Let’s Talk With Bishop-sama!

“Now then, ahem. You there, womanizer—no, our Dragon Slayer. You did well to calm our noble dragons. I would say that was work befitting an inquisitor.”

“Wow… She just started talking like nothing happened. Isn’t her skin way too thick?”

The moment the dragons vanished, the bishop, who had until moments ago been muttering vacantly about the sky, its beauty, and how blue it looked, revived.

“…My, whatever do you mean?”

The female bishop tilted her head blankly and turned her narrowed eyes into a bright smile. Her ability to flip the switch was abnormally fast. Perhaps it was a talent befitting someone in power.

“Well, if that is how you are going to play it, fine.”

Tooyama gave up on pointing that out and sat back down on the sofa.

“Naruhito, this really is delicious.”

“You bastard, Lazaar. How many cups is that? You honey lizard.”

Still holding the silver pitcher, Lazaar also naturally returned to Tooyama’s side.

But he did not stop tilting the honey water back with a gulp.

“…Do you think the dragons will return?”

The bishop murmured quietly.

“No idea. But those two are clearly about even in strength, right? Even if they fight, wouldn’t it take a while?”

“Haah. The Hoarding Dragon, the Dragon Shrine Maiden, would already have been enough, but to think you even dragged out that Omniscient Dragon—no, I suppose she is the Dragon of Human Knowledge now. The ancestor of magical formulas, the Academy’s guardian dragon… Ahh, this is three times heavier than I expected.”

The bishop’s polite-but-rude manner of speaking had begun to crumble slightly.

With a large sigh, she placed a hand on her head on the sofa and groaned.

“Naruhito, the boss is holding her head because of you.”

“Lazaar, isn’t it because you drank too much honey water?”

The two troublemakers pushed various things onto each other without meeting each other’s eyes.

“…Both of you. Needless to say with the dragon slayer, but to think a Lizardonian slave would be that ‘Shadow Fang.’ For someone like you, whose name was known even among the Kingdom’s dark organizations, to drift all the way here… The Kingdom must truly be near its end.”

There was no trace of discrimination toward the Lizardonian race in the bishop’s words. The chandelier candles swayed slightly.

“Well, leaving that aside. Um, Bishop-sama, is that all right?”

Tooyama straightened his posture and addressed the woman before him, who seemed like someone who had been through a lot.

“Just Bishop is fine. Being addressed with ‘sama’ by you people, especially by the Dragon Slayer, would mean you are calling me ‘sama’ while disregarding the dragon.”

That would be bad. My stomach would die. My stomach.

The muttering bishop let out another large sigh.

“Ah, Drako’s social status is crazy.”

“…At this point, I will give up on the gap in awareness between you and us. …Now then, too much has happened, and the conversation has flown all over the place, but do you understand your situation?”

At Tooyama’s carefree voice, the bishop’s face distorted slightly, and her voice dropped just a little.

“Yeah, more or less. Also, Bishop. You saved us. Thank you.”

“My, whatever do you mean?”

The bishop stared at Tooyama, who had lowered his head, with her threadlike narrowed eyes. Looking closely, those eyes were not smiling. Purple eyes peered through her slightly opened eyelids.

“Do not act mean. I mean that inquisitor thing. Most likely, that was originally one of your negotiation cards, right? We made you use it to protect me and Lazaar.”

“Hmm… You really are a strange—no, eerie man. Just when I think you are surprisingly cold, you value courtesy. Yet with that same tongue, you are still trying to sell yourselves dearly to me—no, to the Angel Church.”

After hearing Tooyama’s words, the bishop continued looking at him as if appraising him.

It was an unpleasant sensation different from facing dragons or knights. Tooyama was enveloped by the unique discomfort of facing someone far smarter than himself.

“You saw through that much? You are amazing.”

Tooyama honestly let words of admiration slip.

“Hmph. If you have enough common sense to say thank you, could you stop negotiating any further? For now, regarding the criminal acts you committed, well, our bishop faction will shield you.”

“Yeah, of course. I will not forget the favor of you taking on a huge bomb for us. Back home, there is a saying. A dog will not forget a favor after being kept for three days. As for me, just being shielded a moment ago is enough for me to not forget that you helped me.”

Emotionless eyes like a Tibetan sand fox’s and narrowed eyes maintaining a smile forced smiles onto their faces and stared at each other.

“Hehe, then is our discussion over? Regarding the work of an inquisitor, we can discuss that another day—”

“But at the same time, there is another saying. ‘That is that, and this is this.’ Mm-hmm, what a famous saying.”

The bishop tried to end the conversation, but Tooyama’s work was only beginning.

Strike while the iron is hot. The same could be said of negotiations. What had to be decided should be decided that same day.

“What are you trying to say?”

Tooyama’s words were met with the bishop’s flat reply.

Slightly, with a sharp prick, the air around the bishop’s side—the cat beastfolk and the little sister—began to change.

“It means you and I still have things to discuss, boss. Relax. It does not change the fact that we are already in the same boat. The price, Bishop. How much will you people pay to buy me and Lazaar?”

His course of action was mostly decided. For Tooyama, joining the Inquisition in order to resist the public authority of the knight order was welcome.

But the crucial treatment and relationship remained unclear. Tooyama was not carefree enough to ignore that, and not talking to this bishop was also not an option.

