Chapter 287: The Tin Knight and the City of Hubris (7)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 287: The Tin Knight and the City of Hubris (7)
When you thought about it calmly, what you knew was extremely limited.
You knew nothing about this world.
You didn’t know if this was truly the past, a vision, or a world inside Sophia’s memories.
You didn’t know the identity of your enemies or their goals.
Were they angels or vampires? What was the connection between the chalice and the flute? If they succeeded in altering something, what would happen next? You had no idea.
But you didn’t care.
There was no need to understand everything in the world.
Even if you didn’t fully grasp the situation, the task at hand remained the same.
Your contractor had dragged an opponent you would have otherwise been helpless against down to the level of ‘an enemy that can be hit.’
And if it was an enemy that could be hit, there was no reason the ‘Tin Knight’ couldn’t defeat it.
You broke the enemy’s wings, crushed its legs, severed its arms, and beheaded it.
Your body had degraded to its state before the modifications in Tik-Tok, but you had transcended simply drawing on the Tin Knight’s memories and reached a state where you could apply them in your own way.
Before your blade, the enemy scattered into a red mist once more.
You stared blankly at your chipped and nicked sword before sheathing it again.
Although Sophia had avoided a future where she died by poison, her life was anything but peaceful.
She was not allowed to leave the residence, was placed under strict surveillance, and was even forbidden from speaking to anyone.
But the light in Sophia’s eyes did not die.
She continued to research and experiment within the house.
You silently watched over her.
The first year of confinement. Sophia delved deep into all sorts of magic books.
She analyzed, deconstructed, reassembled, and improved existing spells over and over again.
Sophia had originally been unable to handle mana at all, and she lacked the innate talent of someone like Adelaide, but through sheer, steady repetition and theoretical study, she mastered the art of controlling mana at will.
The second year of confinement. Wary of Sophia, the city’s upper echelons confiscated all her magic-related books and manuscripts, but Sophia paid them no mind.
She had already memorized the contents of the books long ago, and though her writing was restricted, her thoughts were free.
Occasionally, she needed to organize her thoughts outside her head. She continued her research by writing on parchment, memorizing the contents, and then washing the parchment clean with water.
The third year of confinement. Having decided that she couldn’t achieve her desired results with mana alone, Sophia began attempting to use holy power in the same way as magic.
It was an ordered formula, a beautiful masterpiece, something akin to a programming code.
A scholar who had reached the pinnacle even in the City of Learning endlessly reconstructed and applied all the knowledge she had accumulated, weaving miracles with holy power as her medium.
The fourth year of confinement. The surveillance on Sophia grew considerably more lax.
To others who couldn’t read her mind, she must have seemed to spend most of her days in quiet meditation.
Or perhaps her older brother, having crushed the city’s democracy and solidified his position as a de facto dictator, no longer saw her as a threat.
Sophia wandered around the residence and, in a poorly-managed, dust-filled storeroom, she found a chalice.
The chalice looked utterly ordinary.
The material seemed to be copper, and its luster was faint.
It had no special glow, no easily identifiable patterns.
Then again, all magically potent items in the residence had been confiscated, so if it had looked special, it never would have been left neglected like this.
But for some reason, Sophia stared at the ordinary-looking chalice for a long time.
Then, after checking her surroundings, she channeled mana into it.
Fwaaa!
The change was dramatic.
The color of the utterly plain chalice transformed into a brilliant red.
All sorts of ornate patterns became embossed on its surface, and the chalice itself began to emit a soft glow.
It looked as if it had been carved from a single ruby.
Watching this, you knew it was the Chalice of Tuberose.
Sophia gazed at the chalice for a moment, then uttered a single sentence.
It was unusual, as Sophia rarely, if ever, spoke to herself, though she was talkative enough around others.
“…How strangely convenient.”
With her vast knowledge, it seemed Sophia had immediately identified the chalice.
She also appeared to be suspicious as to why the Chalice of Tuberose was here.
Hearing her words, you too were struck by how bizarre it was.
You had been watching Sophia this whole time, so you knew.
