Chapter 67: The Tin Knight and The City of Clockwork — Act 4 (1) |
During the week in Tik-Tok.
No, it was just symbolically called a week, it wasn’t actually a week, but in any case.
Dorothea and the Tin Knight resolved the incident related to the Smith & Sinc Doll Workshop and achieved the Tin Knight’s power-up.
Adelaide and the Tin Knight resolved the conflict between the traditionalists and new factions over the Lennart dojo and secured the position of representative instructor.
To an outsider, it might look like the Tin Knight had mastered some kind of cloning technique, but that wasn’t the case.
He just moved around so quickly that it seemed like he was in multiple places at once.
“Welcome, Sir Tin.”
[The ‘Tin Knight’ greets Sophia cheerfully!]
The Tin Knight and Sophia’s meetings usually took place at night.
One might think, “What kind of nuisance is this in the middle of the night?” but Sophia didn’t seem particularly displeased or tired.
Wondering if she might be sleeping during the day, the Tin Knight asked, and she answered, “It’s boring being tied to a pillar all the time, isn’t it? So I tried various things in that state to pass the time. Most were thought experiments, but occasionally I also tried training to not sleep. After repeating it for about 30 years, the distinction between meditation and sleep disappeared.”
Sophia claimed that if she spaced out with her eyes open, it was no different from sleeping for her.
At first glance, it seemed like a crazy claim, and even after careful reconsideration, it still seemed crazy, but the Tin Knight didn’t mind.
[The ‘Tin Knight’ rejoices at the appearance of a night watch comrade!]
[The ‘Tin Knight’ is thrilled about experiencing less boredom even in the middle of the night now!]
Dorothea, despite her fashion sense being that of an evil organization female executive, had a strict early-to-bed early-to-rise routine. In fact, it was simply a schedule based on efficiency, regardless of good or evil.
Adelaide, on the other hand, would often collapse into such a deep sleep after each training session that she wouldn’t notice if someone kidnapped her. Naturally, the conscienceless Tin Knight didn’t consider his own brutal training regime as the cause.
For the Tin Knight, who had to keep watch alone every night, Sophia’s presence, able to function normally at night for whatever reason, was a welcomed change.
Of course, no matter how energetic these two non-humans might be in the middle of the night, human civilization was originally dictated by the sun.
The things that could be done in the middle of the night when most people were sleeping at home were more limited than during the day, but they didn’t mind.
Their destination was one of the few places that was more lively at night than during the day.
On the outskirts of Tik-Tok.
Despite being somewhat removed from the bustling area, there was a building where many people gathered to enjoy drinks and food.
As Sophia and the Tin Knight entered this place, which boasted particularly bright light even as the streets were engulfed in darkness, the rowdy drinkers seated in the first-floor lounge cheered.
“Hey, Big Sis! We’ve been waiting for ya!”
“Jack, this dumbass won’t listen no matter how many times I tell him about Big Sis. Show him your skills!”
“Ha, well. Look here, miss. It seems you’ve been hustling these youngsters, but it won’t work on me.”
Welcome, interest, lust, enthusiasm.
Amidst the cheers filled with various emotions, Sophia walked in with an indifferent expression and took her seat in her usual chair.
At first, the man had a confident expression, but that didn’t last long.
“Hmm. Ahem. This hand wasn’t very good. Next.”
“What, you went all-in with that trash hand?”
“I won’t fall for it twice! This time for sure, huh!?”
“…Damn it.”
Finally, the once-confident man raised the white flag, and after Sophia cleaned out a few more challengers, she turned to the owner at the bar with a smiling face and said, “The usual, please.”
“Yes, order received! Boys! Big Sis is treating! Drink up with gratitude!”
“Whew! It was worth the wait!”
“Jack! Lampro! You really don’t betray our trust! Thanks to you, we’ll drink well!”
“Hey, if you’re going to thank someone, it should be Big Sis, why are you thanking some random dumbasses? Hahaha!”
The place buzzed with even more liveliness and intensity.
At the heart of this commotion was, of course, Sophia.
“By the way, Big Sis, where on earth did you learn to gamble like that? The guys here are all supposed to be pretty good, but they can’t even put up a fight against you.”
“Well. Maybe it’s the wisdom of experience?”
“What? Experience? Hahaha!”
At Sophia’s answer, the other person burst into laughter.
They were calling her Big Sis, but that was just a title of admiration for her excellent gambling skills and a bit of playful mischief.
Among the patrons of this establishment, there wasn’t a single person with a younger appearance than Sophia.
“No, if you say that with that face, what does that make Jack over there? If we go by face value, he should be about twice as strong as Big Sis for the calculation to make sense, right?”
“Shut up. Who are you to talk about face value when your facial muscles are sagging from old age? If I’m twice, you’re at least four times, ya bastard.”
“Yes, next loser, come quickly.”
“This guy…!”
The man called Jack trembled with a red face, but the more he did so, the more the people around seemed to laugh with enjoyment.
It was already the 4th day since Sophia and the Tin Knight started frequenting this place.
Even those who initially looked at them with suspicion and doubt now showed a friendly attitude, having lowered their guard.
Her excellent gambling skills, sociable personality, and above all, the behavior of spending all the money she won on drinks and food was more than enough to gain the favor of the drinkers.
No matter how beautiful Sophia was, if she just took the money and left, people would have started avoiding her, but since all the money Sophia won ended up in the drinkers’ stomachs anyway, it wasn’t much different from them taking turns treating each other.
