Chapter 336: The Tin Knight and the Kingdom of the Underground
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 336: The Tin Knight and the Kingdom of the Underground
At some point, the witch Dorothea realized she was in a place she didn't recognize.
It was a space barely large enough for a single person to stretch out and lie down.
There were no structures like doors or windows that might connect to the outside. The only things in the room were a desk, a chair, and a strange machine fitted with what looked like a glass panel.
A man was sitting in the chair.
He was staring intently at the glass panel, seemingly unaware of Dorothea’s presence.
Dorothea tried to call out to him, but soon realized no sound would come from her throat.
She tried to touch something with her hands, but they simply passed through every object.
Like a ghost, Dorothea thought.
With no other choice, Dorothea moved closer to the wall to get a better look at the man’s face.
His face was ordinary.
Not particularly handsome, nor particularly ugly, with no easily discernible features.
Even though Dorothea was hovering right in his line of sight, the man remained completely oblivious, his gaze fixed on the glass panel.
Wondering what he was looking at so intently, Dorothea turned her gaze to the panel.
A pitch-black background. In its center was a single line of text of moderate length.
At first, Dorothea couldn't tell what the characters meant, but she soon recalled the Tin Knight and Sophia using a similar script when they spoke to each other.
「Due to □□□□'s □□, □□ is being □□. Please wait a moment.」
Since Dorothea hadn't mastered the language as perfectly as Sophia, she couldn't decipher the full meaning of the text.
However, she could understand the word ‘wait’.
But it seemed the man was quite displeased by it.
He glared at the glass panel for a long moment before letting out a short sigh, pushing his chair back, and standing up.
He cracked his neck, stretched his arms and legs, and lightly shook out his wrists.
They were trivial, insignificant movements, yet Dorothea blinked in surprise.
They were the very same mannerisms the Tin Knight would often display without any particular reason.
Could it be? While Dorothea was lost in thought, the man continued his various movements.
It didn't seem like he was doing them for any significant reason; rather, it was a clear attempt to kill even a little bit of time.
As proof, his gaze remained fixed on the glass panel.
At a glance, it was a ridiculous sight.
But Dorothea couldn't bring herself to laugh.
The room was completely sealed.
There was no window to see the outside world, no door to leave for another place.
The man never opened his mouth, which, in a way, was only natural.
There was no one here for him to talk to.
A life where you couldn't perceive any change from the outside, couldn't meet anyone else, and simply existed in that place.
It was like being a prisoner trapped in a wretched jail.
Eventually growing tired of his fidgeting, the man sat back down and stared at the black glass panel again.
As if something would change if he just kept staring.
The man’s face was impassive, but his eyes trembled with anxiety.
Dorothea could sense what he feared.
Solitude.
To be able to see nothing, to interact with no one, to be left alone in this tiny space, existing for all eternity.
Dorothea unconsciously reached out and touched her fingertips to the man’s cheek.
But her hand didn't make contact, simply passing right through him.
Suddenly, the man looked up and glanced around.
But he didn't notice Dorothea, who was right in front of his nose, and merely scratched the back of his head.
After a while, a change finally occurred on the glass panel he had been watching so intently.
The solid black background transformed into a kaleidoscope of colors and began to display a landscape from somewhere.
At the same time, Dorothea noticed a shift in the man’s soul.
His soul was here, yet it also existed ‘somewhere’ else.
It wasn't that his soul was split in two. If she had to describe it, it was more like his soul was stretched out long, connected by a thin thread.
Her bewilderment at this strange state of existence was brief, as Dorothea soon felt her own body being pulled somewhere.
Resistance was impossible.
Like water flowing downward, like an object in the air falling to the ground, it was an utterly natural yet powerful force of attraction.
Dorothea realized that her body was calling to her soul.
Just before she was finally pulled away from this room, Dorothea looked at the man one last time.
The image of a knight in armor seemed to superimpose itself over the ordinary, featureless man.
*
Life is truly ironic. There are times when everything goes smoothly, and then there are times when a series of unreasonable trials befalls you, making you wonder how you're supposed to solve any of them.
In Franka Aglaia’s opinion, her life was currently in an undeniable period of ‘unreasonable’.
How else could she explain being abruptly teleported to another place right after defeating that monstrous dwarf, Haiden?
