Hidden Quest (DOG Is GOD)

It was a fact in which everything had been corrected.

“Justice” encroached upon the world. Through Justice’s interference, everything sided with Stolu.

The knocked-away sword flying upward was also an inevitability brought about by Stolu’s skill and Justice’s interference.

Thus, at this point, it began.

“Ah—”

The next instant after he felt pressure around his neck—

Whooo, whooo.

He heard the sound of wind.

“Huh?”

Pitch black.

Before he knew it, everything around him was pitch black, and he could see nothing.

Tooyama was somewhere that was neither the open-air market nor the adventure city.

Whooo, whooo.

Only the sound of the wind circled through the darkness.

“Thou art a sinner.”

“…Yeah, I am.”

His head felt hazy, as though covered in mist, and thinking felt bothersome.

Clack, clack. Whooo, whooo.

Before he knew it, Tooyama was climbing a staircase.

In the darkness, only his feet were illuminated by a spotlight.

“Huh? What am I… doing…”

His own mutter sounded as if it came from far away. Even though he should have been the one speaking, it felt as if someone else was talking.

“Thou art a sinner.”

“Wash away thy sin. Atone for thy sin. With thy life.”

In the darkness, voices came from below the stairs. Voices that sounded like the voices of many people mixed together.

“Life… atone…”

Whooo, whooo.

Clack, clack.

That was right. He remembered. He had done something bad. Ah, that was right. His uncle, his aunt, and the people at the facility had all said it.

If you did something bad, you had to apologize. If you did something bad, even apologizing was not enough.

Huh? Then what should he do? If you did something bad, was everything over?

What was something bad?

Before he knew it, Tooyama Naruhito’s body had returned to when he was a boy.

His trained body, his face changed by experience, and his weapon for fighting—

The robe he had received from the dragon, too. Nothing was there.

“Worthless life, advance.”

“…Worthless life. I see. Since I’m alone, I have no meaning.”

Clack, clack. Whoo, whooo.

Tooyama climbed the stairs. He had been an obedient boy. He could read the atmosphere around him and do what was demanded of him.

“But in the end, it didn’t mean anything. My uncle, my aunt, and the people at the facility all said I was creepy, that I looked down on adults. If I was going to be hated no matter what I did, then there was no point.”

Clack, clack.

He climbed and climbed. The obedient boy continued climbing the stairs.

Whooo, whooo. He heard the sound of the wind.

“Ah, n-no, dis… If you climb any higher, you mustn’t!”

“Huh?”

Someone tugged hard on his hand.

A girl with light-blue eyes filled with tears. She stopped Tooyama as he continued climbing the stairs.

“Who are you?”

He felt like he knew her, yet did not know her. Tooyama tilted his head at the girl with light-blue eyes, the girl who looked as though she was about to cry.

“No, dis! You mustn’t go, dis! Ah, no! That isn’t it, dis! I don’t want to do this! I don’t understand justice. Am I, am I right, dis?! I don’t understa—”

Splat.

“Huh?”

“Foolish girl. To doubt justice is evil as well.”

“Thou art wonderful because of that foolishness, and worthy of bearing justice because of that ignorance. Thus, doubt is not permitted.”

A sword of light suddenly swung down and turned the light-blue-eyed girl into minced meat.

“Advance, sinner.”

The voice of something that had crushed the girl echoed.

“…Well, whatever.”

Clack, clack. There was no fear or doubt. The boy simply climbed the stairs.

Clack.

The end point. There were no more stairs to climb.

Tooyama stood on a board with enough space for one person, where there was a mark like a lid.

He no longer cared about anything.

The boy gave up on everything and closed his eyes—

“Worthless life, wash away the foolishness of defying justice with that filthy life of thine.”

“Worthless life, bow before justice, offer thyself to justice, thy worthless life.”

Whooo, whooo.

He heard the sound of the wind.

“Worthless… life…”

His eyes opened. The boy felt the drowsiness that had filled his head begin to fade.

“No, isn’t that a bit much?”

The boy complained. Before he knew it, his voice had returned to the low tone of a man around thirty. His face, too, had become an adult’s face, thick with emptiness and irritation like a Tibetan sand fox.

