I could not answer. I knew how ridiculous and absurd it would sound to say I was worried about monsters that were to be exterminated.
In the first place, I wasn't even sure if I was truly worried about monsters being exterminated. Why would I worry about monsters?
—Aneli, I know you keep some monsters particularly close to you. However, that is an extremely special case, and I still believe most monsters are dangerous. I have no intention of exposing the imperial citizens to danger.
Interpreting my silence in his own way, Heinri spoke in a somewhat concerned tone.
I licked my lips and calmly answered to correct his misunderstanding.
"I wasn't asking you to protect the lives of monsters."
—Maxel's forces are being monitored separately. Soon it will be announced to everyone that the deposed crown prince harbors treacherous intentions and holds a blade to the Emperor's throat.
After that, topics I needed to know but had no interest in continued for a while—such as the Empress's movements and the recent atmosphere in high society.
Even after the communication with Heinri ended, Xenon and Samuel did not return.
Wanting to settle my complicated feelings, I looked out the carriage window at the desolate streets. Then I murmured in an indifferent voice.
"Would Dasha be near the Belladia Valley?"
[Probably so, wouldn't she?]
Minteh, who was sitting beside me, answered calmly.
Probably.... In the past, I might have agreed with Minteh's words.
Until now, I hadn't had much difficulty meeting Dullahans. This was because Dullahans appeared before me as if guided by fate.
So unconsciously, I had thought I could easily meet all Dullahans.
Even with Soana... though Samuel and Xenon looked into it, the sightings had spread first, so I thought this too might have been fate.
However, now that only the last Dullahan remained, I felt somehow uneasy.
"What kind of knight was Dasha?"
[What do you mean by what kind of knight...?]
"Just... personality or things like that."
At my question, Minteh fell into thought for a moment. Then she answered in a careful voice.
[She was... a bit foolish.]
"...Like Bark?"
Bark was in a position where he got scolded by Minteh day after day. For being foolish and stupid.
Actually, I secretly agreed with that assessment.
[Bark is foolish but listens well, but Dasha...]
Minteh trailed off. Her voice, blurred indistinctly, suggested something.
The fact that the last Dullahan would also be no easy opponent.
* * *
The monsters Maxel had exterminated were a few goblins that had fallen behind their pack.
It was a chance discovery, an unplanned fight. However, as a result, they gained a very useful outcome.
Through the goblin corpses, Maxel temporarily won the favor of the territory's people in the region where he was currently staying. It was Lilia who suggested spreading that favor throughout the Empire.
「If the missing Resurrected One hears this news, she will respond. She won't want her achievements stolen.」
Aneli would win the favor of imperial citizens from where she couldn't be seen, so they had to find her whereabouts and somehow block her activities.
With such words, she persuaded Maxel. Of course, Lilia's reason for wanting to find Aneli was not merely that.
Just before the incident at the Roam mansion occurred, she had intended to send assassins to Aneli.
'Did she perhaps notice the assassins and flee?'
Lilia paced in front of the fireplace. In her hand was a letter she had just received. It was sent by Frecy's subordinates.
'I hope it contains evidence that Frecy's death was Aneli's doing.'
Even as she opened the envelope, Lilia's mind was filled with thoughts of Aneli.
She did not believe the rumor that Aneli had been kidnapped.
Although Aneli's whereabouts did not appear in her dreams so she couldn't learn anything, she had a vague certainty. A certainty that she had left the Roam family without anyone knowing.
That Aneli had deliberately left the Roam mansion was actually a choice Lilia couldn't understand.
Whatever schemes she was plotting, shouldn't she do so in a comfortable and stable environment?
Separately from Lilia's efforts to push Seyri as Roam's successor, Aneli had lived quite self-indulgently in the Roam mansion. It wasn't likely she left because of newfound discomfort.
In the first place, would Aneli even feel something like discomfort? She was a woman who would change any place to suit her taste wherever she was.
Yes, being such a self-willed woman, she might not care whoever she attached herself to.
Lilia recalled that Aneli had secretly contacted a holy knight. Perhaps she had attached herself to the Temple.
'The Resurrected One chosen by God.'
With an oracle alone not being enough, she even gained the Magic Tower's endorsement, so it couldn't be denied that Aneli was God's agent.
However, Lilia still couldn't abandon her suspicion that Aneli had some connection to monsters.
And that suspicion turned into certainty upon reading the letter.
"Dullahan?"
Lilia's gaze, as she read through the letter, stopped at the word 'Dullahan.'
Frecy's subordinates had investigated the location where Frecy was killed and shared the results with Lilia. This letter was exactly that content.
The letter stated that Frecy and his subordinates were definitely killed by a monster, and that the monster was probably a Dullahan.
