Chapter 71

Posted by Kuze, ? Views, Released on January 26, 2025

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#71 The Tin Knight and the Land of Deep Green (1)

“Where are you?! Where the heck did you go?!!”

“Find them! No matter what it takes!”

“Um, Count? Do you really not know where the Eastern Witch’s apprentice party went? No, cookies are fine. I mean, it’s just hard to believe that you don’t have any news despite the checkpoint. Ah, black tea is also good. I’m just really desperate—ah, don’t laugh! Please!”

As the famous figures of the Empire were in a frenzy trying to locate Dorothea and her party…

There were two individuals on the Kingdom side who were equally invested in their whereabouts.

One was Marquis William Heming, who was reluctantly playing the role of ‘mediator’ between the king and the nobles, and the other was Gisel von Lenart, the temporary lord of Friedel Territory.

“Adelheid von Lenart has been appointed as the representative instructor of the Lenart Dojo, TikTok branch.”

A few days prior, when Gisel received a letter through her connections back home regarding this, she could only doubt her eyes.

The Lenart Dojos scattered across the continent served as a major means of maintaining the prestige of the Lion Duke’s Bloodline, and only the most esteemed could hold the position of representative instructor within the bloodline.

The news that Adelheid had gained such a position, which was difficult to compare even against the lordship of Friedel, was circulating.

When she was told to gather tokens while going around the dojo, Gisel was astonished when Adel suddenly devoured one of the dojos, and she immediately began gathering information with all her might.

-Conflict broke out between the former representative instructor Gerhardt and the current representative instructor Rene of the TikTok Dojo, and the Duke asked the Count of TikTok to serve as a judge and mediatory.

-Adelheid crashed the duel between the two representatives. Strangely enough, not just the Count but both representatives agreed to it. Adelheid emerged victorious in that duel.

-Despite sending personnel from the family to ascertain the circumstances, Adelheid and her party vanished from the city without a word about their destination.

-The family advised the existing two representatives to resume their roles, but since both representatives have stated they can acknowledge no one other than Adelheid, the family is currently in deep contemplation about how to handle the situation.

“…What on earth is going on?”

In the office of the lord’s mansion, Gisel muttered absentmindedly as she organized the information she had gathered.

The emotion in her voice was closer to bewilderment than confusion.

And once that bewilderment faded, her alertness soared.

It had not been even three months since Adelheid left Friedel Territory.

If the girl who hadn’t even learned proper swordsmanship achieved such accomplishments in that short time…

How much more would she have grown if a year passed?

“Adelheid, just what kind of journey are you on?”

***

“AAAAAHHH!”

Adelheid screamed.

It was a tremendous wail that came from deep within her.

Thoughts about a girl not behaving ladylike or aristocratic manners didn’t even cross her mind.

At that moment, Adel didn’t have the luxury to care about such things.

Buuuuuuuuu—!!

A violent buzzing sound echoed through the air.

The Tin Knight described it as a terrifying sound akin to a lawnmower running nearby.

Flying through the sky were not just one or two but at least dozens of creatures making that noise.

With a flashy mix of black and yellow, and bodies dotted with joints.

For an average adult man, they were as big as two to three finger joints.

Dorothea summarized Adel’s predicament in a nonchalant remark.

“Those hornets are terrifyingly numerous. If I got swarmed by them, I’d be toast!”

“Ugh!!”

Adel shot a reproachful glance at Dorothea, who was leisurely resting her chin in the wagon’s storage area.

She wished she could say, “If you know, don’t just stand there! Help me out!” but those words never escaped her lips.

Adel’s timid personality wasn’t the problem; it was that she had tried a similar tactic before and ended up biting her tongue.

Despite her increased stamina thanks to daily jumping exercises, sprinting on rugged terrain while yelling was a tall order.

“I told you not to mess with the creatures here. You attacked first, so the hornets are going berserk.”

Tears welled up in the corners of Adel’s eyes.

She felt genuinely wronged.

I mean, isn’t it natural to get startled if a hornet approaches your face while you’re running at full speed?

Of course, maybe drawing her sword reflexively in panic was a tad excessive.

And it might have been a bit of a problem to accidentally slice a large hornet in half with that instinctive swing.

But wasn’t it the Tin Knight who trained her to act like that? So couldn’t the Tin Knight take some responsibility for this mess?

Buuuuuuuuu—!!

Unfortunately, Adel’s inner thoughts didn’t reach the hornets. Even if they did, one could question whether they would understand her.

“Ugh, seriously.”

Seeing tears begin to brim in Adel’s eyes, Dorothea finally sighed.

While she usually refrained from intervening in the Tin Knight’s training, they couldn’t just leave it as is this time.

Dorothea lifted the tarpaulin covering the wagon’s side and called out toward the driver.

“Sophia! I need you to take over the driving for a bit!”

Amidst the chaotic wind, a relaxed voice replied.

-I’ve never handled a wagon before.

Dorothea grit her teeth.

“What do you mean you haven’t?! I sat you there to learn since you’re generally useless! What have you been doing for over two days?!”

-I get the theory, but when it comes to actually using my body, that’s a different story.

At the answer from the utterly useless scarecrow vampire, a ‘crack’ sound echoed from Dorothea’s forehead.

“Hey! Just throw her out of the wagon! Use her as bait!”

-Oh my.

[The ‘Tin Knight’ warns that allies must be cherished!]

