Chapter 12

#12 Chapter: The Tin Knight and the City of Pleasure (6)

The Lord frowned.

“Ho ho, being ambitious is a good thing, but not being able to assess value properly is a bit troublesome. Please don’t force me to judge you.”

“No, no. I know the value precisely. When else would such a rare item come onto the market if not for this opportunity?”

“You can’t handle this alone anyway. I have friends who can help in many ways, but you won’t even get a fair price on your own.”

“Well, if I must, I could always go to the Magical Kingdom up north. As a descendant of an Imperial hero, I’m basically their enemy. They’d buy it for a pretty penny!”

“Do you even know how far away that is?”

“It might be a hassle, but my legs are fine, so I’ll eventually get there.”

After several rounds of back-and-forth, the Lord finally said, almost grumbling, “Alright then. What do you want?”

The Lord’s gaze was cold and settled. Depending on my answer, it seemed he was ready to strike Columbo and take the girl.

Columbo replied.

“I want a city like this for myself.”

“……”

“I’m not asking for your place. I just want your permission to open a branch. This is a wonderful town. You can indulge your desires freely without being tied down by annoying laws. Don’t you think we should spread this great culture to friends in other regions?”

The Lord stroked his beard. “So you want to borrow the name?”

“That would be like becoming your subordinate. I don’t need that. I just want a little ‘hint’ for the nearby nobles when I establish my new place.”

“You say it simply, but connections are more expensive than you think.”

“Not as much as the product I brought, but I’ve got some decent items stored up. I can give you all of them. If that’s not enough, I can gather more. With the sole heir here, Friedel’s chaos won’t settle down easily. It’s the perfect opportunity.”

“Wait a moment, you! Ugh, ugh—!”

The girl screamed at the idea of Friedel being plundered again, but the brutish hands of the guards forcefully shut her mouth.

In the forcefully created silence, the Lord, who had been maintaining what felt like a long silence, finally spoke.

“…Alright, under conditions.”

“Conditions?”

“By the way, I was planning to put that young lady up for auction. If the selling price is satisfactory, I’ll accept your proposal. If it doesn’t meet expectations, we’re done here. Of course, even if it doesn’t meet expectations, the amount in that box won’t be returned.”

“Don’t you need other slaves?”

“Not many. A few are enough to liven the atmosphere. I’ll tally that into the price.”

Columbo hummed, crossing his arms.

The deliberation didn’t take long. He was sure if he asked for more, the Lord wouldn’t just let it slide.

If the other side came at him forcefully disregarding face and all, it would be Columbo who’d be in a bind.

“Well, that should be fine. But let’s settle on a specific amount.”

“Of course. I’ll have a contract drawn up.”

The subsequent transaction went smoothly.

Columbo and his men left with the contract and a box of gold coins in high spirits while the girl was dragged off by the Lord’s vassals to some unknown place.

In the reception room, only the Lord and Dorothea remained.

The Lord, wearing a smile so carefree that it was hard to believe he just engaged in a sinister deal, apologized to Dorothea.

“I’m sorry about that. It took longer than I expected.”

“It’s alright. Thanks to you, I’ve managed to sort my thoughts a bit.”

“Oh?”

The Lord raised an eyebrow in interest.

“So, what do you think? Would you accept this old man’s proposal?”

The Lord’s proposal to Dorothea was to place a ‘Witch’s Curse’ on three specific targets, promising a treasure in exchange.

“Let me say it again, if you really want to harm someone, it’s faster to just hire an assassin. Curses have so many procedures and are inconvenient.”

“Ho ho, too much humility. I’ve already heard how you humiliated our doorkeeper. With that level of skill, it shouldn’t be too hard.”

Dorothea shook her head.

“Forget it. I thought about it, but if I used a Witch’s power on something like that, my master might come to kill me.”

That was a lie.

Her master would merely grumble about how three individuals were nothing and raise hell locally; he would never preach the value of human life.

“Hmm, is that so? What a pity.”

However, the Lord didn’t heavily doubt Dorothea’s words.

It was well-known that both wizards and witches tended to be eccentric among those human professions that started with ‘Ma.’

It was quite plausible that a master would track down a disciple for ignoring laid rules.

“Well, then there’s nothing to be done. The ‘Key of Opium’ will go up for auction as planned.”

The Key of Opium.

It was indeed one of the eight treasures of the kingdom that Dorothea had to retrieve and a part of the Lord’s collection.

Dorothea nodded with a blank expression and got up.

In front of her sat a small teacup, but the liquid inside hadn’t diminished in the slightest.

“Are you planning to leave now?”

“I have a lot to prepare before the auction.”

“Tsk, tsk. You’re going to have a hard time. If the curse is too difficult, how about just staying as my guest? Having a powerful witch around is a great benefit in itself; I’ll hand over the treasure if you stay for just a year.”

“I don’t have the time.”

Just before exiting the reception room, Dorothea abruptly stopped as if she remembered something.

“What made you become a thief?”

“Uh, hmm?”

It was an unexpected question, causing the Lord to blink for a moment.

Then he burst into laughter.

“What more is there? I started because I’d starve to death if I didn’t.”

“And now?”

Dorothea’s blue eyes were fixed directly on the Lord.

“Do you still feel like you’ll starve to death if you don’t steal?”

The Lord answered.