His body had also returned to one trained enough to kill life.

What the hell was that?

The garbage-like phrase shoved at him awakened Tooyama’s suspicious, hazy consciousness.

“…Foolish one. Thou couldst have departed while remaining pure.”

“Foolish one. Wilt thou depart with thy soul still steeped in evil?”

The voices muttered as though exasperated. But there was no shock. They merely continued muttering as if mocking Tooyama.

“Gh, I remember. Why am I…?! Damn it, what is this? My body won’t move.”

Memories spun. That was right. He was in combat right now. In combat… Wait, then what happened?

The final blow. He had tried to smash her with the shield, and then—

“Thou shalt halt at the execution ground.”

“Execution ground? …Gh?!”

He gasped.

Whooo, whooo, whooo, whooo.

No.

As his consciousness awakened, he realized that what had been circling through the darkness was not the sound of wind.

Clang, clang.

The spotlight gradually cut pieces out of the darkness.

It was illuminated.

Tooyama could only laugh.

“What awful taste…”

Vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvuuuuuuumvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuhvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

Groans.

Swing, swing.

Swing.

They were suffering. Like cords hanging from electric lights, or paper dolls hung from eaves.

Illuminated by the spotlight were countless hanging people.

Their legs flailed, their hands went to their necks, and they swung, swung.

Eternal suffering. Eternal punishment. In the darkness, they had been hanging there forever.

What he had thought was the sound of wind was the suffering voices of those executed by hanging.

The fate of those who defied justice was here.

“Ah.”

Among them was someone he had seen somewhere before. Leather light armor and hair standing on end.

Ah, it was him. The last survivor of the group who had targeted their luggage. One of the bandits disposed of by the First Knight was also swinging, swinging.

“Vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv…”

Their eyes met.

Bloodshot eyes that continued shedding tears of blood from the edges, a face swollen and blue with congestion—the face of an executed criminal.

“Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii.”

He laughed, his face breaking open.

You came too? You too, come. Come over here, the sinner laughed.

With that as the trigger, all the hanged executed criminals began laughing. They waved with twisted faces stretched into grins.

As if telling him to come here, come here.

“This is bad… This is seriously bad.”

Fear had not yet caught up.

But he was beginning to understand for certain. If things continued like this, he would experience something more terrifying than death.

“Hey, seriously, seriously wait. Explain! You bastard, explain this! What the hell is this?!”

He shouted. He yelled, repeating the strongest words he could in as bright a tone as possible. If he did not, he felt like he would be swallowed.

“Thou art a sinner. Wash away thy sin.”

Because his mind was quick, he realized it immediately.

His situation was close to checkmate.

“Don’t screw with me, you psycho bastard. Damn it, Relic Blade!”

He called for the strongest weapon he trusted.

But nothing came out. The thing that should have been there as always was not there now.

“…Huh?”

“This is my otherworld. My domain, the place of ‘Justice’ and ‘Hanging.’ Thus, none may enter.”

“What exists here is only thy soul. Therefore, nothing lodged in the flesh can be brought here.”

“…Who are you?”

Unable to move his body, Tooyama nevertheless glared into the darkness where the voices came from.

Questioning voices echoed in the darkness.

Splitting through the groans, they answered.

“I am ‘Justice.’” “I am ‘Hanging.’”

Voices that sounded like many people mixed together.

It was a stone statue. A statue.

A distorted statue with wings emerged from the darkness. It was distorted like countless goddess statues and god statues melted down and hardened again.

Several broken wings had been forcibly attached to its back like a cheap prop.

And around its neck were ropes layered several times over.

“Ugh.”

A blasphemous existence. A primal fear. Tooyama twisted his face.

“Thou art a sinner. Offer thy filthy life.”

Voices echoed from the statue.

Mechanical voices, yet filled with killing intent.

“Hey, wait. Wait, wait, wait, wait! Damn it, this is bad, seriously bad!”

“Good. Thus, another justice is done.”

“Damn it. Don’t screw with me, in a place like thi—ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh?!”

A rope had wrapped around his neck before he knew it.

The instant he thought that, the board beneath his feet dropped open.

“Hanging begins. Suffer. Continue hanging for eternity.”

“Offer thy agony. Repent thy sin.”

