Chapter 218

#218: The Tin Knight and the Singing Bones (6)

“Hold on a sec, this guy must be your buddy! Does what I’m saying just sound like empty bravado to you?”

Captain Bill said this while dangling Rapunzel—no, now renamed Trot—outside the ship, suspended from a rope.

If he let go, Trot would definitely fall without even an attempt to roll to safety.

However, Dorothea’s response was icy.

“You know, before looking like that, you were probably human, right? So think about it.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You just hopped on a ship that isn’t yours for a little trip. And there were other passengers onboard besides you. When the voyage ended, you parted ways with those other guests, and suddenly one day those same guests say to you, ‘Oh! My friend, my comrade! Please trust our friendship and lend me some money! If you could put up a few valuables as collateral, that would be even better!’”

“What the hell? Who are those crumb-snatchers you’re talking about?”

“Can’t you see it? You can’t call someone a comrade just because you shared a boat ride for a bit, can you? I have nothing to do with that guy, so just deal with it.”

“Ahem.”

Realizing things weren’t going his way, Bill’s face twisted grotesquely.

Unlike a regular skull that shows no expression, this golden skull could morph freely, as if it were play-dough.

But contrary to appearances, Dorothea wasn’t entirely at ease either.

‘Why does this skull have to show up now of all times? And why is he still captured?’

Negotiating with a hostage-taker is the most futile act imaginable.

Just because you do what they say doesn’t mean they’ll honestly let the hostages go.

In fact, usually after negotiations, the hostage ends up facing a bad ending too.

Sure, you could stall for time with negotiations to launch a rescue operation, but in that case, everyone here would realize that Trot was valuable as a hostage.

That was something that must absolutely be avoided.

Having baited the Tower of Control as much as possible, if it were to be revealed that Dorothea’s group and Trot had friendly relations, it was clear what they would do next.

At least if Trot had formally joined the Tower, she could be protected there, but judging by how she was now, it seemed she hadn’t even taken her entrance exam yet.

While Dorothea was lost in thought, the situation was getting increasingly urgent.

“Hey you! Weren’t you supposed to cooperate with the investigation? Back that ship up right now!”

The voice of the Captain of the Guards from the Tower of Guardian sharpened.

Well, Bill and his crew were clearly not your average folk, and the ship was imbued with mystical magical power.

Additionally, the cannons mounted on the ship were all trained on Dorothea’s group, creating a standoff between the Tower’s forces and Bill’s pirate crew, making it easy for either side to misinterpret the others as the target.

“Tch, fine! I won’t hold back this time! Let’s settle last time’s grudge! Boys, get ready for battle!!”

“Aye, Captain!!”

“If you continue to ignore orders, we will initiate an attack!! Stand down immediately!”

“Isn’t this warning enough? You ought to attack already!”

Amid the increasing volume of voices, the group whispered among themselves.

“It’s a total mess, honestly.”

“What do we do now?”

[‘Tin Knight’ suggests we drag this into a melee and wipe both sides out together!]

“No, I’ve told you so many times not to harm the Tower of Guardian! We have to give the appearance of avoiding a fight, so they’ll leave some room for negotiation later on.”

[‘Tin Knight’ argues that just sitting here won’t solve anything!]

“True, but…”

As the clamor grew and the suggestions became incessant, Dorothea was on the verge of scrapping any plan entirely when—

[‘Tin Knight’ suddenly claims that this time, things might resolve themselves just by staying quiet!]

“What?”

Fwoosh!

A surge of magical power erupted from across the strait.

Even with quite a distance, the outpouring was so massive it sent a jolt through her skin.

At first, she thought it was a large-scale spell being cast from the Tower of Control left unattended on the opposite side, but looking again, the position seemed somewhat off from where the group had come.

Most notably, there was no complex feeling typical of a spell activated by multiple people.

It meant the power was coming from one singular source.

Among the people Dorothea knew, the number capable of such a feat was exceedingly slim.

Bam bam bam bam bam bam bam!

Between the islands and the continent, hundreds of magic circles were spread out like stepping stones.

The magic circles had intricate runes inscribed on them, but out of all those, Dorothea recognized just one.

<Acceleration>

“Whoa, you…!”

Before Dorothea could finish her exclamation, Bill’s pirate crew and the Tower’s wizards finished assessing the situation.

From across the strait, the White Knight and Gale, clinging onto his back, charged through the sea at an insane speed.

And they collided directly with the pirate ship right in their path.

Whoooosh!

If you think about it normally, a person-sized object charging full speed into a large ship shouldn’t cause any trouble for the vessel. The person would just get tired out, after all.

However, if that object were the White Knight, fully buffed by the White Witch, that was a different story.

It was a bizarre sight where it seemed like a grasshopper collided with a wagon wheel, sending Bill’s golden ship soaring into the air.

─□■◆▲▽◎!?

The crew’s screams collided into a cacophony that was beyond description.

