Let’s Stay At An Inn

“H-Huh, seriously? Is it really okay? We can stay?”

Tooyama Naruhito stood before the counter, his eyes wide as those words slipped out.

It was an old wooden building. Though dim, the evening light entering perfectly through the windows faintly illuminated the interior.

“What, this is an inn. As long as I get paid, I’ll let anyone stay, as long as they follow my rules. So, what’ll you do?”

An unfriendly, well-built old hag… or rather, lady.

On the other side of the counter, she sighed while rocking in an easy chair and puffing on a pipe.

Tooyama wanted to complain that she was looking down on the customer service industry, but he held it in. He had finally found a place where they might be able to sleep. There was no way he would let this slip by.

“Yes! Yes, we’ll stay, we’ll staaay!”

He had been thinking of negotiating various things, but in the next instant, he threw all those thoughts away and raised his hand.

He did not want to walk anymore, and he did not want to be rejected by another inn.

Twelve.

That was the number of inns that had refused them lodging after they left the slums.

Apparently, children in shabby clothing, a Lizardonian who belonged to a discriminated race, and a suspicious-looking man with sharp eyes and a robe that was the only fine thing about him were not good customers from the perspective of innkeepers.

He had been worried about what they would do if the small, cheap inn away from the bustle, which they had visited while clinging to one last hope, refused them too, but—

“All right. How many people?”

But this unfriendly old hag seemed different.

“Everyone! Roll call!”

Tooyama, who had gone hyper from exhaustion instead, called out to the group gathered behind him.

“One.”

“Two!”

“Three.”

“Four!”

“Five!”

“Ah-oo.”

Everyone still seemed fairly energetic. Apparently, Tooyama was the only one tired. Perhaps it was because, in the modern era, he had never had to walk around until he was exhausted while looking for lodging.

“Seven people, huh. That’s a big group. Are you lot family?”

“No, employees and management. I hate nonsense like ‘a workplace that feels like family,’ you see.”

Because that kind of thing did not exist. A workplace feeling like family was nothing more than a hidden message saying, “Stay here forever. Keep working forever. This is your home, after all.”

Tooyama remembered being tricked by a part-time job magazine and let a trace of killing intent seep out for a brief instant.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but with that many people, it’s one large copper coin or ten copper coins for one night. What’ll you do?”

“Paid! Take it, thief!”

Lazaar opened his eyes at the price, which was quite a bit higher than the market rate. But Tooyama, utterly exhausted, ignored that completely and dumped his wallet onto the counter.

“Who are you calling a thief? Good grief. Hmm, you’re dressed decently enough. But the others smell a little. There’s water in a tub in the garden, so wipe yourselves down before going into the room. Take towels from the drying pole in the garden on your own, and bring them back here when you’re done.”

Puffing purple smoke, the female owner pointed the way to the courtyard. It seemed they could head there directly from the lobby.

“Wow, the hospitality is rough… But that’s what makes it good. What is this fantasy feeling? I’m getting excited.”

“Naruhito, let us accept her kindness and use the water. Madam, I thank you for your consideration.”

“Hmph, it’s included in the fee. If you want a meal, there’s a dining hall on the first floor. It costs extra, but I guarantee the taste.”

“Sorry, ma’am. We’re already flat broke.”

Tooyama showed the splendidly empty wallet, quickly hiding only the golden adventurer badge in his hand as he flipped it open.

“Tch, paupers. Well, fine. Don’t cause trouble… You’re feeding those brats properly, aren’t you?”

The female owner narrowed her eyes and looked at the children.

The innkeepers they had met until now had looked at them as if looking at filthy garbage, but this old woman was different.

There was pity, and a small trace of warmth.

“Oh, it’s all right, ma’am! Mr. Boss is very kind!”

Niko puffed out her chest and answered without fear.

“That’s right. Brother even treats us to feasts.”

Pero answered with a smiling, drawn-out voice.

“Hmm, so they’ve been disciplined. …Hey, you there.”