“I’m not a thief. I’m the Lord of this city.”

“Is that so?”

Dorothea readily nodded.

“—A lord or a thief, they’re pretty much the same.”

*Thud.*

The door closed, and silence fell in the room.

The good-humored smile that had lingered at the corners of the Lord’s mouth slowly faded away.

Watching that, one of the guards cautiously asked.

“Is it really okay to let her go? She’s already shown her teeth at our guards. If she won’t be our ally, wouldn’t it be better to get rid of her?”

“Let her be.”

It was a short but decisive response.

The guard didn’t ask for further reasoning or make any suggestions and kept quiet.

After staring blankly into space for a long while, the Lord tilted his head.

“I really don’t get it.”

Reflecting on his long life, the words left behind by Dorothea didn’t seem to be insulting at all.

He’d endured curses far more intense, full of grudges and dripping with blood.

Yet, why was it?

That single childish remark from a young girl, which he would normally laugh off, inexplicably stirred something in his heart.

***

“Ha.”

After leaving the reception room, Dorothea let out a sigh.

She couldn’t shake the feeling that she had done something foolish.

It was a rare opportunity to face the Lord directly.

Though the curse he asked for wasn’t an easy task, it would have been entirely possible to pull off a mere deception without seriously succeeding.

She could have taken the treasure from a tricked Lord and then just said bye-bye.

It would have been a trivial matter.

A truly convenient path.

And now, Dorothea had just kicked away that easy and simple offer herself.

Just because of some grand emotional impulse, rather than anything substantive.

The petty schemes of thieves didn’t pertain to her at all.

The dark future of the captured girl probably didn’t concern her in the least.

Dorothea regretted, blamed herself, and felt self-deprecating.

But soon after, she threw all those feelings into the trash.

‘Well, what’s done is done.’

It was more productive to focus on what comes next rather than regretting something that was already over.

Sure, the easy path had evaporated, but if she thought clearly, it wasn’t all that terrible.

A promise with Roni.

The heir of a fief that was precarious but had potential.

‘In the end, if my reputation rises and I gain a noble that owes me a debt, then that’s good enough. Alright, let’s do that.’

Once she reached a conclusion, her actions were swift.

“I’m thirsty; is it alright if I grab a drink before I go?”

“Pardon?”

The attendant guiding Dorothea looked puzzled for a moment, but they didn’t respond coldly with something like ‘just go out since there’s nothing to drink.’

The attendant, unaware that the negotiations had collapsed, still treated Dorothea as the Lord’s precious guest.

She might have a somewhat rude tone for someone so young, but compared to the despicable nobles that frequented this place, that wasn’t a big flaw at all.

Those guys had a snobby tone, but the very look in their eyes that looked down on people made you want to stab them with a fork.

“Ah, yes. This way, please.”

Was it enough to just give her cold water? Or should something like iced tea be prepared? Is that too much?

Something small dashed past near Dorothea’s feet, but the attendant, lost in thoughts about selecting a guest menu, didn’t notice.

***

“Huh, huff.”

In a small room on the highest floor of the Lord’s Castle, a blonde girl was quietly crying by herself.

Both her father and older brother had died.

Her already frail mother had collapsed from the great shock and was in a coma, leaving the girl to focus on the restoration of their territory without even the luxury of mourning.

And she had ended up captured by thieves, becoming a slave even without having properly rejuvenated the territory.

What would happen to her in the future?

Would the attendants who were captured alongside her be safe?

What about the guards who were mocked for rushing in to save her only to suffer a humiliating defeat?

Would her mother, still lying in bed, be safe? Would she plunge into deeper despair upon regaining consciousness and hearing of her daughter’s fate?

Fear, unease, and despair pressed upon the girl’s heart.

To endure the series of tragedies, the girl was still small and fragile.

Although she had desperately pretended to be strong in front of the thieves and others, now that she was locked in a small room alone, she couldn’t suppress the tears that gushed out like a flood.

While she cried and cried, suddenly—

“Huh, huh, euh… huh?”

Something strange appeared before her.

To describe the “strange thing” in one sentence, um, how should I put it?

Yeah.

– It was a mouse scurrying around with nothing left but yellow bones.

“Eek!”

A stifled scream escaped the girl’s lips, sounding like it was squeezed out of her throat.

Luckily, after crying so much, her voice couldn’t muster a loud sound.

Completely frozen in place, not able to move, the skeletal mouse kept its tail vigorously swirling, writing out letters.

Its bone dust served as ink, astonishingly.

Its desperate act of faithfully executing its master’s orders—turning its own body into powder—clearly illustrated why people thought of the Necromancer as the epitome of an ‘evil wizard.’

[Request received for rescue from Roni Locksley. The execution will be on the day of the auction. Consume the elixir sent together with the summoned beast before the auction starts. Clean up the dust yourself.]

Due to the lack of ink, the message was short and concise.

In a moment, almost half of its body had disappeared, and the skeletal mouse extracted a red orb from its ribcage and presented it to the girl.

Dazed, the girl took it almost unconsciously.

The skeletal mouse completed its task with a clack as its bones collided, then collapsed, leaving only the messed-up bed sheet covered in grim yellow dust and the red orb.

The girl stood there, mouth agape for a long while before finally uttering a single phrase.

“Seriously, why is everyone doing this to me?”

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