EP.198 Gambling Apocalypse Puppy
"Oh my. The man of the house has returned."
"Who's the man of the house?"
The returner who had gone out scouting couldn't avoid the influence of the strong wind either. No, rather, because she scouted from even higher altitudes, she returned looking as if she'd been put through a dust shaker. I warmly welcomed her as she tidied her disheveled hair.
"Ah, Shei. Welcome back. What would you like to do first? Eat? Bathe? Or sleep?"
"It's a bit annoying how you say that so dutifully."
The returner glanced inside the container. The interior had been modified into a shelter by removing the cargo inside. Above the lamp shielded by a windbreak, the savory smell of roasting meat wafted, and sleeping bags and makeshift beds made of cloth were wide open to welcome her.
The returner muttered softly.
"Your diligence in the middle of all this is also a bit annoying."
"Suppress your anger. Too much heat in your head will make your hair fall out."
"Unnecessary worry!"
The returner shouted fiercely and glared at me in dissatisfaction. Those eyes looked exactly like someone looking at a lazy bug living idly at home.
"What did you just say? I thought I heard something about school."
"Nothing at all. I was just telling Aji about my glorious school days."
When I casually deflected, the returner passed it without any particular suspicion.
"Glorious my foot. When you're involved with the Military State's taboo."
'She was associated with Hameln, right. I didn't intend to be hostile to the Military State already. If I keep traveling with her, I won't even be able to set foot in the Military State.'
Last night, I heard the general story from the returner. She was traveling to stop the King of Sin, and if I wanted, she would take me to somewhere safe.
Since I was already marked by the Military State, my ordinary life had crossed the river. I expressed my desire to travel together, and the returner accepted it.
'Both Aji and Tirkanjaka seemed to want to travel together, so I accepted for now.'
However, ever since then, the returner has been treating me like a troublesome military dependent. Thanks to that, my life felt like sitting on a bed of needles.
'The Military State is a well-organized country. If they're not going to bring it down, they should at least negotiate. But I'm not sure if that's possible with this one involved.'
If even dogs and cats travel together, how could a human be abandoned? I took on all kinds of odd jobs to prove my worth. Cooking, cleaning, and taking care of Aji were part of that.
Thanks to my tireless efforts, I succeeded in turning the returner's perception, even if just a little, in a positive direction.
'Right. It's better to travel together for Tirkanjaka and Aji's sake too. Both of them have affection for this one.'
Phew. Somehow I got through another day today. Every day is a thorny path, an irregular worker who could be fired at any time without it being strange. Who could possibly understand the feelings of a bug bouncing between heaven and hell in a single word.
Having breathed a sigh of relief inwardly, I welcomed the returner and asked.
"How did the scouting go?"
The returner tossed her coat aside and flopped down on the makeshift chair. Even though the weight wasn't that heavy, the chair made a creaking sound.
"I checked the next stop in advance, but it was completely empty. It looks like we'll pass through quietly today."
"The sun will set soon anyway."
"Yeah. They'd be crazy to attack at night."
The returner pointed to the darkness deep inside. Inside was a pitch-black coffin exuding a dark aura, and Tir, who was quietly sleeping within it.
At night, Tir was powerful enough to be nearly omnipotent, but during the bright daytime, various restrictions were placed on Tir's blood manipulation arts and darkness. The reason the once-so-powerful vampire army was blocked by the Holy Inquisition multiple times was because of the daytime, which accounted for more than half of the day.
Therefore, Tir was stockpiling her power during the day. If she used darkness recklessly under the sun, her power could be exhausted at a dangerous moment.
"The problem is the daytime. They'll definitely come looking during the day too."
"It's okay. The current Tir isn't much different even during the day. However, to manipulate darkness even in daylight, she needs to gather as much power as possible, so she's resting for a bit right now."
"Right. Tirkanjaka got her heart back."
'Getting the heart back means she firmly established the boundary between inside and outside. Probably she won't suffer any physical damage from sunlight. However.'
