If the bottomless pit had one advantage over the surface, it would probably be the air quality.

It was hard to understand. Wind came from the sky, and everyone knew the air down on the ground was dirtier, laden with all manner of filth. So why would the air in the bottomless pit, farther from the sky than anywhere else, be clean?

The answer lay in the peculiar nature of the pit.

This place was cursed by Mother Earth, so soil and dust, the very substance of her flesh, avoided it as though obeying a law of nature. That was why the surrounding wasteland had not eroded despite the enormous pit in its midst. With no dirt or dust falling into it, the place was surprisingly clean.

What was more, the bottomless pit had no bottom. To borrow an expression mathematicians liked, no matter how far down I was, there was always somewhere farther down. Thus, anything heavier than air sank lower.

All the air that should have stagnated here escaped downward. On the rare occasions when a breeze could be felt in Tantalus, it was a fragment of wind that had lost its way and fallen into the bottomless pit. The stranded wind gathered dust, odors, and anything else that mingled with it into its embrace, then flowed down through the openings throughout the pit. As a result, the air inside was as clear and clean as could be.

When judging quality of life, whether there was something beneath me was a far more important measure than where I was. All manner of filth fell farther down and collected there.

From this, we could indirectly deduce that happiness was relative.

Of course, breezes remained scarce and the air remained heavy, but at least it guaranteed healthy breathing. How could I not be grateful?

... Perhaps, Mother Earth's curse notwithstanding, the bottomless pit was actually quite a pleasant place, apart from the lack of light.

"Woof! Woof, woof!"

Another refreshing morning greeted by my canine alarm. I stretched both arms out and took a deep breath of fresh air through my nose—

"Aaaachoo!"

"W-woof!"

A sneeze exploded like a bomb. This unexpected early-morning visitor wrung my lungs out. Azi drew both arms up to her chest and stared at me, apparently startled.

Tch. Sneezing that hard first thing in the morning would leave me feeling off all day. It startled the muscles.

More importantly, why the sudden sneeze?

"Has this place already gotten dusty after just a few days of living here...?"

As I rubbed my nose, I caught a faint glimpse of something drifting through the air. I furrowed my brow and stared at the thing floating around the room. The light was too dim to see it clearly, but that thin, golden strand, long and supple as it bent in the air...

"Fur?"

"Woof!"

Azi barked at me. Just then, my eyes fell on the fur on her head, hands, and feet. It was a mixture of brown and gold. No, it looked as though it had originally been golden, only to become grimy with dirt.

It was exactly the same color as the strand floating in the air. Filthy and thick with dust.

Hmm.

"Azi."

"Woof?"

"Want to go get pork cutlets?"

"Woof! I do! I do!"

She had no idea what pork cutlets were, but she was happy to go eat them anyway. I gave her a bright smile.

Water flowed downward. Traveling between heaven and earth, it served as a messenger carrying love letters between the Sky God and Mother Earth. Not wholly belonging to Mother Earth, the liquid followed its instincts and burrowed into low places. It did not care if that place happened to be the bottomless pit.

But the bottomless pit was an infinite abyss. Those adorable paratroopers that leaped from cloud to ground in a single bound, riding parachutes bulging downward, faded away here as they traveled toward earth they would never reach. Dissolved into the air, the water became another part of the air and drifted about.

The Military State's specially made water tanks collected this vaporized water. Moisture condensed on a huge collector enchanted with the Aqus spell, then flowed through a filtered pipe into a tank. There it waited quietly until someone below turned on a faucet.

With consumption drastically reduced after the prison break, the tank was brimming with water. Humanity vanished, and abundance arrived.

Having checked the water level, I nodded in satisfaction.

"Good. That should be enough to wash that mutt."

I temporarily shut off the tank's outlet and connected a hose to the pipe instead. When I turned it on for a test, water came gurgling out as though something were blocking it. The pressure was unimpressive, perhaps because there was so little difference in elevation. Better fill the tub before washing her.

Taking the hose and tub, I settled near a drain and called Azi.

"All right, Azi..."

But by the time I turned around, Azi had already sprinted far away. She hid behind a rectangular crate and barked as though the hose in my hand were a gun.

"Woof."

"Azi. Come here. You need a bath."

"Woof."

"What do you mean, no? Look at your hands and feet."

As instructed, Azi lifted her hands and feet to look at them. All manner of dust and grime lurked between the thick clumps of fur that looked like fluffy fur mittens.

They looked dirty, but this was actually getting off lightly. Had we been on the surface rather than in the bottomless pit, that self-driving, four-legged feather duster would have been sweeping up every speck of dust as she roamed Tantalus.

