Chapter 161: The Witch and The Contract of Magic (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 161: The Witch and The Contract of Magic (3)
In any given territory, it is next to impossible to punish a lord's family for whatever atrocities they might commit. After all, the law of the land is whatever the lord decides it to be.
If the territory belongs to a kingdom, it must follow the kingdom's laws, but even then, punishment is unlikely unless the crime is as serious as treason.
In an age where the very act of traveling from one domain to another is perilous without considerable strength, wealth, or luck.
Not only is it unrealistic for a victim to travel all the way to the royal family to report a crime, but even if they succeeded, the royals would have no reason to intervene for a single individual unless it was a matter of treason. Unless, of course, the crown happened to be looking for a pretext to expand its direct territories or extract some tribute.
This was the case even when a crime was undeniable. Therefore, the Tin Knight’s suggestion to raid the lady of the domain’s private facility simply because it was "suspicious"—without even knowing if a crime had been committed—was utterly reckless and naive.
In any sensible organization, such a ridiculous plan would have been met with a few harsh words and promptly shoved into a drawer, never to be seen again... Unfortunately for the lord's family, Dorothea’s party was more accustomed to burying common sense in the ground, spreading a mat over the spot, and taking a nap.
Once the objective was set, the planning was swift.
“What about getting official permission to enter? Considering the lord's favor toward you, Lady Adel, it shouldn't be too difficult.”
“If just getting inside were the goal, that would be fine. But if our objective is to assess the situation, that won't work. They might hide things or make other preparations beforehand.”
[The Tin Knight says they should just march in through the front and beat up anyone who gets in their way!]
Dorothea didn't even deign to reply to the Tin Knight, instead taking various ingredients from the pouch at her waist and scattering them on the floor.
Although she was gradually getting used to the Gloves of Haider, this method was still more familiar.
“If it were just about infiltration, using a spirit would be easier, but considering we might need physical influence, this is better.”
Finely ground bone powder, refined animal fat, a small gem the size of a fingernail, and finally, a piece of the corpse messenger that had failed to reach the sister and returned.
As Dorothea’s mana seeped into the prepared ingredients, they soon took on a new form.
Seeing it, Adelaide showed a hint of delight.
“Ah, Mr. Mouse.”
It was small enough to sit on her palm. At first glance, it looked like a mouse of nothing but bones, but its body had been altered in various places by the necromancy that reanimated it. It was the very same undead Dorothea had used to rescue Adelaide during their first meeting.
However, its specific form was slightly different. The gem used as an ingredient was now embedded in the bone mouse's forehead, and its entire skeleton had a healthier sheen.
“I transferred some of the dead necromancer's lingering thoughts from the corpse messenger into it. It should be able to sense his sister and move accordingly now.”
[The Tin Knight asks what the gem is for!]
“First, it's to hold more mana. Second, it's for this.”
Dorothea once again took ingredients from her pouch and placed them on the table.
When her black mana touched them, the ingredients formed a large bone plate with a gem of the same color as the one on the mouse's head embedded in its center.
Dorothea poured water from her flask onto the plate, and the surface of the water immediately became as smooth as a mirror.
-Clatter. Clack.
The bone mouse's head turned as if to scan the party, and the image in the water mirror shifted accordingly.
Sophia, Adelaide, the Tin Knight, Dorothea.
“So we can see the scenery the mouse sees, or whatever is reflected in the gem? That's incredibly useful for reconnaissance.”
Sophia marveled.
“It takes a lot more mana and ingredients than a normal bone mouse, and I don't usually have the luxury of sitting around staring at a plate, so its uses are limited.”
Dorothea shrugged as if it were nothing, then created a few more bone mice to follow the special one.
The party gathered around the table and began to watch the bone mice's adventure.
*
The tower's security was tight.
Despite the late hour, soldiers stood guard at the entrance, and with large torches prepared, approaching the tower under the cover of darkness seemed difficult.
To the townspeople, this was apparently proof that 'the lady of the domain cares so deeply for the children's well-being,' but to the party, it looked like an excessive state of alert.
Sentries at the town entrance or guards at the lord's mansion would be one thing, but dispatching soldiers to guard a children's educational and lodging facility was highly unnatural.
However, no matter how detailed the security system devised from above, it was ultimately people who had to execute it.
The soldiers' skill and discipline didn't seem to be top-notch; instead of patrolling the tower's perimeter with heightened vigilance, they stood before the sturdy iron door, letting out lazy yawns.
Thanks to this, the mice easily approached the opposite side of the door and began to feel along the tower's wall.
The tower's exterior was made of brick, and there were none of the cracks one might expect to find in such a building.
They tried digging into the ground nearby just in case, but only more bricks emerged.
Ordinary mice would have been stuck at this point, but the witch's bone mice were different.
-Clack.
The leader mouse gave a signal, and one of its subordinate bone mice stepped forward.
