As soon as Ulysses' skill is activated, a small vessel appears on the surface of the lake, sending up a splash of water as declared.

　Gray is astonished as he opens his fang-lined mouth.

　For those of them who had never had anything to do with humans with skills until recently, they couldn't help but be surprised by the rough work of summoning a ship, albeit a small one, as expected.

'Alright, let's get this over with then.
Yeah. What about Gray?

　When I asked him that question, Gray flinched blatantly and backed away.

'No, no ...... I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to be the only one to guide you to and from the lake here. Not all the adventurers (you guys) are going to get on board too, right?　I'll be waiting with the detainees.

　She was obviously afraid to follow me up the lake, but I was also just asking anyway, and I wasn't going to force her to go with me.

　For now, I decided to let Gray take charge of the vigilance on the ground with the other adventurers, and then I turned my attention to Leila.

''Wow, I'm with ......!
You can go to .......
No, you stay.

　Travis opens his mouth before I do.

'Why?!'
"I don't know what's going to happen next. It's a different story from the past, when we had some level of security.
...... That's true, though.

　Leila also seems to be aware that what she is saying is selfish, so she did not try to demand any more strongly.

　However, it seems that Travis isn't used to this kind of situation either, and doesn't seem to be able to choose a very soft word.

　It can't be helped, so I'll just keep my mouth shut a little bit too.

'Well, well, well. Even Travis isn't saying that Leila is a drag or anything. To begin with, half of the current team members are going to be on ground duty, so this guy is just a role model.
"Division of labor, huh?" ......
'Yes, the division of labour. The adventuring party doesn't all get along and go to the deepest part of the dungeon. Some of them stay a little ahead of you and set up camp so that those who have come back exhausted can have a place to rest.

　I used to be in the position where if I dove into a dungeon with someone else's party, I was in the position to be sent to that waiting group nine times out of ten, but I won't say anything else.

　Anyway, right now, it's more important not to let Leila think backwards that she's being left behind because she's a liability, or something like that.

　Then Alexia interrupts from beside me and gives me a covering shot to my policy.

''That's right. When I was focusing on adventurer earning, I also took the lead in taking on such a role. Well, in my case, I was searching for a prototype weapon to test as well, so by the time I came before the deepest point, I had achieved my goal.
...... Okay, I understand. Mr. Travis, I will protect the place you all come back to. Because this is the most important role I can play now!

　Leila declares, slapping her chest.

　I look over my shoulder at Travis, and he gives a small nod with an unusually apologetic eyebrow raised.

　Anyway, this sums up the policy.

　Leila, Grey, the guide, and some of the adventurers led by Travis were left on the ground, while the members of the White Wolf Knights, Alexia, Travis, and a few adventurers boarded the Ulysses' ship.

　The ship is sailing without sails (masts), which are fluidly operated by magic, and it is as if it is gliding on the water.

　It's a fairly large lake, but at this speed, we should be able to reach our destination in a short amount of time.

"That's a beautiful ship, Sir Ulysses. That's the Knight of the Blue Shark.
'I won't go any faster than this even if I'm cajoled. If you expect a demon to jump out of the water, too much speed will cause it to roll over.

　Lightly brushing off Travis's praise, Ulysses uses deft rudderhandling to keep his speed in a wide arc as he approaches the designated coordinates without rocking the ship.

　The fact that this is an underground lake and there are almost no waves, but the high level of Ulysses' piloting skills is keenly felt.

I'm going to be able to say that I'm not going to be able to do anything about it. The destination was the third nearest small island from the shore earlier, right? Can we dock without thinking about it?
'I want you to take a slow lap around the perimeter before you go ashore. I'm going to observe it from a distance with my 'right eye' first.
'What's the wisdom? That's good. Ship's guards are as good as their eyes, you know.

　The ship driven by Ulysses doesn't take more than a few minutes to approach one of the small islands peeking out of the surface of the subterranean lake.

　That's the only island that fulfills the conditions that Demon King Gandalf offered.

　There must be a travel route to the third level somewhere on or around this island.

''......mph.''

　Ulysses let out a small voice as he was about to go around the island.

''What's wrong?''
No, I've been feeling some strange water currents.

　As soon as I heard Ulysses' report, I immediately activated the Right Eye of Wisdom and looked down at the surface of the lake.

''Surely there's a stream of water flowing towards the ...... destination island.
'If this were an ocean, it would just be a current, though. This is a lake, right?　Even if there are water currents along the rivers that flow into and out of the island, why would there be currents on the island?
That's probably .......

　I'm about to put my imagination into words when Ambrose, who was behind me, opens his mouth.

''Water is flowing into the lower levels near or inside that island. That's the simple reason for this. By the way, Lord Commander, my sensory organs have been sensing an unpleasant feeling since a while ago, but ...... can you see inside the water with your 'right eye'?