Ｃｈａｐｔｅｒ １- 𝓓𝓸𝓰 𝓲𝓷𝓽𝓸 𝓪 𝓷𝓮𝔀 𝔀𝓸𝓻𝓵𝓭

Bark!

​“Aya! I told you to shut that dog up!”

​In a small house sat a daughter and a father. The middle-aged man counted the stash of cash on the table. A cigarette hangs on the corner of his lips. His forehead wrinkles as if showing a little frustration. The little girl sat next to him with a worried expression. Not so much towards the father but rather their dog, Mochi. The Pomeranian was barely 4 pounds, yet his bark was loud and excessive.

​Aya tries to distract the small dog by clapping her hands.

​That got Mochi to look curious at what she was doing for a second. The serenity did not last long. What seems like a peaceful minute gets overthrown by the dog's sudden growls, indicating he was bored. The clapping did not help stimulate energy.

​The dog gave some playful bites to Aya, but it was actually painful to her. She yelps, holding her finger back while telling Mochi to stop. Her anxiety was getting unbearable with her father next to her. She glanced quickly back at him and back at Mochi. She took note of the visible scowl getting bigger, as if warning what would happen if she couldn't keep the peace.

​“ Aya…”

​He says in a stern voice. He clicks his tongue

​She hitched her breath before putting her full attention to Mochi.

​She pulls a plushie in front of the dog, trying to engage play playtime. Yet once again, as if rejecting her, the dog bit her.

​“Ow! Mochi stop-”

​“ENOUGH!”

​The older man slammed the entire stash of cash onto the table

​All other noises cease, except for the heater.

​Mochi, who was energetic before, cowers before him and bolts the other way. The man stood up and quickly picked up the dog.

​The girl hurried after her father as if to reason with him

​“ Um… Dad! Where are you taking Mochi?”

​“ He needs to learn sooner or later.”

​Soon, Mochi found himself outside with the door slamming. The ground was wet as rain hit him. The dog quickly clawed the door, thinking it could get him in quickly. When that didn't get results, he resorted to barking. A habit of his when not getting the attention he needs

​Bark bark!

​He doesn't like the rain, remembering that at times it can turn to storms. He doesn't mind swimming, but loud noises are terrifying. He barks louder, hoping his humans will hear him better.

​-Nothing

​He whimpers but refuses to give up. He convinces himself. ‘They'll come back. They have to’

​Yet the knot in his stomach keeps getting bigger

​He tries again and barks. Minutes turn to hours. At some point, he noticed the skies turn darker, and he was finally retired. He lies down and decides to sleep. At this point, he is glad the rain has stopped

​The sunlight reflected on his coat, yet due to the overuse of his voice last night, he lay curled up. It wasn't until he heard something familiar. He opened his eyes to see the man crossing the street carrying letters. The man opened a mailbox to put a letter in.

​He got his bark back as he ran to hassle the mailman man but then-

​A bright light blocks his way. The dog came to a halt, seeing a big truck coming closer. The light keeps getting brighter and brighter until-

​

The background changed completely, surrounding Mochi with an endless black space. In front of him, a woman stood on a throne. He can see all sorts of expressions on her face. Shock, bafflement, confusion, and dread.

​“I know they hired me as a new goddess, but… I didn't expect the first adventurer to be a dog!”

​Mochi tilted his head in confusion before he let out a small bark.

​“Oh great…and I don't understand you”

​The goddess facepalms, trying to comprehend the unusual situation.

​She's never been faced with giving abilities to an animal, let alone a dog, before.

​She clears her throat and speaks in a soft, gentle tone, trying to regain composure.

​“Ah, my apologies. It seems there's been a misunderstanding. I'm supposed to grant abilities and a new life to humans, not... animals. She looks around helplessly before focusing back on Mochi

​“I'd better not let the higher-ups know, or I'm in trouble …” She mumbled underneath her breath

​

“But since you're here now, I suppose I'll have to make an exception,” she straightened up her posture with confidence as her fingers intertwined each other.

​“ I am the Goddess, Umina. Rank 99th to the Celestial Center. I don't have a proper title as I am a fairly new goddess. So, for now, they hired me to recruit adventurers. It's just unfortunate that the first one I summoned is….you. You with your um ...cute paws and little body.”

