Ch.258[Chapter 258] Lord Dominic in Wonderland

Sir Dominic felt as if someone had grabbed him by the nape of his neck and pulled him down just before Unryu Hime asked her final question.

Feeling the same floating sensation as when he’d been struck by a demon’s club, Sir Dominic watched as the scenery around him stretched like melting cheese.

And then… Sir Dominic woke up on crumpled cardboard.

“Where am I…?”

Sir Dominic stood up, pushing aside the completely crumpled cardboard beneath him.

Looking around, this place seemed to be made entirely of cardboard, with pictures drawn on only one side.

All those cardboard pictures were facing one direction, and Sir Dominic realized it was a puppet theater made of cardboard.

As Sir Dominic approached the small stage, a bizarre cardboard clown appeared from behind the cardboard stage.

What appeared to be the clown’s hands had strings attached, connecting to cardboard puppets below.

The clown gestured for Sir Dominic to sit in the cardboard chair in front of the stage.

The clown’s eyes gleamed expectantly, as if wondering whether the cardboard chair could withstand Sir Dominic’s weight.

For some reason, Sir Dominic sat right down on the cardboard chair.

Perhaps it was because this was a dream. Nothing was more foolish than looking for logic in dreams.

That’s what Sir Dominic thought.

Separately, the cardboard clown seemed a bit disappointed that the cardboard chair didn’t collapse under Sir Dominic.

Sir Dominic examined the puppets closely.

They were cardboard dolls with white paper attached and colored with crayons. Whoever made these cardboard puppets wasn’t particularly skilled, as there were tear marks from glue sticks here and there.

But regardless, the cardboard puppets were quite cute, unlike the cardboard clown, and Sir Dominic thought they resembled someone.

Just as Sir Dominic was trying to figure out who these puppets resembled, the clown’s arm moved.

The clown’s head and arms had strings attached, tethered to the dark ceiling above, but the strings were so thin they were barely visible unless examined closely.

The clown raised both hands toward the top of the puppet stage, that is, toward the clown’s face.

The puppets on the stage tangled together as they were pulled up, but the clown paid no attention to this and lifted up a piece of cardboard.

[Prologos – Peace]

Sir Dominic felt a chill as he unconsciously read those words.

They weren’t in the language of Gacharland.

They were in the language of Feralant.

Regardless, the clown continued the play while untangling the strings.

Some strings were so badly tangled they couldn’t be completely untangled, but the clown, as if expecting this, took out cardboard scissors and snipped the tangled strings.

The cardboard puppets whose strings were cut collapsed lifelessly to the floor.

The cardboard clown roughly swept these puppets aside.

A cardboard box that had somehow been prepared beside the stage swallowed the puppets.

Faint screams and the sound of turning gears could be heard from inside the cardboard box, and then red paper shot up from the open part of the box.

The clown, as if forgetting to close the box, closed the open part and continued the puppet show.

“…”

The clown inserted a cardboard background depicting a peaceful village behind the stage.

Then, raising its fingers to bring out the characters, Sir Dominic somehow felt familiar with these puppets.

The clown then brought out four puppet characters who were the protagonists, and these puppets were twice as large as the others… made of cardboard.

A tall man holding a pitchfork, a slightly hunched woman, a brown-haired boy, and a girl with fluffy hair like sheep’s wool.

Thanks to the bright background and the puppets’ lively performance, the atmosphere of the play was very cheerful.

The cardboard curtain closed.

When the curtain opened again, the clown was holding a new piece of cardboard.

[Chapter 1. Parting.]

After tossing aside the crudely made cardboard with crude Feralant writing, the clown set up a background that was half sunset plain and half village, with the four people appearing.

The tall man with the pitchfork, the slightly hunched woman, and the girl with fluffy hair stood on the village side, while the tall brown-haired boy stood on the plain side.

Sir Dominic realized what this play meant.

He stood up from his seat, ready to leap onto the stage, but Sir Dominic couldn’t move from that spot.

Somehow, cardboard ropes had been tied to the armrests of the cardboard chair, bound more tightly than real ropes, making it impossible to move.

While Sir Dominic struggled, the first chapter ended with the remaining people longing for the departed boy.

