Estimated reading time: 4–5 minutes
Side Story 2
Walking through the slave market, I did a double take and looked back.
「Wha…!??!?! Hmm…!?!?!? What is that…?」
Sitting in front of a shop was a girl?
But her head was missing from her neck up.
She had no head.
Headless…what does this mean…!?
And is she even alive?
I turn back and stop to look.
Though chained up, the girl was moving her hands.
It seems she was alive.
I speak to the shop owner.
「Hey, what’s the deal with this one…?」
「Hehehe, you’ve got good taste. We specialize in rare slaves here. She’s a very rare Dullahan!」
「A Dullahan…!?」
I had heard the name before.
But to think Dullahans existed in this world…
「What do you mean…? She has no neck but she’s alive?」
「Yes, well, since she has no neck, she can’t see or speak.」
「I figured…」
「Other than that she’s just like any other crippled slave. But her creepy look means no one will buy her. I bought her thinking something rare would sell well, but…」
「I see…that makes sense.」
I wonder – could this Dullahan have originally been a normal human?
「Say, was she always like this?」
「…What do you mean by that?」
「I’m asking if this girl always lacked a neck from the beginning.」
Could a living thing exist naturally without a neck?
If so, what were its parents like?
Did they also lack necks?
If such a species existed, it would be more well known.
「Hmm, well at least when she was enslaved she was already like this…I don’t know about her birth. Since she can’t speak and all.」
「I see. Anyway, I’ll buy her for now.」
「Oh! Thank you for your purchase! You’ve got a good eye.」
I bought the Dullahan girl and took her home.
Once home, I sat the Dullahan in a chair.
「Hey, are you hungry?」
Of course, with no ears she couldn’t hear me.
Instead, I decided to test my theory.
If the Dullahan had once been an ordinary human…
This state was likely some kind of curse or disease.
Which means there should be a way to treat it.
「Alright! Extra Heal!」
I cast a healing magic on the Dullahan’s neck.
「Waaaaaahhhhh!!!?!??!?!?」
Before my eyes, a girl’s face sprouted from the Dullahan’s neck.
Seeing something so strange, I cried out in surprise.
Sitting there was an ordinary, cute girl – no different than a normal human.
It seems the healing magic had restored the Dullahan’s neck to normal.
「Um…are you okay…?」
The girl looked around in wonder.
She felt her own face in disbelief.
「I-I have a f-face…!??!?!?」
Then she cried tears of joy.
「Waaaaahhhhh!!! My face is back to normal!!!!」
After crying for a while, I asked the former Dullahan girl about her circumstances.
「So what happened that left you in that state…?」
「Well, it’s a long story but…」
「I see…」
According to the girl, she had been falsely accused and decapitated.
But despite having her head chopped off at the execution grounds, she did not die.
She could not die.
For some reason, whether curse or providence, God would not release her to death.
Since then she had fled desperately before being captured by slave traders, leading to her current state.
「Master…thank you so much. I thought I would remain that way forever…!」
「Well, I’m glad your neck grew back. If you’d stayed that way, I wouldn’t have known what to do.」
A Dullahan slave would be useless to me.
Some weirdos might want one, but that’s too twisted even for me.
So for now, the Dullahan girl Ariana would stay under my care.
Then a few days later, I sold her off.
Her face was cute after all.
It would be a waste for such a beauty to live without a neck.
In the end, everything worked out.
Since then, I’ve gotten several letters saying she’s doing well.
Her neck remains normal and she’s had no further troubles.
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