Speech Challenge VS Kanosa Tier Field

“　　　　　　　　　　Huh?　　　　　　　　”

The whites around her purple eyes became bloodshot all at once.

It felt like being glared at by bloodstained amethyst.

“Oops, what’s wrong? You are making such a scary face, Bishop-sama.”

Insolently, Tooyama sank deeply against the sofa’s backrest.

Her reaction was stronger than he had imagined. Without showing even a flicker of confusion, Tooyama gave her a nasty grin.

“…Where did you learn that word?”

“Compulsory education. I learned it in science class.”

He waved a hand lightly and answered briefly.

He did not think the meaning of those words would get across to her.

“…Tossle, everyone else, I am sorry.”

The bishop’s judgment was quick.

She murmured to the cat beastfolk beside her and the cat beastfolk who had carried Stolu in.

“! Understood. Everyone, lie on the floor, cover your ears, and close your eyes!”

“““““Yes!”””””

The cat beastfolk obeyed quickly and wisely.

They covered their triangular ears with their hands, and all crouched down into cat-sleep mode.

“Huh?”

“What?”

Tooyama and Lazaar could not understand the meaning of that action.

“Archbishop’s Order. Three months of lifespan consumed. ‘All beings belonging to the Church, except Chief Saint Svi, forget the word “fermentation” and fall asleep for a while.’”

“Huh?”

There was no sentiment or anything else.

The bishop’s order activated mercilessly, as if it were natural.

The absolute command authority over beings belonging to the Church instantly stole the consciousness of everyone there except the bishop and the saint—

Speech Challenge: Resistance roll against command by Archbishop’s Order. Skill “Happy-Meal Head” applied. Nullification succeeded without judgment roll.

A message flowed by.

Before he could even follow it with his eyes, Lazaar beside him—

“Oh no—guh…”

Turned into a sleeping lizard. His head nodded down, and his tail drooped limply.

“Hey?! Lazaar?!”

Lazaar had fallen asleep, but Tooyama Naruhito did not sleep.

His brain had been thoroughly transformed by the intoxication filling the modern dungeon and the atrocities of a dangerous woman.

Even that sacrament, preserved and inherited by the Church for two hundred years, could not reach his happy head.

“…As expected, it does not work on you.”

“Bishop-sama, what shall we do?”

There were only three conscious people in this room.

A cold air—killing intent—began leaking from the bishop and the saint.

“Oops, I stepped on a landmine.”

Tooyama joked while quietly beginning his preparations.

Thinly, thinly, he began spreading that through the room so it could not be seen.

“Wait, Svi. …Fermentation. I do not know such a word. Would you let me fool you by saying that?”

“Well, after seeing that reaction, no. You even put our bread craftsman to sleep so politely… Actually, does that thing of yours even work on us?”

“Mnya… Angel powder… water… stone oven… mnya… want it…”

Lazaar, who had been put to sleep by the Bishop’s Order, muttered something in his sleep.

“Yes. Even if it was only a verbal agreement, the moment you expressed your intent to belong to the Angel Church, my order applies… Or so it should, but apparently there are exceptions to everything.”

“I am surprised. I did not expect you to put people to sleep with no delay.”

“I do not want to drag Tossle and the others into this. Now, Tooyama Naruhito. You will answer my question. Where did you learn that word?”

The bishop’s words were endlessly cold.

“It is common knowledge. Anyone learns it in compulsory—”

Tooyama tried to dodge the question.

“Svi.”

“Yes.”

The transcendent one’s figure vanished.

The next moment, only his back felt the humidity of a guerrilla downpour.

A thick knife was pressed against his neck.

He could not even perceive when she had taken his back. Chief Saint Svi had placed Tooyama Naruhito’s life in checkmate.

“Wow… I thought you were not the type to resort to that kind of method. Was I mistaken?”

Do not panic. Do not be afraid. Tooyama suppressed all agitation and pretended to be calm.

“I would be happy if this helps you understand that the word is that dangerous. Svi, please stay as you are. …Now, Tooyama Naruhito. We certainly cannot kill you so easily. Do you know why?”

The bishop who gave that order did not change her expression. She simply spoke to Tooyama calmly.

“Because Drako will snap and destroy the Church?”

Tooyama continued pretending to be unconcerned. This was not a battle that shaved away life, but a battle that shaved away the mind.

“Yes, exactly. It is a simple matter of profit and loss. But right now, I am troubled.”

The bishop covered her face with one hand and hung her head.

Her purple eye peered through the gap between her fingers, firmly fixed on Tooyama.

“Huh?”

“I am beginning to consider whether it may be better to dispose of you here even at the cost of the Church’s destruction. That word, fermentation, is that heavy.”

“H-hey, wait, wait. It is fermentation, you know? …Isn’t that too exaggerated for someone getting in the way of your pocket money?”

Were the bishop’s words a threat, or serious?

No, she was serious. This woman was seriously wondering whether to kill him now.

Tooyama judged that.

“…How strange. Truly incomprehensible, Tooyama Naruhito. I cannot read you. There is no room for any consideration. You know fermentation, yet your awareness of fermentation is only that shallow… It is almost as if you are a person from another world.”

The bishop spun her words while watching Tooyama’s attitude.

“Oops.”

