Chapter 220: The Tin Knight and The Singing Bones (8)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 220: The Tin Knight and The Singing Bones (8)
Around the time the Tin Knight’s party was meeting with the head of the Tower of Protection.
“They got away? They didn’t sneak in like stowaways, they just brazenly crossed the coastline, and you’re telling me you lost them!? Are all these bastards morons!?”
“Skoll! Hati! You imbecilic bastards!”
“We must lodge a formal protest with the Tower of Protection! To think they’d not only fail to help us arrest the royal murderers but even provide them with an escort to their tower!?”
“They claim it’s not an escort, but a transport…”
“If they were transporting them, they should have returned them to us, not taken them to their own side!”
“What the hell is our diplomat doing! How did they handle things for it to end up like this!”
Pandemonium.
No word could better describe the state of the Tower of Control.
Despite the tower mobilizing its full forces to capture the culprits, they had effortlessly slipped through every grasp and escaped its reach.
The elite pursuit unit dispatched from the tower failed to even catch a glimpse of their shadows. The units under Skoll and Hati, which were supposed to buy time until the elite unit arrived, not only failed to stop the enemy, but their commanders both met their end.
The surviving personnel on site made excuses like, ‘The enemy appeared so suddenly, and they were focused on fleeing and avoiding engagement, so there was nothing we could do,’ or ‘There were almost no casualties on our side,’ but to the higher-ups, it was nothing but bullshit.
I mean, did they really expect a small group, small enough to fit in a single carriage, to face hundreds of mages head-on?
The claim that their response was slow because the enemy appeared suddenly just meant their vigilance had been lax, and the argument that they had preserved their forces by minimizing casualties was equally meaningless.
The Tower of Control was now on the verge of being checkmated, without even having had a chance to properly use its immense power.
“There’s no need to worry so much. Who would believe such ridiculous rumors in the first place?”
“They say Gale Elilaz from the Tower of Protection was acting with the culprits. This whole incident might be a conspiracy hatched by the Tower of Protection from the start!”
“How utterly preposterous! This is an absurd provocation meant to stir discord within the Magic State! We must immediately explain the situation to the other magic towers and condemn the Tower of Protection!”
The few 3rd-rank mages and all those of the 2nd rank and below who were unaware of the full story shrieked with indignation and fury. However, the faces of those who knew the truth only grew harder as time passed.
They couldn’t understand how things had gotten to this point.
They, more than anyone, knew that this affair carried a risk as massive as its potential return, which was why they had meticulously erased every trace of their involvement.
They had silenced those involved, thoroughly manipulated the crime scene, and even torn the souls of the dead to shreds in case a necromancer appeared and tried to read the information.
But just when it seemed everything was wrapping up, a mysterious disappearance occurred in the forest. The elite unit sent to investigate was annihilated, and information that should have remained secret spread in every direction.
They had held onto the hope that it wouldn't become a major problem without clear evidence, but even that prospect crumbled when the investigation into Dorothea's party began and word got out about the ‘divination that reads the past’ they had demonstrated at the Tower of Foresight.
The members of the Rognir bloodline all shifted their eyes, cautiously watching the gray old man's reaction. Seeing this, the gray old man let out a hollow laugh.
It was a laugh that escaped from sheer absurdity.
“I've tripped on a small pebble. But right in front of me is a field of blades.”
He had been dreaming of a grand scheme and had not neglected to be wary of the other players who influenced the game board.
This included meticulously gathering evidence against the Lennart family in case of betrayal and planting spies in the other magic towers to be ready to respond immediately to any political moves.
But, he never imagined this.
He had never even considered that one of the mere pawns, not a player on the board, would charge at him like this without any warning.
The old man admitted his carelessness.
Of course, the Tower of Control was still powerful.
Wealth, military power, legitimacy. They had it all, along with many hidden cards they hadn't revealed to the others.
The wounds inflicted by the Tin Knight's party were nothing more than a scratch to a giant.
It wouldn't be too difficult to avoid immediate ruin by adding appropriate threats and appeasements toward the other towers, like ‘If you mess with us, it won't end well for you either,’ and ‘If we start fighting amongst ourselves, do you think the Empire will just stand by and watch?’
But what comes after?
After being branded as traitors and deceivers, would the other magic towers ever trust them again?
Would the remaining members continue to pledge their loyalty to a tower shunned by three of the four pillars?
“…In an emergency, a bold move is required.”
The gray old man headed to a place deep within the tower, a place where people rarely set foot.
It was a space that felt alien, despite being inside the tower.
In a room suffused with the gentle glow of emerald light, a priest greeted the old man.
“Welcome, Master of Aeolia. Is there anything our Kingdom of Heaven can assist you with?”
The priest used the title ‘Master of Aeolia’ instead of the old man’s name or his position as Tower Head.
Furthermore, he asked if the ‘Kingdom of Heaven’ could help, not ‘he’ himself.
His face was so gentle, appearing more harmless than anyone in the world, yet the meaning embedded in his words was intensely political.
Though he thought the priest’s intentions were obvious, the old man decided to willingly take his hand.
The old man dreamed of being a king on earth.
To achieve that goal, he was more than willing to tolerate a god above his head.
*
‘Just what kind of person is the Witch of the North?’
This was Adelaide’s second time meeting one of the Four Great Witches.
