The Tin Knight-Chapter 8: The Tin Knight and The City of Pleasure (2)

You and your companions were able to safely enter the city.

There was no financial cost.

The gatekeeper had suddenly awakened the conscience and chivalry he had long ignored, treating your entourage as “special guests”.

As you left the main gate, the gatekeeper bowed deeply, shedding tears—a clear testament to his heartfelt gratitude.

[The 'Tin Knight' marvels at how convenient the curse is!]

“Oh, that? It was just a bluff, a bluff.”

Dorothea waved her hand dismissively at your admiration.

“There’s no way I could easily use such a powerful curse like full-body transformation in the first place. Unlike the contract with the kingdom’s nobleman, which was made with mutual consent, if a curse is unilaterally imposed, even if the caster offered the proper sacrifices and performed the ritual correctly, there is still a high chance of failure.”

Dorothea added that considering the risks, it was best not to attempt such things.

You tilted your head.

You had clearly seen the gatekeeper’s right hand transform into that of a beast.

“That was just an illusion. I only made it look like it had a lot of hair temporarily. Even if I hadn’t done anything else, it would have worn off in about half a day.”

You thought.

Isn’t it amazing to be able to make someone look hairy for even half a day without any special preparation?

[The 'Tin Knight' claims that this could be a hit among bald people!]

“No, what nonsense... Does that make sense?”

[The 'Tin Knight' argues that there are many people in the world who would willingly pay a fortune to appear more fuller!]

Dorothea seemed to be seriously considering your suggestion.

She might have found some merit in the idea of generating an income.

“Excuse me, Lady Witch. Sir Knight. Just a moment.”

When you turned around at the voice calling you, there was Ronnie, looking usually tense.

She spoke with an anxious expression, “Is this really okay? That man might hold a grudge and try to retaliate.”

Although it seemed unlikely considering how the gatekeeper’s waist had bent as flexibly as a flip phone, Ronnie appeared very uneasy.

Dorothea didn’t particularly dismiss Ronnie’s words either.

“Well, even if the person himself doesn’t, there’s a possibility that others around might intervene. There were many eyes watching, and this could be a matter of face, after all.”

“In that case—“

“But you know.”

Dorothea’s gaze fixed on Ronnie’s.

“You didn’t come here to be treated as guests, did you? If the high-ranking person in this city says, ‘Your young lady is our merchandise, so you can’t take her back,’ are you going to say, ‘Oh, I see. Then there’s nothing we can do,’ and just go back?”

“Ugh.”

Ronnie’s face flushed at Dorothea’s pointed remark.

“It would be ideal if we could achieve our goal without fighting and while following all the rules. But when it is unavoidable, it is unavoidable. There is no merit to be found in agonizing over what has already happened, or am I mistaken?”

“...I apologize for showing such wavering behavior repeatedly.”

“You do not need to apologize to me. Rather than that, it would be best if you focused on quickly looking for those slave traders. I have my own business to attend to, so I can’t help with that.”

Ronnie’s lips moved as if she wanted to say something, but in the end, she just bowed her head without saying anything and left.

[The 'Tin Knight' remarks that was quite the cold attitude!]

“Isn’t it strange to expect kindness from a witch?”

Dorothea scoffed at your remark.

“As I said from the beginning, those people’s business is just a bonus for me—a side job if you will. If it does not seem to be a major hindrance in the process of my main job, find then, I might help a little. But treating me as some hero to depend on? Now that is an issue.”

After a pause, she added, “Why don’t you step in to help? You were the one who brought it up in the first place, weren’t you?”

You seemed to exclaim “Oho,” despite your body lacking vocal organs.

Dorothea’s suggestion was unexpected.

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[The 'Tin Knight' asks if it's okay for Dorothea to be without escort!]

“I will summon you when needed, so come running. Otherwise, do as you please.”

Saying that, Dorothea handed you a small skull.

Perhaps because of its tiny size, it gave more of an endearing impression than a frightening one.

