I Became a Tin Knight
Chapter 111: The Little Lion and The Dark Red Monster (3)

It was a dark space.

The sky wasn’t visible—neither sunlight nor moonlight shone.

Only dimly glowing moss and fireflies facing in the air were the sole sources of light.

Amidst those dim lights, a small throne was intermittently revealed. Upon that throne sat a woman, deep in slumber.

The woman held a huge greatsword in her hand.

The woman was clad in a dark red armor.

The woman’s armor bore the forms of a bear and a tiger.

The woman had deep, rich red hair.

At some point.

The lustrous violet eyes looked more like those of a monster than a human.

With a dreamy expression as if in a trance, the woman muttered, “…Geisel”

It was joy.

It was longing.

It was hatred, it was resentment, thus, it was bitter love.

With burning ecstasy, with seething hatred, the woman repeated that name.

Again and again, over and over.

As if doing so would wear away that name from the world.

***

The incident that occurred in the individual finals became an enormous topic of conversation.

“Why on earth did Kalidahs do such a thing?”

“Well, maybe she got carried away because the noble girl Adelaide fought so well?”

“Oh my, what a shame. To think that the champion who was like a symbol of this city would leave so emptily.”

“Lady Kalidahs. She was a good person. I should at least offer some flowers.”

“By the way, wasn’t that final match really incredible? I’ve watched all of Kalidahs’ matches until now, but I’ve never seen such an amazing fierce battle!”

“That’s true. Kalidahs was terrifying, but what about that knight who defeated her head-on? Who knew magic dolls could be that amazing?”

In truth, the reason people could talk so easily about this was also thanks to the mysterious barrier.

If the barrier hadn’t existed, spectators frightened by Kalidahs’ sudden action would have started to flee, and seeing others fleeing, more people would have started to run away, causing tremendous chaos.

But thanks to the barrier, even if the audience was somewhat shaken, they could literally watch the fight from a safe zone, and clearly witness the overwhelming power of the two warriors.

Since there were only two fatalities, Kalidahs and the referee, while there were those who offered personal condolences, no large-scale mourning atmosphere developed.

With an event that was already attracting attention, a shocking incident occurring, and numerous witnesses to it, it would be an unreasonable demand to tell people not to talk about it.

And, the end of such chatter usually converged on one question.

“So, what’s happening with the tournament?”

First of all, the champion was unclear.

While the Tin Knight had defeated Kalidahs, he wasn’t originally a participant in the individual matches.

The official match was between Kalidahs and Adelaide, and there was debate about which side had grasped victory in that match.

Some argued that it was Kalidahs’ victory at the point Adelaide was pushed out of bounds, while others said it was a disqualification loss for killing the referee.

Some said that since Kalidahs herself had died, it should just be processed as Adelaide’s victory, and there were also opinions to leave the champion’s position vacant.

However, the organizers’ stance was clear.

What’s important now is not who won the individual match, but to cover up the individual match itself with another topic.

Strictly speaking, Kalidahs couldn’t be said to be the same force as the Thracus organizers.

While it was true that she used Thracus as her base of operations, if asked whether she was a subordinate of the lord, that wasn’t the case.

However, the problem was that the outside world didn’t think that way at all.

Kalidahs was renowned far and wide and had held the champion position for so long, public perception viewed them as one in the same.

In other words, it meant that the Lord of Thracus and his subordinates had to clean up all the mess Kalidahs had made.

Even if they spouted claims like “Champion Kalidahs was just an individual, and has no official relationship with our Thracus,” the possibility of people saying, “Oh, I see. Those two are unrelated,” and accepting it was extremely slim.

Right now, everyone’s minds were occupied with the intense match that had just occurred, but once time passed and everyone calmed down, people would start talking about responsibility and compensation, questioning the danger imposed to the audience.

At this point, the fact that no one was hurt because of the barrier wasn’t very important.

As long as the lord’s side couldn’t guess how the barrier appeared or who created it, they couldn’t avoid criticism that “it was just a lucky coincidence”.

Therefore, the Lord of Thracus and his subordinates were determined to expand the scale of the team competition.

