Chapter 89

#89 Chapter Tin Knight and the City of Struggle (8)

The feelings of Lorenz Halder, the leader of Halder Trading Company, were like a rollercoaster—up and down, all over the place.

“What? A letter just flew in saying they spotted them at the Trakus location? Whoa. When did they get there? Get me that letter, now!”

At first, he had smiled brightly when he heard the news about Dorothea and her group.

“…What the hell is this?”

But after reading the letter, he couldn’t help but let out some harsh words he had tried to avoid since taking on his position.

Together with his trusted subordinate, Lorenz sorted through the contents of the letter piece by piece.

“So, they modified the recipe for the potion without my permission, and instead of feeding it to horses, they fed it to people? And in the process, they shamelessly used the witch’s name? Not to mention, they demanded payment for treasure sales but instead of paying, they used a paralysis potion and caused chaos? That little shit of a brother-in-law, Joseph, what kind of crazy stuff is he doing right now!?”

His head was spinning, and his neck ached from all the tension.

While one person was desperately trying to win over the witch’s favor by gifting them a fancy wagon, his brother-in-law was not only crashing the plans but also making a mess of everything, raising his blood pressure to dangerous levels.

As Lorenz fumed, one of his subordinates cautiously raised a question.

“Um, isn’t this a bit strange?”

“Strange? What do you mean?”

“Well, the person who sent this letter is the one who caused the incident, isn’t it?”

There’s a saying about confessing for redemption, but even that has its limits.

Could a person who boldly ignored upper management suddenly send a letter saying, ‘I’ve done something terrible. I deeply regret it.’? It was too unnatural.

“Well, it does say in the letter that they realized their mistake after being scolded by Lady Dorothea.”

“No, come on, how can a grown adult—especially one who did this kind of stuff—change just because they got scolded once?”

“Hmm.”

They couldn’t even imagine that Joseph and his henchmen were tormented by the spirits, giving them a full course of special psychic phenomena and nightmares whenever they tried to sneak around or cover up their wrongdoings.

Lorenz made a quick decision.

“I need to go check this out myself. As soon as today’s schedule is over… No, forget the schedule, prepare to head to Trakus right away!”

“Right now? You mean you’re going personally?”

“With such unpredictable people, who knows when they might leave for another city? If we let them leave our trading company with a bad impression, it could cause us serious trouble in the future. I need to act before that happens. Hurry up!”

***

The Halder Trading Company was turned upside down by a single thin letter, but Dorothea, the instigator, actually held no real grudge against them. To be precise, she wasn’t even aware of having done anything bad.

She simply retaliated when some annoying people attacked. That was the extent of her involvement.

However, not everyone in her group was feeling all that carefree.

Specifically, Adel was not.

While the Tin Knight and Dorothea were reaching a boiling point, she had to take medication and lie flat on the ground, and the memory of swords passing over her head made her shiver.

“I really didn’t think they would use drugs at the first meeting.”

Dorothea scolded her incredulously.

“You sure took the drinks from those sketchy folks easily.”

“Ugh.”

Adel seemed embarrassed even in her thoughts and couldn’t come up with a retort, hanging her head low.

Seeing her ears turn bright red, Dorothea decided against pressing further and shifted her focus.

“Sweetheart, while it’s expected for you to be clueless, why are you drinking that on the side?”

Sophia answered nonchalantly.

“Um, I was thirsty?”

“…Would you drink poison if you were thirsty?”

“Well, it doesn’t really mean much to me. I’m pretty numb to pain, and I can regenerate from sickness or paralysis after doing so a few times. Also, I was a bit curious. Usually, if the paralysis poison works too quickly, those who haven’t even tasted the drink would catch on, and if it works too slowly, it would lose its effect altogether. So, to first have someone take a specific drug and then use a smoke screen to spread another poison doesn’t seem like a bad idea.”

“More importantly,” Sophia added, “with the Tin Knight around, those kinds of schemes don’t carry much weight, do they?”

[‘Tin Knight’ puffs out his chest a bit, feeling reassured!]

“Enough. What’s my role here?”

Dorothea shook her head.

“Anyway, we’ve gathered some consumables, and the wagon is ordered, so we just need to pick it up tomorrow, and next—“

[‘Tin Knight’ insists on starting the bets quickly!]

[‘Tin Knight’ declares they need to find a champion quickly!]

Dorothea completely ignored the Tin Knight.

“-Adel, didn’t you say you need new equipment? Let’s head there.”

“Ah, yes.”

“Well, if it’s that, I’ll step away for a bit. I’m going to investigate the martial arts tournament, the champion, or any nearby situations.”

Dorothea asked in response to Sophia.

“It would be convenient if you take care of it, but are you sure you’ll be okay alone? I can lend you the tin can if you need.”

“No, I think it’s better for both of you to stick together in this city. Instead, I plan to go with that one.”

Pointing at someone in the corner who was muttering, “I didn’t hear anything, I didn’t hear anything…!” due to self-suggestion, Sophia headed over to Hindler.

Dorothea asked briefly.

“Isn’t he too weak to be of any help?”

“Having muscle is nice for information gathering, but it’s not the most important ability. Having more heads around is generally more useful.”

“I guess if you just pile on enough for any situation, you can get through it.”

Dorothea nodded in agreement. That was a truly necromancer-like interpretation.

