Of all things, a crossdressing boy. Anemos passes.
No one had any objections. Finally, the first one.
Not Anemos-chan, but Anemos-kun — I had him wait in a separate room.
For the record, I call him Anemos-san.
"Alright, let's keep 'em coming!"
Entry number thirty-five.
A bald middle-aged man. Oh.
"I-I'm staking my life on this role!"
"The bald have no future!"
As merciless as ever.
Entry number forty.
"Gah — the Night King!"
"Disqualified!"
That's just how it is. Instant disqualification.
Entry number forty-four — what now? They just kept piling in.
Wait, did Shiro let them all through?
Every single one was wearing robes with hoods pulled deep over their faces.
So that's what this was. Eight of them in total.
They lined up in a row and spoke all at once.
"We are Parade. We are the Parade that walks the path to the underworld."
Whoa, they all showed up at once. But it got me wondering.
Did they really walk through town looking like that, with a hundred percent suspicious vibes? It's a miracle the guards didn't catch them.
And right after they announced themselves, a black sphere appeared behind them, and they vanished in an instant.
"What was that? Some new kind of comedy act, maybe?"
Narcissus seemed to think so.
"Parade meant a procession walking the path to the underworld, did it?"
Pakira said that, sounding rather nonchalant about it. Had she gotten used to this kind of thing by now?
No — Pakira's ears and tail were bristling, and her eyes were spinning in circles.
Ah, so it was escapism. Poor thing.
But I see. So that's what "Parade" meant.
I glanced over at Ambrosius.
"What was that just now?"
"A dark transfer sphere. I sent them all off to Leold's place in one go."
At Ambrosius's words, Narcissus grinned fearlessly.
"Hoh, not bad at all."
As expected of the Dark King of Death.
This time around he'd been a bit unremarkable, and his presence was pretty thin, but Ambrosius was incredible.
Really, this time his remarks had been few and his shadow was overwhelmingly faint.
But he truly was incredible. Ambrosius was.
"Next one's here."
Shiro popped her head in, completely casual about it.
Narcissus nodded.
"Send her in."
Entry number forty-five.
A woman. No, a girl.
She had a pretty face framed by long green hair and green eyes.
Her age was probably about the same as Pakira's. Rather expressionless.
A red scarf was wound around her neck, and she wore a light-green tunic with a white miniskirt.
She carried a wooden bow and a quiver on her back, with a shoulder-bag-style pouch strapped to her chest.
Just standing there, she gave off this strangely— wait, she's!?
"Nice to meet you. I'm Ryuzugal."
She introduced herself in a husky voice completely devoid of emotion.
A gal…? Where, exactly?
"Pass."
Too fast. When I looked over involuntarily, Narcissus continued.
"You. There's something about you that really says 'wind' — I can tell just from looking. Exceptional talent."
"Now that you mention it, she does have this oddly windy feel about her. What a strange girl."
"Practically the wind itself, maybe."
"…………"
The Sword of Swords nods too.
This is settled, then. Though I do have my objections, I keep them to myself.
"Thank you very much."
Rizugyaru says it in a monotone and bows her head again.
That makes two now.
Only she is — in truth, a dungeon's will.
Specifically, the will of a wind dungeon — whether she has some attachment to the one called the Wind King of Death, I can't say.
I found myself wondering. What if a dungeon's will became a King of Death?
What would become of that dungeon?
For that matter, could a dungeon's will even become a King of Death?
From there, we worked through to entry number forty-nine.
Narses says.
"One more after this, and we're done. Let's make it the last one."
"That's right."
"Fifty, huh? Nice round number."
"Fifty people actually showed up?"
"Everyone sure has a lot of free time."
The head judge, stating the obvious as always.
We all smile wryly at that.
Narses glances upward absentmindedly, then—
" I've decided. No matter what the last one to enter looks like, I'm passing them."
"Really? Is that alright?"
"They'll just fail the second round anyway."
There she goes, being blunt again.
The location and format for the second round are already decided.
Thinking about it that way, they probably would fail.
Entry number fifty.
"Ah, hey—stop! If it goes in—"
What was that? Was Shiro-san at the front desk rejecting someone?
I was wondering just what sort of person that could be when—
"Mew~"
"It's a cat, isn't it."
What had come through the door was a white cat.
When Pakira mentions cats, it just... gives off a strange feeling.
"Pass."
"Huh?"
Narses-san...?
"Mew!"
"I did say it would certainly pass if it entered, but... is this really fine?"
Pakira scoops up the cat.
The cat was utterly fascinated by the gently swaying tip of Pakira's long-and-short tail.
"Well, even a cat can become a King of Death, you know."
Th-they can?
"Ambrosius. Can a dungeon's will become a King of Death too?"
"There you go with extreme examples again. Yes, it can."
S-so it can?
Pulling myself together, I turned to Narcissus.
"You said it passed, but... Narcissus, does that cat have a Relic?"
"Wof. Whether a cat has a Wind Relic or not... Pakira, do you mind if I ask you something?"
"What is it? Mew! H-hey, that ticklish. Quit it!"
The white cat playfully pawed at Pakira's long-and-short white tail.
So it started playing after all.
"Are you okay?"
"Something like this is nothing. So, what is it?"
"You — do you understand cat language?"
"How would I know that? Catfolk and cats are completely different, you know."
"Oh, really?"
"All beastfolk are like that."
"Is that so. And so, Wof! Whether the cat possesses a Relic or not, nobody can tell. So here's another way to think about it — even if the cat does have a Relic, that's perfectly fine!"
Narcissus said something outrageous again.
What's with that Schrödinger's cat analogy pulled straight from past life memories?
And the smug look to go with it.
"…Well, I don't have any objections either."
Honestly, I was relieved.
Rather than ending up with some weird cat, a perfectly normal one was far better.
And it was cute besides.
"Then it's settled! Two people and one cat pass!"
And so the ones chosen were Anemos, the crossdresser.
Ryuzgyal, the will of the Wind Dungeon.
And a white cat. I didn't know its name.
At this point, though, I felt like there was only one option left by process of elimination anyway.
"…………"
And so concluded the first round of the First Wind Dungeon Death King Audition.
Narcissus informed the successful candidates about the second round.
Three days later.
The time was 9:00 AM.
The meeting place was — the entrance to the Wind Dungeon.
Narcissus informed the last successful candidate, the cat, as well.
At this point, only two would remain anyway.
Aside from a few exceptions, there was no way an ordinary cat could understand human speech.
I guess they really were tired after all.
I was tired too, and so was everyone else.
Can you blame us?
They were a genuinely rotten bunch, every last one of them.
Three days later.
8:50 AM.
The habit from my past life of arriving ten minutes early was burned so deep into my soul it was practically instinct.
I figured nobody would be here yet, but... someone was.
"Meow."
A cat. That white cat. Wait, seriously!?
"G-good morning..."
"Meow."
Wait, why are you even here?
Then a single thought flashed through my mind like a bolt of lightning.
What came to mind was a black cat.
A bare, naked girl with black cat ears and tail soaked through with warm water——no, no, no. That's not it.
It keeps lingering in the back of my mind, but — put that aside for now.
"No way — that cat isn't really a cat!?"
A cat that isn't a cat.