Chapter 134

#134 Chapter: Tin Knight and the Golden Alchemist (4)

As soon as we reached the sandy beach, the shape of the Golden Wagon started to morph again.

The wheels, which had looked like a millstone, returned to their normal wagon form, and the rattling wagon found its stability once more.

Dorothea asked, “By the way, where’s the Witch now? I doubt that castle we fought in last time survived.”

“I should have used Homunculi to rebuild the castle, but I guess completing it in less than two days is a stretch,” Franka replied, pondering with her hand on her chin.

“There’s another castle on this island aside from the one we visited first. I’ve only seen it from afar, so I can’t say for sure, but knowing my master, she wouldn’t stay in a shabby place. Maybe she’s there?”

“So it’s not definite? I guess we have no choice then.”

I felt a twinge of regret for not having the bracelet that could pinpoint my companions’ locations, but if I hadn’t used that as bait, we might not have even entered the island.

[The ‘Tin Knight’ asks if it’s possible that he’s hiding or running away!]

“…Are you saying there’s a chance he’s hiding or running away?”

“Huh?”

Franka reacted as if that was the most absurd thing she’d ever heard.

“The other party is the 4th Grade Witch. She’s been a legendary monster for hundreds of years. There’s no way she’d stoop to losing face against rookies like us. Unless she’s caught off guard, of course. You should know that if your master is also a 4th Grade Witch!”

“Not that my master would care about her face when she could easily do something reckless.”

“……”

“……”

The two fell silent. Continuing this conversation wouldn’t bring joy to anyone.

“Anyway, we have nowhere else to go, so let’s head that way.”

“If we encounter any monsters or Homunculi on the way, I’d like to take some down and collect their corpses,” Dorothea added.

Unfortunately, her hopes were dashed.

No matter how fast the wagon thrived, no monsters showed up around us.

Worried they might be lying in ambush, we even stopped the wagon deliberately to repair any damage or stack spears made from the ground as a trap, but still, there was no reaction from the enemy.

Thanks to that, the wagon sped along without a hitch, but the faces of the crew didn’t look bright at all.

“Are you telling me we’re stopping all attacks just because they don’t want to show their hand?”

Dorothea’s words were dismissed by Franka.

“No way! A Homunculus is one of the two weapons an Alchemist can control. They wouldn’t just give that up….”

Franka suddenly paused.

She seemed to mull over her own words.

“The two weapons. Yes, two. Then what’s the other one?”

Franka’s face turned pale.

As she quickly turned her head, the gazes of the others followed suit.

The Ballista at the front of the wagon was the target they were looking for.

Dorothea’s lips quivered.

“Hey, hold on. No way…”

And those bad feelings always turn out to be right.

─────Brrrrrmmm─────

That’s when the bizarre sound reached their ears.

It was faint, yet heavy.

Something enormous was slicing through the air, heading their way.

Their gazes shot up to the sky.

──Brrrrrmmm──!!!

With clearer and louder sound, it revealed itself.

It was hard to describe with mere words like “big.”

To put it jokingly, it felt like a star had been born beside the sun.

A massive arrow, rivaling the size of a mansion, was plummeting towards them.

“AAAHH!!”

A scream escaped from Franka’s lips.

She seemed to have no capacity for preserving her dignity in that moment.

But it wasn’t a pointless scream. Even while she screeched, she fulfilled her role.

The wagon’s direction twisted almost to a right angle as it carved a strange path.

A monkey with bug wings flailed its legs as if the pedals might snap at any moment.

Just then, an immense Ballista crashed into the ground just a few big steps away from the wagon.

Boom!

An incredible impact echoed.

The sound felt violent, and for some, it was loud enough to make them clutch their hearts and suppress their pounding chests.

The attack was so ferocious that, even after dodging, the shock alone lifted the wagon a whole wheel’s height into the air.

Dorothea nearly lost her balance and fell outside the wagon, but thanks to the swift catch from the Tin Knight, she narrowly avoided a mishap.

Holding onto the Tin Knight’s arm, Dorothea cried out, “No way, there’s a limit to how huge this can get! What is your master thinking!!”

Franka shot back in equal distress, “How would I know!? What do you want me to do!!”

[The ‘Tin Knight’ acknowledges they get along well but advises them to save that for later!]

-Urgh, ugh!? Uhhh!

The warnings from the summoned creatures were indeed valid.

─────Brrrrrmmm─────

As the shattering sound erupted again, Dorothea held on tightly to the Tin Knight, bracing for another impact, while Franka let out a silent scream and tried to drift the wagon.

Boom!

Impact. Aftershock.

This attack was even closer.

With the sharp turn, the already-unsteady wagon tilted over completely due to the subsequent shockwave.

If just one more second passed, the side of the wagon would have engaged in a passionate kiss with the ground, but in that instant, the Tin Knight slammed his legs down hard.

Pthunk!

The tilting wagon regained its balance.

Someone else might’ve had their legs and hips crushed trying that reckless move, but for the Tin Knight, the only damage was a slight scrape on his foot. And that wound healed right away.

The two witches were momentarily shocked at their narrow escape from disaster, but rather than bask in relief over what had just happened, they prioritized preparing for what was to come.

