Chapter 46: The Tin Knight and The City of Clockwork (5)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 46: The Tin Knight and The City of Clockwork (5)
It was only natural to find a member of the Lennart family at a Lennart dojo.
But Adelaide’s eyes went wide, clearly not expecting to see one working as a receptionist.
The receptionist laughed heartily, as if finding her reaction amusing.
Their face was quite delicate, but their mannerisms were so hearty and bold that it was hard to tell if they were a man or a woman.
“Nice! Very nice! I like people who are expressive. My, it was worth waiting to see when you’d finally show up.”
Adel asked in surprise, “You knew I was coming?”
“I got a message from Ruben, the representative instructor in Lowefelt. This is the closest dojo to that city, after all.”
“But still, you couldn’t have known exactly when…”
“Let’s just say it was convenient. This is half a hobby for me, anyway.”
The receptionist tapped the hat on their head.
“It’s a magic tool with a slight perception interference effect. I’ve turned it off for now, of course. It blurs my face and overall impression. As you know, our bloodline has rather… distinct features, wouldn’t you say? The moment people confirm my hair and eye color, they start bowing and scraping, so I can never hear their honest opinions. In contrast, if they think I’m just an employee, they show their true colors. Ah, but this is a secret, you hear? If word gets out in the city, I won’t be able to have my fun anymore.”
“Ah, haha. Hahaha.”
All Adel could do was laugh.
Ruben, the instructor in Lowefelt, had been the very model of a rigid and strict martial artist. In contrast, the instructor here in Tik-Tok seemed to be quite the eccentric.
“Um… well, uh.”
“Oh, my. I just realized I haven’t even told you my name. I am René von Lennart.”
René winked.
When René pressed a button on the reception desk, an employee wearing the same uniform appeared from inside the management office.
[The Tin Knight points out that this person’s impression is also blurry!]
At the Tin Knight’s words, Adelaide observed the new employee carefully.
And she realized something strange.
Despite the person standing right in front of her, it was difficult to grasp their specific features.
To be more precise, it was like seeing a stranger you’d pass on the street. They were in her line of sight, but if she tried to recall their face, it would be a blank—that sort of thing.
If asked to describe them, she could only say they were ‘a person in a uniform.’
“You called, Boss?”
“Watch the desk for me. I need to guide our esteemed guests.”
“Understood.”
After giving the instruction, René turned to Adel.
“Now, please follow me.”
“Ah, yes. Thank you.”
“Haha, don’t mention it.”
René led them to a rather large training hall.
In the Tin Knight’s terms, it was about the size of a tennis court.
“The test is simple. You just have to defeat the magic dolls we’ve prepared. There are seven difficulty levels in total, but I recommend you start with the basic stage first.”
“The basic stage, please.”
“Very well.”
René said something to one of the dolls waiting in the corner of the hall, and it rose to its feet and walked to the center.
Its body was made of wood, and it carried no weapon.
The doll raised one arm horizontally to its chest, then bowed its head in greeting.
A flustered Adel quickly returned the bow.
“When a valid hit is landed, the doll will make a sound. When the sharp sound rings out three times, you win.”
“Got it.”
Adel’s reply was short.
She had already entered a state of concentration.
René’s eyes lit up at the sight, and they announced the start of the match.
Swoosh!
The wooden doll moved first.
It stepped forward with its right foot, swinging a large wooden fist.
Adel ducked under the punch and slashed the wooden doll’s stomach with her sword.
Beeeep!
No blood flowed, but a sharp, whistle-like sound echoed from the doll in its place.
The doll tried to counter by swinging both arms, but Adel was already behind it.
Swish!
A diagonal slash across its back.
A horizontal slash at the back of its neck.
Under the fluid barrage, the wooden doll let out a series of beeps before collapsing limply to the ground.
“Haha, I see. That must have been too easy for you. Shall we move on to the next stage? Ah, of course, if you want a break, you can say so at any time. There’s no rule that says you have to clear all the stages in a row.”
“I’m fine. I’ll keep going!”
“Understood.”
Adel’s performance that followed was nothing short of outstanding.