“…Dragon Slayer, are you saying that while understanding how much risk it poses for us to bring you into our bishop faction?”

The first to react to Tooyama’s words was the cat beastfolk in a sister’s outfit. She had pure white fur and jewel-like yellow eyes.

However, the wrinkles gathered around her nose conveyed that she was in a bad mood.

“Kitty-senpai, I understand well that you are a good person. But if you put it that way, Lazaar and I have plenty to say too. Well, I may have gone a little too far killing those gatekeeper scum on a whim, but what about everything else?”

Tooyama casually dodged the kitty’s intimidation and wrapped his words in smoke.

“What do you mean, what?”

The cat beastfolk, Tossle, was at a loss for words after the words were thrown back at her so directly.

“Tossle, be quiet. Svi, you too. From this point on, I forbid anyone other than me from speaking even a word to this man. …You two will listen even if I do not make you use my lifespan, won’t you?”

A single word from the bishop. It was nothing special, just one statement, but—

“…Forgive my rudeness, Dragon Slayer. Understood, My Lady.”

“…Understood, Bishop-sama.”

Even without using an order, those words properly reached the subordinates who were devoted to her.

Refined. As expected, the most troublesome one was the narrow-eyed woman. Tooyama once again understood the threat posed by the woman before him.

She made beings stronger than herself obey through words alone. It was not hard to imagine how difficult that was.

From here on, it would be a battle of tongues where a single word decided everything. In that case—

“Tch, you tighten the leash fast too. Lazaar?”

He spoke his friend’s name in a single word.

“Gulp, yes, I understand. I will stay silent, Naruhito.”

Likewise, Tooyama gave Lazaar one word. The honey lizard obediently understood his intent and shut his mouth.

“You tighten the leash quickly as well, don’t you? You are in no position to criticize others. Do you not trust your companion?”

The bishop teased him. She tilted her face toward her long fingers wrapped in white gloves.

“Let’s both stop with the obvious lines. Everyone has things they are good at. Some guys are good at making bread while drinking honey water, and some guys are good at killing dragons and negotiating. When facing a field you are not good at, sometimes silence is the correct choice.”

“…That is true. If the world were full of people who knew their place like you, my work would become easier.”

The vixen and the Tibetan sand fox both floated thin smiles on their lips.

“Thanks for that. Now, onto the important part—the work itself. What even is an inquisitor? I mean, I can guess from how it sounds.”

“It is simple. It is a Church organization prepared by the first bishop when the Church was founded. As the name implies, it exists to crack down on heresy against the Church.”

“Suppression of other religions and such?”

As a modern person with basic education, Tooyama murmured his guess based on his knowledge of the concept of inquisition.

“…You are strange.”

“Huh?”

The bishop stopped moving completely and murmured.

“When you hear heresy, the first words that come out are ‘another religion’? I have no idea what the word ‘religion’ means, but from the context of ‘another,’ you mean something similar to the Angel Faith, yes?”

“…Wait, the word religion itself does not exist?”

After thinking for a moment, Tooyama grew slightly anxious. Her reaction to the word religion was clearly strange.

The bishop’s phrasing made it sound as though, in this world, the very concept of religion existed only as the Angel Faith.

“At least I have never heard of it. Perhaps Ancient Nihon Language had something like that, but in this world, the teachings that spread among people like the Angel Faith are at most dragon worship.”

“…Even Christ-sama would be surprised. Even after going wild with the Crusades, he could not accomplish what they completed here.”

It seemed that was exactly the case. At the same time, Tooyama felt an unfathomable eeriness toward this world. It was more frightening than the existence of dragons and monsters.

Though it was another world, the same humans lived here. And yet, besides the Angel Faith and this dragon worship, no other faiths existed?

Was that possible when humans formed societies? Tooyama’s thoughts began to waver—

“Christ? I do not understand what you are talking about. Well, fine. Let us return to the topic. Heresy here means enemies of the Church. Of course, that includes beings hostile to the angels, but also those who threaten the operation of the Church, the public order the Church must maintain, or those who harm Church believers. In short, it is a cleanup unit for troublesome people.”

“You are being pretty blunt.”

Tooyama set aside his thoughts about religion for the moment and faced the bishop. Well, with a name like inquisitor, he had expected that sort of work.

“Hehe, calling a sword a tool for cutting vegetables instead of a tool for killing people does not change the truth, does it? Just as a sword rends flesh, severs bone, and takes life, the Inquisition exists to bury the Church’s enemies in darkness.”

“I see. Necessary evil wet workers. Well, I do not particularly feel anything about that.”

“Oh? I thought normal people would be resistant to that sort of thing.”

“Well, I originally made a living killing monsters, and I intended to keep doing that. It just means monsters that look human are added to the list of things I hunt.”

The bishop watched Tooyama, who said that without concern, with amusement.

“If that is a bluff, you have nerve. If you mean it, you are insane. But perhaps the Inquisition is impossible unless one is insane.”

“Let’s call it half and half. So, about my preferences for the work.”

“Preferences?”

“Yeah, preferences. To be honest, Lazaar and I have our actual main business to do from here on. We plan to earn money by doing both that main business and adventurer work. I want to treat Inquisition work like a part-time job.”

“A part-time-job feeling, hmm.”