“Guh, gh, uuuuh?!”

Naturally, he was hanged. A rough rope bit into his neck. The impact felt like his eyes would burst out. Before suffering came impact.

“Thou canst not die. Though thy body perishes, thy soul will repeat execution here for eternity.”

“Thou shalt continue suffering, because of the foolishness with which thou opposed our justice.”

“Gh?! U, uu…”

Crack. The impact broke the bones in his neck. If he had a body, he would be dead. But there was no body here that could die.

Therefore—

“That rope will choke thy neck forever and continue breaking thy bones.”

“That suffering will torment thy soul for eternity.”

“Because thou opposed justice. Because thou defied justice.”

“Ah, ah—”

Forever, Tooyama continued dying.

Cackle, cackle, cackle, cackle.

The stone statue laughed.

As though unable to hold back, it laughed while watching Tooyama clutch at his neck and struggle desperately to remove a rope that could not be removed.

“That is the face we wanted to see.”

“Show us.” “Show us, show us, show us, show us.”

“Show us the fate of one who defies justice.”

“Punishment.” “Judgment.” “Retribution.”

It was truly the incarnation of “justice” and hanging, punishment.

Even in the modern age, it was the same. People would beat down with abnormal intensity anyone who stepped even slightly away from the concept society had decided was justice.

A personal sense of justice. Everyone possessed that emotion, born not from logic but from the heart. It was an indispensable defense mechanism for forming society.

But—

“Ah, show us, show us. Fool who defies justice.”

“Repent, repent, tremble before punishment, beg for your life, apologize, apologize, apologize hideously.”

“We are justice.”

“We are hanging, righteous punishment.”

“We are correctness itself.”

“You, who are not correct, suffer.”

“You, who are not justice, die.”

“U, gh, damn… vvvgh.”

Crack. Again, his bones shifted under his own weight. But he could not die. His mouth stayed wet with foam, and blood seeped from his eyeballs, but Tooyama could not die.

In eternal torment, the execution by hanging continued.

Justice laughed at his legs as they struggled as if swimming.

Hanging laughed at his mouth as it opened and closed, seeking breath.

“Ah, amusing.” “Amusing.” “Because you defied justice.” “Because you opposed justice.” “Because you are different from justice.”

“We have the right.” “Yes, we who are correct have the right.” “The right to judge sinners.” “The right to denounce sinners.” “We may torment sinners.” “Sinners may end up however they please.” “Die, die, suffer.”

“For the sake of justice, we may do anything.”

“Because we are, because we alone are—”

Justice.

How ugly excess of it was. But this form was the concept of justice. It was what people had created. The form of people itself.

To strike those who stepped off society’s path. To rage at those who strayed from society’s morality.

“U, vvv, gh, u, stop, vgh.”

Tooyama met death for the umpteenth time. But in this world, he could not die. Within Justice’s otherworld, the sinner continued dying.

“Ahaha.”

The stone statue laughed. On that eyeless face, only its mouth split open until it nearly reached its ears as it laughed.

“Ahahahahahahaha!!”

“Funny! This is entertainment, entertainment!”

“He said stop! The fool who defies justice said stop!”

The solemn language it had been pretending to use changed completely.

As if it were a young child.

“Let’s make him suffer more! Let’s torment him longer! It will surely be even more fun!”

“We are justice! We are punishment! Correct justice, correct punishment! So we are allowed to do anything!”

“Yes! Justice may do anything! Because—”

“We are justice.”

—But justice taken too far was, at the very least, uglier than evil. That form, which continued hurting others without realizing its own ugliness, was unbearably ugly.

But justice did not stop.

Cackle, cackle, cackle, cackle.

Everyone laughed in Justice’s otherworld.

Justice and Hanging roared with laughter.

At some point, the other executed criminals also laughed. Even while hanging, they laughed at Tooyama.

Justice was contagious. Because it felt good. From a safe place, one could hurt others however one wished.

Because justice was correct.

“Ugh, u…”

“…I’m bored. Aren’t we getting bored?”

“Bored.”

Justice sought what came next. It fully enjoyed the punishment for sin, then grew bored.

The stone statue spread its distorted wings and flapped them.

