Chapter 50: The Tin Knight and the City of Clockwork (9)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 50: The Tin Knight and the City of Clockwork (9)
One day, Kumara, a silver-rank adventurer of the Imperial Adventurers Guild, received a strange request from the Guild.
“…So, you’re telling me to give a false testimony?”
“False testimony? We at the Guild merely wish to correct Sir Kumara’s ‘misunderstanding.’”
Despite the undisguised annoyance in Kumara’s voice, the Guild staff member maintained a business-like attitude, showing no emotion.
“Silver-rank adventurer Sir Castor and his three party members, along with fellow silver-rank adventurer Sir Peledos and his two party members, were murdered in the Taros Labyrinth. It was undoubtedly a crime committed by someone after the treasure they possessed. The Guild has decided to respond sternly to protect the safety and honor of our members. After a thorough investigation, we have uncovered the details of the crime and the identity of the culprit.”
As if reading from a manual, the staff member continued with a flat expression and tone.
“The culprits are explorers contracted to the Halder Company. They ambushed the two parties for monetary gain, stole the treasure they had discovered, and quickly handed it over to the company. Fearing their crime would be exposed, they secured what payment they could and fled. Considering they ignored the Halder Company’s repeated requests to travel together, it’s possible they intended to shift all blame onto the company.”
“You crazy sons of bitches.”
Kumara’s patience finally snapped.
“I clearly saw Castor and Peledos alive and kicking long after those Halder Company explorers or whatever left! How the hell can people who are already gone kill people who were still in the labyrinth? Huh? If you’re going to investigate, do it properly!”
“You must be mistaken.”
It was a statement full of conviction. No.
It was a finality that left no room to even consider other possibilities.
Kumara’s face twisted into a bizarre expression.
This was less like ‘the Halder Company’s explorers are the culprits’ and more like ‘the Halder Company’s explorers must be the culprits.’
…Wait a minute.
A possibility surfaced in his mind, sending a chill down his spine.
“Labyrinth exploration is an extreme endeavor. It entails immense physical and mental exhaustion, and being unable to see the sun for long periods blurs one’s sense of time. It’s not uncommon for memories to get jumbled. It’s a common occurrence, a minor mistake.”
The staff member’s vacant eyes stared at Kumara.
“We are not asking for much. We simply want to prevent confusion in the investigation. After you leave this room, Sir Kumara, if any adventurers ask, you just need to say, ‘My apologies. Thinking back, I must have gotten the dates mixed up.’ Just one sentence. Then everything will be resolved. The curious adventurers will laugh it off, and the Guild will handle the rest.”
Kumara realized it then.
This wasn’t a request for cooperation or consultation.
It was a threat, demanding he shut up and stick to the story the Guild had prepared.
“Ha.”
Kumara let out a hollow laugh.
He wasn’t a particularly righteous man.
Frankly, whether some explorers he’d brushed past once in a labyrinth were framed or not was none of his business.
But there was one thing.
“Don’t tell me… you guys were the ones who buried them?”
The thought of the Adventurers Guild murdering its own members and using them as political pawns was something he could not forgive.
Because Kumara himself was an adventurer.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Ha, right. Of course you don’t. Fine, I don’t know either.”
Kumara rose from his chair.
He didn’t want to stay here a moment longer.
As he turned to leave, the staff member’s voice followed him.
“You will regret this.”
Kumara left the room without a word.
The first thing he did after escaping the Guild was to find his party members, the mage Magia and the warrior Sitar, explain the situation, and apologize.
“I’m sorry. I made the decision on my own.”
Magia and Sitar exchanged glances.
“Haaah, forget it. What’s done is done.”
“You should’ve at least landed a punch on your way out.”
“You guys…!”
The warm moment of camaraderie was brief.
The three immediately sprang into action.
Their first destination was the Halder Company.
*
As it happened, the Halder Company had just received the following ‘notification’ from the Guild:
-Explorers hired by the Halder Company have murdered adventurers. Therefore, all treasure in the Halder Company’s possession is stolen goods obtained through illicit means.
-The investigation has concluded that the explorers acted alone, and the Halder Company appears to have been exploited by their deliberate approach.
-Even if it was unintentional, the company cannot evade responsibility for hiring individuals of dubious identity and causing this incident. However, we cannot ignore the Halder Company’s history of sincere dealings with the Guild.
-If the Halder Company issues a statement condemning the actions of said adventurers, we will close the matter with the full return of the treasure and will not demand additional compensation.
-We express our deep regret that such an incident has occurred and hope that our two organizations will maintain an amicable relationship moving forward.
Lorentz Halder, the head of the Halder Company, interpreted the Guild’s notification as follows:
-Hand over all the treasure you have. We’re just recovering stolen goods, so of course we won’t pay you.
-We’re going to announce that you hired a bunch of weird murderers who killed our people. You will also admit that you were in the wrong.
-Your reputation is going to be dragged through the mud, but that’s not our problem. If you don’t like it, you shouldn’t have hired shady characters.
-We could have hit you harder, but we’re doing you a favor by letting you off this easy, pal. You should be grateful, right? Better be nice to your big brother from now on, got it?
“They can go fuck themselves.”
Lorentz Halder felt like he finally understood what it meant for one’s blood to boil.
There were two reasons he hadn’t declared all-out war on the spot.
One was that his opponent was incredibly powerful, and the other was the lingering concern that their claims might actually be true.
Lorentz’s intuition told him that Dorothea’s party wasn’t the type to do such a thing, but the time they had spent together was far too short to bet the fate of his company on a once-in-a-lifetime battle.
