The Tin Knight-Chapter 52: The Tin Knight and The City of Clockwork — Act 2 (1)

In front of the monitor, you quietly fell into thought.

The City of Clockwork, Tik-Tok.

You reflected on the things you had accomplished there.

With Dorothea, you succeeded in partially restoring the Tin Knight’s power at the magic doll workshop.

With Adelaide, you succeeded in obtaining the pass token at the Lennart dojo.

With Sophia, you gained knowledge at the bookstore and learned a little about the Tin Knight’s past.

It had only been a day since you arrived in Tik-Tok, yet you had been incredibly busy.

But at the same time, you realized this was far from everything.

The doll workshop you visited with Dorothea. The sibling owners, Smith and Sinc, seemed to have some circumstances they couldn’t talk about.

And you were certain that resolving those unspoken circumstances would lead to further strengthening of the Tin Knight. That was simply how the flow seemed to be.

You were also concerned about Gale Elilaz, another witch you encountered in front of the shop.

The master of a player 2 color magic doll familiar. It couldn’t be anything but a deliberate composition.

From a highly meta perspective, you predicted that the opponent was very powerful and capable, and might even be stronger than the Tin Knight and Dorothea in terms of raw stats. That was how rivals usually were.

It was truly an exciting prospect.

How could you resist a type-variant mirror match?

Adelaide’s story also had some unfinished business.

René von Lennart, who made full use of the home advantage of the City of Clockwork to create a new dojo with a training system using magic dolls.

The old man and his followers, who were once driven out by René and his faction, returned with a sword of revenge.

A conflict between the new generation and the traditional generation, and a match to determine who would lead the Tik-Tok dojo.

Since the recognition of the token Adelaide obtained depended on the outcome of their victory or defeat, there was no option to pass by without intervening.

As a bonus, although it couldn’t be called the primary goal, you were also concerned about the 6th and 7th-level tests that you had yet to clear.

They practically screamed challenge quests.

What about Sophia?

The story told by the adventurers you rescued with Sophia was enough to stimulate your interest.

The conspiracy orchestrated by the Adventurers Guild. Unreasonable and coercive tyranny. You and your companions designated as its victims.

The opponent had come at you with swords rather than words, and once attacked, you had no choice but to retaliate.

Above all, according to your speculation, what those behind this incident were after was likely not simple money.

The guild was trying to prevent the “final room” of the labyrinth from opening, even distributing fake interpretations to adventurers. That room was where Sophia had been sealed.

This incident was carried out by the guild under the pretense of “recovering the treasures found in the labyrinth”, and it would be strange if Sophia had no connection to it.

Your eyes lit up.

It seemed there was still much to do in the City of Clockwork.

***Throughout breakfast, Dorothea’s expression was distorted.

It wasn’t because the food from the inn was terrible.

To begin with, Dorothea wasn’t that picky about food taste—though there were limits, like the Tin Knight’s homemade cooking—and the onion soup provided by the inn was of excellent quality.

But no matter how good the food tasted, it was meaningless if the person eating was uncomfortable.

This is troublesome.

Dorothea recalled what happened yesterday, or rather, early this morning.

A suspicious vampire and an insane doll.

This extraordinary duo brought along three adventurers and one prisoner, and the content of their chatter was truly a spectacle.

What? Adventurer murder? Backstabbing ambush? Robbery and plunder?

From Dorothea’s perspective, it was utterly ridiculous.

If Dorothea had intended to do something malicious, there would have been no need for such troublesome, cumbersome, and inefficient actions.

She could have just raised an army of corpses from nearby graves, slaughtered all the guild staff with poor attitudes, blocked the entrance to the labyrinth, sent down smoke mixed with poison and curses to sweep away everyone inside—whether it be human or magic beast—and then walked in as if taking a stroll to monopolize all the treasures for herself.

It wasn’t that she “couldn’t do it” due to lack of ability, but that she “wouldn’t do it” because dealing with the aftermath would be troublesome.

She had been reluctant to clash with the massive organization called the guild and tried to achieve her goal in the most moderate, legal, and reasonable way possible, only to suddenly hear accusations like “You killed them! You wicked witch!”

She couldn’t help but feel furious.

Had Sophia not suggested a new method last night, she might have seriously considered dropping all social decorum to prepare for a large-scale battle, even at the cost of slightly lowering her social reputation.

Avoiding fights that could be avoided, but always striking back if the opponent drew their sword first, was Dorothea’s principle.

All the pursuers were from the Schwartz branch. There’s a high possibility that the Schwartz branch manager is behind this. But there was no physical evidence, is there? Sophia said she’d come up with follow-up plans.

Recalling the information blurted out by the terrified pursuer, Dorothea almost unconsciously moved her spoon to put food in her mouth.

At that moment, she suddenly felt a gaze staring at her from the corner of her vision.

“What? Do you have something to say?”

[The ‘Tin Knight’ points out that she’s eating very unappetizingly!]

“It’s none of your business how others eat.”

[The ‘Tin Knight’ claims that if Dorothea wants, he could teach her the secret to eating deliciously!]

“You can’t even eat in the first place, so saying such things—“

After saying that much, Dorothea paused for a moment.

She remembered that the Tin Knight was originally human.

It wasn’t difficult to endure not knowing something.

But ignoring something you knew was incredibly difficult.

Especially if it was something one could never have again.

