The pretext for summoning Maxel and Lilia was to encourage the territory's residents.
Since the areas near the Dead Lands had all been destroyed, this was a gesture to comfort and encourage the territorials who had suffered great damage.
Of course, whether the territorials would be pleased by his encouragement was... impossible to know. But such matters were none of my concern.
"Ah."
In a spot a little distance away, I saw a black cat gazing steadily in this direction.
After confirming Mintte waiting with its tail wagging, I turned my body toward Nadab.
From now on, speed was important, so it would be better to abandon the carriage. Originally, most luggage was carried in magical tools anyway.
"Then we'll be moving on now."
As I climbed onto Nadab's back and took the reins, the guard captain asked cautiously.
"Will you be alright? We haven't caught the mastermind yet..."
"How can I hide away just to protect my one life when the Dullahan might appear at this very moment?"
The guard captain and paladins exclaimed with moved expressions. Xenon, who had been preparing to leave, looked at them with pitying eyes and clicked his tongue softly.
Of course, they paid no attention to Xenon's reaction at all.
Especially the paladins, they repeatedly asked Samuel to assist me well.
Samuel, who had been listening to the paladins' worried nagging with a subtle expression, quietly turned away from them.
It seemed that at this moment, Xenon and Samuel were thinking the same thing...
"Then I'll be off."
Whether they did or not, I smiled faintly and greeted the guards and paladins.
If I was going to look like a cult leader anyway, I might as well make a bold move.
* * *
Count Luejak had asked Maxel to soothe the territorials' anxiety, but in truth, Maxel had other schemes.
'The Dullahan's last appearance site wasn't far from here...'
He had the ambition to capture the Dullahan this time. For that purpose, he had deliberately brought a large force.
Of course, outwardly these were not a subjugation force but his guards. However, he had reinforced his strength significantly using the excuse that the territory's atmosphere was dangerous. On top of that, Lilia had additionally summoned mercenaries.
"Your Highness, don't go too far ahead. It's dangerous."
"Lilia, you above all shouldn't leave your guards' side. I've learned the sword, but you're merely a frail young lady."
At Maxel's rarely reliable words, Lilia blushed and lowered her gaze.
Maxel flashed a triumphant smile at her, then waved his hand extravagantly toward the territorials.
Soothing the territorials' anxiety amounted to nothing more than appearing before them like this, showing his face, and occasionally offering a word or two of comfort.
Generally, commoners believed that when a high-ranking person appeared personally at the scene, half the problem was already solved.
"Please rest for a while in this city. Count Luejak has prepared quarters."
Maxel's aide spoke suggestively. Maxel, wearing a trustworthy smile while meeting eyes with the territorials, replied in a low voice.
"We won't stop here but pass through."
"Pardon? But if we pass this city, only small villages will continue from here on. Furthermore, it gets too close to the damaged areas."
That was exactly what Maxel wanted. Getting closer to the damaged areas!
"I won't reconsider. Advance as is."
"Your Highness, it could be dangerous. Lady Roam is here as well..."
"Don't you see the guards around us? Moreover, we even hired additional mercenaries. Do you think all these people can't handle a single Dullahan?"
When he had led a subjugation force, well. Back then, Maxel had certainly been defeated. But that was because there were too many Dullahan, and Lizardmen had intervened, creating a chaotic battle.
However, right now the rampaging Dullahan was merely one.
"Besides, Count Luejak wouldn't have arranged a route through dangerous areas."
At Maxel's stubborn insistence, the aide withdrew with a troubled face.
Of course, as Maxel said, one might think Count Luejak, unless mad, wouldn't intentionally push the crown prince into danger, yet when quietly examining the itinerary, there was something distinctly unsettling about it.
"Don't worry. Those mercenaries are highly skilled. Whatever pops out, they'll attack without mercy."
Lilia, who had overheard the conversation from nearby, spoke as if to comfort the aide. Having been told this much, there was nothing more he could say to stop them, so the aide withdrew with no other choice.
Even so, the aide kept glancing suspiciously at the mercenaries.
"How does the young lady know such rough mercenaries?"
They were people who lived lives too far removed for a noble lady to associate with.
The aide's question surfaced clearly on his face. Seeing his expression, Lilia smiled and shook her head.
"Know them? That couldn't be. I was merely introduced to them. It's fortunate that it helps Your Highness, isn't it?"
"Sometimes it seems Lilia does everything my aide should be doing."
Maxel interjected with a reproachful tone. The aide stiffened his expression awkwardly and stepped back.
