Chapter 225: The Tin Knight and The Tower of Greed (5)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 225: The Tin Knight and The Tower of Greed (5)
Cap’n Bill’s designated handler.
That was Trot’s current position.
The reason was simple.
To keep Dorothea’s ‘birdcage’ active, its owner needed a considerable amount of mana. Trot was the only one who possessed such mana, was idle enough to carry the cage around at all times, and was trustworthy.
She did wonder if it was really okay to put a former kidnapping victim in charge of her former kidnapper. When she cautiously asked Dorothea about it, the witch replied, “Hm? Oh, if you want revenge, go for it. Just don’t damage the cage. Poking him with a stick should be fine.” A true witch. Her standards were different from those of ordinary people.
In truth, being a handler wasn’t all that difficult.
Having to carry the cage constantly to maintain the mana flow was quite inconvenient, but once she realized she could just tie it to her body with a strand of her hair, the difficulty plummeted.
And so, her days were spent making small talk with Cap’n Bill, offering him seeds or small insects only to be told, “Just because I’m in a cage, you think I’m a real bird, you cocoon-like wench!”, and then attempting to make a shake out of the birdcage. Then one day, Trot and Cap’n Bill were summoned by Dorothea, which led to the current situation.
“—Let’s make a deal, skull. I’ll free you and your men. In return, I want you to fight for us.”
“I refuse.”
The reply was immediate, without a hint of hesitation.
Trapped in the birdcage, Cap’n Bill sneered at Dorothea, a bored look on his face.
“Because you lot got rid of the Wicked Witch of the West, my ninety-nine years of effort have all gone to waste. Do you have any idea what I went through, the hell I endured, to end this damn curse and become human again, you wench? I haven’t even settled that score, and now you want me to work for you like a dog in exchange for my freedom? Do I look like a pushover to you? Huh?”
“You do realize you and your men are captives, right? Is prison life that comfortable for you?”
“Oho, planning to torture me? Bring it on! Not a single one of us sea dogs fears the likes of that!”
Trot couldn’t help but interject.
“Actually, the pirates I met were pretty cowardly… They were quick to sell out their pride and their friends…”
“…That’s just the riffraff! True men of the sea are different!”
“Isn’t it just that you don’t feel much pain because of the state your body is in?”
Cap’n Bill glared at Trot with terrifying eyes, and Trot stared right back as if to say, “You got a problem?”
Watching the two bicker, Dorothea was inwardly a little surprised.
Cap’n Bill was an exceptional individual.
His personal combat skill was enough to briefly match the Tin Knight (which might sound trivial, but few could even face the Tin Knight one-on-one). He also had the ability to command his magic ship at will, the leadership to skillfully manage his crew, and a curse of immortality that allowed him to revive no matter how gruesome his defeat.
By any normal standard, he was a figure who would undoubtedly be classified as ‘heinous,’ yet Trot treated him like a neighborhood punk. It seemed their time together while he was just a helpless head had made her accustomed to him.
“Look, wouldn’t it be better for everyone if you just cooperated and got your freedom? Then I wouldn’t have to carry your head around all the time.”
“This isn’t such a simple matter! Do you have any idea how devastating it is to have everything turn to dust when you’re just one step away from becoming human again!?”
“About that contract with the witch, was it even legitimate in the first place?”
“What?”
Trot shrugged.
“I’ve traveled all over since I was a kid and dealt with a lot of merchants, so I know the world is full of scammers. If I were in your shoes and that Witch of the West had offered me something like, ‘Work for me for 100 years and I’ll grant your wish,’ I would never have accepted it.”
“Why not?”
“There’s no guarantee, is there?”
Trot counted off on her fingers.
“If she showed you fake documents claiming the research was going well, would you have any way of knowing? After you finished the job, if she just played dumb and said the deal was off, do you have the power to force her to honor it? Or did you have a guarantor or an intermediary who could penalize her? You had nothing, right?”
“……”
“Try to see it from the other side. You make a contract with someone, but fulfilling it is a huge pain for you. But if you ignore the contract and walk away, the other party has no way of harming you. Would you honestly keep your end of the bargain? Please don’t say you would. If that were the case, you’d be in the navy, not a pirate.”
“……”
“A promise made only with words is empty. If I were you, instead of believing some nonsense about ‘solving it all in a hundred years,’ I would have set conditions like ‘release one person from the curse every year’ or ‘learn the curse-removal techniques while working as a subordinate.’ The first would tell you if she truly had the will and ability, and with the second, at least you’d be left with the skills you learned.”
“……”
“Of course, this is all just speculation. It’s not impossible that the Witch of the West would have faithfully honored the contract. But what good is that now? She’s already dead and gone. Clinging to a profit that’s already irreversible is the mark of a third-rate merchant. Don’t you think it’s time to find a new way forward? Hey, are you listening?”
“Hey.”
“Yes? Ah, I-I’m sorry, Ms. Dorothea. I was just watching from the side and this man was so frustrating that I couldn’t help myself. I interfered with your negotiations.”
