Chapter 120: The Tin Knight and The World of The Wicked Witch of The West (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 120: The Tin Knight and The World of The Wicked Witch of The West (3)
Its overwhelming size and weight were, in themselves, a form of immense violence.
The sight of the castle, crushed beneath the rock, was truly wretched. Not a trace remained of the majesty and splendor it had boasted only a few hours before.
《Tsk, tsk. What a shame.》
The Witch of the West clicked her tongue.
It wasn't a lament for the underlings who had failed to escape and were buried along with the castle.
If they had been truly competent, they would have stopped the Tin Knight’s party from ever reaching the rooftop. If they had been truly loyal, they would have at least sacrificed their lives to hold them back.
If there were any survivors left in the castle after the Tin Knight’s party had reached the rooftop, it meant they were minions with neither competence nor loyalty. They weren't worth the effort to save. It was a brutally pragmatic way of thinking, just as you’d expect from a witch.
The reason the Witch of the West felt it was a shame was because of the castle itself.
She could always just build another one, but the process would be quite a bother.
Still, it couldn't be helped.
The strength of an alchemist was rooted in the strength of her familiars, but thanks to Franka’s betrayal, she had been forced to confront the Tin Knight’s party before she could properly assemble her forces.
The Tin Knight and his companions had been far too ferocious to fight in her unprepared state.
Not that she thought she would lose, even then, but the possibility of an unexpected turn of events wasn't zero.
It was better to boldly abandon the castle than to create unnecessary variables.
《Strange, how very strange. How could a mere doll come to possess such power?》
The Witch of the West repeated the word ‘strange’ over and over again.
The witch was a being who had lived for a very long time.
The witch was a being who knew many things.
But even she knew nothing of that magic doll.
And there were very few on this continent who could deceive the eyes of the Witch of the West.
《Is it the foolish North, the arrogant South, or perhaps…》
The Witch of the West’s gaze turned toward a single point.
This was her workshop, a different world, separate from the one she came from.
Therefore, the cardinal directions the continentals spoke of held little meaning here.
And yet, the Witch of the West stared eastward.
《Kekeke, well, no matter. I’ll find out once I capture it and take it apart piece by piece. I always thought you were closer to me than those idiots from the South and North, but it’s a true pity things have turned out this way. Don’t resent me, though. It was your foolish apprentice who, not knowing her place, dared to attack first.》
No answer came.
No voice echoed through the empty air, nor did anyone new suddenly appear.
The Witch of the West was not displeased.
On the contrary, she cackled as if this lack of response was exactly what she wanted.
The Witch of the West looked at the monkeys.
The flock, which had initially numbered just over a hundred, had somehow swelled to several hundred.
The witch issued them a command.
The sight was exceedingly bizarre, as it was the monkeys who spoke in the witch’s stead.
《You will go outside and guard the area around the island with that fellow, Bill. Be especially wary of the East. It will be a headache if she decides to invade, claiming to help her apprentice. With that god-awful personality of hers, I doubt she’d do something so considerate, but one must always be prepared for the one-in-a-million chance.》
《How many should we take with us?》
《Half. No, take another half of what’s left.》
《That will leave too few to protect you, Witch.》
《This is already a concession I’m making for that doll. The outside is far more dangerous, so do as I say!》
《As you wish, Witch.》
The army of several hundred golden monkeys flapped their wings and flew off to some unknown destination.
The witch commanded the remaining monkeys.
《Find the ones who disappeared. Bring them before me.》
《Should we bring them back alive?》
The Witch of the West paused in thought for a moment before speaking.
《If possible, capture the Lennart daughter and the Witch of the East’s apprentice. The doll can be investigated even if it’s broken, so bring back its remains. You may kill all the rest.》
《Does that include Lady Franka?》
《I don’t care,》 the Witch of the West said coldly.
《I was preparing my next apprentice anyway.》
*
Dorothea was a witch.
She was a witch for being a female mage, and also in the sense that she was an inheritor of the now-rare art of witchcraft.
And among the techniques of a witch, there were all sorts of miscellaneous skills.
It wasn't that there were no practical and versatile spells, but on the contrary, there were far more ambiguous ones, like a ‘weak illumination spell that can only be used under a clear sky,’ that made you wonder where on earth you were supposed to use them.
The Emergency Transfer Magic was a spell that fell somewhere in between.
The ability to escape via spatial movement in a critical situation seemed incredibly useful at first glance, but the additional conditions that came with it were the problem.
For one, the materials were ridiculously rare, the mana consumption was through the roof, and the difficulty of control was truly atrocious.
At this point, it was a spell that made one question if it was even designed to be used properly, but Dorothea was in a better position than most.
She had procured the rare materials by shaking down the Garden for all it was worth, and the mana consumption that would force other mages to take out a loan was something Dorothea could handle with ease.
Control, however, was the exception.
The mage profession itself tended to pursue mana quantity over quality, so their control was generally inferior to that of the warrior classes. In Dorothea’s case, this tendency was even more pronounced due to her immense innate mana capacity.
Thanks to the harsh training she’d endured under the Witch of the East, she had reached a somewhat respectable level, but she was a far cry from a monster of mana control like the Tin Knight.
Which is to say.
“…I’m screwed. We’re all scattered.”
A clean escape to a single location was impossible.
An empty plain.
Dorothea, who had been lying sprawled on the grass, sat up with a sigh.
Looking around, she saw nothing else.
