Chapter 169

#169 Episode: The Tin Knight and the Short but Distant Journey

To be honest, traveling with the Tin Knight and his crew wasn’t all that pleasant for Rapunzel.

Now, it wasn’t that she disliked them or harbored any negative feelings. But, her brother’s death, still hard to grasp, was brought home by these very people who had also returned his belongings. Rapunzel wasn’t twisted enough to wish ill upon them.

She was just having a rough time.

In her mind, she thought of herself as somewhat tough, yet she’d been completely overwhelmed by the “Wizard” whom the great witch Dorothea had easily dealt with. Well, “easily” might be a bit of a stretch; to Rapunzel, that’s how it seemed.

As for the proud vassals of Donengarten, even the lord himself showed her deference, as if she were indeed a member of some incredibly noble lineage—Noble Lady Adelheid.

She was surrounded by big shots, in terms of ability and social standing, who far outclassed her. Sharing a small wagon, or really, not-so-small wagon, with them was anything but comfortable.

‘What if I tick off Dorothea and end up under some curse? Or worse yet, what if I offend Lady Adelheid and get punished?’

To avoid looming negative futures, Rapunzel powered up her intuition skills, quickly arriving at one conclusion.

‘This party is just too strange.’

Starting with the wagon, it was anything but ordinary.

A wagon, as Rapunzel understood it, typically wasn’t a fast vehicle.

Just like a horse loaded down with heavy baggage can’t run as swiftly as a carefree person, a heavily-loaded wagon couldn’t speed along either.

The average speed? Well, not much faster than a walking person, unless the horse or wagon had extraordinary endurance and quality, which might get it to a light jog.

Any attempt to accelerate further would either exhaust the horse or create serious problems for the wagon—that’s what Rapunzel knew.

But this wagon was completely defying those norms.

From the get-go, it was going as fast as a horse without anyone on it, and it could maintain that speed without a flicker of rest.

In fact, there was hardly any vibration at that speed. On a well-maintained road, it was so quiet, it caused Rapunzel to wonder if they were moving at all; it felt like they wouldn’t be riding until they hit some rough terrain.

She thought, ‘Ah, it must be a fancy wagon for high-ranking folks,’ but then she saw what the “highest-ranking” person in the party was doing and felt that certainty waver.

“Phew, phew.”

That wasn’t even rough breathing, just slightly out-of-breath huffs echoing nearby.

It was Lady Adelheid, who was running hard on her own, a distance away from the wagon, while everyone else was comfortably riding.

It was weird enough that a highborn lady was sprinting while all others were in the wagon, and that was just the tip of the iceberg.

With a flick of his fingers, the knight sitting at the edge of the wagon flung a small stone, about the size of a thumbnail, at Adelheid’s face.

Thwack! The stone met her forehead, producing a cheerful sound.

But that was as far as it went.

Adelheid didn’t lose consciousness or roll on the ground wounded. Aside from a slight redness where the stone struck, she kept running, while the Tin Knight continued to pelt her with stones.

Rapunzel was left aghast.

‘I get that this is training to protect her with magical power, but seriously, does it need to be this brutal?’

A skilled warrior could enhance their body with magical power, concentrating it on specific parts to further lessen potential damage.

At the utmost levels, you could even slash the skin with a knife with no more than a tiny scratch to show for it.

Rapunzel could do a bit of that herself, but what these two were doing was on a whole different level.

First, they were barely three meters apart, and each stone the knight threw varied in landing spot, size, and impact. Not to mention, they’d been at it for a few hours already.

‘They have to assess where the stone will hit, how powerful it is, and how much magical power to use—all in a split second? Who are these people?’

Watching Adelheid’s body accumulate more and more red and blue bruises, it looked less like training and more like an abusive scene; yet, the girl remained serious and seemingly impervious to pain. It was as if her intense focus shot any feeling of pain far away.

‘And she doesn’t even look like it’s that hard to run…’

This was leagues away from the “noble lady” Rapunzel had envisioned.

Shaking her head, Rapunzel then turned her gaze to Sophia.

Sophia was busily scribbling something down at an incredible speed, her posture unchanged from when Rapunzel had fallen asleep the night before, which was terrifying in a different way.

Rapunzel ultimately realized something.

The witch she’d initially considered the most terrifying was actually the most “normal” among this group.

Sure, her fashion sense left something to be desired, but if you thought of it as “witch attire,” it could even be considered pretty decent. Or maybe that was just the effect of her face and figure.

“What’s up? You worried?”

Had she caught Rapunzel pondering fashion? Rapunzel turned pale for a moment, but thankfully, Dorothea was talking about something else entirely.

While still holding onto whatever it was she was experimenting with in the moving wagon, Dorothea revealed it, saying, “About your hair—you know, it seems like it absorbs magical power to use as nutrients.”

“Huh?”

Rapunzel’s face blanked out.

She’d thought it was just some cool trick when Dorothea first asked to hold a handful of her hair, but now, a conclusion she’d never imagined popped out.