After picking up the versatile worker Hindler (Skill: Buddy Call), Sophia left, and the remaining three headed to the smithy to sort out Adel’s gear.

True to its name as the City of Struggle, Trakus had a considerable number of smithies and weapons shops.

It was almost comparable to the doll workshop street in TikTok.

[‘Tin Knight’ points out that a few shops have lines wrapped around them!]

“Yeah, why are people only lined up at those shops when there are plenty of others next door?”

[‘Tin Knight’ suggests asking someone else if he doesn’t know!]

[‘Tin Knight’ shares that in a suitable store, if you ask something while purchasing, they almost never reply with a curt ‘I don’t know’!]

“Interesting… But what should we buy?”

[‘Tin Knight’ suggests grilled skewers!]

Adel nodded.

After ordering some food from a skewered meat shop, she asked while waiting about why people were gathered there.

While packing the skewers, the lady kindly answered.

“Oh, that’s because of the mark.”

“Mark?”

“See those shops over there? Look closely at the signs. Some have separate marks, and some don’t, right?”

At the lady’s words, the three examined the shop signs closely.

And they saw.

Every shop, where people were packed, had a golden symbol of a winged monkey drawn on it.

Dorothea’s expression darkened.

Gold, wings, monkey.

The combination of those three words was not common.

“I don’t know much, but I heard that to create good weapons, alchemy skill is essential. So, the shops backed by the western witch, the master of alchemy, are often compared with those that aren’t.”

“So, are the crowded shops all related to the western witch?”

“Exactly. Here you go. Enjoy your meal.”

“Ah, thank you.”

Receiving the paper bag, Adel casually took out the skewered meat and took a big bite.

She showed no hesitation about eating while standing in the street.

Dorothea briefly wondered if it was okay for a noble lady to eat like that, but soon brushed off the thought.

After all, it was better than the things they hunted and ate during camping.

“Are you not eating, witch?”

“No, I’m fine. More importantly, what do you want? Do you want to stand in line and go to a good shop, or just go to an average one?”

Adel blinked in surprise.

“Um, is it okay to go to the western witch’s shop?”

“Not like she runs it herself, so what does it matter?”

Dorothea subtly pointed her staff at the Tin Knight and continued.

“Not to mention, unless you use just anything like this guy, wouldn’t it be better for you to get a decent weapon?”

[‘Tin Knight’ proudly claims that a true expert doesn’t pick weapons!]

[‘Tin Knight’ insists he’d like to try out something epic if it comes along!]

[‘Tin Knight’ asks if there’s a sword amongst the Eight Treasures!]

“Not that I know of, so give it up! So, what’s your answer?”

At Dorothea’s question, Adel nodded.

As long as Dorothea didn’t mind it, Adel also wanted to get a good weapon.

“Then let’s say we head to the mark… Which one should we choose among them?”

[‘Tin Knight’ claims his instinct points to that shop over there!]

“That instinct of yours isn’t very reliable.”

[‘Tin Knight’ asserts his prediction rate has reached 24%!]

“What a weirdly precise figure.”

“Haha… Since there aren’t really any other criteria, let’s just go with what the knight says.”

The group made their way to a shop marked with the golden-winged monkey symbol that the Tin Knight had pointed out.

Contrary to expectations, the wait wasn’t too long.

Most of the previous customers had quickly left the store.

That in itself was a good thing, but the problem was the expressions of the customers.

Displeasure? Fury? In any case, it wasn’t a very positive reaction.

– It looks fancy on the outside, but there’s no substance. Weapons that would only please noble ladies.

– The owner’s personality is bizarre. They don’t listen to customer opinions and insist on selling only the equipment they recommend.

Hearing the complaints, Dorothea glared sternly at the Tin Knight.

The Tin Knight avoided her gaze.

Adel awkwardly chuckled.

“Well, we’ve come this far, so let’s at least go in. Right.”

As they reached the shop entrance, they heard shouted arguments from inside.

“No, I’m saying! What’s the problem with me choosing this one?!”

“What’s the problem, you ask? Your judgment, intelligence, and dignity—all of them are the problem. How many times do I have to tell you that the equipment that suits you is not that, it’s this?”

“Fine! Damn it, what a waste of time!”

With a rough motion, a muscular man wearing a bandana on his forehead stormed out of the shop.

He looked at Dorothea’s group waiting at the door and said.

“You really shouldn’t go in there. The shop owner is a crazy woman.”

Dorothea shrugged silently, and the man didn’t seem interested in saying any more, walking away.

In the awkward atmosphere, the group opened the shop door and stepped inside.

The interior was as gaudy as its exterior and presented a riot of colors.

All the equipment gleamed and flaunted their elegant designs, many of which were adorned with jewels.

Unlike ordinary shops, a woman sat at the far counter, her face twisted with discontent. That chair looked as if it belonged in the drawing room of a noble mansion.

The woman’s attire was incredibly extravagant.

Instead of just selling weapons, she looked like she belonged at some grand party.

Her flowing hair shifted between gold and silver depending on the angle of the light.

Her face was refined but held an air of arrogance and sharpness.

As the figures of the group crossed her mind, a sudden sensation of familiarity washed over them.

The moment her blood-red eyes locked onto the group, it seemed the feeling was mutual.

She muttered in a daze.

“Why are you here…?”

The disciple of the western witch.

Franka Aglaia was right there.

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