At Tooyama’s words, the bishop’s voice dropped slightly again.

“My preferences are simple. First, we do not go to work regularly. Our position is basically equal. We decide whether or not we accept a job. The ideal feeling is like the Guild and adventurers.”

Despite the lower voice, Tooyama bluntly threw out fairly disrespectful conditions.

“N-Naruhito, that is—”

Lazaar could not help letting words slip.

“So you have no intention of being under me?”

Clink. The ice in the bishop’s silver cup melted and made a sound.

“Do not misunderstand, boss. You are the boss of me and Lazaar within the Inquisition. We will respect that. But we do not want to get too deeply involved. We have plenty of other things we want to do.”

Tooyama did not yield. In a sense, his words ignored the bishop faction, who had shown them kindness.

Lazaar began panicking, looking back and forth between Tooyama and the bishop in a fluster.

Tooyama ignored him and stared only at the bishop.

“…Do you think such convenient terms will pass?”

The bishop threw out a voice mixed with a sigh, neither laughing nor exasperated.

“They will.”

Tooyama struck back by declaring it completely.

“Oh?”

The bishop’s voice rose slightly.

“You really are a bad person. No, rather, you should be the one who desperately wants to accept them. From how you people reacted to Drako and that dangerous pervert, I understood. Lazaar and I are clearly foreign objects. Normally—yes, on the proper route, the main quest—you absolutely should not have gotten involved with me.”

He had understood from the bishop’s reaction.

His own intention and the woman before him’s intention were the same. All that remained was adjusting the conditions.

Tooyama continued speaking.

“And yet you ended up helping us. I am grateful, I really am. But I did not understand the reason. I could not understand why you would help us after we clashed with the knights… until just now.”

Yes, this was what had bothered him the most. The woman before him was certainly a great figure. She was quick-witted, held power, and possessed military force as well.

Above all, she was skilled in maneuvering. That was precisely why he had not understood until now.

He had not understood why this bishop would shield him and Lazaar.

But that golden dragon had taught him the answer.

“Until just now?”

The bishop repeated his words with interest.

“Drako. A mass of rationality like you took an action that did not fit logic. You were placed in a position where you had to take the risk of bringing me and Lazaar into your fold. The only one who could create that kind of board is that selfish dragon.”

A selfish dragon. There was only one being that came to mind from those words. Everyone in this room thought of the same being.

“…You are probably the only one who can speak of the Dragon Shrine Maiden like that.”

“She is my friend. But by the common sense here, that should be impossible, right? If I take the irregular existence called Drako into account, the answer is simple. …The risk of that Pledge Scroll thing: if I failed to repay my debt to you people, I would become a crippled doll. See? Everything connects.”

The missing piece was explained entirely by the existence of that dragon.

For that dragon, forcing irrationality onto rational humans would be nothing difficult.

It might be conceit, but in Drako’s own way, she had surely tried to help him. Tooyama was simply happy about that, and he smiled a little.

“…!”

Svi opened her eyes wide and bit her lip. In a sense, she had realized that her own mistake had driven her master into a corner.

“Do not make that face, senpai. I am genuinely grateful to you. If you had not lent a hand at that time, the kid on our side would have died.”

“…Truly, neither your face, nor your personality, nor anything about you is to my liking. You are not cute at all, nor beautiful.”

The one who answered Tooyama’s words was the bishop.

There was no longer any smile, and the faintly visible purple eyes stared mechanically at Tooyama.

Her well-shaped fingers wrapped in gloves tapped, tap, tap, against her knee.

“The feeling is mutual, boss. I am not conceited, but you people fear the dragon’s reaction if I become a crippled doll. That unpredictable reaction.”

Tooyama spun those words.

“Pfft.”

The one who burst out laughing was the bishop.

Laughter overflowed.

“Huh?”

—Did I misread something?

Tooyama grew slightly anxious at the mocking color that appeared on the bishop’s face.

“Aha, aha, fufufu, ufufufufufufufu, hahahahahahahahahahahahaha!! Stop, please! Unpredictable?! You said unpredictable?! Ahahahahaha! You read that much of the board, but the last part! The finishing part! Is your perception of yourself really that low?! Ahahahaha! Did you hear that, Svi, Tossle? He said unpredictable! Just now! Ahahahahahahaha!!”

She burst into laughter.

Holding her stomach, tears forming in her eyes, the bishop laughed loudly.

The vixen, the money-grubber.

The woman whose intelligence was too high and who therefore could only look at the world sideways was laughing from the bottom of her heart and stomach for the first time in a long while.

“Bishop-sama?”

“Ah, My Lady?”

Her sudden change and laughter were so extreme that even her close aides grew worried.

“Ahaha, ahh, that was funny. I laughed. Hah, haha. There is no way it is unpredictable. You are quick-witted, but you really are an idiot.”

After laughing to her heart’s content, the bishop wiped her tears with a lace handkerchief and drew out her words.

“Huh?”

Before Tooyama could say anything back to the word idiot—

“Everything ends.”

The bishop’s voice stopped Tooyama’s movement.

“Everything?”

“Yes, everything. Dragon Slayer, Tooyama Naruhito, I can say this with certainty. If something happens to you, and the Church is involved even slightly, we, the Angel Church, will definitely be destroyed.”

