Chapter 343: The Tin Knight and the Kingdom of the Underground (8)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 343: The Tin Knight and the Kingdom of the Underground (8)
Mages, by their nature, are skilled at harming people, but not so much at healing them.
The holy power of clerics was treated as something special, and the Kingdom of Heaven was able to maintain its influence on the surface precisely because the healing they possessed was a rare ability, difficult to replicate with mana.
But there are many kinds of sickness.
When it came to physical injuries, Dorothea was limited to making simple ointments and potions. But when it came to poison or curses, she was capable of a much higher level of treatment.
After all, that was one of a necromancer’s few specialties.
Dorothea walked past the patients lying in a row, tapping each one with the staff in her hand.
At a glance, it looked like a mean-spirited prank, but its effect was tremendous.
A violet, smoke-like substance seeped out from the parts of the patients’ bodies that Dorothea’s staff touched, before soaring into the air.
The smoke, wandering as if it had nowhere to go, drifted toward the corpse of a large sheep that lay some distance from the patients.
The more smoke the sheep’s corpse absorbed, the more its once-white fleece was stained a murky black. In contrast, the people, now freed from the poison in their bodies, saw their complexions rapidly recover.
Substitution.
A type of magic that transfers the misfortune or harm meant for one being, A, onto another being, B, forcing B to suffer in A’s place.
Dorothea had applied this principle to transfer the ‘harm’ of poisoning entirely onto the living sacrifice of the sheep.
Logical magic would have required a component-by-component analysis to distinguish what was harmful to the body and what was beneficial. However, the necromancy Dorothea had learned directly from her master was often intermingled with the esoteric arts of a witch, making it possible for her to perform a feat akin to a child’s stubborn logic, declaring, ‘Bad things are bad things.’
The mages and knights who were in relatively better condition watched Dorothea’s healing process with expressions of wonder.
“How is she extracting only the poison from their bodies? Truly astonishing.”
“No, it’s not just the extraction. She’s also preventing any new poisoning. What incredible skill.”
“Look at that. Those hideous undead are surrounding and protecting us. I never thought I’d see the day I’d be guarded by the undead.”
“To think the Witch of the East’s apprentice was such a brilliant practitioner…”
In truth, Dorothea’s reputation in the Kingdom of Ionia wasn’t all that high.
With the dazzling exploits of the Tin Knight and Adelaide at her side, Dorothea tended to be relatively underestimated.
But now, seeing her effortlessly command an army of thousands of undead while simultaneously healing hundreds of poisoned people with ease, not a single person could look upon her lightly.
Regardless of the magical difficulty, the physical process itself was the simple act of ‘a light touch with a staff,’ so despite the large number of people, the treatment was finished relatively quickly.
Alonso, his face filled with emotion, expressed his gratitude to Dorothea.
“Thank you! Truly, thank you! You’ve saved my people! I must repay you. Is there anything you desire?”
“Hmm…”
Dorothea had a subtle reaction to his effusive thanks.
Seeing the holy power that had remained in her own body, Dorothea had realized this was a conspiracy hatched by the Kingdom of Heaven.
The revival of the eight generals, the exploits of the powerful individuals who stopped them, and the subsequent banishment of those same individuals. It was all part of a single plan.
In other words, if Dorothea had never gathered the kingdom’s sacred treasures in the first place, none of this would have happened.
Dorothea wasn’t so self-absorbed as to blame herself for the entire incident, but neither was she shameless enough to puff out her chest and claim no responsibility at all.
However, for a witch to do something for someone and receive nothing in return would, in its own way, distort the scales of balance.
Therefore, Dorothea said:
“Well, nothing comes to mind right now, so maybe later.”
Not receiving a reward is no good, but postponing it should be fine, she thought, quickly justifying her decision.
Alonso nodded his head vigorously as well.
“I understand. Just say the word, anytime!”
“By the way, the fact that you and these people came here… does that mean you defeated one of the eight generals?”
“If by ‘eight generals’ you mean the magic beast that can freely change its form, then I was not the one who defeated it. It was that young lady over there! Come to think of it, I should have thanked her as well, but I haven’t had the chance amidst the chaos.”
Dorothea’s gaze shifted in the direction Alonso was pointing.
Receiving the stare of the witch with black hair and blue eyes, Bilina’s body stiffened.
Just as she, facing the ‘Goddess’ she revered, tensed up while desperately trying to open her mouth, a voice spoke.
“You… are you that girl from the island back then?”
At the single, questioning remark, Bilina’s eyes widened in shock.
She opened her mouth, her voice trembling.
“You… you remember me?”
“Well, yeah.”
Dorothea was certainly on the smarter side, but she couldn’t remember every single person she had briefly encountered.
Among her companions, only Sophia was capable of such a feat.
However, the girl before her, Bilina, was an exception.
There was the letter she had received from Franka, but more importantly, the mana seeping from the crude sword she carried was incredibly familiar to Dorothea.
It was far too similar to Dorothea’s own mana.
“Don’t tell me you taught yourself necromancy with just that one structure from back then? That’s an absurd amount of talent.”
“You are too kind. It is all thanks to the grace you have bestowed upon me, Goddess. My own abilities are but a speck of dust.”
“…Could you stop with the whole ‘Goddess’ thing? It’s making my skin crawl.”
It wasn’t just a figure of speech; Dorothea’s hand holding the staff was actually twitching and trembling.
