Chapter 1: Paws for Thought
-Susie (Dog Almighty)-
"Eighty milliliters of pure water… five drops of autumn crocus essence… thirteen grams of cow teeth paeonol powder... seven petals of elf flower…. One matured Manhal Fish eyeball… thirty-five milliliters of goat-horned black fish blood."
The quiet muttering from within Audrey's drawing room roused Susie from her rest. She lay before the door, one ear twitching at the recitation of what was no doubt, the formula of the Spectator Sequence.
Rising with a languid stretch, she parted her muzzle in a contented yawn, her tongue curling.
Life as a dog really isn't bad. she mused internally. The initial, jarring transition from obligate biped to obligate quadruped had faded after a month into transmigration. Perhaps it was an effect of the Spectator pathway, or a benefit of the Chaos Sea, but Susie was more inclined to chalk it up to human adaptability.
Sixty million years ago, human ancestors had been quadrupedal. It had taken epochs to evolve an upright gait. So, while her form was no longer human, her heart, soul, and mind remained so. Adapting to a canine life was, in a strange way, a return to an older, simpler rhythm.
Click.
The drawing room door opened, revealing Backlund's Most Dazzling Jewel.
Today, Audrey wore a simple day dress of soft ivory muslin, the high neckline and puffed sleeves delicately edged with lace the colour of fresh cream. A sash of emerald-green velvet rested just beneath her bust, its rich hue a perfect mirror to her radiant eyes and a lovely contrast to the cascade of her golden hair, which was arranged in a loose, graceful knot.
Upon seeing her, Audrey's face instantly brightened with a brilliant, blinding smile that made the golden retriever almost squint.
Eternal Blazing Sun, please hand in your jersey, we have a more suitable 'Sun' candidate here. The golden retriever lampooned internally.
"Susie, you completed the mission perfectly!" Audrey glanced furtively down the empty corridor and, in a most unladylike manner, knelt to wrap her arms around the dog's neck.
Feeling the satisfying scratches behind her ear, Susie released a low, rumbling growl of contentment, effortlessly playing her part as a dog.
"In the serialized stories, detectives always have a capable assistant," Audrey whispered conspiratorially, "I think a real Spectator should be supported by a splendid, intelligent dog, don't you?"
Hearing the young girl's words, Susie rolled her eyes. Sometimes her dear, silly owner seemed to forget she was, in fact, just a dog.
And besides, if one spoke of assistants… given she was potentially accommodating the White Tower pathway, which held the 'Detective' sequence, wouldn't she be the one to make Audrey her Watson?
Before her thoughts could spiral further, Audrey's voice recaptured her attention.
"Come on, Susie! I need to fetch the ingredients from the vault, and then we're off to the chemistry laboratory." The noble girl's tone brimmed with unconcealed anticipation, her eagerness to step into the world of Beyonders practically tangible..
….
"Duke Negan's wife?" Audrey asked Annie, her personal maid.
Seeing the blonde girl distracted, Susie casually strolled into the chemistry lab. She'd been waiting for this moment for a year.
She had lost count of the times she had been tempted to retort something to Audrey, or just talk freely with another person.
Don't get her wrong, at first, she'd considered just telling Audrey she could talk. But she'd held back after remembering that fellow Hvin Rambis, also known as Mr. Pride, a Psychology Alchemists councilor from the royal family.
He was a demigod of the Visionary pathway, a Sequence 4: Manipulator. Audrey hadn't visited him in the year or so she'd been with the Hall family, but Susie hadn't wanted to take any chances at the time.
And boy, had she made the right choice.
Merely a few weeks later, during an outing, they had encountered that very same demigod.
The stream of profanities she'd wanted to hurl at the Original Creator for inventing the Law of Convergence would've made a pirate blush. She was confident in her acting skills, but emptying her mind? Not so much.
So all she could do back then was pray that the pompous jerk wasn't perverted enough to peek into a dog's thoughts, while also hoping the Chaos Sea shielded her Body of Heart and Mind, or that her cheat against Adam and the Outer Gods worked on Hvin Rambis too.
Fortunately for her, Mr. Pride was too… well, prideful to even deem a dog worthy of his attention. After a few agonizing minutes of polite chat with Audrey, he'd gone on his way.
Finishing her trip down memory lane, Susie let out a profoundly weary sigh and tossed the test tube of sticky, silvery bubbles into her shadow. "I'm really too young for this shit called stress," she muttered.
With the potion gone, Audrey would naturally think her silly, uncomprehending little dog had drunk it, exactly what Susie wanted. As for where the tube went… well, she's just a dog. Don't ask her.