“N-no, what is that supposed to mean?”

The Church would be destroyed. Tooyama froze at the exaggerated phrasing.

“Ahh, you really do not understand. It is simple. I am saying it will be destroyed by the dragon’s wrath.”

“Huh? No, surely it would not go that far.”

He more or less understood Drako’s temperament. But he did not think it would go that far.

“It would go that far, which is why we are swallowing down a dangerous drug like you. Tooyama Naruhito, your self-evaluation is far too low. That dragon recognizes that much ‘value’ in you. Not as a simple collection item, but liking you as an individual and respecting the way you are. …Could you understand how terrifying that is?”

The bishop denied that thought head-on. This time, she was not smiling at all.

“…If I died, would Drako go that far?”

He imagined that selfish dragon after his death.

She would probably be sad, but would she be angry enough to—

…No, she does seem to have crazy switches in strange places.

Tooyama remembered the mines he had occasionally stepped on during his short relationship with Drako.

“Ahh, did that get through? Conversation with quick-witted humans is stress-free and helpful. Dragons are creatures that do go that far. And as for my answer regarding your treatment, it is yes. Exactly. To be honest, it helped that you were the one to propose that relationship. Well, in the first place, the job of inquisitor itself is a title meant for outsiders.”

“You were testing me?”

In other words, the bishop had never intended from the beginning to make their relationship deeply entangled.

Tooyama felt a chill down his spine at her change of stance—or rather, how she hid her true intentions and timed her probing.

“Of course. I like idiots, but I hate the stupid. No matter how much the dragon likes you, that has nothing to do with my likes or dislikes.”

The bishop spat that out as if it were nothing.

The extreme end of humanity. She correctly feared dragons and other dreadful things, yet shrewdly searched for her own advantage.

She was a woman who seemed to possess all the nastiness and toughness of the human species. Tooyama raised his guard against the person before him even further.

“…You have one hell of a personality.”

“There is no need to keep appearances with you two anymore. Now then, next is my proposal.”

“Proposal?”

“Yes. A proposal. Originally, I intended to use joining the Inquisition as bait to ask this favor… Well, it is a necessary expense.”

“What are you talking about?”

“It is simple. I want you to swear, Dragon Slayer.”

He could not follow the conversation.

What the bishop wanted, the flow of the conversation, suddenly began to change.

“Huh?”

“From here on, something terrible will happen to this city—no, this country. I do not know what it is, who will cause it, or what will happen. But something terrible will happen.”

“…What are you talking about?”

The abstract conversation suddenly began. Was it some kind of trap or leading question? Tooyama quietly submerged his thoughts.

“…So that story was true?”

“You know about this, Lazaar?”

For some reason, Lazaar, who knew many things, seemed to know something.

Perhaps he should start calling him Raiden from now on. Tooyama listened to Lazaar’s words.

“Yes. The current bishop of the Angel Church is a prophet. That rumor also circulates in the Kingdom.”

“A prophet…? You are suddenly throwing in new settings again… No, now that you mention it, Drako said something like that…”

A fantasy element suddenly appeared. Come to think of it, this was an otherworldly fantasy-style world.

Tooyama, however, had some memory of the word prophet. At the Dragon Embassy, Drako had indeed said something about prophecy to the bishop.

“—When one moon has ended after the dragon is killed by mist, man, and dog, the dragon slayer arrives at the rough ones’ dwelling. Carried by the silver wind.”

The bishop suddenly spun words.

A strange atmosphere fell over the room, silencing everyone.

“The lizard baker and the dragon slayer meet beneath the blue sky. The dragon slayer has not one copper, and the lizard baker is troubled. Hearing the commotion, the dragon and the ogre finally find the dragon slayer, but the lizard baker and the dragon slayer are sheltered by the silver wind, beyond the sea.”

“…What is that?”

“The name of the sacrament is ‘The Star.’ It can grasp uncertain information from an uncertain future. Well, because of my lack of ability, the accuracy of the prophecy is not high.”

The name of the bishop’s talent was stated casually.

A sacrament. In Tooyama’s understanding, it was the name of a power equal to, or even greater than, modern dungeon “relics.”

“Lazaar, do people just commonly have superpowers like sacraments?”

“Of course not. Even skills, which show a person’s unique talent, appear in only one out of several thousand people. And sacraments are their superior counterparts… Normally, you might meet someone with a sacrament once in your life, if at all.”

“…So it is like a Designated Explorer’s named relic. At this rate, someone with a sacrament that calls storms might appear someday.”

What came to mind was a certain Designated Explorer that anyone alive in 2028 knew.

He suddenly remembered that absurd relic, one ridiculous even just by looking at its data.

“Yes, yes, do not whisper to each other, you two. As you can tell from that prophecy, about half of it is generally correct.”

“The lizard baker and dragon slayer parts?”

“Yes. But that lizard-san is not a baker, and you, the dragon slayer, have not gone beyond the sea. My prophecy can only tell me what may be a possible future.”

“And what is that possible prophet afraid of?”

Tooyama asked without flinching.

The expression vanished from the bishop’s face, as if a candle flame had been taken by the wind.

“Ending. Ending. Eeeverything ends.”

Prophecy.

The bishop placed a hand on her chest and continued spinning words.

