Chapter 40

# Episode 40: The Tin Knight and the Hanged Criminal (3)

The negotiations with the guild were successful.

The staff members who had been keeping a high-handed attitude towards the Tin Knight’s group seemed utterly flustered when pressured by Lorenz and the Halder Trading Company, eventually having no choice but to back down.

“According to the contract and the circumstances, we have the upper hand. If we can’t win this, we might as well throw in the towel on being merchants.”

Lorenz was confident, believing that unless they ended up in the labyrinth again, there would be no way to find fault with the items they had obtained this time.

The group was satisfied with that.

Even though there were treasures left behind that they couldn’t carry on the cart due to the labyrinth being larger and containing more hidden treasures than they expected, they had already collected all the valuable ones.

Most importantly, securing the most important treasure was decisive.

Although the treasure’s form turned out to be quite different from what they had anticipated, the witch was somewhat dissatisfied.

The Halder Trading Company had prepared a private lodging for them.

In a space where they could avoid the eyes and ears of others, the group was gathered.

The atmosphere in the room was delicate.

This was largely due to Dorothea letting out a distinctly irritated sigh.

At the end of her gaze was a goat with a wine-colored coat.

Usually, a goat that always charged ahead without care was now lingering in the room without any intention of leaving.

Beside it lay a vampire sprawled on the bed.

The vampire’s condition was “fairly” decent.

Instead of tattered clothing, she wore a clean dress, and her body, which had been crushed against a pillar, was healed without a single wound.

However, her complexion was still pale, devoid of any color.

As she stared blankly at the goat rubbing its head against the vampire’s palm, Dorothea spoke up.

“I checked while changing her clothes, but the kingdom’s treasure… I mean, the ‘Tuberosum’s Chalice’ is nowhere to be found. Yet that goat shows no signs of leaving the vampire’s side. It must really mean that the treasure is inside her. What in the world did this damn vampire do?”

[“The Tin Knight” asks if you mean that the damn vampire?]

“Uh, Sir Knight. If you say that, won’t she hear you?”

At Adel’s remark, the Tin Knight made a gesture as if to say “oops.”

The vampire, however, showed no reaction at all.

In a situation where one would expect to be on guard after being threatened about having a stake driven through their heart or being beheaded, the vampire remained nonchalant.

“Hah. Seriously. This is annoying.”

Dorothea muttered, feeling that it might have been better to oblige the foolish knight’s desire for a refreshing fight; if the vampire had been aiming for her life, she could have just hit back and taken the treasure, but with the vampire being so obediently calm, drawing a blade felt way too uncomfortable.

By common sense, being a vampire was already a death sentence in itself, but Dorothea couldn’t think that way.

If she were to start considering common sense, the profession of necromancer itself had numerous issues to address. It was a painful shared understanding.

[“The Tin Knight” suggests that if you’re in trouble, just knock her out and take the item!]

…There was also the stubbornness of not wanting to fall to the same level as ‘that one.’

After struggling for several minutes, Dorothea finally shouted as if surrendering.

“Whatever! Let’s just carry her as she is. We can just treat her like a slightly large package.”

It was a wicked statement to consider a person, no, a humanoid resembling a person as cargo. Quite the conclusion befitting a witch.

Adelheid let out a sigh of relief.

She was anxious that Dorothea might accept the Tin Knight’s suggestion to tear the vampire to pieces.

After all, if the knight, who sometimes made Adel slice up live animals or bugs as ‘practice,’ decided to have her deal with the vampire, she would absolutely refuse that anatomy practical.

The Tin Knight stepped forward with a question.

[“The Tin Knight” asks how exactly they plan to treat her like a package!]

“Wouldn’t it be enough to just get a coffin and physically seal her up? The coffin can just be tucked away in the corner of the wagon.”

[“The Tin Knight” points out that that’s a waste!]

“What should we do then?”

[“The Tin Knight” argues that if you’re going to carry her, it would be better to consider her a companion instead of just cargo!]

Dorothea’s eyebrows twitched, and Adel looked astonished.

Dorothea snorted in annoyance.

“Back when we were fighting and killing, you’re saying this now? What’s with this sudden change of heart?”

[“The Tin Knight” fervently argues that bringing a potential boss as an ally could make things even hotter!]

[“The Tin Knight” notes that carrying a vampire around in a coffin would cause a lot of trouble passing through gates and doorways everywhere!]

