Jenon stood with his arms crossed, quietly gazing ahead.
The ones who had attacked Aneli in the earlier chaos were presumed to be mercenaries.
'They're probably from the same group as the assassins who have been attacking all this time.'
While Samuel was finding fault with their behavior, Jenon approached the nearby guards.
These were the ones who had rushed out at news of the Dullahan's appearance, yet they couldn't even approach the Dullahan and only stood there trembling.
'Rather than wasting time worrying like this, we should quickly settle things here and go after them.'
Once this chaos was sorted out, the owl and hawk waiting in the trees, along with the horse standing ownerless over there, would take Jenon and Samuel to Aneli.
Having composed himself, Jenon prodded the guards.
"Why aren't you arresting them quickly?"
Several excited territory dwellers nearby chimed in with Jenon.
"That's right! Arrest them immediately!"
"Why are you just watching!"
It seemed that witnessing a Resurrected One being kidnapped right before their eyes had stoked the anger of the territory dwellers. And since it was apparently because of those mercenaries, one could imagine how furious they must be.
At the sight of surrounding territory dwellers raising their voices to demand the immediate arrest of those men and going to rescue the Resurrected One, the mercenaries wore bewildered expressions.
"We were hired to guard His Highness the Crown Prince!"
The mercenaries, who had been backed into a corner, eventually dragged Maxel into it. However, Samuel curled his lips upward and countered as if he had been waiting for this.
"Ah, so you're confessing to the mastermind behind this?"
"How dare you insult the imperial family!"
Even Maxel's guard knight stepped forward and raised his voice. As the atmosphere grew increasingly dangerous, Lilia, who had been standing in the back watching the situation, interjected with a frail expression.
"These are good people. They go around performing services hunting monsters for meager pay. They wouldn't do such frightening things."
Her intention was likely to defend the mercenaries. However, those words were exactly what Samuel and Jenon wanted to hear.
"If they're monster hunters, then aren't they a group that would harm the Resurrected One?"
"Now that I think about it, their approach was intentional from the start?"
As soon as Samuel's cold words ended, Jenon clapped his hands and raised his voice.
Then Samuel nodded and muttered in a serious tone.
"They joined the Crown Prince's escort after hearing that the Resurrected One would come to defeat the Dullahan."
"Wow, that's incredibly planned out. It's too wicked for mere mercenaries to devise. Actually, isn't there a bigger power hidden behind them?"
Jenon naturally continued the conversation while glancing back at the guards. The guards, who had been standing awkwardly, moved as if pushed and subdued the mercenaries.
Maxel and Lilia seemed not to understand why their conversation was flowing this way.
However, there was no one here to explain it to them.
"This doesn't seem like an incident that a provincial city's guard can handle, does it? An investigation team will come from the capital. Fortunately, before coming here, the Resurrected One asked the guard captain to look into this matter."
Jenon grabbed hold of some territory dweller he didn't even know and chattered calmly. Samuel also nodded indifferently and supported his words.
"This is a matter that requires dispatch from the Grand Temple as well."
"How dare you judge the gravity of this matter on your own, knowing who I am!"
Maxel, who had probably been holding back to maintain his dignity as Crown Prince, finally couldn't contain himself and raised his voice.
For now, Jenon closed his mouth. After all, his was a status that no one here could treat carelessly.
Even so, someone who could deal with the Crown Prince was coming right over there.
Maxel also seemed to have noticed the person running this way and called out loudly.
"Count Ruejak!"
I didn't know how much of the news he had heard, but Count Ruejak's face was completely pale.
As he approached, Maxel quickly spoke.
"Listen, these insolent people……!"
But before he could finish his sentence, Count Ruejak looked around first and asked.
"Is it true that the Resurrected One was kidnapped by the Dullahan!"
"Yes. Because of those men."
Samuel pointed at the mercenaries with his chin. Upon confirming them, Count Ruejak's expression twisted strangely.
"So these are the mercenaries hired as the Crown Prince's escort."
When Count Ruejak recognized them, Maxel opened his mouth quickly with a flushed face.
"That's right! These people dared to touch those I hired without even asking my permission……!"
"What are you doing! Why aren't you arresting them immediately!"
Count Ruejak pressed the guards as if he hadn't heard Maxel's words. Maxel's expression twisted terribly.
"Count!"
Only at that sharp call did Count Ruejak turn to look at Maxel.
"Your Highness, please understand the urgency of this matter. If they are innocent, they will be released unharmed."
Count Ruejak's voice was so stiff that it seemed unlikely he would ever release the mercenaries.
Indeed, from Count Ruejak's position, how infuriating must it be that the Resurrected One who was supposed to protect his territory had been kidnapped.