A big match where “the team with the Tin Knight who defeated Kalidahs, the strongest in individual matches” faced “the team led by the top protégé of the Witch of the South, the Empire’s strongest mage”.

If the promotion was successful, they could minimize the aftermath of the Kalidahs incident.

No, beyond that, they might even be able to create a new star attraction to fill the void left by Kalidahs’ death.

Therefore, the lord’s attitude towards Dorothea’s party was very friendly.

To put it more bluntly, he looked like he would give them his liver and gall if asked.

“Punishment for intruding into the match? Haha, how could that be? The match was already over, and you only came out to save your companion, right? You don’t need to worry unnecessarily. And we’ll hand over Kalidahs’ belt that you requested. To begin with, that was closer to Kalidahs’ personal possession than our tournament’s prize, so there’s no big problem. Just, um, please make it as flashy and intense as possible in the team competition. You understand, right?”

…It’s convenient, but something feels…

For Dorothea, who had expected to be thoroughly investigated or for the other party to be picky about the ownership of the belt, it was quite an anticlimactic result.

The lord seemed to want them to participate not only in this tournament but also in the next if possible, but it wasn’t particularly forced, and the immediate request to “act flashily on the team finals stage” was something they would do even without being asked.

No, even if Dorothea didn’t intend to be flashy, considering the opponent’s skill and the Tin Knight’s enthusiasm, it was bound to flow in that direction, anyway.

However, to state the result first, all this negotiation was meaningless.

“Our team will forfeit the finals.”

It was because none other than their finals opponent, Algind Goodwitch, had made a bombshell declaration.

***

“The prowess shown by Sir Tin Knight in the previous fight was truly like a hero from legend. Unless my master steps out personally, with my lacking skills, it would result in a poor match that would only sully the eyes of the audience. After everyone has seen the best match and is full of expectations, how pitiful would it be if the following match is dull? To prevent such an unfortunate event, I will express my respect to Sir Tin Knight and his master, Dorothea Aschengard, and withdraw.”

Summarizing Algind’s long speech as simply as possible, it was as follows:

You all are too strong for me to possibly win. Rather than making a fool of myself, I’ll just withdraw cleanly. That’s all.

The lord and his subordinates clutched their heads.

They became violent, unable to accept the sudden change in situation, but they couldn’t express that violence towards Algind. It wasn’t for the common-sense reason of “oh, what can we do if she wants to forfeit?” they were just afraid of her backing.

The audience seemed quite disappointed, but at the same time, many also showed understanding towards Algind.

The opinion was that after seeing that monstrous fight that literally plowed the earth, withdrawing early was wise.

And as for Dorothea’s party.

[The ‘Tin Knight’ is outraged, asking how such a thing can exist in this world!]

[The ‘Tin Knight’ protests, asking why this world so often has boss battle skip developments!]

[The ‘Tin Knight’ argues that it’s not too late even now, so let’s just attack Algind and fight, and as a bonus, plunder the kingdom’s sacred treasure!]

“That can’t be a bonus, you lunatic.”

The Tin Knight wailed.

He chattered so much about wanting to fight that Dorothea had to break a sweat trying to stop him.

Of course, Dorothea wasn’t in a very pleasant mood either.

“Isn’t this clearly mocking us?”

While spectators who didn’t know the circumstances evaluated that it was unavoidable for Algind to forfeit after seeing the Tin Knight’s power, Dorothea didn’t think so.

While she might feel some threat from seeing the Tin Knight’s power, it shouldn’t be to the extent of giving up without even starting the fight.

“But if they’re withdrawing, don’t we have no reason to fight, either?”

“Hmm.”

At Sophia’s words, Dorothea couldn’t answer immediately.

Rationally speaking, that was true.

They had already concluded to retrieve Algind’s sacred treasure later, and they had also obtained the “Belt of Amaryllis”, which was the main purpose for participating in the Thracus martial arts tournament.

At this point, since they couldn’t forcibly take the sacred treasure even if they defeated Algind, it would be better to quickly move on to attacking the Witch of the West rather than wasting energy unnecessarily.

Rationally, that was how it should be, however….

“Then why did I spend days and nights making this!?”

Thump, thump.

Dorothea cried out while striking the ground with the staff in her hand.