“…”

“The flame is deceived, and the woman ruins everything. The flame swallows gold and melts black. Light and swords have no meaning. The adventure city is wrapped in flame, and the great Tower remains as if nothing happened, only waiting for those who arrive unchanged. All the souls swallowed by flame climb the Tower. Ending, ending.”

“The townspeople do not come, and salvation does not appear. The woman left behind by the whole world awakens the end of everything. Gold and black are all burned to death by flame. All people become souls and are eaten by the woman.”

“The woman will not fail again. The first time was no good. The impossible second time was also no good. This time is the third, the tearful third. To end the main quest, the woman takes everything and breaks everything.”

“The soul-eater grows larger, larger. Everything is eaten, and it aims above the sky, and then even higher above that. Yes, goodbye.”

A damp air spread through the room.

The words did not get to the point, but their contents were very creepy.

“…A poorly made third-rate picture book?”

“No, a poorly made third-rate prophecy.”

“I do not understand a single thing.”

“Prophecies are often like that, are they not? However, my prophecies do not always come true, and I do not know the details. But they are things that will definitely happen. I do not know when, but they will definitely happen. My life until now has proven that.”

“…Assuming I believe that confidence, what do you want me and Lazaar to swear? To help overturn that prophecy?”

“Oh my, how quick you are. Exactly.”

The female bishop muttered casually.

For a while, Tooyama lost his words.

“…You do not seem like the type to care about world peace or anything like that.”

The words he barely squeezed out were like a mutter.

“Oh my, you understand well. Of course. I have no intention whatsoever of protecting something as grand as the world.”

“Then what do you want to do?”

Unable to understand her intention, Tooyama asked simply.

“Obviously, the ‘now.’”

The answer returned was also simple.

“You see, I like this present. A position where I can gather as much money as I want and use it as I like, a standing where I can look down on the vast majority of people, a life surrounded by cute subordinates and shiny gold coins. I want to protect this.”

That was desire. That was greed. The woman cared nothing for the world, and simply, purely for herself and for the environment she found comfortable, she would overturn it.

“Money, beautiful things, and cute things all shine because the world is normal. There is no eternity. But things can be made to last longer. To protect my current life, I would overturn even the world’s destruction.”

The light burning in her purple eyes was an egotistical light full of self-love.

However, there were also beings who were irresistibly drawn to it.

“Bishop-sama is so cool…”

“My Lady…”

The saint and the kitty stared at the bishop in ecstasy.

“Lazaar, do those girls have bad eyes?”

Tooyama could not help pointing at them and asking Lazaar.

“Heh, who knows. To me, she looks exactly like someone else.”

“The world is ending if there are others like that.”

“Ah, yes, probably closer than you think.”

“Seriously? Scary. I should lock my doors.”

Lazaar’s reply sounded somehow amused.

“Well, that is how it is. What I want you to swear is simple. When things truly become dangerous, I want you to side with me. That is all.”

The bishop waved her hand and lightly concluded.

“What does siding with you involve?”

“It is obvious. To continue this present, I will dispose of whoever is trying to make this ridiculous prophecy happen. I want your help with that.”

“Who is trying to do something like this?”

“If I knew that, I would not be struggling. One thing I do know is that it is a woman. Congratulations, the culprit has been narrowed down to half of humanity.”

Tooyama answered the bishop’s mocking words with a sigh.

“That sounds like a long-term matter.”

“Ah, of course. I will not ask you to do it for free. This discussion is separate from joining the Inquisition.”

“Oh? Will I get a bonus?”

“Yes, of course. Proper reward for proper work. It is my principle. Though I will not pay even one copper coin of wasted money.”

Saying that, the bishop made a smile.

“Tossle?”

She sent some kind of signal to her subordinate, the cat beastfolk covert operative.

“Yes, My Lady.”

A sharp whistle from Tossle, the cat beastfolk, echoed through the room.

““Excuse us.””

The room’s door opened, and those who appeared were likewise bipedal cat beastfolk. All of them hid their faces with front cloths and wore black monastic clothing.

“Whoa, what is this? The Cat Returns?”

Tooyama murmured as he watched cats suddenly filing into the room.

“No, that is not it. Those are…”

Lazaar narrowed his eyes and shook his head.

Among the cat beastfolk, several were carrying something like a platform with four people.

A coffin? A pedestal? It had golden decorations and red material. They carried the four corners of that rectangle on their shoulders and reverently brought it into the room.

“Well done.”

“Meow.”

At Tossle’s words, the cat beastfolk carrying the coffin placed it on the carpet.

“Open it, so our guests can see.”

Slowly, the coffin lid was opened.

“…Ah.”

Colorful flowers were laid inside the coffin.

There, someone lay on her back with her hands folded. Tooyama clearly recognized her.

“She is alive. She has merely lost consciousness due to the Archbishop’s Order. She is the person at the center of this commotion, the one you wanted to have take responsibility, yes?”

The bishop looked down at her coldly.

“This one…”

The girl was sleeping.

She had light-blue hair and light-blue eyes. Her white skin now looked almost like that of a corpse. Only the slight rise and fall around the chest of her white undergarment showed that she was alive.

Her young face, eyes closed, awaited judgment.

“Yes, the First Knight. The Angel Church Knight Order’s finest and strongest knight. Stolu of ‘Justice.’”