Stuck in a dilemma, unable to admit Dorothea’s party was guilty as the Guild demanded, yet unable to give the Guild the middle finger, Lorentz found Kumara’s party’s testimony to be a priceless treasure.
“We must inform the party we hired of this fact at once. If the Guild is determined to fabricate this incident, they won’t just leave the ones they’ve framed alone. They’ll try to silence them, no matter what. The problem is, we don’t know their exact location…”
“Do you happen to know what kind of carriage they were using?”
“It’s a carriage our company provided. Why do you ask?”
“Then it should have the company’s mark on it. I’ve seen the party members myself, so with that, I’m confident I can track them.”
“…I understand. I’ll prepare the fastest horses for you. And I’ll give you a special herb. When fed to a horse, it grants them incredible stamina and endurance. The carriage they were in moved at a speed comparable to a running man, so if you ride unburdened, you should be able to move even faster.”
With their roles assigned, Kumara and his two companions began their pursuit of Dorothea’s party.
Their goal: to inform the party of the Guild’s plot and bring them to a city under the Halder Company’s influence.
Kumara, taught by his father who had been in the Empire’s special forces, and Magia, who came from a fallen noble family, already knew how to ride. Sitar, with his brute strength and endurance, simply clung to his horse, enduring the grueling pace.
The problem came next.
“Dammit. Looks like there are already others on their tail.”
He saw the tracks of their target carriage.
And alongside them, the tracks of someone else pursuing it. Kumara gritted his teeth.
At this rate, their target might be taken out before they even made contact.
They hurried onward, showcasing skills so impressive that any Imperial general would have immediately tried to recruit them with a terrible offer: ‘Why are talents like you wasting away as adventurers? Enlist at once!’
They had to meet Dorothea’s party before the Guild’s pursuers did.
And they did meet someone.
Not Dorothea’s party, but the Guild’s lackeys who were tracking them.
“Magia! Sitar! It’s them! Prepare for battle!”
“So you’re the ones who’ve been sneaking up behind us!”
In a bizarre turn of events, while the actual target, Dorothea’s party, remained oblivious to being followed, the two groups of pursuers collided and began to fight.
Against the backdrop of a night-shrouded Tik-Tok, Kumara’s party clashed with the Guild’s agents.
SLASH! KABOOM!
Proving they were considered among the best of the silver-ranks for a reason, Sitar’s axe and Magia’s magic began felling the pursuers one by one.
As he plunged a dagger, normally used on monsters, into an enemy’s neck, Kumara thought.
We’re at a disadvantage!
Individually, Kumara’s party was superior, but they were outnumbered.
On top of that, the fatigue from their forced march was setting in, and he could feel his limbs growing heavy and clumsy.
Dammit, if only we’d been a little, just a little bit faster…!
The fact that Kumara’s party, having started days later, had arrived in the same city less than a day behind Dorothea’s party was a feat of mobility that would put a professional courier to shame, but that was of no comfort to Kumara now.
Wounds began to appear on Sitar, who was holding the front line, and Magia was panting heavily.
Just as Kumara decided they couldn’t go on and was about to order a retreat, a sound cut through the chaos.
Clank.
It was the height of battle.
With the clash of weapons and the roar of magic, it should have been impossible to hear such a faint, trivial noise.
But for some reason…
Clank.
The sound of a footstep on the dark ground was unnervingly clear to Kumara.
Forgetting he was in the middle of a fight, Kumara reflexively turned his head.
The heavy presence of metal, revealing itself in the darkness.
Piercing blue eyes that glowed like will-o’-the-wisps.
The terrifying figure of a knight, with a person slung over its shoulder like a sack of luggage…!
Huh?
Did I just see something weird?
After blinking several times, Kumara took another look at the intruder.
An armored knight.
No, a magic doll.
It was a relief that the one Kumara’s party had been so desperately searching for was here.
He was so happy he felt like giving the knight a hug, even though they weren’t close.
If only the Tin Knight hadn’t been carrying a person.
It wasn’t a typical princess carry.
It was more like the person was carelessly slung over its shoulder—to put it more bluntly, it looked like a kidnapping in progress.
The bizarre sight made even those in the heat of battle stop their blades and blink in confusion.
“Have we arrived? If so, I’d appreciate it if you’d put me down. This position is squishing my stomach, and all the blood is rushing to my head.”
A carefree voice echoed.
The knight tilted one shoulder, and the woman draped over it slid off, landing on the ground with a soft thud.
The onlookers were all dumbfounded, but the woman who had just been dropped to the ground got up as if nothing had happened.
And she spoke.
“A pleasure to meet you all. We are a passing knight and a curious scholar. Would you mind telling us why you’re fighting?”
Silence fell.
The beauty with green hair and pink eyes tilted her head, then suddenly looked at the knight beside her.
“Ah, that’s right. Knowledge requires a price.”
After nodding a few times, the beauty spoke again.
“We’ll offer a small token of our gratitude to whoever tells us. Anyone need some gold coins?”
Kumara had a thought.
She’s a lunatic.
The pursuers seemed to have reached a similar conclusion.
“What is this crazy bitch talking about? Take them out too!”
A few of the pursuers charged toward the woman.
She watched them blankly, then said one thing.
“Ah, I’ll relay the message.”
WHAM!
A swing of the Tin Knight’s shield sent the charging pursuers flying.
The woman spoke.
“Sir Tin says if you don’t want money, he’ll pay you with his fists.”