"See? Dirty, right?"

"No! Clean!"

"What are you talking about? You call that clean?"

"Woof! I lick my fur sometimes! Clean!"

Then Azi brought her tongue toward her hand. She was about to lick that breeding ground for disease.

Haha. Had she lost her mind?

"Stop!"

"Woof!"

Azi froze with her tongue poised to touch her hand, her eyes darting about. Sighing, I put down the hose and approached her.

"Are you a cat? You never lick yourself normally, but now that I've pointed it out, you're going to start? Don't. It's filthy."

"Woof! I'm not dirty!"

"Yes, you are. You're covered in dust. You stink, and you shed everywhere."

"Woof! You shed lots too!"

"Don't compare your fur to my hair! They might both count as hair loss, but they're entirely different genres!"

Huffing, I went up to Azi, slipped my hands behind her armpits, and dragged her along. She squirmed reluctantly, but at least she did not wrench herself free and run.

As we drew closer to the hose, however, her feet planted themselves firmly, and her claws dug into the ground. Her body was as immovable as if it had been nailed down. No, she was simply embedded in the concrete.

"Ha. Seriously. I can't exactly drag her over like this..."

I was dealing with a Beast King. My strength was no match for her.

This was a job for the fable of the North Wind and the Sun. If I could not move her body, I had to change her mind. I leaned my face over her head and spoke.

"Azi. Come here. Let's get you washed first."

"Woof."

"I'll make you something tasty when we're done."

"Woof..."

At the mention of something tasty, Azi seemed to consider it for a moment. Why did she insist on being wined and dined before doing anything? Even when I'd sweet-talked Military State officials, I hadn't gone this far. How could a dog be worse than a high minister?

Still, what choice did I have? The weaker party had to put up with it. This dog was stronger than most high ministers.

I whispered sweet words into Azi's ear.

"Remember that hamburger steak last time? The dish where I cooked some meat, heated the pan with the fat, then, once the pork fat was hot enough, fried a patty made of meat ground together with beans."

"Wooof..."

"But that hamburger steak was actually unfinished. It wasn't sticky enough, so it fell apart. It was practically just meat paste fried in a pan. This time will be different, though. There were eggs in the supplies, and butter too. The cheapskates didn't even give us a full tray of eggs... Anyway. This time, I can make a perfect hamburger steak, holding firmly together as one, cooking in plenty of fat."

"Woof..."

Stimulate the other party's senses. Azi's whole body relaxed. When I pulled again, her claws slid right out. Smiling triumphantly, I dragged her over to the drain.

"That's it. Good girl, good girl..."

Right. First, take her clothes off. Then toss her into the tub and splash water over her. Once I'd scrubbed her all over, I could wash her clothes while she dried herself. A change of clothes would have been nice, but everything left here was a clothing packet. Without a biometric terminal on her body, Azi could not wear them. Hmm. I'd just have to tell her to wait while they dried.

The plan was ready. I let go of Azi for a moment and turned on the hose to collect some water. A trickle fell into the small crate I'd prepared as a makeshift tub. The sound of droplets pattering against it rang out.

"Woof."

In a flash, she was gone.

The mutt ran far away, rendering all my efforts to drag her over meaningless. She gave a short bark, perhaps feeling a little guilty.

"Woof."

I covered my face and sighed deeply. Who did she think she was, a king? I was offering to wait on her hand and foot and wash her, and she was refusing even that?

No, she was a king. But not my king. Just the king of dogs, at best.

I was getting angry. Until now, I'd played along as though I were raising a cute pet, but if she was going to be this willful, I had no reason to keep putting up with her.

"Woof...?"

Azi barked cautiously at me. Apparently sensing my anger, she kept stealing glances at me to gauge my mood.

That did not make me feel any better. No, the fact that she knew how I felt and still wasn't coming over immediately made me all the more indignant.

Thoroughly angry, I sat down on the spot.

"Hey. Puppy."

Azi flinched when I called her that. Sitting cross-legged with my posture closed off, I put my feelings into my words.

"Are you really going to be like this? Even after seeing me sneeze earlier?"

BANG! BANG!

I struck the floor hard with the dipper I'd brought. Azi startled and looked guilty.

A trembling voice, a contorted expression, ragged breathing.

Unmistakable signs of anger.

Dogs were humanity's longtime friends and could read human emotions to a degree. No, perhaps they noticed them far better than people did. Humans learned to hide their feelings from others in the name of "manners," but they did not stand on ceremony with dogs. That was why they loved them.