“No, it looks like you’ve already broken his spirit.”
“Huh? What?”
“I was originally going to try and persuade him myself, but I think it’ll be faster to just leave it to you. Go convince him. If you succeed, I’ll reward you handsomely.”
As a down payment, Dorothea casually waved her gloved right hand.
Instantly, a cascade of gold bars and coins poured from thin air.
Trot stared blankly for a moment at the mountain of gold, so high she had to crane her neck to see the top, before speaking with a solemn expression.
“I’ll make this deal happen, even if I have to grind this golden skull into gold dust.”
“R-Right. Just… don’t overdo it.”
Exactly twelve hours later.
On the condition that the captured members of Cap’n Bill’s crew would be released and Trot would cooperate in the curse-removal research as a ‘temporary crew member,’ Cap’n Bill’s crew joined their side.
*
The Tower of Protection, public workshop.
A mage from the Tower of Protection looked at the ship with its black hull and golden sails and reported.
“The modifications are complete. It can’t fly freely through the skies, but we’ve secured enough flotation power for it to navigate on land without issue.”
The head of the Tower of Protection nodded as she gazed at the now-amphibious golden ship.
“That was faster than I expected.”
“The ship itself already possessed a power akin to psychokinesis. It was a simple matter of enhancing its existing effects.”
The Tower of Protection prided itself on its Enchantment techniques.
Turning a simple sword into a sword of flames, or granting an ordinary person the superhuman strength of a bear—acts of ‘enhancing the power of something that already exists or adding new functions’ were their specialty, and that ability was on full display once again.
However, the mages who had achieved this feat looked uneasy.
“But… will this truly be enough? An immortal pirate crew certainly sounds formidable, but they are still just a handful of men.”
The battle between Protection and Control was clearly in Protection’s disfavor, and the enemy had the additional power of a Great Witch on their side. The idea of supplementing their forces from the outside wasn’t bad, but it was hard to believe that adding a few dozen people would make a significant difference.
The tower head offered a bitter smile at the mage’s opinion.
It was easy to say everything would be fine, but honestly, she too was at a loss as to how to overcome the situation.
However.
“There are those who still burn with fighting spirit even in this situation. If they say they need pirates and a pirate ship for this operation, then we have no choice but to trust them for now.”
*
Fwip.
Spreading a map across the desk, Sophia spoke.
“Our original plan—to expose the crimes of the Tower of Control and have the other towers condemn them—has effectively failed. If the Tower of Protection is crushed by the Tower of Control, all the crimes they committed will either be erased or twisted to their liking and spread as a different story.”
“And our heads will roll along with it. There’s no way they’d let us live,” Adelaide said, her expression darkening.
When it came down to it, the party had gotten involved in this incident because of her. They had been through countless incidents and defeated numerous enemies, but this time, the scale and strength of the foe were on another level. The Tower of Control was a formidable enemy on its own, and now one of the Four Great Witches was with them.
Logically, this was a time to plan an escape, not a fight.
[‘The Tin Knight’ says this sets the stage for a clean fight!]
[‘The Tin Knight’ says since they were the ones who started the power struggle, we don’t have to worry about politics or any other headaches and can just focus on crushing our enemies!]
But the Tin Knight expressed no negativity about the situation. On the contrary, he seemed delighted, as if he was finally feeling refreshed.
The other companions were the same.
“Well, I suppose hitting the Magic State as outsiders is different from getting involved in a civil war between magic towers.”
“They may have attacked with the intent of swallowing the Tower of Protection whole, but thanks to them, we’ve gained some solid backing.”
They were outmatched in terms of forces, but that was nothing new, they said with a laugh.
And so, Adelaide could laugh too.
She asked, “What do I—no, what do we need to do?”
“A guerrilla war,” Dorothea answered.
“In tin can terms, a hit-and-run would be more accurate. We’ll ride the pirates’ ship and stir up trouble all over Control’s territory, grinding down their most important assets: the 3rd rank mages and above.”
“The participants will be Cap’n Bill’s crew, the four of us, Miss Gale, and Sir White Knight. The people from the Tower of Protection will keep applying pressure from the outside so the enemy can’t form a large-scale encirclement.”
To defeat the enemy’s main forces with a group of less than a few dozen.
It was an absurd plan, a preposterous goal.
But they were serious.
“I’ll use the lower half of that old man’s body he left behind as a magical catalyst. They’ve probably come up with countermeasures, so killing him directly with a curse is impossible, but I can at least pinpoint the locations of him and his blood relatives.”
“Sir Tin Knight and Sir White Knight can keep moving as long as they have mana, and if Miss Gale receives mana from Miss Dorothea and delivers it to the field, Sir Tin Knight won’t need to return. However, Sir Tin Knight and Miss Dorothea will inevitably be far apart, so during that time, the pirates and Miss Adelaide will have to protect Miss Dorothea.”
They had their compass.
They had secured their means of transport.
All that was left…
[‘The Tin Knight’ shouts that it’s time to hack and slash!]
…was to run wild.