Toward Tooyama, who hung and continued struggling.

“I’m bored. What shall we do next? What shall we play with?”

“We will play with this one. We may do anything to this one.”

“Because this one mocked justice, a great fool who defied justice. Therefore, we may do anything.”

It was the same as people. They were beings born from the concept of human justice, from the act called justice.

Any human living in modern society knew this: for some reason, humans soaked in excessive justice, in intoxicating, pleasant justice, all began to investigate that sinner.

Identification and exposure. They investigated the past, investigated the home, investigated the person.

Ah, justice knew. It knew what kind of pain that became.

“We want to know, we want to know. We have the right. We have the right to know about sinners.”

“Your life, your way of living, your life, your birth—lay it all bare, sinner. We are justice, so we are permitted. We are permitted to do anything.”

Ah, justice truly believed it.

It believed investigating and exposing a sinner was an act of “justice.”

“Justice” was on our side—

How noble, ugly, that form was.

The stone statue’s long, extended claw stroked Tooyama’s cheek—

“Show us your past, your present, your future, everything—”

Justice took everything from the sinner.

Because justice was allowed to do anything.

Tooyama’s memories. Things no one had the right to touch, things only he himself was allowed to treasure.

A past he could no longer return to. Blue spring days, cold nights, the smell of evening, the summer vacation pool, well-read textbooks, the morning library.

Cool air, under the elevated tracks, the scent of something shaggy—

Justice touched that treasure.

“Don’t… touch… that.”

“Gh!”

But justice did not know.

They did not have even the slightest right to do so.

But justice did not understand.

That there was no way they were allowed to do anything—something so simple.

The sinner opened his eyes wide.

A face congested from punishment, eyes bleeding.

Justice stopped moving.

“He just defied us.” “Defied.” “Just now, this one defied justice, defied defied defied, defiiie clatter clatter aaaah plate again defy to defy—”

Justice swelled.

“You damn octopi…”

Tooyama made a mistake.

The most troublesome thing about justice—

Was that if you talked back to justice, it would return it several times over.

“Defy, defy, defiedededdeded.”

Behold, the stone statue as it began to swell.

The expanding concept called justice. How ugly and horrifying swelling justice was.

A being that devoured the pleasure called justice used Tooyama’s rejection and counterattack as fuel to grow arrogant.

“Justice, justice justice justice justijussssticeeeee.”

Justice.

Everyone loved that word.

Because justice was correct.

“Gross…”

“Justiiiiiiiiice! Justiceeeeee!”

And if one was justice, one was allowed to do anything.

The history humanity had built up defined the concept of “justice” that way.

“…Seriously.”

The sinner, farthest from justice and possessing not a fragment of it, spat the words out.

Swing, swing.

But Tooyama’s resistance ended here. As long as one was human, as long as one was a being rooted in society, one could not escape from “justice.”

“Jus! Justice! Jus, jusss! Tiiiiiiice, justice justice justice justice justice justice justice justice justice justice justice justice justice justice justice justice justice justice justice justice, correctttt jusssstice octopuuuus justice justiiiice justice justiceeeeeee.”

The swelling justice reached its hand toward Tooyama.

He could not escape. Tooyama Naruhito was a human who lived as his desires dictated, and those desires were fulfilled only within human society.

If this had been, say, a “completed human” who did not need others at the root of their essence, perhaps they could have killed the swollen justice.

If this had been, say, a “hero,” perhaps they could have opposed justice with their own even stronger, firm “justice.”

“Damn octopus…”

“Justiceeeee.”

But Tooyama was neither. As he sought desire and his ego expanded, there had always been “others” in that growth.

A human who could never be complete alone could not escape from swelling justice.

Toward the hanged sinner, the gigantic “justice” reached out its hand.

Let us tear off his legs, crush his hands, gouge out his ears, stir his eyes, twist off his belly, and tie his intestines.

Let us make him suffer, make him suffer, and play.

Tooyama Naruhito continued dying in Justice’s otherworld.

Tooyama could not defy it.

“Seriously, you’re disgusting.”

He laughed weakly, as though having given up.

Ah, damn it.

Again?

The feeling of a second ending. What flowed through the hanged man’s mind was a distant scene.

