Editor: Saverath
Translator: Sylipha
Try not to judge the novel too early, read a bit further before giving a review or ratings.. There is no fixed schedule for the novel right now…
Headless Dullahan 1-2: Dullahan Whose Neck is Nowhere
“Aah!?”
I look upon the water"s surface and speak in a bizarre voice that I would never consider my own, surprised.
Because there is nothing that can be called a head there.
It’s not that I don’t have hair or eyes.
There is nothing above my neck.
“M-my head is … …”
I turn my eyes away for a while, then look into the water again.
It’s not my imagination – my head is not there.
“Haaa! What the heck!?”
Just when I thought that I was killed by a moving truck, I suddenly found myself in a forest wearing full body armor.
And now I find that I don’t actually have a head.
Spurred by this series of events I don’t understand, I shout to vent my anger.
“W-why is there no head …”
Certainly, when I got hit by the truck, my head was severed from the impact.
Is that what made me into this headless being?
If I"ve been transferred to another world, the one who"s responsible for this, G.o.d or whoever, surely has bad taste.
“Where the h.e.l.l is my head!?”
My furious shout surprises the animals and birds nearby, making them flee.
After the echo finishes reverberating, only silence remains.
Shouting leaves me calmer. Let"s sit down and think about it for now.
I try to move my hand around the place where my head should be while looking at the water"s surface. However, my hand just cuts through empty air.
I sigh loudly and take my eyes off the water.
I try to touch my armor and realize I also don’t have a body underneath it.
The armor itself is my body.
There is certainly a sense of touch when I trace it with my finger. However, I"m just noticing it now.
With the appearance of a knight in full body armor wearing a red cloak, without a human-like body, and especially since we"re talking about a being that doesn’t have a head, it must be .. ….
“… Dullahan.”
Also referred to as the headless knight, it’s a monster that literally looks like a knight without a head.
It rides a headless horse, an undead creature named Koshta-Bower, also called Death Horse.
It’s known as a being who predicts someone’s death, or that reaps souls much like the Grim Reaper.
It’s treated as a normal thing in games or literature, and it’s quite popular with people.
Of course, I also know about it; I do quite well in gaming, after all. Even those who don’t play games very much should know that Dullahan is a monster that looks like a knight without a head.
If I"ve really become Dullahan, I should be holding my head in my hand, but in my case, it’s nowhere to be seen.
The head should be the most important thing for Dullahan.
Did I unknowingly leave it behind?
Nope, no, no, I checked the surroundings properly before leaving that place.
Does that mean there"s no head to begin with?
Since I"m Dullahan, it’s natural that I don’t have my head attached, but shouldn’t it be somewhere else, like in my hand?
Then I might be another existence that’s not Dullahan. Though, currently, all thing considered, I’m most likely Dullahan. I also can’t think of any other being with this characteristic.
However, what I understand so far is that I’m not human….
“Doesn’t this mean I’m a monster…….”
If my existence is that of a monster, that means in this forest – no, in this world, monsters exist.
This is a so-called fantasy world.
If I were in the form of a normal human, I would have been excited and delighted.
But no, I don’t have any weapon, so I’m pretty much dead if I meet a monster as a human.
I was thinking about going to the human village, but I wonder what will happen if I meet a human like this.
One day, while I walk through the forest, I come across Dullahan, a monster.
A monster is a ferocious creature that attacks people.
I will definitely run away. And then return with some company to defeat it.
“Dangerous, it’s dangerous!”
If they’re aware I’m a monster, it’s obvious they will try to subjugate me.
My body is no longer human, but I can still feel chills down my spine.
However, this is a mysterious body.
Although I possess no head, or more precisely, no eyes, I can still see properly.
I have trouble trying to understand it, but I guess there"s no point complaining about a monster"s body.
The existence of monsters by itself is already straight out of a fantasy.
No matter how hard I think here, I won’t get any answers, nor can I do anything about it.
My line of sight looks like it comes from my chest, considering there"s not that much difference compared to when I was still a human. I should be quite tall.
My height when I was human was 175 centimeters.
Taking account of my entire head as a human, that should be right around my collarbone now.
In other words, even without a head, I’m 175 centimeters tall now.
That means my height is at almost two meters after I include the average size of a face, which is 23 centimeters.