“You’re the one who’s making Adel suffer the most, you can! You tin can!!”

Gasping for air.

Somehow running without even a sprint, Dorothea scratched her head in irritation and took a handful of bone powder from her waist pouch and scattered it across the wagon floor.

As a black magical power emerged from her body, causing obsidian to rise, the bone powder transformed into a Bone Mouse.

Snap.

Dorothea handed a dried shell and a small bone fragment to the mouse, commanded it, “Take these to the driver’s seat.”

The Bone Mouse faithfully followed its master’s command.

Clutching the shell and the bone fragment in its mouth, the mouse bounced skillfully off the walls of the storage compartment.

Since the route from the moving wagon to the driver’s seat was limited, the mouse intended to jump onto the ceiling first.

“We should really modify it to directly connect the driver’s seat and the storage area.”

While Dorothea was grumbling about her complaints, the Bone Mouse arrived at the driver’s seat.

As Dorothea drew more magic, the two objects the mouse held started to tremble and grew in size.

The shell transformed into a round eye. The bone fragment into the bone of a right hand.

The eye, hovering in the air, focused on the front of the wagon, while the hand bone grasped the reins of the horses.

Looking at the eye and hand bone operating the wagon in her stead, the Tin Knight was quite impressed.

[The ‘Tin Knight’ asks why they haven’t been using such a great skill all along!]

“Shut it. I don’t want everyone who sees it to freak out and run away! Plus, I can’t maintain it for long, so hurry and rescue Adel!”

[The ‘Tin Knight’ shouts for the hero to emerge!]

Right next to the moving wagon, the Tin Knight jumped down to the ground without hesitation.

Balancing his lightweight body that didn’t seem made of metal, he sped towards Adel’s side.

He caught Adel and hurled her into the storage compartment where Dorothea was.

The Tin Knight began to cycle the magical power throughout its entire body.

The flow of magical power through its thick circuits was smooth and devoid of any extras, but this was merely the level already reached when facing the two instructors.

To reach the level where he had once dominated the White Knight during a gala, he needed to push a step further.

The once unified stream of magical power was now divided and spread across restored sub-circuits.

As the Tin Knight’s metal body began to emit a soft shine, a buzzing sound similar to that of the hornets began to emanate from the shield it held.

Adelheid, struggling to calm her heavy breath, widened her eyes at the sight of the Tin Knight’s shield.

Hundreds of tiny, nearly fingernail-sized sword techniques spun and raced across the surface of the shield.

Bam-bam-bam-bam!

As the Tin Knight swung the shield, the hornets that touched it were literally shredded.

The black and yellow mass that filled the air was erased in accordance with the path of the shield as if it was erased by an eraser.

“Wow, whoaaaa…! That’s amazing!”

Forgetful of her recent predicament, Adel’s eyes sparkled as she gasped in awe.

Watching her, Dorothea shook her head in exasperation.

‘Here she is, not being able to focus even after that.’

Even as she wept and sulked from the grueling training, a mere show of coolness could change her mood in an instant. She was an undeniable idiot.

‘…Or maybe? Is it better to be this way than to give up because it’s too tough considering her position as the lord’s heir? But no matter how I think about it, this reckless behavior seems to stem from her!’

Pushing her disciple beyond human limits and having that disciple still follow while whining.

It was a dilemma for Dorothea as to which one of them was the bigger problem when the Tin Knight’s massacre of hornets was reaching its final stages.

In the blink of an eye, the Tin Knight had evaporated nearly 90% of the hornets, and as he watched the remaining hornets scatter, he commented,

[The ‘Tin Knight’ complains that the celebration of new techniques ended too quickly!]

[The ‘Tin Knight’ criticizes the hornets for their lack of fighting spirit!]

“The fact that 90% of them chose to flee after being wiped out is quite a sign of fighting spirit.”

“I’ve seen hornets before, but I’ve never seen ones as terrifying as those…”

“Adel, don’t you think they came at you more fiercely since your hair color is similar to honey?”

“Eek.”

While Adel frantically rummaged through her backpack, exclaiming, ‘Robe! I need a robe!’ Dorothea asked the Tin Knight,

“Was that technique a pretty loud one? Is the magical drain okay?”

[The ‘Tin Knight’ puffs proudly, claiming he is still fine!]

[The ‘Tin Knight’ assures he can’t show his full power against such weak opponents!]

“Hmph. Well, it seems like my investments paid off.”

‘The techniques were solid from the beginning, and the efficiency improved visually. Now all that’s left are the equipment and magical energy tank? I hope I find a decent gem soon.’

While pondering future improvements, Dorothea said,

“Don’t worry, you’ll encounter strong foes until you’re sick of it. After all, this ‘Garden’ is filled with creatures transformed by magic—”

-Dorothea, your right hand’s thumb has popped out, is that alright?

“What?”

As Dorothea had been about to deliver a very insightful line, her head snapped around in alarm.

Dorothea shouted in panic,

“Hey! Go to the driver’s seat! Quickly!”

[The ‘Tin Knight’ is puzzled by the short duration of the spell!]

“The original bones need to be intact! That’s why! Now hurry! Sophia! Even if just for a moment, hold on!”

-Hmm. Understood! According to the self-diagnosis, it seems my skills are still lacking, but progress sometimes requires bold challenges.

At that moment, for reasons unknown, the wagon jolted violently!

Heeeyyyy! Hu-da-da-da!