Cold water, a warm chair, the voices of comrades heard from far away. Blue sky, white clouds.

He could no longer reach that place.

The hated one beloved by shadow, whom he had become friends with; the lonely, awkward dragon; the honest children.

The adventure that had finally begun was ending.

“Say it. Admit it.”

“Say that your actions were wrong and that you regret them.”

“Say that you are sorry for defying justice.”

The swollen thing was no longer even recognizable as anything.

Having lost even the original form of justice, it was simply ugly, and infinitely childish.

“Say that you were wrong.”

Justice sought that. Because it wanted to be acknowledged that its own actions were correct.

Repentance from the sinner.

“If you do, we may forgive you a little—”

Justice tried to deliver the finishing blow to the sinner, to the hanged man’s heart—

“Idiot. I didn’t do anything wrong. I don’t regret anything. Next time, I’ll do the same thing as many times as it takes.”

He laughed. Laugh.

Free sin laughed at justice.

“As my desires dictate.”

Peh.

Dark-red spit and phlegm were spat out.

Filthy, unclean things. Proof that Tooyama had lived, secretions from his body flew.

Splat. They struck the ugly justice and dripped down.

“Justice.”

A hammer. Expressionless, it swung down its sword of light. It would completely erase Tooyama’s existence from this world—

Ping.

It had regretted it until the very end.

That it would leave him, lonely like itself, alone.

It had known from his scent. He was the same as itself and truly hated being alone. But he put on a brave front and tried to be strong.

It had been very happy. That he had repeated many adventures in the process of growing from a child into an adult.

“—Im… possible.”

Justice, a solidified concept rooted in human society, froze when the instinct it possessed as a concept saw it.

“It stinks. What is this foul stench, like every unclean thing in the world boiled and distilled?!”

Justice visibly began to waver.

No, that was not it.

While swinging limply, Tooyama looked at justice.

It was afraid. Justice was afraid of that smell.

“This smell…”

Contrary to justice, which cried out about the stench, Tooyama did not dislike that smell.

The smell of sunlight, the smell of popcorn, and the smell of something savory. A smell faintly similar to earth.

Ah, Tooyama knew it.

—Your eyes are like a Tibetan sand fox’s, Naruhito.

Words a comrade had once said to him during his Explorer days. Tooyama Naruhito’s distinctive eyes.

They could become its doorway.

“Ah, ahh…?! Aaaaaah…?! Unclean… injustice, aaaaaah, what, what is this?!”

The stone statue of justice. The mass of swollen self-consciousness now trembled and backed one step, then two, away from Tooyama in a truly obvious way.

Ah, aaaaah.

Uuuuuuuuuuu.

Iiiiiiiiiii.

Swing, swing.

The executed criminals who had yielded to justice began to fear in the same way.

With overlapping screams, the ropes hanging their necks began to sway and spin.

As though he were in a vulgar little pageant—

As panic ruled that otherworld, for some reason—

Only Tooyama did not think it was something frightening.

“Sh-show yourself!! Show yourself! Foreign object that has slipped into the otherworld of us, Justice and Hanging!”

“Indeed! Show yourself! That foul stench will not be forgiven! That impurity shall be severed!”

The original form of justice screamed, the collective mass of trembling justice. It began swinging the sword of light around wildly.

That conscious thing was now clearly frightened.

It would never forgive.

Those who harmed Tooyama Naruhito, those who threatened Tooyama Naruhito, those who hurt Tooyama Naruhito. And above all—

It would never forgive anything that interfered with Tooyama Naruhito’s adventure.

“A-aaaaaah?! What? What is that?! That, that is—?!”

“Huh?”

Justice pointed at Tooyama—no, at the thing behind Tooyama—

Before he knew it, the pain around his neck had vanished.

Still hanging by the neck, he turned around.

It was simply enormous.

About the same size as the swollen justice, or perhaps a little larger.

In the darkness, for some reason, its form could be seen as if floating into view.

A body dripping with blue mucus, large four legs, and from its large mouth peeked a tongue like a thick, supple syringe needle.

The beast wrapped in slimy blue mucus had two eyes that shone gold like blazing flames.

—Something that was melting into sludge.