While making the staff itself was originally planned, the reason for rushing to complete it so desperately was none other than to face Algind.

She had been waiting for the day to demonstrate the staff’s new functions in front of Algind and prove her achievements so far, but the opponent ran away without even fighting?

To express Dorothea’s feelings in an easy-to-understand way, it was similar to a graduate student who had completed a masterpiece that would make the professor’s eyes widen, repeating all-nighters while drinking coffee and energy drinks like water to meet a tight assignment schedule, only to receive a notice saying, “You don’t need to submit the assignment, we’ll consider it submitted,” the day before submission.

Regardless of whether this situation was beneficial or not right now, she couldn’t help but feel frustrated, wondering what all her hard work until now was for.

[The ‘Tin Knight’ requests to at least have an event match between the winners!]

“But Sir Tin. There’s… no winner to fight us in the first place?”

Kalidahs was dead, Adelaide was recuperating, and Peter had long since rejected the organizers’ proposal, saying it would be clownish to appear as a winner in a match he had already lost.

As for Maximilian, the shock of defeat seemed too great, and he had already left Thracus for the imperial capital before the finals even began.

It took quite a long time for the lamentations of the Black Witch and the Tin Knight to cease.

***

“That’s what happened. Well, in the end, Dorothea accepted it too.”

When told, “You’ve been saying similar things to Sir Tin for a while now,” Sophia said the effect was great, and Adelaide could only let out an ambiguous laugh.

“So, are we departing tomorrow?”

“Yes, the carriage we ordered in advance is completed, too. There’s no point in staying here any longer, we’d just get caught up in the aftermath.”

Scratch, scratch.

At the eerie sound coming from near her nape and the occasional cold touch of metal on her skin, Adelaide unconsciously flinched.

Each time, Sophia gently soothed Adelaide and helped her relax.

Looking at her reflection in the mirror, Adelaide carefully asked, “Sophia.”

“Yes.”

“What was this incident all about in the end?”

The identity of the armor that made Kalidahs go berserk. The gaze felt while watching Kalidahs’ past.

What the dark red monster saw in Adelaide that made it so angry, what the exact source of the barrier surrounding the arena was.

There were too many unknowns and unsolved mysteries scattered about.

Sophia’s ability had uncovered some things, but it wasn’t enough to resolve all the doubts.

Towards Adelaide, who was subtly sinking into anxiety, Sophia spoke in a kind voice, “Trying to find out what you don’t know is a good thing. Curiosity is one of the most important elements humans can possess. But,” Sophia added. “There are steps one has to follow. Without basics, without background knowledge, just reading the answer out of the blue makes it difficult to properly understand.”

“Is this incident also like that?”

“In my judgment, yes. For now, just keep what we’ve learned in your heart without forgetting, and when the time comes, take it out again. It seems like it will come to us on its own even if we don’t want it to, anyway.”

Adelaide made a thoughtful expression for a moment.

After some time.

“Yes, it’s done.”

At Sophia’s words, Adelaide returned her unfocused gaze from staring into space and looked back at the mirror.

In it, she saw herself with neatly shortened hair instead of the familiar long hair.

Since Kalidahs’ attack had cut her hair asymmetrically, they had cut the other side as well to balance it out.

Seeing Adelaide’s subtle expression, Sophia asked, “Don’t you like it?”

“Ah, no! It’s just that I’m not used to it yet.”

Adelaide checked her reflection in the mirror several times, but soon shook her head.

In a situation where she could have lost her neck entirely if things had gone slightly wrong, losing just her hair could be considered rather fortunate.

However, she couldn’t help feeling a bitterness in one corner of her heart.

While she had experienced defeat many times before, this defeat left its mark in a particularly visible form.

Kalidahs.

Adelaide still hadn’t forgotten that sense of powerlessness and fear felt at the last moment.

No, she had a feeling she wouldn’t easily forget it in the future either.

Moreover, since the person in question had already met death, it might remain as a trauma she could never repay for the rest of her life.

However…

She’s still alive—somewhere.

Adelaide realized this fact—not by theory, but by intuition.

The day when they meet again would be the day to repay this hair—loss

The little lion resolved not to lose next time.

The belt tied at her waist quietly blazed.

***

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