The moment I opened the door and stepped out, a 'villager who happened to be passing by' blocked our path.
When I said we were going to see the monsters without even eating, he looked at me strangely but reluctantly stepped aside. It seemed he thought it didn't matter anyway since we wouldn't be able to open the barrier.
"I see you'll eat after you return, so I'll leave you be. And as you may have seen, only monsters can enter the barrier. Humans can neither enter nor leave. Even so, it's dangerous, so please don't approach too closely."
I had taken the lamp and was about to turn away when I froze in place. Forgetting my resolve not to stand out before the villagers, I grabbed the villager's arm.
"Humans can't enter the barrier?"
"Pardon?"
"The barrier. You said only monsters can pass through?"
"That's correct. It's for monster capture... Fortunately, they can't come out. But, um, your appearance is quite..."
"Ah, haha! Is that so! What a remarkable barrier! I've noted the precautions!"
Xenon hurriedly wrapped his arm around my shoulder and pulled me back, inserting himself between the villager and me. Then Samuel stepped forward with his imposing frame, looking down at the villager menacingly.
"Didn't you say you were just passing by?"
"Ah, yes. Yes!"
The villager retreated in a fluster. Even so, he didn't go far and kept glancing over to monitor our movements.
"Really, what am I supposed to do when you suddenly speak like that? No matter how small a fishing village, everyone should know about the Resurrected One by now!"
I looked blankly at Xenon who was scolding me in a low voice, then turned to look at Samuel who was similarly staring at me. He also seemed to want to point out my sudden outburst.
Pursing my lips, I said nothing and simply started walking toward the cave. It would be better to just show them rather than explain.
* * *
It didn't take long to reach the cave. I handed the lamp to Xenon and quietly walked into the barrier.
Confirming that surprise was spreading across Xenon and Samuel's faces, I calmly turned to look at the Dullahans.
[Chief!]
[Chief, can we leave now?]
[Chief... it's so cramped in here...]
Zigor, Tristan, and Farides swarmed around me. After patting them soothingly, I moved further inside.
Ganic, who had been sleeping as if dead until moments ago, was standing in a corner watching me.
[Chief...]
It was a thick, low, resonant voice. He stood motionless for a while facing me, then slowly knelt before me.
[The eighth knight who wanders searching for his lost head, Ganic, pays his respects.]
His figure, bowing his upper body deep toward my feet, looked at first glance like a knight making a sacred oath.
"I see, Ganic."
[I apologize for meeting you in such a state. Because I wear a monster's body, I've become unable to break even such a wretched prison.]
Ganic was serious to an uncomfortable degree. Farides and Zigor openly whispered that "he's acting dramatic again."
Tristan rubbed his arms saying he got goosebumps. However, Ganic was not at all swayed by their reactions. No, he was remarkably serious.
"That part can't be helped. What I'm curious about is what started all this. Can you explain it to me?"
[Of course.]
Ganic's explanation was longer than expected.
To summarize: when Ganic opened his eyes, before he could fully regain his reason, he faced a monster attack and fought it off instinctively.
However, he soon collapsed from exhaustion, and when he opened his eyes, he was trapped in this trap. That was how he first came to be imprisoned.
After that, monsters appeared again, and Ganic was released like a hunting dog. Naturally, Ganic defeated the monsters and tried to leave this place.
But he couldn't.
[I heard screams and went to find a bleeding young lizardman.]
What?
[He was trapped in an iron cage surrounded by holy water, so I couldn't approach.]
"...Why would a lizardman..."
[That one... was the offspring of the monster I defeated when I first opened my eyes. The humans called it the sea monster's young.]
Ganic continued in a sorrowful voice.
[I heard the humans talking. They said the sea monster was dead, but other monsters kept attacking so it was dangerous to release the young one. I'm sorry, Chief. I couldn't ignore that one's screams... Even though I couldn't communicate with the humans, I removed the threat for them, so they'll soon release that one. If so, there will be no reason for me to stay here either.]
"Do you believe that?"
I was so dumbfounded that a cynical question slipped out before I knew it. At my question, Ganic answered as if it were obvious.
[Of course. Seeing them protecting the young lizardman with holy water, even if they are humans who fear monsters, it shows they respect life.]
It was an incredibly pure answer without a speck of doubt.
[I remember. The Chief's appearance, who never lost trust in humans even after being betrayed ten times. I am keeping in mind the words that the nature of life is good.]
