Chapter 76: The Tin Knight and The Land of Deep Green (6)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 76: The Tin Knight and The Land of Deep Green (6)
A renowned magic beast scholar of the Empire once wrote the following in his book:
“The Garden is, in itself, a nation. It has territory, it has citizens, and it has lords who rule over each region.”
“The reason I refer to them as ‘lords’ and not ‘kings’ is simple. A king does not serve another king.”
“Other scholars refute this opinion of mine. They claim the Garden is a land of warring factions, where various powerful creatures keep each other in check and vie for dominance, not a unified nation. They say the leaders of these packs are absolute masters of their own domains, and that no higher being exists to rule over them.”
“I know the people of the Garden. I have confirmed the existence of its lords. I have seen it all with my own two eyes. The only thing I have not seen for myself, the one thing that remains a deduction, is the existence of its monarch.”
“By the time this book circulates among the public, I will be on a new journey into the Garden. And I will return to tell the tale of the true ruler who governs it.”
Unfortunately, the magic beast scholar would never have the chance to prove his theory.
The military, having observed the scholar repeatedly stirring up trouble near the border with a retinue of dozens, sometimes over a hundred, people, had submitted a request to their superiors: ‘That man might provoke the Magic State. Someone needs to stop him.’
The upper echelons of the Empire accepted the request, issued a polite recommendation to the scholar, and when he refused to listen, they cut off his funding entirely.
Had the scholar given up then, the rest of his life might have been reasonably comfortable, but his passion knew no bounds.
He pressed on with his exploration of the Garden, accompanied by only a few of his disciples, and ended up as a meal for a young wolf.
*
Now, roughly twenty years later.
The wolf that had devoured the scholar was enjoying a sunbath, its body stretched out on a large rock.
The carcasses of freshly killed prey lay unguarded around it, yet not a single other beast dared to covet them.
The wolf was the master who ruled this region.
Enough time had passed for an ordinary wolf to have grown old and died, but this wolf had not weakened.
Far from it, it was two or three times larger than its kin, its muscles were taut with elasticity, and its fur flowed with a glossy sheen.
Something like a plant stem, resembling a bulging blood vessel, protruded from near the wolf’s neck, but the wolf did not find it unsettling.
It understood that this plant was the very proof of the ‘something’ that gave it power.
The wolf first became aware of this ‘something’ the day after it ate the scholar.
That day, its body was filled with more strength than usual, and it could run for far longer without tiring.
A few days later.
After hunting another outsider that had wandered into the forest, the vitality coursing through its body grew even stronger.
At first, the wolf had thought it was simply because it had eaten good-quality prey, but as it gained more experience, it began to understand the ‘something’.
The ‘something’ was the true master of the forest. Perhaps it was the will of the forest itself.
When it fought against outsiders, the ‘something’ gave the wolf power.
It grew stronger, larger, and became immune to injury and frailty.
It even became able to wield the power of mana, which it could not have handled before.
The wolf revered the ‘something’.
It knew it wasn't the only one to receive the ‘something’s’ favor, but it felt no disappointment.
It simply looked forward to fighting more outsiders and receiving more blessings.
Perhaps that was why.
When a subordinate interrupted its leisurely rest to report an invasion by outsiders, the wolf was not annoyed but pleased.
It was another chance to defeat new outsiders, to feast on their blood and flesh, and to receive a blessing.
Awoooooo!
With a magnificent howl, the wolf launched itself toward the front line where its pack was fighting.
Arriving at the front with the speed of the wind, the wolf felt a sense of confusion.
It had rushed over after hearing of an outsider invasion, but the ones fighting its subordinates were other animals of the forest.
While they could be called outsiders, they were not the prey the wolf had been anticipating.
Spotting a few cheetahs with yellowish fur slinking around, the wolf let out a low growl.
If the wolf’s feelings were translated into human language, they could be summarized as, ‘Can’t that bastard even manage his own subordinates? Tsk, tsk, pathetic.’
The leader of the nearby cheetah pack was, like the wolf, one of the individuals who received the forest’s blessing.
The ‘something’ did not wish for the blessed individuals to fight amongst themselves, so they had maintained a wary distance. But the other side had crossed the line.
Worse, several of its own pack members were already lying limp on the ground, clearly dead. The wolf could not pretend it hadn't seen.
Had the scholars witnessed it, they would have marveled at such a remarkably human-like thought process.
Grrrrr.
Just as the leader wolf was about to leap and deal with the fools who had dared to invade its territory.
Shiver.
A sinister and evil energy spread through the forest like a ripple, blanketing everything.
The moment the black mana made contact, the cheetahs fighting the pack began to move with sudden ferocity.
Not only that, but the bodies of its fallen subordinates on the ground twitched, then slowly rose to their feet.
A torn throat, a belly spilling entrails.
Ignoring wounds that should have made movement impossible, they bared their teeth at the enemy.
That’s right.
At none other than the wolf and its subordinates.
Faced with a pincer attack from the cheetah pack and their reanimated brethren, the leader wolf and its pack were thrown into a panic.
Amidst the chaos, the leader wolf easily crushed a cheetah’s head and snapped the necks of the wolves that were once its subordinates, but the other wolves could not do the same.
A cruel tragedy of kin-slaying unfolded, and new corpses piled up on the earth.
And as if in response, the black ripple spread out once more.
The leader wolf was horrified.