The truth she casually hit upon made his heart jump slightly.

“Bishop-sama, his heart grew loud. The moment he heard the words ‘another world.’”

The saint murmured quietly. Seriously? Did she read that from the vibration of the knife pressed to his neck? What a monster.

Without changing his expression, Tooyama stayed silent and unmoving.

Just a little more. Just a little more until it filled.

Thinly, thinly.

“…Surely not.”

The bishop opened only one eye and stared at Tooyama. After a short silence, she let out a large sigh.

“…Tooyama Naruhito, you are genuinely close to death. I am nearly halfway to considering killing you in exchange for the destruction of the Church. Can you understand that?”

“Yeah, I understand very well that I am being threatened.”

“Yes, good. Then after understanding your own position, answer my question. Where and from whom did you learn the word fermentation?”

“I do not want to kill my newly made junior. Answer me, junior.”

Their words allowed no refusal. He had never imagined he would be cornered this far by the word fermentation.

Answering honestly was probably the correct choice.

“Ahh… Before that. How about this, Bishop? You said it, right? That our positions are equal. But this current situation, no matter how you look at it, is not equal, is it?”

But that had to happen from an equal position, by his own will. Speaking because he had yielded to a threat and speaking because he chose to by his own will had different meanings.

“What are you trying to say?”

At the bishop’s words, Tooyama smiled.

“If you are going to threaten me, be prepared to be threatened.”

“I thought you had understood the situation.”

The preparations were already complete.

In the end, what people needed to speak as equals was not mutual understanding or compassion.

It was the power, the violence, to guarantee one’s own safety.

“It is an action based on that understanding. And that action is already over.”

Tooyama Naruhito also possessed violence capable of opposing the violence called a saint being pressed against him.

“Junior?”

“Sorry, senpai. Preparations are complete.

Relic: Mist Scatter.”

An unregistered relic of the Explorers’ Guild.

That was Tooyama Naruhito’s reward. The strongest weapon.

An irrational power contained by modern dungeons that caused phenomena inexplicable by modern science.

A relic.

“Huh?”

“Bishop-sama?!”

By the time the saint noticed, it was already too late.

Mist filled the room. The mist that had been silently spread in a colorless and transparent form manifested as a white haze.

“Do not move, Saint-senpai. Your precious Bishop-sama and your kitty colleagues are already within range of Relic Blade.”

What filled the room was mist. A terrifying killing tool containing invisible, microscopic blades.

“This is mist… No, that atmosphere, surely…”

“…A grave good?!”

The two understood the situation. In a single move, the flow had changed.

“Drako also said something like that, now that I think about it. The explanation is simple. This is my strongest weapon, capable of killing that dragon, the Hoarding Dragon, Alice Dral Flaretail. Its effect is simple. It cuts apart humans inside that mist. Or it cuts apart humans who inhale the mist from the inside.”

At this point, the life of Bishop Kanosa Tier Field had fallen into Tooyama Naruhito’s hands.

“The relic’s name is Relic Blade. It is the name of the power that killed a dragon.”

Speech Challenge: “Intimidation” has begun.

Because of the alias “Dragon Slayer” and the Dragon Embassy’s faction evaluation of “Friend,” success rate increases.

“Eh…”

“Do you understand? Bishop, I certainly have senpai’s knife pressed against me, and it would not be strange if my throat were cut at any moment. But you are in the same situation. Sleeping Kitty-senpai, Saint-senpai, all of you are the same. Invisible little blades are dancing inside your bodies. We can have a friendly blood-soaked battle here at any time.”

Tooyama bluffed. The knife pressed against his neck trembled slightly.

The saint was clearly shaken. She must have understood that not her own life, but her master’s life was in danger.

“…Do you think I would believe such a threat?”

Her voice was flat, but Tooyama did not miss the sweat flowing down the bishop’s forehead.

“Try it, then. Saint-senpai might be able to heal you. Ah, but can she heal dead people? It is a blade that kills even dragons. I wonder whether you can avoid instant death.”

“Bishop-sama…”

From the saint’s reaction, he understood that her healing power apparently could not revive the dead.

“Let’s keep it simple. If we continue our friendly discussion, I will release Relic Blade. If you keep the knife at my throat, then you people will have to keep talking with blades swallowed inside you. Simple, right?”

“…If you say inhaling mist, then that should be the same for you and Lazaar.”

“Heheheheheh, hey, give me a break. Does a stupid poisonous insect die from its own poison? Relic Blade can choose prey within its range. The blades will kill only you people.”

A lie. A bluff. Relic Blade could do nothing that dexterous. If he activated it in this closed room, he would meet the most foolish suicide possible.

Without showing even a hint of that, the foolish poisonous insect laughed.

Even with his back taken and a knife pressed to his throat, the one controlling the room was Tooyama Naruhito.

The bishop and Tooyama silently stared at each other. Neither moved.

The long time that felt like eternity was, however, less than a minute.

Speech Challenge: “Bluff.”

Correction from skill “Happy-Meal Head.”

Correction from the Church faction evaluation “Person of Caution.”

Bluff successful. Speech Challenge progressing.

A message suddenly flowed by, and at the same time, the bishop leaned all the way back and sank deeply into the sofa.