Anyway. I was angry, and I had no intention of hiding it. Just as I intended, Azi clearly recognized how I felt.

"I cook for you, play fetch with you, and take walks with you! I call you every time there's a meal, and I pet that filthy fur every single day! I do so much for you! Why won't you even take a bath?"

"Whine..."

Frightened, Azi tucked her tail between her legs. But that was not enough. I would not ease up on the scolding until she came to me of her own accord.

And if she didn't?

That would be it. The end of this stubborn bond with that mutt. I would abandon her in my heart.

"I wouldn't care if you only lived in the yard. But you come inside the building! Sometimes you even climb onto my bed! That makes my whole living space filthy! Do you think I wash every day for no reason? Unlike you, I need to be clean!"

"Whiiine, whine."

"If you can't put up with even this much, you're not the puppy I know. From now on, I'll kick you whenever I see you. Understand?"

"Whiiine..."

It seemed the bond we'd built had not been for nothing. Honestly, if she had left things as they were, I would have been deeply disillusioned with beasts. But apparently Azi did not want to cut ties with me. Watching my face, she crept slowly toward me.

Whew. All right. At least she'd come. I sat Azi on my lap and wrapped my arms around her. Then, with my right hand, I turned on the hose and let water run into the crate.

Falling droplets played a tune as they struck the water's surface in succession. To me, it was the refreshing sound of filth being washed away, but to Azi it seemed to sound like a requiem for evil spirits. As though shuddering with dread, she squeezed her eyes shut, clamped her mouth closed, and turned her head away from the sound.

Even so, she did not break free of my arms and run. Admirably, she endured it.

A good attitude. I turned off the hose and stroked her head.

"There. Well done."

"Woof..."

A feeble whimper. I wasn't happy about this either, but it had to be done. I would be living with Azi for several more months. We couldn't keep breeding disease by exchanging dust and germs every time we touched.

Seriously, if this hadn't been the bottomless pit, I would have gotten sick long ago.

"All right. Let's get your clothes off first. Arms up."

Still squeezing her eyes shut, Azi raised her arms about halfway. I started to take off her clothes, then looked down at them again when I felt something repeatedly catch.

Someone had tied her shirt tightly beneath her chest. Whoever had done it had used so much force that it wouldn't come undone easily. It seemed intended to prevent the shirt from coming off, or someone from taking it off her.

"Honestly. The things people do."

Clothing packets provided clothes fitted precisely to the wearer's body. That went for the standard-issue shirt worn as the innermost layer too. The sleeves and neck were so snug that they couldn't be put on or taken off in the ordinary way, without using the packet. There was no extra fabric to spare like this, either.

But without a biometric terminal, Azi could not use clothing packets. So someone must have dressed her in a shirt several sizes too large. Naturally, it would slip down or come off easily, and to prevent that, they would have needed to tie up the loose fabric...

"As if anyone would try to undress a dog..."

... Though, now that I was conscious of it, it did feel a little strange. Whatever Azi's true nature, what I saw was undeniably a female body, and it made me oddly self-conscious. Were humans ultimately creatures beholden to outward appearances?

Well, whatever. Pointless thoughts. I was a normal human being. Time to finish taking her clothes off.

The tightly knotted hem impeded my work. But who did she think I was? I was a back-alley magician. A master of dexterity who could bind and unbind his own hands and tie a knot with a single finger. Something like this was nothing.

Slip a finger into that gap and work it around gently, and it should loosen. Good. Untie it quickly, then toss her in the tub...

That was when the Regressor appeared at the rooftop door. Her hair and parts of her clothes were damp with sweat, as though she'd been training until just now.

"There's no water coming out down here. Did you shut off the tank or something? Without even telling anyone..."

Peeling the hair off her forehead, the Regressor spotted me and froze. Her eyes narrowed in an instant, her sharp gaze sweeping over Azi and me.

'He's sitting Azi on his lap, restraining her from behind, and trying to take her clothes off. Azi has her eyes squeezed shut and is trembling.'

The Regressor's thoughts were very brief. In a purely literal sense. That was as far as she thought before drawing Sky Cherry Blossom.

'Good. Let's kill him.'

Wait. Wasn't there a leap in logic there? More importantly, how did "good" and "let's kill him" belong together? Killing wasn't good at all!

Her hostility swelled. I hurriedly hid behind Azi and shouted.

"Wait a second! This isn't what you think, trainee!"

"Heavenly Sword Art. Thunderbird..."

"I said stoooop!"