Chapter 71.3: The Whereabout of the Goatman
I remember her. She was the runaway girl who yearned for Ainoe. Despite her beauty, she has zero acting talent, thus she couldn’t join the troupe.
Nevertheless, the girl didn’t give up on her dream. If my memory serves me right, her name was Katia.
I was the one who presented her to the new sect leader, saying that she could join the troupe using a back door in this way.
And the one I see right now was only her head.
「Thank you, it’s because of your help that I can meet Zand-sama.」
The severed head of that woman was smiling gently at me.
I screamed upon hearing the severed head speak as if she was still alive.
I quickly turned around, wanting to escape from this room.
But then, the head inside the cupboards suddenly moved on its own, blocking the entrance of the room.
The severed heads of all the women were looking at me.
「AAAA…」
I fell to my knees.
「Don’t you think that you’re being rude trying to run away? … Uhm, could it be that you’re sobered up? Well… what should I do now?」
I heard the voice of the new sect master from inside the room.
「Will you let me to turn him into a 《Dullahan》, Zand-sama?」
I heard a girl’s voice.
「Are you sure? He’s just a weakling you know.」
「Yeah, I don’t mind.」
「Well, it can’t be helped then. FUHAHAHA, Rejoice, Marchas-kun. You’ll serve her as her faithful knight from now on.」
The moment I heard that, I felt something hot passing my neck, and the room suddenly turned around.
And then, the last thing I saw when the room stopped spinning was… my headless body.
***
◆God of Sleep and Dream, Zand
「Well then, carry me up. Flying take a lot of energy after all.」
When she said so, Katia’s head was lifted up by Marchas’ headless body. He carried her head as if it was the most precious treasure.
They look like a master and her attendant. That might be why he carried her like a princess.
Nevertheless, I would never have expected that an ordinary human could break away from my technique.
Even though the human beings in this store shouldn’t be able to go against me, what’s happened here while I was away?
Well, that’s a trivial matter anyway.
He was nothing more than ugly head anyway, not interesting at all.
「Geez, are you really sure about turning that weak man into a 《Dullahan》, Katia?」
「I don’t mind at all, onee-sama. I’ll replace him once I find better person.」
「That’s my sister. Well I’m not that picky either so I might ended up choosing a man around this area to become my knight too.」
The girls were making merry on their own.
Those women who’d already turned into fairies had the abilities to control a headless body. Naturally, there was a limit of how much they could control at the same time.
That’s why almost all fairies have their own brave knight. And by knight, I was referring to the men who lost their head and ended up as their faithful servant, the dullahan.
「Well then, I guess it’s time to go back to Zeal and co’s place. Has their meeting ended yet?」
I left the room, being sent off by my adorable fairies.
Zeal was black satyr who originally lived in Nargol. No, maybe calling him lesser demon was more appropriate.
That lesser demon Zeal has betrayed the demon king and colluded with that spider woman, Atlankua. He should be in the basement of this building right now.
I walked along the passage, entering the secret passage toward the basement.
When I descended down towards the basement, I saw several shadows lining up in the basement.
It wasn’t the shadow of a human. It was the shadow of the demon king’s subordinate who lived in Nargol.
「Have you finished with the discussion, Ulbard-kun?」
I addressed the Daemon in the center of those shadows with a smile on my face.
The name of that Daemon was Ulbard, one of the four Daemon Lords who served under the Demon King. He came to this region to catch Zeal who betrayed the Demon King.
「Yeah, thanks a lot for telling me about the whereabouts of this traitor, Zand-dono.」
Zeal was kneeling on the ground, rubbing his forehead on the floor, trembling in fear in front of Ulbard.
「But of course, I wanted you to at least spare his life. It’s thanks to him that I can meet you after all.」
Finding Ulbard’s subordinates who were looking for Zeal was easy peasy. After I found them, I offered to set this meeting. Naturally, I kept this meeting a secret from my father.
I’m different from my father, Zarxis. My father is hostile toward the Demon King without even considering the option of reconciliation with the latter. And I was sure that would be the cause of his doom.