It was her. Stolu Pula. To Tooyama, she was an enemy, a troublesome opponent who had nearly killed him.

“The knight order’s leadership, as you can see, is currently gone. Her body is now in the hands of the bishop faction. Tooyama Naruhito, if you side with me, I will give you many opportunities like this from now on.”

“Opportunities?”

The bishop’s words entangled Tooyama.

They were the honey of a sweet, sweet transaction.

“Revenge. No, that is not quite right in your case. Hmm, yes. Doing as you please, perhaps.”

“What do you mean by—”

Tooyama was beginning to be swallowed. The bishop’s tongue, the plan she had prepared.

In this short time, the bishop had finished appraising the human named Tooyama Naruhito. This was her final confirmation.

“This entire commotion began because you disposed of those scum. Normal people give up on such things. They dislike someone and cannot forgive them, but they can do nothing. Because of rules, because there is no method. Everyone lives their days compromising with and giving up on the ‘desires’ overflowing in their hearts.”

The bishop knew that this man lacked that.

She knew he was a person more troublesome than a naked blade, truly troublesome.

“But you are different. You do not have that brake. …If I were to compare it to the parts of the automatic carriages developed by the workshop people, yes, you have no brakes.”

“…I am surprised the word brake exists here.”

Tooyama could only answer lightly with a dry mouth.

“Oh, so you know brakes too. Well, fine.”

The smiling bishop tilted her silver cup, and honey water moistened her thin lips.

“…As you live, many things like this will happen from now on. As your own desire, you will inevitably want to dispose of those who harm you, and you will not stop. …I will help you with that. I will set the stage, prepare the path, and even twist legal judgment for you.”

Her purple eyes opened.

They caught Tooyama’s brown eyes and did not let go.

A speech challenge. Tooyama Naruhito was not always the one who set one in motion.

“I will help you live more easily, according to your desires. So become my ally. This is a transaction. An equal and beneficial transaction.”

“A transaction…”

“This is merely the beginning. I shall offer your enemy to you. Do as you please. The Angel Church—and I—will affirm that desire.”

The bishop smiled. It was a conciliatory move aimed completely at Tooyama Naruhito.

She had decided to take him into her fold. In terms of position, she had set it as an equal and dry relationship.

The only remaining thing she needed was understanding.

Here, the bishop intended to fully grasp the vessel of the human named Tooyama Naruhito.

“…I see.”

He stared at the sleeping girl before him.

The First Knight chosen by Justice. Without exaggeration, Tooyama had nearly been killed by her once. No, it might be fair to say he had been killed.

She had raised the vague thing called justice and stood in front of him and Lazaar as an enemy. A threat. That was not mistaken.

“…In other words, you are saying I can kill this one in retaliation?”

“That is what I mean. Without being bound by guilt, do as you wish. Ah, hehe, that way of being is a little like a dragon.”

From the gaps between her narrow eyes, the purple eyes peered through as if seeing through Tooyama.

She was a terrible human being, and unquestionably not normal. However, those words seeped into Tooyama’s heart like nectar.

It was the finest reward. The other party was saying she would handle all the coordination between his desires and the rules of society.

He could dispose of all those he disliked, and even those who irritated him slightly. The head of an organization called the Angel Church would affirm permission to act according to his desires.

“I…”

Tooyama hesitated.

Speech Challenge.

The human art of deceiving the world with tongue and mind, challenging irrationality. Before he knew it, Tooyama Naruhito had been rolled onto the tongue of Kanosa Tier Field.

By the time he noticed, it was already too late. Before him was the target of revenge, and moreover, with the endorsement of authority.

Tooyama Naruhito was weaker to desire than anything else.

The marks from clawing at his neck still hurt, and the fear of being strangled still remained.

The vivid strength of that knight of justice was burned into his eyes, terrifying him.

This one would inevitably bare her fangs at him again one day. Tooyama Naruhito knew that his path and his way of living were far removed from justice.

And he also knew that justice did not forgive what was far removed from itself.

“I allow it, Tooyama Naruhito. You may follow your desires, and I will follow my wishes. Let us join hands in this shitty world.”

Sweet speech, sweet words. Right now, those were the words Tooyama wanted so badly.

Intelligence 28. The power to think could entangle people so frighteningly. It needed neither the suspicious charm of Beauty and Woman nor dragonlike pressure.

To move people, all one needed was a well-moving tongue and a brain that understood logic.

“…Whatever I do with this one is my freedom, right?”

“Yes. Even if her life ends in an unfortunate accident, it will be an accident. You will not be charged with guilt.”

“I see…”

Ping.

“…Judgment, huh?”

Numerous messages flowed by. When he digested them through his otaku knowledge, it seemed he could obtain quite a lot of rewards.

All of them smelled suspicious.

“Of course, you may do it with your own hands, or you may have the bishop faction dispose of her. You may decide. My reward to you is handing over the decision-making right.”

The bishop smiled. A rare great figure who concealed her true feelings behind mercy and generosity tested the adventurer.

Ping, ping, ping.

The quest notifications and arrows pointed at Stolu, who continued sleeping on the pedestal.

Destroy. Destroy. Destroy.

Tooyama’s inner voice, that desire, said the same. There was no reason to keep her alive, no reason to hesitate in disposing of her.