It was the result of combining the huge hoof marks left on the ground, the abnormally large footprints, and the faint remaining energy.
'That day, Frecy went after Aneli.'
And was killed. Lilia's speculation that Aneli was connected to Frecy's death was extremely natural.
In that context, if the one who killed Frecy might be a Dullahan, doesn't that mean Aneli might be connected to Dullahans!
'Come to think of it, there was a rumor that she was kidnapped by a Dullahan, wasn't there?'
Before, Roam's pursuit team had almost caught Aneli but lost her because a Dullahan took her away.
At the imperial palace, Aneli had even subdued a Dullahan.
The Temple had defined Dullahans as evil that must be exterminated, so Aneli, God's agent, and the rampant evil Dullahan seemed somehow connected.
'Evil runs rampant and sends the Resurrected One, so stand strong against it, was it?'
Lilia chewed over the oracle anew. Since her prophecy had nothing to do with the Temple, she actually hadn't given it much thought before.
Honestly, she hadn't thought the oracle would have a major impact on the Empire. She had accepted it as nothing more than religious instigation at most.
However, as long as Aneli was riding on that oracle and advancing triumphantly, she could no longer ignore it.
'The Resurrected One stands against evil, but Aneli and Dullahans are...'
Lilia stopped at that thought. She repeatedly chewed over the thought she had been unconsciously having moments ago.
'The Resurrected One... stands against evil?'
Aneli had subdued the Dullahan at the imperial palace but didn't kill it in front of everyone. No one knew what Aneli did with the Dullahan.
'Evil runs rampant and sends the Resurrected One... evil runs rampant, the Resurrected One?'
...What if the Dullahan and Resurrected One were on the same side from the beginning?
She tried to push it that way, but a possibility she had never actually imagined crossed her mind like lightning.
Lilia, who had opened her mouth without realizing, looked down at the letter blankly.
Frecy had followed Aneli into the forest and was killed by a Dullahan.
"So this is why monsters must be exterminated."
The reason Maxel and Lilia had to exterminate monsters as a way to overcome adversity.
Lilia felt her mind clear. This was it. Ah, so Aneli was an evil Resurrected One who deceived the eyes of the world!
"Right, just because God resurrected someone doesn't mean they must do good deeds."
Lilia turned around with a flushed face. She urgently took out letter paper and quickly wrote down words with her pen.
The recipient was the Yuskell Guild Master.
* * *
We decided to head toward the Trebi mountain range for now.
However, instead of choosing a direct route, we chose a slightly roundabout path. This was because we discovered a place we needed to stop by while examining the map.
Palides sat in the driver's seat. Fortunately, Palides's skill at driving the carriage was excellent.
"I thought you were going to raise it."
Xenon, who was sitting across from me looking at the map, opened his mouth as if talking to himself.
I, who had been looking out the window without much thought, cast a glance at him.
"Raise it? What would I do with a lizardman?"
At my indifferent answer, Xenon nodded, saying that was true. Even so, he kept glancing at the map with a still uneasy face.
Where his gaze landed, a large wetland was marked.
It was the place where I had decided to release the baby lizardman.
"But is it really okay? It's a lizardman habitat... If a battle breaks out in the wetland, it would be awkward."
Xenon seemed to be recalling the fight with the Rusalkas.
Certainly, if the Rusalkas hadn't come out to land on their own back then, fighting would have been quite difficult.
But that's if a battle breaks out. Since we're not going to fight now, wouldn't it be okay?
"There's no need to go close to the habitat. If we release it nearby, it will find its own kind on its own."
Samuel, who had been sitting with his arms crossed, interjected. I was thinking something similar.
"But do lizardmen not bully those from different packs?"
That's something I wouldn't know. But Xenon's question was worth considering.
If it's a life we went to the trouble of saving, it would be a bit regrettable if it died right after being released.
"Ask your master."
"Ah, should I?"
I hesitated at Xenon's sudden action.
I had said it half-jokingly, recalling the help we received when eliminating the Rusalkas, but Xenon took out a communication device without any hesitation.
No, I didn't mean for you to actually connect.
I tried to stop him, thinking we wouldn't hear anything good if we contacted him about something like this, but Xenon had already activated the communication device.
The communication device flashed, and before long, it shone brightly and connected.
"Master! Do lizardmen not bully each other or anything?"
Xenon threw the question immediately after confirming the connection. The other side of the communication device was quiet.
And after a moment, instead of the answer Xenon was waiting for, profuse curses and angry shouts began pouring out.
Just from the voice, I could imagine the Tower Master swinging his staff in the air.
Contacting me only when needed... I knew this would happen.