The Tin Knight-Chapter 28: The Tin Knight and The Witchs Way of Greeting (3)

You stretched your body with a long, “Haa.”

You didn’t particularly feel tired or stiff, but it was a habitual motion.

You directed your gaze straight ahead.

In one corner of the monitor screen, which had turned pitch-black, the word “Standby” was written in white letters.

The strange sensation of coexistence between you outside the screen and you inside the “Tin Knight” had also disappeared.

You felt an inexplicable sense of loss at this fact.

It felt like suddenly becoming one-eyed after having both eyes functioning perfectly.

It wasn’t difficult to guess the meaning of the “Standby” text on the screen.

It likely meant that recharging was necessary because all the mana remaining in the Tin Knight had been depleted.

It didn’t seem like it would take too long.

Dorothea had been by your side just before you blacked out

For that witch girl overflowing with mana, supplying the necessary mana to the “Tin Knight” wouldn’t be a difficult task.

Although Dorothea herself seemed to find it annoying to have to manually make contact and transfer mana every time.

You had heard her grumble several times about how remote automatic supply wasn’t possible, and even when she tried to pour in a lot at once, the container size was small.

If you thought about how smartphones of others could charge wirelessly while yours couldn’t, and even had a small battery capacity, Dorothea’s complaints weren’t incomprehensible, but you felt wronged as well.

It wasn’t your fault that the Tin Knight’s technology was outdated.

Rather, shouldn’t it be praised that an ancient relic, at least hundreds of years old at minimum, was somehow still functioning well?

You looked at the monitor.

The screen remained black.

...The waiting time was longer than expected.

Perhaps the damage your body sustained before collapsing was causing the delay?

You had believed it was a wound that could be fully recovered from, trusting the Tin Knight’s intuition, but what if that wasn’t the case?

What if something had happened and they couldn’t wake you up? What if Dorothea had died while you were unable to move?

You looked around.

A narrow room without any exits came into your view.

You, who didn’t sleep yet felt no fatigue

You, who didn’t eat yet felt no hunger.

But boredom and loneliness—those were things you couldn’t avoid.

If there was no one to wake up the Tin Knight... you might be left alone here.

Just as you were about to seriously dwell on this possibility, light returned to the screen.

The strange sensation of expansion filled your senses, and you could feel the world that the Tin Knight saw and felt.

You were “you”, but at the same time, you were the “Tin Knight”.

There was your story.

The dark something that was about to well up in your chest vanished without a trace—cheerfulness and a renewed sense of adventure filling its place.

With a smile on your face, you resumed the adventure.

***“Then, I’ll start.”

“Okay.”

After confirming Dorothea’s indifferent response, Adelaide carefully began to move her hands.

First, she washed away the sand grains embedded in the wounds with clean water, then applied ointment.

When the translucent, viscous liquid touched the wound, Dorothea’s back noticeably twitched.

Adelaide understood that feeling.

It was the same ointment Dorothea had applied whenever Adelaide got injured during her training sessions with the Tin Knight.

This ointment, which Dorothea said she had mixed and concocted herself, had truly amazing performance.

First of all, compared to medicines sold on the market, the healing was surprisingly fast, left no scars, and was convenient to use as it didn’t take long to absorb.

However, there was also a clear side effect.

In a word, it stung terribly.

When Adelaide used it for the first time, it hurt so much that tears streamed down her face.

Unfortunately, she didn’t have a choice. The Tin Knight’s training was, as Adelaide had discovered, utterly unforgiving.

He attacked relentlessly regardless of whether the opponent was a woman or not, so her whole body was never unscathed. Dorothea’s ointment was indispensable for preventing scars from such harsh training.

If asked whether she’d endure pain that made her want to scream to ensure scars wouldn’t form, or use a more mild medicine that risked scars forming, the girl’s heart would choose the former without hesitation.

“Will Sir Knight be alright? His injuries looked severe.”

One way to endure pain was to focus on something else.

To ease Dorothea’s pain, Adelaide started small talk.

“He’ll be fine. That guy has, ugh, an auto-repair function. I’ve poured in plenty of mana, so he should wake up, urk, soon...!”

The last part sounded almost like it was being squeezed out.

Adelaide hesitated for a moment, but seeing Dorothea’s gesture to continue, she resumed her work.

“It’s amazing that he can recover even with his left arm completely blown off. I didn’t know magic dolls were so incredible. The mages in Friedel domain don’t use them.”

“That’s not... normal. The mana consumed for repair is not, insignificant. Modern magic dolls don’t often, include such functions anymore, ugh.”

“Come to think of it, didn’t you say Sir Knight was sleeping in some kind of ruin-like place in the kingdom? Could he be someone who was active in the ancient kingdom?”

“Who knows.”

“Aren’t you curious about Sir Knight’s identity, Miss Witch?”

After applying all the medicine, the wounds that had been overflowing with blood could be seen healing rapidly. It was an amazing effect no matter how many times she saw it.

Dorothea, who had been catching her breath as if enduring the oncoming pain, returned to her usual indifferent tone and spoke, “Not particularly. As long as he does his job properly like this time, it’s enough for me, whoever he might be.”

Adelaide pondered this.

Is this cold indifference or a sign of trust?

“Anyway, it’s about time for that guy to wake up, so let’s prepare for a counterattack—“

Dorothea’s words didn’t continue to the end.

Suddenly, the door to the room where the two were opened with a bang.

The sudden intruder, upon seeing Dorothea and Adelaide, tightly clenched the only fist he had left.