Like marbles spilling from a bowl, the crew was scattered all over the ground, and only Captain Bill, amidst all this chaos, tried to stand against the incoming White Knight, but as the Tin Knight had experienced before, a fully buffed White Knight was like a siege weapon at human size.

With an overwhelming single hit, Bill’s defenses were shattered in an instant, severing his head.

“Wha, what!?”

Trot, who was spinning in the air after slipping from Bill’s grip, tried to roll to safety, but no matter how skilled she was, moving like her routine was impossible while being tied up.

The moment she braced herself for the impending impact and squeezed her eyes shut—

Someone gently wrapped their arms around her waist and landed softly on the ground in a princess carry.

With a beautiful golden-haired blue-eyed face gazing down at her with a gentle smile.

Gale, dressed more reminiscent of a magician than anything, seemed to have taken a liking to her attire from the last library world.

She looked like a fairy-tale princess, but her actions screamed prince, causing Trot’s face to cloud in confusion.

“Are you okay, miss?”

“Yes, indeed.”

“Glad to hear it.”

Gale pulled out a card from who-knows-where and sliced through the ropes binding Trot’s body.

Without a hint of straining, she simply brushed the surface, and the ropes were neatly cut without leaving a scratch on Trot.

Every single action of the white witch was splendid with excessive flair.

As the pirates struggled on the ground, one after another pinned down by the Tower’s forces, Gale turned to face Dorothea.

“Dorothea! Isn’t it rather rude to leave people in charge and take off with yourselves? I could excuse that, but I can’t forgive the rest! I heard everything from Sig! You thought to keep me from getting dragged in by pulling Sig out of the fight, didn’t you? Don’t underestimate me! Do I look like someone who would be scared of such things? I’m disappointed! Dorothea? Are you listening?”

“…Hey. Don’t you have something to say to me beforehand?”

“Huh?”

Gale tilted her head, glancing up and down at Dorothea.

Upon seeing Dorothea drenched from head to toe in seawater, Gale commented.

“Dorothea. Even if you’re excited to be at the sea, don’t you think you should at least wear a swimsuit when swimming?”

“You splashed water all over me, you brat!!”

Dorothea’s staff swung full force toward Gale’s head.

But like always, the white witch casually bent back, dodging the attack.

Dorothea fumed.

“Hey! Tin Can!! This is the battle time you love so much! Chop her up!!”

[‘Tin Knight’ warns that bringing a berserker into a friends’ quarrel won’t end well!]

[‘Tin Knight’ points out that fighting Gale here would only complicate an already messy situation!]

[‘Tin Knight’ politely advises her silly master to differentiate between time and circumstance!]

“Who are you!?”

As the master and servant squabbled, the White Knight joined them with Bill’s head in hand.

His other hand continued to move as if to shoo away the golden powder gathering beneath Bill’s head, trying to regenerate his body.

It was a bizarre scene that left one uncertain if it should be viewed as funny or frightening.

“This godforsaken girl did well…! Are you with those troublemakers too?!”

“Wow. You can still speak in that state. Blessing? Curse? It feels like you might be stuck on ‘immortality’ level. Dorothea, can’t you do something about this? If we leave him, he might just revive and charge at us again.”

“Don’t act like nothing happened, just apologize already, you idiot.”

Dorothea glared resentfully at Gale for getting her all wet but sighed as if she had no choice.

This was the second time she’d been attacked by Bill; already the third if you counted encounters.

It was clear that she needed to come up with a solution.

“It’s not like this is what these things are made for, but we’re in a hurry.”

As if shaking an invisible pendulum, Dorothea twirled her left hand in the air, transforming her chain ring into a cage.

“It’s the right size, but the entrance is too small, so it won’t fit. Tin Can, could you break open his head for me?”

[‘Tin Knight’ says just to leave it to him!]

“Stop! Stop you evil things!!”

Snip snip snip went the tin cutter, and Bill’s skull, puzzlingly chopped up into pieces, was shoved into Dorothea’s cage.

As it began to regenerate again within, Dorothea said to Bill’s head.

“Who are the pirates calling evil here?”

Looking at the scene, one could hardly argue it wasn’t evil? thought some, including Adelheid. But no one dared voice that thought aloud.

It had long been a tradition not to anger a witch.

Having dealt with the Bill situation, all that remained were the forces from the Tower of Guardian.

Gale took a quick glance at the guard captain, who appeared utterly baffled, and asked her group.

“So, what do we do now? Could you elaborate on the current situation?”

After a moment of hushed whispers exchanged, Gale Elilraz—a 4th-grade wizard affiliated with the Tower of Guardian, and subordinate of the North Witch—stepped forward to speak.

“I need to see the Master of the Tower, so could you clear a path for me? Oh, and it would be even better if you could guide me directly. Also, I’d like to ask you to detain the pirate ship and any remaining pirates too.”

“…”

There was a silence that seemed to have much to say, but what could be done?

This was how it went in a society of connections.