The moment the word 'Captain' registered, the throbbing headache pierced through his skull violently.
Dasha trembled and let out a grotesque cry. People startled by the black energy blackening the surroundings scrambled away from Dasha in fright.
However, one person—the Captain—stood in the same spot, gazing steadily at him.
"Lord Anelli!"
"It's dangerous!"
He saw some men approaching the Captain. Dasha attacked them without hesitation.
The moment the men counterattacked in response to Dasha's sudden reaction, armed figures slipped through the black smoke this time, targeting the Captain.
Even the Captain seemed surprised this time, hurriedly dodging their attack and retreating. However, if Dasha hadn't immediately altered the trajectory of his attack to target them, she might have been wounded somewhere.
Yet they didn't give up even after their attack failed. Dasha could clearly tell that their target was the Captain.
"Who the hell are they attacking!"
Shouts and curses flew from all directions.
'No.'
This place was dangerous. Everything was threatening the Captain, wasn't it?
Dasha's judgment was swift.
"Lord Anelli!"
The Captain was very light, so Dasha could hold her with just one arm.
"That crazy Dullahan! Hey!"
"Lord Anelli!"
Dasha immediately turned the reins. Thanks to the Captain, who had been startled and thrashing about but quickly regained composure, Dasha was able to stably escape the area and flee.
Ever since opening his eyes, Dasha had been filled with anger, despair, resentment, and hatred. But for the first time, he felt some kind of positive and shining emotion.
Though it was difficult to clearly define what it was, one thing was certain.
This time, he had to protect the Captain.
And so Dasha safely rescued the Captain.
* * *
I was kidnapped by Dasha.
Leaning against the hard Dullahan armor, I looked around with somewhat troubled eyes.
Ah, I really was kidnapped. In front of everyone, this time for real.
Gathering my bewildered feelings at this unexpected situation, I tried my best to think rationally.
"……Dasha."
When I called Dasha calmly, the horse that had been walking diligently somewhere momentarily hesitated. I could feel the Dullahan's body behind me flinch as well.
I thought he might not be in a state to talk since he kidnapped me so abruptly, but that didn't seem to be the case. At least he was definitely responding to my voice.
"Dasha. Can you talk right now?"
[Captain.]
Finally, Dasha answered my question.
Dasha, who had completely stopped the horse, first dismounted, then grabbed my waist and carefully lowered me down.
It was unbelievably gentle behavior for a Dullahan who had been running rampant just moments ago—breaking down city gates, destroying buildings, and throwing people around.
[Do not worry.]
Your existence right now is my biggest worry.
Before I could even respond, Dasha spoke in a serious voice.
[This place is safe.]
His posture with his chest puffed out looked somewhat proud.
[No one will be able to come here.]
Listening to Dasha's words, I looked around slowly and let out a hollow laugh.
"……I suppose so."
This is the Dead Land. That land full of poison that ordinary people can't enter. And it's not just poison either.
"Who would dare come here when there are this many skeletons?"
What on earth are all those bones……. I never heard there were such things in the Dead Land…….
I was looking at the skeletons gathered together and staring at me with disbelief, while they whispered and glanced at me.
You might wonder how I noticed their gazes when skeletons don't have eyeballs…….
It was because every time they moved their heads to secretly peek at me, there was a rattling sound, so I couldn't help but notice.
Among the skeletons who had been whispering among themselves, one slowly stepped forward as if representing them.
[Shall we make a prison, Captain?]
"Captain?"
[Gasp, it understood our words!]
The skeleton jumped in surprise and backed away awkwardly. Perhaps due to the sudden movement, a rattling friction sound came from the bone joints.
From the sound alone, it seemed so poorly connected that I worried something might break.
I glanced at the skinny leg bones and turned my gaze to Dasha.
"……You're the Captain here?"
[I, I apologize. There is only one Captain!]
That wasn't what I asked for an apology, but Dasha broke into a cold sweat and kept bowing to me. Then he immediately raised his voice at the skeletons.
[You rascals! How dare you not bow to the Captain? What are you doing? This person is my Captain!]
At Dasha's shouting, the skeletons jumped in surprise and prostrated themselves on the ground.
[Gasp.]
[W-we apologize!]
