Once upon a time… well, not too long ago, close to today.

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A greedy woman and a mysterious mage made a contract.

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“Mage. You said you would take my daughter. Please, take her. I will send as many as you want. I will sacrifice daughters as many times as needed. For the sake of that child I love most!”

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“Contractor. I will accept your cunning. As long as you sacrifice daughters, the child you love will be safe. I swear this on my unknown name!”

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To prevent one tragedy, to protect one mother’s love, another tragedy and sorrow were born.

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No one objected to this.

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The greedy woman was praised by many people.

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No one suspected that such a woman was sacrificing innocent children to the mage.

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Even if there were those who suspected, they too kept their mouths shut.

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“Only” one person a year.

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“Only” orphans with nowhere to go.

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For the sake of such people, who would be foolish enough to oppose a wise and renowned woman?

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The ignorant praised the woman, and the wise kept their mouths shut.

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It was a passing witch who objected to this.

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It wasn’t for the sake of justice. After all, the witch wasn’t righteous.

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It wasn’t for the sake of kindness. After all, the witch wasn’t kind.

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But the witch possessed at least one thing.

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Diligence.

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The contract between the mage and the woman was between the two of them.

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The sacrifice of a girl unrelated to this seemed unreasonable to the witch.

The witch invaded the tower controlled by the mage and thrusted a wooden staff into its center.

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Surprisingly, the staff grew rapidly, spreading its branches and leaves throughout the tower.

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The mage sent soldiers to stop this, but by the witch’s side was her faithful knight.

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Even amidst this, the tree continued to grow vigorously, and the mage’s tower began to shake.

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In the hidden space of the collapsing tower, a girl sacrificed as an offering was sleeping.

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The girl used her long hair as a rope, tying it to the tree branches, and carefully escaped from the collapsing tower.

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Finally, the contract was broken.

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To this, the mage—

Excerpt from a certain fairy tale passed down in the Donnengarten region.

***

Ziiing.

The Tin Knight’s blue will-o’-wisp-like eyes pierced through the darkness.

Finding Dorothea’s mana accurately in the tower filled with mysterious magic was as difficult as finding a single black grain of sand in a swirling sandstorm, but it was somewhat manageable for the Tin Knight.

Above all, while at first only shadows of the black sand were barely visible, it was now about the same size as pebbles, making it much easier than before.

It was possible to cut through that mana as it was, but the Tin Knight waited instead.

For the moment when the black mana became a little clearer.

For the moment when the golden hair fluttering on the other side became more distinct, and when swinging the sword wouldn’t harm the girl on the other side.

And, at that awaited instant.

Slash!

Although he clearly cut through the air, the sound of something being cut echoed distinctly.

Right after that.

“Kyaaah!”

The space cut by the Tin Knight fluttered like a sliced tent, and from that gap, a blonde girl fell out.

If he had the sense to catch the girl neatly and carry her like a princess, various interesting things might have happened, but instead of embracing the girl, the knight swung his sword over her head.

Clang!

The spears extended to grab the girl were all cut off at once, along with the soldiers who had thrust them being cut in half.

The girl, who had been frowning intensely as if her bottom hurt from hitting the ground, soon looked around and widened her eyes.

“I-I’m out. Finally, finally! I’ve escaped from that prison-like tower!!”

The girl looked at the Tin Knight.

Although the Tin Knight’s appearance wasn’t something that would make others approach him casually even as a white lie, the girl wasn’t afraid of him, perhaps because she had seen the Tin Knight several times through the ripples in space and had received help from him.

The girl, Rapunzel, bowed her head deeply.

“Thank you! This gratitude, I will somehow—huh?”

Rapunzel’s words were interrupted by the Tin Knight’s swift approach, grabbing her and tucking her under his arm like a baguette.

“Hmm? Huh? Eh?”

Rapunzel was confused, unable to accept the sudden change in situation, but the physically taciturn Tin Knight didn’t answer her.

Instead, a bone mouse landed with a smack on top of her head.

The next moment, the Tin Knight lowered his posture.

Realizing what was about to happen, Rapunzel’s face turned pale.

She was wise.

Instead of questioning the Tin Knight about what he was doing, she clenched her teeth first.

It was to avoid biting her tongue.

Sure enough, right after that, the Tin Knight sprinted.

“——!”

Rapunzel’s vision spun round and round.

She couldn’t possibly grasp where the knight was moving or how.

Clang! Clang!

She only realized that the knight was fighting something through the sharp metallic sounds reaching her ears.

After what felt like more than ten minutes but was actually less than ten seconds in reality.

Rapunzel, finally coming to her senses, opened her closed eyes.

Somehow, she had already been taken out of the tower.

Around her were the black witch frowning, and the dazed lord’s wife.

And the lord and soldiers looking at them with bewildered expressions.

“W-Wife? Why are you in such a place?”

“Uh, uuuh, my head, it feels like it’s going to split…!”

“My lord, the soldiers are waking up!”

“Ah, aah! The tower! Look at that tower!!”

The situation was chaos itself.

The lord’s entourage, confused at seeing them rush out of the tower.

Soldiers waking from nightmares. The tower casting shadows while emitting an ominous aura.

And then, a voice that could silence all of them echoed from the tower.

《This is too much. Not content with barging into someone else’s backyard with muddy feet, you even take away my prospective bride.》

Usually, sounds above a certain volume were difficult to understand, but the voice coming from the tower was different.

Despite being a voice that could be heard throughout most of the domain, not just the surrounding area, its content could be understood clearly as if whispered right beside them.

Dorothea frowned.

“Prospective bride? I wondered how grand the reason would be, but it’s just that?”

《’Just that,’ you say? That’s too harsh. It’s a major life event, you know.》

Despite having been beaten by the witch and knight and having Rapunzel taken away, there was no anger in the mage’s voice.