“The first comment is typical chatter, but the second one is reasonable enough.”

Yet, Dorothea added,

“But it’s the same with carrying the vampire around. Even if it might not be obvious, if exposed to sunlight, she would be set ablaze instantly. How are we supposed to hide that…”

Just as Dorothea was about to discuss the ‘most obvious common sense,’ she suddenly paused.

Then something struck her.

“…Wasn’t she exposed to sunlight while we were bringing her into the room just now?”

“Oh? Come to think of it, yes?”

Although Dorothea had used magic to divert the attention of others, its effect wasn’t absolute, which meant the group needed to take care when moving the vampire.

In their haste to avoid others’ eyes, they had overlooked the sunlight, but now that she thought about it, something felt off.

Seeing is believing.

When the Tin Knight pulled back the curtains that hung over the window, sunlight poured in onto the bed where the vampire lay.

He squinted.

The vampire scrunched her eyes.

It seemed that the sunlight was indeed bothering her vision.

In other words, that was all there was to it. There was no sign of her skin burning, let alone turning red.

[“The Tin Knight” expresses doubt if the whole assumption about her being a vampire was completely wrong!]

Dorothea’s mouth gaped.

For a moment, she appeared to be searching for counterarguments, but when she couldn’t find any, she changed the subject.

“Hmm, ahem. Anyway, we can overlook the sunlight issue, but if we’re treating her as cargo, she has her own will too. We can’t just decide everything on our own.”

[“The Tin Knight” points out that her treatment has drastically improved!]

“Shut up.”

The Tin Knight’s gaze shifted toward the vampire.

[“The Tin Knight” asks if she wants to join as an ally!]

It was a proposal that tossed context and all other considerations out the window.

Dorothea snorted. There was no way she would agree to that.

Nod.

The vampire nodded without hesitation.

“Wait, why?!”

Dorothea was genuinely perplexed.

She shot a glare at the confident Tin Knight and demanded,

“Hold on. You can say anything. Ask if you can swear an oath with blood that you won’t harm us in any situation.”

While speaking her mind, Dorothea didn’t expect the vampire to accept the proposal.

If she did accept this condition, it would mean that if the party intended to kill the vampire at some point, she wouldn’t be able to retaliate at all.

Nod.

However, contrary to Dorothea’s expectations, the vampire nodded rather easily.

Dorothea’s expression turned blank.

“Witch.”

Adel looked at Dorothea.

Seeing her face marked with the question of whether this was enough, Dorothea felt an acute sense of injustice.

‘Wait a second, am I the odd one out here?’

She had thought she was making sensible and logical arguments, but she couldn’t understand why the atmosphere was leading her in a negative direction.

However, with things going this far, there was no way she could just dismiss all previous discussions as useless and continue pushing her own opinions forward.

Of course, if she was determined to do so, she could, but Dorothea considered that an ‘ugly’ action.

She clenched her teeth somewhat and stepped forward.

As she cut her palm with a dagger, the blood that flowed didn’t fall to the ground but hovered in the air, forming words.

【‘Sofia Hubris’ swears to ‘Tin Knight’, ‘Dorothea Aschengard’, ‘Adelheid von Lenart’ that she will never harm them in any situation. The penalty for violating this oath is death.】

“Translate that for me. A blood oath can only be established if both parties understand the content fully.”

As the Tin Knight conveyed the message, the vampire nodded.

The contract composed of blood began to float slowly, touching the back of the vampire’s hand.

The blood forming the contract surged dramatically, and it was at that moment that the contents changed.

【‘Sofia Hubris’ swears to ‘Tin Knight’, ‘Dorothea Aschengard’, ‘Adelheid von Lenart’ that she will never harm them in any situation. The penalty for violating this oath is ■■.】

Dorothea’s eyebrows twitched.

She was glad that her name had been added in a language she could understand. After all, she had intentionally used her own blood rather than the vampire’s.

The issue lay with the penalty.

The phrase related to death was obscured, rendering it unrecognizable.

Dorothea swung her staff.

The blood of the contract surged, trying to form the word ‘death’, but its form only lasted a moment.

Soon after, it morphed back into an indecipherable blob.

Dorothea knew this phenomenon.

If we imagine there’s a typical person A and a wizard B, the following conditions could be stated as fatal penalties for their contract:

– A will hold their breath for ten seconds if they violate the contract.