The returner, who alternated looking at me and Tir, rested her chin on her hand and thought alone.
'Anyway, returning the heart to the progenitor Tirkanjaka is a great achievement. It could also affect the Principality in the future. Yeah, if it's what Hues did, that alone is enough. Alright, let's travel together. Aside from being pursued by the Military State, they're good companions...'
Who am I? The man acknowledged as the returner's companion.
Historia, Rankart. Are you watching? Your classmate has come this far in life. I got hired as the odd-job man for the party saving the world...
In the end, it's a gathering of criminals, but still, if you're going to play, play in the big leagues.
"Woof!"
Just as we were having our conversation, Aji came over and tapped my sleeve. When I turned around, Aji pointed to her injured left arm and said.
"Woof! Hurt place here!"
"Is it already that time."
Muttering, I rolled up my sleeve and showed the torn wound. The large wound I got from fighting the Wolfen had, by the power of the King of Beasts, faded to nothing more than a faint mark. Aji grabbed my arm with her front paw and carefully licked the wound.
The stinging turned to tickling, and the tickling soon changed to a comfortable sensation. With the feeling of the wound healing, even the act of a dog licking my arm wasn't all that unpleasant.
Having carefully licked the wound, Aji patted my arm and barked.
"Woof! Healthy! Health!"
"Thanks, Aji. Want some meat?"
"You eat! Woof! Eat a lot when hurt!"
Aji patted my shoulder as if encouraging me and lay down on her belly. The way she looked at me warmly was so affectionate it was almost burdensome.
Good heavens, how can this be.
Aji, who I thought of as nothing more than a walking toy stand that just didn't attack humans, has become this remarkable? Is it true that there are bad people in the world but no bad dogs?
No, don't be fooled. This is just looking pretty because she did one good thing after constantly being mischievous.
Even if I die and come back to life, a dog is still a dog. Let me test your true nature.
I took out a disc and shook it.
"Aji. Want to play disc toss?"
The tail wagged first. At the welcome suggestion, Aji jumped up and barked.
"Woof! I want to, I want to!"
"Ow ow. But maybe because I just got treated, my arm hurts."
"Woof? Then, let's do it next time!"
She lowers her half-raised body again without a bit of disappointment. It's real. Aji has actually developed consideration.
Aji was already friendly to humans to begin with. But to go beyond that to higher-dimensional consideration... Is this a true dog? Did she awaken the characteristics of an angel dog as the King of Dogs?
Was a human a being moved by such small changes? Just as I was unable to contain my surging emotions and wiped my tears.
"Aji seems a bit different from usual. Did you do something?"
The returner nodded in this direction. I shrugged my shoulders and answered the returner who was showing curiosity.
"I didn't particularly do anything. It seems like Aji is expecting something from me."
"Expecting what?"
"What was it. The butterfly said she's hoping for the fulfillment of a promise from me."
Just as humans can't distinguish what an animal's cry means even if they hear it, I can't read the thoughts of the butterfly and Aji. So I had no choice but to relay what I heard as is.
Good grief, relaying a story told by a dog and a cat. It's not like I'm some interpreter.
"She's asking me if I'm some high-ranking person somewhere. To a petty criminal who ran away with nowhere to go. It's absurd, right?"
I said with a smile as if I'd heard a joke. It wasn't a particularly serious matter anyway.
As I was shrugging and smiling awkwardly, the returner's expression suddenly changed. The returner jumped up from her chair as if a welcome guest had arrived and immediately came up to me and shouted.
"Are you perhaps the prince of a destroyed kingdom?! The descendant of the king that the Resistance is secretly searching for!"
"What kind of disastrous talk is that! I'm not, okay? If I were a prince, would I live like this?"
'Well, that is a bit of a stretch. It's not like we're twins, so that can't be.'
The returner, who briefly averted her gaze, pressed me again.
"Then? Are you the head of some secret organization I don't know about?"
"If I had my own secret organization, I would have used it already. Would I be struggling to survive in a back alley and running away like I was chased out?"