Narrowing her eyes and adjusting the reading glasses that were small compared to the size of her face, the owner beckoned Tooyama over.

“Hm?”

“Show your face after the dining hall closes. It’ll only be leftovers, but feed them to the brats.”

The owner lowered her voice and told Tooyama.

Tooyama was fairly surprised. It had only been a short time, but while walking through the city with the children and Lazaar, all the looks from the people around them had been terrible.

There had even been an old man who directly picked a fight with them.

He had tried to forcibly take Niko away, so Tooyama had dragged him into an alley, broken five of his fingers, and beaten him up centered around the groin, somehow resolving the matter without incident.

It had made him realize that the residents of the slums truly were not treated as human by the city’s people.

“Ma’am, your attitude feels like you’re looking down on customer service, but you’re seriously a good person.”

“Hmph, hurry up and wash yourselves. You stink something awful. …Especially you. You smell strongly of blood, good grief.”

The tsundere old hag shooed Tooyama away. Beyond her wrinkled face, the eyes holding the light of reason narrowed for an instant as if seeing through Tooyama.

“No idea what you mean. Thanks, old lady. We’ll use the water.”

Tooyama waved and headed to the courtyard.

The courtyard covered with grass was spacious. Laundry was hung out to dry, and a large tub had been placed under a small sunshade roof.

The old-fashioned wooden building, made of worn brick and soot-darkened wood, had that “this is fantasy” look, and Tooyama’s spirits rose a little.

“…This is a good inn, Naruhito.”

Lazaar murmured while stroking the courtyard grass.

“Man, that old lady is no ordinary person. But I’m glad. We managed to secure lodging before the sun set. When we got rejected by eight inns in a row, I seriously panicked.”

“…Well, most of it was probably my fault. We were saved because that female owner is a stouthearted person.”

“Discrimination, huh. Well, it exists everywhere.”

Discrimination. It had firmly existed in his previous world as well. Race, birth, circumstances. Apparently, the essence of humans was the same in any world.

Tooyama felt somewhat relieved by that shadowy side of humanity—

“W-Wow, wow! It’s water, really clean water! It isn’t muddy or smelly!”

“…It’s like a lie. This isn’t drinking water, but we’re allowed to use it for washing our bodies?”

“You guys, this is what they call common sense on the surface! Boss, please use it first!”

“Please!”

“Ah-oo!”

He looked at the excited children and smiled a little.

Humans were shit, and there were many enemies. But—

“It’s not only enemies, Lazaar.”

“Hm? Did you say something, Naruhito?”

“No, nothing. Hey, you guys, wash yourselves fir—Niko-chaaaaaan?! Stop, stop!! Why are you casually trying to take off your clothes?!”

In a huge panic, Tooyama stopped Niko, who had been about to take off her clothes in front of the tub with a grunt.

Because she had a body with more curves than expected for her age and lifestyle, Tooyama panicked even more.

The waist visible beneath the clothes she had lifted was as white as porcelain and formed a beautiful line.

“Huh? But Mr. Boss, I can’t wipe my body if I don’t take off my clothes.”

Niko tilted her head in confusion.

“You’re a girl! Okay, put your clothes back! Don’t show your stomach! Hey, Rida, what do you kids usually do when you wash yourselves?”

While putting Niko’s clothes back in place, he asked Rida, the kid leader standing calmly beside her.

“Huh? We almost never washed our bodies… When it rained, we’d all take off our clothes and bathe in it, though.”

Rida tilted his head with a hmm.

Tooyama’s own early childhood and childhood had been quite awful too, but surely not to that extent.

“Oh… Seriously… At this rate, I’ll have to teach them from how to wash their bodies…”

Once again feeling the harshness of a world without safety nets, Tooyama murmured.

Cleanliness.

It was one of the concepts Tooyama ranked quite highly in daily life. Of course, he simply could not stand being dirty or smelly, but even more than that, the main reason was maintaining health through hygiene.

He had not investigated yet, but medical concepts were probably not very advanced either, in typical fantasy fashion.

It was hard to believe that powers like those of the saint, that blond monster, existed all over the place. That was probably an exception.

