Chapter 71: The Tin Knight and The Land of Deep Green (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 71: The Tin Knight and The Land of Deep Green (1)
“Where are they? Where in the world did they go?!”
“Find them! Find them, no matter what!”
“L-Lord Count? Do you truly not know where the Witch of the East’s apprentice and her party went? No, I'm fine on the cookies. It's just, there should have been checkpoints, so I don't understand how you haven't heard anything—ah, no tea for me, thank you. I'm just in a real hurry, ah, please don't just smile! Please!!”
While famous figures of the Empire were in an uproar searching for Dorothea's party, there were two individuals in the Kingdom also hanging on their every move.
One was Marquis William Hemming, who was suffering between the king and the nobles after being saddled with the unwanted role of ‘mediator.’ The other was the temporary lord of the Friedel domain, Giselle von Lennart.
「Adelaide von Lennart has been appointed the representative instructor of the Lennart dojo's Tik-Tok branch.」
When she received the messenger bird with that news a few days ago, sent via a connection she had left in the main family, Giselle could scarcely believe her eyes.
The Lennart dojos, scattered across the continent, were one of the primary means of maintaining the prestige of the Lion Duke’s bloodline. The position of representative instructor was a key post that could only be held by the most outstanding members of the family.
The news was that Adelaide had obtained a position so prestigious it was hard to say whether it or the lordship of Friedel was superior.
She had told Adelaide to travel around the dojos and collect tokens, so Giselle was stunned by the news that she had suddenly devoured an entire dojo. She immediately began to gather all related information with her full power.
- A conflict erupted between the former representative instructor of the Tik-Tok dojo, Gerhardt, and the current one, René. The Duke asked Count Tik-Tok to act as a judge and mediate.
- Adelaide intervened in the duel between the two representatives. For some reason, not only the Count but both representatives agreed to it. Adelaide was victorious in the said duel.
- The main family dispatched personnel to grasp the details, but Adelaide and her party vanished from the city without a word about their destination.
- The main family is recommending that the two former instructors be reappointed, but both are saying they cannot acknowledge any representative other than Adelaide, so the main family is deliberating on how to handle the situation.
“…What in the world is going on?”
In the lord’s office of the mansion.
As she sorted through the information she had gathered, Giselle couldn't help but mutter the words aloud.
The emotion in her voice was less bewilderment and more utter stupefaction.
And after even that stupefaction faded, a sense of alarm surged.
Not even three months had passed since Adelaide had left the Friedel domain.
If a girl who hadn't even properly learned swordsmanship could achieve such a feat in that short time…
When the rest of the year passed, just how much would she have grown?
“Adelaide. Just what kind of journey are you on?”
*
“Aaaaaah!”
Adelaide screamed.
It was a truly thunderous shriek that erupted from the depths of her belly.
Any thoughts about a young lady's decorum or a noble's dignity were nowhere to be found.
Right now, Adelaide had no capacity to worry about such things.
BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ—!!
A violent buzzing sound echoed.
It was, as the Tin Knight would describe it, a terrifying sound, like a weed whacker running right next to them.
And there weren't just one or two things flying through the sky making that noise, but at least several dozen.
A brilliant black and yellow pattern. A segmented body.
And a size that, for a grown man, would be about two to three knuckles long.
Dorothea summed up Adelaide's situation with a single, indifferent remark.
“That's a terrifying number of bees. If they all sting you at once, you'll die.”
“Ugh…!”
Sitting in the carriage's cargo bed with her chin casually propped on her hand, Dorothea received a protesting glare from Adelaide.
The words, If you know that, then stop watching and help me, didn't make it past her lips.
The problem wasn't so much Adelaide's timid personality as the fact that she'd already bitten her tongue trying something similar.
Thanks to her daily running, Adelaide's stamina had improved significantly, but spitting out words while sprinting at full speed over rough terrain was still a high-difficulty task.