A big mouth, big triangular ears, and a tail.

“…A… dog…?”

Tooyama himself did not know why such a mutter escaped him.

It should have been an abominable existence just to look at. Its form was clearly not something correct.

And yet why, why did his chest tighten so much?

Why did it feel somehow nostalgic?

Tooyama continued gazing vaguely at it with his thin, sharp-angled eyes.

It also stared at Tooyama with blazing eyes.

Clack.

It suddenly snapped its fangs. There likely existed nothing that could escape from those jaws.

A hanging rope was not even an issue.

“Whoa.”

The hanging rope that had wrapped around Tooyama’s neck and tightened around him snapped.

《…………》

Pof.

As the rope snapped and Tooyama fell, it stretched out its face and scooped him up. Tooyama was wrapped in the smell of sunlight and savory popcorn.

“…You…”

Slowly, it lowered Tooyama, whom it had placed on its nose, down to the bottom of the darkness.

Tooyama looked up at the enormous thing.

It slowly lowered its head, as if trying to meet Tooyama’s eyes—

“Unclean! Filthy! Not justice! I shall cut down the foul stench that invades my otherworld!”

The statue of justice made its voice echo.

The sword of condemnation in its hand, a sword that seemed to be light itself, was raised and swung down at it—

《woof》

“—Eh?”

The sword of light spun uselessly in the darkness.

It casually snapped its fangs.

With that alone, sixty percent of the statue of justice disappeared.

The cross-section looked as though something had bitten it off, and the supposedly mechanical expression of the distorted statue was clearly dyed with fear.

“Ah, eh? W-wai—《woof》 justish—”

Clack.

For the second time, it snapped its jaw, dripping with blue mucus.

Justice went pop. It leaked light, was crushed, and vanished.

Justice meant nothing to a beast. Who cared?

《Hmph.》

It shook its head and trembled its body. It snorted at the disappearing scraps of light as if to say, “small fry.”

“…………”

Tooyama could not understand what it was. Even as he tried to recognize its form, his mind obstructed his understanding.

An odd sensation, as though the existence before his eyes was covered in mist.

《………………》

“U, ah…”

It was too abnormal.

Without thinking, Tooyama groaned. He had feared it. Its unknown nature and its power were frightening.

It silently looked down at Tooyama, then turned its back and began leaving.

Why was it? That departing back, the haze that looked like a tail, seemed to hang weakly.

Its triangular ears also drooped flat, and its blazing eyes seemed to waver with loneliness—

《……………Huun……》

The enormous thing went away as if melting into the darkness.

Thump, thump.

His heart was loud. It was not because of fear or pain.

He did not know what this feeling that tightened his chest was. But before he knew it, he had reached his hand toward the thing disappearing so forlornly.

“—Wait.”

He called it to a stop. He could not let it return like this. He must not let it go back.

He had nearly been killed by a power beyond human understanding, a power he could not comprehend. But it had bitten justice to death with even greater power.

It was an existence that was clearly dangerous, one he should clearly fear. It would absolutely be safer to let it leave. He should not provoke it. He should not get involved with it.

Reason screamed that at him.

But no.

Everything other than reason made Tooyama call it to a stop.

He reached out his hand.

《………Bff, kuon.》

Drag, draaaag.

It ran toward Tooyama while dragging the darkness along. Huge fangs, big ears, blue-wet fur.

“……………”

There were no words.

He simply reached out his hand.

《……Huff huff huff huff huff.》

It shrank its body as much as possible and stretched its nose toward Tooyama’s hand.

Squelch. It was wet. A nose covered in blue mucus pressed against Tooyama’s hand.

The vastly enormous thing continued sniffing Tooyama’s hand for a while. As if savoring nostalgia.

《Huff, bff, huuuun.》

It snorted.

Tooyama continued reaching out his hand while seated in the darkness.

That day, their meeting under the elevated tracks.

The brief summer days when the paths of a lonely boy and the lonely thing crossed had now returned here.

“You…”

Tooyama could not recognize what it was. He could neither understand nor clearly see the enormous thing hidden in mist and darkness.

But he could not help reaching out his hand.

《……… Woooooo》

It snorted and narrowed its burning golden eyes in satisfaction.

