"
"Demon King lackey! Akuseru doesn't welcome trash like you—get the hell out!"
Before Ren could fully process what was happening, vicious shouts erupted outside the shop.
"Ren, I—I can't hold them back anymore! You need to leave through the back door, now!"
Wiz rushed toward him, panic written across her face.
"Even though I'm technically a Demon King general now, I completely understand why someone like you—who's still human—would choose to defect and become a spy for the Demon King's army!"
"…What?"
Ren stared at her, utterly bewildered.
At first, he had assumed the noise outside was caused by adventurers he'd previously scammed trying to demand refunds.
But now Wiz was telling him to run—and accusing him of being a Demon King spy?
"Demon King spy? Are you talking about me?! I haven't even left the Akuseru region! How the hell could I be a spy?!"
"And have you ever heard of a spy who kills one of the Demon King's own generals?!"
Ren was genuinely dumbfounded.
"You're still joking around at a time like this?" Wiz said urgently."Wasn't Berudia defeated by Lord Arudapu himself, leading the troops?"
"Your identity has already been exposed. The lord and the Adventurers' Guild have issued a bounty. Ren, you really need to escape—now!"
Ren opened his mouth to argue—
Then froze.
"Lord."
Combined with the sudden, autonomous activation of Mind's Eye, even someone as dense as Ren could now see where the problem lay.
"So the so-called lord finally made his move…"
"And he even managed to affect someone on Wiz's level?"
"And judging by this… it's not just one or two people. It's everyone in Akuseru."
"Memory manipulation? Reality rewriting?"
"But if such a massive spell was used, why didn't I feel any magical fluctuation beforehand?"
"Even Wiz was affected—this should've caused a tremendous disturbance. So why was there nothing?"
At the same time, a similar scene was unfolding inside the normally raucous Adventurers' Guild.
Thanks to the bounties earned from defeating the undead knights, many adventurers had suddenly found their wallets overflowing. For days, the guild had been a nonstop celebration.
As for Aqua and the others, due to their close relationship with Ren—and their significant contributions in battle—they had been hanging around the guild nonstop, bragging, freeloading, and partying.
Aqua, holding an oversized mug of alcohol, was loudly boasting as usual about how close she was to Ren, drifting from table to table to mooch food and drinks.
Under normal circumstances, this kind of behavior would've earned her nothing but cold stares.
But recently?
It worked every time.
After all, everyone present owed their survival to Ren's actions against the Demon King's forces. Out of respect for him, people tolerated his so-called "best friend."
However—
Just as Aqua was about to pull her usual routine and snag a bottle of expensive liquor she'd had her eye on—
She noticed something strange.
Everyone was staring at her.
With anger.
And suspicion.
"You're really the best friend of that Ren Kuroda?"
"Of course I am!" Aqua replied confidently."You've all seen it before, right? When Kazuma and I registered as adventurers, Ren paid our registration fees!"
"Even though I'm a goddess, I have to admit Ren is genuinely impressive! That's why we're best friends—best friends!"
As usual, Aqua spouted nonsense without a shred of restraint.
But this time—
The adventurers' reactions were completely different.
Weapons were drawn.
"What the hell—so you're the accomplice of that traitor?!"
"You've got a lot of nerve sitting here so casually, acting all smug! Are you looking down on the adventurers of Akuseru?!"
That's right.
Aside from Ren, the second person completely unaffected by Makusuweru's reality distortion was Aqua.
Though Makusuweru was one of Hell's Seven Demon Dukes, and his magic far surpassed that of most beings in this world—
Aqua was no ordinary existence.
Her intelligence might be questionable, but in terms of magical power, she was a legitimate goddess—senior even to the goddess Eris.
No matter how absurdly powerful Makusuweru was, attempting to overwrite a goddess's memories was simply beyond him. The moment his power approached Aqua, it was cleansed by her overwhelming divine attributes.
However—
While Aqua herself was unaffected, within Makusuweru's distorted reality, Ren had been rebranded as a Demon King collaborator.
And since Aqua openly claimed to be Ren's best friend…
She was naturally labeled as one of his accomplices.
Freeloading failed.
Instead, she ended up being chased through the streets.
Her mood was exactly as miserable as one might expect.
What made it worse was that the affected weren't just random adventurers—
Even her own party members, including Kazuma, had been influenced.
At first, Aqua thought they were cursed and cast purification magic on them.
It did nothing.
She sensed no evil presence, no corruption—nothing at all.
Which only deepened her confusion.
This, too, made sense.
Makusuweru's power didn't target individuals—it altered causality itself. That was why Aqua couldn't detect any abnormal aura on Kazuma and the others.
"What the hell is going on?!" Aqua panted, hiding in a narrow alley after being chased across several streets.
Just then—
From the darkness, a pair of hands suddenly clamped over her mouth and dragged her deeper inside.
"Don't scream—it's me, Ren."
"Honestly, you've always gone around calling yourself Goddess Aqua, and I never really believed it…"
"But now? I'm starting to think you might not be lying after all."
"Even someone on Wiz's level was affected, yet you're completely fine."
Aqua nearly died of fright at first, but the moment she heard Ren's voice, she relaxed.
In fact, when she noticed Ren's large hand pressed firmly against her chest, the first thing that crossed her mind wasn't divine dignity—
But whether she could extort a few Eris coins out of him later.
"I told you already—I'm the real Goddess Aqua!"
"Now do you finally understand how amazing I am?"
"And as for this blasphemous act you just committed against me…"
"This goddess demands punishment! At least one million Eris in compensation—no, make it five million Eris for emotional damages!"
She declared this with absolute seriousness.
Ren, prompted by her words, finally realized that in his haste to pull her into the alley, one hand had covered her mouth—
And the other had grabbed something he probably shouldn't have.
To be fair…
Though Aqua's intelligence and behavior were severely lacking—
As a goddess, her physical assets were undeniably impressive.
Looks where it counted.
And plenty of them.