Chapter 51: The Tin Knight and The City of Clockwork (10)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 51: The Tin Knight and The City of Clockwork (10)
It is often said that it’s not the person themselves, but their adversary, who best understands their true skill.
After all, it’s the one who takes the punch who knows how much it hurts, not the one who throws it.
In that sense, Kumara's party had a high opinion of the pursuers' skills.
At a minimum, they were top-tier bronze grade. A good number of them were even silver grade, and with around twenty of them, their numbers were nothing to scoff at.
Considering that a silver-grade adventurer was often compared to a knight from a lord’s domain, the Guild had essentially dispatched a force on par with a quasi-knight order for this mission.
And what was this fearsome force doing right now?
Slice! Thwack! Crunch!
“Kuaaaargh!”
They were being mercilessly crushed by a single, insane-looking knight.
‘This is absurd.’
Kumara let out a hollow laugh.
Honestly, he had been privately thinking it was amazing enough that just the three of them could even hold their own against those guys, but this Tin Knight wasn't just holding his own single-handedly—he was staging a one-sided massacre.
“He seems even stronger than when we saw him in the labyrinth. Did we even need to come help?”
After cleaving an enemy before him with his axe, the warrior Sitar spoke with a sense of futility. Kumara replied wryly.
“We didn't even see him fight back then, so how would you know if he's gotten stronger? Besides, the fight isn't over yet.”
“There's an aura that only a warrior can sense. And if we jump into ‘that’ right now, we'll just get in the way. I'd rather not get sliced up along with them for no reason.”
At Sitar's words, Kumara looked to the front again.
And he had to admit it.
“…Yeah, we'd definitely just get in the way if we jumped in.”
It was, quite literally, one strike, one kill.
It wasn't just his skill; the way he mercilessly and decisively snuffed out each life, one by one, without a shred of mercy, sent goosebumps rising on Kumara's arms.
He could understand why Sitar didn't want to get caught up in it by lingering nearby.
Kumara's party considered the Tin Knight an ally, but they had no guarantee that he felt the same way.
“At first, I thought the Guild was overreacting. Now I see it was the opposite. Then again, I doubt even they knew their opponent would be this strong.”
Fwoosh!
Magia spoke after shooting down a few pursuers, who had tried to sneak away after sensing the unfavorable situation, with a white mana bullet.
Judging by the way she kept stealing glances at the Tin Knight, she seemed a little terrified.
“Isn't he stronger than a gold grade?”
“He does seem stronger than the leader of Red Gold. I've never seen Blue Gold or White Gold in person, so I wouldn't know.”
“Is this really the time to be ranking who's stronger? Men…”
“Hehe. Debating rankings is just human nature. It can't be helped.”
“Even so, there's a time and a place for…”
Huh? Something’s strange.
A strange sense of unease made Magia turn her head.
There, a woman who had joined their conversation at some point was smiling sweetly.
“Kyaa!”
With a short scream, Magia scrambled back and hid behind the men. In other words, she used the two of them as a shield.
“Ahem.”
Kumara cleared his throat with a cough and offered a greeting.
“I am Kumara, a silver-grade adventurer and a messenger for the Halder Company. Are you… with the knight?”
When he said the word “with,” Kumara's voice was strangely lacking in confidence.
It was no wonder, considering he'd first seen her being carried like a sack of luggage on someone's shoulder, only to be tossed to the ground.
Whether she noticed his suspicious gaze or not, the woman replied calmly.
“My name is Sophia Hubris. I've only recently begun traveling with Sir Tin and his party.”
“I see.”
‘So she's a member who joined them after they left the labyrinth? Perhaps she's from this city.’
Kumara naturally assumed as much.
He couldn't have imagined that the person before him was the vampire who had been sealed in the deepest part of the labyrinth they had so frequently visited.
Clank.
With the sound of heavy footsteps, the Tin Knight, having finished his battle, approached them.
All the pursuers who had faced the knight were sprawled on the ground. Judging by the depth of their wounds, it seemed unlikely they would ever get up again.
‘Good thing I set one aside beforehand.’
Glancing at the pursuer he had captured and held at his feet, Kumara spoke.
“This conversation seems like it might take a while. Why don't we find a different spot first?”
The deep darkness that had covered the sky was slowly beginning to fade.
No matter how secluded this alley was, the discovery of a pile of corpses would cause a huge commotion.
They needed to hurry before that happened.
*
The place the group went to was the inn where Dorothea and Adel were staying.
Kumara explained everything that had happened to them.
That the Adventurers Guild had fabricated an incident to frame Dorothea's party.
That their goal was likely the treasure discovered in the labyrinth.
That the Halder Company was preparing to fight against the Guild's unjust demands and intended to ‘protect’ Dorothea's party as well.
“Master Lorentz wants you all to take refuge in the southern part of the Empire. In Perdia, the Halder Company's home base, the Guild won't be able to run rampant, no matter how powerful they are. We need to start moving quickly, before they realize their pursuers have been dealt with and make a new move.”
“Who said we're going there?”
“Huh?”
Kumara was dumbfounded by Dorothea's response.
Ignoring him, Dorothea scowled and grumbled.
“Everyone and their mother seems to think they can decide my business for me. I decide where I go. Who are they to tell me to come and go?”