“…Haaaaah, you are insane. You are like a dragon, an incomprehensible foreign existence.”

The bishop shook her head and muttered while gazing at the ceiling. There was no longer anything murderous in her atmosphere.

“I would rather not be lumped in with those things, boss.”

“Shut up. You are basically the same. …Svi, this is our loss. Against this man, clumsy threats are not worth it. Come back.”

“…Yes, Bishop-sama.”

The knife smoothly moved away.

Svi slowly returned to the bishop’s side.

“Oops, how obedient.”

“Sorry, but I am not as insane as you. No thank you to a lunatic battle. Now then, we have lowered our weapons. What about you? You will not do something like ‘sorry for tricking you,’ will you?”

“…Of course, boss.”

Tooyama placed a hand against his own neck and pulled Relic Blade out from there.

As he lightly swung the chipped sword, the mist filling the room cleared away as if it had been a lie.

“Bishop-sama, the presence of the grave good has disappeared.”

“Yes, it seems so. There are many things I want to ask, such as about an unrecognized grave good, but enough for today… Phew, really, if my stomach is on the verge of breaking, it is clearly your fault. …Fine, Tooyama Naruhito. I will accept a transaction with you. In respect for your courage and power, I want to discuss things again.”

“I appreciate that. It brings tears to my eyes, boss. Since coming here, I have been troubled by too many monsters in human form who cannot be reasoned with.”

Tooyama answered while storing Relic Blade inside his body.

Thump, thump. The excitement of the gamble still heated his heart.

“Ugh, no wonder dragons like you. …Let us proceed question by question. I will answer what you want to know, and you will answer what I want to know. Is that acceptable?”

“OK. Let’s keep violence and the like out of this. Then I will go first. I want a house. Can you help with that?”

“I would like to say no, but yes. I do own several properties for tax-saving purposes. But I do not want to lend one to you.”

A simple answer to a simple question.

Tooyama smiled lightly.

“Thanks for being honest. It helps that there seems to be room for negotiation. Then next is your turn.”

“Fermentation. Explain the mechanism of what you call fermentation. It is enough to tell me only what you know, but you will tell me everything you know.”

The bishop took a cigar from her breast pocket. Svi soundlessly cut the tip with a knife and lit it with a match.

Purple smoke spread through the room.

“Ahh, in short, it is rot that is convenient for humans. A series of actions where microorganisms decompose and metabolize organic matter. Bread and alcohol should be made using this.”

Tooyama honestly and concisely explained what he knew.

“…I am surprised. Truly surprised. I have never felt you to be as eerie as I do now. You know not only fermentation, but also the existence of microorganisms…”

“Wait, that reaction… You do completely understand the mechanism called fermentation, don’t you?”

From the bishop’s reaction, their recognition regarding fermentation was probably the same. In other words, she understood it and still claimed it was “the angel’s blessing.”

Tooyama began narrowing down the point of leverage.

“That is my line. It is something not only the people at the Imperial Capital universities, but even those at the Magic Academy do not know. The Omniscient Dragon knowing would not be strange, though.”

“Let me say this, that pervert dragon and I met for the first time today.”

Tooyama formed his words while picturing the woman who called herself the Dragon of Human Knowledge.

“It certainly did not look that way. She seemed as heated as someone reuniting with a lover separated by life and death.”

“That is why I am scared. Her first communication with me on our first meeting was drinking blood, you know. While lying on the carpet, too.”

“…Well, she is a dragon, so it cannot be helped. Yes, it was an expression of affection, an expression of affection. We are getting off topic. Haah, this really is troublesome. So you know microorganisms and fermentation… What should I do?”

“…Isn’t that reaction too exaggerated for me just exposing the mechanism behind your pocket money?”

But the discomfort would not disappear.

Certainly, from the bishop’s perspective, someone who knew the mechanism she kept secret to generate profit would be in the way.

But was that alone enough to make her say she might even fight a dragon?

“You fool, that is a major problem too. But you are not so stupid that you think you can blackmail me with only that, are you? Well, as for shaking me, you were a great success. Honestly, somewhere in my heart, I must still have been looking down on you. I will reflect on that and treat it as a lesson.”

“That is good. …Wait, did you just say ‘too’?”

“………………”

The bishop did not answer. Her purple eyes only peered faintly beyond the swaying cigar flame.

“…Does the Church pretending fermentation is the angel’s blessing have a reason besides money?”

He put his discomfort into words.

Perhaps he had misunderstood something. He finally realized he had gotten a little too excited, thinking he could win with modern knowledge.

“…You really are not cute. But wait. Next, you answer my question. Haah, it really is ridiculous to ask this, though…”

“…Go ahead. From my side, even the current situation feels like a joke. I am adventuring in a fantasy world, after all.”

“…That. What you just said.”

Bitterly, the bishop lowered her face while holding the cigar and let words slip.

“Huh?”

“Rika no jugyou… Jugyou means lessons, right? The educational setting used in the Imperial Capital’s educational institutions: childhood schools, middle schools, high academies, and universities.”

“Ahh, so there are things like that here too. I should study geography and such eventually.”

“…I do not understand what you are saying, but you should not have received those science lessons.”

“…Hm?”

What was she trying to say? Tooyama could not quite digest what the bishop was trying to say.

