"It's best not to bring it."
"Impossible. Is there no proper method?"
"Well... if you absolutely, must, inevitably, stubbornly insist on bringing it... wait a moment."
Phew. Xenon sighed and rummaged through his bag. He reached his arm deep inside searching for something, and finally pulled out some cloth.
"Please wrap this around that horse."
"Around its neck?"
"Whether you wrap it around the neck or tie it as a ribbon in the mane, it doesn't matter. I made it to conceal traces when worn. That fellow's gloomy aura will be hidden as well."
"It seems a bit short to wrap around the neck."
I spread out the cloth I received and held it against Nadav. As expected, it was short, and no matter how much I pulled, tying a knot wasn't easy.
If I tied it around a leg or somewhere similar, it might come undone while walking, so in the end, the only option left was the mane.
[Boss...]
"Stay still. I'll tie it nicely for you."
I grabbed Nadav's mane with my hand. Would the left side look better than the right? No, maybe tying it high in the center would be better?
[Um, Boss...?]
"Yeah. I'm done."
I answered absentmindedly while carefully wrapping the ribbon. My manual dexterity isn't great, so even tying a single ribbon required intense concentration.
[That...]
"Yeah, I said I'm done, didn't I?"
Nadav resigned himself and quietly closed his mouth. Meanwhile, something that somewhat resembled a ribbon was completed.
I had intended to tie it near the crown of the head, but it ended up shifted to the left. Still, looking at the sturdy knot made me feel proud.
Maybe my manual skills aren't terribly hopeless after all.
"It suits you well."
I grinned and stroked Nadav's neck. Nadav didn't express any particular dissatisfaction, but from the way he quietly pawed the ground, I could tell he wasn't exactly thrilled.
But what could I do? To bring him along, I had to disguise his presence like an ordinary horse.
"So, did you accomplish your purpose for entering the forest?"
Xenon tilted his head and asked. Since I had stubbornly insisted on entering the forest alone, he probably expected me to return with some grand transformation.
The purpose of entering the forest, huh.
"Uh... well, more or less."
I shrugged my shoulders and nodded calmly, but he still had a look of incomprehension. I couldn't really give any better answer than that.
Actually, on the way back with Nadav, I thought about luring some other wild animals as a bonus, but no animals would come near at all. It was probably because of Nadav.
For now, with the ribbon attached, the situation might have improved, but there didn't seem to be any wolves in this forest that could surpass Nesi. Nadav probably chased away all the nearby animals.
"I understand for now. Well, since you've brought back a horse, travel speed will increase."
Xenon let his shoulders drop with an expression of complete resignation. He probably figured that digging deeper for the truth wouldn't do any good. I welcomed his quick surrender and changed the subject.
"So how much for that cloth?"
It's an item imbued with magic, so it must cost quite a bit, right?
"How can you try to solve everything with money..."
"So, you're saying you won't accept payment?"
"...Just a moment. I need to calculate the material costs and labor that went into making that."
See, money solves everything.
I stood with my arms crossed triumphantly, but Xenon couldn't quite name a price. He didn't seem familiar with this kind of transaction.
We weren't in a hurry to pay and part ways anyway, so while waiting, I figured I'd leisurely fix Nadav's crooked ribbon.
[Wait, you're pulling too hard...]
"Okay, I'm done."
And so, Nadav had to endure having his mane tugged and pulled by me for quite a while.
* * *
"Have you found anything?"
"Yes. There are witnesses who saw a large bird passing through this area."
"But a wyvern was also spotted from the opposite direction."
Listening to the soldiers' reports, Samuel rubbed his throbbing forehead.
A wyvern is a massive monster, so it would be easily visible, and he believed that once the flight direction was identified, tracking it would be quick.
'If I had known this would happen, I should have torn the tips of the wyvern's wings.'
Instead of letting it fly away intact, he should have left some kind of mark. Unable to identify the specific wyvern, the information kept getting mixed up.
And that wasn't the only problem.
'The Imperial family and the Roam family...'
The two groups that had inserted themselves claiming to help with the search were instead adding to the chaos.
Even Samuel, who had no interest in politics, couldn't fail to notice the current atmosphere. Everyone was desperate to be the first to find Aneli.
"...Sigh."
Samuel sighed at the situation where they were keeping each other in check, running disruption operations, and sabotaging each other, then turned his gaze to the soldier. The soldier continued.