The establishment itself was quite peculiar.
The food taste was ordinary, the service wasn’t particularly friendly, the prices weren’t cheap, and decisively, the location was quite bad.
Despite having all the elements of a “shop that doesn’t do good business”, the place was always crowded with people.
The faces of the drinkers coming and going were mostly the same, and their arms and legs were full of ominous scars.
“By the way, Big Sis. What kind of request are you trying to make that you’re taking so long?”
That was right.
They were adventurers operating with Tik-Tok as their base.
If one asked why adventurers weren’t working at the guild but sitting around in a bar like this, the reason was in the phrase engraved in the Empire’s law book.
Adventurers belonging to the Adventurers Guild must follow the regulations of the guild headquarters and branch offices recognized by the headquarters.
Adventurers are prohibited from privately giving and receiving requests without going through the mediation of the guild headquarters and branches.
This law, created during the Iron Blood Emperor era, was made to strengthen control over the old adventurers who were half-bandits, to standardize request fees and such to prevent clients from being unfairly harmed by adventurers, and to track and punish adventurers who committed wrongdoings.
The intention itself was good, and it actually contributed to bringing the profession of adventurer from the shadows into the light, but originally, nothing in the world was perfect.
It was a well-known fact that although it was called the “Adventurers Guild Headquarters”, it was run by imperial officials, not adventurers.
After the integration and reform of the Adventurers Guild, the guild headquarters became famous for being picky about establishing branch offices, and currently, there were only four officially recognized guild branches in the Empire.
This meant that for both clients and adventurers to give and receive requests “legally”, they had to go to one of only four branches in the vast land of the Empire.
For those near a guild branch, this wasn’t a big deal, but for those far away, it was extremely inconvenient.
To solve this inconvenience, “intermediary offices” like the one Sophia visited now were created.
When a client visited an intermediary office to request a job, the intermediary office sent the details to the nearest branch by messenger bird.
The branch evaluated the content of the request and determined appropriate contract conditions, then sent that information back to the intermediary office.
The intermediary office informed the client of the contract conditions, and if the client agreed, they dispatched an adventurer waiting at the intermediary office.
It was a very cumbersome and labor-intensive method, but it couldn’t be helped.
The authority of the imperial family was supreme, and if they ignored it and acted recklessly, the profession of adventurer itself might disappear from within the Empire.
“You may not know this, but this is an intermediary office, not an adventurer branch, so even if you entrust a request, we can’t give an immediate answer whether we’ll do it or not. That’s for the branch to decide. Since messenger birds usually take a few days to go and come back, if you’re going to make a request, it’s better to hurry.”
“…You all noticed.”
As Sophia erased her smiling expression and lowered her eyes, some drinkers—no—adventurers gulped.
Her lonely yet sorrowful smile contained something that made the men’s hearts ache, as fleeting as a leaf about to fall.
“I tried to hide it in my own way, but I guess it was just child’s play in front of you all who have been through thick and thin. You all knew and were just playing along with the atmosphere?”
“Uh… ahem. Ahem.”
“Well, that’s right.”
“Born as a man, how could we pry into and expose a woman’s worries?”
In fact, more than half of those present were tilting their heads thinking, “Huh? Was that what it was?” but originally, a man drunk on alcohol was a creature with pride and hot air flowing through his veins instead of red blood.
There was no man who could say, “I didn’t know that and just crawled out to watch some fun gambling and get a free meal.”
When the comrade drinking beside you was nodding with a solemn expression, if you showed even a little of that, you’d be the only one looking like a fool.
Towards the adventurers whose numbers had been increasing day by day for the past three days, lured by the catchphrase “A chance to see a skilled, beautiful gambling master. You can even get free drinks and food!” Sophia said, “Actually… I’ve been worrying a lot. No, I’m still worrying. Whether it’s really okay to entrust this request or not.”
“We won’t ask for detailed content, but is it that dangerous?”
“Yes. It’s dangerous. But more than dangerous, it’s also unsettling. The fact that this request might be buried without being delivered to the right people.”
At Sophia’s words, the adventurers started whispering one by one.
If it was simply a “dangerous” request, they could understand, but for the request itself to be buried?
“Big Sis, are you talking about the risk of the messenger bird being intercepted?”
“No, it’s not that. It’s just…”
After saying that much, Sophia let out a faint sigh.
“I really can’t say. If you hear this story, you all could be in danger too. How could I cause trouble for you who saw through my shallow acting but pretended not to notice?”
“No.”
The adventurers now put down even the food and drinks they were consuming and started focusing on Sophia’s story.
The man who had been talking with Sophia shouted towards the surroundings, “Hey! Did you hear that!? Big Sis is worried about us! You cowards who are worried about the aftermath, get out quickly!”
“Hey, don’t butt in unnecessarily! Look, Big Sis, you might not know this, but adventurers are people who live with danger as their friend.”
“That’s right! There’s no need to worry unnecessarily, so just spill the beans about the situation or whatever it is!”
At this point, the answer was practically decided.
If one said they were too scared to listen here, they’d not only be branded a coward among their comrades, but the curiosity about the rest of the story would keep them up at night. How could they possibly leave?
Sophia looked around at each of the spectators present, making eye contact with each of them one by one.
The adventurers gulped as they met her peculiarly light pink eyes that emitted a strange light.
“Alright. Then I’ll tell you. About the great conspiracy related to the Adventurers Guild Schwartz Branch.”
***
https://ko-fi.com/genesisforsaken
Comments 1