Chapter 160: The Witch and The Contract of Magic (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 160: The Witch and The Contract of Magic (2)
Finding their destination was not a difficult task.
After all, the magic carriage (as expensive as if it were made of gold coins) and the magic horse that could run continuously without eating or drinking (consuming mana instead) were truly magnificent.
A normal carriage required a reasonably well-maintained road to travel, but the magic horse and carriage sped along just fine even on rough, unpaved paths.
“Ah, I see a town up ahead!”
At the cry from Adel, who was keeping watch at the front, Sophia unfolded a map.
In this era, a map was less a practical item and more a type of military supply.
Maps circulating among the public were terribly inaccurate, while accurate ones were strictly controlled by the rulers of their respective regions.
This was because the risk of them being exploited by the enemy was far too high.
Depending on the domain, not only making a map but even possessing one could be treated as an illegal act punishable by law.
Of course, Dorothea’s party, who regarded the world’s laws as little more than ‘things that get annoying if you don’t follow them,’ couldn’t be bothered with such details.
Sophia’s geographical information from the past. Passages from books read in various bookstores. Rumors from travelers circulating in taverns.
And finally, the fresh, real-time data the party added from their own experiences.
The party’s map was growing more detailed and richer by the day.
Sophia pointed to a spot in the northern region of the Locria Federation and spoke.
“Donnengarten. It’s one of the domains belonging to the Locria Federation. They say it once called itself a kingdom long ago, but its actual size isn’t that large. About a quarter the size of Tik-Tok?”
“It seems unlikely that a kingdom’s sacred treasure would just happen to be in such a small place.”
“Still, it’s worth checking out, isn’t it? We can also take a quick look at other matters ‘while we’re at it.’ Oh, and that domain is apparently famous for its delicious vegetables and fruits.”
“…Well, I suppose it’s not a bad place to resupply.”
[The ‘Tin Knight’ says he sees a strange tower!]
“Huh?”
The party’s gazes all turned to where the Tin Knight was pointing.
There stood a tower that, while not quite what you’d call colossal, was much taller and larger than any ordinary building.
In terms of floors, it looked to be about five stories high.
Since the domain itself was heavily forested, most of the buildings were obscured, making the sight of that lone tower soaring high into the sky look just like a sharp thorn.
“A watchtower?”
Dorothea wondered aloud. She couldn’t think of any other reason to build such a tall tower in a domain like this.
At first, she was about to dismiss it as unimportant, but she soon found she could not.
After the silver horse’s duration ran out and it returned to its compass, the corpse bird had been guiding the party alone.
The necromancer’s final creation was now heading in a straight line toward the distant tower.
It moved so fast that the party could no longer keep up.
[The ‘Tin Knight’ asks if it’s okay to just let it go!]
“I tinkered with it before sending it off, so I can get a rough idea of its status even if I can’t see it. If it delivers the message, that’s that. If not, it’ll come back.”
“Could that sister of his be in that tower? It doesn’t look like a place where anyone other than soldiers would stay.”
“We’ll find out once we enter the domain, won’t we?”
As the party neared the domain’s entrance, a few soldiers guarding the checkpoint emerged to greet them.
“Excuse me. May I ask who you are, esteemed guests, and the purpose of your visit?”
The soldiers’ attitude was extremely cautious, yet polite.
The representative speaking to them couldn’t hide his nervousness.
It was the effect of the obviously extraordinary horse and the equally extraordinary carriage.
And their tension reached its peak when Adelaide’s face appeared in the carriage window.
Her features flowed with an indescribable nobility. And above all, that vivid golden hair and those violet eyes!
Since the domain was located in a rather rural area, some of them stared blankly, not understanding the significance. But the moment one of the quicker ones opened his mouth, a series of exclamations erupted.
“Th-that golden hair and violet eyes. A Lennart!”
“The Lion Duke’s bloodline!”
“The Empire’s First Family!”
[The ‘Tin Knight’ wonders if this is some kind of established rule!]
“Ha, haha. Ahaha.”
Adel could only let out a dry laugh.
The more she traveled, the more she realized there were times she just couldn’t get used to people making such a fuss just from seeing her face.
“Ahem, we are travelers, and we’d like to rest in the town for a while. May we enter?”
“Ah, yes! Please, come in!”
Ignoring the sounds of “Report to the captain! Quickly!!” and “Yes, sir!” coming from behind the carriage, the party proceeded into the domain.
The domain was, to put it nicely, nature-friendly and pastoral. To put it more bluntly, it was the countryside.
It certainly had a market, people walking about, and all the basic components, but compared to distinctive and vibrant cities like Tik-Tok, Thracus, and Justitia, it inevitably paled. The foot traffic itself didn’t seem very high to begin with.
[The ‘Tin Knight’ comments that it’s like Adel’s hometown!]
“Friedel was quite nice too, before the bandits started running rampant…!”
[The ‘Tin Knight’ says he never said this place was bad!]
[The ‘Tin Knight’ is shocked, asking if she’s saying someone else’s domain isn’t nice!]
[The ‘Tin Knight’ says one should respect a region’s unique character, and that looking down on it is not good!]
“What? No, that’s not it, huh?”
Leaving Adel to flounder in confusion under the Tin Knight’s assault, Dorothea surveyed the domain’s atmosphere.
The people’s faces were grim, and their gazes toward the carriage were a mixture of wariness and fear.
It was a fairly reasonable reaction to high-ranking visitors from a foreign place, but even accounting for that, the air in the town itself felt somewhat heavy.
