Chapter 347: The Tin Knight and the Kingdom of the Underground (12)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 347: The Tin Knight and the Kingdom of the Underground (12)
"What..."
Dorothea was too shocked to speak.
Just before crossing into the underground, she had witnessed the life of a knight.
She had seen the life he lived, the journey he walked, and the end he met.
That's right. The knight was one who had reached his conclusion.
He had reached the end, and for that reason, he had entrusted the future to the next generation.
But the appearance of 'him' she had just seen through the portal in the air was unmistakably the knight's.
The possibility that the Heavenly Realm had resurrected the dead knight was the first she dismissed.
Dorothea knew. She knew what the knight meant to her teacher, the Witch of the East.
It was admiration, reverence, and at the same time, a complex mix of love and resentment.
The reason the Witch of the East never appeared before the knight was because she wanted him to finally lay everything down and find rest.
A witch like that would never stand by and watch the knight's body or soul be exploited after his death.
In fact, until the moment Dorothea arrived, no one had been able to touch the warehouse where the knight lay.
The original body left behind when the knight transferred into a magic doll had to be somewhere, but she couldn't imagine the Witch of the East would have simply neglected it.
'...Wait, his original body?'
As her thoughts reached that point, something clicked for Dorothea.
She recalled the state of the knight's body before he became a magic doll.
No arms, no legs, a body crushed beyond recognition—a mere lump of flesh that had already stopped breathing.
A corpse so mangled it was questionable if even half of a complete body remained, a sight her teacher, the Witch of the East, had forcefully tethered to the world of the living.
The body that returned to the kingdom and was replaced by the magic doll would have been protected by the Witch of the East.
So, what about the remaining pieces?
What if the Heavenly Realm had collected the fragments of his body left outside the kingdom?
The question of whether it was possible to resurrect a person from mere fragments of a body was meaningless.
She had already seen the proof in the eight generals.
In the heat of a fierce war, it was impossible that the bodies of the eight generals had all remained intact, yet the Heavenly Realm had nonchalantly used them as materials to create the eight sacred treasures, and later, even resurrected them completely.
Although that resurrection had been incomplete and temporary, if such technology existed, there was no reason a more complete and powerful 'restoration' would be impossible.
It was then, as Dorothea's mind was tangled in complex thoughts, that it happened.
"─How noisy."
Someone spoke, their voice casual, as if it were nothing.
Dorothea casually dismissed it, but the Tin Knight did not.
Without a moment's hesitation, he stepped between the 'someone' and Dorothea, showing clear hostility toward the newcomer.
Only then did Dorothea realize that there was no one here who should be speaking to them so casually.
Dorothea quickly turned her gaze in that direction.
A man stood there.
Dressed in a loose-fitting robe, he didn't exude any particular pressure or presence.
His bushy beard made him look to be in his thirties or forties, but his skin was so smooth that if he were to shave, he could easily pass for a man in his twenties.
If this weren't the underground, his aura was such that he wouldn't have seemed out of place as an ordinary city librarian or teacher.
But the moment she saw his eyes, Dorothea felt a pressure so intense it sent a shiver down her spine.
They were a swamp.
They were a muddy torrent.
They were an abyss.
They were utterly black, utterly deep, something that contained countless things and drew countless more into them.
Just from their eyes meeting, Dorothea felt as if she were endlessly falling from a distant void into a bottomless somewhere.
Only after the Tin Knight tapped her shoulder did Dorothea snap back to her senses, gasping for breath.
She had unconsciously forgotten even to breathe.
The man watched Dorothea struggle to regain her breath and the Tin Knight standing guard before her, then slowly tilted his head.
"This is a dilemma."
[The 'Tin Knight' asks what the dilemma is!]
"Why, I'm deciding what to do with you, of course."
The Tin Knight's movements froze for a moment.
He hadn't expected to get an answer.
The man stroked his chin and continued.
"To me, you are the enemies who killed my generals—men I would have gladly sacrificed a finger for. However, you could also be seen as benefactors who protected their honor from being tarnished."
"You've brought chaos to the underground, so as its monarch, I should naturally execute you. At the same time, I have no desire to dance to the Heavenly Realm's tune."
"That is why I am pondering how I should treat you."
The man spoke casually, but the content of his words was anything but light.
Me.
Monarch.
Realizing who the man before her was, Dorothea asked for confirmation.
"Who are you?"
"It seems you've already figured it out, but if you insist on an answer, I shall give it. I am the King of the Underground. Nome."
And just like that, the apex of the underground had appeared before the two of them.
*
"Hmm. We should move."
At the hungry tiger's sudden words, Adelaide, Franka, and the rest of their party tilted their heads in confusion.
Adelaide raised a hand and asked.