"This cannot be passed over lightly. Is the Resurrected One an ordinary person?"
Depending on how one heard it, it could be understood that Aneli, the Resurrected One, was far more important than Maxel, the Crown Prince.
Jenon quietly took in the ominous atmosphere.
The Dullahan's sudden action had been quite bewildering, but thanks to taking Aneli away so dramatically, the situation was becoming more serious than they had planned. Jenon inwardly smiled wryly.
'That worked out well.'
Yes, this incident was going to be blown up very, very large. So large that it would go pop and burst.
* * *
[An unpleasant land.]
Having emerged from subspace, Bark looked at the blackened ground and muttered with evident distaste.
[And unpleasant monsters too.]
Tristan, who had likewise appeared, shuddered and burrowed into the folds of my cloak.
"Eek, it feels awful……!"
As for Palides, needless to say, he jumped about whimpering.
Having met long-lost companions without even time for a proper reunion, only to be immediately confronted with intense revulsion, Dasha looked quite devastated.
[Soldiers I gathered for revenge…….]
Dasha must have truly wanted to take revenge on the world with all his heart. However, rendering Dasha's efforts meaningless, the skeletons didn't exactly look like reliable soldiers.
Even if I were to truly lead a skeleton army to take revenge on the entire world, I doubted they would last even a day.
Whether I was the only one who had such thoughts, Bark began to provoke the feeble skeletons by tapping them with his large front paws.
Perhaps finding the sight amusing, Tristan transformed into a Dullahan and joined in, and Palides also gradually participated.
[Ah, my soldiers……!]
I, who had been watching the skeletons that had unwittingly become playthings for the Dullohans, quietly spoke to Dasha.
"So, why did you go berserk? Are you still in a berserk state now?"
[I…… I didn't even know I had gone berserk.]
According to him, until meeting me, the thought of killing the Agent of Birth immediately had dominated his consciousness.
[I remembered when the Captain failed, and I was determined to destroy everything, thinking this world had become Birth's.]
In the midst of that, Lilia happened to be hovering nearby, and Dasha completely lost his mind.
In fact, even now while explaining to me, he was releasing black energy here and there between words, creating a gloomy atmosphere.
No matter how I looked at it, Dasha seemed not yet fully calmed. I cautiously patted Dasha's arm and said.
"Calm down. If you leave her be, she'll ruin herself."
Actually, she was already ruined, I should say. Though he didn't seem aware of it.
At my words, Dasha retorted in a gloomy voice.
[But she is the Agent of Birth and a spool winding the threads of fate. She must be completely destroyed.]
There was a word that particularly caught my attention in his hostile words.
"……A spool?"
[That woman has threads of fate wrapped all over her body, weaving them in every direction.]
The shining threads of fate on Lilia's skin were visible to me as well. I had guessed that Lilia's existence seemed to have some effect on those around her.
But that was all a conclusion based on accumulated experience from dealing with her.
It was unlikely that Dasha, who had barely seen Lilia a few times, would have reached the same conclusion by the same method. I looked at Dasha with wonder.
"You can see that?"
[I can feel it. The threads of fate and that spool.]
A spool. I felt like I had heard that word somewhere before.
Searching my memory, the monastery suddenly came to mind. The statue that the Captain of the past had allegedly beheaded. They said that was a spool.
So now Lilia was serving the role of that statue?
[I am the tenth knight and the bard who expounded on the Captain's sacrifice. I know all the world's stories and am familiar with the artificial stories Birth weaves.]
If Lilia was not simply Birth's Agent but also a spool……
"Then those who form relationships with Lilia become dyed in that artificial story."
Her family, Maxel, everyone who had suddenly changed, all of it being me foolishly playing in the palm of her hand.
Was it because they had been assigned roles in her artificial story?
A chilling feeling came over me. All this time, I had known Lilia was Birth's Agent but hadn't truly felt it.
Perhaps the real power Birth gave her was not foresight, but the ability to influence her surroundings so that foresight would be realized.
'A life determined by someone else…….'
Suddenly, the Captain of the past came to mind, the one who had thrown herself into the River of Oblivion, saying she didn't want to live as a god's puppet.
I understood a little what kind of heart she had when she said such things. A life manipulated without my knowledge—I truly wanted to decline that.
[Now I sing of revenge. They will pay the price.]
While I had been briefly lost in thought, Dasha had already transformed back into a gloomy state, releasing black energy.
I quickly opened my mouth to calm such a Dasha.
"There's no need for revenge. The power didn't fail."
[What?]
"It's just incomplete. But it will be completed soon."
The amount of black energy emanating from Dasha's body decreased.
"I will return your necks to you and give you rest."
As soon as my words ended, Dasha cried out in a voice pale with fright.
[You must not!]