On the other side, in the royal palace,
"What's going on here? We've mobilized so many soldiers, so why can't we find any clues?" Daburanda smashed several cups in a fit of rage.
"I don't know if they've flown into the sky or burrowed into the ground, but these enemies are really something!" Beside him, Saber maintained an icy expression, though he couldn't help but admire the foes' elusiveness.
"Useless, a bunch of useless idiots! They're not demons or ghosts." Daburanda truly felt his subordinates were all incompetent; they couldn't even find a few people.
Of course, this didn't apply to Saber, as he was the top fighter, not a hunting dog for tracking.
"Please calm down!"
Someone nearby advised.
"Hm?" Daburanda turned to look at Professer Kos, who had spoken, curious to hear what his advisor had in mind.
Professer Kos bowed slightly and said, "In my opinion, they're most likely heading toward the Giant Statue!"
"How do you know they're going to the Giant Statue?" Daburanda eyed Professer Kos, signaling him to continue.
Professer Kos didn't waste words. "Based on the ancient prophecy passed down in the royal family: In times of national turmoil, five foreigners will arrive and activate the Heart of the Giant God."
"It seems the prophecy is true. They'll definitely go to the Giant Statue—it's their only way to defeat us."
"Then you must have prepared already!" Daburanda narrowed his eyes. He knew Professer Kos had recently recalled all the weapons and personnel from the factory.
"Everything is arranged for you, Your Excellency. We just need your command!" Professer Kos said confidently.
"Not bad, Professer Kos. Well done." Daburanda praised his advisor.
"Then get to it. I'm tired of this game! Eliminate those pesky ants!" Daburanda ordered the two with a blank expression.
"As you command, Lord Daburanda!" The quiet palace echoed with only this voice.
…
…
In the room, I was stroking Chippo's mom's fluffy ears.
Her tail was swaying, making my heart itch.
The feel of a beast-eared girl is really nice!
But it was getting late, so it was time to prepare to leave.
I patted the beautiful woman's head again, telling her to obediently wait for me to return.
"Okay, Master!" The beautiful woman seemed very obedient.
I was in a great mood.
I opened the door and walked to the living room.
Doraemon and the others were already up early.
"Nobita, you're up? Eat something; we should prepare to head out." Doraemon grabbed a breakfast portion from the table and handed it to me.
"Yeah!" Seeing that the others didn't seem in the best mood, I didn't say much.
But I felt like Princess Spiana was staring at me strangely.
She looked for a while, then her face turned red without me noticing.
What a weird woman, I thought.
But after thinking about it, I couldn't figure it out, so I just ignored her.
After our final mobilization, we were all set to depart.
The five of us and Princess Spiana left the wallpaper house, leaving Brus and Chippo's mom to guard the place. Of course, there were also the two injured ones, but who knows when they'd kick the bucket.
As we left the courtyard, I saw anger flashing in Gian and Suneo's eyes. I wasn't sure if it was toward this country or because of Daburanda.
Young hearts like theirs just hate evil like that.
On the way to the Giant Statue, we didn't use Doraemon's Take-copter, because based on last night's analysis, we figured Daburanda probably knew we'd head there.
After all, that royal prophecy thing had been spread everywhere.
It was such an obvious trap, but we had no choice but to go.
So, Doraemon pulled out the prepared props from his pocket.
"Pebble Hat!"
"This is a prop that makes others not notice you."
"Duplicate Mirror."
"This is for copying the Pebble Hat."
Doraemon explained, then used the Duplicate Mirror to duplicate six Pebble Hats.
He distributed them to everyone.
Princess Spiana looked at the others who had already become invisible, then at the Pebble Hat handed to her, and sighed in admiration. "As expected of the warriors from foreign lands. This magic is truly amazing.
"King Bauwanko I's prophecy has come true; this kingdom will be saved." Princess Spiana prayed briefly.
Then, after everyone put on the Pebble Hats, we headed together toward the Giant Statue.
As we approached the Giant Statue, I saw many soldiers guarding the road, with things like barricades set up as checkpoints.
There were also patrols of soldiers.
Looking at this tight defense, we couldn't help but feel grateful we'd put on the Pebble Hats.
We slipped right past the first checkpoint under the patrolling soldiers' noses.
But as we quietly sneaked through several checkpoints under their eyes and were about to reach the last one, something unexpected happened.
At the checkpoint ahead, there were things like drug-sniffing dogs.
A group of dog-headed people were leading dogs—it looked weird no matter how you saw it.
But we didn't have time to think about that now.
The guard's hunting dog sniffed alertly, then barked "Woof woof woof!" toward the woods.
"The wanted ones are here!" Someone like a squad leader among the soldiers said, and all the soldiers warily pointed their weapons toward the direction the dog was barking.
"As expected, those foreigners have some mysterious tricks!" At that moment, a wooden ship was flying in the air, with propellers spinning on it.
"Warning to you wanted ones, come out now!"
"Surrender quickly!"
"I'm repeating: Come out and surrender! We might spare your lives!"
Professer Kos shouted from the bow of the ship.
"We can't go out; they're definitely lying. If we go out, they'll kill us." Princess Spiana stated firmly; she knew how insidious Daburanda's group was.
We all understood and agreed with her.
Professer Kos shouted for a while, but there was no response from the woods.
"Hmph! Hiding is useless."
From the bow, Professer Kos commanded, "Deploy the tanks! Destroy the woods ahead!"
As soon as Professer Kos's order was given, several tank-like vehicles with treads emerged from the woods. They had cannon muzzles in front.
The bumpers on the dog-headed iron tanks were sharp blades, mowing down the trees ahead, and then flames suddenly spewed from the cannon muzzles, incinerating the woods in front.
"Those are flamethrower tanks. Daburanda really manufactured those ancient weapons," Princess Spiana said angrily.
"What do we do, Doraemon?"
We watched the flames and tanks getting closer, panicking.