DLRV 13

“Not taking it with you is the best option.”

“Impossible. Is there no proper way?”

“Well… if you absolutely, positively, without a doubt, insist on bringing it along… Please wait a moment.”

Sighing, Xenon opened his bag and rummaged through it. He reached deep inside, searching for something, and finally pulled out a piece of cloth.

“Wrap this around the horse.”

“Around its neck?”

“Whether you wrap it around its neck or tie it to its mane like a ribbon doesn’t matter. It was made to conceal presence, so it should also suppress that creature’s ominous aura.”

“It seems a bit short to go around the neck.”

I unfolded the cloth and held it up in front of Nadav. As expected, it was too short to tie securely no matter how much I tried.

If I tied it to one of his legs, it might come loose while walking, so that left the mane as the only viable option.

[Captain…]

“Stay still. I’ll tie it nicely for you.”

I grabbed Nadav’s mane with my hand. Would it look better on the right side or the left? No, maybe it’d be better to tie it high in the center?

[Uh… Captain…?]

“Yeah. All done.”

I responded absentmindedly while carefully tying the ribbon. Since I wasn’t particularly skilled with my hands, even tying a simple ribbon required my full concentration.

[Um…]

“I said I’m done, okay?”

Nadav resigned himself to his fate and quietly closed his mouth. In the meantime, I had managed to create something that vaguely resembled a ribbon.

I had originally intended to tie it at the crown of his head, but it ended up slightly off to the left. Still, seeing the firmly secured knot gave me a small sense of accomplishment.

Maybe my dexterity wasn’t completely terrible after all.

“It looks good on you.”

Grinning, I stroked Nadav’s neck. He didn’t voice any complaints, but the way he kept stamping his hooves made it clear he wasn’t entirely pleased.

What could he do? If I was going to bring him along, I had to make him look like a normal horse.

“So, did you accomplish what you set out to do in the forest?”

Xenon tilted his head as he asked. Since I had insisted on entering the forest alone, he must have expected me to return with some dramatic change.

The purpose of entering the forest, huh.

“Well… more or less.”

I shrugged nonchalantly and nodded, but he still looked unconvinced. There wasn’t much else I could say.

Honestly, on the way back with Nadav, I had considered luring a few more wild animals as a bonus, but none had come close. It was probably because of Nadav.

Now that he had the ribbon on, the situation might have improved, but there didn’t seem to be any wolves in this forest stronger than Nesi. Most likely, Nadav had scared all the nearby animals away.

“Well, understood. At the very least, since you found a horse, our travel speed will be faster.”

Xenon slumped his shoulders in defeat, as if realizing that digging any deeper wouldn’t yield anything good. I welcomed his quick surrender and smoothly changed the topic.

“So, how much for this cloth?”

Since it was imbued with magic, it was bound to be expensive.

“How can you be so intent on solving everything with money…?”

“So, does that mean you won’t charge me?”

“…Give me a moment. I need to calculate the material costs and labor expenses.”

See? Money solves everything.

***

“We are receiving numerous reports from various places claiming to have spotted the suspected Resurrected One.”

“It seems someone is deliberately spreading false information.”

Samuel pressed his lips together tightly and looked down at the map. It was a large map marking the entirety of the empire.

While others were investigating under the assumption that Annelie had been ‘abducted,’ Samuel was assuming that she had ‘escaped.’ This made a significant difference in selecting the search areas.

“She would have needed to land somewhere without drawing attention to the wyvern—an open field or grassland, yet not immediately accessible to the bounty hunters… a rural area.”

News traveled quickly between major cities, but rural areas were slower to receive information due to various inefficiencies.

If Annelie was planning to escape, she would have tried to conceal her widely recognized appearance in a place where people wouldn’t recognize her. And unless she was a fool, she would have separated from the wyvern as soon as possible.

Samuel’s eyes narrowed.

There must be a way she got the wyvern to cooperate. Could she be receiving assistance from creatures through divine blessings?

If she possessed such an ability, tracking her down would be even more difficult.

Or perhaps… Does she have the power to control monsters?

If that were the case, her next choice would likely follow the same logic—hiding with the help of monsters rather than humans.

“Someone reported seeing a large bird passing through this area?”

“Yes, sir. If you command it, we will investigate the nearby rural villages.”

The soldier replied nervously to Samuel’s question. The location he had pointed to was in a mountainous region.

“No.”

Samuel tapped his index finger against the area near the mountains, lost in thought, before finally folding up the map.

“I’ll go there myself.”

If she had passed through that area, he would be able to recognize it without fail.

***

Never in my life had I experienced such an exceptionally smooth ride.

I praised Nadav the entire time I rode him. He truly was an exceptional horse. Such a cloud-like riding experience!

If all horses were like this, I could ride all day without a problem. I quietly set aside my earlier intention of parting ways with Nadav. He might be a Dullahan, but he was still a horse.

For a moment, I wondered if having Nadav now made traveling with Xenon unnecessary, but I quickly corrected my thoughts.

Since Nadav’s true form was that of a monster, he could never reveal himself in populated areas.

Moreover, after subtly checking, I realized he had no cooking skills. Well, expecting a Dullahan to cook in the first place was probably unreasonable.

So, for the sake of having proper meals, I still needed Xenon. Among other things.

“Of all things, treating a mage like a mere cook… Do you have any idea how expensive my services are?”

“But you can’t even use magic right now.”

Xenon gave me an incredulous look at my remark. I simply shrugged and picked up a piece of meat to eat.

The meat Xenon grilled was nothing short of phenomenal. He hadn’t even used any fancy spices—so how did he manage to cook it so perfectly juicy?

I had no idea how skilled he was in magic, but if anything, the culinary world had seriously missed out on a great talent.

With heavy sighs, Xenon continued grilling the meat, then suddenly glanced toward the path ahead.

We were retracing our steps back toward the rural village where we had first met.

“But why did you suddenly change direction?”

Originally, I had planned to head to the empire’s edge, to Trend Harbor, where I would board a ship and leave for another country.

To do that, I intended to cross this mountain range. Instead, I had abruptly turned inland. Xenon tilted his head in curiosity.

“No reason. I just suddenly felt like going back.”

“To that village?”

“No, to one of the inland cities.”

Xenon furrowed his brows, clearly confused. I kept a straight face and casually added,

“They say the best part of traveling is the unpredictability.”

“Well, sure, but this is way too sudden to just call it a whim.”

He was clearly expecting a better explanation. I avoided his gaze and looked away.

I couldn’t exactly tell him that I changed course because I needed to investigate what Nadav had mentioned about the Knights of the Round Table before leaving the empire.

Nadav had asked me to find his head, yet he gave no real instructions on how to do so.

He didn’t even know how to locate the remaining Dullahans, who were supposedly his comrades.

I had no choice but to figure it out myself.

More than anything, I was curious—what would happen if I refused this Dullahan’s request? Would my resurrection be revoked?

What if the gods suddenly realized they had chosen the wrong person to bring back and decided to send me back to death?

If none of that happened, then my plan was to gather as much information as possible and use it to avoid both the Dullahans and the matter of Nadav’s head entirely.

He couldn’t even tell me how to find his head, yet he expected me to track down other Dullahans as well?

I never agreed to such an outrageous adventure.

If they wanted me to do something like this, the least they could have done was ask for my consent before reviving me. As it stood, I saw absolutely no reason to get involved.