Chapter 276: The Tin Knight and The Enchanting Demon (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 276: The Tin Knight and The Enchanting Demon (2)
The next destination you and your companions chose was Marquis Hemming’s territory in the kingdom.
Now that the matters concerning the Lion Duke’s bloodline were settled and you had secured Giselle’s oath of loyalty, there was no longer a need to keep Adel’s mother and Ronnie hidden away elsewhere.
[The ‘Tin Knight’ asks if that noble fellow, William something-or-other, can be trusted!]
At your question, Dorothea scoffed in reply.
“Well, my head isn't so full of flowers that I'd trust a man who once held a knife to my throat.”
[The ‘Tin Knight’ asks if that isn’t a bad idea then!]
“I’ve bound him with a contract, so even if I can't trust him, I can count on him. If he doesn't want to be turned into a frog, he’ll know to behave.”
Besides, there had been no other choice at the time.
While raising hell against the Lennart Ducal House, leaving the lord’s wife in Giselle’s clutches would have been tantamount to begging them to take her hostage. She had to be moved somewhere else, but it was too much of a stretch for the Tin Knight’s party, already on a hectic journey between the Magic State and the Empire, to come all the way to the kingdom themselves.
So, what could be done? The only option was to play the one card that was somewhat trustworthy.
After listening silently to Dorothea’s explanation, you suddenly asked a question.
[The ‘Tin Knight’ asks since the kingdom is Dorothea's homeland, didn't she have any other acquaintances she could call on for a favor!]
“…”
Dorothea’s body went rigid.
Adelaide, who had been running backward alongside the carriage, and Sophia, who had been busy updating the real-time map, both perked up their ears as if an interesting topic had just been raised.
“Ahem.”
Recovering from the stun, your contractor began her explanation in a calm, exceedingly composed and intelligent manner.
“Our opponent is the Lennart Ducal House. Of course, their influence is relatively weaker in the kingdom, but if they sent just a few skilled warriors, it would be difficult for ordinary people to handle. On top of that, the lord’s wife was in poor health, wasn’t she? We couldn’t just leave her in some abandoned house, so it would have been pointless to send her to anyone without sufficient power and wealth. And if I had told my teacher, who knows what kind of catastrophe would have unfolded. So, it had to be Marquis William. Do you understand?”
You tilted your head.
[The ‘Tin Knight’ asks, ignoring the factors of power and wealth, if she does have an acquaintance she could have asked!]
“…”
Dorothea did not answer.
Adelaide surreptitiously distanced herself from the carriage and pretended to be engrossed in physical training, letting out strange huffs and puffs—huff, huff—that she rarely made.
Sophia gave Dorothea a lukewarm, benevolent smile, as if to say it was perfectly understandable and not to worry about it.
You patted Dorothea on the back.
[The ‘Tin Knight’ says he feels he asked something he shouldn't have and offers a sincere apology!]
[The ‘Tin Knight’ expresses his understanding, saying it can't be helped due to the penalties of the Necromancer class!]
“…You’re the worst of them all!!”
Dorothea shrieked, her face flushed red.
You inwardly roared with laughter, thinking she was always fun to tease.
*
The road to the marquis’s territory was relatively peaceful.
The kingdom’s security was less stable than the Empire’s, so you occasionally sensed bandits lurking nearby, but they never actually attacked.
“Boss! We’ve got prey! It’s a really fancy carriage!”
“Ooh! Let’s make a score… Shit, what the hell is that?”
The human eye is poor at gauging the size of distant objects.
When the bandits first spotted the Tin Knight’s carriage, they rejoiced, thinking, ‘A fancy carriage has arrived.’
Fancy meant expensive, and an expensive carriage meant it was good prey with plenty of money to be made.
But as the distance closed and the finer details of the carriage became clear, their wide grins quickly vanished.
Colossal horses, in a different weight class from ordinary ones, looked like they could crush not just a man’s ribs but his entire upper body with a single stomp of their front hooves.
The carriage itself, while certainly ornate and luxurious, was bristling with parts clearly designed for combat, like cannons and blades.
And the final nail in the coffin: a golden-haired girl running backward alongside the carriage, carrying a greatsword on her back that most people would struggle to even lift.
Banditry itself was a profession that required a certain degree of recklessness and grit, but even so, the bandits’ brains weren’t made of sponge. They weren’t foolish enough to charge at a sight like that. Led by their survival instincts, they fled swiftly.
Thus, the party arrived at Marquis Hemming’s territory without a hitch, but that was when the real problem began.
[The ‘Tin Knight’ asks if a marquis isn't higher-ranked than a count!]
“There was a time when it was difficult to say definitively which title was superior, but now that the Empire has clarified the hierarchy of titles and other nations have followed suit, that can be considered true.”
[The ‘Tin Knight’ says that this place looks much smaller and poorer than Count Tik-Tok’s territory!]
“There’s the difference in national power between the Empire and the kingdom, and besides, the size of a domain doesn’t necessarily correspond to the rank of its lord.”
Though Sophia answered as such, she too looked out at the scenery beyond the carriage and added another comment.
“However, regardless of the domain’s size… the internal situation doesn’t look good.”
The City of Pleasure, the City of Clockwork, the City of Struggle, the City of Scales.
For all their issues, the towns and cities the party had passed through had been filled with their own kind of vitality and bustle.
But one glance at Marquis Hemming’s territory was enough to see that the residents were haggard, and a sense of gloom emanated from the faces and eyes of the pedestrians on the streets.
Dorothea frowned.
“That’s enough, Adelaide. Get inside.”
“Yes.”
Adelaide’s expression had also hardened slightly.
Seeing the state of the place where her mother and trusted servant were staying, it was impossible not to worry.
