Chapter 213: The Tin Knight and The Singing Bones (1) - I Became a Tin Knight

After the past exploration combining Dorothea’s necromancy and the power of the Chalice of Tuberose ended.

With a deep sigh, Dorothea opened her mouth, “For now, the leadership of the Tower of Control is completely black. I’m not sure how black the Lennart Ducal family is, but even if the Duke isn’t directly related to this incident, he can’t escape responsibility. If he didn’t know what his underlings were doing, he’s incompetent, and if he knew and allowed it, he’s no different from being in cahoots.”

She thought it was truly a sticky situation.

The Tower of Control. The Lennart Ducal family.

One was one of the four heads leading the Magic State, and the other was a prestigious family among prestigious families, with power rivaling the Imperial family.

Considering their combined power, military strength, and influence, they were big shots to the extent that while there might be forces that could match them, there were none that could overwhelm them.

The military power held by Dorothea’s party was at a level that could be called extraordinary for a small party, but even so, there were limits.

Confronting them head-on could never be considered a good strategy.

The problem was whether the girl who learned that her precious family had been brutally murdered in the power struggles of others and had their honor tarnished would have the rationality to judge this.

With such concerns, Dorothea glanced at Adelaide, and soon felt surprised.

The little lion’s eyes were much calmer than expected.

As if reading the thoughts from the witch’s expression looking at her, Adelaide gave a bitter smile, “It’s not that I’m not angry. But getting angry indiscriminately here won’t accomplish anything.”

The little lion quietly looked at her own hands.

As if recalling the knights’ memories that had been on those hands, she closed her open hand and gripped it tightly.

“Father, the knights, the soldiers, they were all proud until the very end. So, if I’m not the same, I won’t be able to face them.”

This was by no means resignation or yielding.

Rather, it was a resolution to walk an even harder path.

“I want to punish the root cause and restore Friedel’s honor. Not a miserable victory wallowing in the gutter like our enemies, but after winning proudly and righteously, I want to offer flowers at the graves of those who have departed.”

Because that was what would make the departed heroes happy.

Because they weren’t people without pride who would be happy to see Adelaide throw everything away and fall into madness for revenge.

“But I don’t have the power to do that alone. I lack the wisdom to find the right answer. I’m not confident I won’t walk the wrong path.”

So, please help me.

Adelaide bowed her head to her companions, asking them to join her in the fight against the continent’s most powerful figures.

And her companions’ response?

[The ‘Tin Knight’ praises Adel for speaking well!]

[The ‘Tin Knight’ insists on going to smash the Control or whatever right away!]

“Stop talking nonsense. No, why is the one calling himself a teacher making more fuss when even the person involved is reading the situation and restraining herself?”

“Well, I do have thoughts like, ‘Maybe if it’s Sir Tin,’ but it’s probably inefficient. Especially if we need to restore Friedel’s fallen honor, not just take revenge.”

Without a single plausible word of acceptance, they immediately started making the next plan as if it were natural.

As if they were going to help anyway, even without being asked separately.

Feeling this sentiment, the little lion wiped away tears that were about to form in her eyes and smiled broadly.

Dorothea was the first to bring up a strategy.

“First, we should deal with the nearest Tower of Control, right? How about informing the other towers about this incident? Come to think of it, they’ve been backstabbed, too, haven’t they?”

The Tower of Control played the victim in this incident.

They cried for war, saying they were attacked first and needed revenge.

The Towers of Foresight and Protection, reluctant for all-out war with the Empire, appeased the Tower of Control, and the Tower of Control, saying, “We’ll reluctantly endure since you’re stopping us,” made this a political debt.

But what if it was revealed that all of this was a self-made play?

The Towers of Foresight and Protection wouldn’t sit still.

No, even the Tower of Annihilation, which was calling for war like Control, would be furiously angry when they learned they had just been used.

To Dorothea’s opinion, Sophia added, “I think the overall flow is good with that. However, it would be difficult to convince them with just our claims alone.”

“Well, I’ve recorded what we saw this time using a separate spell, but…”

As Dorothea tapped a shiny black skull while speaking, Sophia said, “In cases like this, the accuracy of evidence is often not considered very important. Rather, ‘who’ is making the claim and ‘how widely’ it’s known are important.”

Sophia raised two fingers, “First, Mr. Medir Geldnir, the head of the Tower of Foresight. We should inform him of the situation and request cooperation. He’s one of the few power holders currently friendly to us in the Magic State.”

“We remember that we left there without a proper trial last time, right?”

“It doesn’t matter. The key person is someone else, anyway. He just needs to play the role of a sympathizer.”

“Who?”

To Dorothea’s question, Sophia answered with a strangely mischievous smile, “We need to bring in the Witch of the North. If she, who was involved in the founding of the towers, publicly declares our story as ‘fact’, there can be no more certain guarantee than that.”

“Hmm,” Dorothea crossed her arms. “…Certainly, if it succeeds, it would be perfect. It’s good that we don’t have to change our route since we were planning to meet her, anyway. But we don’t even know what kind of personality the Witch of the North has. She might side with her mentees. Isn’t it too reckless to just go and ask for help unconditionally?”

“That’s exactly right. Of course, we should dig multiple holes.”

The scarecrow conjured wisdom, saying after “who” came “how much”.

“First of all—”

“—Let’s collect all the bones of the mages scattered here.”