Stage 2: Defeating a doll using basic swordsmanship in three exchanges.
Stage 3: Defeating a doll that flamboyantly wielded dual swords in five exchanges.
Stage 4: Struggling against the coordinated attack of the previous two dolls, yet somehow managing to win after about twenty exchanges.
“Pant, pant.”
Adel gasped for breath.
She had experienced it in the labyrinth, but facing multiple opponents was a world apart from facing a single one.
It was physically draining, but more than that, finding an escape route was extremely difficult.
Of course, it was just as rewarding.
The admiring gazes of the dojo students who had gathered around, René’s praise, and the Tin Knight’s cheers all made Adel feel elated.
Clap, clap, clap.
René clapped ostentatiously, drawing everyone’s attention.
“Excellent. Your skill is truly admirable. I should add, while I mentioned the test has seven stages, you don’t need to clear all of them. You’re considered to have passed if you can beat the fifth stage. The same goes for the dojo’s own students.”
Pass by winning up to the fifth stage.
Those words flowed right into Adel’s ears.
Her head felt a little dull from the heat of the moment, and she thought blankly.
In Lowefelt, she had passed the test in a single try.
So, maybe this time, too.
“What do you say? Would you like to challenge it right away?”
“Yes.”
Her hesitation was brief. Adel boldly threw down the gauntlet.
And then.
Clang!
“Huh?”
A magic doll, radiating mana from its entire body, greeted Adel.
She was sure she had slashed its torso, but instead of the beep signaling a valid hit, there was only a sharp metallic clang. Adel cried out in confusion.
“H-Hey! I think this one is broken!”
“No, the doll is functioning normally! We’ve just reactivated the reinforced armor that was turned off until now!”
“What?”
Reinforced armor?
If her attacks didn’t work, what was she supposed to do?
Adel fell into confusion, but her opponent didn’t wait.
As if to prove that its previous slow movements had been a feint, it pressed Adel with movements that were at least twice as fast.
*
“No, wait, kyaaah!”
Even while screaming, Adel somehow managed to evade.
Watching her, the students murmured in admiration.
“Wow, she’s good at dodging.”
“It’s impressive that she’s still trying to counterattack, but just poking at it like that won’t do anything. She knows body enhancement, but not how to use sword energy?”
“Is she even using body enhancement? I don’t see any mana shimmering around her.”
“Nah, it’s probably just hard to see. How could she move like that without enhancement?”
“That’s true.”
Overhearing the students’ conversation, you thought to yourself, These kids are sharp, aren't they?
Clack.
With your arms crossed, you fell into thought.
The truth was, Adel had not yet properly mastered how to handle mana.
She had the basics she’d learned from the Friedel family, so she could move lightly, but that was it.
You had never directly taught Adel how to wield mana.
The reason was clear.
The Tin Knight’s age and wisdom told you that it was still too early.
Adel’s innate physical talents were nothing short of genius.
Even now, she displayed abilities on par with a typical enhancement user without any mana, and it was anyone’s guess how much stronger she could become with continued training.
And mana manipulation would undoubtedly hinder that growth.
It was like giving soft shoes to someone who was used to running around barefoot; the calluses on their feet would disappear.
Even if you deliberately told Adel not to use mana, there was nothing you could do about her using it subconsciously.
As a ‘player,’ you judged this to be a kind of character build.
There are things like that in games.
When a character reaches a certain level, they become eligible to promote to a higher class. The player can then decide whether to promote the character immediately or continue leveling them up in their current class.
Promoting them right away makes the character stronger faster.
However, they lose out on all the skills and bonus stats they could have only gained by leveling up without promoting—all of it vanishes into thin air.
Teaching Adel mana manipulation now would make her stronger quickly, but in the long run, it would be a detriment.
That was the shared opinion of the ‘Tin Knight’ and the ‘player.’
The problem was that Adel’s current lack of mana manipulation was about to make her lose.
For the sake of Adel’s growth, you couldn’t teach her mana manipulation now.
But failing to clear this side quest would also be a problem.