[The ‘Tin Knight’ is relieved that Dorothea and Adel are both safe!]

[The ‘Tin Knight’ lets out a silent cheer!]

As a reminder, the two of them were in the middle of treating wounds.

And Dorothea had taken off her upper garments, exposing her upper body out of convenience for treatment.

Adelaide froze.

Dorothea’s body trembled.

It wasn’t the motion of enduring pain from just before, but a trembling filled with anger.

Grasping the staff that had been broken into the size of a small baton during the battle with the golden monkey, Dorothea stood up.

And then she started beating the Tin Knight.

“A cheer? Are you kidding me? Don’t you have the basic concept of knocking!? Freeze to death you damn tin can!”

Clang! Clang!

Having infused so much mana into the staff, a sound like metal colliding rang out despite wood hitting iron.

[The ‘Tin Knight’ protests, claiming he hurriedly tried to join them after waking up to find no one around!]

[The ‘Tin Knight’ points out that the problem was the unlocked door!]

“I did lock it! You just brute-forced it open with your strength!”

The Tin Knight turned around and confirmed the half-broken doorknob.

Then he nodded up and down in acceptance and gave a thumbs up.

[The ‘Tin Knight’ humbly admits his mistake, saying there was no helping it!]

“If you understand, get out right now!!”

Clang!

The staff Dorothea threw hit the Tin Knight’s face spectacularly.

Grasping his dented helmet, the Tin Knight fled outside in a hurry.

Dorothea slammed the door shut with an angry motion.

As Dorothea grumbled and hurriedly gathered her clothes, Adelaide silently observed her.

Huh, this is similar to what I’ve seen in romance novels, but something seems a bit different...?

Shouldn’t there be more, what should I put it, high-pitched screams, or shy reactions?

Is the female lead supposed to physically beat up and chase away the male lead?

“Phew, Adel. Can you hand me that belt over there?”

“Ah, yes!”

Adelaide decided to keep her mouth shut.

Come to think of it, these two were strange people to begin with.

***The Tin Knight wasn’t reported for property damage.

Fortunately, the place where the three of them were staying was an empty house whose owner was away.

This was still clearly illegal trespassing, but among the three, only Adelaide cared about such trivial issues.

Unaware of Adelaide’s thoughts about leaving some money for the broken door and for borrowing the place, Dorothea spoke, “We can’t go back to the inn. Our location has already been discovered, and if we go there now, we’ll just get entangled with investigations and such.”

A battle in the middle of the city center.

And not just a simple sword fight, but a chaotic battle that destroyed and overturned various things.

Strictly speaking, Dorothea and the Tin Knight had only retaliated after being attacked, but to the city guard, both sides would be subjects for arrest.

The city guard here seemed to be relatively “proper” people, so it might be possible to clear up the misunderstanding if they calmly explained the situation, but Dorothea had no intention of doing so.

Foll𝑜w current novels on fɾēewebnσveℓ.com.

“If we leisurely submit to an investigation, we’ll miss the timing for a counterattack. If an explanation is really necessary, it’s not too late to give one after I’ve dealt a blow to the one who attacked me.”

[The ‘Tin Knight’ asks if Dorothea knows the identity of the enemy!]

“A mage who has a compass like me. They probably attacked aiming for the Key of Opium I possess. Judging by their use of homunculi, their school is likely Alchemist. I’m not sure of their exact capabilities, but this guy finished off one of the monkeys, so there’s only one left. Even if they kept a spare for protection, it would be at most two. If they could handle more than that, there would have been no need to send just one at first.”

Dorothea’s gaze turned to the Tin Knight.

Thanks to continuously pouring in new mana every time the Tin Knight’s mana tank bottomed out, the wound that had been carved out right below the shoulder had now recovered to the point where the elbow was visible.

At that rate, it seemed like the rest would heal completely during their movement.

“But... even if we try to counterattack, don’t we need to figure out the enemy’s location? Ah, perhaps with that mouse you often use, Miss Witch?”

To Adelaide’s question, Dorothea shook her head.

“I’ve already tried that, but it failed. For any mage with some skill, preparing against detection magic is basic of basics.”

But, Dorothea added, “Naturally, the same goes for me as well. I’ve used magic to suppress my mana traces and weaken my presence to avoid standing out.”

At Dorothea’s words, Adelaide recalled when she was captured at the auction house, and had been left alone in a cage.

It seemed she had used a similar method then too.

[The ‘Tin Knight’ raises the question of why Dorothea was attacked even after using that!]

“That’s the key point. It’s possible that the opponent’s detection skills were simply superior to my concealment, but what found me was the shadow snake. In other words, the compass’ detection ability chews through any ordinary concealment magic.”

The corners of Dorothea’s mouth curled up.

“In that case, the reverse should hold true as well?”

“But that would only work if the opponent has one of the treasures... Oh.”

Adelaide, who had been tilting her head, exclaimed as the realization dawned on her.

The opponent was a competitor with the same compass.

Just as Dorothea had already secured one of the eight treasures, there was no reason the opponent couldn’t have done the same.

“As it happens, we have an emblem that guided us to this area. Until now, we’ve been running straight north, but how about this time?”

As Dorothea let mana flow into the emblem, it rippled and a purple mole popped out with a “poof”.

The gazes of the three focused on the mole.

If there was no significant change in the mole’s movement, they would need to devise a new strategy.

The mole, after looking around, soon began to move forward stealthily.

Not towards the north, but turning its body towards the west.

Dorothea spoke, “Let’s settle some grudges shall we?”