“W-Wait. Are you crazy? The Guild is after your lives!”
Kumara shouted in alarm.
His carefully maintained business-like demeanor crumbled, and his usual adventurer's way of speaking slipped out.
Of course, that didn't make Dorothea change her mind.
“So what if we go there? Is the Guild going to suddenly apologize, saying, 'Oh, our apologies. We actually fabricated everything. We'll turn ourselves in quietly and bow our heads'? Or will your testimony and mine be enough to flip the board and solve everything in one fell swoop?”
“Well…”
Of course, that was impossible.
It was unclear why the Guild was acting so recklessly, but it was obvious that having made such a bold move, they wouldn't back down easily.
Therefore, the Halder Company's objective was clear.
Secure Dorothea's party to prevent the Guild from fabricating the incident as they pleased, maintain a standoff, and extract a ‘concession’ from the Guild.
The process would be an incredibly tedious political and public opinion battle.
And all the while, Dorothea's party would have to remain in their custody.
Kumara could certainly understand why she wouldn't want that.
However.
“Then what do you plan to do? I get that the situation is unfair from your perspective, but you have no other way to stand against a massive organization like the Guild, do you? Unless… perhaps.”
Kumara's gaze shifted to Adel, who was standing nearby with a dazed expression.
Golden hair and violet eyes. Even a mere adventurer like Kumara knew something of the power and prestige of the Lion Duke's bloodline.
If the girl before him actually held an important position within the bloodline, and Dorothea was counting on that…
“Uh, eh? Huh? N-No. I'm, well…”
Adel, also seeming to have caught his meaning, stammered and fidgeted.
It was true that her homeland, the Friedel domain, was a choice piece of territory, but while it might have been a different story in its heyday, she could only tilt her head in doubt if asked whether the current Friedel, having lost most of its main forces, could stand against the Guild.
No, even if they had the ability, Adel had no authority to mobilize it, so providing political help was impossible.
“I wasn't counting on her in the first place.”
Dorothea shot down that speculation in a single stroke.
Ignoring Adel, who had shriveled up beside her muttering, “That's sad in its own way…,” Dorothea continued.
“Let them come. Whatever their reason, they drew their sword first, and paying them back in kind is the witch's way. I tried to avoid a fight and played by the rules nicely, and they take me for a pushover.”
As if in response to Dorothea's complaints, the knight beside her nodded his head.
Somehow, he looked incredibly excited.
Faced with the sight of the incomparably belligerent master and servant, Kumara was at a loss for words.
‘These guys are way more dangerous than I thought.’
If he could, he would have kidnapped them and dragged them to the Company, but considering the Tin Knight's martial prowess, that was impossible.
But he couldn't just let them do as they pleased either, because the moment Dorothea's party was defeated by the Guild and gave the ‘testimony’ they wanted, Kumara's own party would be finished in one fell swoop.
They were truly unwilling partners in a shared fate.
“By the way, is the Adventurers Guild really the enemy?”
Just then, Sophia, who had been listening quietly, stepped forward and asked a question.
Dorothea retorted.
“Those guys attacked us, didn't they?”
“But these people here are adventurers too, aren't they? The Adventurers Guild seems to be quite a large organization, so if you look, I'm sure there are more than a few people who oppose what's happening.”
“How are we supposed to tell them apart one by one?”
“We don't necessarily have to be the ones to distinguish them. What's important is the ‘justification’ that this incident is wrong. Power struggles are inevitable within large organizations, and a simple justification is a politician's most beloved weapon.”
“So,” Sophia continued.
“We just need to find out who in the Guild stands to gain the most if this plot succeeds. Then, we give the justification to their rivals. They'll spread the story on their own to discredit their opponent, and they'll tear into them with all their might, coveting their flesh.”
“What if it doesn't go as planned? What if they're all in it together and no conflict arises?”
“Wouldn't that be good in its own way? It would mean there are no ‘innocent victims’.”
“Hmph.”
Dorothea snorted.
“Not bad. I like that I can get my revenge for sure without being tied down.”
At last, a course of action was decided.
And the group's first victim was the pursuer who had been captured, the sole survivor while all his comrades died.
“Hmph! I have nothing to say to you! Just kill me!”
The pursuer, bound in ropes, shouted with a certain tragic grandeur.
It wasn't some incredible loyalty or professional training in enduring pain that made him so defiant.
There was only one fact he believed in.
‘No one else was captured alive. Without my testimony, these guys will be in trouble, so they can't possibly kill me or torture me to the point where I can't speak properly!’
That's right.
It was the classic deadbeat debtor strategy: screaming that you have no money and daring them to do their worst, knowing they can't really collect.
That was the very source of the pursuer's confidence.
To this, Dorothea replied.
“Oh? Nothing to say?”
“That's right!”
“Then die.”
“Huh?”
“Hey, chop his head off. If he won't talk while he's alive, well, we'll just make his soul talk after he's dead.”
“Huh? Wha? W-Wait! Hold on! I'll talk! I'll talk!! So don't come any closer, hieek?!”
Facing the evil witch and her familiar, the pursuer swiftly surrendered.
Watching this unfold, Kumara muttered with a blank expression.
“Guys. Are we, by any chance, totally screwed?”
“……”
“Sigh.”