The sight of skeletons lying flat like frogs on the pitch-black, dried land where not a single blade of grass could be found…… honestly, it was disturbing to watch. It felt like looking at an excavated mass grave.
I wasn't particularly happy about it either. Being admired by skeletons couldn't possibly feel good.
Feeling somehow complicated, I stared at the skeletons and took a deep breath.
First, well. Let's assess the situation.
"What exactly have you been doing here to be called Captain?"
He said he went berserk. So I thought he was really just rampaging around seeing nothing.
I was planning to have other Dullahans beat some sense into him if he had lost his reason!
I didn't know he was sane enough to keep skeletons as his subordinates like this!
The more I thought about it, the more wronged I felt. If I had known he was sane enough to build his own force like this, I would have come straight here and waited.
No, if I had just known beforehand that Dasha had made the Dead Land his base!
I frowned and stared at Dasha. Dasha, completely unaware of my feelings, confessed his ambitions in a forceful and confident tone.
"I was preparing for the Captain's revenge. These skeletons will serve their purpose as soldiers sufficiently, so do not worry!"
No, that's why I'm saying you're the biggest worry right now.
"I will take the vanguard. Just lead them and bring down this world!"
A sigh escaped me before I knew it.
Good heavens, the evil that has overrun was right here.
* * *
The reason Xenon didn't immediately chase after Anelli was because she had signaled him to stay put.
From the beginning, they had already agreed to separate and act independently if they encountered a Dullahan.
Though the method wasn't quite this…… extreme.
"The Resurrected One has been kidnapped!"
There were more than one or two people who witnessed Anelli being taken by the Dullahan. If they didn't stay behind and clean up this chaotic situation, people who knew nothing might genuinely organize a large-scale rescue party to save the Resurrected One.
Rescue……. Perhaps they really should go rescue her?
"Just before the Resurrected One was kidnapped, they attacked her."
"That's not true! We were targeting the Dullahan……!"
"If it weren't for their attack, the Resurrected One wouldn't have been given the opening to be kidnapped."
Xenon glanced at Samuel, who continued speaking with a face seemingly suppressing a lot of anger, and inwardly admired him.
Samuel was quite skilled at incitement. This was because people who listened to him inherently trusted him and paid attention to his words.
Probably because of his status as a paladin. And not just any paladin, but one the High Priest was proud of.
That proud paladin was currently at the forefront of this fraud scheme, commanding from the front line. The High Priest needed to know about this.
'This guy alone can handle the cleanup well enough, can't I just go to Lord Anelli?'
He wanted to leave all the aftermath to Samuel right now, but Xenon held back for the moment.
Even if he really did nothing, he needed to be present here. Because Anelli didn't trust Samuel.
"I'm going to move elsewhere with Dasha. Even if he went berserk, he'll listen to me. Because right now…… I have at least some divine power."
Anelli had said that, giving instructions only to Xenon.
"You clean up the aftermath with Samuel. If we don't handle this, Maxel and Lilia will try to spread strange rumors again."
"Do we really need both of us for that?"
"Yes. Both of you need to do it. Samuel is better at appealing to the public, but he's obsessed with me, so he might act impulsively."
"Impulsively?"
"They put a temple treasure with location tracking magic around my neck."
He thought she accepted the choker obediently, so she wasn't bothered by it, but it seemed Anelli was still uncomfortable with it.
"Besides, his duty will end soon."
Xenon remembered Anelli's expression as she gazed at Samuel from a distance.
What surfaced on her face was clearly wariness.
"Xenon, do you think Sir Samuel will willingly let me go?"
When he heard her question, Xenon felt like he'd been hit in the back of the head. Did that paladin seem like someone who would willingly let go?
Of course he didn't think that!
Xenon realized why Anelli didn't fully trust Samuel. He also understood what she was worried about that made her leave him by Samuel's side like this.
'Right, she told me not to follow, so there must be a reason.'
He really didn't expect the Dullahan to kidnap Anelli so suddenly.
That's why Xenon almost forgot their prior conversation and chased after the Dullahan.
But if Anelli had been in truly dangerous circumstances at that moment, her Dullahans wouldn't have stood by either.
In the first place, Anelli wasn't alone right now. So Xenon decided to trust her.
Just as she had trusted him and left him here.