“History is full of monsters. Some possess outstanding physical abilities, while others have innate senses and skills. The world calls them geniuses, and some among them earn the title of hero. But you see, for the most part, it's only that specific individual who is exceptionally gifted.”
Some sentences, regardless of their simplicity or complexity, refuse to be understood.
Such was Adel’s state.
But the witch, as if she couldn't help but enjoy thrusting the cruel truth upon her, continued her kind and gentle explanation.
“The child of a genius is not always a genius. The child of a hero does not always become a hero. But what about the Lion Duke’s bloodline? Even though nearly two hundred years of generations have passed, the traits of a single ancestor still manifest in the children. They were such creatures from the start. That's the kind of blood it is.”
Adel’s mouth hung open in shock.
Not human. A homunculus.
If her companions were to find out about this…
‘…Huh? I have a feeling it doesn’t really matter.’
Adel briefly recalled the personal details of her companions.
Her party proudly included a metal doll and a vampire.
It wasn't as if Adel herself was a homunculus; just having a distant non-human ancestor probably wouldn't even elicit much of a reaction.
As she thought that, a sudden sense of peace washed over her.
“Then, who is the alchemist who created my ancestor?”
“…Why the sudden composure?”
The Witch of the West reacted with a strange look of displeasure at Adel’s calm question.
Perhaps disappointed that the anguish and despair she had anticipated didn't come, the witch abandoned her kind tone and spoke coldly.
“That is none of your business. Besides, is this really the time to be worrying about such things?”
When the witch manipulated a device on the laboratory wall, the operating table Adel was strapped to folded, forcing Adel into a sitting position.
It was clearly not for Adel’s comfort.
Because beyond the window in front of her, there was something in the sky.
It was the golden monkeys, flapping their large wings, and Sophia, held captive in their hands.
For a moment, Adel forgot she was bound and nearly lunged toward the window. The operating table, now shaped like a chair, jolted with a clatter.
The Witch of the West laughed as if amused by her reaction.
“Watch closely.”
At some signal from the witch, the golden monkeys in the sky responded.
They grabbed Sophia’s limbs with their brutish hands and unleashed their cruel violence.
As if showing off to Adel, Sophia's dismembered body fell to the ground.
A giant, fanged caterpillar emerged from the forest and swallowed the remains in one gulp.
Adel’s mouth remained open.
The Witch of the West spoke in a threatening tone.
“If you don't want to end up as monster feed like your companion, you'd best not think of any foolish resistance.”
Adel lowered her head and remained silent.
The witch, interpreting her silence as despair, left with a sickening laugh.
It seemed she had only come to check on the situation this time and had no immediate plans to ‘research’ her.
For Adel, this was a stroke of luck.
Because it allowed her to hide the expression on her face beneath her lowered head.
*
After being scattered by Dorothea’s transfer magic, the first thing Franka did was hide.
It was an extremely rational course of action.
The party was able to track each other’s locations thanks to Franka’s magic. The moment Franka was caught, the golden thread bracelets she had created would lose their effect.
Since a gloomy, foul-smelling necromancer would be incapable of delicate magic like location detection, Franka’s magic was the party’s only hope of regrouping. For strategic reasons, it was better for Franka to ensure her own safety rather than recklessly wander around.
Hiding in another mage’s workshop was normally a very difficult task, but Franka was a disciple of the Witch of the West.
She knew exactly where and how the witch’s golden monkeys would search, so deceiving their eyes was not particularly hard.
Franka’s judgment proved correct, and the lost lambs, wandering with her as their beacon of hope, began to gather.
She benevolently embraced the tired and wounded, praising their efforts—
“If you spout any more of that nonsense, I’ll beat you to a pulp.”
“Hup.”
Franka’s long-winded explanation came to an abrupt halt under Dorothea’s murderous glare.
As if to protect the cowering Franka, two golden monkeys stepped forward.
Emboldened by their mother-protecting gesture, Franka put on a prim expression and opened her mouth again.
“What? It’s not like I said anything wrong, did I? If it weren’t for me, you never would have been able to regroup—”
“Not me. He will.”
Dorothea pointed her staff at the Tin Knight, and this time, Franka fell completely silent.
Even the monkeys seemed intimidated, breaking into a nervous sweat.
Dorothea looked at them with an annoyed expression.
“Why make such a grand story out of something that could be summed up as, ‘I was scared of getting caught if I moved, so I hid in a shelter until someone found me’?”
“What was I supposed to do?! This is my master’s domain, and the creatures within are like her vanguards! If I carelessly engaged or fought them, it would be like advertising my location! Isn’t it obvious that I should move cautiously while observing my surroundings!?”
“……”
[…]
The master and servant, who had reached this place by rampaging through everything in their path with no regard for caution, fell silent for a moment.
Dorothea cleared her throat and asked, “So, you really just hid and wasted time?”
“Of course not. I did what I could while I waited.”
At Franka’s signal, a large golden monkey with insect wings pulled away a curtain in the corner of the hideout.
What it revealed was…
“…A ship? A carriage?”
“Both are correct. I made it amphibious.”
The bottom part was shaped like a boat, but it had wheels on its sides and a large ballista mounted on the front.