I was speechless and fell silent for a moment. I really needed to know what kind of Chief these Dullahans had served in the past.
To make fearsome Dullahans into such foolishly good creatures—who would do such a thing?
"So the old Chief was like that."
[Yes, following the Chief's teachings, I too tried to trust them.]
"But now the Chief is me. So I'll correct you."
I gave Ganic a benevolent smile.
"Human wickedness is always beyond imagination."
[...But you told me that even the worst opponent can be changed with effort.]
"My, the old Chief said such nonsense?"
I didn't know who it was, but I wanted to grab them by the collar and shake them. If they were going to have such stupid thoughts, they should have kept it to themselves—why did they have to corrupt innocent Dullahans too? I wouldn't be satisfied unless I spat on them.
Grinding my teeth inwardly, I emphasized firmly to the confused Ganic.
"Humans aren't something you can fix and use."
Once might not be enough, so I said it twice, three times. Until Ganic answered that he would take it to heart.
* * *
The massive Dullahan knelt reverently. Toward Aneli.
"You said they were subordinates..."
They didn't seem like mere subordinates, but rather like loyal confidants. Xenon couldn't bring himself to say more, and beside him, Samuel also gazed at Aneli with a stiff face.
Aneli's words that she wasn't controlling monsters finally properly registered. She didn't seem to need to control monsters.
With that degree of devotion, she could make them move as she wished without the trouble of deliberately controlling them.
"How did she pass through the barrier?"
Xenon suddenly muttered. Samuel also couldn't understand that part. However, it was hard to conclude Aneli was a monster...
"The conversation is over."
Since she was walking out so easily, they couldn't exactly call her a monster either.
"What is the situation? Did she really become a guardian deity?"
At Xenon's question, Aneli scowled deeply.
"Guardian deity, my foot. They were threatening my good Dullahan."
"Good Dullahan?"
At Xenon's skeptical question, Aneli frowned and said.
"A young lizardman was weighing on his mind so he couldn't leave—that makes him good, doesn't it?"
"Can't you explain it more understandably?"
"The village bastards, after the Dullahan defeated the sea monster for them, didn't know gratitude and took the sea monster's young as hostage to exploit my good Dullahan—that's what I'm saying."
Aneli briefly explained the situation in an angry voice.
What the villagers called the sea monster seemed to be a lizardman. And the Dullahan defeating that lizardman was how it started.
The villagers for some reason had captured the young lizardman alive, and the Dullahan who found out later tried to save it but failed.
After that, the villagers claimed they couldn't release the young one because of monsters, and the Dullahan, believing those words completely, had been fighting off monsters until now.
"But we didn't sense any monster presence in the village."
Even a young lizardman should emit its characteristic presence to some degree. At Samuel's words, Aneli crossed her arms and said.
"They say it's trapped in an iron cage surrounded by holy water. Could that be related?"
"Holy water isn't something easily obtained..."
Samuel trailed off and suddenly recalled the food laced with mild drugs that had been naturally placed out earlier under the pretense of dinner. Also Mari's words that one paladin had come and left.
Everything has a difficult beginning.
"Holy water is water imbued with divine power. Just having it nearby weakens monsters, and for a young lizardman, it could probably mask its presence."
Though explaining calmly, Samuel couldn't help but have a bitter taste in his mouth, and he lowered his gaze slightly. It seemed they would need to request an investigation from the temple.
As he was going through the nearby temples in his head, Xenon spoke up.
"Come to think of it, I heard something like that while traveling."
Xenon glanced at the pitch-black cave entrance and continued in a sigh-laced voice.
"They say sprinkling monster blood draws fish. But monster blood also attracts stronger monsters, so I wondered if anyone would actually do it."
Aneli pressed her lips firmly shut. With her already pale and cool atmosphere, her expressionless face created tension.
"..."
Samuel found himself staring at Aneli unconsciously. Since he had grown accustomed to her magically altered appearance, her returned original appearance looked somewhat unfamiliar.
Her violet eyes, lost in thought, turned toward Samuel.
"Can you detect holy water?"
"I can sense divine energy. I sensed it earlier too. But it's not uncommon for villages to enshrine small divine statues praying for peace, so I didn't think much of it."
"Then it would be right to assume that sea monster came to reclaim its young in the first place."
"There's also the possibility they caught the young one later."
Xenon suggested another possibility, but Aneli received his words with a sneer.
"Human greed is a motive you can trust in any situation."