Not the noisy Tin Knight, not the dazed little lion, not the scarecrow who was useless from the neck down.
It was so very Dorothea of her not to worry in the slightest about a certain alchemist and her monkeys.
Dorothea calmly assessed the situation.
I wasn't careless, but I never thought she’d resort to such a drastic measure right off the bat. However, the fact that she used a method that blew away her own castle means the Witch of the West felt threatened by us. We still have a chance of winning.
As for the Witch of the West’s attack, while it would have been one thing if they were completely unaware, now that they knew such a thing existed, it wasn't without a countermeasure. A witch’s strength was her adaptability.
If they could just challenge her again at full strength, Dorothea calculated that they could win this time.
The problem was how to regroup with her companions.
“Putting everything else aside, if I don’t meet up with the tin can soon, it’s going to be a real headache in more ways than one… Hmm?”
It was then that something strange caught Dorothea’s eye.
A group of people was engaged in a fierce battle, surrounding a single horse.
However, the horse was not an ordinary horse but had the form of a centaur, and to top it off, its head was that of a horse again.
What was even funnier was that while the people were clad in little more than leaves and animal hides, armed with stone spears and stone axes, the horse was brandishing gleaming iron armor and a well-forged iron sword.
“Hmph! You savage things, do you think you beasts can overcome us civilized horses just by swarming us! O great Elphaba! Grant me your blessing! Today, I shall fulfill my duty as a horse and enlighten these souls!”
The horse(?) cried out as if praying to the heavens. Its speech was truly eloquent.
Dorothea stared blankly at the scene.
*
“Sunlight! Rights! Violation! Vile city in the sky!”
“Bring it down! Bring it down! Give us back! Our sun!”
“Are some born to rule! And others to serve!”
“No! No! Laputa must! Atone for its sins!”
Watching the agitator passionately shouting and the crowd of protestors responding in kind, a few robed figures ducked into an alley.
They spoke with dejected expressions.
“What are they making a fuss about this time?”
“They’re saying this year’s poor harvest is all our fault. That the crops failed because they didn’t get enough sunlight.”
“What? How does that make any sense? It’s just because the weather was bad!”
“Well, it is true that we can control the weather to some extent.”
“That’s only possible by consuming vast amounts of mana resources. Besides, last time we created rain clouds as they demanded, they didn't even pay us properly!”
“But what can we do? If we don’t create the weather they want, they’ll threaten to bring Laputa crashing down again.”
“Hah. Why did Elphaba have to give them that mighty magic tower!”
It was then that a strange sound reached the ears of the lamenting people.
Splat.
It wasn't a thwack. Nor was it a thud.
It was a bizarre sound, like a large amount of water hitting the ground mixed with the sound of something heavy falling.
The people’s heads all turned toward the source of the sound.
And they were horrified.
“A-a body!”
“A suicide jumper!”
“Oh, heavens, what a hasty decision!”
They made the sign of the cross or offered a moment of silence, each paying their respects in their own way.
The body must have fallen from a great height, for its condition was truly gruesome.
“But, there aren’t any tall buildings around here… H-huh? H-Hiiiek!?”
“What, what’s wrong—Gah!?”
The people recoiled in unison.
The corpse, which had clearly been dead, began to squirm and then stood up as if nothing had happened.
Toward the figures frozen in shock, the corpse—that is, Sophia—smiled brightly.
“Hello. Lovely weather we’re having.”
*
“Mmmmn.”
Adelaide opened her eyes with a purring sound, like a cat.
She reflexively tried to rub her eyes, but then realized her hands wouldn't move properly.
Huh? As she wondered what was going on, something leaped onto the bridge of her nose.
It was a lilliputian, a being of incredibly small stature.
The lilliputian pointed a sharp, spear-like object at Adelaide and spoke.
“You’re awake! You illegal trespasser! Not only did you enter our country without permission, but you crushed the King’s cherished garden with your back! The price for your crime will not be light.”
Adelaide just blinked silently.
Misinterpreting her expression, the lilliputian soldier continued with a smug look.
“I’ll have you know, it’s useless to struggle! Our country knows very well how to deal with giants like you. We’ve firmly secured all the parts of your body necessary for exerting force, so you won’t be able to move a muscle—”
The lilliputian soldier’s words were cut short.
Crr-rr-reak!
With a grunt of effort, Adelaide lifted her right arm, and all the ropes and metal contraptions pinning it down were ripped out of the ground.
The scientific principles of leverage and force application crumbled easily before the greater power granted by the Belt of Amaryllis.
Adelaide proceeded to tear off the various restraints on her body with a series of creaks and snaps, then plucked the lilliputian from her nose and said:
“Um, I’m sorry, but could you please say that again from the beginning?”
*
“Is that really true? A doll smaller than my palm that can move on its own?”
“Have you lived your whole life being deceived? Just don’t forget to pay after you see it!”
“Oh, ooh! Amazing! It’s really moving. It’s so lifelike, it’s as if there’s a person inside!”
“Hmm? A person?”
“Yes. Doesn’t the doll look just like a person wearing a knight’s armor? A moving doll is amazing, but it’s nothing compared to a tiny person.”
“Hoh, that’s true. Well then, let’s try taking off its helmet—”
Snick!
“Gyaaaah! M-my finger! My finger!!”
“Agh, ahhh! It’s a mad doll!! A cursed doll has appeared!!”
[The ‘Tin Knight’ declares a giant hunt!]