Chapter 115

#Episode 115: The Tin Knight and the Country of Sea Breeze (4)

Even if it was dealt with swiftly, keeping the Sea Serpent’s subjugation entirely a secret was out of the question.

Just one hour. For a distinguished lord, he arrived fairly quickly. He exhibited a stance that could be described as dignified if we were being nice, or as dodgy if we weren’t.

“Are you the travelers who have subjugated the Sea Serpent? That was a rather dangerous act. It’s been a while since the proclamation to not provoke the Sea Serpent was issued. Fortunately, you succeeded in subjugation, but if you had failed, an enraged one would have brought greater danger to this city, right?”

Up until that point, everyone in the party nodded obediently.

It was true that we had ignored some procedures due to the urgency of the situation, and the risks mentioned by the lord weren’t entirely unfounded either.

However, the remarks that followed left us with no choice but to wear peculiar expressions.

“The Guards insisted on capturing you for disobeying orders, but I believe that it isn’t right to punish those who defeated an evil monster, even if the method was flawed, so I took it upon myself to address this personally. I’ll offset the punishment for disobeying orders with a reward, and the Sea Serpent’s corpse will be reclaimed and used to rehabilitate the damages caused.”

His reasoning sounded plausible, but ultimately, he was just saying he wanted to gobble up the Sea Serpent’s carcass himself.

How he would restore the damage caused by the Sea Serpent was solely at the duke’s discretion.

In the meantime, it didn’t particularly matter that the fighting strength our party possessed was greater than what the duke could mobilize. What he brought to the table was social authority.

It was akin to a fighter, who was skilled in taking on opponents, not being able to just beat up politicians or CEOs as they pleased because they had the strength.

Especially in a society with a clearly defined hierarchy, it was even worse.

This tactic was something that normal or ‘ordinary’ people, who held a vague fear and obedient attitude towards the higher-ups, might find themselves stammering and suffering under.

Of course, Dorothea and her party were nothing close to ordinary.

Dorothea expressed her feelings simply with one sentence.

“I don’t like it.”

The duke’s face twisted amusingly, and the expressions on the soldiers that had gathered behind him also turned to confusion.

As the duke was about to hurl more words out in a fit of excitement, Franka, who had temporarily stepped away for personal matters, returned.

She glanced at the standoff between the party and the duke and squinted her eyes.

“Baron Monty. Do you have something to discuss?”

Turning his head to Franka, initially confused about what was happening, the duke’s eyes soon started to tremble.

“Ahem, Lady Aglaia. When did you arrive in our territory? If you had let us know beforehand, we would have rushed to welcome you.”

“I’m just passing through for personal business. I will be leaving soon, so there’s no need to worry. But it seems I didn’t catch your answer to my question? Do you have any business with my companions?”

“Ah, um, that is… I came to express my gratitude! You are the heroes who resolved a significant headache for our realm, ha ha ha!”

What a quick turnaround, like flipping a pancake!

Occasionally shooting deadly glares at his subordinates, it seemed the party could read the underlying tension.

‘You don’t have any real backing, just a bunch of travelers, you little punk!!’

His subordinates were sweating profusely, averting their gazes. It was dangerous to be so cavalier with their estimates.

If they had simply paid attention to Adel, who was blinking her purple eyes in the back, things would not have escalated to this extent. Unfortunately, the age-old adage of being cautious of elderly, children, and women didn’t appear to have been passed down here.

Watching the duke get utterly wrecked by Franka, Dorothea shook her head in disbelief.

“Why are so many noble folks so pathetic, like that Maximilian or whatever?”

“Hmm, well, considering they’re part of a hereditary ruling class, they tend to be steeped in a sense of privilege.”

[‘The Tin Knight’ declares a need for a guillotine revolution!]

“Um, guys? You’re joking, right? Right?”

As the witch, scarecrow, and Tin Knight mocked the higher-ups, the only one among the party who was somewhat in the upper bracket—the Little Lion—was sweating bullets in a panic.

Yet, this whole incident wasn’t a complete waste of time.

***

The port city where the party resided was named ‘Rosalia.’

Its origin was based on a certain legend passed down in the city.

“In olden times, precisely when is unknown, there was a kind-hearted young lady named Rosalia, living with her fisherman father.

Rosalia was devoted to her father, who cherished his daughter greatly.

One day, her father’s boat was swept away by the storm and didn’t return.

Rosalia wandered about crying endlessly until she concealed herself in a cave.

From within the cave, a continuous mournful song resonated, and when that song reached the heavens, the weather cleared.

Since then, whenever the weather was foul, people would visit the cave to pray to Rosalia, and each time she would sing to clear the skies.”

It was unclear which part of the “Cave of Rosalia” tale was true, but it was certainly a fact that the cave held the power to calm the surrounding weather.

Being able to summon clear skies on demand was a significant advantage for a coastal area, and the small fishing village grew into a massive port city thanks to the cave’s abilities.

Naturally, the cave of Rosalia was strictly controlled by the duke’s family.

It wouldn’t be good if random folks wandered in and caused any trouble, and moreover, the ‘ability to clear the weather’ was rechargeable, so using it haphazardly would render it useless when it truly mattered.

If Dorothea’s party had tried to enter the cave through official protocols, they would have faced a long and tedious process. However, with the duke personally bowing down here, there was no need for concern.

“I’m planning to go into the cave. That’s alright, isn’t it? I’ll take it as a yes.”

At Franka’s rhetorical question, the duke was utterly unable to resist.

Instead, he attempted to dissuade Franka with words filled with concern.

“However, Lady Aglaia, there is a very troublesome creature called Kraken lingering inside the cave. It appears sporadically every few years, so I know its habits well. If left unattended, it might simply drain the magical power accumulating in the cave and leave, but if you disturb it for no reason, there could be dire consequences.”

