Chapter 330: The Tin Knight and the Revived Myth – Opium & Dracaena (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 330: The Tin Knight and the Revived Myth – Opium & Dracaena (2)
—When she opened her eyes, Dorothea realized she had been left all alone.
The succubus, Opium, who had been with her, had vanished at some point.
After checking her own body, which was translucent like a ghost's, allowing her to see right through it, Dorothea let out a short sigh.
Looking around, she found herself inside some sort of building.
Her first impression was that of a lavish royal castle.
But the more she examined its finer details, the more Dorothea couldn't suppress a low groan.
“…What is this?”
High ceilings. Antique paintings hanging on the walls. Magnificent stained-glass windows.
Every object that composed and decorated the building was a magic tool, a catalyst that amplified magical power.
The craftsmanship of each item was impressive enough, but what astonished Dorothea even more was that every single one of these elements interlocked like gears to form a massive barrier.
Moreover, its scale wasn't limited to enveloping the castle; it extended far beyond its walls.
Dorothea had even fought against the magic towers, which could be called the quintessence of modern magic, but even they would have to concede defeat before this.
Just as Dorothea was wondering where on earth she was…
Clank.
Along with a cold, metallic sound, the footsteps of another approached.
Dorothea turned her head toward the sound, her eyes widening.
A lone knight stood there.
He was tall, but not exceptionally so.
His build was solid, but not so sculpted as to draw admiration at a mere glance.
One of his arms was a cold, hard metal prosthesis, and one of his legs was a crude, unadorned prosthetic.
His hair was gray, giving the impression that it had faded from hardship rather than being its natural color.
His features were quite handsome, but his rough, scarred skin made it difficult to call him a beautiful man. His eyes, however, shone with a fierce will, as if torches burned within them.
He wore a plainly colored formal uniform.
One might have mistaken him for a bureaucrat working in the castle, but Dorothea sensed that wasn't the case.
He was a knight.
His posture, his gait, his gaze, his very aura—they all proved it.
He walked down the corridor, seemingly completely unaware of Dorothea's presence. After a moment's hesitation, Dorothea followed him.
The knight arrived at a place that appeared to be an audience chamber.
Two gatekeepers stood before the doors leading to the chamber. Seeing them, Dorothea's brow twitched.
Their faces were indistinct, as if veiled by a deep shadow.
The knight's mouth opened.
“I have come for an audience with Her Majesty.”
The blurry-faced gatekeeper replied,
“Welco□e. Her Majes□y is waiti□g.”
It seemed it wasn't just their faces that were hard to make out; the gatekeeper's voice was choppy, fading in and out unnaturally. It was as if this scene was being forcibly recreated from incomplete data.
The doors opened, and the knight proceeded into the audience chamber.
At the far end of the vast, ornate chamber was a throne atop a set of stairs reminiscent of an altar. A woman with a cold expression sat upon that throne.
Seeing the woman's face, Dorothea flinched.
Her appearance was strikingly similar to Dorothea's own.
If not for the stern aura and formal attire she wore, Dorothea might have mistaken the woman for herself.
The knight knelt on one knee, paying his respects to the woman.
“—I, Torwin Tormund, present myself before Her Majesty, the great Queen of Ionia.”
Despite the formal greeting, the queen did not reply.
She merely looked down at the knight with a strangely displeased expression.
It was a situation that could have been embarrassing, yet the knight showed no sign of discontent or bewilderment, simply waiting for the queen with a calm demeanor.
Finally, it was the queen who spoke first.
“…Why have you come?”
The knight answered, “I have a request for Your Majesty.”
“A request.”
The queen's gaze fell upon the knight's metal arm and leg, and then to the spot near his heart, hidden beneath his clothes.
“A request from you, who subjugated three of the eight generals that drove humanity to the brink, is one I should rightfully grant, no matter what it may be. If you desire mountains of gold and silver, they are yours. If you wish for a peerless beauty, she is yours. I would even step down from this throne and yield the crown to you if you asked.”
It was the highest praise, the greatest favor.
Yet, even hearing such words, the knight remained impassive.
He said, “I have only fulfilled my duty as a knight. How could I possibly ask for such an undeserved reward?”
“No one would call it undeserved.”
“Even if no one else says so, I believe it to be.”
“Then, what is it you desire?”
“—I beseech you, Your Majesty. Please send me back to the battlefield.”
The queen's eyes squeezed shut.
“I will not permit it.”
“Your Majesty.”