And, as if it were a matter of course, every part was made of gold.
Dorothea narrowed her eyes.
“It looks useful, but is this really something you needed to prepare so grandly? Don’t you alchemists just whip up whatever you want on the spot as long as you have the materials?”
“That’s for disposable items you use on the fly. You can’t make powerful, mana-infused tools that way.”
Franka glanced at the wheeled bag she always carried.
Dorothea recalled that the bag was filled with countless golden blocks.
“If you call the standby state of a multi-purpose catalyst ‘A,’ changing its form to a pre-memorized ‘B’ or ‘C’ is quick and consumes little mana. But there’s a limit to the number of forms that can be memorized. To make the catalyst remember a completely new form like this one, you need to create a new design and then have the catalyst adapt to it.”
“Hmm.”
“What, are you doubting me?”
“Not really. If you say so, then that’s how it is.”
Dorothea didn’t refute Franka’s explanation.
After all, if Franka started spouting nonsense about necromancy and curses, Dorothea was confident she could just laugh in her face.
It was proper to respect another’s field of expertise.
Sensing this, Franka’s tone softened slightly as she continued.
“My master would have blocked the original entrance long ago anyway. To get out of here, we have to defeat her. It’s bright out now, so when it gets dark, we can sneak—”
“—No, we’re moving now.”
“What?”
Dorothea looked at the bracelet on her wrist.
Three strands of thread protruded from it. Two pointed to Franka and the Tin Knight respectively, while the third pointed somewhere else entirely.
“One of the strands disappeared while we were moving, and another changed direction drastically. They were probably caught and dragged away.”
“Wait, aren’t you jumping to conclusions based on the movement of a single thread?”
“This guy and I didn’t see a single golden monkey on our way to find you. It wouldn’t make sense unless someone was drawing their attention and gathering them all.”
Franka frowned but eventually nodded.
“…If your companion really has been captured, then we’d better hurry. It means the enemy knows our location too.”
“Can’t we make it so we can track their location, but they detect the wrong spot for us?”
“It’s impossible to change the effect from a distance without touching it.”
Once the decision was made, they acted swiftly.
Franka and the bat-winged monkey took their positions at the front of the amphibious golden carriage, by the ballista.
The insect-winged monkey stood on the pedals in the center.
Finally, the Tin Knight and Dorothea positioned themselves at the very back.
As the insect-winged monkey furiously pedaled, the wheels turned powerfully, propelling the carriage forward.
Since it was already facing the sea, the carriage soon plunged into the water, but it didn’t sink.
Not only that, but the wheels, which had looked like normal carriage wheels, extended sideways, transforming into something resembling a waterwheel.
Although Dorothea was no expert on ships, she had to admit that this ‘pedal-powered boat’ was remarkably fast.
Dorothea said, “Tin Can—no, you with the bat wings. Go catch a fish. No, two.”
—Ooki?
The monkey glanced at Franka for a moment, but once Franka gave her permission, it immediately dove into the sea and snatched up two fish.
Dorothea took out a knife, sliced open the fishes’ bellies, and stuffed her own golden thread bracelet inside one.
She said to Franka, “Give me yours, too.”
“…Do you have any idea how much this costs?”
Though she grumbled, Franka seemed to decide it was better than dying and obediently cooperated with Dorothea’s plan.
A moment later, two decoys with thread bracelets in their bellies were ready. When Dorothea imbued them with mana, the dead fish began to flop as if they were alive again and leaped into the sea.
“This should serve as a temporary distraction.”
How long did they travel?
Finally, their destination, the island, came into view.
And so did the dozens of golden monkeys circling in the sky above it.
Dorothea frowned.
“Did the decoys not work?”
“No.”
Franka contradicted Dorothea. Her eyes held a complex mix of anxiety and fighting spirit.
“They must have worked. The number of monkeys my master usually commands is ten times that.”
[The ‘Tin Knight’ finds it puzzling, wondering if the gap between three of them and several hundred enemies isn't a bit too extreme!]
Had Franka heard that, she would have been furious, but Dorothea didn’t bother to relay the message.
“How strong is each one?”
“One-on-one, my children can win with ease. They could probably handle two. Against three or more, holding their ground is the best they can do.”
Dorothea’s brow furrowed.
Franka’s monkeys were actually quite high-level for familiars controlled by a mage.
And yet, the creatures they were facing were on par with them in a two-on-one fight, and there were over fifty of them visible in the sky right now.
Considering their total force was ten times that, the word ‘fearsome’ was a fitting description.
It was even more so when one remembered that the Witch of the West commanded other monsters besides the monkeys.
‘So it won’t be easy after all.’
As Dorothea’s face hardened, the Tin Knight stood tall behind her.
[The ‘Tin Knight’ burns with motivation, declaring that this time, he will surely finish the job!]
[The ‘Tin Knight’ exclaims that a reused boss starts to lose its charm after the third encounter, and vows to grant it a beautiful death!]
It was the same crazy, incomprehensible nonsense as always.
But it was also unmistakably the Tin Knight.
As if in response, Dorothea also broke into a savage grin.
The golden monkeys spotted the intruders and charged.
The ballista on the carriage fired an arrow.
The curtain rose on their second decisive battle.