“What is this, what is this, what in the world is this!?”
Arooo-ooo-ooo-ooo!
However, Franka had no time to leisurely assess her surroundings or analyze the situation.
The moment the blinding, dizzying emerald light faded, a pack of some wolf-like creatures that had been circling nearby began to charge at her.
The reason she'd specified ‘wolf-like’ was simple.
Normal wolves, for one, did not have fur as crimson as blood, nor did they stand three meters tall at the shoulder, nor did they emit something akin to sword energy from their fangs and claws.
The sight of dozens of these monsters—a single one of which could likely obliterate an ordinary human village in an instant—charging in a pack was enough to make anyone’s blood run cold.
Of course, Franka was also far from an ordinary human.
The legacy of the Witch of the West.
Having inherited the techniques and homunculi her master had accumulated over hundreds of years, it was no exaggeration to say that Franka had already reached the pinnacle of the continent's alchemists.
If Franka had been in perfect condition, she would have chosen to fight back without hesitation.
But this time, the situation was not in her favor.
She had expended a considerable amount of mana during her fight with Haiden, and on top of that, a large portion of her core forces, the homunculus troop, had been separated from her and failed to teleport with her.
At her side now were only three: Insect-Wing, who boasted a large frame; Bat-Wing, who specialized in swift reconnaissance; and finally, Bird-Wing, whose talent was eloquent speech.
The golden carriage she'd used to smash Haiden was still intact, but the circumstances were far from ideal for disassembling it and transforming it into weapons to fight.
In the end, Franka’s choice was to flee.
Her goal was to run and run until she escaped the wolves.
But even that was not easy.
“Where in the world am I!?”
She ran, and ran, and ran, but all that appeared was an endless, rocky wasteland.
Franka possessed the skill to determine her approximate location by observing the stars, but the stars in the sky were completely different from any she knew.
《Lady Franka. We are putting distance between us and the ones chasing from behind, but just as many new ones are closing in from the front and sides. At this rate, the situation does not look good.》
“I know that! But we can’t stop, can we!?”
《Lady Franka, mind your breathing. This red sand carried on the wind is highly toxic. We homunculi may be fine, but it will be difficult for a human body to endure.》
“Hmph!”
At Bird-Wing’s words, Franka quickly combined a handkerchief and a piece of all-purpose catalyst, transmuting them into the shape of a mask.
She felt tears welling up in her eyes.
As she continued to flee aimlessly in this unknown place, a wave of sorrow washed over her.
She should have just stayed cooped up in the workshop the Witch of the West had made.
To think she’d gotten caught up in this mess while snooping around the kingdom for some stupid sacred treasure… tears were all she could produce.
“This is all because of that—”
Her attempt to continue her grumbling, blaming that plague-like party, failed.
CRASH!
The carriage, which had been speeding along, was suddenly struck from the side, sending it tumbling end over end.
Bird-Wing quickly grabbed Franka’s body, and Insect-Wing tried to forcibly stop the carriage with its sturdy limbs, but Franka’s vision still spun as if the world had been turned upside down.
The carriage finally screeched to a halt.
Peeking her head out of the barely stopped vehicle, Franka stared blankly outside.
The path they had just been racing down.
In the middle of it, a red wolf, a full head taller than the others, was glaring at them.
It must have been the one that had rammed the carriage.
Arooo-ooo-ooo!
Grrrrrrrrrrr!
What’s more, the red wolves that had been relentlessly pursuing them began to surround Franka, as if determined not to miss this chance.
“…”
Franka fell silent.
A broken carriage. Not enough numbers. Barely any mana left.
Every factor pointed to the worst possible situation.
Just as she swallowed hard, a voice rang out.
“—All of you, draw your swords.”
A youthful, yet somehow dignified command.
In response, dozens of newcomers leaped into the battlefield.
At the sudden appearance of interlopers, the wolves let out roars of fury.
Their bodies were powerful, their attacks sharp.
They were, without a doubt, predators of the wild.
Slash!
“Whoa! What are these things? Their hides are pretty tough.”
“A wolf is a wolf, no matter what tricks it pulls! Cut them all down!”
“Aim for the underbelly! Their size makes their undersides relatively defenseless!”
But the newcomers, far from being intimidated by such predators, continued to fight while casually chatting.
It was only natural.