The corpses it had just shattered with its own paws and teeth were absorbing the mana carried on the black ripple and rising again as if nothing had happened.
How many times did this repeat?
In a place so spattered with blood and flesh that the original forms were hard to recognize, the leader wolf let out an irritated howl.
None of its subordinate wolves had survived. No, it was difficult to even distinguish which had been its subordinates and which were the outsiders.
No matter how many times it ended their lives, they rose again and again, forcing it to dismember their bodies piece by piece.
No, strictly speaking, there were survivors.
The leader wolf scanned its surroundings with its yellow eyes.
It saw a few of its kin, who had avoided the fight by hiding in a corner, cautiously watching it.
For some reason, this bizarre ‘outsider’ did not attack those who refused to fight back. The wolves that realized this had stayed out of the battle, merely observing their leader’s struggle.
In truth, it was an unavoidable and, in fact, wise decision.
While the leader wolf, who possessed special powers from the forest’s blessing, might be different, from the perspective of wild animals, there was no reason to fight such unknown beings, nor did they have the strength to do so.
Fighting would only lead to a pointless death and increase the enemy’s numbers, so the decision not to engage was the correct one.
However, the leader wolf had no intention of understanding that.
CRUNCH!
A surviving wolf was struck by the leader wolf’s paw and sent tumbling to the ground.
The claws, enhanced with mana, were sharp enough to slice through its hide like paper, scattering its insides.
Grind, crunch.
After mutilating the corpse more than necessary, the leader wolf tore at its flesh and ate.
The bodies tainted by the black mana had a sinister feel to them and were inedible, so this was the substitute.
By the time it had filled its belly and looked around again, the surviving subordinates had all fled.
The leader wolf didn't care.
It was strong. It could always form a new pack.
And to do that, it first needed to resolve the crisis that had befallen the forest.
The leader wolf began to sprint through the woods.
Its destination was the source of the black energy that had been pulsing out at regular intervals.
An evil power that moved the dead and denied them even rest.
Something terrifying and foul, repulsive to the touch, was surely there.
The state of the forest was catastrophic.
Blood was spattered everywhere, and packs of dead animals roamed the woods.
The only survivors were a few special animals like the leader wolf, those who had been ‘chosen’.
There seemed to be plenty of cowards who had given up the fight, but they were of no help in the current situation.
As it advanced, the leader wolf suddenly dropped low, concealing its presence.
The source of the evil power was finally in sight.
A black human tapped a bizarrely twisted tree on the ground at a steady rhythm and spoke.
“Remote control is such a pain. You have to keep supplying extra mana like this.”
The golden-haired human spoke.
“You've been at this for hours. Is your mana holding up?”
“Eh, about half left?”
“Wow… You still have half left?”
The green-haired human spoke up.
“By the way, if you supplied mana to Sir Tin this way, wouldn't that solve the supply issue?”
“That only works because bodies moved by necromancy have a property that lets them absorb mana of the same attribute. It's usually impossible. A dry rag will soak up water, but if you pour water on a steel plate, it just runs off, right?”
“I see. So it's not that simple.”
The leader wolf did not understand the conversation the humans were having.
Though its intelligence had increased slightly after receiving the forest’s blessing, understanding human language was another matter entirely.
The leader wolf silently suppressed its presence, observing its prey and the surrounding environment.
What caught the leader wolf’s attention were two mounds piled up near the humans.
The mounds were made of animal carcasses.
Among the animals of the forest, they were the ones that had been exceptionally large, strong, and had survived for a long time.
That’s right.
They were individuals who had received the blessing, just like the leader wolf.
Even as the wolf watched, the mounds continued to grow higher and larger.
The packs of dead animals were constantly dragging in new ‘blessed individuals’.
It was hard to understand why they were struggling to pile the carcasses on the right mound while leaving the relatively lower left mound alone, but the leader wolf decided to ignore it.
Right now, which side the dead animals were being piled on was not important.
The leader wolf was furious.
And it was thrilled.
This situation was undoubtedly the greatest crisis the forest had ever faced.
If it could resolve this, the forest would surely bestow an even greater blessing upon it.
The observation was over.
Though it possessed a sinister aura, the black human did not seem very strong.
The golden human looked a little strong, but it was still no match for the wolf.
It didn't even spare a thought for the green human. That was just a block of wood.
The leader wolf tensed its muscles.
Leap. Strike down.
It planned to end their lives in a single blow with a paw that could shatter boulders.
Its powerful, flexible limbs shot through the air, cutting through the wind.
[The ‘Tin Knight’ discovers a new target and rejoices!]
And something even stronger and swifter than the leader wolf suddenly intervened.
The leader wolf couldn't react.
One moment there was a flash before its eyes, and the next, its head was already flying through the air.
Soaring high into the sky, and on its way back down to the ground, the leader wolf saw it.
Using a long vine as a rope, the Tin Knight had tied up the neck of one large animal.
With the remaining length of vine, he had tied the neck of another, and then another.
There he was, dragging a dozen animals behind him, their necks strung together like a line of fish.
The Tin Knight pulled the string of gutted fish—no, the string of bosses—he had brought and draped them over the mound.
The right mound, which had been taller just a moment ago, was now the same height as the left.
The Tin Knight placed the torso and head of the leader wolf, his final kill, atop the left mound and proudly puffed out his chest.
[The ‘Tin Knight’ declares his victory!]