The Tin Knight-Chapter 21: The Tin Knight and The Lions Bloodline (4)

The departure schedule was postponed.

Originally, they planned to leave when dawn broke, but that wasn’t possible now that they had the domain’s heir as a travel companion.

Adel herself insisted it would be fine since she left a letter, but Dorothea knew that if the cherished “young lady” suddenly disappeared while only leaving a letter behind, it would lead to a kidnapping uproar followed by a chase.

The Tin Knight thought such a scenario would be entertaining and lit up at the idea, but Dorothea had no desire to be chased when she hadn’t committed any crime.

An emergency meeting was held to convey Adel’s will, and naturally, it caused quite a commotion in the domain.

It was problematic enough that Adel, who had just returned after being kidnapped, suddenly announced that she wished to leave the domain, but to make matters worse, her travel companions were a duo of unclear origin, and they planned to leave without even a single attendant?

Even with the justification of proving her ability as an heir, the retainers and subjects weren’t naive enough to accept this at face value.

The one who had to deal with the direct impact of this was Giselle, the acting lord.

Rumors quickly circulated that the young lady was being driven out due to the acting lord’s subtle pressure.

For Giselle, this was an unjust accusation.

There was no benefit for Giselle in driving Adel out.

If Adel had been an outstanding heir capable enough to make Giselle wary, it might have been different, but Adel’s evaluation within the domain was, at best, “the cute and kind young lady.”

Simply by treating her and the ailing lady of the domain well, public sentiment would improve and the retainers’ evaluation would rise. There was no reason to make any rash moves.

She had even given a generous support fund as a gesture of goodwill, and this was the response? It was simply baffling.

In the lord’s mansion office.

Giselle confronted the black witch with blue eyes, “...Was this your plan from the start when you first brought it up?”

“What are you talking about? If you want to complain, do it to Adel. I only heard about this first thing in the morning as well.”

Dorothea peered down at the scene outside through the window.

In the small square in front of the mansion, Adel was surrounded by retainers and subjects, with the Tin Knight by her side.

“It’s amusing to see them all gathering like this. Only now do they show concern when Adel decides to leave on her own accord when they turned a blind eye to her earlier.”

“That’s just how crowds are. It’s the ruler’s role to guide them properly.”

It was quite a noble statement, but Dorothea didn’t bother to refute it.

Dorothea herself didn’t care much about whether someone was noble or not, influenced by her witch teacher who called a nation’s king a “brat”, but she was well aware that her attitude was far from the norm.

“So, why did you call me out separately?”

“I want to dispatch knights to escort Adelaide. Of course, your safety will be guaranteed as well.”

“Not possible.”

It was a curt answer that left no room for compromise.

“While you call them escorts, we both know it’s surveillance. Above all, I prefer traveling light. That tin can over there is enough for an escort.”

“...Then wouldn’t it be good to take an attendant along at the very least?”

“I can take care of myself, and Adel will be able to do the same in the future.”

Faced with this impenetrable wall, Giselle sighed.

Whether considering the retainers’ reactions or the main family’s, it was important to keep track of Adel’s situation.

Where is the heir? Oh, she went off on an adventure to gain skills and achievements? She’ll return in a year, but you don’t know where she is or what she’s doing now? Ah, so you just released her into the wild without any measures? Excuse me, but are you in your right mind?

Such a disaster should be prevented at all costs.

Giselle felt a throbbing headache coming on.

She couldn’t send people along, and forcibly holding Adel back would cause its own set of problems.

She considered secretly attaching a watcher, but this too was not an easy task.

It might be possible to monitor someone settled in one place, but tracking people moving around the continent for a year without being discovered was not something achievable with ordinary skills and perseverance.

Given the continent full of eccentric individuals, there might be someone capable of this, but at least Giselle didn’t have such talent under her command.

If active surveillance from their side was impossible, the only option left was to guide the other party’s destination.

“In that case, how about this? Adelaide’s goal is to build achievements and skills. I’ll recommend  suitable places for her to visit.”

Dorothea perked up as Giselle elaborated.

***If a traveler were to enter a tavern and ask, “Who is the greatest hero?” the patrons would likely erupt into a lively debate over who was the strongest.

But if asked, “Who is the most famous hero?” the answer would almost certainly be the same.

The Lion Duke. Geisel von Lennart.

There were several reasons for the Lion Duke’s fame.

The Empire, which had deep ties with the Lion Duke, was one of the strongest nations on the continent today.

