Chapter 340: The Tin Knight and the Kingdom of the Underground (5)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 340: The Tin Knight and the Kingdom of the Underground (5)
At Sophia’s request to meet Polychrome, the fairies guided them without the slightest hint of suspicion.
Camilla muttered in disbelief.
“Seriously? Is it really okay for them to take us to their leader without even properly checking who we are?”
Sophia replied, “It’s one of two things, isn’t it?”
“One of two things?”
“Either they’re incredibly unguarded, or they have no need to be.”
“What’s the difference?”
To Camilla’s question, Sophia merely offered a quiet smile.
Over there! That pretty friend over there is Polychrome!
The fairy’s cheerful voice felt less heard with the ears and more like the will itself was being hammered into their brains. The party’s gaze turned toward a spot in the flower field.
A rainbow existed there.
She was a small girl who seemed to embody every color imaginable, like a bridge that belonged in the sky.
The girl was hopping about the flower field, and with every step she took, a wave of mana rippled out from her body. The flowers touched by that mana were instantly dyed new colors.
The sight of them blooming red, then burning vermilion, taking on a yellow hue before turning a fresh green, paling to blue then distorting to indigo, and finally swaying with a violet tint… was an incredibly vibrant and beautiful spectacle in the underground, where dim and murky colors were the norm.
In fact, whenever Polychrome’s mana colored the surroundings, not just the other fairies but also other races of the underground sent her fervent cheers.
However, Camilla was horrified not by the visual splendor, but by the immense power hidden behind it.
She finally understood what Sophia had muttered earlier.
“…She certainly doesn’t seem to need to be on guard. What kind of mana is that?”
At a glance, Polychrome seemed to be merely changing the colors of the flowers on the spot, but Camilla, with her keen eye for various magics and techniques, could tell.
Whenever Polychrome painted a new color, the existing ‘colors’ didn’t disappear.
They were simply ‘pushed’ elsewhere.
It was like continuously pouring different paints onto the same spot on a white canvas; the existing paints were bound to spread out.
That fairy called Polychrome was, just by playing there, coloring the entire surrounding area—and perhaps even the entire underground.
Whatever her other abilities might be, the mana that made this possible was alone enough to qualify her as a general of the underground.
A sudden anxiety struck Camilla.
She had heard from her ancestors that vampires were like the nobility of the underground, and after seeing their queen, she came to believe it wasn’t an empty boast. But still, that was a story from the distant past.
She found herself hesitating, wondering if it was right for three strangers with no foundation or power in the underground to suddenly try to meet one of its most powerful figures.
“Hey, we should discuss what we’re going to talk about when we meet her… uh, hey, you!”
Of course, regardless of Camilla’s hesitation, Sophia didn’t hesitate at all.
It was just that the Tin Knight was so extreme that it wasn’t as noticeable, but in truth, Sophia was also the type of person who would rather act first than stand still.
Sophia approached Polychrome, who was playing alone, and greeted her.
“Hello, Lady Polychrome. Could we speak for a moment?”
Hm?
Polychrome’s gaze turned to Sophia, then to Algind standing silently three steps behind her, and finally to the flustered Camilla behind them.
Who are you?
“We are travelers. We’ve lost our way and are looking for a way back to where we came from.”
Lost your way? That’s a problem! How unfortunate!
“Thank you for your concern. But, by any chance, could you help us, Lady Polychrome?”
At Sophia’s words, the rainbow-colored fairy tilted her head.
Help you how? I don’t know anything about directions!
“Even if you don’t know, perhaps you could introduce us to someone who does?”
Oh, that could work! Who would be good? The tiger who reads books to suppress his hunger? Ginger, who’s inflexible but has cool moves? The giant but kind snake minister? Who do you think would be best?
Sophia thought for a moment, then casually tossed out a name.
“What about the great king?”
For a moment, there was silence.
Camilla reacted as if she couldn’t believe her ears, wondering what she had just heard.
The fairies fussed, “Oh my, oh my!” and the other races trembled as if they had heard something terrifying.
Excluding Algind, who was in a half-doll-like state, only two remained composed.
Sophia and Polychrome.
And of the two, the latter tilted her head.
You want to meet the king?
“Yes. He’s someone I’ve had many questions for for a long time. Would it be possible?”
Hmm, hmmmm, hmmmmmmmmm.
Polychrome hummed as if in deep thought.
With her arms crossed, she tilted her head to the side, continuing to lean until her whole body was bent past ninety degrees.
No, she even showed off the trick of floating in mid-air and spinning sideways while she thought.
Then, she stopped with a snap! and declared.
No way!
It was, indeed, a natural answer.
It would have seemed even more natural if she hadn’t declared it while flipped a full 180 degrees upside down.
Sophia stared at the sight for a moment, then gently pushed Polychrome’s legs to the side as if turning the hands of a clock, setting her upright again.
Thanks! But no still means no.
“Why not?”
Because the king is busy! He’s looking for a way to get revenge on the heavens every single day! So we can’t disturb him!
“I see. But why is he seeking revenge on the heavens?”
That’s because the foolish king of the heavens, Oz, betrayed our king!
So naturally.
Without any hesitation or beating around the bush.
The ancient secret spilled out as if it were neighborhood gossip.
But in a way, that too was to be expected.
The people of the underground were all burning with resentment toward the heavens.
This meant that every single person in the underground knew a justifiable reason to resent the heavens.
A shameful secret the heavens tried so hard to hide, one thoroughly censored on the surface.
But in the underground, it was common knowledge.
Sophia’s eyes gleamed at the thought that an opportunity to bridge that gap had arrived.
She asked again.
“Betrayal, that’s terrible. What exactly did he do?”
He stole our God!
“…”
At the utterly nonchalant reply, even the great Sophia was momentarily speechless.
Of course, compared to Camilla, whose eyes were wide behind her, or Algind, who clenched her fists after a delay of several seconds, her reaction was far more composed.
Ignoring them, Polychrome began to chatter excitedly.
A long, long, loooooong time ago, the underground and the surface were one!
The single land was a very chaotic place! There were lots of good things, but lots of bad things too, and most of all, there was no order!
So the king and his friend, Oz, worked together to create a ‘God’! A God who would bring order from chaos, a God who would be equally merciful to everyone in the world!
After a long time of research, the king and Oz succeeded in creating God! But then, Oz cheated! He betrayed our king and monopolized God for himself!
Oz used God’s power to split the world into the surface and the underground. He crammed all the world’s bad things into the underground and banished all the races that opposed him, except for his own race, the ‘humans’!
The surface, with all the bad things gone, became a very nice place to live. But the underground, which got all the bad things, became a very hard place to live! The people of the underground have been suffering ever since!
So we all united under our king and started fighting to get back what’s ours! We tried to cross over to the surface again and again!
But Oz didn’t just sit still. Since his land was constantly being threatened, he made a separate place called the ‘heavens’ and ran away there. And he changed the power of ‘God,’ which was supposed to give equal mercy to everyone, into a weird power that makes anyone who isn’t human sick if they receive it! He even made it more poisonous later on!
That disgusting emerald! That cursed blue-green that uses people’s lives and souls as ingredients!
Oz is a coward! Oz is a cheat! Oz is a villain, and Oz is a traitor! So we swore an oath! To escape this land and take the surface! To take back our stolen God!