"Lady Anelli!"
The first thing I saw upon opening my eyes was Xenon, supporting me as if he were embracing me.
My body, which had been swaying as if it might collapse at any moment, quickly regained its balance as I mustered my strength. Fortunately, with the support of Xenon and Samuel, I did not end up rolling about in an undignified manner.
'At most, a few minutes.'
Perhaps even mere seconds.
It was not difficult to realize that my loss of consciousness had been but a fleeting moment. But what if I had been ensnared by that dream...?
Having straightened my posture, I shook off their support and strode purposefully towards the lakeshore.
The Rusalka, who had walked quite a way onto the land so that half her body was exposed, was looking at me in confusion.
"Ho... how...?"
Whether my trousers got wet or not, I strode right up to her and swung my fist in one swift motion.
*Thwack!*
The jaw of the Rusalka, who had been standing there with a foolish expression, snapped to the side. My clumsy punch did not even knock her over.
However, thinking that I could certainly hit the defenselessly standing Rusalka, I struck the same spot with my fist once more.
*Wham!*
Perhaps there was merit in clenching my teeth and striking with all my might, for this time the Rusalka fell backward.
"......"
Stepping firmly on the chest of the Rusalka, who had splashed down as she fell backward, I looked down at her face coldly.
If she had at least taken the form of the Crown Prince, or better yet, not shown her face at all, I might not have been this angry.
But the illusion from moments ago was unbearably excessive.
"Insolent creature."
At my cold muttering, Pallides, who had frozen, was the first to regain his senses.
[Ca, Captain?]
Pallides hurriedly ran to my side. I drew the longsword hanging at his waist.
"How... Huh...?"
Perhaps due to the rippling lake water, the face of the Rusalka lying in the water appeared distorted. As she was speaking from within the water, her words were not properly audible.
I adjusted my grip on the sword, aiming at the Rusalka's torso.
"W, wait! Lady Anelli!"
"Suddenly, what is this!"
Just as I was about to plunge the sword vertically down, Xenon and Samuel clung to my arm in alarm.
Mori, who had belatedly come to his senses, also crawled over, groaning, and wrapped himself around my ankle.
[P, please wait! Captain!]
The Dullahans, who seemed to have frozen stiff from incomprehension, were not directly restraining me, but they likewise appeared startled.
Bound so I could not move an inch while holding the sword, I let out a long sigh.
"This thing, in the illusion I just experienced, wore Maxel's face and called me the Empress who loves him."
Why is it that one never awakens after being attacked by a Rusalka?
Having experienced it myself, I understood immediately. The Rusalka's mental manipulation shows the victim a dream of the future they most desperately desire.
So that they themselves wish not to wake from the dream.
However, for some reason, thanks to my dream projecting a wish from before my beheading, it held not the slightest appeal for me. On the contrary, it only provoked anger.
Especially Maxel as the Emperor!
That was utterly unbearable. Truly, it was the worst possible dream, enough to make one nauseous.
Perhaps hearing my calm reply, the strength drained from the hands of Samuel and Xenon, who had been firmly gripping my arm.
"I will sever its limbs."
Samuel pointed his own sword at the Rusalka.
"Do curses work on Monsters? We shouldn't kill it in one go. We must make it suffer."
Xenon also spoke irritably, his magical power rippling.
As the two reacted so vehemently instead, my boiling anger subsided.
Letting the sword, which I had raised with all my might, droop, I looked down at my palm. It was the palm that had absorbed the pendant in the dream.
This is not all of it. This is truly just a part.
"Let go for now. We must retrieve the pendant first."
It seemed that what empowered the Rusalka's illusion was likely the pendant containing the authority of death.
The authority of death is originally meant to grant rest to the living, and what that Monster bestows upon its victim is an illusion they do not wish to break, so it seems they became entangled in a similar context, producing a powerful effect.
Returning the sword to Pallides, I grabbed the Rusalka lying in the water by the collar and lifted her up.
Surprisingly, the Rusalka was that small and light. Light enough for me to lift with one hand.
Judging by weight alone, one might mistake her for a bundle of straw.
As I lifted the Rusalka to eye level, her hair, tangled like seaweed, hung down long.
Her hair was so long it far exceeded her height, the ends floating on the water's surface.
Xenon, seeing the short stature and build paired with the grotesquely long hair, groaned in disgust.
But only one thing was important to me now.
"Speak. Where is the rest of the pendant?"
If this creature had the pendant, it surely would have emitted light from its body. But no matter how I looked, I could not find any light that could be presumed to be from the authority.