Of course, one couldn’t be a witch without a decent temperament and guts.

“Where is that thing even shooting from!?”

Dorothea surveyed her surroundings, but she saw nothing that remotely resembled a massive structure.

Which meant it was shooting from a distance that they couldn’t see at all.

“Wait, wait! Just one more! Just one more shot!”

“What?”

“I need to see the angle it’s coming from to calculate the launching position!!”

Fortunately, it didn’t take long for Franka to prove her point.

Less than three seconds after she’d finished speaking, the next arrow fell.

Having avoided the attack, Franka muttered something intently before declaring, “Thirty minutes.”

“What?”

“At our top speed, it’ll take about thirty minutes to reach the source of the Ballista’s shots!!”

“Can’t we speed up anymore!?”

“Can’t you see our baby is struggling for its life right now!? This is already fast enough to treat most wagons like garbage!”

Dorothea bit her lip.

She knew Franka’s words rang true.

But knowing and accepting were two different things.

With giant Ballista arrows dropping every 10-20 seconds, the thought of having to keep this hellish pace for another thirty minutes was unbearable.

Right now, they could somehow keep dodging, but just one graze from those mindless attacks, and it’d be game over.

Dorothea’s gaze fell upon her staff.

While it was an item she was quite proud of, whether it could withstand something with such massive mass was uncertain territory. When lives are at stake, it’s even riskier.

Even if they hoped for the enemy to run out of arrows, they were up against an Alchemist who could reconstruct materials.

Every piece of land on this island was practically a resource for arrows.

“We probably don’t have to hold out for a full thirty minutes. With a Ballista that huge, it wouldn’t be usable at close range because of the launch angle issues, right? Maybe around five minutes…?”

Franka mumbled uncertainly, but that didn’t offer much comfort.

Dorothea’s mind raced.

Speed, they needed to find a way to speed up.

But suddenly accelerating the wagon? That was beyond absurd unless you were executing some wild stunt like Sophia’s.

‘A-ha.’

An epiphany struck Dorothea.

Of course, she wasn’t looking to recreate Sophia’s ridiculous cart booster incident. This wagon was hardly worthy of the name.

What mattered was what happened afterward.

In other words, it was about what the Tin Knight had done after falling into the lake.

“You, you! Remember when you moved quickly underwater!”

At Dorothea’s words, the Tin Knight paused briefly as if he were thinking before replying.

[If the ‘Tin Knight’ is talking about Propeller Swordsmanship, he states that it’s difficult to perform outside of water!]

[He also suggests that something akin to a large windmill wing with a long spear attached at the rotating axle could do the trick!]

“That means we need windmill wings! Front and back of the wagon, anywhere!”

[The ‘Tin Knight’ remarks that it doesn’t matter to him since he’ll be the one using it regardless!]

“Franka!! Make windmill wings! With a long spear attached at the center of rotation!”

Franka’s expression twisted in confusion and horror.

“What kind of nonsense is this in a situation like this!? I’m already losing my mind just dodging these arrows!”

“If you want to live, shut up and make it!”

“Even if it’s windmill wings, there are different types. Which shape should I go with?”

“Just make the one that seems like it would push the wagon the best!”

“You really make it sound so easy!”

Gritting her teeth, Franka still acquiesced to the order.

Using her favorite umbrella and the thrown spears piled in the corners of the wagon as material, an enormous windmill wing appeared.

The Tin Knight was slightly impressed. It resembled something similar to the propellers in his memory.

Grasping the long pole at the center of the fan blade with both hands, the Tin Knight prepared to spin it.

Sure, he could create airflow just by rotating it with his hands, but that would only serve as a fan rather than being enough to propel a wagon.

After stabilizing the long pole so it wouldn’t wobble, the Tin Knight began manipulating his magical energy.

The magic surged forth like a blunt sword, firmly squeezing the pole up, down, left, and right.

Then, with that, the magical energy began to spin in his grip. The pole, too, rotated under the grip of the magic, much like a vise.

If the angles or rotation speeds of his right and left hands differed just a little, the pole could snap—a dangerous technique—but the Tin Knight didn’t hesitate.

His body’s memories told him.

‘You can do this.’

One spin, two spins. The propeller whirled.

At first, it was faint, but it gradually picked up speed.

And with that rotational speed, the wagon began to accelerate.

[The ‘Tin Knight’ instructs to hold on tight!]

Double the speed.

Dorothea gripped the Tin Knight’s body tightly.

Triple the speed.

The monkey with bat wings, having realized the pedals were pointless, focused entirely on clinging to its master and comrades.

Four times the speed.

Franka screamed, “I can’t control it anymore!!”

The wagon’s wheels creaked without pause, and the body screamed in protest.

If this wasn’t a wagon specially crafted from all-encompassing catalysts, it wouldn’t have held together this long.

The Ballista’s attacks couldn’t get anywhere near the wagon anymore.

Even precise predictive shooting was rendered meaningless against this mad dash.

The witch’s castle started to come into view.

On the plain leading to the castle, an enormous army was gathered.

Furry creatures, multi-legged beasts, humans donned in armor, and even flying creatures flew about.

It seemed there was no time left for Dorothea to bother with her necromancy and conserve her energy.

Advancing successfully, they pressed onward.

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