If it were someone like the Tin Knight, who said it with the clear intent to tease, she would have just beaten him up. But since Bilina was speaking with genuine reverence, Dorothea had to restrain herself.
Bilina was a little flustered, but she soon nodded obediently.
Although she called her ‘Goddess’ as a sign of reverence, what was important to Bilina was her gratitude toward Dorothea and her desire to repay that grace, not titles or formalities.
If the Goddess—no, if Dorothea—disliked the title of Goddess, there was no reason to insist on it.
“In that case, may I ask what I should call you?”
“Just Dorothea is fine.”
“…Would ‘Lady Dorothea’ be unacceptable?”
“Well, if that’s more comfortable for you, go ahead.”
“Thank you! Lady Dorothea!”
“……”
Being relentlessly teased by the Tin Knight or Gale was infuriating, but this level of meek obedience was, in its own way, a burden, Dorothea thought to herself.
Then again, compared to what had to be done now, this was hardly a problem.
The substitution magic Dorothea had used could take on poison or curses, but its effect on physical wounds was minimal.
As long as she was commanding her undead legion, she could manage to some extent, but trekking through this relentlessly awful underground with hundreds of civilians in tow was an act bordering on nonsense.
If Dorothea were to abandon them and move on alone, those left behind—with the exception of perhaps Alonso and Bilina—would all be slaughtered.
“Moving seems impossible. We’ll have to hold our position here until the others who fell down here find us. I can have the undead hunt for food. It’ll be tainted with ominous mana, but that’s still better than starving.”
Alonso nodded in response to her words.
“Normally, I would want to find suitable ground and establish a temporary base, but looking at this land, even a short move seems dangerous for ordinary people. If there were no other hope, it would be different, but if there is a way, it is wise to conserve our strength while we wait. However, Dorothea. You seem to have some inkling about this situation. Could you tell me?”
“Hmm.”
Dorothea chose her words carefully.
She had her suspicions about the kingdom’s sacred treasures and the heavenly conspiracy, but revealing them to Alonso was another matter entirely.
Dorothea wasn’t confident that Alonso, who had so boldly proclaimed he would restore the kingdom’s former glory, could maintain his sanity after hearing the ‘true story’ behind the sacred treasures.
With her abilities, Dorothea could physically protect the civilians, but only their king, Alonso, could soothe the mental terror of being thrown into a strange place without any explanation.
If Alonso, the group’s focal point, were to become mentally unstable, the entire group would be in jeopardy.
Therefore, just as Dorothea was about to gloss over the matter with a vague answer…
“Found you.”
The voice was as clear as a bird’s song.
It was a voice filled with a clinging obsession, like melted oil.
The voice, possessing two contradictory qualities at once, seemed to perfectly reflect the nature of its owner.
Without any warning, a girl appeared next to Dorothea.
Dorothea thrust her staff forward. Alonso raised his lance. Bilina aimed her crude sword at the enemy.
Yet, even while receiving all that hostility and vigilance, the girl’s lips were wreathed in a smile.
Hair as black as ebony. A black dress.
Her features seemed to match Dorothea’s, yet no one who saw her would have thought she resembled Dorothea.
It wasn’t a matter of appearance.
It was the atmosphere the girl wore.
Like a glass cup placed on the edge of a table, like a bridge swaying as if about to snap, like a child losing their balance and teetering at a great height.
An air that was somehow unsettling, precarious, and felt as if something would shatter in an instant, accompanied the girl.
It was the complete opposite of Dorothea’s calm and resolute demeanor.
“I found you. I finally found you, Dorothy. Do you have any idea how worried I was when I found out you’d come to a place like this?”
Whether she was aware of the hostility directed at her or not, the girl in black continued to speak nonchalantly.
Dorothea’s brow furrowed at the sight.
“…You, don’t tell me you’re Tip?”
Even as she spoke, her tone was half-in-disbelief.
The grimy, impoverished boy in Dorothea’s memory and the princess in the black dress before her were that far apart.
But the number of people who would call Dorothea ‘Dorothy’ was extremely limited.
The girl’s face brightened.
“Yes, Dorothy. I go by the name Ozma now, but if you want to call me Tip, that’s fine too. It wouldn’t be okay for anyone else, but it’s okay for you.”
Her way of speaking seemed to strangely emphasize her special treatment.
As Dorothea’s mind grew complicated, the girl who called herself Tip, or Ozma, extended a hand to her.
“Come, Dorothy. There’s so much I want to talk about, but first, let’s leave this place. It’s too dirty and gloomy here. It’s no place for a beautiful princess like you. That’s why I sent the invitation, so you wouldn’t get caught up in this…”
Ozma’s words held several implications.
That Ozma hadn’t wanted Dorothea to come to the underground.
That the ‘invitation’ Ozma had sent was meant to prevent it.
In other words, that Ozma had known a situation like this would occur beforehand.
Dorothea’s eyes grew cold.
“Hurry, take my hand, Dorothy. Let’s quickly get out of this awful place and talk. There’s so, so much I want to say to you! I’ve been waiting all this time, but I won’t anymore! So—”
“—I refuse.”
“Huh?”
A sound of bewilderment escaped Ozma’s lips.
She tilted her head, as if she couldn’t comprehend the words she had just heard.
Toward that Ozma, Dorothea declared unequivocally:
“Right now, you’re creeping me out.”