“Why hasn’t there been any word about such incidents until now… Never mind.”

Upon reaching that point, Franka waved her hand dismissively.

A creature that was powerful but only appeared once every few years, and would leave if left alone.

It was clear which option was more cost-efficient: maintaining a force to combat it or simply letting the magical energy replenish over time.

It was unnecessary to point out that preserving prestige and face could be simply managed by keeping one’s mouth shut.

Had it not been Franka, the duke wouldn’t have even opened his mouth.

Regardless, the permission was granted, and it was time for force rather than power; it was Dorothea’s turn to step up.

She gathered magical power in front of the legally recognized Sea Serpent’s corpse.

“Rise.”

The head that had been severed immediately reattached itself.

The flesh that had been shredded by the Tin Knight was reassembled, and black magic flowed through its veins instead of the lacking blood.

《────■■■■!!》

Since it had only recently died, a roar erupted that was not much different from how it was in life.

It was indeed an awe-inspiring sight, but Dorothea frowned.

Even though it had just been resurrected, letting out such a loud roar could lead to someone eavesdropping.

“Can you keep it down?”

The undead Sea Serpent appeared downtrodden as it quieted down.

If the Guards who had been horribly defeated by this creature witnessed this, they’d be left in disbelief.

Despite that, its fighting strength remained comparable to when it was alive.

And the first one to experience that combat strength was the Kraken, who had been enjoying a leisurely parasitic life inside the cave.

Though it looked like a demon general, it lacked the aesthetics typical of demon royalty; instead of hesitantly deploying its forces bit by bit, Dorothea directed an all-out effort right from the start.

And from the mouth of the undead Sea Serpent, a breath attack burst forth.

Twist, twist.

Surprised from its sudden assault while lounging around, the Kraken burst out of the cave in fury.

It had a massive hole in its body, and the area around the wound was blackened as it rotted in real-time.

Had the Sea Serpent’s breath been as it originally was, the Kraken wouldn’t have sustained such severe damage, but the breath of the Sea Serpent, resurrected through necromancy, carried curses and poison.

Even a Kraken, which had resistance against pure water and seawater, had no way of handling the contaminated water from a necromancer.

Moreover, emerging from the cave ultimately turned out to be a bad move.

While the Kraken only showed itself to retaliate against its assailant, for Dorothea, it conveniently became her target whom she had hesitated to attack, fearing damage to the cave.

“Take another shot!”

Dorothea commanded from above the Sea Serpent’s head.

To be precise, it was the Tin Knight who had pierced the Sea Serpent’s head while holding onto Dorothea’s waist with his other arm.

This wasn’t a stylish act but simply a necessity for magical power supply.

While controlling average-sized creatures like those from the ‘Garden’ would be manageable, it required one to hold onto larger beasts like the Sea Serpent to continuously pump in magical energy, especially if they needed to unleash breath attacks.

All in all, the Tin Knight was the most excited.

Initially sulking at using the Sea Serpent instead of taking the lead in catching the Kraken, he was more than thrilled by the watching (or should we say ‘spectating’?) view of the kaiju showdown.

[‘The Tin Knight’ happily declares that this is intense in its own way!]

[‘The Tin Knight’ expresses a wish to ride something like a dragon someday!]

“Just keep your balance! Don’t let go of the sword to cheer! Hey, tin can! Hey!!”

Though Dorothea had her petty grievances, the Kraken was swiftly taken down.

If they had attempted to physically slice and pound it, the Kraken’s unique regeneration and flexibility would have forced the party into a corner, but against the Sea Serpent that kept its distance while unleashing splashes of water, poison, and combined breath attacks, the Kraken was at a death’s door.

While the Sea Serpent wasn’t originally capable of unleashing so many breath attacks, with the overwhelming magical energy supplied by Dorothea, the Sea Serpent’s firepower had significantly increased compared to its life before.

Ultimately, the Kraken met its demise with its body riddled with holes and rotting away.

After eliminating the nuisance, it was time for the ritual.

As Dorothea and Franka stepped into the cave, they immediately realized something.

“This is a magic circle. Could Rosalia have been a wizard?”

“The cave itself is akin to a magical device. Its functions are limited, though.”

It naturally absorbed magical power from the surrounding environment, and upon responding to a specific trigger, like a prayer recited during a ritual, it would clear the weather. This was the truth hidden within Rosalia’s cave.

Although the cave’s magical energy was significantly depleted due to the Kraken preceding them, the party didn’t mind.

If there was a shortage of magical power, Dorothea could simply replenish it herself.

Initially, when Dorothea expelled dark, murky magical energy, it was like forcing down inedible food, causing the cave to struggle, but soon after enough energy began pouring out, the remnants of necromancy faded, giving way to the natural obsidian-like magical energy that radiated from Dorothea, and the cave began to voraciously absorb it.

Soon after fully replenishing the magical energy, the party chanted the prayer they had received from the duke.

“Oh kind Rosalia, poor Rosalia. Please help the countless fishermen return to their daughters.”

The cave trembled as if awakening from slumber.

And a gentle breeze started to blow inside the cave.

The sound of the wind passing between the rocks resembled someone singing.

For once, the Tin Knight was unusually quiet, savoring the melody.

He lacked touch, scent, and taste, but he still possessed sight and hearing.

Dorothea gazed at him with a thoughtful expression.

After the song concluded, the party exited the cave.

The sky that had been fraught with storms was now clear and bright.

Hostage Captured by Pirates (1/1)

Rampaging Sea Serpent (1/1)

Ritual to Calm the Weather (1/1)

Mission three. Complete.