It'd make things easier going forward.
Well, not entirely.
The golden retriever was still at a loss about how to get her hands on a Sequence 6: Hypnotist Beyonder characteristic, or the main and supplementary ingredients. She didn't have a super speeeeshhhl castle that let her play god or accept sacrifices…
Susie paused, blinking slowly as she glanced at her shadow.
…Could I, maybe, perhaps, accept sacrifices through the Chaos Sea?
She hadn't considered it before because, well, it wasn't a castle. Throwing things into water didn't seem very dignified, did it?
An imaginary scene played out in her mind: Audrey kneeling piously, sacrificing a Roselle diary to Dog Almighty, only to be engulfed by a tide of infinite possibilities.
…Yeah, she wasn't too sure about that. Maybe she'd have to take a page from the Celestial Worthy and Mr. Fool and fashion her own tentacles out of the Chaos Sea?
Cough!
Of course, it would all be for science. And spreading the name of Dog Almighty.
Before her thoughts could wander into PG-rated territory, footsteps pulled her attention back. Lifting her head, she saw Audrey staring between her and the table that previously held the test tube, looking stunned.
"Susie, you…" The blonde girl seemed at a loss for words, only now realizing that yes, this golden retriever could indeed open doors.
And Susie, being the gremlin she was, tilted her head innocently, blinking slowly, and then:
"Audrey, me what?" she spoke for the first time to her owner.
…
-Audrey Hall (Miss Justice)-
For a long minute, Audrey could only stare, eyes wide and mouth slightly open, wondering if she'd heard right. Gathering her thoughts, she finally asked:
"Susie… did you just speak?"
Her cute golden retriever tilted her head to the other side, beady eyes watching her quietly.
Was… was she hearing things? Seeing Susie stay silent, Audrey began to worry she was going crazy after finally touching the supernatural.
Before panic and self-doubt could take over, a serene, cool feeling washed over her mind, calming the noise. Then came a soft voice.
"Little Audrey, I was just teasing you." Susie trotted over to her leg, their eyes meeting.
Looking into those eyes, Audrey felt as if her soul were being laid bare, every thought seemed stripped naked before Susie.
"It's not 'as if,' Little Audrey," Susie corrected, and wow, what a surreal feeling that was. "I am reading your mind. Also, just because I'm a dog doesn't mean I can't correct you."
Instead of fear, Audrey felt a thrill of excitement. "Is this a Spectator's ability?"
She glanced at the table with the spare ingredients, inwardly praising her foresight. As she moved toward it, she paused and turned to Susie with a puzzled look.
"Susie, why do you keep calling me 'Little Audrey'? You're only a year and a half old. I'm seventeen."
Susie, who'd been following obediently, stopped. When their eyes met again, Audrey suddenly felt self-conscious—like a student who'd gotten an easy question wrong, or a child before an elder.
That was exactly how she felt staring into those soulful eyes. And the words that followed only deepened the feeling.
"Audrey…" Susie released a familiar, world-weary sigh—the kind Audrey had only ever heard from her father, Earl Hall. "Remember, age isn't about counting the years, but about making the years count. You could also say age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter."
The golden retriever paused briefly, then added, "Even a child should be treated with respect. Who's to say his future won't equal your present?"
For the second time that day, Audrey could only stare in astonishment. What was this deeply wise air her pet was giving off?
Even she, the daughter of an earl educated by the finest tutors, suddenly felt inadequate before Susie. More importantly—
"Where did you learn that, Susie? Did the potion give you that knowledge?"
From a lazy dog to this scholarly creature before her, the potion had to be the only explanation.
"Little Audrey."
Hearing that patient, doting, faintly exasperated tone, Audrey subconsciously straightened up, as if she'd done something wrong.
"To know that we know what we know, and to know that we do not know what we do not know—that is true knowledge."
"???"
Imaginary question marks floated in the blonde girl's mind as she stared blankly at the golden retriever, who only gazed back innocently.
Know what we know… no, that's wrong… know that we know what we know… that we do not know what we do know… no, that's wrong too!
Unable to untangle the sentence, Audrey pouted and shot a glare at Susie. "You did that on purpose, didn't you?"
"Hm? What are you talking about, Audrey?" The golden retriever had lost all trace of her earlier profound demeanor, looking utterly clueless. "I'm just a dog."
Hearing such a flimsy yet somehow bulletproof defense, Audrey could only say one thing:
"Shameless!"
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A/N: The gremlin has been released! All hail Dog Almighty!