Inu

"It's nothing like that. This places make me want to appreciate the silence." Yui replied and Mayumi agreed with that.

Red smiled. "Well do you know why this place has a shrine for a Shiba Inu?"

The two shook their heads and even the assistant listened with interest.

"There was once a village nearby. The village was haunted by the minions of a water demon from that lake." Red said pointing to the bowl shaped lake beneath them.

"One day, a shiba inu at its death bed crawled into the village. No one knew how it was so terrifyingly injured and people who saw it dragging its bloodied body into the village were gripped with fear, thinking that it was a minion of the demon.

However the dog gave birth to a puppy and died soon after. The puppy was actually made of gold. A golden Shiba Inu. It is said the dog had magical powers and saved the village from the onslaught of the lake demon, eventually leading to the villagers no longer being haunted.

Years later, when the dog, who was the pride of the village, grew old and passed away, the villagers used its ashes to construct the sculpture of the dog and make a temple for it here. It is said even today, the dog watches over the lake, warding off the demon hidden within its depths."

The assistant snorted. "Absolute Hogwash. This is just an ordinary temple built here for the monk to horde all the resources here." Clearly she was referring to the surplus energy funneling into the stone.

Mayumi and Yui looked at each other. "Are demons and ghosts real? Can such a magical dog exist?" They asked.

"Who knows... I just know the story of this place." Red said with a smile.

"Is there a supernatural in this world?" Mayumi asked. Since she heard Red and the assistant talking about cultivators, then clearly there was. But she wanted to know what they would say.

"There is definitely supernatural phenomenon in the world. Technically, I'd simply say they are yet unexplained phenomenon. We all saw one ourselves." Red said with a smile.

"Are you talking about Professor Crubbs smashing the stone?" Yui asked perceptively.

Red nodded. "Precisely."

Mayumi snorted. "You know I didn't it mean in that sense."

Red laughed. He suddenly waved his hand a couple of flowers appeared in his hand. "Can you explain this?"

"A magic trick." Mayumi said. "A sleight of hand."

"You are assuming here that I did something in accordance with the known laws of physics and the illusion of the sudden appearance of the flowers is some sleight of hand I cannot explain. Am I right?" Red asked her.

Mayumi nodded.

Red smiled. "Well the supernatural phenomenon you are talking about could also be reasoned in that way. If it exists and occurs, it is by definition natural. But as far as those things existing, I believe they do exist. In fact, if we are lucky, we will see one example today itself."

Mayumi frowned. "You are talking in circles.."

Yui asked Red. "What will we see today?"

"May be something, may be nothing at all."

However at that moment, the breeze became turbulent and the bonfire started waving around frantically. Suddenly, a dog began walking towards the group.

However, the shocking thing was that the dog was a gold colored shiba inu! It was ethereal, almost translucent, but it gently floated towards the bonfire.

The assistant was immediately shocked. "It is actually real?!" She immediately jumped in front of the other three, ready to act.

"Stop! Don't be so rash!" Red yelled at the woman, who froze.

"Slowly back down! You aren't its match! Besides, it doesn't have any hostile intent." Red continued.

The assistant calmed down amd slowly retreated. Red got up and took out the casserole with the extra hot pot. He took it to Yui.

"Yui, feed this to the Shiba Inu." Red calmly said.

"Me? Why me?" She asked.

"The dog appeared because of you. You need to feed it." Red gently explained. "Don't be afraid of it. The dog wishes to help you."

She wanted to ask Red what it wanted to help her from, but she swallowed her thoughts and opened the casserole and served the hot pot to the dog.

Suddenly the food turned into dust and disappeared. The dog's form became real. It's eyes glowed and a golden light washed over Yui, like a blessing. Yui felt her body being reborn and at the same time, heard a desperate shriek from within her which scared her. What was that?

Soon the shriek disappeared and she felt like she was different from before. It felt like a heavy weight had been lifted off of her shoulders.

At that moment, Red suddenly came in front of the dog and quickly began running the second layer of the Divine Thief's Manuscript. Suddenly, a huge part of the golden glow from the dog flew like a chunk into Red's hands.

He began to mold the golden glow like a dough, until it eventually turned into a bracelet. Then the remaining golden glow was sent back to the dog. The dog then walked up to Red, circling his legs before running away, disappearing into the ether.

Yui who was still immersed in the feeling of the blessing woke up to see that the dog had disappeared. She turned towards Red. He had a bracelet in his hand.

"Wear this bracelet at all times, it will synergize with the dog's blessing and protect you." Red said.

Yui didn't say anything, she simply wore the bracelet, her deep eyes holding her deepest thoughts within.

Mayumi was shocked by the whole affair. "When you earlier said we would see something, you meant this?"

Red nodded. Mayumi did not stop. "You did something to the dog earlier. You took some golden liquid and molded it into a bracelet with your own hands. You.."

Red laughed. "Calm down Mayumi."