"Where are you going?"
"The King calls. You are to follow. Unless you plan on fighting me right now, that is."
*
"Ah! The King called! We have to go right now! He said to bring you guys, too! Are you coming on your own, or should I take you?"
Sophia, Algind, and Camilla blinked at the rainbow fairy's words.
Sophia paused in thought for a moment, then smiled and said.
"Alright. Could you lead the way?"
"Yep! Leave it to me! I'll show you a pretty, colorful path!"
*
"Tsk. Your lives have been spared for now. The King seeks you. Will you comply or not?"
Gale and the White Knight didn't even hesitate to respond to the question spat out by the underground's female soldier with a click of her tongue.
Gale declared.
"Excellent! Your entire demeanor is screaming that you hope we refuse, so we will gladly accept. Ah, and since we are guests invited by the King, I suppose we have the right to ask a question, don't we? Why were you pretending not to understand our language when you clearly can?"
"...Haaah."
*
"I have summoned your companions. They will arrive here shortly. So, before they do, let's have a little chat."
With those words, Nome plopped down on a rock formed from the aftermath of the previous battle.
His speech and use of the royal 'I' were somewhat archaic, but his actions were utterly informal.
Dorothea glanced at the people of her kingdom, who were looking her way with utterly bewildered expressions, and frowned.
"You want to have a leisurely chat when my people are about to suffocate if I don't maintain this barrier?"
"That is not my concern. Besides, I can't very well invite people I can't distinguish as friend or foe into my castle, can I? Not that the castle itself is any less harmful to your bodies. If you don't want to talk, we can fight right now. It would certainly simplify my dilemma."
It was an attitude that made it hard to tell if he was looking down on them or was just bluntly straightforward.
Dorothea and the Tin Knight's eyes met for a moment, but she quickly shook her head.
Having fought the eight generals and then immediately battled Ozma, the two of them were in a state that could hardly be called optimal.
Furthermore, Alonso was down, and most of the others were non-combatants.
Bilina seemed to have somehow returned after being sent flying by Ozma's attack, but seeing her tattered state, it was clear she couldn't fight without proper rest either.
Not only was it doubtful they could win a fight against Nome in this condition, but even if they did, it would just be playing right into the Heavenly Realm's hands.
Unless he showed open hostility, cooperating for now was the more advantageous move in many ways.
Therefore, Dorothea opened her mouth.
"A chat? What do you want to talk about?"
"Did I not say? I am pondering whether to treat you as enemies or as guests."
"...So, what? You want us to explain why we aren't your enemies, or something?"
"That's one way to look at it."
He said it as if it were someone else's problem entirely.
Faced with his attitude, which suggested he couldn't care less either way, Dorothea struggled to suppress her rising irritation.
That's right. Here, she had to maintain a mature attitude, like a proper member of society—
[The 'Tin Knight' says if he has a problem, they should just fight instead of talking so much!]
[The 'Tin Knight' adds that if he's just scared, he'll gladly understand!]
"─You idiot!!"
Smack!
Forgetting she was in the middle of a negotiation, Dorothea instinctively slammed her staff into the Tin Knight's head—no, his tin can of a head.
The Tin Knight's body, now dented into a U-shape, fell backward.
Regardless, Dorothea mercilessly brought her staff down on his body again and again. The key point was that she wasn't just pretending to hit him; she was beating him with enough force to actually hear the crunch, crunch of metal denting.
"If you were going to do this, why did we even exchange glances earlier?! If you were just going to do whatever you want, why bother?! Huh?! Answer me!!"
[The 'Tin Knight' insists that these things are battles of momentum, so it couldn't be helped!]
[The 'Tin Knight' adds that when faced with a choice between a textbook answer and an unconventional one, it's only natural to want to choose the latter!]
"Natural my ass!!"
CRUNCH!
With Dorothea's final strike, the Tin Knight's head was driven about a fifth of the way into the ground, creating cracks in the surrounding earth.
It was a level of power that made one wonder if her true identity was a witch or a warrior.
It was a sudden comedy sketch, but the King of the Underground seemed to enjoy it more than expected.
"A fine strike. No, a fine combo. I never thought I'd live to see the day that knight would get beaten like this."
"...'That knight' and this guy are different."
"Of course, they are. Just as you are merely a descendant of the queen, not the queen herself."
Dorothea narrowed her eyes.
King Nome's attitude was like a leaf fluttering in the wind; she couldn't grasp whether he was friendly or hostile.
Persuading someone whose thoughts and intentions were unreadable was a difficult task.
Therefore, Dorothea decided to change her approach.
"─We want to return to the surface. How can you send us back?"
King Nome replied.
"Wait a hundred years. A path will open then."