“d.a.m.n it, this would be appealing if I were an ordinary human! Why did I become Dullahan! What a waste!”
I clench my fist in regret. If I became a human woman, then I could have at least been popular……!
Since I don’t have any muscles now, I’m curious as to how I’m moving, but that will have to wait until later.
It can’t be helped at this time. I don’t understand anything and I’m still confused, so this will be set aside for the future.
Now, then, what am I going to do from now on?
Because I’m an undead monster, I probably don’t need water or food. I don’t feel tired despite the fact that I’ve been walking nonstop since arriving. I probably also don’t need sleep.
It’s actually great for when wandering in the forest. There is no need to desperately obtain water or procure food. If this forest were too vast, I"d already plan to eat animals and insects, as well as plants.
As a modern j.a.panese person who lived with the conveniences of civilization, that would be tough.
There is also a possibility that I"d encounter ferocious monsters or animals and be killed while I looked for ingredients.
But this doesn’t come without a price.
Neither food nor drink is required at all. Because I can live without eating.
In the first place, since I have neither a mouth, nor teeth, nor organs, I don"t even have the luxury of tasting food if I want to.
“Ah, I don’t even need to eat meals anymore…”
While saying that, I fall onto my back.
The sky is blue with no clouds. A big bird is flying overhead as if dancing through the sky.
“So peaceful.”
I lie there on my back, until I hear bushes shaking from somewhere behind me.
Since I don’t have ears, I wonder why I can hear, but such can’t be helped as I’m using the body of a monster after all.
Now I turn my consciousness to the existence that disturbs the bushes.
What appears from there is a wolf with gray fur.
“Gururu.”
It’s fiercely growling while exposing its sharp canine teeth.
C-c.r.a.p. It’s a kind of animal or monster that attacks people.
Why did you show up suddenly!?
Could it be…. Is it because I shouted loudly earlier?
………… Probably.
I’m convinced. I surge up and try to escape to a nearby bush –
Wolves appear one by one, from the left and right, blocking my escape route.
What cunning creatures! To the back is water, so they"ve completely cut off my path to retreat.
I’ve heard the saying about how victory or defeat is decided before the fight begins: exactly right.
Oi, these wolves are really smart.
Wh-what should I do? There"s no way to escape.
This is seriously dangerous. Even if I try to escape, they will still be able to catch up and bite me with those sharp fangs.
Taking advantage of my confusion, the wolves stalk closer.
And they all leap at the same time.
“Uwaaaaaaaa!?”
I don’t have any knowledge about fighting and I don’t even have weapons. As a last resort, I stick out my fist at the wolf lunging toward my chest from the front.
My fist hits the wolf"s face. It opens its mouth to the limit, and then – the wolf is blown away like paper.
“Ha?”
With my confused voice, something that looks like a wolf’s fang dances in the air.
The wolf’s face looks awful; it’s depressed as if it’s been hit by a hammer from the side.
Its legs are twitching slightly, but it won’t be able to rise.
I’m surprised, but I return to my senses as I feel both my legs are sandwiched between something.
“Uaa!? My legs are bitten…… Aren’t they?”
The wolves biting my legs are trying to stop my movement by crushing my leg bones, but their fangs can’t penetrate me at all.
The wolves are still trying to wound me with their teeth, by gnawing on me or shifting their heads.
It feels like being caught between something, but it doesn’t hurt at all.
“That’s right! My current body is not human, it’s Dullahan who wears full body armor!”
Speaking of Dullahan, it"s a monster with high defense power. It’s reasonable that the average attack can’t damage its body.
There are only some places where it’s not covered by armor because it’s based on a human shape.
But even if I take an attack there, it won’t be a big deal. It’s not as if there"s anything akin to flesh inside.
Dullahan’s body isn’t penetrated by an attack of the degree of a wolf"s bite!
No, I"m really saved.
I thought I was going to be devoured by the wolves here and die.
Perhaps that punch from before is also an adjustment that came about because of my status as a monster.
That’s the only reason that comes to mind.
Let’s gradually figure it out.
Anyway, these wolves biting my legs has already become uncomfortable.
I can throw them to the lake as it is, but they might return with more reinforcement, right?
I feel relieved because they resemble little dogs, but I still smack their heads with my fist.