“I told you, didn't I? Don't mess with the creatures here. You attacked first, Adelaide, that's why the bees are freaking out.”
Tears welled up in Adelaide's eyes.
She was genuinely aggrieved.
I mean, isn't it natural to be startled when a bee flies near your face while you're running?
Of course, maybe drawing my sword reflexively was a little bad. And maybe the fact that the blade I swung instinctively sliced the giant hornet in two was a bit of a problem.
But the Tin Knight was the one who trained me that way, so doesn't he bear a lot of responsibility for this incident?
BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ—!!
Unfortunately, Adelaide's inner thoughts did not reach the bees. In fact, it was doubtful they would have understood her even if they had.
“Hah, honestly.”
Seeing the tears slowly begin to pool in Adelaide's eyes, Dorothea finally let out a sigh.
She generally didn't interfere with the Tin Knight's training, but she couldn't just leave her like this.
Dorothea lifted the canvas covering the side of the wagon and shouted toward the driver's seat.
“Sophia! I need him for something, so take over as the driver!”
Mixed with the rough wind, a leisurely voice returned.
-I've never driven a carriage before?
Dorothea shrieked.
“You're useless most of the time, that's why I sat you there to learn! What have you been doing for the past two days?!”
-I understand the theory, but putting it into practice is another matter.
At the reply from the scarecrow vampire who was useless from the shoulders down, a vein throbbed on Dorothea's forehead.
“Hey! Forget it, just throw him out of the carriage! We'll use him as bait!”
-Oh, my.
[The ‘Tin Knight’ gently chides that you should cherish your comrades!]
“You're the one who works Adelaide the hardest, you tin can!!”
Huff, huff.
For some reason, Dorothea found herself out of breath despite not having run. She scratched her head irritably, then took a handful of bone powder from the pouch at her waist and scattered it on the floor of the wagon.
As black mana reminiscent of obsidian seeped from Dorothea's body, the bone powder absorbed it and transformed into a bone mouse.
Click.
Dorothea handed the mouse something like a dried-out shell and a small bone fragment, giving it a command.
“Take these and go to the driver's seat.”
The bone mouse faithfully obeyed its master's command.
Holding the bone fragment and shell in its mouth, the bone mouse skillfully bounced up the side of the wagon.
Since the route from the cargo bed to the driver's seat of a moving carriage was limited, it seemed to be planning to climb to the roof and cross over.
“I really need to modify this thing so the driver's seat and the cargo bed are directly connected.”
While Dorothea grumbled, the bone mouse arrived at the driver's seat.
As Dorothea, back in the cargo bed, drew on her mana once more, the two objects the mouse was holding began to tremble and swell.
The shell became a round eyeball. The bone fragment became the bones of a right hand.
The eyeball, floating in mid-air, soon stared ahead of the carriage, and the hand bones gripped the horses' reins.
Watching the eyeball and hand bones driving the carriage in his stead, the Tin Knight was impressed.
[The ‘Tin Knight’ asks why you don't use such a great technique all the time!]
“Shut up. You want to make everyone who sees us scream and run away? It won't last long, so hurry up and save Adelaide!”
[The ‘Tin Knight’ announces the appearance of a hero!]
From the driver's seat of the moving carriage, the Tin Knight leaped toward the ground without a moment's hesitation.
Balancing with an agility that belied his metal body, he adjusted his speed and closed in on Adelaide.
Grab, whoosh!
After lifting Adelaide and tossing her into the cargo bed where Dorothea was, the Tin Knight began to circulate the mana throughout his body.
The flow of mana through the thick circuits was flawlessly smooth, but this was a level he had already reached when fighting the two instructors.
To reach the level where he had overwhelmed the white knight at the grand opening, he needed to go one step further.
The Tin Knight split the mana that had been flowing like a single stream, spreading it through the restored, detailed circuits.
As the Tin Knight's metal body began to emit a faint luster, a buzzing sound similar to the bees' began to emanate from the shield he held.