You could just skip it for now and come back later after she was stronger, but you considered that an inefficient use of time.
You made a decision.
Games aren’t meant to be cleared only by ‘standard’ methods.
Even if the boss was an opponent that had to be weakened with a specific item or defeated by performing a certain gimmick, it was the player’s will to just beat it to a pulp with brute force!
You decided to grant that ‘will’ to Adel.
*
[The Tin Knight tells you to roll backward and to the right!]
Before Adel’s rational mind could comprehend the words in her head, her instincts moved her body.
The moment she desperately rolled, the wooden doll’s leg stomped the spot where she had been.
[The Tin Knight tells you to charge backward to the left while still prone!]
[The Tin Knight tells you to kick the back of the opponent’s right knee and use the recoil to create distance!]
Thwack!
Adel’s kick connected just as the doll was trying to turn.
The doll’s posture was thrown off for a moment, and Adel, having absorbed the doll’s force, recovered a moment faster.
[The Tin Knight tells you to lower your sword, pointing it down and to the right!]
Adel gripped her sword with both hands and lowered it diagonally.
[The Tin Knight tells you to swing the sword upward with all your might!]
It was a very strange command.
It meant swinging her sword at empty air from a distance.
Huh? Wha—?
But Adel, who was half in a daze, had no capacity to question such details.
Without knowing what was happening, Adel swung her sword as instructed—
CRUNCH!
—and the neck of the doll, which had just stomped the ground and was charging toward her, perfectly met the trajectory of her sword.
Adel’s body was thrown backward by the force of the charge, but the result was clear.
Her sword was embedded about a third of the way into the wooden doll’s neck.
The gazes of the onlookers were filled with awe.
In that moment, while everyone was confused, only one voice in this place, a voice only Adel could hear, was giving another command without a hint of wavering.
[The Tin Knight tells you to secure the mace from the spare weapons in the corner of the training hall!]
[The Tin Knight tells you to run forward!]
By this point, Adel’s reason had caught up with her instincts, but instead of panicking, she decided to follow the Tin Knight’s instructions.
With the mace in hand, Adel sprinted across the ground.
The wooden doll, which had been trying to pull the sword from its neck, seemed to judge the approaching Adel as the greater threat and stopped, taking a counterattacking stance.
[The Tin Knight tells you to duck and ram into its left leg!]
The wooden doll’s right kick grazed past Adel’s golden hair.
Its left leg, which had been supporting its balance alone, collided with Adel.
THWACK!
A sharp pain shot through Adel’s arm and shoulder.
She had crashed her bare body into a form that could repel a sword; there was no way she would be unharmed.
But in exchange for that pain, the magic doll’s balance was broken.
Its legs were splayed front and back as if in a stretch, and its upper body tilted to the left.
Thunk.
The tip of the blade stuck in the doll’s neck dug into the ground.
[The Tin Knight tells you to strike the sword’s handle with the mace!]
THWACK!
As Adel struck the handle of the sword, the blade embedded in the doll’s neck drove deeper.
If she had done this under normal circumstances, the tip of the blade on the other side would have moved and slipped out, but that tip was now firmly stuck in the ground.
[The Tin Knight tells you to strike the sword’s handle with the mace!]
THWACK!
[The Tin Knight tells you to strike the sword’s handle with the mace!]
THWACK!
[The Tin Knight tells you to strike the sword’s handle with the mace!]
THWACK!
Unable to withstand the repeated impacts, the tip of the sword buried in the ground came loose.
Thud.
Adel also lost her balance and fell to the ground.
She had no energy left to move.
And there was no need to.
The wooden doll, its neck more than half severed, twitched its limbs weakly a few times—creak, creak—and then stopped moving altogether.
Beeep! Beeep! Beeep! Beeep! Beeep!
Only the signal indicating a valid hit blared repeatedly from the doll’s torso like a siren.
No, to be more accurate, it had been blaring ever since the sword first pierced its neck, but it was only now that everyone registered it.
While everyone stood dumbfounded, the Tin Knight alone nodded.
As expected, there was always a way to clear a stage if you were determined enough.