The Tin Knight-Chapter 12: The Tin Knight and The City of Pleasure (6)

The lord narrowed his eyes.

“Hoho, having guts is a good thing, but it’s a bit troublesome if you can’t properly assess value. Please, don’t make me reevaluate my opinion of you.”

“No, no. I’m saying this because I know the exact value. When else would such a rare product come on the market if not for an opportunity like this?”

“You wouldn’t be able to handle it on your own anyway. I’m fine because I have friends who help me in various ways, but you? You won’t be able to get the proper price anywhere.”

“Well, if it really comes down to it, I could always go to the Magic Country in the north. The descendant of an Imperial hero would be like an enemy to them. Wouldn’t they buy her at a very high price?”

“Do you know how far that place is?”

“It would be troublesome, sure, but with two working legs, I’d get there eventually.”

After several rounds of back-and-forth, the lord spoke as if spitting out words, “Fine. What do you want?”

The lord’s eyes had sunk coldly.

They were eyes that showed the will to strike Colombo and seize the girl if his answer was unsatisfactory.

Colombo answered, “I want to have a city like this too.”

“...”

“I’m not asking for yours. I’m asking for permission to open a branch. This is a wonderful place. You can freely indulge in your desires without being bound by annoying things like laws. Shouldn’t we spread this good culture to friends in other regions too?”

The lord stroked his beard.

“So you want to borrow my name, is that it?”

“That would be the same as becoming your subordinate. I don’t need to go that far. Just give a little ‘hint’ to the nearby nobles when I settle in a new place, that’s enough.”

“You speak as if it’s simple, but connections are often worth more than a significant sum of money”

“It might not be as much as the product I brought here, but I’ve secured other suitable items as well. I’ll give you all of those. If it’s not enough, I can get more. As long as the only heir is here, the chaos in Friedel won’t settle easily. It’s optimal for targeting.”

“Wait, you! Mmph, mmph—!”

The girl screamed at the talk of plundering Friedel again, but the subordinates’ rough hands forcibly covered her mouth.

In the forcibly created silence, the lord finally opened his mouth.

“...Very well, I’ll permit it conditionally.”

“Conditionally?”

“I was planning to put that young lady up for auction anyway. If the selling price is satisfactory enough, I’ll accept your proposal. If it falls short of expectations, the discussion ends here. Of course, even if it falls short, I won’t return the amount in that box there.”

“Don’t you need the other slaves?”

“I don’t need many. A few to liven up the atmosphere is enough. I’ll include that price in the calculation too.”

Colombo crossed his arms with a “Hmm.”

The deliberation wasn’t very long.

He was convinced that if he demanded more than this, the lord wouldn’t remain passive.

If the lord decided to come at him forcefully, throwing away all face and decorum, it would be troublesome for Colombo.

“Well, that should be fine. But let’s set a specific amount clearly.”

“Keke. That’s only natural. I’ll write up a contract.”

The transaction proceeded smoothly thereafter.

Colombo and his subordinates left triumphantly with the contract and the box of gold coins, and the girl was seized by the lord’s retainers and moved somewhere.

Only the lord and Dorothea remained in the reception room again.

The lord apologized to Dorothea with a generous smile that was hard to believe was from someone who had just conducted an evil transaction.

“I’m sorry about that. It took longer than expected.”

“It’s fine. Thanks to that, I’ve sorted out my thoughts roughly too.”

“Oh?”

The lord raised the end of his words as if interested.

“So, what do you think? Will you accept this old man’s proposal?”

The proposal the lord had extended to Dorothea.

It was about casting a “witch’s curse” on the targets the lord designated.

If she could render a mere three people forever incapacitated, he would give Dorothea the treasure she demanded.

“I’ll say it again, but if you want to harm someone, it would be faster to hire an assassin. Curses, by nature, are complicated and inconvenient.”

“Hoho, your modesty is excessive. I’ve already heard about how you gave our gatekeeper a taste of your power. With that level of ability, it shouldn’t be difficult, right?”

Dorothea shook her head.

“No thanks. I was tempted af first, but thinking about it rationally, I think my teacher would come to kill me if I used a witch’s power for such things.”

It was a lie.

Dorothea’s teacher was not someone who would argue for the sanctity of human life, but rather someone who would grumble that merely three people was too petty and cause disasters on a regional scale instead.

“Hmm, is that so? What a shame.”

However, the lord didn’t doubt Dorothea’s words much.

It was a well-known fact that there were many eccentrics among those in professions with “ma” in them, be they wizards or witches.

A teacher personally tracking down and punishing a disciple who ignored their self-imposed rules was quite plausible in magical master-disciple relationships.

“Then it can’t be helped. I’ll put the ‘Opium Key’ up for auction as planned.”

The Opium Key.

That was one of the eight treasures of the kingdom that Dorothea was tasked with recovering, and also one of the lord’s collectibles.

Dorothea nodded with an expressionless face, then stood up.

There was a small teacup in front of her, but its contents remained untouched as if new.

“Are you thinking of leaving?”

“I think I have a lot to prepare before the auction.”

“Tsk tsk, it’ll be tough. If curses are difficult, how about staying as my guest? Having a powerful witch around is a big benefit in itself, so if you stay for about a year, I’ll give you the treasure.”

“Time is precious.”

Just before opening the door of the reception room to leave, Dorothea suddenly stopped as if she had remembered something.

“Why did you become a bandit?”

“Hmm?”

It seemed to be an unexpected question, as the lord blinked for a moment.

Then, he burst into laughter.

“What else could there be? I started because I would have starved to death right away if I didn’t.”

