Chapter 78: The Tin Knight and The Land of Deep Green (8)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 78: The Tin Knight and The Land of Deep Green (8)
Soldiers, mercenaries, knights, adventurers, and so on.
There are many who make a living through rough trades, including combat.
But among them, those who professionally learn underwater combat are extremely rare.
Those who are inseparable from the water, like pirates and sailors, are at least accustomed to fighting on it. Even they are skilled at fighting 'on the deck of a swaying ship,' not 'underwater' with a sword in hand.
Some master-level warriors might do so as part of their training, but it was certainly not something to assign to a novice with less than half a year of real combat experience.
Had any proper instructor seen this, they would have berated him, asking if he was out of his mind.
Indeed, it was a spot-on assessment. The Tin Knight was a madman.
[The ‘Tin Knight’ says you must use elasticity and recoil, not just brute force!]
[The ‘Tin Knight’ says the multiple straight lines shouldn't move separately, but must all connect into a single curve!]
Vwoooosh!
And Adel was completely unaware that she was being thrown headfirst into an advanced course.
Hardship, in its own way, is a form of experience.
One must go through both the rough and the smooth to properly recognize their own situation, thinking, ‘Ah, I really had it tough back then,’ or ‘This is much better than that.’ If one only experiences the hard, the harder, and the even harder, their standards are bound to get completely skewed.
Adel had long since adapted to the Tin Knight's 'harder, harder, harder, harder, harder' training method.
‘A curve, a curve, so the attacks don’t stop, so they keep connecting… Ah, like this!’
Her movements, which had been mere flailing without proper footing, gradually grew sharper.
Her blade, which at first couldn't even reach the fish and, even when it did, couldn't scrape off a single scale, began to strike deeper and deeper.
It was a drastic change, more like scaling a cliff than climbing stairs.
Though the man-eating fish aimed their sharp teeth at her, which should have made her flinch, Adel’s movements were relentless.
It wasn't that she didn't feel fear.
It was a courage born from a trust, one Adel herself hadn't yet realized she possessed: that if things got truly dangerous, the Tin Knight or her other companions would step in somehow.
It was similar to a beginner cyclist pedaling with the belief that someone is holding the back of their bike.
[The ‘Tin Knight’ gives a thumbs-up!]
[The ‘Tin Knight’ exclaims that’s exactly it!]
The Tin Knight felt a sense of satisfaction.
If she kept this up for just a little longer, he thought it would be fine to start teaching her mana manipulation.
He calculated that while her physical growth would slow once she learned to handle mana, he could just push her that much harder to compensate.
What a ridiculously fortunate training plan.
If the world's sincere and diligent teachers had seen the Tin Knight, they would have lamented how he’d lucked out with a good pupil and was getting away with his absurd teaching methods.
However, the Tin Knight wasn't just idly watching.
He controlled the number of surrounding fish to prevent a physically overwhelming number from swarming Adel, and he also shredded the fish that flocked toward Dorothea and Sophia.
With the autonomous ultra-large mana supply station right next to them, he had more than enough leeway to spam his sword energy.
*
Dorothea found herself increasingly drawn into the vision shown by Sophia's mana—that is, by the ‘Chalice of Tuberose’.
Fissures were scattered throughout the lake, and a haze seeped out from between them.
As Dorothea placed her hand on a fissure and channeled her mana, the crack widened, and the surroundings were enveloped in a vision.
“My friend, get a grip. Are you planning to throw your entire future down the drain?”
“It’s just a magic beast. It may have a human-like form, but that’s all. Don’t make the wrong choice out of shallow pity.”
“You know full well what end befalls those who forsake the taboos set by the heavens.”
Several people were trying to persuade Dorothea, no.
They were trying to persuade the ‘someone’ whose vision Dorothea had borrowed.
The ‘someone’ opened their mouth.
“I don’t want to hear it.”
It was a short, but firm reply.
Just as it is impossible for a person to see their own face, Dorothea, borrowing this ‘someone’s’ vision, could not see their face either.
But for some reason, Dorothea was certain that ‘someone’ was glaring at those around them.
“She is a child who doesn’t even know the ways of the world yet. A child who needs teaching and care, who should be treated with affection and concern. And what? You want to capture and kill her because her very existence defies providence? And you call yourselves scholars who pursue wisdom? You call yourselves respectable adults?”
At the ‘someone’s’ words, a few people blushed with shame.
But there were more who did not.
“You foolish friend. That’s not the issue!”
“No one would say anything if you kept a mere dog at home. But we cannot stand by and watch you raise a wolf. For when that wolf grows, it will see everyone around it as prey. The ‘thing’ you have with you is that kind of existence.”
“Dogs were once wolves, too. With enough education and the right environment, they can live in harmony with humans.”
“And that is precisely what we call a taboo!”
“What is a taboo! What is the law of the heavens! If such a thing is the will of the heavens, then I will gladly defy the heavens!”
“Hmph, this man!!”
Crack. The vision shattered.
Staring at the quiet scenery of the lakebed, Dorothea was lost in thought.
She focused not on the content of the vision, but on the phenomenon itself.