Plagues, endemic diseases, and treatments for them—there was a lot to think about regarding this world.

Once things settled down, he would have to speak with Lazaar about it. Tooyama stroked his chin. Ah, wasn’t this fun?

It was another world. Its common sense, systems, and laws were probably all different. Skills, dragons, saints, and so on.

But some things did not change.

His own strength was useful to some extent even in this world, and the absolute, unchanging principle did not change here either.

Enemies could be killed. In that case, there was no problem.

He was getting excited.

Without realizing it, Tooyama wore an evil smile. His narrow eyes lifted and twisted with dark pleasure.

“Mr. Boss will teach me?! I want you to teach me! Yaay! Mr. Boss said he’ll teach me how to wash my body—”

As if unaware of such things, Niko gave a wonderful interpretation to Tooyama’s murmur and hopped up and down.

Rida and Pero muttered that it sounded nice with envy, while Luca watched it blankly—

“Hehe! Mr. Boss, you’re kind, so I like you! I’ll learn properly! Teach me how to wash my body!”

Niko smiled at Tooyama with a full-faced smile.

Crap, this is a case waiting to happen. Should I ask that female owner? It’d definitely be out for me to teach Niko something like that—

“Hmph, I had some soap left over. You smell too bad to stand, so use it… Hey, you. What was that just now?”

It became out.

Conveniently, and with terrible timing, the tsundere old hag had apparently failed to hear the crucial part while catching only the important thing. She glared at Tooyama.

“Oh… I sense a case. Lazaar-kun, help me.”

“Rida, Luca, Pero, Shiro. Listen carefully. Basically, it is not good to be in the same space as a woman when naked. As gentlemen, it is important to respect women. Do you understand?”

“““Yes, Mr. Lizard!”””

No good. Lazaar, who seemed to have a fairly nasty personality, had already abandoned Tooyama and was taking care of the men.

“That guy has that side to him, huh. He feels like the type who’d disappear with the cutest girl at a group date before you realized it. Awful, awful.”

Tooyama shrugged and casually tried to leave the place.

“Don’t you ‘awful, awful’ me! Come with me for a bit! What were you trying to do to a girl?!”

His shoulder was grabbed hard. Wow, she was strong.

“M-Ma’am, you’re wrong! Mr. Boss wasn’t trying to bully me! He just said he had to teach me how to wash my body!”

Niko hurriedly stopped the tsundere old hag, but her words touched the old hag’s sensitive spot. The shoulder she held creaked.

“Niko-chan, I appreciate the feeling, but please zip your mouth for a bit. Your Mr. Boss is going to be killed by an old hag now.”

“Who are you calling an old hag?! I may not look it, but I’m still only seventy-five!”

“Late-stage elderly person!! Gyaaa?!”

Ignoring Tooyama’s screams, Lazaar taught the children how to wash their bodies.

For the first time, they came to know the wonder of water used for something other than drinking. Smiles and excited voices suited to their age echoed beneath the sunset.

“Hogyaaaaa?! You damn old hag?! Don’t underestimate an advanced explorer, goraaaaa!!”

“What were you trying to do to that innocent girl?! You pervert! Brat!! You’re a hundred years too early!!”

“Gyaaaaaaaaaaa?! My crotch is tearing agaaaaaaain!”

Filthy screams also echoed from the depths of the courtyard. Lazaar glanced toward the screams for an instant, then immediately turned back to the children.

My friend, there are times when one cannot help. He murmured that softly.

…………

……

…

“Zzz, zzz.”

“Gogo, gaga.”

“Zzz, zzz.”

“Everyone has fallen asleep. …Looking at them like this, they are ordinary children too. Children that adults should protect.”

Lazaar watched the children with gentle eyes as they slept together on a large bed made of straw and cloth.

The leftovers that the tsundere old hag had given them out of kindness had made their eyes sparkle, and they had devoured them while crying. Perhaps that had snapped the threads of tension all at once.