The Witch of the West, whom she had first encountered and had to fight against, had been a truly terrifying figure.
Her overwhelming numbers, commanding homunculi—which ordinary mages struggled to handle even one of—like common soldiers.
Her material manipulation ability, which fired giant ballistae the size of houses as if they were normal attacks.
They had been able to seize an opening and win because the Witch of the West’s own disposition was far from that of a pure warrior or fighter. But to put it another way, she had displayed such might despite neglecting combat, so her abilities could not be underestimated.
A being on par with such a witch.
A great teacher whom the mages of the towers all revered with respect and admiration.
A person of high standing, so far above Adelaide in political position, fame, and skill that they were incomparable.
As someone who had to present the Magic State's shame to a figure who could be called its matriarch, her body naturally tensed up, and her mouth went dry.
That is, that was how she felt until she came face-to-face with the Witch of the North.
“I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry. For my child to do such a terrible thing… what should I do? I'm just so sorry…!”
A woman bowed her head to Adelaide over and over again.
Her hair was disheveled, her face was worn out with fatigue as if she hadn't slept properly for days, and her eyes were welling with moisture, looking as if tears would spill out at any moment.
Adelaide quietly observed the reactions of those around her.
Dorothea's face openly displayed her ‘What the hell is this?’ thoughts, the Tin Knight was wondering if ‘Witch of the North’ was some kind of hereditary title, and Sophia was repeating ‘Oh my, oh my,’ in a tone that was hard to distinguish between admiration and surprise.
Even the members from the Tower of Protection who had accompanied them to meet the Witch of the North looked as if an earthquake was happening in their pupils. Adelaide let out an inward sigh of relief, thinking that at least she wasn't the only one who found the situation strange.
In fact, when they first met the Witch of the North, it hadn't been this bad.
It was a little surprising that the person who appeared as the Witch of the North looked so young, but she had seen many times before that the appearance of powerful mages did not match their actual age.
Her far less dignified and more friendly attitude than expected was also understandable, considering she was none other than Gale's teacher.
However, no one had expected the Witch of the North to suddenly burst into tears and bow to Adelaide after a quick glance at the memory orb she had handed over.
No, to be precise, only one person was unfazed.
“Um, Teacher. Everyone’s flustered and doesn't know what to do. Please calm down for a moment.”
“But, but…!”
“There, there, stop.”
“Hic.”
‘…A crying little sister and the older sister consoling her?’
The thought crossed Adelaide’s mind without her realizing it.
The situation was so different from what she had expected that she couldn't keep up.
Having finally regained her composure, the Witch of the North cautiously opened her mouth, stealing glances at Adelaide.
“Um, well, I'll bring Lot here and make him apologize somehow. I’m sure he didn’t mean any harm. No, I know it’s not a matter of whether there was malice or not, but still, you know.”
“Lot… who are you referring to?”
The head of the Tower of Protection answered Adelaide’s question.
“Lotbart Rognir. The Gray Tower Head. He is also the only one of the current Tower Heads who is still an active disciple of the Witch of the North.”
“…”
Adelaide’s face hardened without a word, and seeing this, the Witch of the North shrank even further.
The head of the Tower of Protection sighed, looking somewhat weary, and then spoke.
“Witch of the North. First, are the memories shown by this orb genuine?”
“…Yes.”
“In that case, this is already beyond a matter that can be resolved with an apology. This means he plotted a scheme with an incident that could have escalated into a war with just one wrong move.”
“That’s… true, yes.”
The Witch of the North’s shoulders slumped, and everyone wore an awkward expression at the sight.
The meeting thus ended in an ambiguous atmosphere, without any clear resolution.
The head of the Tower of Protection and his escorts quickly departed, saying they had many other things to attend to. The Witch of the North shut herself back in her mansion, and Dorothea’s party was detained as persons of interest.
Though it was called detainment, it was in reality a vacation in a luxurious mansion.
Dorothea spoke, her voice laced with disbelief.
“Is she really the Witch of the North? Isn't she a fake?”
Gale shrugged.
“That's a rude assessment, Dorothea. My teacher may not quite live up to her name, but she is undoubtedly the real deal.”
“No, I think you're the one being rude.”
“Certainly, she’s quite different in many ways from the figure I’ve read about in books or heard of in rumors. The person described there was quite progressive and benevolent, but now—”
“—She went beyond kind and gave off an airheaded impression.”
Dorothea finished Sophia’s sentence.
Her suspicion about whether the Witch of the North was real or fake was not without reason.
The unique wisdom and presence characteristic of those who have been legends for ages were completely absent from the girl who claimed to be the Witch of the North.
So much so that Dorothea had to seriously consider whether to hand over the skull her master had asked her to deliver.
If that girl was a fake, she would have to retrieve the skull and find the real one, so Dorothea’s irritation was understandable.
“Rest assured. The Witch of the North, Orin. She is without a doubt my teacher. As for her personality… she's in a particularly bad state right now, that's why she's like that. When she's well, she's much more mature than this.”
At the very least, she wasn't so fragile as to show tears in front of a Tower Head, Gale said.
“What does being in a bad state have to do with her personality?”
“Hmm, well, it's complicated to explain in detail, but to put it as concisely as possible—”
“—The Witch of the North isn't one person. Two witches coexist in my teacher's single body.”