The science lessons Tooyama was talking about were, of course, from the modern world. The bishop should not have been able to tell whether that was true or false—

The discomfort, that vague unease, gradually took clear shape.

“At the very least, during the period I have been bishop, and within the last one hundred years of history, no record remains of a person named Tooyama Naruhito entering the Imperial Capital’s educational institutions.”

Tooyama heard the content of that voice mixed with purple smoke.

“Yeah… Yeah?”

At first, he could not understand what those words meant.

“…No, no way. That is impossible. No, if you are seriously saying that, then surely—”

What had the woman before him just said?

If that was true, then this woman—

No, that was impossible. Beyond the fragrant smell of smoke, Tooyama could not take his eyes off her thin, narrowed eyes.

“For the last one hundred years, I have put into my head all records and memories of humans who received an ‘education’ in the Empire. Of course after I became bishop, but also records from before I was born. Among them, I have never seen the name Tooyama Naruhito.”

As expected, the woman calmly stated something impossible. What the hell was that?

“No way. I mean, schools are everywhere—ah…”

As he spoke, he realized. Educational institutions in the Imperial Capital. The Imperial Capital University.

That was right. This was not the modern world, but a fantasy world.

Their lifestyle was roughly around the middle of the Age of Exploration at best. In other words, the very existence of educational institutions should differ greatly from the modern day.

“…It seems as if you only just learned—or rather, realized from the conversation—that educational institutions in the Empire exist only in the Imperial Capital. Tooyama Naruhito.”

Fatigue appeared in the bishop’s voice.

But the same was true for Tooyama.

“Ahh, I see. That is what it means. …No, but even so, that is insane, right?”

In other words, even if they existed only in a limited region, this woman possessed and remembered all information about the educational institutions.

That was no longer in the realm of a human, but the work of a personal computer or something.

“Being able to do that much is natural. The only beings who might notice the mechanism of my business and interfere with it are educated humans. Well, that does not matter right now.”

Ignoring Tooyama’s agitation, the bishop said it as if it were nothing.

“What matters is that a person who should never have been in an educational institution exists here with at least the same level of education as a university graduate. On top of that, you even know things the Church has concealed across three eras. …You are the impossible one.”

She knocked off the cigar’s ash and inhaled deeply.

The bishop’s appearance was far too picturesque.

“…I see. The reason universities exist only in the Imperial Capital is to prevent the educated class from spreading to commoners?”

The Imperial Capital. If this country was called the Empire, then it was probably the capital.

If educational institutions existed only there, it meant they only intended to educate the wealthy and privileged classes with the power to live there.

“That. That way of thinking. Unless one studies the wealth of nations at university, one should not have that perspective. Thoughts and education impossible for an adventurer who rose from slavery. What exactly are you?”

“An adventurer. Just an adventurer trying to open a bakery.”

As he said that, Tooyama tried to somehow regain his calm. But he was still confused.

He did not understand what the bishop was trying to say.

The discomfort he felt was just short of becoming clear.

“Incomprehensible words, deep education, yet occasional ignorant actions and statements that can be seen here and there. …My head truly hurts, but I have now created one hypothesis about your identity. May I check the answer?”

“Check the answer?”

“You are, at the very least, not a human from the human continent. The Unknown Continent, or perhaps somewhere much, much farther. You are an outside element that came from there… Am I wrong?”

“Ahh… Why do you think that?”

“You do not fit together. When I try to explain the person you are, nothing makes logical sense. You have education impossible for the common class, yet you know nothing of Imperial common sense. Ahh, but yes, the Emperor’s name. If you can say it here and now, the story changes. Can you say it?”

“………………”

He froze. He did not know. There was no way he would know. This was only Tooyama’s second day in this world.

“…So you cannot. Haah, this is the worst. Everything lines up. If you are a being who wandered in from somewhere neither the Empire nor the Kingdom, somewhere we do not recognize, then your wildly misaligned understanding of dragons can also be explained.”

Seeing the frozen Tooyama, the bishop let out an especially large sigh.

She finished a cigar and dropped the butt into the ashtray Svi offered.

With her head lowered, she was silent for a little while. Then she began muttering softly.

“…No, wait. If I recall, the paper written by the Academy’s first headmaster… The top of the Empire’s Herel’s Tower, and in the Kingdom, the depths of the Mayajia Sea of Trees… Each of them is said to be an entrance to that.”

A consideration by otherworldly intellect began, leaving Tooyama behind.

It slowly, but surely, approached the true identity of Tooyama Naruhito.

“H-hey, what is it?”

Tooyama could not hold back his words.

The bishop suddenly raised her face, opened her eyes wide, stared at Tooyama, and murmured—

“Another world.”

“…!”

He could not understand. Tooyama could not understand why that word came from the bishop now.

The conclusion led by an isolated intellect, however, was correct.

“I remembered. Her unrecognized paper, said to have been written after she went mad in her final years: ‘A Study of the Summit and the Bottom of the Pit.’ It is a word that appeared in a paper left by Willraness Mid-Lark, the first headmaster of the Magic Academy.”

The bishop murmured calmly, then cut off her words there.

She looked at Tooyama’s face and sighed again.