Once upon a time, long, long ago, the Tin Knight must have eaten and drunk things normally in the past, enjoying their taste and feeling of fullness.

How must it feel for someone who used to do that to become a body that can’t eat anything, just watching others eat?

“If you’re so displeased with how I eat, go to Adel. Her side should be more interesting to watch.”

But Dorothea wasn’t honest and obedient enough to simply follow the Tin Knight’s suggestion.

To Dorothea, who waved her hand dismissively with a grumpy voice, the Tin Knight said.

[The ‘Tin Knight’ says that side is washing up after finishing training!]

[The ‘Tin Knight’ argues that for soups with strong flavors, it’s standard to dip bread with a firm texture!]

“Earlier you said you’d teach me if I wanted. I never asked, you know?”

[The ‘Tin Knight’ claims that a man doesn’t look back!]

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“Haa.”

Weighing her options of grabbing and swinging the staff leaning against the wall or satisfying this persistent audience’s demands, Dorothea, who was contemplating which to choose, finally chose the latter.

After all, even she was too lazy to exert herself at the dining table.

It had nothing to do with learning about the Tin Knight’s past. Probably.

After dipping the dark bread in the soup and putting it in her mouth, the bread that had felt a bit hard became much softer.

Every time she chewed, moving her teeth up and down, the soup that had soaked into the bread leaked out and spread throughout her mouth.

It certainly wasn’t a bad taste.

But it’s not so amazing that you need to go on about secrets or whatever.

Dorothea, who was about to complain that he was making too much fuss, decided to just keep her mouth shut when she saw the Tin Knight nodding his head up and down as if satisfied.

...Well, I guess it’s fine. The more enthusiastic he is, the safer my body becomes.

After rationalizing her actions like that, Dorothea finished her meal and got up.

[The ‘Tin Knight’ asks about the upcoming schedule!]

“Why?”

[The ‘Tin Knight’ wants additional enhancements at the doll workshop!]

“Hmm. Well, alright.”

Dorothea nodded readily.

...I can leave the guild matter to Sophia for now.

It wasn’t that she fully trusted Sophia.

Quite the opposite, in fact.

If things went south and brute force became necessary, there was a need to raise the Tin Knight’s combat power as much as possible.

“What we need is a huge jewel that can serve as a mana container. Let’s go take a look first.”

[The ‘Tin Knight’ is excited about the cash shop time!]

***“Welcome! What kind of accessory are you looking for? Jewels? Of course, we have them! Oh, you mean bigger than this? I’m sorry, but what I just showed you is the largest one we have...”

“Welcome to our general store, young lady. What are you looking for? A large jewel? Miss, I think you might have mistaken the shop.”

“Welcome to Samson’s Doll Workshop! Mana container? This way, please. Hmm. This is the best quality item available in this city, but it doesn’t satisfy you?”

“Hehehe, to come all the way to this remote place. Young lady, you’ve got quite the nerve. I don’t have jewels, but I have something just as good. If you just taste this drug once, you can reach nirvana—gack! I’m sorry, please spare me! Gack!”

About 3 hours after leaving the inn.

Dorothea irritably scratched her head.

“There’s really nothing useful here.”

They had been scouring various places in Tik-Tok all morning, but no jewel suitable to be the Tin Knight’s new mana tank was in sight.

There were one or two jewels that seemed to have quite a large capacity, but even those fell short when compared to the vessel the Tin Knight originally had.

...It doesn’t seem easy to increase mana capacity. What’s left is just improving efficiency further.

— Hey, if we can’t do it, we can’t do it. What’s with this ‘right now’ nonsense? It’s unsightly.

— If it was in grandfather’s workshop, not this corner room, we could definitely do it!

Dorothea recalled a certain pair of siblings in a back alley of Tik-Tok.

If there was any room left to further enhance the Tin Knight in this city, that place seemed to be the only option left.

As Dorothea was about to move her steps again, a strangely familiar voice reached her ears.

“I’m telling you, I have nothing to do with it!”

“Last night, a mass murder occurred in a back alley. According to witnesses, the culprits were a duo of someone wearing suspicious armor and a young woman. There’s also testimony from the innkeeper that you were absent during the estimated time of the crime. Do you still intend to deny it?”

“I’m telling you, it was just a walk. And what do you mean by suspicious armor? What’s suspicious about our Sig’s armor? It’s so cool!”

“No, that’s not—“

A girl in a white dress with blonde hair and blue eyes and a white knight guarding such a girl’s side.

This familiar duo that seemed to have been seen somewhere was surrounded by guards and having an argument.

Dorothea turned her head to look at the Tin Knight.

A duo of suspicious armor and a young woman. Mass murder in a back alley.

She was hearing many keywords that sounded suspiciously familiar.

It seemed that due to the incident caused by Sophia and the Tin Knight, an unrelated party was being suspected as the culprit.

Well, judging by the complete omission of Kumara’s party from the story, the credibility of that eyewitness testimony didn’t seem very high either.

[The ‘Tin Knight’ asks what Dorothea is going to do.]

“What else?”

Dorothea puffed out her chest and boldly stepped forward.

—Right in the opposite direction from where Gale was.

“I’ll need to increase the output of the perception interference magic further. You try not to do anything conspicuous if possible.”

[The ‘Tin Knight’ admires it as an excellent decision!]