***

Magic State Aeolia. Greenwood, a domain under the Tower of Control.

“Yaaawn.”

Shepherd David forcibly rubbed his eyes that kept closing and struggled to get up.

His whole body was as heavy as rain-soaked wool, and yawns kept escaping from his mouth.

Having not slept properly for several days now, staying up all night, his fatigue simply wouldn’t go away.

“Damn magic beast.”

It had been a week since a magic beast started circling around David, eyeing the sheep he was supposed to protect.

While David, as a proper shepherd, could handle ordinary wolves alone, a magic beast with special powers was a different story.

A monster that could crush a wooden staff in one bite and easily leap over high wooden fences.

Unless it was a knight or mage who could handle mana, for David, who was just physically capable, there was no way to defeat this magic beast.

At least it didn’t seem to have a strong appetite, eating about one sheep every two days and not touching other sheep beyond that, but that didn’t ease David’s mind.

Unless the sheep gave birth to lambs every two days and those lambs grew up in the blink of an eye, the end result of losing all the sheep and facing ruin was predetermined.

It was just a matter of how long it would take to reach that end.

“Damn country. Just collapse already.”

David requested help from the guard, but their attitude was cold.

They said it wasn’t their jurisdiction unless it happened in the city.

Naturally, David had no memory of seeing them work properly in the city.

He often saw them flattering mages who came out from the tower and causing trouble around like their lackeys.

Mages.

Yes, mages.

“Damn it, damn it. What’s the use of having special powers if you don’t use them properly!?”

The Tower of Protection greatly improved people’s living standards with the magic tools they created.

The Tower of Annihilation set up facilities similar to request offices, often solving residents’ petitions without much cost. While it was flawed in that they didn’t accept non-combat requests due to the facility’s purpose being to enhance the combat experience of their mages, even that alone was a great help to the residents.

The Tower of Foresight didn’t particularly involve itself in external affairs, but they broadly recognized the discretion of each domain, so if the lord was just a proper person, the people could live comfortably.

But not the Tower of Control.

They, too, helped others with the power of magic, but those benefits strictly went to those who already had power.

The reason was that it was more efficient to just give appropriately to those who had power rather than bothering with nobodies who had neither power nor influence.

In fact, David wasn’t entirely without a way to join that upper-class cartel.

Having inherited dozens of sheep from his father, David was quite wealthy if judged by the amount of property alone.

It was just that David wasn’t that old and the job suited him well, so he continued his shepherd work. If he wanted, he could even buy slaves and have them manage in his place.

If he just closed his eyes and sold about half of his sheep, using that money as lubricant, it wasn’t a dream to receive help from a “Mr. Mage”.

The problem was that he couldn’t bring himself to suddenly give the fruits of his bone-breaking labor to robber-like people.

Hoping that the damn magic beast had fallen into the trap he had set, David headed to his workplace.

“Huh?”

To state the result first, the trap had no particular success.

But at the same time, there were no eaten sheep either.

“…Why is it like that?”

The magic beast that had been building an unpleasant relationship with David recently was circling around the sheep drooling, but unlike usual, it just lingered nearby without approaching the sheep.

Observing this scene closely, David realized that the magic beast couldn’t approach within a certain radius of the lead sheep.

As if it was afraid of the lead sheep.

The reason for this soon became clear.

Hanging entangled in the lead sheep’s fluffy wool was an object he had never seen before.

“A flute?”

Yes, it was a snow-white flute.

While its craftsmanship couldn’t be called excellent, its unique luster had a strangely captivating power.

David grabbed the flute without much thought, and was soon startled.

《Oh, friend! Dear friend who has obtained me!》

《Please listen to this story.》

《Please know of this great conspiracy.》

《The tower joined hands with the lion to stage a fake war!》

《They killed innocent people and pinned all their crimes on them!》

《They tried to erase everyone who knew the truth or tried to know it!》

《Oh! How frightening!》

David reflexively threw away the flute that suddenly started singing, but even so, the flute didn’t stop its song.

“What is that?”

David gaped blankly.

He wondered if he was seeing things due to lack of sleep, but even pinching his cheek hard only hurt and changed nothing.

Is it a cursed object? I shouldn’t break it in case the curse transfers, maybe I should secretly discard it somewhere… No, wait.

David half-unconsciously grasped the flute and took a step towards the growling magic beast in the distance.

Then, wouldn’t you know, the magic beast took a step back.

“Oh, the effect is killer?”

In David’s mind, the flute’s rank skyrocketed from “cursed ominous object” to “heaven’s gift to defeat the damn magic beast”.

Who cares if it’s a bit ominous when it can make that damn magic beast that was about to ruin my life eat dirt!

“The sheep gather around the lead sheep anyway, so if I tie it to its body, that thing won’t be able to come near. Good, excellent.”

The only thing that bothered him was the lyrics sung by the bone.

David, being just a shepherd, didn’t know exactly what those lyrics meant, but he could somehow understand that they were cursing the tower.

However, he liked the efficacy of this bone flute too much to simply dispose of it.

After pondering for a moment, David decided to go down to the city for now.

It was to subtly inquire about the flute from various people like the tavern owner or old men.

And David witnessed an astounding scene.

The flutes were singing.

In the hands of street performers, on high rooftops, held in cats’ mouths, they were moving around in all sorts of ways and places, singing with all their might.

A bird flying in the sky dropped a new bone flute right in front of David’s eyes and disappeared.