If the enemy were wolves, they were golden lions.
The true predators among predators.
As the members of the Lennart bloodline brandished their weapons and swept through the battlefield, the red wolves’ encirclement began to crumble.
When the giant wolves swung their forelegs, the Lion Duke’s kin didn't yield in strength. When the wolves tried to confuse them with speed, the Lennarts were faster.
Above all, the bloodline’s coordination was far superior to the wolves’ clumsy teamwork.
Sensing the tide had turned, the pack leader wolf was about to step forward.
“You can play with me!”
Golden hair, violet eyes. A single sword in hand.
Hilda, a girl with an air of both innocence and danger, blocked the pack leader’s path.
The wolf tried to bite Hilda’s head off in one go, but Hilda’s upward kick to its jaw was faster.
Grrrrrrrrrrr!
As the wolf growled in fury and glared at Hilda again, her eyes sparkled.
Her expression clearly said, ‘Oh? You’re not broken yet?’
What followed was a one-sided assault that was brutal to watch.
With every swing of Hilda’s sword, another part of the pack leader’s body was cut, its blood staining the ground.
Given Hilda’s free-spirited, instinct-driven swordsmanship, it looked as if one powerful beast was toying with another.
Faced with such a one-sided, overwhelming fight, the pack of red wolves began to slowly back away, as if terrified.
Just as Franka was about to breathe a sigh of relief, thinking she had survived…
Aroooooooooo!!!
Atop a rocky cliff, a wolf even larger than the one fighting Hilda let out a massive howl.
While the other wolves had only emitted mana from their claws and teeth, this new individual was practically shedding a red aura from its entire body.
And as if responding to it, the other wolves all howled in unison, their fighting spirit reignited.
《…It seems the first one was not the leader, but the second-in-command.》
The Bird-Wing homunculus’s remark accurately summed up the situation.
As the Lennart kin showed a hint of tension at the appearance of the new, powerful individual, and the red wolves’ fighting spirit blazed anew…
“Huh?”
Suddenly, Franka’s eyes caught something strange.
In front of the newly appeared, true pack leader.
A small girl had appeared out of nowhere and was looking up at the wolf.
Even at a glance, the girl was not in good shape.
Her complexion was pale, as if she had lost a lot of blood, and her body was covered in bruises and wounds.
She looked so precarious that it seemed a wonder she was even standing.
Rrrrrr…..?
A strange look appeared in the true pack leader’s eyes, as if puzzled by the girl who had appeared before it.
But it was only for a moment.
The wolf raised its foreleg without hesitation and slammed it down on the girl.
KABOOM!
With a deafening roar, a crater formed around the wolf’s paw.
It was a display of power unthinkable for a mere wild animal.
An attack that could have easily turned a person into pulp.
But the only one who let out even a short scream was Franka.
The members of the Lion Duke’s bloodline, far from being surprised or panicked, reacted with an expression that said, ‘Ah, that thing just messed up.’
And they were right.
The girl, who had seemed to be crushed under the wolf’s paw, was now perched atop its snout.
The wolf’s eyes widened in shock.
SMACK!
—Yelp!?
With a single slap from the girl’s palm, a pathetic whimper, like that of a neighborhood puppy, escaped the mouth of the wolf that had been radiating the dignity of a leader.
“Oof…”
Watching the scene, Hilda von Lennart shuddered as if she’d suddenly caught a chill.
Franka had no idea what was going on.
As the wolf, its head slammed into the ground, whimpered and tried to get back up, the girl held out her open palm to it and said,
“Right now, it’s this.”
Then, she clenched that hand into a fist and continued.
“Next, it’s this.”
The wolf’s body trembled.
Sometimes, the language of the body is more precise and persuasive than any spoken word.
As the leader wolf meekly bowed its head and lay flat on the ground, the other wolves all lowered their bodies in a display of submission.
From the look of utter defeat in their eyes, it seemed they would have exposed their bellies on command.
The girl patted the leader wolf’s head for a moment, as if pleased they could communicate, then approached the carriage and spoke to Franka.
“Miss Franka, are you all right?”
At the words of the girl, Adelaide von Lennart, Franka made an indescribable expression.
“…I’m not exactly okay, but since you guys are on my side for now, I guess I feel okay…”
“Huh?”
Adelaide tilted her head in confusion.