Sophia spoke to her.
“Miss Dorothea, should we find an inn first?”
“Why bother? It seems more comfortable to just park the carriage at the edge of town and stay inside.”
“That’s true if we’re only considering convenience, but we’d seem too detached. For the sake of gathering information, it would be better to get a room at an establishment within the domain. If not that, then—”
Sophia’s words were cut short.
“Please wait a moment!”
A group of men dressed as civil officials, who at a glance seemed to hold some rank, had blocked the carriage’s path and shouted.
[The ‘Tin Knight’ asks if they should just push through since they’re obstructing traffic!]
“Don’t be ridiculous. Stop for now.”
When the carriage stopped, the man who appeared to be the officials’ representative brightened slightly and continued speaking.
“I am in the service of Lord John Pimmel, the true master of Donnengarten and the current head of the Pimmel family. His Lordship is greatly pleased by the visit of the members of the Lion Duke’s bloodline and invites you, our esteemed guests, to stay at the lord’s mansion, if you would be so kind. May I have your answer?”
Glances were exchanged among the party.
Sophia smiled brightly and added the words she couldn’t finish earlier.
“—or we could be approached directly by someone of high rank, like this.”
*
A thought suddenly occurred to Dorothea. Perhaps Adelaide was more useful as a figurehead than as a combatant.
The lord had already shown considerable favor at their first meeting, but his reaction after learning Adelaide’s specific title could only be described as explosive.
“Ooh, I have heard much of the fame of the Lennart dojos. They say over seventy percent of the continent’s finest martial artists have passed through there. For one of its representative instructors to visit my domain is truly an honor.”
“Ha, haha. Y-you are too kind, I don’t know what to do with such praise. I only managed to obtain the position through luck and good fortune. There are still many within my family who are far more skilled than I.”
“You possess humility as well! To reach such a high position at your young age would make anyone arrogant, but your character seems truly outstanding. …Ah, now that I think of it, I’ve heard that for the Lion Duke’s bloodline, appearance and age do not necessarily match. If I have been rude, I apologize.”
“No. You don’t need to worry about it. It’s really fine.”
“That is a relief. You mentioned you stopped by to procure some of our domain’s vegetables and fruits, correct? I will have my vassals prepare them for you without shortage, so please rest assured. And this is a personal request, but if you would perhaps be willing to give my soldiers even a brief demonstration of your outstanding martial arts, I will be sure to repay you—”
The lord was a man who resembled the domain he ruled.
That is to say, to put it nicely, he was simple and honest. To put it bluntly, he was so straightforward as to be somewhat clueless.
Dorothea wasn’t fond of the roundabout way of speaking typical of nobles, but even she couldn’t help but think, ‘No matter how much you like something, isn’t it bad form to be so blatant about it?’ If this was an act, it felt like the polite thing to do was to play along.
However, aside from the minor side effect of Adel being worn to a frazzle by the lord’s barrage of questions, like a young boy excited by an adventure story, his personality wasn’t so bad for the party.
Simply by being Adelaide’s companions, the vassals and servants in the mansion treated them with the utmost courtesy. And no matter how rural the area, a lord’s residence maintained a certain standard of quality, so the food and living conditions were quite excellent.
After a dinner where the grilled fruit served alongside the steak was more delicious than the steak itself, the party finished a brief round of information gathering and began their meeting.
Dorothea was the first to speak.
“I checked the compass again earlier. The silver horse was heading outward. In other words, the sacred treasure isn’t in this domain.”
[The ‘Tin Knight’ assesses this as good news, saying it means they don’t have to overthink things and can just focus on the sister!]
“How on earth did you interpret it that way…?”
Dorothea grumbled but didn’t argue further. She wouldn’t say it out loud, but now that things had come to this, it felt wrong to just ignore the situation and move on.
“Also, the bird that flew to the tower earlier came back. It seems it’s just circling the tower, unable to get inside.”
[The ‘Tin Knight’ says the tower is suspicious, as expected!]
Sophia spoke up.
“I did some light digging on that. The tower seems to be some kind of educational facility.”
“An educational facility?”
“The soil in this area is excellent. It’s a good land for people to live on, but apparently, the same goes for wild beasts, so quite a few people are harmed when they go into the forest. They say the lord’s wife takes in the children who’ve lost their parents and educates them in that tower.”
“Hmm.”
“The lord’s wife seems to be a very capable person; she apparently handles most of the domain’s practical administration, aside from military affairs. She takes in children with nowhere else to go, raises them as her own, and some of the graduates have even settled down in the town, so she’s quite popular.”
Listening to the story while slumped over to the side, Adel’s eyes lit up slightly. Perhaps she was thinking it was a system worth emulating in Friedel someday.
Indeed, on the surface, it was undeniably a good deed.
However, the necromancer, who viewed the world with a rather cynical eye, raised an objection.
“But why hold this ‘education’ or whatever in that tower of all places? I took a quick look earlier, and the structure itself makes entry and exit quite difficult. You could use it as a prison in a pinch. And according to the necromancer, his sister was ‘living alone.’ That means she wasn’t living in that tower, at least not until recently. Isn’t that suspicious?”
A brief silence fell.
A normal line of thinking would have led to the conclusion, ‘Let’s rest for now and resume the investigation tomorrow.’ But this party, whose impatience rivaled that of a tuna that would die if it stopped swimming, was different.
[The ‘Tin Knight’ suggests they charge into the tower and check for themselves!]