“If that thing starts acting up, it means I am summoning you. Do not lose it. It would be troublesome for you if there was no one to supply you with mana, correct?”

As if she had said all she needed to, Dorothea walked away without hesitation.

You tilted your head again.

You weren’t sure if Dorothea was a tsundere, or something else entirely.

Either way, it was an attitude you preferred to one that would try to micromanage your every move.

You headed in the direction Ronnie had gone.

***Ronnie Roxly heaved a deep sigh.

It was a sigh laced with self-deprecation about her own incompetence and patheticness.

Initially, she felt hurt by Dorothea’s cold attitude, but after cooling her head a bit, even that seemed natural.

Claiming she would save the young lady, she charged at the bandits, only to be caught in a net and become a slave without even swinging her sword.

She had knelt and begged for the aid of strangers, yet instead of taking the lead and acting as a guide, she’d done little more than voice her concerns.

Even after entering the city with the witch’s help, instead of actively searching for her young lady, she merely trailed behind the two strangers, awaiting instruction.

Reflecting on her actions over the past few days, she felt ashamed enough to scream.

If Sir Lowell were here, or if even one of the senior knights from the order had remained. They could have served the young lady much better than someone like me.

To take meaningful action, I should rally those who came with me and lead them as a group. But will everyone follow the words of someone who isn’t even a proper knight?

I hope the young lady is safe. If anything happens to her, our domain is truly finished.

Negative thoughts tended to snowball endlessly.

Already worn down by the accumulated fatigue and stress of captivity, and now with her psychological state unstable, Ronnie’s complexion looked almost like that of the gravely ill.

“Are you alright, Miss Ronnie?”

Perhaps finding it hard to watch her in such a state, a woman nearby offered words of comfort.

She was one of the servants in her lord’s castle, and also a victim of the slave traders.

Seeing the worried expression, Ronnie forced a smile and answered, “Yes, I’m fine.”

“Please, don’t be too disheartened. The witch said to call her if we need help, so if we can just find out where those bandits are, we should be able to figure something out.”

It was a very optimistic statement.

So much so that if her senior who always said a commander should assume the worst situation had heard it, he would have laughed it off as naive optimism.

But for Ronnie now, it was much-needed reassurance.

“Yes, that’s right. I’m sure everything will work out well.”

But the world was rarely so kind.

Just as Ronnie was about to gather her spirits and stand up, another trial befell her.

“Miss Ronnie! It’s terrible!”

At the news brought by one of the companions she had sent to find lodging, Ronnie’s face hardened as she rushed through the streets.

There, five or six women and a similar number of men were entangled in an argument.

Ronnie tensed her stomach and shouted in a firm tone with a knightly manner.

“What’s going on here!?”

“Huh?”

“Miss Ronnie!”

The men wore expressions that seemed to say, “What’s this now?” while the women quickly hid behind Ronnie’s back.

Suddenly finding herself alone facing several rough-looking men, Ronnie was inwardly nervous, but concealed it, showing off a dignified attitude as she asked, “It’s an unsightly scene to see several men gathered to oppress women. What business do you have?”

The men exchanged glances among themselves, and then one of them stepped forward and pointed at one of the women behind Ronnie.

“That woman behind you stole my wallet. I just want to get back what was stolen.”

“That’s a lie!!” the accused woman shouted, almost hysterically.

“I was just walking down the street and then they suddenly started to accuse me of stealing a wallet and picked a fight one-sidedly!”

“Ha, do you think a thief would honestly admit, ‘Oh, I stole it!’ when caught?”

Ronnie’s mind became clouded with doubt.

She didn’t know much about the woman accused of pickpocketing.

It was natural, as they had only met a few days ago.

But thinking rationally, the likelihood of a woman who hadn’t bathed or eaten properly for days suddenly attempting pickpocketing in an unfamiliar city seemed far lower than the possibility of a misunderstanding or outright malice by the men in front of her.

Therefore, Ronnie shook her head.

“That’s not possible. Do you have any evidence that she stole in the first place?”