I mean, both sides wouldn’t get anything from such conflict after all.
But in my case, I tried my best with trying to get along with the Demon King.
And to be honest, I wanted to get along with the Elios’ Goddesses too.
Yet, those beautiful Goddesses hate me for some reason. I wonder why they were pissed off when all I did was tell them about how to make themself more beautiful?
If possible, I want to get my hand on one of those Goddesses’ heads as part of my collection.
「You’re right, let’s just spare him since executing him at this point will cause more demerits. Do you hear that, Zeal? Our side won’t be troubled even without your help, that’s why make sure that you work hard for Zand-dono. In addition, even Your Excellency requested for me to spare your life too.」
Ulbard spoke with a cold tone.
「THANK YOU VERY MUCH, ULBARD-SAMAAA!!」
Zeal expressed his gratitude while rubbing his forehead on the cold floor repeatedly.
「Ha~h. Aren’t you glad, Zeal-kun? You still have much work waiting for you huh.」
I felt relieved.
Zeal was similar to me in one thing after all; both of us love humans. Though the way we expressed our love toward them was different, I was really glad that his life was spared.
「It’s nothing much but, please work this guy to the bone.」
「Thank you, Ulbard-kun. I’ll show you how I defeat that Hero of Light and those Elios’ bastards for sure. Well, the latter was the first thing that my father ever entrusted to me after all.」
My father, Zarxis, neglected me due to my overwhelming love for humans. I, who got neglected by my father, then joined in Labrys’ scheme.
Maybe because of my tendency to do strange things, I was ordered to leave this region when that scheme was finished.
I felt really sad whenever I recalled such cruel treatment.
But, I didn’t feel that sad anymore since thanks to Labrys’ failure, I was allowed to act freely in this region.
And then, I joined hands with Ulbard and helped him to prove my worth.
「That’s reassuring then. I’ll be looking forward to the result of your work, Zand-dono.」
「Fufu, leave it to me. I’ll make sure that the Hero of Light and the Dark Knight kill each other. And thanks a lot for the information about Wicked Beast Ferion too.」
I laughed.
Hero of Light and Dark knight. I’m gonna make those two kill each other.
And then, there is also the Wicked Beast Ferion who once stood side-by-side with my father in a war against Elios’ gods. It then got sealed by the Demon King but, the problem was we had no idea about the location of that seal.
But thanks to Ulbard’s information, I finally knew the location of that seal. I have to quickly tell my father about this matter.
「Yeah, please make full use of that information. And then, the next thing is…」
「Yeah, I won’t tell anyone about the source of this information. Your Majesty, the Demon King will definitely be enraged if he learns that you’re the one who sold this information. I’ll keep this secret with me till I die.」
The matter of me colliding with Ulbard was a secret.
For some reason, the Demon King refused to wage a war against Elios. He even went as far as ordering his subordinates to not do that too.
That’s why Ulbard acted on his own, disobeying the Demon King’s order, just like Zeal. It was why Ulbard wanted to keep this matter a secret.
「Well, I shall excuse myself then, Zand-dono. I’ll be waiting for the results of your plan.」
「Yes. I’ll make sure to get their head.」
Ulbard and his subordinates then teleported out of the room.
Even if I couldn’t get the Hero of Light’s head, decapitating the head of the women around him was just a simple matter.
And then, we’re going to release Ferion and wage a war against Elios.
After that, whether it was the heads of the Hero of Light’s women or Elios’ goddesses, I could get all of it pretty easily.
I created a projection of a woman’s figure with magic. Being projected in there was a Silver Haired Goddess.
Her beauty made me fall in love with her at first sight.
I yearned for this Goddess after I came to know her.
I want to get her head no matter what. Fortunately, she just happened to be in this country, the best hunting ground for me.
That’s why I’ve got to get rid of the Dark Knight who stands between this Goddess and me first.
That was the main goal behind my plan.
「It seems I’ve to contact Tarabos-kun. How much progress has he made in Badon’s revival’s plan right now?」
Badon was one of the Beasts of Destruction created by our Great Mother God, Nargol.