Everything had been prepared. She was the troublesome one who had driven him and Lazaar into a corner.

A fool who chirped about justice, justice. She would certainly become an obstacle in the future.

“…Naruhito.”

His friend’s voice was slightly low. It reached Tooyama’s writhing thoughts.

Destroy. Dispose. Erase.

The impulse of the main quest was surely correct this time.

The whisper of the main quest surely was not mistaken.

If this was the proper quest, the fate of Tooyama Naruhito, he should destroy Justice here.

“Now, decide. The right to decide is yours. That is your reward.”

The female bishop who spoke of the future watched that choice with purple eyes—

—I do not understand.

That voice, burned into him just like her strength, would not leave.

Tooyama had heard it.

“…I want a house.”

“…Hm?”

At Tooyama’s mutter, the bishop froze while still smiling. It was a statement completely unrelated to the current situation. No wonder.

If this were the proper fate, the main quest—

Ah, but unfortunately, Tooyama Naruhito’s brain, his head, had been driven mad. The obsession of a dangerous woman respected Tooyama Naruhito’s distorted way of being.

Did anyone think someone with a Happy-Meal Head could walk the proper path?

“Lame. No, that is just normally lame.”

It would not leave. He could not forget that crying face, that childlike crying face that remained bewildered, and he remembered it.

“Ah, no! No, it is not, dis! I do not want to do this! I do not understand justice!!?”

He had heard her voice. He had seen the light-blue eyes distorted in tears.

A lost child who understood nothing, who did not know where she should reach or what she should be.

That was the girl called Stolu Pula to Tooyama Naruhito.

“I want a house. No, a shop too. A two-story detached house with a yard. The first floor will be Lazaar’s bakery, the second floor will have a living room and multiple bedrooms, and the yard will be wide enough to build a hut. There, I will make a sauna.”

“Huh?”

Everyone watched Tooyama stand up in blank amazement.

He slowly walked toward the girl sleeping on the pedestal.

The hand he stretched out was not toward the girl, but toward the arrow pointing at the girl.

The notification of the quest, the mission, that only Tooyama Naruhito could see. He grasped the thing that should have been impossible to resist, as usual.

“I want a housekeeper and guard.”

The arrow he clenched twitched, twitched. It continued pointing at Stolu.

Like I care. I will do things as I like. His happy head refused to accept that instruction.

“There we go.”

He threw the main quest away. The arrow slammed into the wall, twitched, writhed, and vanished.

Ping.

Ping.

“I am taking this one. She can repay the compensation for nearly killing me with labor. I do not need her life. I want a house, money, and labor.”

He had decided. Tooyama Naruhito had chosen that detour.

He had thrown away the main quest from the very beginning, at the point when he let Lazaar escape and chose to fight the Hoarding Dragon.

“…Are you sane? Do you think you can control that? She is a monster that even the knight order controlled precisely by deliberately not educating her.”

“A monster, huh.”

It would not leave. It would not disappear.

The otherworld of Justice, that dark dream. In memories beginning to blur like an afternoon nap on a summer day.

In that place, where nostalgia had saved him, he had met a small girl with light-blue eyes who was bewildered by what she wanted to do and crying loudly.

That was his old self. The sympathy he had felt for the orphans, Tooyama now felt again toward Stolu.

“I do not care. More importantly, I do not want to do something lame like killing a kid like this—a kid who cries because she does not know what she is doing—and then feel relieved. I will definitely make her useful. That is all.”

“…Haah, I see. So that is how it turns out. Really, men always try to act cool in strange ways.”

The bishop, who seemed to have understood the situation, let out a huge sigh.

“No matter how lame a guy is, there are times he has to act cool. If you cannot be stubborn there, you stay that way forever afterward.”

Tooyama paid no mind and carried through with what he had decided.

For a while, Tooyama and the bishop stared at each other.

Neither moved at all, nor shifted their gaze by even a millimeter.

In the room where silence swelled, the first one to give in was the bishop.

“…Yes, yes, I understand. The decision-making right is yours. After she becomes able to move, I will handle the procedures.”

With her hands clasped together, the bishop spoke smoothly.

Somehow, her voice seemed a little lively.

“Procedures?”

“From today, First Knight Stolu will be excommunicated from the Angel Church. From the same day, she will engage in service activity as an attendant to Inquisitor Tooyama Naruhito, and through that work, she will show loyalty to the Angel Church. Something like that, perhaps. As sophistry to silence the saint faction and stop the knight faction from complaining.”

“Will those idiots accept that?”

“They will not. That is why I will settle it today. The fact that the opponent is the Omniscient Dragon is a little troublesome, though. The knight order’s upper leadership, who challenged a dragon, are currently missing. The First Knight was also instigated by the leadership and attacked an inquisitor of the bishop faction. To take responsibility for that… something like that. Well, it is good medicine for those idiots.”

“The way you say that makes it sound like those guys will return again.”

“Haah… Inquisitor Tooyama. If they died from that much, they would not be called the Ten Swords. The Deputy Commander and the ones turned into meat swords are uncertain, but the rest will definitely escape the Tower alive.”

“Seriously?”

“Yes. That is why the Omniscient Dragon is kind. That is a dragon who is truly soft on humans.”

Her tone was somehow, somehow relieved and gentle.