Adelaide, struggling to calm her ragged breathing, widened her eyes at the sight of the Tin Knight's shield.
Dozens of tiny sword energies, each about the size of a fingernail, were endlessly racing across the shield's surface, rotating like a wheel.
Sh-sh-sh-sh-sh!
When the Tin Knight swung his shield, the bees that came into contact with it were literally ground to bits.
The black and yellow that filled the air was erased along the shield's path, like words before an eraser.
“Wow, woooow…! That's amazing!”
As if she had forgotten what she had just endured, Adelaide's eyes sparkled as she let out a gasp of admiration.
Watching her, Dorothea shook her head.
She goes through all that and still doesn't learn her lesson.
There was no bigger pushover.
...Or is there? Is this better than giving up and saying it's too hard, when she's the one who followed us to build up the skills and achievements befitting a lord's heir? But no matter how I think about it, I'm pretty sure he's getting more and more reckless because of her.
A teacher who forced training that surpassed human limits, and a student who, despite whining, somehow managed to keep up.
As Dorothea pondered which of the two was the bigger problem, the Tin Knight's bee massacre was reaching its final stage.
Having vaporized nearly ninety percent of the bees in the blink of an eye, the Tin Knight looked at the scattered survivors fleeing and said:
[The ‘Tin Knight’ complains that the debut of his new technique ended too quickly!]
[The ‘Tin Knight’ condemns the bees for their lack of fighting spirit!]
“Considering they only chose to flee after ninety percent of them were wiped out, I'd say their fighting spirit was plenty astonishing.”
“I've seen bees in other places, but I've never seen any as terrifying as those….”
“Adelaide, you don't think they were attacking so fiercely because your hair is the color of honey, do you?”
“Eek.”
As Adelaide muttered something like, A-a robe! I need a robe! and rummaged through her backpack, Dorothea glanced at her and asked the Tin Knight.
“That last move seemed pretty flashy. Is your mana consumption okay?”
[The ‘Tin Knight’ puffs out his chest, saying he's still going strong!]
[The ‘Tin Knight’ says he can't show his full power against an opponent of this level!]
“Hmph. Well, I guess all the investments were worth it.”
His technique was always high. His fuel efficiency has improved noticeably. All that's left are his armaments and mana tank? It'd be nice to find some useful gems.
As she mentally reviewed future improvements, Dorothea said:
“Don't worry, you'll meet so many strong enemies from now on you'll get sick of them. After all, this 'Garden' is teeming with creatures mutated by mana—”
-Miss Dorothea. Mr. Right Hand's thumb just popped off. Is that okay?
“What?”
Dorothea, who had been in the middle of delivering a cool, meaningful line, whipped her head around.
She yelled in alarm.
“Hey! Get to the driver's seat! Now!”
[The ‘Tin Knight’ wonders if the magic's duration isn't too short!]
“It's because I'm substituting mana for what should be a complete bone! Just go, quickly! Sophia! Just hold on, even for a moment!”
-Hmm. Understood! My self-diagnosis suggests my skills are still rather poor, but bold challenges are sometimes necessary for progress.
At that moment, whatever she did, the carriage gave a great LURCH!
Heeeeigh! Clatter-clatter-clatter!
And the carriage began to run wild.
-Oh. A failure, I see. What a shame.
“Hey, hey! You, you! HEY!”
“Aah! Eek! Woah!? Aaaaaaaah!”
[The ‘Tin Knight’ expresses admiration, wondering if the carriage could also use a booster!]
[The ‘Tin Knight’ assesses the movement as being on par with a rodeo machine!]
-Ah, there's a lake ahead.
What?
Everyone but Sophia.
The moment after even the Tin Knight, surprisingly, had a question mark pop into his head…
Whoosh.
The carriage flew through the air.
Splash!
A great plume of water shot high, high into the air, as if to welcome the new guests to the Garden.