It nudged Tooyama with its nose.

Go on.

With that wish, with that affection, it pushed the greedy adventurer out of Justice’s otherworld.

“Ah…”

This time, its form truly began to blur. It melted into the darkness and crumbled away.

But this time, its tail was not drooping and slowly wagged. Its triangular ears stretched sideways like airplane wings.

—We’re going on an adventure together!

—Woof! Woof!

There had been an adventure stolen by the world that day, an adventure that never came true.

From that day on, Tooyama hated the world even more. He learned that the world was fundamentally made so that things would be taken away.

He learned that the world was an enemy to which no mercy should be shown.

《…………………》

While melting away, it stared steadily at Tooyama.

Tooyama also silently looked at it.

The continuation of that day was certainly here.

Tooyama could not understand what it was, but before he knew it, his throat trembled, and he bit his tongue.

“■■■”

He called its name. In the crumbling world, Tooyama did not even know what he himself had said. The otherworld that transcended time and space was collapsing.

《! Huff, bff, waf!》

Satisfied, it shook its body.

The voice of the thing cloaked in blue mucus, darkness, and mist broke the otherworld.

Its master’s journey, its friend’s adventure—

Even if it perished, it would never forget. It would never forget the days of friendship exchanged under the elevated tracks.

Never.

“I’m going.”

《Woof!》

A voice no different from back then.

The adventure of the boy and the shaggy one was not over yet.

Not a single thing had been taken away.

The world split. The otherworld collapsed.

Tooyama’s vision blurred and vanished.

Ah, but that nostalgic scent—the savory smell of a dog—lingered forever—

Ping.

………

……

…

“……………Ah, ah…”

Stolu confirmed that the thing that had thrashed around and writhed in agony for some time had stopped moving.

His throat had been scratched up, the skin wetly peeled away. The nails on his hands were torn off or damaged from clawing not only at his throat, but at the stone paving as well.

“………………….”

In a voice no one could hear, Stolu continued looking down expressionlessly at the man she had just killed.

No emotion was reflected in her light-blue eyes.

Justice’s judgment had been handed down. There had been a slight accident, but overall, it had gone according to tactics. The Hanging Sword had once again judged a fool who defied the Church’s law and defied justice.

“…You were strong, dis.”

Inside her lips, Stolu muttered as she looked down at the black-haired adventurer’s corpse.

Then she noticed. His right hand still gripped the mace.

“…Magnificent, dis.”

He had suffered that much. The agony of suffocation caused by the Hanging Sword was not something a human could endure.

His face was blue and swollen, and his mouth was foaming. His deathly expression was terrible, his eyes wide open, with blood seeping from their edges due to the pressure.

And yet he had not let go of his weapon until the very end. Realizing that fact now, Stolu felt a little fear along with respect.

“First Knight, Lady Stolu!! Are you unharmed?!”

Clop, clop.

A group of warhorses galloped through the city and reached the market.

A unit of Church Knights in full-plate armor adorned with gorgeous mantles had arrived.

After dismounting, they all knelt on one knee at once, placed their right hands to their chests, and bowed their heads.

Their respect was directed toward the First Knight. Toward the greatest sword of the Church Knights, disguised in the form of a young girl.

“…Yes. Thank you for your work, dis. Be at ease.”

“““Yes, ma’am!!”””

The knights answered in voices filled with admiration for the bearer of justice, the ideal knight.

“Splendid work, Lady Stolu. To think you passed judgment on a bandit hostile to the Church in such a short time.”

“You are truly the embodiment of justice, the greatest sword of the Church beloved by the angels’ light.”

The knights showered her with many praises. Stolu answered them with the best forced smile she could manage.

Today, today had been very tiring.

She wanted to go home. She could not help wanting to go home already.

“…What about the other one?”

But she could not say that. Devoting oneself to one’s duty was the essence of a knight. Because Stolu was foolish, she did not notice; she did not have enough intelligence to recognize or verbalize that feeling.

Why had she killed him?

A hesitation that sprouted for an instant. It was something she must never harbor. Because she was foolish yet perceptive, she crushed the something that had welled up inside her.

……

…

Twitch.

Twitch—

—Now, wake up. The adventure is beginning.