"What exactly are you?"
"If it's not a philosophical question like contemplation on my existence, I can only say I'm just me. Don't you think Aji is misunderstanding something?"
I answered half-jokingly, but the returner's attitude was quite serious. Having pressed and confirmed several times, she muttered while deep in thought.
"No. The King of Beasts is a spokesperson. A being that delivers messages not to one human, but to all of humanity."
"I know that roughly."
"So, to deliver the message to that many people, the King of Beasts can see one human's influence. Should I say it's testing a kind of qualification."
"Qualification or whatever, what does she want from me, a petty back-alley criminal at best. It's absurd."
"Petty criminal, right?"
"I told you that's what I am!"
Normally I would have somehow dodged the question, but my current position is a lazy bug. I'm the one who'd be cut first if anything goes wrong. To resolve the returner's doubts, I roughly told her.
What the butterfly said, and what kind of person I was, very briefly.
"So, I was a friendly neighbor who knew all the back-alley citizens well. I solved all kinds of odd jobs and helped those in need with all my heart. That's really all there was to it."
"Never went anywhere except Hameln and Amitengrade?"
"Yes. The middle school is an all-boarding system, so aside from that time, I basically lived in Amitengrade. Even being very generous, I was at best the village headman of Amitengrade's back alleys?"
'Well. If I were a real big shot, I wouldn't use the expression precarious. It means my qualifications fall short. But! Perhaps...!'
Ah, it's slowly becoming ominous. That bizarre situation where the bug has to prepare to break out of its chrysalis and fly due to some circumstances.
Life living while reading the room was always anxious, but my body was comfortable. So much that I'd want to live like that forever if I could. But the fear of having to overcome pain and trials on my own and be reborn as a different being was another kind, so even though an opportunity to become confident had come, I wasn't happy about it.
The returner examined me like a tool that had finally found its use.
"You said it was precarious. If I just fill in the lacking parts a little, would I meet the qualifications?"
"No! Look, what qualifications could a burned-out failure like me have! Aji, do I have qualifications?"
Aji, who had been quietly wagging her tail, perked up her ears and stood up when she heard her name. After examining me intently, she quickly shook her head.
"No!"
"See? What qualifications does a body chased by the military police have. At best, I have the qualifications of a wanted criminal."
"Not yet!"
"Don't leave room! What more are you expecting from me!"
"Woof! Become a bigger person!"
"You mutt!"
Those hopeful eyes were not pure trust or faith. She was looking at me like a delicious crop, the same eyes as a farmer giving water and fertilizer for it to grow well.
Damn it! The impure intentions that I would have noticed long ago if she were human, I couldn't read because she's a dog and just accepted them at face value!
'Come to think of it, the King of Dogs appeared properly this time! Maybe this could be the key to preventing the next fragment of apocalypse! The conflict with the beast-kin aside, if the King of Dogs doesn't join the fight...!'
The returner's eyes sparkled similarly to Aji's. A face trying to saddle me with some enormous expectation.
Ah, this is bad. Must I truly break out of my shell and step into the frightening world outside?
No. I'll resist. The shell is extremely hard, so I'll resist so you can't recklessly break it open!
"Aji, are you planning to use me?"
"Woof? Use, no! This is, investment!"
"Investment?"
I think I heard something that shouldn't come from a dog.
"Low possibility, high return! High risk high return! Me, woof! Will you take care of me?"
"How do you see people! I'm not a card on a gambling table! Besides, what? Investing in a fleeing criminal? Who's the fool who bets that much on a card that's not even a pair! Even a fool wouldn't invest like that!"
"I'm not a fool! That's why I invest!"
"The point where you couldn't understand that context proves you are a fool!"
I grabbed and pulled Aji's ear as punishment, but Aji endured it by putting in a little strength. The fact that the strength of her ear twitching is stronger than my full arm strength, really what's going on. Is this the difference in ranks? Is human life meant to be violated?
At that moment, the returner spoke.