After that, the aide expressed no more of his opinions, so Maxel smoothly crossed through the city.
And finally, when he had nearly reached the city gate area.
Boom!
A roar and billowing white smoke could be seen rising from the gate area.
"What is it? What's happening?"
The guards quickly protected Maxel and Lilia, straightening their formation.
At the same time, someone's urgent cry came from afar.
"It's the Dullahan! The Dullahan has appeared!"
"Kyaaah!"
"Aaaack!"
The territorials who had gathered to see the crown prince and crown princess-to-be visiting the city screamed and scattered.
"Your Highness, you must take shelter immediately!"
"Draw your swords! We must defeat that wicked monster at once!"
"Your Highness!"
Though the aide and guard knights clamored noisily, their cries didn't reach Maxel's ears.
His head was filled entirely with the Dullahan. The sight of himself catching the Dullahan, standing atop its body, and raising the sword of victory.
"What are you doing! Why aren't you drawing your swords!"
Maxel glared. This time he would kill the Dullahan and become a hero. Because that was his destiny.
* * *
The puppets of birth possess a distinctive presence.
They were smooth and clean, like well-crafted dolls. It was less like looking at living creatures and more like seeing well-made porcelain dolls.
Perhaps that's why? In the past too, the puppets broke easily. Breaking them wasn't difficult. One just had to cut the threads.
When the threads of fate woven by birth were severed, they went off course and tumbled about.
The regrettable thing was that the only one who could do that was ...... Dasha didn't have that power.
'But who was ...... again.'
While shattering and destroying fresh life, memories still wouldn't return.
The more that happened, the more fiercely Dasha raged. Vile birth, the morning god had conquered this world. One whose memories and flesh were both incomplete had been discarded like this.
Lamenting thus, Dasha pursued the puppets of birth. Since Dasha didn't have the power to cut the threads of fate, it had to crush and destroy them entirely.
'Ah...'
The puppet that had briefly moved away appeared again. Dasha resolved to catch and eliminate it this time.
While other puppets enjoyed innocent and ignorant life, that one was bound terribly tightly with threads of fate.
So tangled that they couldn't be cut, ...... would be helpless even if it came.
Dasha roared. Though it had no mouth, its whole body trembled as it made grotesque crying sounds. At such times, black smoke overflowed in waves above its severed neck.
"Capture it! Kill it!"
Sharp swords and pointed arrows rained down on Dasha. Some bounced off the armor, but others cleverly penetrated the gaps in the armor.
Without even pulling out the arrows piercing its body, Dasha swung its heavy sword.
"Aaaack!"
Dasha didn't even check whose scream that was. It merely advanced.
Then, when it heard a beating heart sound nearby, it swung its sword. That heartbeat—living things were all works of birth.
Beyond the land of death where it had opened its eyes, everything was teeming with living things.
"Capture it! Use the magical tools!"
"Where's the net?"
"It's coming this way!"
The surroundings were too noisy. It had no head, so why did it feel a headache?
Dasha felt an impulse to clutch its forehead. But when it raised its arm, magic flew fiercely as if to cut off its arm.
Instinctively twisting its body to dodge, Dasha swung its sword as if shooing flies.
Everything, it would bring down. This entire wretched world...
"Resurrected one!"
The attacks that had been sharply pouring down momentarily ceased.
Dasha, who had been momentarily hesitating while blocking attacks, didn't miss the opportunity and advanced. Its target was close by.
Though it had no eyes, it could see. The puppet of birth tightly wrapped in threads of fate. A living spool of thread.
And the moment it saw this, Dasha realized. That thing was birth's proxy.
In the past, birth had used a divine statue as a spool to weave threads of fate throughout the world. But ...... had broken that statue.
So this time, it had made a proxy like that into a spool and was weaving threads of fate.
Ah, then that spool must be destroyed.
"Your Highness, you must retreat!"
"I'll catch that thing myself!"
"Your Highness!"
See, even now those puppets caught in threads of fate were running wild like that.
If only the spool was destroyed. Then the puppets that couldn't even stand on their own would all tumble onto the ground.
Dasha raised its sword high. Black energy began to cling stickily to the blade.
Just as it was about to swing that.
"Stop."
A clear voice resonated in its mind, blazing fiercely with anger and hatred.
"Lower your sword."
The calm, composed voice wasn't loud at all. Rather, it was small enough to barely reach Dasha.
Yet the moment it heard that voice, Dasha forgot its actions from just moments ago and turned its body to find the voice's owner.
The voice's owner took one step toward Dasha.
"Dasha."
...Captain.
Ah, Captain.