“No denying we’ve taken on trouble, though. Ouch, damn that old hag. She’s far stronger than those adventurers… Well, anyway, thanks, Lazaar.”

Tooyama leaned back against a shabby sofa and spoke to Lazaar, who sat in the chair before him.

“For what?”

“Back then, the reason I decided to save Niko and the brats was because of your words. I was seriously going to abandon them at that time.”

At the time, he had thought that was the optimal solution. He had intended to take only Lazaar out of the slums without creating unnecessary enemies.

If he had made that choice, he probably would not have seen this scene. He had no regrets. Tooyama had properly satisfied his desire.

“Heh. Is that all? You’re wrong, Naruhito. You are the one who decided and acted. This scene, where they are sleeping so carefreely now, is all the result of your actions. I did not decide anything.”

“Even so.”

“…I see. Then I will honestly accept it.”

A small candle and an oil lantern were the only sources of light.

He opened the window.

This adventure city had quite a bit of elevation difference. Since the inn stood up a slope, they could see the cityscape of the adventure city, where there were few lights.

In the distance, there seemed to be some bright areas. Once morning came, he would have to explore the city. He had far too little sense of the land.

“Yeah, and, Lazaar, I want to talk about our urgent issues.”

Feeling the night breeze entering through the window, Tooyama murmured in a slightly lowered voice.

“Yes, I was thinking the same. But before that, how about a drink?”

Lazaar also lowered his voice, but grinned and took something from his breast pocket.

It was a bottle filled with amber liquid. Tooyama recognized it.

“Ah, the one we missed drinking earlier. I’ll have some.”

“Don’t gulp it all down at once, all right? It is best to sip this sort of thing little by little.”

Lazaar laughed as he placed a wooden cup that had been in the room onto a small table.

Tooyama also moved seats and sat in a chair.

Lazaar nodded with satisfaction and pulled out the bottle’s cork.

Pop. The pleasant sound overlapped with the children’s breathing.

Amber liquor was poured in small amounts. Tooyama smelled the aroma, then drank it, letting it spread over his tongue.

“…Mm, oh. …I’m surprised. This is delicious.”

Sweetness, and at the same time, a rich honey fragrance that slipped through his nose. It reminded him of his favorite sweets.

“Heh. It truly is Angel’s Kiss, right? Ah, delicious. We have the angels’ blessing to thank. To think it can turn honey into such a heavenly drink. It is a secret taste the Angel Church has hidden for over two hundred years.”

“Hmm, hmm, I see… Wait, Lazaar. What did you just say?”

“That it is a secret the Angel Church has hidden for two hundred years?”

“No, before that. Something about the angels’ blessing turning honey into liquor.”

What was that? Was it a unique turn of phrase? No, the nuance of the words sounded strange for that.

“Come now, surely even you know that? Bread rising, squeezed Grep juice becoming wine—it is all the power of the angels. Only the Church knows the detailed mechanism.”

Tooyama lost his words.

Tooyama knew the existence and principle behind the phenomena Lazaar had just listed.

It was something that most people living in the modern era knew as general knowledge.

—Fermentation.

“…Lazaar, fermentation, brewing, yeast fungus, yeast. Do those words sound familiar to you?”

Fermentation. A name for the kind of decay convenient for humans, using the activity of microorganisms.

Tooyama knew that bread dough rising and fruit juice becoming wine were definitely not because of some angels’ blessing.

“Fermentation? I know brewing. The Church holds all the rights to the breweries, after all. But yeast fungus and yeast, hmm. Those are words I have never heard before.”

“…They have the word brewery, but fermentation is hidden? Lazaar, you don’t know the mechanism of how liquor or bread is made?”

“Come on, are you teasing me? That is the angels’ secret, something only bishop-class members and saints of the Angel Church understand. Surely, Naruhito, you are not saying you know it—”

Lazaar laughed cheerfully, but in the next instant, his face returned to seriousness.

“Liquor is produced when the sugar in the ingredients is converted into carbon dioxide and alcohol through fermentation. It’s not because angels are doing something. It should all be bacterial activity. Bread is the same. Bread rises through the fermentation of yeast fungi and yeast.”