“Typically, hair quality and thickness depend on one’s physical state. With the speed your hair has been growing, you should’ve been having some health issues, but yours grows at a consistent rate regardless of whether you’re starving, full, or in good health. That’s evidence it’s not simply a part of your body.”

“But I’ve never felt like my hair was absorbing magical power?”

“You’ve been steadily absorbing it since birth, so you probably just thought that was normal. Plus, your hair has the capacity to absorb magic from around you too. Look.”

Dorothea picked up a strand of Rapunzel’s hair and began channeling magical power into it.

At first, her golden locks seemed untouched, but as Dorothea poured more magical energy in, they visibly began to stretch at an astonishing rate.

“Wow, it’s true.”

Rapunzel felt a bit dazed.

Discovering that her body had properties she never knew was fascinating, but more than that, she couldn’t quite wrap her mind around what it all meant.

Noticing Rapunzel’s confusion, Dorothea added a light clarification.

“In other words, it’s incredibly useful in many ways, as a catalyst or even as raw material for magical devices. Of course, once cut, its effect diminishes after a while, so additional processing is needed to keep its effectiveness. But that’s a minor problem if you have a secure supply.”

“Really…wait?”

As she processed what she’d just heard, a strange feeling began to settle over Rapunzel.

Supply? Secure?

Dorothea shrugged, as if just figuring it out. “If your nature is discovered, you might end up like a silkworm being harvested of its silk by some wizard. Honestly, it’s impressive you haven’t until now.”

“What!?”

As Rapunzel’s scream rang out, everyone else working on their tasks turned to her.

“Where did you learn how to handle magical power?” one of them asked.

“Oh, um, well, my stupid brother taught me. Said something about needing self-defense in this rough world.”

“Sounds like he knew something after all. Just looking at the magic he developed shows he was quite competent.”

After a moment of nodding in understanding, Dorothea then asked, “So, based on that knowledge, I have a proposal for you—are you willing to delay your exit to the next town a bit?”

“Delay…as in?”

“Sophia, hand me the map.”

“Yes, here.”

Drawing a long line on the map Sophia spread out, Dorothea explained, “This is our current route. As you can see, to reach the Magical Kingdom, we need to cross a strait. That’s also why we’re stripping the ship for wizard bounty. Originally, I planned to drop you off in the port city before crossing, but if you agree, I could take you to the Magical Kingdom. In return, I’ll accept payment through your hair during the journey.”

“Well, I have to cut my hair anyway, so I’m fine with that… but why do I need to go to the Magical Kingdom?”

“Because you have a talent for magic.”

Dorothea spoke as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

“Your hair is a treasure worth coveted by many. Conversely, for you, it means you can endlessly grow catalysts merely by neglecting them. Assuming your magical power is 100, your hair’s magical power is over ten times that. With hair grown to about your back, it’ll be much more if you allow it to grow longer. It’s a tremendous advantage for a wizard.”

Sophia chimed in, “Ah, so you mean the Tower of Prophecy? They seek talented wizards. Once you’re affiliated, you’re unlikely to get kidnapped or harmed by common foes.”

“Well, it’s more accurate that ‘Protection’ and ‘Prophecy’ are decent, while ‘Control’ and ‘Annihilation’ aren’t great. But since The Tower of Prophecy is on the path we’re taking, that shouldn’t be an issue.”

Dorothea’s blue eyes turned toward Rapunzel.

“Of course, what we can offer is just to take you to the city where the tower is. Whether you get to enter the tower or not is entirely up to you. If luck’s not on your side, it could get complicated.”

The “what will you do?” stare from Dorothea made Rapunzel pause for a moment in thought.

Her protector, who had kept her safe and looked after her from afar, was no longer there.

And she had realized through this experience just how vulnerable she was on her own.

Sure, there had been an inheritance left by her brother, but whether that alone could allow her to settle as a foreigner in this strange land was uncertain.

“…Is it alright if I impose a bit longer?”

“It’s not even an imposition. We’re going to get our dues anyway.”

The witch nodded casually, seemingly done with the conversation.

At that moment, the Tin Knight leaned forward slightly in the wagon.

Rapunzel couldn’t help but flinch.

She was confused about his intentions, and she was more than a little intimidated by the immensely strong knight.

Adelheid, who could hear his “voice,” explained it to Rapunzel.

“Oh, the knight says to take care of him, at least for a bit.”

“Of course, I’ll do my best.”

“And he also thinks we might have to deal with at least two more incidents, so we should be careful.”

“…Huh?”

“You’ll be fine! I’ll help a lot in dangerous situations!”

Rapunzel was completely bewildered.

According to the map Dorothea had shown, the Tower of Prophecy wasn’t too far off.

Or rather, saying it was a fair distance was accurate, but most of it was over a strait, which made her think incidents shouldn’t really happen.

‘Are they suggesting there might be pirates or something? No way.’

She dismissed it as a joke to relax her and lightly accepted it.

***

Two days later.

“Damn it!! You lot remember Captain Bill, right?!”