[Relay Novel] (Continued) Grace, the Messenger Theoria, and the Shiba Inu [Side Story]

⬇️Please read this first to get intoxicated before proceeding⬇️

The grounds of the mansion are vast beyond measure.
In the life of Grace, who comes from a respectable commoner lineage, she has never had the experience of living in such a magnificent mansion.
Far from living in one, she had never even stepped foot inside a mansion before.
Although she is not the type to be easily intimidated, she still finds herself bracing herself before the heavy door, as if the difference in status has been vividly displayed to her.

It's okay. It's okay.
I was invited here, after all.
There is no need to be nervous. Just stand tall.

She exhales deeply as if to convince herself.
Pithus, who was sitting quietly by her side, lets out a small sound deep in his throat, a soft whine.
Grace crouches down to hug Pithus's head, and while she's at it, buries her nose into his ear and takes a deep breath.
When you're feeling uneasy, there's nothing like huffing a dog.
This is the only mental stabilization method Grace has acquired in her nearly forty years of life that she can call truly reliable.

Alright.

Grace stands up again, reaches for the knocker—which features a strange design of a stag's head wearing a mushroom cap—and strikes the door, producing a loud, resonant sound.
The door opens on its own. She walks in as if drawn inside, her sushi-patterned skirt fluttering as she enters the mansion.
The reddish-brown Shiba Inu follows at her heels, tail wagging as he trots along.

The interior of the mansion is brighter than it looked from the outside, and it is bustling with many people chatting away, each with a drink or snack in hand.
The host is not immediately identifiable, and everyone seems to have a bright expression, enjoying conversations about things they love.

This isn't so much like the inside of a mansion.

“It’s just like a back alley,” she says to herself.

Grace murmurs this while feeling the plush sensation of the red carpet under her shoe soles, taking a step forward into the mansion.
The scene of a suspicious alley one block off the main street of Kynossus, the premier entertainment district of Kaduhoy, vividly returns to her mind, digging up memories of the reckless things she did in her youth.
That is how much the mansion is buzzing with the crowd of people, yet it is wrapped in a strange sense of unity.

“You responded to the call.”

Spoken to from behind, Grace instinctively stops in her tracks.
It was a woman's voice, thin yet firm.
It wasn't a loud voice, but it was one that could be clearly caught even amidst this commotion.

Ah, this person is...

With an intuition that could be called a conviction, Grace turns around.
The woman standing behind her is dressed elegantly in a rose-colored dress, the corners of her well-shaped lips lifted slightly as she gazes at the Shiba Inu and Grace.
The woman slowly opens her tightly pursed lips and takes a deep breath.

“My name is the woman who lives in the ancient capital of Rana, the capital of the Hainon Kingdom and the planned site for the World Tree planting, who advocates shaking off evil thoughts with a cough, and who absolutely does not want to stand out!

That i”

“Oh, it’s alright. Nice to meet you, Theoria-san.”
Interrupted by Grace, Theoria, who had been forced to swallow her greeting that had completely lost its place, purses her lips tightly again, forming a smile.
“I’m Grace. Though it doesn’t feel like a first meeting at all.”
“Yes, truly... Is that doggy there Pithus-san? Nice to meet you too, Pithus-san.

My name is the woman who lives in the ancient capital of Rana, the capital of the Hainon Kingdom and the planned site for the World Tree planting, who advocates shaking off evil thoughts with a cough, and who absolutely does not want to stand out!

Th”

“Yelp!”

Theoria’s greeting was once again blocked by Pithus’s high-pitched bark.

“Why did God bring these three together? I don’t understand it at all.”

There was a gentleman who muttered with a sigh as he approached the two people and one dog chatting happily.
He is dressed in a well-tailored cloud-gray coat, waistcoat, and breeches, but if you look closely, the suit has a woven mushroom pattern, and depending on the angle, the mushrooms take on a sheen and assert themselves intensely.
The fact that he could have such a thing custom-made was proof that the gentleman was a person of some standing.
The moment the gentleman passed directly under the chandelier hanging from the ceiling, the matsutake pattern on his suit glittered, striking Theoria and Grace’s eyes.
The two women turned their bodies toward the gentleman and performed the curtsies they had practiced for this day.
Pithus lies down between them, yawning boredly.

“Lord Little West Mushroom, thank you for inviting us today.”
“It is an honor to meet you.”
“whine...”

Someone or other spoke to the gentleman, who listened with a magnanimous nod, and then, as if speaking of something important, whispered to the women.

"Thank you for coming. I have a special request for you regarding this Shiba Inu, Pithus."
"...And that would be?"
"I believe you already know from reading that ledger that Pithus is actually a human. I want to return her to her human form."

Theoria and Grace looked at each other, then down at Pithus at their feet, and finally at Lord Mushroom's face.
They couldn't make heads or tails of it.

"Forgive me, that was abrupt. The story of Pithus the Shiba Inu was one of the most resonant anecdotes I have ever collected. However, due to her immense popularity, a certain number of readers seem to have become convinced that she is a dog. She missed her chance to return to human form, and eventually, she forgot how to do so. Theoria the Messenger, and Grace, the commoner who plays the lady—only your song can break this curse."

"Understood." No sooner had she said it than Theoria stepped forward.

"A resident of the ancient capital of Rana,
the planned site for the World Tree planting
in the Kingdom of Hainon,
who advocates for clearing away distracting thoughts
by clearing one's throat,
a woman who absolutely does not want to stand out,
is my name!"

s"

"If it's for Pithus," Grace said, cutting off the introduction again and stepping forward. "Let's do it, with our throat singing!"

The two women looked at each other, nodded, and faced one another with Pithus between them.
First, Theoria let her voice ring out sonorously.
The chandelier overhead rattled and vibrated, and the pile of the carpet at their feet rippled with a rustling sound.
Though overwhelmed, Grace layered her own voice over Theoria's deep, resonant tone.
The two voices enveloped the woman who had become a Shiba Inu, Lord Little West Mushroom, the people who were talking about who knows what, the mansion, and the city of Kagawa-ner, shaking everything to its core—.

The details of what happened afterward are described in a journal Pithus wrote herself after returning to Jurlandoni.
Among those who were present, accounts are mixed: some say Pithus returned to human form, others say she remained a Shiba Inu, and some say she looked human but then turned into a mysterious figure, so the truth remains unclear.
However, they all unanimously claimed to have witnessed a woman in vintage-style jeans, sporting a center-parted hairstyle with Shiba Inu ears, holding up yellow pants.
No one knows the true identity of that woman.

[The anchor is Makko-san🩷]
Makko-san is a wonderful lady who turns into a Shiba Inu or a mysterious figure.