Tooyama spoke about the true nature of that blessing. He smoothly explained what only a small portion of the Angel Church was supposed to know.

“…What? Naruhito, that is—”

Lazaar’s expression became increasingly stern.

To him, Tooyama’s story was absurd, but he was not the kind of man who would deny his friend’s words from the start.

And Tooyama’s words were far too clear for Lazaar to dismiss them as drunken rambling.

“Ah, I’m getting a bad feeling. No, but the laws of nature in this world and the other world might be different… No, but would there really be something that convenient, where only fermentation is different?”

He considered various possibilities.

He still lacked information about food in this world. But judging from the cityscape and the leftovers the children had eaten earlier, the staple food was probably bread.

Hiding the mechanism of fermentation. Was their goal monopolizing knowledge? An organization that could continue doing that for two hundred years regarding something connected to staple foods meant—

“…Naruhito, regardless of whether that is true or not, it would be wise not to provoke the Church too much. The Church has its dark parts. Apart from the saints and Church Knights, there is also the Inquisition, which secretly disposes of their enemies.”

“Yeah, I know. The fact that this Church or whatever is keeping it secret, and has kept it hidden for two hundred years, smells fishy no matter how you look at it. It’s an organization with monsters like that in it, so I have no intention of openly becoming their enemy. …The angels or whatever do good work, don’t they? This honey liquor is delicious.”

Most likely, the Church was intentionally hiding the mechanism of fermentation. He did not know what angels were, but they were probably objects of faith.

They skillfully used people’s faith and connected it with familiar foods. He saw. It was a convenient explanation that both increased faith in the angels and made it easier to hide the mechanism of fermentation.

After thinking that far, Tooyama stopped pursuing it further. He admired the idea of dominating with modern knowledge, but he felt this would only stir up trouble.

“Was it not fermentation?”

Lazaar murmured quietly.

“No idea. I don’t know anything about chemical phenomena caused by decomposition through microorganisms. I’ll stop sticking my neck into this matter. Anyway, separately from that, Lazaar, about what we’ll do next.”

Tooyama answered playfully. He could easily recall the pressure of the blond girl in sister’s clothing he had met during the day. It would be better to avoid doing anything that would make enemies of that.

More importantly, the matter before them was important now.

“Yes, I wanted to discuss that as well. I am sorry, but the money I could take from the safe house is not much. At this rate, even if we stay here, we will probably be broke in five days.”

“No, lasting five days is plenty helpful. We couldn’t really talk properly in the chaos back then. Lazaar, about what we do from here—”

A five-day grace period was a mercy.

The more time he had to think of that classic method from otherworld open-world stories, the better.

“U-Ugh… Ah, Boss, let me join that conversation too. Sorry, I fell asleep…”

One of the children had reacted to Tooyama and Lazaar’s voices.

Rubbing his eyes, he sat up.

“Rida, you sleep. Your body was already in tatters.”

“No, after sleeping for an hour, I feel a lot better. Please. I won’t interrupt the conversation. But from now on, we’re going to serve under you. As their representative, I want to take part in the discussion too.”

Even though he had been completely healed, he should have been stabbed in the stomach. Tooyama was a little impressed by how tough he was.

“What do you think?”

He looked toward Lazaar.

“Well, I think it is fine. Naruhito, you have noticed too, I am sure, but Rida is extraordinarily clever for his age. In terms of the ability to think through matters, he is probably superior to most adults.”

“…Let’s change locations.”

At Tooyama’s words, Rida broke into a full-faced smile.

Two adults and one child. The night still continued. Discussing future plans with like-minded companions.

Even in a different world, that was a fairly fun task.

………

……

…

〜Angel Church, Consecration Room〜

“Hmhmhmhm, hmhmhmhm, hmhmhmhm.”

In the two-hundred-year history of the Angel Church, this was a sacred room that only successive bishops and those permitted by them were allowed to enter.

“Ahh, truly, only this time is bliss. Shiny, clinking platinum coins. Mmm-mmm.”

