Chapter 215

#215 Chapter: Tin Knight and the Singing Bones (3)

It’s a tale I’ve told a hundred times, but the secret to the Tower of Control’s ability to attract talent lies in its unique hierarchy.

In other towers, you have to tiptoe around and play nice, but here? You can throw your weight around all you want!

But this only benefits those at the top of the pyramid; for those at the bottom, it’s just a garbage system.

Still, people find it hard to escape that chain of command.

You might think, “Why not just move?” But relocating within the Magical Kingdom isn’t a walk in the park.

Sure, the Tin Knight and his crew can hop in a wagon and roam around without a care, but that’s because they’re seen as walking treasure chests, with thieves ready to cough up money and materials.

For regular folks, just meeting a bandit or a monster means risking one’s life, and heading to a completely different region with no connections is a gamble of epic proportions.

Even if by some stroke of luck you make it to another area, a new question arises: Where to go?

To the north lies the endless ocean, to the south the Garden, and to the west is the Tower of Annihilation. The Tower of Annihilation has a relatively friendly relationship with the Tower of Control.

At least, if the Tower of Control were to say, “Hey, it looks like our citizens wandered over there—could you send them back?” they wouldn’t just ignore it.

With nowhere to go north or south, and moving west means you’d just get sent back, the citizens under the Tower of Control had only two choices left.

One: just accept it and keep living as is.

Many people opted for this route.

But a few daring souls, fed up with their superiors and harboring grudges, headed east.

There, like in the north, lay the ocean, but there was a crucial difference.

Unlike the north, where you could only see an endless sea, the eastern sea had a distinct “endpoint.”

And it was pretty visible too.

The Tower of Guardian.

Its territory was part of the Magical Kingdom but wasn’t connected by land to any other region.

That’s because the area governed by the Tower of Guardian was an island.

The Tower of Guardian was known as the friendliest tower towards its citizens, and while they didn’t go out of their way to pull people in from other regions, they were equally unwilling to drive away those wanting to live on their land.

The strait dividing the territories of the Tower of Control and the Tower of Guardian spanned just 35 kilometers at its shortest point.

For someone accustomed to water, it was a distance that one could swim across without a boat.

Desperate folk, feeling like they had nothing to lose, dove into the sea, only to often become lost to the depths.

In reality, only a tiny fraction made it safely across.

But whether people drowned or successfully escaped, in terms of manpower drain, it was all the same, and the Tower of Control wouldn’t just sit idly by.

As long as it wasn’t to the point of being overwhelmed, population itself was power.

The thought of their workforce running away was something they would never tolerate.

Thus, watchtowers were erected along the coast with guards always stationed, and all ships in the harbor were under the tower’s control.

And then, sailing bans were issued across all ports.

“Excuse me? We can’t set sail? But we have scheduled contracts to honor with our Trading Company! The Tower of Guardian is waiting for us.”

“These goods are all about freshness! If we can’t get there on time, they’re all going to be tossed!”

“Please just give us a moment! We’re just fishing boats. We have no intention of crossing over!”

“Hehe, my good sir, here’s a small token of our sincerity. If you could just look the other way for our boat—”

At first, people didn’t take it seriously.

After all, there had been instances before where ship departures were restricted because of a few runaways.

They wanted to rely on pressure from other factions, beg for sympathy, and slip some bribes in, just like they always did to get their ships sailing.

And then it all fell apart.

“YOU BRAT! Do you dare ignore the orders from the tower?!”

“Oh dear, sir! That’s not what I meant—I was just asking for a smidgen of mercy—”

“I don’t want to hear it! Guards! Bind him up and throw him in prison!”

“Yes!”

“S-Sir? Sir!? Ugh!”

The sight of the merchant brandishing his coin purse being beaten down and dragged away by the soldiers made the port city’s mayor break out in a cold sweat.

A chilling voice echoed from behind.

“His behavior seems quite familiar. Could it be he was accepting bribes and showing favoritism on a regular basis?”

As a woman with silver hair radiating a slight blue aura glared at him, the mayor felt as if his breath was being taken away.

A 3rd Grade Wizard of the tower, she was also the city’s mayor, wielding unparalleled power within her realm, but the presence before her was an influential figure who could wipe that mayor away with a mere gesture.

“There’s no way! That conniving scoundrel has just been shooting off at the mouth, please don’t misunderstand!”

“Hmm.”

“Just let it go, Skoll.”

Despite the mayor’s desperate defense, her expression remained as frosty as ever, but a similarly silver-haired young man stopped her.

“We don’t have time to focus on trivial matters right now.”

“Aren’t abuse of power and corruption substantial issues?”

“Compared to the Master’s orders, they’re trivial.”

“…Well, I suppose that is true.”

