Chapter 344: The Tin Knight and the Kingdom of the Underground (9)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 344: The Tin Knight and the Kingdom of the Underground (9)
“Unpleasant? Unpleasant… You find this unpleasant?”
As if trying to decipher an incomprehensible alien language, Ozma repeated Dorothea’s words over and over.
Then, she spat back a question.
“Why?”
“Hah.”
Dorothea let out an undisguised sigh.
As a courtesy and kindness to an old friend, she shared her honest feelings.
“You show up without any warning, insist we go somewhere else, refuse to even listen to my opinion in the process, and just keep repeating your demands. You’re being coercive, one-sided, and selfish. If you consider me a friend, shouldn’t you show a minimum of respect?”
“…”
Ozma’s eyes darted back and forth.
A moment later, she bowed her head.
“You’re right, Dorothy. I’m sorry. I guess I was in a bit of a rush.”
At her unexpectedly frank apology, Alonso, Billina, and the others relaxed their shoulders for a moment.
It seemed as if the strange madness emanating from Ozma was subsiding.
However, they were soon shocked by the words that followed.
“But, Dorothy, there’s really no time. If we stay here, the path connecting the surface and the underground will be sealed for at least several hundred years. We have to go back now. Otherwise, you’ll be trapped here until you die.”
“W-Wait a moment! Is that true? The way back is closing?” Alonso shouted in alarm, but Ozma didn’t react.
Her eyes and ears were fixed solely on Dorothea.
Dorothea narrowed her eyes and asked, “I can’t move without an explanation. If you’re short on time, then make it brief.”
“If you insist, Dorothy, I have no choice.”
Ozma gave a small shrug and continued.
“The Heavens plan to block the path between the underground and the surface. A permanent seal is impossible, but they’ve stockpiled enough power and means to make a temporary one possible. Most of the surface’s powerful figures have already crossed over to the underground, so once they eliminate the few remaining obstacles, there will be no one left on the surface to defy their rule.”
“So they’ll pit the underground and the surface against each other, banish the strong from the surface, and devour the empty land for themselves?”
“It’s no wonder you’re angry, Dorothy. I’m not fond of the Heavens’ selfish ways either. But just because I don’t like it doesn’t mean I have the power or authority to stop it. The most I can do is help a friend.”
Ozma extended a hand to Dorothea.
“There’s really no time left, Dorothy. Let’s go back quickly. Once the path is sealed, it can’t be undone.”
Her gaze and voice were so desperate and pleading that her desire to save her friend was palpable.
The onlookers’ expressions softened, but Dorothea’s gaze remained as cold as ever.
“So you’re only taking me?”
“Are you worried about the people here? Of course. I’ll take all of them.”
At Ozma’s cool confirmation, murmurs of admiration rippled through the crowd.
These were people who had been suddenly transported to an unknown place, poisoned, and left on the brink of death.
The offer to escape this terrible place was more than enough to be grateful for, but to think the motive was to help a friend…
It was a situation where anyone would have to nod and acknowledge Ozma’s benevolence and goodwill.
And then, Dorothea spoke.
“You’re still as bad at lying as ever, Tip. You still have that habit of spouting whatever nonsense comes to mind to get out of a situation, without any regard for consistency.”
Crrreak. Everyone present heard a sound like something buckling under pressure.
It wasn’t a physical sound.
It was an instinctive sense of dread that any living creature would feel.
Ozma said, “A lie? You misunderstand, Dorothy. I truly—”
“You don’t like what the Heavens are doing, but you don’t have the authority or power to stop it… and a person like that is going to send this many people back to the surface? People who now know everything about the Heavens’ plot?”
“That’s…”
“You say you’ll take everyone back, but then you’ll just take me and abandon the rest. If I question you about it, you’ll just say you didn’t have enough power or there was outside interference. There’d be no way to argue further.”
“Dorothy.”
“‘I’m in a hurry,’ ‘it’ll be irreversible’—if you rush people with words like that, they can’t make proper judgments. It’s a classic negotiation tactic to control your opponent. But you have no proof that what you’re saying is true. All there is is your testimony.”
“…”
Ozma hung her head low.
To any observer, she looked dejected that her friend didn’t believe her.
Seeing the situation sour, a few of the kingdom’s nobles tried to step forward in a hurry, but Alonso stopped them.
“Wait.”
“Your Majesty! We must stop the witch! There might be a real chance to return, yet she’s denying it all based on mere suspicion!”
“If we miss this chance, we might truly never be able to go back! Please, persuade the witch!”
“I said wait.”
Alonso’s expression was grave.
He observed Ozma carefully and soon came to a conclusion.
“…There is no truth in that girl’s words or actions.”
Her appearance was flawless.
She was skilled at crafting her expressions and tone.
However, the most important quality for a liar wasn’t how they appeared.
It was for the liar themself to believe their own lie. That was the surest way to earn someone’s trust.
And in that regard, Ozma was a clear failure.
Even while saying she would help ‘everyone,’ the girl had not once acknowledged anyone but Dorothea from beginning to end.
Billina, too, seemed to have realized this, as her gaze toward Ozma grew increasingly harsh.
In the midst of this atmosphere, Ozma lifted her head.
Those who saw her face felt a chill.
Joy and rage.
Two contradictory emotions twisted her face into a grotesque mask.
Ozma was furious and annoyed that things weren’t going her way.
But at the same time…
“You know me so well, Dorothy. You understand me, Dorothy. Ha, hahaha! Ahahahaha!”
She was feeling immense joy at the fact that her precious, precious friend had seen through her clumsy act and hadn’t been fooled.
As she watched Ozma burst into a roar of laughter, Dorothea’s expression hardened.
Certainly, the ‘Tip’ in her memory wasn’t an entirely sincere or naive friend.