‘…It feels similar to peeking into the residual thoughts of an earth-bound spirit. But for that, there’s no presence of a soul. Besides, if it were merely a stray thought, the vision wouldn’t be this vivid.’
Dorothea opened her mouth and spoke to Sophia.
“Did you just see that, too?”
“Yes.”
“And your perspective?”
It was a rather abrupt question, but Sophia immediately grasped the point and answered.
“It felt like I was borrowing the perspective of a certain scholar. But partway through, I was also able to watch from a detached, top-down view.”
“What?”
Surprise filled Dorothea’s voice.
Naturally, no human can look down on themselves from above.
If this vision was based on someone's 'memory,' an act like Sophia's would be impossible.
Dorothea tried to re-examine what she had just seen, but the fissure had already vanished.
Sophia spoke up.
“Isn’t it too early to be disappointed? There are still many fissures left, after all.”
“…You’re right.”
The man-eating fish threatening the party were being chopped into pieces like Adelaide’s training dummies, and the sturdy air bubble allowed the group to breathe freely. Nothing was obstructing their investigation.
Dorothea moved to the next fissure and placed her hand on it.
Once again, the surrounding scenery changed, as did Dorothea’s vision.
Dorothea intentionally tried to objectify herself.
She failed at first, but after a few similar attempts, she was able to slip out of the ‘someone’s’ body.
Looking around, she saw the translucent form of Sophia waving at her.
The people around them did not perceive Dorothea and Sophia.
It felt as if they had become ghosts.
-How far can we get from this?
-It seems the vision is projected in a dome shape, centered on the ‘narrator’ of the story. If you get too far away, the scenery blurs and you can’t see anything.
While the two of them repeated their experiment, the vision continued to play like an unstoppable film reel.
This time, the vision was set in a rather respectable-looking mansion.
The front gate of the mansion. Men who appeared to be soldiers were knocking on the door, calling for someone.
“Hello! Is anyone there?”
“Alejandre! We’ve received complaints from the neighbors that you are raising a monster! Submit to an inspection at once!”
The soldiers’ tone barely maintained a veneer of politeness, but an unconcealable irritation and hostility seeped from their voices.
-They look like they’re barely holding back from barging in.
-Judging by the luxurious mansion, he must have been a noble, or at least a person of very high standing.
The man called Alejandre appeared to be middle-aged, somewhere in his thirties or forties.
He gently stroked a child’s head, as if to protect them from the soldiers’ rough voices.
“It’s all right. It’s okay. No one will harm you.”
The child snuggled into Alejandre’s embrace like a spoiled toddler.
Its skin was a deep green, too dark to be human.
Crack.
The vision shattered again.
Dorothea covered her mouth with her left hand.
Seeing Dorothea lost in thought, Sophia asked.
“Is something bothering you?”
“The vision you and that tin can saw at first. The visions you and I just saw in succession. They all starred the same people, didn’t they?”
“Yes.”
“How is that possible?”
Dorothea frowned, unable to understand.
“Necromancy has spells to read residual thoughts. But they’re mostly useless. Even an intact soul itself can rarely last a hundred years without dissipating or being corrupted by foul energy and losing its sanity, let alone a mere fragment of it. But the scenes we just saw, though fragmented, are too vivid, and they even contain details the soul itself wouldn't have perceived.
So who observed and recorded these scenes? And why are they scattered across the bottom of a lake like this? If this is due to the power of the Chalice of Tuberose, why is it specifically showing us the story of that man and child out of all the countless scenes from the past?”
At Dorothea’s words, Sophia gave a wry smile.
The way Dorothea tried to grasp the cause and structure of the phenomenon itself, rather than getting caught up in the vision’s content or the characters’ stories, was so very much like her.
She answered simply.
“Perhaps it’s because it’s a dream?”
Dorothea scowled.
“Are you trying to be clever?”
“No. I’m being serious. After all, isn’t that what prophetic dreams are like?”
As if teaching a clever but inexperienced student, Sophia continued her explanation in a gentle voice.
“First, arguing about perspective in a ‘dream’ is meaningless. A person can become anyone in a dream, and they can also observe themselves objectively. If this phenomenon is derived from the dream power of the Chalice of Tuberose, it wouldn’t be strange for it to have similar properties.”
Dorothea was silent for a moment, but then nodded as if in understanding.
“Go on.”
“And prophecy is inherently limited to knowing about oneself or matters related to oneself. You don’t see the future of some unknown stranger who has no connection to you. Your own future. A major event that will affect you. Or the future of someone you’ve come into contact with. The things you can see are limited to that. In other words, shall we say, ‘you see it because it’s worth seeing’?”
Dorothea fell into thought.
After about ten seconds, she spoke.
“…So, you’re saying we’re seeing this vision because it’s related to us, or will be in the future?”
“I only learned of this phenomenon recently myself, so I can’t be certain. The kingdom’s sacred treasures are enigmatic items in many ways.”
Had the Tin Knight seen this, he might have assessed it as, ‘Isn’t this just a bug, where a random cutscene pops up when it’s supposed to be a movie to help the player understand the plot?’
Of course, the pragmatic Dorothea preferred Sophia’s theory to the Tin Knight’s ravings.
The two of them once again moved toward a new fissure.