“Stop it, Tooyama Naruhito. Do not make such a serious face… Ahh, my head hurts, truly.”

“…I am surprised. I feel like I understand how it feels to speak with Sherlock Holmes.”

Seriously? This person.

That was all he had.

Was this what a true genius, a truly intelligent human, was like?

Tooyama forgot all about bargaining and whatever else and was deeply impressed by the intellect of the woman before him.

“Who is that?”

“A character from the works of Conan Doyle in England. The name of a human with a monster-like mind like yours.”

“England… What does that word mean?”

“A country name. The name of a nation. In the world I came from, there were countless countries.”

“So you do not even intend to deny it anymore? You are… this is an insane conclusion, but is it fine to consider you a person from another world?”

“From my perspective, you people are from another world. But yes, I think that understanding is not wrong. I died in the world I was in. I remember that clearly. But I heard some strange voice, and when I realized it, I was in a carriage. There I met Lazaar, and various things happened.”

“I am the one who said it, but this really does make my head hurt. Yes, but for now, let us treat it that way. Rather, when trying to understand the person you are, if I think of you as someone from another world, a world that walked a different history from ours, then everything makes sense.”

“Being as sharp as you are must be troublesome. Seems like you have a lot of hardships.”

“Yes, and right now the seed of that hardship is sitting there with a smug face.”

The bishop relaxed and smiled.

“Lazaar may look like this, but he is humble.”

Tooyama looked at the lizard sleeping beside him and answered.

“I mean you, Dragon Slayer. …May I ask one thing?”

“If I can answer.”

Tooyama braced himself for what he would be asked, but the question was unexpected.

“…You said you died, yes? Was it not frightening?”

When the bishop spoke those words, Svi bit her lip for an instant.

“That is unexpected. I thought you would ask something else, about the world I came from.”

“Ahh, honestly, I am not that interested in that. I am not a scholar or a seeker, after all. As long as I recognize that you came from a world different from here, that is enough for negotiation. Whether this other world exists or not makes no difference to me. So, I would be happy if you answered. What does dying feel like?”

The bishop answered smoothly, but her question did not change.

What was death like?

The bishop asked Tooyama that.

“…Cold, heavy, and sleepy. A feeling of slowly but certainly becoming unable to move your own body.”

He answered honestly.

He put into words exactly what he had felt when he was on the verge of death in the dungeon.

“…Were you scared?”

“…”

The bishop’s murmur was weaker and thinner than anything he had heard from her before. The moment Svi heard that voice, Tooyama did not miss how she looked away.

“…No, I was less scared than I expected. Part of it was because I was drunk on the dungeon.”

Without trying to deceive her, Tooyama answered everything honestly.

For some reason, he felt that he should.

“I see… Cold, heavy, and sleepy.”

“Yeah. But at the very, very end, I think I felt that it had been fun.”

Tooyama casually murmured that.

He was pretty sure it had felt that way.

When he suddenly looked at the bishop, she was frozen with her mouth slightly open.

“…Hehe, what is that? Yes, I see. You lived a good life. If you can think that at the end, that is excellent, isn’t it?”

The bishop relaxed and smiled.

“Well, thank you for answering honestly. It was helpful.”

“Yeah, sure. The topic has wandered quite a bit. Anyway, that is how it is. I really do not have a family register or foothold in this world, let alone this country. But I want a base as soon as possible. I am the type who buys a house quickly even in open-world games.”

“I will accept that I sometimes cannot understand you because you are from another world. …There is one, technically. Its location is good, close to the commercial district, and the area is large. Workshop craftsmen handled all the design and construction, and the house’s framework is all made from Kingdom timber.”

The bishop continued speaking while moving her finger.

Her way of speaking was slow, somehow deliberately suggestive.

“That is roundabout. What are you trying to say?”

“Mo-ney. At the very least, for a down payment… Let’s see. I would want five platinum coins. You cannot pay that, can you?”

At the bishop’s chuckle, Tooyama narrowed his eyes and lowered his voice.

“…Being too greedy is poison, Bishop-sama. I am not saying I will not pay rent. I am saying we should both meet halfway.”

She was overcharging him. Tooyama glared at the bishop with sharp eyes.

“Whether you are from another world or anything else, I will not discount money. Sincerity is money, adventurer.”

Apparently, they were still at a deadlock.

Nothing was getting anywhere.

Tooyama pushed down his sense of discomfort and played his card.

“…You are hiding fermentation and making a huge profit from it, right? Blessing tax was a good idea. I still do not understand this world’s customs enough and need to study them, but the food served at the Guild, the staple foods, are mostly bread and ale. All of that involves fermentation. You must be making quite a lot of money.”

In other words, he threatened to reveal that secret.

Now, what would she do?

The discomfort still did not disappear.

“…Oh my, oh my, oh my. It seems you have misunderstood one thing. The way you say that makes it sound as though we are lying and spreading fermentation through the world by calling it the angel’s blessing.”

“No, that is exactly it, isn’t it? You also understand that the metabolic activity of microorganisms is fermentation, right?”

“Ha, haha, I see. I see, I see. So that is what you mean. Tooyama Naruhito, as expected, there is a large gap between my understanding and yours.”

“What?”