I'll quickly retrieve the pendant, wake the Empress, and then get rid of this unpleasant thing.
Having firmly resolved, I called to the Rusalka in a grim voice.
"You."
"Ki... kill..."
"What?"
"Spare... me..."
Frowning, I listened to the Rusalka's words as she struggled to force out her stifled voice.
Although the latter part was closer to the sound of expelling air, I could roughly understand what she was trying to say.
Samuel and Xenon, who had been listening to the Rusalka's words with suspicious expressions, opened their mouths, as if vying to speak first.
"I'll just kill it."
"Since you said killing it would wake one from the dream, we can kill it as the holy knight said."
It was a rare moment of agreement between the two.
At their menacing killing intent, the Rusalka's emaciated body trembled violently.
[Ca, Captain! You mustn't! It's a precious life...!]
Mori called out to me plaintively, his eyes looking as if he might cry at any moment.
[You said the nature of life is good! That even if betrayed ten times, we must not lose trust, Captain...!]
"First of all, I wasn't the one who said that."
Come to think of it, Ganik had said something like that when he was being deceived and used by humans.
What on earth is to be done with the former Captain who instilled this erroneous ideology?
Sweeping back my bangs, I spoke to Mori in a sighing voice.
"What I told you was to hate or not, as you please."
Mori, who had been wearing a tearful expression as if lost in thought, answered hesitantly.
[T, telling me to do as I please means if I want to show compassion, I should show compassion, right?]
......That is also true.
Taken aback by Mori's unexpectedly persuasive rebuttal, I hesitated. Mori, perhaps realizing his words were having an effect, spoke more forcefully.
[Perhaps someone lured this child out. It's a Monster that can speak human language!]
Given the precedent of the young Lizardman, the assumption that a human might have lured the Monster to harm the Empress was not entirely far-fetched.
But that is also the Monster's own doing, is it not?
"Mori."
I sighed and glanced at the Rusalka whose collar I was gripping. The Rusalka was breathing laboriously, as if in distress.
Though bizarre in appearance, perhaps because she was small and thin, she seemed easy to pity.
How much more pitiful must she appear in Mori's eyes, who had already shown compassion at her plea for rest?
But to my eyes, she did not.
"Everything has its tell."
In those empty sockets where eyes should be, the strangely flickering darkness seemed cunning enough.
And above all else. Since a while ago, a sound grating on my ears had been incessant.
"Mori. I won't stop you from showing compassion, but you need to relearn how to spot the tell first."
A quiet pond, yet not quiet; from deep within those waters, the sticky sounds of something moving little by little.
They had been quiet at first, but now they were waiting in the deep water, ready to leap out at any moment.
The faint waves lapping against my legs proved their writhing movements beneath the water.
"Is this really the same one you met?"
At my question, Mori's eyes widened. Mori, who had been blindly defending the Rusalka, seemed to have belatedly noticed something strange.
Staring at the Rusalka with startled eyes, Mori answered slowly in a bewildered tone.
[......No.]
I tightened my grip on the Rusalka's collar.
It felt like wringing out laundry soaked with water.
The Rusalka's body, which had been moving like swaying branches, went limp.
Releasing the grip, the Rusalka's body plummeted down, sending up a splash. Confirming the body sinking to the bottom, I lifted my gaze straight ahead.
"Dullahans, do you know how to swim?"
At my calm question, Pallides was the first to promptly confess.
[I'm sorry, Captain.]
Following him, Zigore and Minte also showed an uncharacteristically unconfident demeanor regarding swimming.
[Should we just call Ganik?]
At Zigore's irresponsible remark that the one who transforms into a sea turtle would naturally know how to swim, Minte retorted, 'If that's the case, can you fly around even after becoming a Dullahan?'
In any case, it meant they were all useless at swimming.
Would it be better to tell them to transform into Dullahans and break some nearby trees to create a clearing to fight in?
'They won't wait for us to create a battlefield.'
On the calm and placid water surface, round heads began to rise, one by one.
At first, they appeared sporadically, but their numbers were gradually increasing.
I had roughly guessed, but the number was greater than expected.
'So I have to find it among these, is that it?'
And in a pond as difficult to fight in as this.
Not so much out of fear of the Rusalka, but because it was obvious how troublesome it would be, my chest felt tight.
I muttered as if lamenting.
"I didn't know Rusalkas lived in groups."
They said it was a rare Monster, but I guess this neighborhood has good soil.