A narrow-eyed woman with long white hair reaching her waist, tied together in one bundle. Her loosened black sister’s habit was an off-duty look she only wore while in this room.

It was a room surrounded by the finest furnishings in the world, ordered from the lustrous Kingdom.

“Cute, cute little gold coins. Ah, how beautiful… This month’s sales of angel powder, the usage fees for the angels’ blessing, or rather, donations, are plentiful too. Ahh, Empire, may you last forever…”

White gold coins were piled like a mountain atop a glossy black table. One by one, she polished them with a cloth while sighing in ecstasy.

This was the blissful time of the supreme leader of the Angel Church, the woman called the Female Bishop.

However, unusually for today, she stopped after polishing only about a hundred gold coins. Normally, she would continue that hobby while breathing hotly for ten times that number.

“Hah, my head hurts. Truly. To think the Hoarding Dragon was killed… Ahh, but I really did work hard! I slipped through it. I slipped through the trial!”

The source of her headache.

A dragon slayer. A truly great feat, of which only a handful existed not only in the Empire, but throughout the history of humanity.

From the perspective of the woman who led the Church, it was nothing but a massive nuisance. There was the suppression of the muscle-brained group of Church Knights, who had reacted idiotically to the fact that a dragon had been killed, and the angel fundamentalists, who took the chance to criticize the absolute status of dragons.

The Angel Church was not monolithic. The massive organization, which maintained an equal relationship with the nation called the Empire, had been greatly shaken by the massive stone thrown by the Hoarding Dragon’s death.

“Well, I did ask Svi to monitor him just in case. I don’t think the other factions are stupid enough to lay hands on that dragon slayer at a time like this, though.”

And most troublesome of all was that dragon slayer himself.

She still could not believe it, but today, that man had indeed built what was effectively an equal relationship with the Hoarding Dragon.

He had directly voiced his opinion to a dragon, a higher being, and even tried to stand against her again. The fact that he had also picked a fight with that monster old man had gone beyond surprise and made her laugh a little.

She knew because she had seen it before her eyes.

That man was a potent drug. She did not want to get involved with him. But leaving him alone was also frightening, and eliminating him was completely out of the question.

A total war between dragons and the Church would be inevitable. It would not be strange if the Empire were destroyed in the aftermath.

She loved this world and country—or, more precisely, she loved the monetary economy and wealth.

In order to hold true to that love, she had to keep the present world going.

Church Knights, hopeless idiots who idolized dragons so absolutely that they held misguided hostility—or rather, jealousy—toward the dragon slayer; angel fundamentalists, twisted obsessives who would likely try to bring the dragon slayer into their fold.

There were too many things to think about, so for now, she had sent out the strongest piece among her pawns to monitor him.

She had intended it as a watchdog to keep the knights and fundamentalists from approaching him, but now the Female Bishop had begun to feel an incredibly bad premonition.

“…Svi will be fine, right? I told her to handle things well, but she’s a transcendent being. She won’t involve herself with others more than necessary, right? It’ll be fine, right?”

Her own skill whispered.

Ah, she messed up. This one’s bad.

“No, no, no, no, no. It’s fine, it’s fine. I did tell her to save him if danger approached, but I didn’t say anything beyond that. Yeah, it’s fine to naturally sell him a favor, but that man is ultimately the Hoarding Dragon’s possession. Svi should understand that making a clumsy move on him would incur a dragon’s wrath, right?”

However, she rubbed her cheek against a gold coin as if shaking that off and rapidly muttered to herself.

“Huh, what is this? My cold sweat won’t stop. No, no, it’s fine. It’s fine, me. This is Svi, right? A saint, right? She shouldn’t be more interested than necessary in an ordinary human. She won’t go out of her way to contact him. Yes, the fact that her routine report is late, and that my skill has been sending me a really bad feeling for a while now, are all just my imagination. Yeah.”

The moment her rapid speech reached its peak,

her strongest inquisitor appeared from the void.

“I’m back, Bishop. Sorry I’m late.”