“According to that story, the mechanism of fermentation in your world seems to have been almost entirely clarified. If you can recognize microorganisms, does that mean there are factions capable of handling magical formulas, like the Academy?”

“…In our world, magic and such do not actually exist. They are fantasy. Well, dungeons, monster species, and relics existed, so maybe they were just being kept secret.”

“OK. So you understood the mechanism of fermentation not through magical formulas, but by some similar method. Hmm. Gimukyouiku… Perhaps compulsory education? …Wait, what? You are not saying education is compulsory, are you?”

“Sorry, but that is exactly it. Middle school… Everyone uniformly attends school until age fifteen.”

“Wow, that is insane. What about the authority of royal families, imperial families, and nobles? How do you maintain the social order… Wait, we are getting off topic again. That is a bad habit of mine.”

“What are you trying to say?”

“I am aligning our understandings. The mechanism of fermentation you speak of is indeed correct. Exactly correct. But that is only half the truth. The Church is not hiding the truth merely for the blessing tax.”

“Huh? Are you trying to talk about details like anaerobic conditions?”

The discomfort was finally taking shape.

He had indeed overlooked something.

Without realizing it, Tooyama swallowed.

“No. Not such superficial details, but something more fundamental. …The angel exists, and her blessing also exists.”

“Ahh, are we talking about Church doctrine?”

“No, this is a simple story. Around one hundred, or maybe one hundred fifty, I suppose.”

“What number is that?”

A number stated abruptly. He could not predict what it referred to.

“The number of human countries that existed before the Imperial Calendar, before the era of the Third Civilization. It was an age of war where no one knows how long it lasted or why it began. Countless countries were born and destroyed.”

“A Great War… A world war?”

“Oh, that is a tasteful name. Yes, an era when many heroes and many legends fought and killed each other. The two human countries that remained at the end were the Empire and the Kingdom.”

“Did the Empire and Kingdom destroy the other countries?”

“Well, some of them. The Hero also destroyed several countries. To begin with, both the Empire and Kingdom are new countries formed by merging multiple small nations that existed during the Great War. Well, the fact that the Empire had dragons and the Kingdom had the Hero was probably also a factor in their survival.”

“What does that have to do with fermentation?”

He had a bad feeling. Even so, Tooyama did not stop asking.

“At the end of the pre-calendar era, there were human countries besides the Empire and the Kingdom that had survived that long. The Country of Light, Soarmarl, the birthplace of the first saint. The Principality of Rana. Fall, the country that produced the Hero Party’s Scout. Hey, Tooyama Naruhito, can you imagine how these countries perished?”

“War, right? If only the Empire and Kingdom survived, then that is what it means, doesn’t it?”

“No. The answer is simple. They perished because in every country except the Empire and Kingdom, all ‘fermentation’—no, all microbial activity stopped.”

“…Hmm?”

At those casually spoken words, Tooyama tilted his head.

Activity stopped?

What was she talking about…?

Ignoring Tooyama’s confusion, the bishop continued.

“Oh, did you not hear me? One day, ale could no longer be made. Bread did not rise, and cheese did not set. Then livestock died. Cattle, horses, sheep, and pastoral animals that lived by eating grass died.”

The bishop moved her lips calmly, as if reading a story aloud.

“Next, food stopped rotting. At first, everyone rejoiced. But soon abnormalities occurred. All babies began dying soon after birth. Adults came next. Even though no one caught disease, they would suddenly collapse and die.”

“H-hey.”

What was that? Tooyama’s discomfort struck all at once.

The story he had never expected still continued.

“And then the decisive thing happened. The dead did not return to the earth. Dead livestock and human corpses did not return to the soil. No matter how many times they were buried, they remained flesh. No matter how many died, they remained human. The mechanism that should have continued to circulate disappeared before anyone realized it.”

The bishop’s words conveyed only facts.

She spoke generously of the world’s secret preserved by the Church.

“Even if they were cremated, their ash and bones did not return to the soil. Because the angel’s blessing had vanished, because the angel had grown tired of them, because the angel had not chosen them.”

“No, if microorganisms stopped decomposing corpses… Wait, if that is true, those countries should still have mountains of corpses…”

At Tooyama’s words, the bishop shook her head.

“Pitiful countries and humans abandoned by the angel. However, the dragons, kinder than anyone and anything, fiercely condemned the angel’s actions. The Flame Dragon burned away the abandoned corpses. The Water Dragon washed the abandoned lands to the edge of the world. Dragons exist to maintain that balance, after all.”

Tooyama could not quite grasp the scale of the story the bishop was telling.

All he could do was listen in silence.

“…That is a passage from a history book left in the Angel Church. The Church understands all the mechanisms of fermentation and microorganisms. But that mechanism is something swayed by the will of the angel.”

The bishop stared directly at Tooyama Naruhito, the person from another world.

“The blessing is not a lie at all.”

“…No, what is that? For some being to interfere with fermentation like that…”

This was the source of his discomfort.

Something was disgustingly involved behind fermentation.

“Here, that is normal. Fermentation is indeed caused by the actions of microorganisms. Bread and alcohol are made that way too. Yes, you are correct. But the one keeping that mechanism running is some incomprehensible something that we call the angel.”