“Look at yourself. Your arm can no longer feel human warmth, no blood flows through your leg, and you cannot even generate your own mana, forced to borrow it from others. You wish to go to war again in such a state? Do you intend to make the many who miss you resent me, cursing me as an incompetent and cruel queen?”
Her words were sharp. And for that very reason, they were also sorrowful.
But the knight's will was firm.
“I know that Your Majesty devotes yourself day and night for this country—no, for all who live on this land. Without Your Majesty's barrier, the people could not sleep peacefully, eat their meals, or even converse with their friends. Compared to your merit in protecting the entire nation, my own accomplishments are trivial.”
“Subjugating the eight generals is trivial? Had you not felled one of the eight, there would have been no heavenly intervention in the first place.”
“The credit is not mine alone. There were soldiers who bought me time so I could focus on fighting the generals. There were knights who protected me when I was too injured to move. There were mages who created new limbs for me when I lost my own. The commanders led the army, the civil officials kept the country running, and the people made the food I ate and the clothes I wore.”
The knight looked the queen straight in the eye.
“It was because they all fulfilled their roles, because they all helped me, that I was able to fight. And now, they are on the battlefield, shedding blood and waiting for me. Therefore, Your Majesty. I beg you to send me.”
“……”
From Dorothea's perspective, the queen seemed to genuinely want to deny the knight's request.
But his will was too resolute, his purpose too noble.
The knight was right, and so the queen could not stop him.
In the end, it was the queen who raised the white flag.
“Very well. But you will not go alone.”
“What do you mean…”
As the knight looked on in question, a young girl who had been standing in a corner of the audience chamber stepped forward.
The girl, who had long hair, a witch's hat, and a staff, bowed her head to the knight with a very nervous expression.
“My name is Nesarose. It's a pleasure to meet you.”
The queen said, “She is my apprentice. Take her with you.”
“……”
The knight looked utterly bewildered, and understandably so.
The girl appeared to be in her early teens at most.
Meanwhile, Dorothea felt a strange sense of familiarity as she looked at the girl.
“I feel like I've seen her somewhere…?”
Dorothea tilted her head, racking her brain, but no clear answer came to her.
The knight and Nesarose left the audience chamber, and the queen watched them go with a complicated expression.
And then, the scenery distorted.
A burning land.
Crumbled buildings.
People screaming and wailing.
And.
《──────■■■■!》
A golden dragon, roaring as it looked down upon everything from the distant sky.
*
You gripped the elongated spinal bone growing from the back of the eagle's neck and sharply changed direction.
The chimera eagle, its size bloated by a mishmash of various bird corpses, faithfully responded to your aggressive piloting and soared through the sky.
Beams of light pierced through the space you had occupied just moments before.
Dodging attacks that would have skewered you on contact, you closed in on the dragon.
You swung the sword in your right hand with all your might, and some of the dragon's scales flew off as its flesh was cut.
But that was all.
The dragon, with its overwhelming size, rotated its body with an agility that belied its bulk and swung its tail down to strike you.
You tried to evade again, but the chimera eagle's wing had been pierced and severed by a beam that came from nowhere.
As you lost balance and fell, the dragon's tail slammed down on you.
CRACK! CRUUUNCH!
Like a nail driven through wood, your massive body was slammed into the ground.
With your movement restricted underground, you moved only your wrist, grinding away the surrounding earth with sword energy.
With no time to rejoice in your newfound freedom, you grabbed the ankle of an eagle that had flown overhead.
Immediately after, the dragon's breath blasted the spot where you had just been.
You avoided a direct hit, but you couldn't escape the heatwave.
Tssssssss!
Your body instantly glowed red from the terrifying heat, and your vision and senses distorted wildly.
Your functions as a doll were beginning to fail.
Before key components like your mana tank or self-repair function could go bust, you quickly circulated mana through your body, venting the accumulated heat.
-Kree!
The eagle whose ankle you were holding couldn't withstand the heatwave and burst into flames, turning to ash.
Your body plummeted to the ground once more.
You quickly tried to kick off the ground and move, but even at full speed, it was impossible to evade the dragon's breath.
The problem was that even if you avoided a direct hit, the shockwave spreading from the point of impact caused massive damage.
Sensing the second breath attack approaching, you sequentially released the mana stored in your shield.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The first release was to evade the breath. The second was to use the breath's shockwave to propel yourself higher. The third was to alter your trajectory toward a slower-reacting eagle.
After mounting the new eagle, you flew toward the dragon.
Your first objective was to break its wings.