Black mana surged from the mouse's body, and a moment later, its claws turned green.
Sizzle.
The brick it touched began to melt into a gooey sludge.
After creating a small hole in the wall as if digging a tunnel, the mouse seemed to have exhausted all the mana in its body and crumbled into dust with a soft poof.
Mourning the death of their comrade who had sacrificed(?) themself, the remaining mice pressed forward.
The first floor of the tower was quite desolate.
Not a shadow of a person could be seen; only a single staircase leading to the second floor stood there.
The mice climbed the stairs to the second floor.
On the second floor, there were two rooms besides the central area with the stairs.
Following the presence of the dead necromancer's sister, the leader mouse ignored the rooms and continued upward.
On the third floor, there were four rooms. The sister's presence was felt further up.
On the fourth floor, there were eight rooms. The sister's presence was felt further up.
On the fifth floor, there were sixteen rooms. The sister's presence was felt further up.
On the sixth floor—
*
“Wait, isn't something strange?”
At Dorothea's words, the rest of the party watching the water mirror nodded in unison.
“We haven't opened every door, but there's no way a tower that size could fit sixteen rooms on one floor. Even if they ignored practicality and partitioned the rooms, the distance between the doors should get smaller, but the spacing we've seen has been consistent. For that to be possible, the tower would have to be shaped like an inverted cone, narrow at the bottom and wide at the top.”
“But the tower's external shape wasn't like that at all.”
[The Tin Knight points out that the number of floors doesn't seem right either!]
Besides that, there were a number of other unnatural things.
It was still too early for everyone to be asleep, yet not a single person was seen roaming the tower, and not even the faintest sound of voices could be heard from behind the doors.
Furthermore, despite being a living space, the doors were made of iron, not wood.
At this point, it would be ridiculous to claim it wasn't a prison.
[The Tin Knight suggests they try opening one of the doors!]
“…I don't know how thick the doors are, but even if they're half as thick as a castle wall, it would consume one mouse. I only have three spares, so I can't use them recklessly.”
[The Tin Knight says they can just send in more reinforcements!]
“Then you go and catch some mice.”
[The Tin Knight exclaims that it's a job for the feline bloodline without cat ears!]
“You're treating me so poorly, Sir Knight….”
While the party chattered, the mice continued their ascent. The number of rooms per floor kept increasing illogically: six, eight, twelve, eighteen.
Just as Dorothea's expression grew grim and she was getting tired of counting the floors…
-Clack.
The leader mouse, which had been doing nothing but climbing stairs, suddenly reacted to something and began to run toward one of the doors.
Following the leader mouse's command, a subordinate mouse raised its sharp claws, and in the next moment, the door began to be scraped away with a shk, shk sound.
Fortunately, the door wasn't too thick, and the mana of a single mouse was enough to create a hole large enough for the others to pass through.
The scene inside the room was incredibly bleak.
A single window, barred with an iron mesh, allowed only a faint glimmer of light and a whisper of wind to pass through.
And inside, a girl sat huddled, a blanket draped over her.
“Hmm?”
Perhaps hearing the clattering of the bone mice, the girl, who had her head buried between her knees, slowly looked up.
Her eyes widened as she spotted the mice.
Watching her, Adelaide felt a strange sense of kinship.
That's right, back then, I also reacted just like that—
“Hey, you crazy bastard!!”
—by cursing like... wait, no.
Regardless of Adelaide's shock, the girl on the other side of the water mirror lunged at the mice with a terrifying ferocity that belied her previously listless state.
Her brilliant golden hair fluttered like a windswept cape.
The mice, terrified, tried to flee, but the girl was faster, snatching the leader mouse.
“Are you brainless? Did your IQ drop to a corpse's level from hanging out with them all day? Typical necromancer! Or are you doing this just to piss me off? That's it, isn't it? It has to be! Otherwise, there's no way you'd drop a bag of gold coins on my head at such a malicious time! You idiot! If you have something to give me, just come in person! How many fucking times do I have to tell you?!”
The girl shook the leader mouse up and down as if she were shaking an enemy by the collar, and the image in the water mirror shook violently along with it.
The party fell silent for a moment.
It seemed they had found their target, but for some reason, the girl appeared to harbor a deep-seated grudge against her brother.
Adelaide let out a dry laugh, "Hahaha..."
Comparing her past self, who had been terrified and teary-eyed at the sight of a bone mouse, to the tough girl before her, she felt her confidence instinctively shrink.
“Uhm, my lady. I think we need to calm her down before we can have a conversation.”
“…You're right. Should I hit her with a curse that makes her feel like she's getting a constant foot massage just by standing? That should quiet her down, right?”
“M-My lady? Are you perhaps angry because of what she said about necromancers— My lady, my lady? No! Absolutely not! You two, stop laughing and help me stop her!?”