“Wait, if that story is true, then this angel can manipulate the actions of microorganisms? No, there is no way something like that exists…”

“It does exist. No one can perceive its form or voice, but it certainly exists. Our world just happens to be sustained by the whim of an existence beyond understanding.”

The bishop, holding a second cigar in her mouth, looked up at the ceiling.

“The responsibility of the Angel Church is simple. By spreading the glory of the angel throughout the world, we prevent anyone from questioning it.”

The Church had originally been created to reduce the number of humans who touched it.

Created so foolish humans would not seek and search for the angel.

“Our mission is to keep foolish curiosity away from the angel and stabilize the world. It would not be funny if someone carelessly poked at that thing and the world perished, would it?”

Something incomprehensible certainly existed, and for reasons unknown, it had the power to capriciously destroy them.

Hiding that fact from the world was their true mission.

“No, wait. That is strange. If the existence of this angel cannot be recognized, why has it become such a powerful religion, no, a unified religion? In the first place, how do you know that microbial death was the work of this angel?”

“That is the answer, Tooyama Naruhito.”

“Huh?”

“Even though its existence is uncertain, every human species born in the Empire believes in the existence of the angel. They are made to understand not by logic, but at the level of the soul. That thing certainly exists. That thing is certainly somewhere.”

“That is absurd…”

It was eerie.

He wanted to say such a thing was impossible, but Tooyama’s own existence was also impossible.

His life had continued after he thought it was over. The continuation of his desires had truly begun in another world.

Something like that had happened, so he could not strongly deny the existence of an angel.

“We have no choice but to believe. From birth, we are shackled by the angel. We are made to direct our faith toward her.”

“…What is that?”

Her way of speaking contained a certain resignation.

Tooyama could only murmur that.

“Hehe, you did not want to know, did you? There is an existence capable of doing such things. That is all I can say, but it is enough to prove the angel. That is the thinking of the first bishop. All is right with the world. We can only pray that an existence beyond our understanding does not act on a whim.”

“…Even Christ would be surprised. This is incredibly suspicious. My world had plenty of eccentric gods too, but there were not many as creepy as this.”

“Hm? What is a god?”

“Oh… Seriously? You mean there is no word, no, no concept of a god?”

This was suspicious. Clearly, this area was abnormal.

To begin with, if he dug deeper, even the name “angel” was strange.

There was no god. Then what exactly was an angel supposed to be a messenger of?

“I feel like I have heard it somewhere… From the nuance, are you talking about the angel?”

“…Yeah, though not an existence this creepy.”

“Similar beings exist everywhere, it seems. Now then, Tooyama Naruhito. Having learned the truth about fermentation, will you use it to threaten me?”

“…No, I will stop. That story was ten times creepier than I imagined, so I do not want to get any more deeply involved.”

He had poked a bush and, instead of a snake, a bazooka had flown out.

Tooyama promptly gave up on dominating with modern knowledge and abandoned blackmail using fermentation.

No matter how he thought about it, this was dangerous material. It was not something he should casually approach.

“Wise and intelligent. That reduces my work, which is helpful.”

“Glad to hear it.”

Looking at the flowing message, Tooyama thought while inwardly going, “Ugh, this is bad.”

Now then, what should he do?

The card he had played half-expecting it to fail turned out to be far more dangerous than expected.

The card in his hand had not been a wild card capable of beating trump cards, but a mint-condition first-edition Black Lotus. Honestly, it was hard to handle.

“Well, let’s see. Including hush money, I will reduce the down payment to four platinum coins… no, four platinum coins and fifty gold coins. You understand that this is a big deal, yes?”

Perhaps the bishop had softened her attitude a little. The price dropped slightly.

Even so, it should still have been far too high.

“No way… Bishop-sama discounted money…”

“Wow… A drop in the bucket…”

In contrast to Svi, who widened her eyes, Tooyama was fed up with the bishop’s greediness.

“Wait, wait, what is with that reaction? I would like some gratitude. This decision was made after evaluating the fact that you did not use the dragon as a threat and did not use the truth of fermentation as a threat.”

“It is still too stingy.”

“It is an exceptional price. In the first place, the land around there is definitely going to rise in price because of the Dragon Festival. Just lending it to you means… Just how many gold coin-chan that I could meet I am letting slip away…”

“Wait, are you crying? Are you crying? Seriously?”

Tooyama recoiled as the bishop started gagging while speaking.

This woman is dangerous. Something has to be done about her quickly.

Their discussion had begun to stall. That was when it happened.

“Hmm, I see. But, money-grubber, to begin with, that Dragon Festival can also be held because Naruhito killed me, yes? If you consider that, should you not think a liiittle more about the price?”

It was a mysterious voice where dignity and childishness coexisted.

Tooyama knew that voice.

“What are you talking about? Do you know how much trouble dragon-related matters cause our Church? The Church Knights became stupid because of dragon influence to begin with, and do you know how much that selfish dragon shortened my lifespan—shortened, sh-sh… The mere fact that I can speak with the Dragon Shrine Maiden, who is more beautiful and greater than any creature that walks this earth, is excessive glory for this humble self.”

The female bishop, who had been casually replying to that voice in the flow of the conversation, turned deathly pale halfway through and forcibly corrected course.

While she was at it, she crushed the cigar in her hand, got off the sofa without anyone telling her to, and began kneeling on one knee. The saint hurriedly followed suit and knelt there as well.