The Lion Duke himself was a figure from about two centuries ago, making him relatively recent among known heroes, and thus there were more historical records about him.

Above all, the decisive factor was that the Lion Duke’s descendants were one of the most prestigious families of the current era.

Those who inherited their ancestor’s legendary constitution mostly possessed excellent qualities as warriors, leveraging this to its full potential. actively utilized them.

Not only did they secure key positions in the military, but they also established dojos across the continent, creating many disciples, or rather, supporters.

The trainees of the Lennart dojos spread out across the land, preaching the greatness of the ducal house and the Lion Duke, which was why the Lion Duke’s bloodline was praised as the greatest warrior family of this era.

“There are a total of five Lennart dojos. And there’s a culture where trainees who have built up a certain level of skill tour other dojos besides the one they received teachings from to prove their abilities. Although Adelaide isn’t a trainee of the dojo, she’s undoubtedly of the Lion Duke’s bloodline. If I write a letter of recommendation on top of that, she won’t be turned away at the door. How about giving it a try?”

It was a proposal with very clear intentions.

If the group visited dojos in various places, it was obvious that their whereabouts would be fully reported to Giselle.

Of course, Dorothea had no intention of going along with this at face value.

Dorothea’s sole objective was, after all, the king’s errand—the recovery of the eight treasures.

However, there were two variables she hadn’t anticipated.

[The 'Tin Knight' gets excited, exclaiming that touring gyms is classic content!]

[The 'Tin Knight' is curious if they give out badges!]

[The 'Tin Knight' is fired up, stating that although it's a shame he can't directly participate, he’ll level up Adel and challenge the gym leaders that way!]

The first variable was, as always, the Tin Knight.

Dorothea’s escort, who looked imposing on the outside but was frivolous on the inside, often made her wonder if he even had a human heart. For some reason, he became incredibly excited about challenging the dojos, vowing to clear them upon hearing Giselle’s suggestion.

Of course, Dorothea didn’t allow this. Her top priority was still carrying out her teacher’s task, which was recovering the treasures.

After successfully calming down the Tin Knight with a flurry of staff hits and scolding, she smiled briefly.

But faced with the second variable that appeared before her eyes, Dorothea couldn’t help but make a sour expression.

“...It’s about time our paths diverged, is it not?”

The magic tool for treasure hunting received from the royal family.

The “Animal Compass”, as named by the Tin Knight, had the mysterious ability to transform the pattern engraved on the magic tool into an animal upon being infused with mana, acting as a guide.

This had the advantage of simply needing to follow the animal’s rear end without having to think too much, but it also had clear disadvantages.

If the location of the target was marked on a “map”, they could collect them in order of proximity from their current location, but with the Animal Compass’ ability, there was no way to distinguish which treasures were near and which were far.

In other words, if a treasure was a mere day’s journey away, they could end up chasing after a treasure that would take over a month to reach.

Thus, when the Tin Knight insisted on following the purple mole heading north among the various animals moving as they pleased, Dorothea didn’t particularly object.

After all, choosing any animal was essentially a gamble, and she secretly found the Tin Knight’s determination amusing.

He seems to be acting like this after hearing that there’s a Lennart dojo in the city to the north from here, but not all norths are the same, are they?

Assuming two travelers were starting from the same point, moving in directions of 90 degrees and 89 degrees respectively.

At first, the distance between them wouldn’t be that far.

But after walking for about an hour, they’d be noticeably far apart, and if they walked non-stop for a day, it would be difficult to even see each other.

If the routes they traveled through housed various terrains and obstacles, the divergence would only grow.

This chapt𝓮r is updat𝒆d by ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom.

The distance between Friedel and the city with the Lennart dojo was more than two weeks even by carriage.

Believing the mole would maintain a straight course toward that city during that time was too naive an idea.

Hence, Dorothea remained relaxed.

More precisely, she was until she confirmed that the mole’s trajectory and the direction of the city on the map were completely aligned even after a week’s travel.

“No, it can’t be, it shouldn’t be,” Dorothea’s muttering was more half self-suggestion than anything.

In fact, even if there was a treasure in the city with the Lennart dojo, Dorothea wouldn’t lose anything, but this was more a matter of emotion than reason.

And about 5 days later.

[The 'Tin Knight' puffs out his chest, declaring that main quests and side quests often align on similar routes!]

Arriving at the exact city the Tin Knight had pointed out, Dorothea gritted her teeth in frustration.