She had a selfish side and could be cunning.
It was because Dorothea knew this that she had kept her distance.
But even so, her personality had never been this warped.
Before Dorothea could question her about it, a terrifying aura began to pour out of Ozma’s body.
“I have no choice. It’s true that we’re out of time, so I’ll just have to take you by force for now.”
“Tip!”
Ozma smiled sweetly.
Then, she reached her hand toward Dorothea.
A plant vine shot out from her sleeve, cutting through the air as if to seize Dorothea.
“Ugh!”
Dorothea reflexively swung her staff to create a barrier, but her brow furrowed.
The vines that emerged from Tip’s dress sleeve wrapped around the barrier like they were gripping a giant ball, trapping her.
The spherical barrier didn’t break, but it couldn’t prevent itself from being lifted high into the sky.
“Stop!”
“Lady Dorothea!”
Alonso thrust his lance.
Billina swung her crude sword.
The undead who had been on guard rushed toward Ozma in unison.
In contrast, Ozma was alone.
The difference in numbers was overwhelming.
“You’re in the way. Move.”
—Overwhelmingly, Ozma was stronger.
Plant vines erupted from Ozma’s feet, moving like giant snakes as they charged at Alonso and Billina.
The two managed to block the attack without much difficulty, but while their charge was momentarily halted, the vines swallowed the nearby undead in a single gulp.
Just after a portion of the undead legion became plant food without so much as a scream, flower buds grew all over the vines and promptly bloomed.
Squelch. Splat.
With a wet, sticky sound, ‘something’ inside the flower buds fell to the ground.
At its core was something like a will-o’-wisp.
Its flesh was made of plant stems and roots.
Its armor and weapons were forged from emerald holy power.
The soldiers born in this way charged at Alonso and Billina without a moment’s hesitation.
CRASH!
“This is…!”
Immediately after blocking the emerald soldier’s sword, Alonso’s feet dug into the ground as if they were being driven into it.
The force was destructive enough to have cleaved a normal knight in two, weapon and all.
Though surprised, Alonso skillfully twisted the flow of power to deflect the blow, then thrust his lance with all his might into the soldier’s chest.
CLANG!
It was a strike powerful enough to pierce a steel plate, but it only left a slight scratch on the emerald soldier’s armor.
The soldier, unfazed, swung its sword again, pressing Alonso.
Its technique was crude, but its attack and defense clearly surpassed Alonso’s.
“Kuh!”
Billina wasn’t faring much better.
She changed the form of her sword in various ways to pressure the soldier, but the soldier simply took the attacks with its body, ignoring any openings as it focused solely on attacking.
Billina used the techniques of various souls to maintain her advantage, but with her attacks not landing properly, she couldn’t help but be tied down.
More importantly, this was only the beginning.
“They’re coming this way too!”
“Block them! Protect the people!”
The plant vines created by Ozma didn’t just stop at devouring the undead; they began to attack the kingdom’s citizens as well.
The knights and mages of Ionia tried to stop them, but with civilians outnumbering combatants by more than nine to one, there was a clear limit.
Eventually, there were casualties.
CRUNCH! CRACK!
The plant vines, opening their maws like snakes, devoured people.
A moment later, new flower buds formed somewhere on the vines and soon bloomed.
Squelch. Clank.
Squelch. Clank.
Squelch. Clank.
One by one, the slime-covered buds opened, and the number of emerald soldiers on the battlefield began to grow.
As these beings, crude in skill but immense in power, pressed their attack, casualties began to appear among the knights and mages as well.
The soldiers born from them then charged at Alonso and Billina, who were trying to break through the soldiers before them.
The emerald soldier blocking Alonso used the swordsmanship of the Ionian Kingdom, while the one blocking Billina shot fire magic.
Alonso’s eyes widened.
“N-No way. Did you just take control of the knights’ souls!?”
“No!!”
The answer came from Dorothea, who was struggling to find a way to escape from the vines holding her in the air.
“She didn’t control their souls, she devoured them! All their knowledge and power! That’s not your subordinate, it’s the predator that ate him!”
“Hmph!”
For a moment, Alonso’s spear had wavered at the thought of fighting his own men, but it now regained its ferocious momentum.
Though he was outmatched in strength and toughness, Alonso’s specialty had always been fighting those with superior specs, and his technique became even more dazzling.
“You wicked witch! To speak of helping a friend while committing such atrocities, your cunning and evil reach the very heavens! Knights and mages of the great kingdom! Hold on just a little longer! The blessing of our great ancestors is with us!”
At Alonso’s roar, the kingdom’s forces, who had been slowly succumbing to fear, found new strength and began to fight back against Ozma’s soldiers.
“—How foolish.”
It was then that Ozma, who had been ignoring Alonso’s words, spoke as if spitting.
“Great ancestors? The glory of the kingdom? It’s all a lie, from start to finish. None of it ever existed in the first place.”
“What nonsense is this!”
“Because your bloodline is fake.”
“What?”
A bitter sneer formed on Ozma’s lips.
With eyes full of utter contempt, she spoke to Alonso.
“The ‘glorious kingdom’ you cry out for… it fell long, long ago. You are not a descendant of the Queen of Ashes. You are one of the countless usurpers who ran rampant to seize the empty throne after their dynasty fell. Your ancestors are the fakes who took a piece of a ruined kingdom and falsified their lineage to gain legitimacy.”
“A fake royal family. Fake heirs. Fools who mistook the achievements of complete strangers for their own ancestors’, who earnestly collected the sacred treasures we scattered as bait and brought crisis upon their own kingdom.”
“—How does it feel to wake from your pleasant dream, you dreaming knight, Don Quixote?”
Alonso.
The eyes of the King of Ionia trembled violently.