“Then now?”

Dorothea’s blue eyes stared straight at the lord.

“Are you still playing the role of a bandit because you feel like you’ll starve to death if you don’t take from others?”

The lord answered, “I’m no bandit. I am properly the lord of this city.”

“Is that so?”

Dorothea nodded obediently.

“—A lord or a bandit, it’s all the same, is it not?”

Click.

The door closed, and silence fell in the room.

The kind smile that had been on the lord’s lips slowly disappeared.

A guard who had been watching this scene cautiously asked, “Is it alright to let her leave like that? She’s already a woman who has bared her fangs at our guard force. If she’s not going to be an ally, wouldn’t it be better to eliminate her?”

“Leave her be.”

It was a short but firm statement.

The guard closed his mouth without pressing further or offering any additional suggestions.

After staring into space with unfocused eyes for a while, the lord tilted his head.

“Strange. I don’t understand.”

Looking back on the lord’s long life, the words Dorothea left behind didn’t even qualify as an insult.

He had received far more intense, resentful, and blood-for-blood-like curses countless times.

And yet...

That one statement, which he would normally laugh off as the immature words of a young girl, strangely stirred his heart.

***“Haa.”

After leaving the reception room.

Dorothea sighed.

The thought that she had done something foolish wouldn’t leave her mind.

It had been a rare opportunity to face the lord directly.

Although the curse the lord requested wasn’t an easy task, even if it didn’t succeed, a bit of deception utilizing illusions would have sufficed.

Then she could receive the treasure from the deceived lord and say her farewells.

It was truly a simple matter.

It was truly an easy path.

Yet, Dorothea had just kicked away that easy and simple proposal with her own feet.

And not for some grand reason—but a momentary emotional impulse.

Even if the bandits plotted in detail, it had little to do with her.

The dark future of the captured girl should have been of no concern to her.

Dorothea regretted her decision. She blamed and self-reproached herself.

But before long, she discarded all these emotions as mere trash.

Well, what’s done is done.

Regretting the past wasn’t as productive as planning for the future.

Certainly, the easy path had disappeared, but thinking rationally, it wasn’t the worst-case scenario.

Her promise with Ronnie.

The heir to a domain that was precarious now but had good potential.

If it results in my reputation rising and having a noble indebted to me, well, that’s good enough. Alright, let’s go with that.

Once she made her decision, her actions were swift.

“I’m thirsty, is it okay if I have something to drink before I go?”

“Pardon?”

The servant guiding Dorothea momentarily wore a puzzled expression, but didn’t coldly answer, “There’s nothing to drink, so just get out.”

From the servant’s perspective, unaware that the negotiations had broken down, Dorothea was still the lord’s esteemed guest.

Although her manner of speaking was a bit brashed compared to her youthful appearance, that wasn’t a big flaw compared to the vile nobles who frequented this place.

Those people not only spoke rudely but their very gaze looking down on people from the start made one want to stab them with a fork.

“Ah, yes. This way, please.”

Should I just give her cold water? Or should I prepare something like iced tea? Is that too much?

Something small ran across the floor near Dorothea’s feet, but the servant, lost in thought about selecting a menu for guest hospitality, didn’t notice.

***“Sob, hiccup.”

In a small room on the highest floor of the lord’s castle.

The golden-haired girl wept alone, stifling her sobs.

Her father and brother had died.

Her mother, who was originally sickly, had collapsed unconscious from the great shock, and the girl left behind was consumed by the task of reviving the domain without the luxury to even properly grieve.

And now, without properly achieving anything, she had been captured by bandits, destined to be sold off as a slave.

What would become of her now?

Would the servants captured with the girl be safe?

Would the guards who had been ridiculed by the bandits for being miserably defeated while trying to rescue the girl be alright?

And what of the girl’s mother—still lying in bed? What if she regained consciousness only to hear news of the girl and fall into even greater despair?

Fear, anxiety, and despair crushed the girl’s heart.

The girl was still so young—too fragile to bear the weight of successive tragedies.

Until now, she had desperately put on a strong front to avoid showing weakness in front of the people around her and the bandits, but once she was confined alone in a small room, she couldn’t suppress the tears that burst forth like a flood.

She wept and wept.

“Sob, hic, uh... huh?”

Until something strange appeared before her.

If one were to express the appearance of that “strange thing” in one sentence, well...

Yes.

It was a mouse skittering about with only yellow bones remaining.

“Eek!”

A squeezed-out scream escaped from the girl’s lips.

It was truly fortunate that her voice didn’t come out loudly because her throat was hoarse from crying continuously.

Leaving the girl completely stiff and unable to move, the skeleton mouse busily moved its tail to write something like letters.

Surprisingly, the bone dust of the skeleton mouse itself acted as ink.

That sight of the mouse faithfully carrying out its master’s orders to the point where its body literally turned to dust vividly showed why necromancers were considered the epitome of “evil wizards”.

Received rescue request from Ronnie Roxly. Will act auction day. Take pill sent with familiar before auction starts. Clean up dust yourself.

The sentences were short and concise, likely due to the limited “ink”.

The skeleton mouse, which had lost nearly half its body in a short time, took out something like a red bead from near its ribs and presented it to the girl.

The girl, dumbfounded, received it almost unconsciously.

The skeleton mouse, having completed its mission, made a clack as its bones collided, then collapsed.

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All that remained was the bed sheet ruined by the yellowish bone dust and the red bead.

The girl stood with her mouth open in a daze for a long time, and finally blurted out, “Really, why is everyone doing this to me?”