A small figure in a white sister’s habit appeared as naturally as if she had always been there. The Female Bishop accepted the sight of the Church’s chief saint as if it were natural as well.

“Ahem. Svi, you have returned. Judging by your state, it seems you fulfilled your duty. That dragon slayer has descended into the adventure city, but nothing in particular happened, correct? Right? Right, right?”

While trying to keep up appearances, and with the latter half already half begging, the Female Bishop asked the saint.

“Mufufufu. Yes, just as Bishop instructed, Svi fulfilled her surveillance of him. He seemed to be disposing of Crows personnel.”

The saint, who was expressionless yet strangely charming, flashed a V sign as she began her surveillance report.

“The Crows?! Huh, that man hasn’t even been in the adventure city for a full day yet, right? Isn’t he getting into trouble too fast? A-Ahem. Well, it doesn’t matter. The fewer of those pest birds there are, the better. And nothing else happened, right? I did say it would be fine to subtly sell him that favor, but you understand, don’t you, Svi? That is ultimately the dragon’s property, and—”

She had known that he had been released from the dragon and gone down to the city, but less than a day should have passed. And already, he had laid hands on one of this city’s taboos.

Well, he killed a dragon. Of course he would kill something like the Crows. Crazy people are scary. The Female Bishop thought this somewhat casually.

“Mufufu, please rest assured. Even without saying everything, I understand your heart, Bishop, for I am your saint.”

Toward that woman, the saint took something out of her breast pocket.

Like a cat showing off prey to its owner, saying, “Look, look.”

The Female Bishop watched her with a motherly smile, like a parent watching over a child. She watched, watched…

“Svi, you child……………………………………………………………………………………………………………Why?????”

She froze.

The parchment that the saint showed off. As far as she knew, there was only one parchment where letters danced like living creatures.

“I got the dragon slayer’s blood seal perfectly on the Church Pledge Scroll. Mufufu. In exchange for fifty platinum coins by next winter, I granted his request. Just as Bishop instructed, I cleverly and casually sold him a favor.”

A cat proudly showed off a cicada. As if saying, “Praise me, praise me.”

What could an owner do against such a cat? No, nothing.

“??????”

The universe spread out behind the bishop.

Yes, the sky. The many stars in the sky. Apparently, the people of the Second Civilization had even reached those stars.

Huh, why? Why?

“Svvvvvvvvvvvvi? Wh-Why? Why would you do something like that…”

Her voice could only tremble. She did not want to face reality, but the pledge scroll before her eyes clearly and firmly had a blood seal pressed onto it.

“Poff. Because the dragon slayer was human all the way down, just like you, Bishop. I ended up thinking of you.”

For some reason, the saint blushed and looked at the Female Bishop with heated eyes.

In complete contrast, the Female Bishop turned pale and looked up at the high ceiling.

Ah, the Angel Church might end in my generation.

“Ahh, I see. Right. Yeah, I see. He resembled me, huh. Then it can’t be helped. Yeah.”

‘Ufufufu, won’t someone take me to the world of stars too? Huh, what is this, a dream? A Pledge Scroll with the dragon slayer? Hmmm? Wait, what, so, does that mean that? Did we put a Church collar on him? Did we arbitrarily put a collar on the dragon’s favorite? All right, is Mama going to enthusiastically flip off the dragons and start total war today? If I bow my head to the twisted fundamentalist idiots and fire up all the saints and muscle-brains over the dragon slayer issue, then throw the First Knight at them, is there a chance? Ah, enough. Kanosa doesn’t know.’

“Babu.”

Thud.

Foaming at the mouth, she collapsed onto the desk piled high with gold coins. The Bishop of the Angel Church, Kanosa Tier Field, broke down.

“Bishop?! Why?!”

“Abububu.”

Even as she broke, the bishop ran her skill and mind at full speed.

While thinking about how to explain this to the dragons, how hot it would be to be burned by fire, and how she should ask that idiot Clan what it felt like, the bishop softly closed her eyes and eventually stopped thinking.