It was an attitude that made one question whether he was even serious about mentioning a bride in the first place.

Of course, Dorothea wasn’t the type to feel satisfied only after digging into every detail of the other party’s motives or circumstances.

While not to the extent of the Tin Knight, who would start swinging his sword even while the other party was talking, she was prepared to fight even if she didn’t understand everything.

《Well, it can’t be helped. If you want to save that girl so badly, do as you please. I won’t interfere any further.》

But the mage seemed to have no intention of further contention with Dorothea’s side.

Abandoning the conversation with Dorothea, the mage now addressed the lord’s wife.

《Contractor, you clever yet foolish woman. I once gave you three choices. Now, the first of those has been broken.》

The wife’s complexion turned pale.

She seemed to want to protest something, but perhaps conscious of the gazes of those around, she couldn’t easily open her mouth.

As if seeing through this fact, the mage continued speaking.

《You must choose one of the two remaining options.》

《The second one… I’ll remain silent about it now as it wouldn’t be fair to reveal.》

《Therefore, I shall ask about the third and final option.》

《However, you should keep this in mind. If after choosing the third option, you fail to give the correct ‘answer’. I will collect the price I initially proposed.》

《Now, I’ll give you 10 minutes, so choose.》

People murmured without knowing who the “contractor” the mage was referring to.

“Options?”

“What’s all this about?”

“Isn’t he talking about that witch over there?”

Ignoring the strange gazes directed at her, Dorothea complained, “Talking as he pleases.”

[The ‘Tin Knight’ insists on cutting him down right away!]

[The ‘Tin Knight’ says these things are usually resolved by cutting down the root cause!]

“How can you cut something when you don’t even know where the main body is?”

Although they had shaken the barrier earlier to extract Rapunzel, that was only possible because Rapunzel had given hints with her hair from her side.

Finding the opponent who was hiding somewhere, whether in reality or alternate space, was a completely different matter.

No matter how strong the Tin Knight was, it was impossible to fight an opponent who hadn’t even come down to the battlefield.

[The ‘Tin Knight’ suggests that if we crush the tower, won’t he pop out!]

“There are still people left in that tower, you know?”

Although she was a witch who didn’t hesitate to kill if necessary, that was only when the other party attacked first with killing intent or malice.

She had no intention of massacring girls who hadn’t particularly wronged her just because they were in the way—however, nightmares weren’t off the table. She was a witch, after all.

Therefore, Dorothea’s conclusion was simple, “We’ve already rescued the kid, haven’t we? We’ve done what we came for, so let’s go. What’s the point in taking him down?”

[The ‘Tin Knight’ is shocked!]

[The ‘Tin Knight’ says bosses aren’t taken down for a reason, they’re bosses because they need to be taken down!]

“What nonsense.”

The Tin Knight’s boss extermination theory didn’t work.

Although Dorothea was gradually being influenced by the Tin Knight, her brain hadn’t been “tinned” to that extent yet.

Just as she was about to turn and leave.

“…Please help me,” the lord’s wife, who had been keeping her head down all along, spoke to Dorothea.

The witch’s blue eyes turned to the wife at her feet.

“Please, I beg you. Please help me.”

“Why should I?”

Dorothea’s answer was clear.

Momentarily struck speechless by the cold tone in that voice, the wife faltered.

“I don’t know what kind of contract you made with that guy, and honestly, I don’t care. But if you made a contract with a mage, you should pay the price properly.”

If the wife had argued here that, “This situation is only happening because you took away the sacrifice,” it would have unfolded into a comical situation in its own way, but the foolish yet clever woman wasn’t so lacking in judgment.

Instead, she bowed her head earnestly.

“I’ll give you a reward. I’ll apologize to the children I used too. But, the child, at least my daughter, I can’t.”

“Then choose something else. It seems you have two options left.”

“If I choose the second, calamity will befall this domain.”

“You made quite a messy contract.”

Dorothea clicked her tongue.

Although she had been talking about ignoring and fleeing from earlier, in reality, if she truly abandoned everything and left at this point, it would lead to various rumors.

Dorothea herself didn’t care much about her reputation in such a rural corner, as it wasn’t a place many people frequented anyway, but even so, it felt a bit uncomfortable to use Adelaide as a figurehead and end things like this.

If the wife couldn’t come to her senses until the end, more “acting” might have been necessary, but since it seemed like words would get through, the work seemed to be getting easier.

With a reluctant air, she asked the wife, “Tell me about the contract. I don’t have time to listen to a long story, just the essentials.”

The wife hesitated for a moment, but seeing spirits surge from the ground and pounce on people approaching them, she began her explanation.

The mage had presented three options.

One was to sacrifice the wife’s “daughter” who turned seventeen each year as an offering.

One was to accept calamity befalling the domain.

And one was—

“—He said to try guessing his name. If I succeed, there would be no further price, but if I fail, then he would truly take my daughter.

“I investigated various documents and checked the legends passed down in this land. But nowhere did I find anything plausible.”

It was an extremely sweet, and therefore malicious, option.

If only she could guess the name, she could escape from these tightrope-walking days.

But if she made even the slightest mistake, she would lose what was most precious to her.

Like an oasis in a mirage, a trap that one desperately wanted to reach but could never touch.

Knowing this, the woman resigned herself and focused solely on offering sacrifices.

Like a foolish and greedy queen fallen into an evil mage’s plot.

“What, was that all it was?”

And, magic contracts were often easily broken by the intervention of outsiders.

Especially if that party was another mage, the impossible often became possible.

Like changing a curse of death into a curse of sleep, the witch intervened in the contract between the two.

“Sophia, give me your mana.”

***

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