– A will turn into a frog if they violate the contract.

The first is conceivable from A alone; hence it can be designated as a penalty. The second, while it may not be possible from A alone, it can be done by B, hence it is plausible.

Conversely, something like “A will turn into the sun” cannot be designated as a penalty. Even with both A and B’s cooperation, it would be impossible.

Thus, the current situation meant it was impossible to declare ‘death’ as a penalty for the vampire by any means.

Not even by the will of Dorothea, nor the vampire herself.

“You… what exactly are you?”

This wasn’t a question she expected a reply to.

Since it was highly likely they wouldn’t understand each other, it might have been more of a soliloquy.

“─Now you’re asking philosophical questions, aren’t you?”

A response came to a question she didn’t expect an answer to.

The eyes of Dorothea and Adel widened.

The Tin Knight’s pupils shifted.

Whether she was aware of the shock around her or not, Sofia Hubris continued calmly.

There was blood on her lips now.

“I am a scholar. Although it seems my homeland that could prove my degree has perished. I am a cleric. Though I was excommunicated and designated as a heretic.”

With a beautiful smile, Sofia rose and sat on the edge of the bed.

“─And I am a monster. That hasn’t changed since the past.”

The Tin Knight drew his sword.

Dorothea pointed her staff at her.

Only Adel remained speechless, unable to keep up with the sudden change in circumstances.

Dorothea shot a sharp question.

“You knew how to talk, yet you pretended otherwise?”

“No? At first, I genuinely didn’t know. I observed your chatter, figured out your intentions through that Knight’s magic device, and obtained slight information via the lady’s blood. I was fortunate that even if the words differed from my previous time, the grammar remained almost identical.”

Sofia answered with a smile.

Though she said it simply, it was evident that it wasn’t easy.

“Besides, until just shortly, I had no energy to speak. Just nodding my head was quite the hardship.”

“So, after drinking my blood, you feel energized now?”

“Let’s consider it a divine elixir after centuries. Ah, please don’t misunderstand! I’m not looking to fight. The reason I drank the blood and chose to communicate freely is simply because it seemed like the quickest way to keep the conversation flowing; I don’t harbor any grievances regarding the contract. In fact, I think it’s quite justified. It would be foolish not to have proper safety measures against an unknown monster.”

“You’re quite chatty.”

“I’ve often heard that before.”

After pondering for a moment, Dorothea brought up the contract.

“You said it’d be quicker to discuss if you could speak. Then answer this: Why can’t we set ‘death’ as the penalty for breaking the contract? Is it because you’re a vampire? Being so close to a dead body, you can’t be killed again?”

“That’s a good point of focus, but it’s incorrect. While vampires may indeed be considered close to corpses, the concept of death does exist for us. I could be killed by piercing my heart with a steak or beheading or basking in sunlight.”

“Then why not?”

“Who knows? I haven’t seen many other vampires, so I haven’t conducted any comparative experiments, but I just don’t die easily, you know? The church folks have tried numerous kinds of trouble, yet they couldn’t kill me, so I suspect it might mean that neither I nor the witch lady has the means to kill me.”

Dorothea’s expression twisted grotesquely.

It felt unpleasant to hear the blunt mention of lacking capabilities, but it was oddly frustrating to know that even the vampire herself couldn’t manage it. All in all, it resulted in quite a mixed expression.

“…Fine, then how’s this sound?”

【‘Sofia Hubris’ swears to ‘Tin Knight’, ‘Dorothea Aschengard’, ‘Adelheid von Lenart’ that she will never harm them in any situation. If she violates this oath, she will fall into a sleep from which she cannot awaken.】

“If I can’t list death as a penalty, then perhaps a sleep close to death? Good insight.”

“Shut up and decide whether to accept it or not. That fool next to us is itching to fight right now.”

“Add one more phrase please. It’s scary not knowing how to wake up.”

Sofia’s proposal led Dorothea to fall silent for a moment before nodding.

【However, if ‘Tin Knight’, ‘Dorothea Aschengard’, ‘Adelheid von Lenart’ attempt to wake ‘Sofia Hubris’ up of their own volition, she may wake up exceptionarily.】

This time, Sofia accepted the contract without hesitation.

Then she asked,

“Oh, but what’s your party actually about? Thinking back, I didn’t hear your objective.”

Dorothea suddenly gazed at the ceiling.

This was a fine mess of a process; things were all out of order.

---