[Chapter 2. Tragedy.]

The clown, seemingly pleased with Sir Dominic’s struggle, held up a new piece of cardboard.

For some reason, Sir Dominic felt he knew what would happen in this chapter.

As Sir Dominic expected, the peaceful village picture became a scene of burning and collapsing chaos.

Here, the clown took the extreme measure of actually burning the village picture rather than inserting a new one.

Since everything was made of cardboard, one wrong move could have set everything ablaze, but fortunately, the burning village background was removed at the right time, so that didn’t happen.

Cutely drawn black troops entered the village.

No, this place could no longer be called a village.

The recent fire had completely destroyed it.

The demons took the villagers behind the stage, and the clown opened the box beside the stage again and put all the cardboard puppets playing the villagers into that box.

For some reason, Sir Dominic blankly stared at the box spewing red paper while the sound of gears turning fiercely could be heard, then turned his head away.

Sir Dominic bit his lip.

After confirming that all the village people puppets had entered the box, the clown closed the box and closed the cardboard curtain again.

When the curtain opened again, the clown was holding a cardboard sign that read [Chapter 3. The Deal.]

There, Sir Dominic… no, the brown-haired boy who had returned to the village was wailing, and the curly-haired girl was being held in the clown’s hand, looking in from outside the stage.

[Ah, how tragic.]

The clown held up a cardboard sign with those words while closing the puppet stage curtain.

[Epilogos – Reunion.]

The clown raised the cardboard one last time, then bowed and swung its arms wide in a grand gesture of thanks.

Flames began to rise from behind.

Perhaps the flames from the burning village picture had spread somewhere.

At this moment, Sir Dominic’s entire body was wrapped in cardboard with rope drawings, but his eyes were still uncovered, allowing him to vividly witness everything.

The clown approached Sir Dominic, placed the cardboard puppet of the girl in his arms, and dusted off its hands.

Sir Dominic stared at the clown with eyes full of murderous intent.

The clown was startled by this unusual reaction and exaggeratedly jumped, but as soon as Sir Dominic’s eyes were also covered by cardboard, the clown spun its head around mockingly.

On the burning cardboard stage on the cardboard stage, Sir Dominic and the cardboard clown burned.

…

“Huh.”

Sir Dominic woke up in yet another place.

He couldn’t remember how many times this had happened.

Memories from dreams scatter upon waking.

Yet Sir Dominic vividly remembered parts of those dreams.

Sir Dominic walked through a back alley filled with air conditioner units and gaming LEDs.

Sitting on the roof of a shop with a washing machine on top, he organized the questions that came to mind about the current situation.

Why was he having such vivid dreams?

Why was he having such diverse dreams?

Why hadn’t he woken up from all these dreams even once?

Sir Dominic watched a battle between samurai with lightsabers and wizards utilizing artificial intelligence.

When yumi archers appeared behind the samurai, shooting arrows imbued with elemental power, the wizards summoned rockstar zombies riding dinosaurs riding sharks mounted with machine guns.

What kind of dream is this?

Sir Dominic shook his head watching this chaotic dream.

At least Sir Dominic believed this wasn’t his own dream.

It was too… futuristic for him to dream up.

While deeply exploring the unsolved mysteries of the dream, Sir Dominic noticed someone approaching from the alley.

“Sir Dominic?”

Sir Dominic turned his head to look at the approaching man.

The man was a large figure with a rhinoceros head, wearing impressive all-in-one sunglasses and a Man in Black.

Of course, the rhinoceros head was impressive too, but since this was a dream, the ordinary things were actually more impressive.

“…Who are you?”

Sir Dominic responded to the rhinoceros-headed man who approached.

Sir Dominic wasn’t particularly wary of the man, as he showed no hostility.

“The President is looking for you.”

That’s what the rhinoceros-headed man said.

Sir Dominic thought that perhaps these people might know the secret behind the dream he was currently having.

Following the flow of consciousness, Sir Dominic jumped down from the roof and landed on the ground.

“What are you doing? Let’s go right now.”

Sir Dominic urged the rhinoceros man to lead the way.

Naturally, the destination was the person called the President.