And the sparing of the First Knight’s life had been accepted far too smoothly.

Tooyama narrowed his eyes and stared at the false evil before him.

“You could not have… tested me, could you?”

“Whatever do you mean? Well, anyway. Inquisitor, I have come to understand quite a bit of what kind of person you are. It seems you at least have the capacity to treat children as children, so I have no objection to treating you as one of us. Now, our discussion is over, yes?”

What a tanuki—no, fox. Perhaps satisfied with Tooyama’s choice, the bishop began wrapping up the conversation as if there was nothing more.

“…No, wait. It is not over yet.”

“Oh? Could this be related to that talk about wanting a house earlier?”

He understood that the bishop had been testing him.

Then next was his turn.

It did not suit him to keep losing to smooth talk.

“It is related. I want a house. I want you to lend me your power.”

Without shame, Tooyama arrogantly and greedily spoke his wish.

“Hehe, that is not funny. Even so, I believe I am buying you and making considerable concessions, you know? Asking for more than that is what I would call greed.”

The bishop was truly not smiling.

The members of the bishop faction around her also silently stared at Tooyama, hostility in their gazes.

“It is necessary. Living in an inn is not bad, but because of those Crows people and because of me and Lazaar’s goal, I want a home. …We cannot spend too much time on it. You are quite powerful, right? Help us.”

Tooyama paid no attention to the atmosphere and drew out his words. He quietly lured her onto his own field.

“…When we remain silent, do not get carried away, Hume.”

The ones who took the bait were Kitty-senpai and the others. Wrong. Not them.

What he needed was the narrow-eyed woman. The bishop’s interest, or else her hostility and anger, to disrupt her pace.

Tooyama had understood from their exchanges until now. He and the bishop were different things. He concluded that with ordinary methods, no negotiation would ever succeed.

“Oops, ladies, you had better not casually direct killing intent at my partner. You will not get away with mere burns.”

Lazaar reacted to Kitty-senpai and the others’ pressure. His voice was calm, but fangs flickered faintly in the mouth of his lizard face.

“Stop, Tossle, everyone.”

“Lazaar, it is all right.”

The bishop and Tooyama each restrained their companions. What was necessary here was not military force.

“…Out of the question. I am sorry, but I have no intention of yielding any further to you. Stolu’s person will be delivered to you tomorrow, and that ends this discussion. I look forward to working with you, Dragon Slayer-san.”

The bishop tried to end the conversation.

“Wait. Wait, wait. This is where the negotiation starts, right? Lazaar and I have no family registers here. Buying a house is probably impossible unless we have some kind of connection, right? Your power is necessary.”

Tooyama did not panic.

Think, think. There had to be something. A card that could disrupt this woman’s pace.

“Ahaha, Tooyama Naruhito. This is not a negotiation. I have decided to shield you in the Inquisition, and I left Stolu’s treatment up to your wishes. The one who has kept making concessions is me, yes?”

Based on everything he had learned in their conversation so far, what did this person called the bishop care about?

He needed a card that could break her composure.

“Really? I am certainly grateful. But you have not lied, and yet you have not told the truth either. If you want us to side with you when everything becomes dangerous, shouldn’t you invest a little more in us?”

“Hehe, how unfortunate. You lack cards, Tooyama Naruhito. You know that yourself, don’t you? Further negotiation is impossible. Well, if you were stupid enough to use the dragon as a threat, that would be different.”

“Do not be ridiculous. My matters and Drako’s matters are unrelated. Could I really do something as lame as using my friend’s authority to threaten people?”

“Hehe, of course not. Because you are that kind of person, I accepted drinking the poison called you. But anything more is nonsense. Svi, our guests—no, your juniors are leaving. See them out.”

The bishop laughed without a second thought.

As a result, there should have been no problem. The conflict had subsided, and his position had been decided. It was almost too good of an outcome.

But it was still not enough.

“Yes… Junior, what your senior says is absolute, okay?”

Svi directed words at Tooyama and Lazaar that brooked no argument.

“Whoa, you are bringing up athletic-club hierarchy here?”

“Naruhito, any more than this is really…”

“It is good that the lizard-san has common sense. Our cooperation remains unchanged, greedy one. Gather a few more cards and come back.”

The bishop smiled, and Tooyama thought.

As long as he continued thinking, as long as Tooyama did not give up, that notification, that quest marker, would appear anywhere.

Like this.

Ping.

It was a notification of a challenge presented only to Tooyama.

A detour using words, tongue, head, and brain to pull in a result that normally would not be obtained.

The only long way toward a reward not found on the proper path.

“…………”

“What is wrong?”

The bishop looked suspiciously at the silent Tooyama—

—Angel powder becomes bread starter through blessing.

—By reducing this term’s blessing tax.

The knowledge he had gained through his adventure and detours became a weapon in this place.

From here began Tooyama Naruhito’s challenge. The beginning of a great side quest, a detour carried out after throwing away the main quest, the mission.

There it is. A card.

Laugh defiantly.

Stare insolently.

Beyond a side quest lies a wonderful reward. That is how these things are made.

Tooyama played his card.

Most modern people knew another name for that “blessing.”

“Fermentation.”

“　　　　　　　　　　Huh?　　　　　　　　”

VS Kanosa Tier Field.

Speech Challenge, start.