She was confined to the residence. Even if she knew of the kingdom’s sacred treasures, she was in no position to go searching for them.
With her contact with the outside world so severely restricted, she couldn’t ask anyone for help either.
And yet, the Chalice of Tuberose had fallen into her hands as if it were the most natural thing in the world, in a way that aroused no one’s suspicion.
To put it nicely, it was fated. To put it badly, it was contrived.
To you, the silent chalice felt like a living creature.
However, Sophia seemed fully prepared to drink from the chalice, even if it were a poisoned cup.
She poured water into it.
The moment the plain, featureless water was poured, it transformed into a deep, dark wine.
Sophia closed her eyes and remained motionless for a long time.
You realized Sophia was using the power of the Chalice.
The power the party had used during their journey was a corrupted version absorbed by Sophia; its original ability was surely to see the future.
Is Sophia seeing the future right now? If so, what kind of future is it?
Suddenly, Sophia’s eyes snapped open.
And she stared directly in your direction.
You gave Sophia a wave.
[The ‘Tin Knight’ asks if you can see him!]
Sophia didn’t answer.
She tilted her head with a strange expression.
For someone who always wore a look of composure, her expression was oddly uncertain, as if she wasn’t quite sure.
That was all.
Without answering your question or acknowledging you, Sophia silently returned to her research.
The only thing that changed was the addition of using the Chalice of Tuberose to her daily routine.
The chalice reverted to its ordinary appearance when exposed to holy power, so her watchers didn't seem to notice anything unusual.
And so, more time passed.
The fifth year of confinement. Sophia had built a rather friendly relationship with her watchers.
After all, this was Sophia, who had claimed the leadership of a school of thought with her eloquence and charisma alone.
When she set her mind to winning someone over, turning those close to her into followers wasn’t a difficult task.
Her brother must have known this, as he had taken meticulous precautions up until the third year, such as frequently rotating the personnel. But as he reveled in the unparalleled power of a dictator, his wariness of his old rival gradually faded.
The new security manager and the staff on duty couldn’t maintain their vigilance against a harmless-looking woman who appeared to have no power.
To them, Sophia made a series of small requests.
Parchment and a pen for writing. Flowers from the field. Various snacks. Scented oil for her hair. Seeds to plant in the garden.
If she had requested ‘dangerous’ items like weapons or grimoires, even they, in their relaxed state, would have grown suspicious. But they didn’t react so sensitively to such everyday items.
In this way, Sophia succeeded in gathering the catalysts needed for her ritual.
You didn’t know much about magic, but you could tell that what Sophia was doing was quite heterogeneous and peculiar.
What she did borrowed the methods of magic but was not magic; it used holy power as its engine but was not holy magic.
There was even the irony of using holy power, which by its very nature repels monsters, to produce a result that was a monster—a vampire.
It was grotesque, bizarre, and strange.
It was heresy.
And also, a great feat.
Thus, she was reborn as something other than human.
-Wuuuung.
Witnessing this, the blood-red chalice let out a low hum.
Blood-red mana rose like a mist and enveloped Sophia’s body.
It looked as if it was trying to dominate her.
However.
Fwaaat!
Even transformed into a vampire, Sophia was still a cleric.
Perhaps due to her changed body, the holy power leaking from her was far weaker than when she was human, but its pure radiance had not dimmed in the slightest.
The mana emanating from the blood-red chalice wavered as if in alarm.
Sophia gripped the chalice and poured holy power into it.
It was a fierce torrent, far more than what was needed to simply revert its appearance.
The chalice tried to resist, raising its mana, but its form gradually began to melt.
It looked like a piece of melted sugar craft.
Soon, its form completely collapsed into a red mist, which was then absorbed into Sophia’s body.
“What’s happening?!”
Immediately after, the guards outside rushed into the building.
They had apparently sensed the light and waves of power that had spread during the ritual.
As they stood there in alarm, Sophia smiled at them with a relaxed demeanor.
“Hello, everyone. Is something the matter?”
Wait, that’s not right, you couldn’t help but think.