“Evidence? Well, we just need to search her body to confirm!”

In a sense, it was correct that obtaining physical evidence would be proof.

If not for the faint smiles on the lips of the man and his companions and the lewd look in their eyes, Ronnie might not have doubted their intentions.

“Fine. Then tell me the characteristics of the wallet. If it’s your own, you should be able to describe that much, right?”

“A wallet’s a wallet, what characteristics could there be!? Seeing how your tongue is getting longer, are you covering for your companion? It’s even more suspicious that you’re making such a fuss over something that could be settled by just checking.”

Ronnie was left speechless by the man’s audacity.

By that logic, whether the body search turned up the man’s wallet or the woman’s wallet, or anything wallet-like, the man could just insist it was his and that would be the end of it.

“Stop with these absurd demands! If you insist, we can go to the city guard—“

Ronnie paused mid-sentence.

She recalled what the gatekeepers had done on their way into the city.

While it was foolish to judge the whole based on a part, it didn’t seem likely that a guard force with such a person openly serving as their face would be decent.

Ronnie glanced around.

The passersby, far from trying to intervene or call for help, merely watched the commotion with interested gazes.

While all six men were armed, only three of the women, including Ronnie, were capable of fighting.

Even then, they were people who had only taken up weapons out of a desire for revenge against the bandits, with poor practical skills.

The sense of honor she had cultivated dreaming of becoming a knight in the future spoke. It urged her to protect her innocent companions—to not turn a blind eye to injustice.

But the survival instinct and selfishness that had rapidly grown stronger through recent harsh experiences whispered.

What’s one woman if it means saving the rest? Who knows, maybe the men’s words ring true? Just hand her over and be done with it.

Ronnie squeezed her eyes shut.

Then—

Shing!

She opened her closed eyes, drawing her sword.

“So you’re forcing my hand?”

The men responded by brandishing their weapons in unison.

Like an audience awaiting bloodshed, the passersby erupted in cheers.

Before the echo of those cheers could even fade, Ronnie charged forward.

She knew nothing of the enemy’s skill, and they outnumbered her overwhelmingly.

The only advantage she could seize was the initiative of a surprise attack.

Ronnie was merely a knight’s page.

She was a woman who fell far short of being a formal knight, and whose lack of talent had delayed her recognition even as a proper apprentice knight.

Nevertheless, her physical strength and swordsmanship, honed steadily since childhood, were incomparable to ordinary people.

From upper right to lower left.

A clean slash cut deeply across the chest of a man who couldn’t react to the sudden attack.

Then, pivoting her body to the right and swinging her sword as if pulling it, the man on her right side clutched his neck as blood spurted out.

Having subdued two men in an instant, Ronnie quickly scanned the men’s expressions.

She hoped to see fear and bewilderment on their faces.

“How dare this bitch!”

But far from being scared, the men charged at Ronnie with anger.

Though Ronnie fought back valiantly, the sheer number of opponents overwhelmed her, causing her movements to become disorderly.

The other women, perhaps paralyzed by the fear of fiercely swinging blades, could only watch helplessly, unable to do a thing.

Clang!

With a sharp metallic sound, Ronnie’s stance collapsed.

A blade flew towards her face.

And so, one person’s courageous but futile effort had come to an end.

...Or at least, it should have had.

Skreeeeeeeeek!

Had it not been for one man reaching out, grabbing the sword that was about to stab Ronnie.

A grating sound, screech screech, echoed.

Grabbing a sharp blade with bare hands was originally an unthinkable act, but it mattered not to the intruder.

He was not made of the softness of flesh and bone but of the hardness of cold steel.

Crack!

As the intruder applied more force, the sword in his hand could no longer withstand it, shattering.

Before the man who was about to stab Ronnie could properly comprehend this bewildering situation, the intruder’s fist slammed directly into his face, sending him spinning through the air before crashing to the ground.

Everyone present held their breath at this somewhat exaggerated, cartoon-like scene.

And then...

The “Tin Knight” charged towards the remaining enemies.