"Reports of sightings of someone presumed to be the Risen One are also piling up from various locations."
"It seems someone is intentionally spreading false information."
Samuel pressed his lips firmly together and looked down at the map. It was a large map marking the entire empire.
While others were investigating assuming Aneli had been 'abducted,' Samuel was assuming she had 'escaped.' This was a major criterion in selecting search areas.
"The wyvern would have had to land as inconspicuously as possible, so a rural area with wide open spaces or grasslands that wanted posters wouldn't immediately reach..."
News travels quickly between major cities, but relatively speaking, rural areas receive news later due to various shortcomings.
If Aneli intended to escape, she would try to hide her well-known appearance as much as possible in a place where she wouldn't be recognized. Also, unless she was a fool, she would have tried to part ways with the wyvern immediately.
Samuel's eyes narrowed.
'There must be a way she gained the wyvern's cooperation. Can one receive cooperation from created beings through divine blessing?'
If she possessed such an ability, pursuing her would be even more difficult.
'Or perhaps controlling monsters...'
If so, her subsequent choices would likely follow suit. Trying to hide her traces with the cooperation of monsters rather than people.
"You said there's someone who witnessed a large bird passing through here?"
"That's correct. If you command it, I will inquire in the nearby rural villages."
At Samuel's question, the soldier answered in a tightly nervous voice. The area he pointed to was the side with many mountain ranges.
"No."
Samuel, who had been tapping the mountain range area with his index finger while lost in thought, folded the map.
"I will go myself."
If she passed through that place, he would definitely recognize it.
* * *
I had never experienced such excellent ride quality in my life.
I praised Nadav the entire time I rode him. He truly was a fine steed. Such a cloud-like ride quality!
I would have been confident riding a horse like this all day long. I neatly put away my intention to eventually separate from Nadav. He may be a Dullahan, but he's also a horse.
I had thought that acquiring Nadav might make traveling with Xenon pointless, but I soon corrected that thought.
Nadav's true form was a monster, so he could never reveal his true self in places where people lived.
Moreover, when I casually checked, he didn't seem to have any cooking skills. Expecting cooking from a Dullahan in the first place was probably asking too much.
So for my safe and sound meals, I still needed Xenon. Besides that, this and that.
"I've lived long enough, but to treat a mage like a cook. Do you know how expensive my labor is?"
"You can't even use magic right now."
At my words, Xenon made an expression of disbelief. I shrugged my shoulders and picked up a piece of meat to eat.
The meat Xenon grilled was truly fantastic. No, he didn't even use fancy spices, so how did he grill it so full of juices?
I don't know about Xenon's magical abilities, but the culinary world might have truly missed an incredible talent.
Xenon, sighing heavily while grilling the meat, suddenly glanced at the intersection in the direction we were heading.
We were turning back the way we came, heading toward the rural village where we first met.
"By the way, why did you suddenly change direction?"
I had originally intended to go to the edge of the empire, to Trend Port, and take a ship to leave for a foreign country.
To do that, I had planned to cross this mountain range, but suddenly I turned direction toward the inland. Xenon tilted his head as if curious.
"Just. Suddenly felt like going back."
"To that village?"
"No, toward the inland cities."
Xenon's expression frowned, showing he couldn't understand. I pretended not to notice and added in a nonchalant tone.
"I heard the charm of travel is that it's unpredictable."
"They say that, but this is too sudden a whim, isn't it?"
He seemed to want a bit more explanation. However, I naturally avoided his gaze and turned my head.
I couldn't very well say that I changed direction because before leaving the empire, I needed to find out about what Nadav mentioned regarding the Round Table Knights or whatever.
Nadav asked me to find his head but couldn't explain at all how to find it.
He didn't even know how to meet his fellow Dullahans.
There was no choice but to find out directly.
More than anything, I was curious about what would happen if I refused this Dullahan's request. Would my resurrection be cancelled?
Would the god realize even now that the wrong person was chosen as the Risen One and lead me back to death?
If not even that, then I planned to gather as much information as possible, and based on that, avoid Dullahans and heads left and right.
They want me to find other Dullahans too, when they won't even tell me how to find Nadav's head.
I never agreed to such an enormous adventure.
If they wanted to make me do something like this, shouldn't they have at least obtained my consent before resurrecting me? As of now, I can't find any reason to dive into this matter at all.