“…Do you guys not know what ‘rest’ means?”

This was the first thing Dorothea said when the Tin Knight returned to the lodging and suddenly presented the necromancer’s head.

Under her ice-cold gaze, Adelaide avoided eye contact while sweating profusely despite it not being particularly her fault, and Sophia just smiled with a face that said she knew nothing. However, that smile was a bit stiffer than usual.

And as for the Tin Knight.

[The ‘Tin Knight’ says he’s brought Dorothea’s compatriot, so please check his condition!]

As always, he upset Dorothea’s stomach with an impossible nonsense remark.

Dorothea’s eyebrows twitched and rose, but the experienced witch calmed herself by taking a long breath instead of getting angry right away.

“Explain what happened.”

At the party leader’s order, the party obediently complied.

The commotion at the restaurant, Maris von Lennart’s proposal, the trial that followed, and the Tin Knight’s intervention.

They were quite dense events for just half a day, but since the party’s journey was generally like this anyway, Dorothea wasn’t particularly surprised. Humans were animals of adaptation.

“Hmm, so this is that thing.”

In a room where they could avoid others’ eyes.

Dorothea began to examine the necromancer’s head placed on the table with interest.

A human head muttering nonsense in a half-insane state was creepy and bizarre enough to fit in a horror movie, but true to being a necromancer herself, Dorothea’s attitude was unperturbed.

“This seems to be connected, doesn’t it?”

[The ‘Tin Knight’ asks what it’s connected to!]

“To this person’s original body.”

[The ‘Tin Knight’ requests a detailed explanation!]

“How should I put this?”

Dorothea seemed to ponder for a moment, then said to Adelaide, “Adel, don’t you carry around candy? Do you have something like a stick?”

“Ah, yes. Just a moment.”

Adelaide rummaged through her belongings and handed over a candy, and Dorothea half-inserted it into a cup filled with water.

Dorothea tapped the head part of the stick candy with her finger.

“The candy outside the water is this head here, and the candy inside the water is the body taken by that scale or whatever. They’re physically separated, but magically connected.”

Adelaide tilted her head.

She seemed to not quite understand how something could be separated yet connected.

“I don’t know the detailed principles or techniques, either. I’m just making an easy-to-understand analogy based on the visible phenomenon.”

At that moment, Sophia stepped forward and pulled the stick candy out of the water.

“Then can it be pulled out like this?”

“Theoretically possible, I guess. But it’s better not to. You can see the state of that candy, right?”

The lower part of the candy dipped in water had its surface stickily melted.

“You said this person’s body placed on the scale unraveled like a ball of thread and turned into light, right? That was probably the decomposition process. Like candy dissolving in water. Even if you boiled the water and left only the candy remaining, it wouldn’t be its original shape. No, rather, even the magical connection would be cut off, so he’d die instantly.”

“I see.”

Dorothea waved her hand.

“Well, have all your curiosities been satisfied? Now that there’s no more business, hurry up and throw it away. What do you think people will think if we carry around a living person’s head?”

[The ‘Tin Knight’ condemns Dorothea’s cold-hearted personality!]

[The ‘Tin Knight’ asks if there’s no camaraderie between those in the same industry!]

“Where in this industry is there such a thing?”

At Dorothea’s cold reply, the Tin Knight slightly drooped his shoulders.

Seeing that strangely dejected appearance, Dorothea’s eyes narrowed.

As she clicked her tongue softly and was about to say something, it happened.

“…Helb me. Ip there’s a price, I’ll bay it.”

The necromancer’s head, which had been silent for some time, suddenly blurted out such words.

The party’s attention turned to him.

The eyes that had been in a state of delirium had now regained calm reason.

As if finally accepting reality properly, the unique resignation and strange determination of someone prepared for the end coexisted on his face.

His pronunciation was a bit unstable due to missing teeth, but it was much more understandable than after the short physical altercation.

“Help you, what, want us to get your body back?” Dorothea asked indifferently.

She seemed to have already noticed that the necromancer’s head had regained its senses.

He answered, “I don’t hope for such a thing. Money… yes, give me money.”

“Doesn’t seem like you’d need money in that state.”

“It’s not for me to use. I want to send it to my younger sister.”

His explanation became quite plain once he noticed Dorothea’s eyes sharpening when the conversation tried to lengthen or stray to irrelevant topics.

How he became wanted and chased due to bad blood with some noble in the Locrian Federation.

How he came to Justitia after hearing rumors that it didn’t question crimes from outside and any crime could be absolved with money.

After settling in the city, he received some “requests” to gather money, and was sending part of it to his younger sister back home.