A hand-flip so spectacular it felt refreshing.

Even across the vast Empire, perhaps only that woman could make the bishop go that far.

“Fukaka, you managed to correct course from there quite well.”

“Ah, Drako, welcome back.”

A gate covered by flames opened in the room.

The one who smoothly emerged from it was a tall blonde beauty with a body of golden proportions.

She had one blue eye and rich blonde hair that flipped outward.

At Tooyama’s words, that woman returned a sunny grin.

“Mm, I am back, Naruhito.”

The Hoarding Dragon, Alice Dral Flaretail, had returned.

“Oof. It is over.”

The bishop muttered to the heavens. A lament that no one would hear.

“Hmm, just now, I heard a phrase, something like selfish dragon… Bishop, who might that have been about?”

Drako, who had appeared behind Tooyama, tilted her head. Her tone was calm, and in fact, her beautiful face certainly formed a smile.

However, her eye was not smiling. Her vertically slit pupil, reminiscent of a beautiful ocean trench, had fixed on the bishop.

“Huh? It means you—”

“My Lord Dragon!! My. Lord. Dragon! Yes! Hoarding Dragon! It referred to you! Yes!! Yes!!! Inquisitor Tooyama!”

The bishop’s loud voice overrode Tooyama’s words. Throwing away all the atmosphere from moments earlier, she shouted with overflowing will to live.

“Ah, yes.”

Tooyama was completely overwhelmed by her momentum. This person pulled off an incredible course correction.

“Hmm, I see. I did not know. To think you worshipped me to such a degree. I feel nothing when ordinary humans do such things, but being revered by you is not unpleasant, money-grubber.”

“Y-yes, your words are far too generous.”

“By the way, money-grubber. Well, you see, Tooyama Naruhito there is my friend. He has no house and no clear identity. But when I try to protect him, he slips right out of my hand, a troublesome fellow.”

“Can you stop treating me like an eel?”

Tooyama muttered at Drako, who sighed.

“Y-yes, I understand the troubles you endure, Hoarding Dragon-sama…”

The bishop timidly let words slip.

“Oh! Is that so? You understand! Kaka! Good, good, be at ease. Well then, you see, as his friend, I want Naruhito to at least obtain a house quickly. Without a fixed address, one cannot even leisurely exchange letters.”

“E-exchange letters… you say?”

“Is there a problem?”

The voice Drako directed at the bishop was different from the high one she used for Tooyama. It was the infinitely low voice of a dragon.

“N-nooooo!! There could never be! There could never be such a thing!”

The bishop shook her head, rubbing her forehead against the carpet with enough force to make one wonder whether the floor would burn.

“Then good. Now, money-grubber. Of course, I do not say it should be free. You may have him pay proper rent at the regular price. Could you arrange a home for my friend? Hm?”

“…Drako.”

Tooyama was slightly moved by the dragon’s unexpected consideration and assistance. He felt as if a Tyrannosaurus had become his friend.

“Ah, gah, gih, wha, guh, o-of course, of course…”

With an expression of pain that Tooyama had never been able to draw out no matter how much he shook her, the bishop certainly agreed.

“…Inquisitor Tooyama, as a mark of respect for the Dragon Shrine Maiden’s gracious words and the Church’s respect for dragons, I will lend you a residence on the hill in the commercial district… The down payment will be…”

The bishop looked at Tooyama with blood vessels standing out all over her face.

I am kind of sorry. My bad.

Tooyama could no longer say anything.

“Down payment?”

Drako tilted her head again.

As expected, her eye was not smiling.

She looked at the bishop with eyes like a Jurassic Park dinosaur looking at a human.

“Higii?! The down payment is not… not needed… not needed… fineeeeeeee… Gigigigigi.”

The bishop, now turned into a grinding machine, squeezed out the words.

“Drako, our boss looks like she is about to die of rage.”

Tooyama could not help muttering.

“Fukaka, just between us, I do not dislike seeing her agonize like that.”

Drako brought her face close to his ear.

There was definite delight in her beautiful voice.

“Sadist dragon…”

“Call me Drako, Naruhito.”

“Is Alice no good?”

Ping.

Skill “Dragon Slayer (Suggestive)” activated.

“Gyau… Naruhito, you are mean.”

Drako quickly looked away and retreated, swaying the tail she had revealed for an instant.

A dragon and her dragon slayer joked around.

“RENT!!”

““Hmm?””

Rent!

The squeezed-out word echoed through the room.

The dragon and the dragon slayer tilted their heads at each other.

“H-however, rent, only the rent must be paid at the regular amount. Wow, you will pay it. It will be four gold coins a month, no, five… Even if I am burned by our dragon’s flames, this alone I will not concedeeeeeee!”

Still on one knee, the bishop squeezed out the words while shedding tears of blood and snot. Somehow, she was the only one hitting the climax.

“…Fukaka, pay her, Naruhito. If you do not pay her money, she might even collect the Dragon Embassy’s treasure.”

That abnormality drew compromise even from a dragon.

“Ah, yeah. Amazing. It is my first time seeing someone demand rent while crying tears of blood.”

Tooyama decided that, ah, this person really was dangerous after all.