The woman known as Skoll nodded in agreement but then turned to the mayor.

“Alright, you can leave. Tell the soldiers to keep a close watch around the area. If they score results, we might consider leniency, but if not, you know the consequences?”

As she traced her fingers across her neck, the mayor trembled but deeply bowed to her before exiting the room.

“Honestly, it’s the old fools who are the issue. They shove people into the mayor’s seat not based on ability but just as retirement favors, which leads to idiots like that?”

“For smooth governance, it’s necessary to have people placed in every territory. The young and capable are busy making achievements to become the partners of our bloodline, so placing them in these positions just isn’t feasible. Even if they don’t find a partner, knowing there’s a path ahead will deter them from giving up.”

“Hmph. Must be nice to have it easy. Meanwhile, if I don’t become the heir, I’ll just be sold off like a tool.”

After clicking her tongue in disdain, Skoll gazed out at the cityscape beyond the window.

“So, Harty. What do you think? Do you think the ones who killed Giras and made full use of his corpse will actually come here?”

“Based on predictions, yes.”

The young man known as Harty replied calmly.

“Even using Giras and all his mages’ corpses, they wouldn’t have enough material to distribute undead across the entire Magical Kingdom. The undead sent far away were made using the mages’ bodies, but for those closer, many of the corpses used were just ordinary animals. Conversely, by analyzing the materials of the undead, we could calculate their location. The prediction shows they’re most likely to come here.”

“I hope that prediction holds true. That idiot Valdeus seems to have completely fallen out of favor after this, and it’ll take time for the others at the tower to arrive at the coast, so if we can catch them before that, it’ll be a substantial achievement.”

At Skoll’s remarks, Harty frowned slightly.

“Do not underestimate them. They are the ones who wiped out Giras and his forces without leaving them room to contact the outside. Even we can’t guarantee victory, so we need to prioritize hindering them rather than outright extermination. If we hold out just a little longer, reinforcements will arrive.”

“But it’s just 50 people? There are even four times more mages gathered here in the vicinity. Plus, they’re continuously increasing. We’ve got more than enough soldiers to serve as meat shields. It’s definitely doable!”

“Skoll.”

Among a brood of siblings barely better than enemies, the only one she trusted was her twin brother, and she shrugged her shoulders at his words.

“I know! I’m not just itching for a fight. I’m saying after we sufficiently wear down the enemy, we’ll see what the situation demands—”

“That’s not it. My familiar has sensed something unusual.”

“—Huh?”

Skoll closed her eyes briefly, then began to chant a short spell.

As he reached out, a peculiar image began to project onto a crystal ball on the table.

Harty’s familiar was an eagle-shaped spirit, so this was likely the scenery it was witnessing.

What first appeared was a wasteland.

In the center of the wasteland, there was a single wagon racing across uneven terrain riddled with obstacles, not on a well-maintained road connecting cities.

“Where is this?”

“This wasteland is to the west of this city. It would take about 20 minutes to run over there.”

“Surely there are watchful eyes near the maintained road. Did they purposefully choose such a route? How foolish. They could have just taken the wagon without drawing attention like that. At this rate, they might as well be advertising their suspiciousness.”

“This isn’t just any ordinary wagon. It looks like a special product from the Alchemist Association. It could move several times quicker than on foot. They probably prioritized speed over stealth.”

“Hmph. Ah, it stopped… are they planning to abandon the wagon and sneak toward the coast? Well, that’s unfortunate. What a coincidence to get caught right in the act.”

Skoll smirked at the thought of swiftly ambushing whoever dismounted from the wagon.

However, no matter how long she waited, no one seemed to be getting off the wagon.

Moreover, just as she thought she saw a hand reaching towards the driver’s seat, the horses that had been pulling the wagon suddenly vanished.

“What? Invisibility? Shrinking?”

“No, it’s something different. …Could it be space magic?”

“Are you kidding me? For a large horse to be stored away in an instant, they would need a massive magic circle set up.”

The strange occurrences didn’t stop there.

Something bizarre emerged at the front and back of the wagon.

First, at the front, where the horses should’ve been, was an enormous lance, ridiculously oversized, that can only be described as being absurd.

But the spearhead wasn’t just a long stick; it was cone-shaped and featured curvy grooves carved into it.

On the back of the wagon, something resembling an enormous windmill was protruding, aligned directly with the massive lance at the front.

“That doesn’t seem like metal. Is it bone and flesh covering?”

As Skoll squinted, trying to figure out what it was, the axis began to spin.

At first, it was slow, but soon it whirled fast enough to create a powerful gust.

And then, the silent wagon took off like a bolt of lightning.

Harty and Skoll exchanged looks.

Skoll commanded her subordinates with a scream.

“Everyone, prepare for battle!!”