​She squinted at the dog, observing him closely.

​“ This is the part where I ask if you want a new body that won't die so easily. The body of a beast, perhaps? With wings? Perhaps 3 heads? I'm sure half of the creatures in the new world will surely eat you if you look this cute.”

​As if not liking the suggestion, he let out a loud bark

​Mochi finally takes in the environment, seeing the strange space that looks like it's out of a movie. While he gets bored with watching movies, his humans often like to look at the small box that shows weird images. It reminded him very much of home.

​-Where is home?-

​The dog whines and whimpers at the unfamiliarity. He paced around the divine realm to see if he could get out somehow. By the passing minute, Umina could feel herself sweating more and twitch her eyes a bit.

​She could not stand the whining noises, so she quickly opened a menu filled with potential abilities and started scrolling through options suitable for a small dog in a harsh fantasy world. She thinks hard about what to give this poor, unfortunate soul. Skills to survive longer

​“ You dogs have a weak stomach, so…let's add this. Weak defense right now, so let's change that. This and this and this. How about some custom commands?”

​

She started tapping suggestions in her little menu. She types the words out before submitting the skills, building up the stats. Mochi seems to stop pacing around, staring at her actions with curiosity. He tilts his head back and forth, and he sits on the ground. His tongue sticks out with his beady eyes staring at the menu.

​Umina smirks as she continues typing.

​“ That caught your attention? Don't worry. I'm almost done.” She looks almost proud as she nods in approval of the list she made.

​“And as a bonus… let's add this!” She then slammed a button that illuminated the entire menu into a bright light before specks flowed into Mochi's body. His body glows up for a second before all specks dissipate.

​Mochi looks confused, feeling as if nothing has changed.

​The goddess makes a funny face

​“ Um ... so all adventurers can open their own menu to read their stats, but you're a dog, and you can't read. I also don't know how to teach you how to open a menu.

​The dog didn't completely understand her, but barked, knowing what she said was bad news.

She looks defensive about it.

​“ Look! There are restrictions on skills to give on the list! Even some custom commands are locked! I don't have administrative permissions to overrun it! I don't know why I'm even talking to you like you'd understand me. Just be grateful I even give you any skills,” she huffs, folding her arms and looking the other way.

​“ Ehem! Anyway, I think it is time for your journey to start. I will allow you to travel to the next world. While I don't expect you to do anything grand like defeat the demon king …but at least I hope you find a place you can call home. “

​-Home. I want to go home. I miss them-

​He wanted to express that. But before he could rebel, a bright light shone from the goddess’s hand and brightened up the entire realm.

​He could hear her last words

​“ May you find your true family here.”

​All fade into whiteness like snow. Then nothingness, as he felt as if his body was crumbling away. Then a light, but not as bright as before. Many lights from the ceiling, and another unfamiliar place emerges. Yet he wasn't alone. Multiple eyes were on him. The figures were much taller than him.

​-Wait… these are humans-

​They were wearing strange clothes. Most are wearing cloaks and holding some odd-looking sticks with crystals on them. The younger-looking ones wore pointy hats like the witches Aya used to pretend to be on Halloween

. He noticed there were other slight movements around the humans.​

-Huh? Other creatures besides humans?-

​His brain was finally registering other things now that his vision had enough time to adjust to the new environment. There are strange-looking creatures that stay close to the humans. Some have wings, some have claws, some have more than 3 eyes. Mochi doesn't think he has seen most of these creatures on Earth.

​It feels like he got teleported to something that seems like fiction. The shows that Aya loves to watch with him seem to have similar aesthetics. What were they about? He honestly never recalls, as most of the time he was more focused on the back scratches she gives. Television times are often the time he feels calm, as it is also the time they groom him. Sometimes he gets brushed, and they untangle the knots in his fur. Sometimes she cleans his ear or puts ointment to make his paw softer. A loud gasp before him drew his attention back to the present.

​He noticed his body was on top of a huge drawing that looked like a detailed circle with symbols inside. And in front of him was a young girl who looked in shock as she was holding the stick at him while butt flat on the ground, hair disheveled, cloak and uniform wrinkled as if she had just fallen.

​He senses a bit of caution and fear in her eyes. But what came out of her mouth sounds almost like joy

​“Teacher! I did it! I summoned my familiar!”