I heard that Badon was quite powerful, but not as powerful as the wicked beast though.
Badon’s corpse was buried beneath the great theatre. Well, it seems Alphos’ altar was the one that was originally built on top of the place where they buried Badon’s corpse, but Ariadya’s government then built a great theatre in addition to that. Or so I heard from Tarabos.
I heard that Tarabos did an in-depth research about Nargol and found the matter about Badon by accident.
Well, the source of that information was a trivial matter to me. The main problem was how to use that information to the fullest.
One of Zeal’s witches should be working in that theatre. Let’s use her for this plan.
I looked at Zeal who was still in prostrating posture even after Ulbard had already left.
「Zeal-kun. I’ll have you to lure that Dark Knight. Fufufu.」
I couldn’t hold back my laugh as I pondered about the events that were about to happen.
***
◆Dancer; Sienna
The Moonlight Goddess danced before me.
It was an extremely beautiful dance.
Before I realized it, it was already nighttime.
Her beautiful silver hair shone under the moonlight that entered from the big windows, giving a mystical charm to her.
My eyes were completely fixated on the fantastical scene before my eyes.
「How’s that, Sienna? Did I dance correctly?」
When she stopped her dance, the Silver Haired Goddess flashed a charming smile.
「Skillfully done. Kuna-sama.」
I heaved a sigh.
The Moonlight Goddess easily mastered the dance that I practiced so many times to master with just a little bit of instruction from me.
Though I felt really envious of her talent, I knew that there was a difference between the Goddess’ natural talent and mine.
And then, I snapped back, could it be that what I felt right now was similar to what Ainoe-neesan felt when she taught me?
According to the Dark Knight, Ainoe-neesan seems to have made a pact with the devil.
And then, there was me who gained a successful career without even making a pact with the devil.
I wonder what I would think if I was in Ainoe-neesan’s position? Would I have felt the same, envious feeling that I felt right now?
Those were the thoughts going through my mind right now.
Nevertheless, I wonder what was happening with the troupe right now?
The Dark Knight said that he would visit the theatre tomorrow to see the situation over there but…
I sent a glance at the Dark Knight by my side.
The Dark Knight without his jet-black armor looks no different from your everyday young man.
I mean, he was looking at the Moonlight Goddess with a slovenly smile on his face.
The Moonlight Goddess was wearing Ishtar’s dancer outfit right now. The outfit which has large exposure and made of thin materials were pulling out the Goddess’ bewitching charm.
The Dark Knight who looked at that appearance looked no different from pervy old men when they watched my dance.
I felt that I could easily beat him down in this kind of situation– not that I wanted to try that though.
I heard the rumor that he was none other than the Dark Knight who had beaten the Hero of Light. But, seeing the face he made right now, he looks like a normal, weak young man.
I looked at the beverage served in front of us.
There was no liquor amongst the ones served to us.
The tea that was made from a flower called mintea aside, I thought that he was more like a child when they served a beverage made from boiling down fruit juice. These weren’t what adults drink by all means.
When I asked for the reason, I heard that the Dark Knight didn’t drink liquor.
He was holding onto a plate of sweets.
The baked sweet that included dried fruits and nuts was simple yet delicious. And a perfect match for the mintea.
But, the baked sweets don’t seem to match the Dark Knight’s palate. The sweet that he chose was kinda… peculiar.
I was holding on to my head as the impression about the devil in my mind was starting to crumble.
I was looking at the Dark Knight while pondering about this matter.
「Eh?」
I unintentionally leaked out such a voice.
The sloven smile from before has gone, replaced by the face of a warrior.
I couldn’t hide my surprise upon seeing such drastic transformation.
The Dark Knight suddenly stood up.
Eh, what’s happened with him?
「Is something the matter, Kuroki?」
The Moonlight Goddess asked with an anxious voice upon seeing the sudden change in the Dark Knight’s expression.
「Marchas…」
The Dark Knight’s sharp gaze was looking at the direction outside of the rampart.
I felt indescribable anxiety upon hearing that name.