If there had been a checkpoint or a gatekeeper managing entry into the domain, they could have asked about the situation, but all they could see were scattered villages.
It wasn't unusual, considering that domains where residents simply gathered around the lord’s mansion were more common than those enclosed by walls, but for those seeking information, it was a rather frustrating situation.
They continued on for some time.
Only after reaching a densely packed area of buildings, what one might call the central district, did guards finally appear.
“Halt! Halt! Stop right there!”
A guard stopped the carriage with a very rough voice, one might say a voice dripping with irritation.
It was quite a strange occurrence.
Ordinarily, a fancy carriage was likely to be carrying a person of high status, so it was basic etiquette to show respect in most situations.
This was especially true now, as the carriage, unlike when it was deliberately displaying its threatening features to scare off bandits, looked perfectly normal aside from its large size.
A guard with dark circles under his eyes spoke to Sophia, who was sitting in the driver’s seat.
“State your purpose and identity.”
“We are the party of Lady Dorothea the mage. We have already sent word to Marquis William that we would be visiting.”
“Wait a moment.”
The guard, with a somewhat dubious expression, stepped back and conferred with the other guards.
When another guard brought over a file made from a bundle of cheap, poor-quality paper, he examined it carefully before speaking again in a slightly softer tone.
“…May I briefly see the mage herself for confirmation?”
Since there was no way to identify them by a crest on the carriage, as a noble family would have, it was, in a way, a reasonable request.
Click.
“Well, are we good now?”
When Dorothea opened the carriage door and poked her face out, the guard flinched.
He seemed half-startled by Dorothea's beauty and half-captivated by her unique fashion.
The guard stood dumbfounded for a moment, only clearing his throat and stepping back when Dorothea narrowed her eyes at him.
“Ahem, confirmed. Follow this main road straight up, and you’ll reach the lord’s mansion.”
“By the way, why is the atmosphere in the domain like this? It can’t be a bad harvest; the other domains we passed through on the way here were fine.”
At Dorothea’s question, the guard’s expression momentarily shifted through a variety of emotions.
However, the words that came out of his mouth were utterly monotonous.
“That is something I cannot answer.”
“…Is that so? Fine, then.”
On the way to the mansion after passing the checkpoint, the party held a meeting inside the carriage.
“He looked like he had a lot to say but was forcing himself to hold it in.”
“Do you think someone from above ordered them to keep quiet?”
[The ‘Tin Knight’ says they can just grill the marquis himself.]
“Well, that’s the most direct way.”
Fortunately, meeting Marquis William was not difficult.
Before they could even explain their situation to the gatekeeper guarding the mansion, the marquis himself came running out.
“Welcome, welcome! I have been eagerly awaiting your arrival!!”
*
“—I shall rid you of all those mice.”
When the traveler made this bold declaration, William was initially unimpressed.
It wasn’t unheard of for boastful charlatans with no real ability, or audacious swindlers trying to cheat a noble, to appear in this world.
In response to William’s skeptical, “And how can I believe that?” the traveler simply smiled and walked out of the mansion.
Then, he began to walk down the road, playing a flute he wore at his hip.
《～～♪ ♫ ♬》
It was a beautiful, mystical melody.
The farmer who had been wailing over his seeds for next year’s crop being gnawed by mice, the baker who sighed at his empty shelves, even the soldiers who had been running around with brooms instead of spears trying to kill the mice—all listened to the sound as if bewitched.
And it was not only humans who reacted.
The mice.
Even those wretched pests that had been tormenting the people followed behind the traveler, as if mesmerized by the sound of the flute.
The traveler’s steps led to a small, nearby stream. The mice, upon falling into the water, seemed to snap out of their daze and scattered in a frenzy.
To the dumbfounded William, the traveler said:
“If there were a large river nearby, I would have drowned them in it, but for now, this is the best I can do. Of course, if you, my lord, promise a definite reward, I might be able to put in a little more effort.”
William realized the traveler had intentionally not exterminated the mice all at once, but he didn’t press the point.
After all, the man had just proven before his very eyes that he had the ability to get rid of those dreadful mice, as long as he was properly compensated.
When William asked what he desired, the traveler replied:
“It is impossible to exterminate all the mice in a single go. Therefore, let us agree that I will receive separate payment for each village.”
“Each time I exterminate the mice, I will take one thing of my choosing from this domain.”
It was a highly suspicious deal.
William offered to pay in coin, but the traveler shook his head.
Only after adding the condition that he could only take things that could be counted as ‘one’—preventing tricks like pointing to a building to claim everything inside or pointing to a plot to take a vast expanse of land—did William finally nod.
He still found the man suspicious, but William didn't have the luxury of weighing every little detail.
After the first mouse extermination, the traveler pointed to the mountain of treasure (a rather small one) in William’s storehouse.
William scoffed and invoked their prior condition.
“Oh dear, it can’t be helped. In that case, I shall take this one gold coin.”
Next, the traveler pointed to a vast field of rice paddies.
William again shook his head, stating that it was against their contract.
“Oh dear, it can’t be helped. In that case, I shall take this one grain of rice.”
After this exchange repeated several times, the final mouse extermination was complete.
The traveler pointed to one of the guests in the domain.
William, startled, shook his head once more, but the traveler did not back down.
“And why not? The thing I have pointed to is properly ‘one,’ is it not?”
But William could not grant the traveler’s request.
The very idea of taking a person as ‘payment’ was absurd, but the person the traveler had pointed to was none other than the lord’s wife, who had not yet awoken from her slumber.
Having no desire to commit suicide, William simply handed the man a pouch of gold coins and sent him away.
And then, disaster struck the domain.
The children of the villages fell into a deep sleep from which they would not awaken.