Adelaide, who was listening to the story, showed a somewhat sympathetic look, but the witch just snorted.

“If family was so important, you should have behaved well in the first place. Who told you to get caught digging other people’s graves?”

“…I never thought I’d hear such words from someone in the same line of work.”

“What are you saying? I live while keeping within the lines.”

The gazes of the other three members of the party briefly turned to Dorothea, but when they saw her about to glare, they quickly turned away again.

The man with only a head left also seemed to understand that trying to evoke sympathy wouldn’t work.

He continued speaking gloomily, “Yes, I don’t think I lived well, either. But still, I want to leave something behind on my final journey. All the wealth I’ve gathered so far has been completely stripped away by this damn city, but I still have something left.”

He stared into Dorothea’s eyes.

“Although I’ve ended up like this, I’m still a necromancer with quite a name in the area. I’ll pass on the magic I’ve built up independently, so in exchange, deliver the value to my younger sister.”

“Hmm.”

Dorothea seemed to ponder for a moment.

She asked the Tin Knight, “Was there anything useful among what this guy used?”

[The ‘Tin Knight’ answers that while he doesn’t know about other things, the technique to create bombs seemed useful!]

[The ‘Tin Knight’ says that if he hadn’t suppressed it with his shield, dozens of people around would have been caught up in it!]

“So it’s magic with strong physical force, huh?”

Somewhat intrigued, Dorothea reconfirmed the terms of the deal.

“Where’s your younger sister? If it’s too far or difficult to contact, it’ll be troublesome.”

“You don’t need to go directly. Just bring a pouch with the payment inside and a bird corpse that can fly and has no external damage.”

“Well, it’s not like you’ve known us long enough to reveal the location of your precious family. Wise.”

While saying this, Dorothea didn’t seem particularly displeased.

Rather, she seemed to think the work had been reduced.

“I won’t do a blood oath, so if you really can’t trust us, say so now.”

“…I’ll just take my chances that you people still have some basic decency. If you don’t help me, I’ll be thrown on the street and die without being able to do anything, anyway.”

And so, the deal was struck.

***

After deciding on the treatment of the nameless necromancer—he tried to reveal his name, but Dorothea stopped him—the next topic that came up was Adelaide’s story.

Whether to accept or reject Maris von Lennart’s proposal.

“I want to do it.”

Regarding this, Adelaide showed a surprisingly firm assertion.

“Partly because I’m tempted by the reward Maris offered, but apart from that, I don’t like this city very much. If you ask me specifically what’s wrong, I’m not sure I can answer confidently… but at least, I think I’d really hate it if Friedel domain changed to become like this.”

If Maris’ plan succeeded, at the very least the lord’s face would be greatly damaged, even if the Kingdom of Heaven was set aside.

Her violet eyes sparkled with enthusiasm as she said she wanted to participate in the plan, if only to give him a taste of his own medicine.

Dorothea sighed, then turned her gaze to the Tin Knight and Sophia.

“So, what about you two?”

[The ‘Tin Knight’ says he wants to fight the lord!]

“Don’t talk nonsense. Maris or whoever can set up such a plan only because she has the power of the Lennart family, and if mere adventurers like us blow off the lord’s head, we can’t handle the aftermath.”

[The ‘Tin Knight’ wonders, saying he didn’t specifically say he’d blow off the head!]

“…Anyway!”

Dorothea cleared her throat and looked at Sophia.

“What about you?”

“Originally, I was just going to read some books and leave, but seeing how this city operates, there is one thing I’d like to do.”

“Something you want to do? It’s not something unreasonable, is it?”

“Of course not. I just want to have a conversation with the lord. Mainly about that scale.”

“You want to have a debate or something? Well, I suppose that’s typical of you.”

“Should I give it up?”

“Well, exchanging a few words shouldn’t be a problem.”

After lamenting softly, “In the end, the 3 days of rest will be meaningless,” Dorothea gave instructions to the party.

“Adel, go to that duchess and find out the specific schedule and plan. You’ll probably have to escape the city right after the execution, so we need to prepare in advance to match that.”

“Yes!”

“Sophia. It’s fine to have a conversation with the lord, but don’t reveal anything about holy power. It’s well-known that the Kingdom of Heaven ‘collects’ holy power users. Well, they say they respect the individual’s will and all, but there’s no need to create unnecessary trouble.”

“Yes. I’ll be careful.”

“Tin Can. Go with Sophia as her guard. I really won’t let you off if you pick a fight for no reason.”

[The ‘Tin Knight’ claims he loves peace!]

“You’re talking nonsense again.”

***

https://ko-fi.com/genesisforsaken