In a specific domain, it was nearly impossible to punish the lord’s family, no matter what atrocities they committed. After all, the law of the domain was decided by the lord in the first place.

If the domain belonged to a kingdom, it should follow the kingdom’s laws, but even this was difficult to be punished unless it was something as serious as treason.

In an era where the act of moving from one domain to another was dangerous without considerable force, wealth, or luck.

It was not only unrealistic for victims to go to the royal family to report, but even if they succeeded in reporting, unless it was something like treason, there was no reason for the royal family to step up for a mere victim.

Unless they wanted to expand their direct royal territory or needed some tribute as a pretext.

Even when the crime was clear as day, the Tin Knight’s suggestion to raid the lord’s wife’s private facility just because it was suspicious was extremely violent and showed ignorance of how the world worked.

For a sensible organization, such an absurd plan would naturally be shelved after a few words of criticism… but unfortunately for the lord’s family, Dorothea’s party was far more accustomed to burying common sense in the ground, spreading a mat over it, and sleeping on top.

Once the goal was set, the planning was quick.

“How about getting official permission to enter? Considering the lord’s favor towards Adel, it shouldn’t be too difficult.”

“If the goal is just to enter, that would be fine, but if the goal is to understand the internal situation, that won’t work. They might hide things in advance or set up other schemes.”

[The ‘Tin Knight’ says why not just enter boldly from the front and beat up anything that blocks the way!]

Without even responding to the Tin Knight’s words, Dorothea took out various materials from the pouches at her waist and scattered them on the floor.

Although she was gradually adapting to the Gloves of Haider, this was still more familiar.

“If we’re just thinking about infiltration, the soul method would be easier, but considering physical influence, this is better.”

Finely ground bone powder, refined animal fat, small gems about the size of a fingernail, and finally, part of the corpse messenger that had returned without reaching the sister.

When the prepared materials absorbed Dorothea’s mana, they soon transformed into a certain form.

Seeing this, Adelaide showed a slightly pleased expression.

“Ah, Mr. Mouse.”

A small body that could fit on a palm.

At a glance, it looked like a skeletal mouse, but its body was transformed here and there due to the influence of necromancy revival.

Dorothea’s undead, which had played an active role in rescuing Adelaide during their first meeting, revealed its form.

However, the specific form was somewhat different, with the gem used as material embedded in the forehead of the bone mouse, and moreover, the bones throughout its body had a more glossy appearance.

“I transferred some of the dead necromancer’s lingering thoughts from the corpse messenger to this. Now it should be able to sense and move towards the sister.”

[The ‘Tin Knight’ asks what the gem is for!]

“First, to hold more mana, and second, this.”

Dorothea took out materials from her pouch again, this time placing them on the table.

The materials touched by black mana soon became a large bone plate, with a gem of the same color as the one on the mouse’s head embedded in its center.

When Dorothea poured water from a bottle onto the plate, the surface of the water in the plate soon became smooth like a mirror.

– Clatter. Clack.

The bone mouse’s head turned as if scanning the party, and accordingly, the image reflected in the water mirror changed here and there.

Sophia, Adelaide, the Tin Knight, Dorothea.

“Can we see the scenery the mouse sees, or reflected in the gem, from here? It’s very attractive as a reconnaissance tool,” Sophia marveled.

“It uses more mana and materials than ordinary bone mice, and usually there aren’t many situations where we can leisurely look into a plate like this, so its uses are limited.”

Dorothea shrugged as if it was nothing special, then created a few more bone mice to follow the special bone mouse.

The party gathered around the table and began to watch the adventure of the bone mice.

***

The security of the tower was strict.

Despite it being late evening, soldiers were guarding the entrance, and because they had prepared large torches, it seemed difficult to approach the tower under the cover of darkness.

It seemed to serve as evidence to the villagers that “the lord’s wife cares so much about the children’s safety,” but to the party’s observation, it was clearly excessive security.

While it might be understandable for sentries guarding the village entrance or guards protecting the lord’s mansion, it was quite unnatural to send soldiers separately to guard a facility for children’s education and accommodation.

However, no matter how detailed a security system was set up from above, in the end, it was implemented by people.

The soldiers’ skills or discipline didn’t seem to be that outstanding, as instead of constantly patrolling around the tower and staying alert, they were yawning lazily while guarding the sturdy iron door.

Thanks to this, the mice easily approached the opposite side of the door and started touching the tower’s wall.

The exterior of the tower was made of bricks, and there were no cracks that might commonly be found in such buildings.

They dug around the surrounding ground just in case, but only new bricks popped out.

Ordinary mice might have been stuck at this point, but the bone mice handled by the witch were different.

– Clack.

At the leader bone mouse’s signal, one of the follower bone mice stepped forward.

Black mana welled up from the mouse’s body, and soon after, its claws turned green.

Sizzle.

The brick touched by the claws started to melt slimily.

The mouse that created a small hole in the wall as if digging a tunnel soon turned to powder, having used up all the mana in its body.

Mourning the death of their comrade who had sacrificed itself, the remaining mice moved forward.

The interior of the tower’s first floor was quite desolate.

Not even a shadow of a person was visible, and only a single staircase leading to the second floor existed.

The mice climbed the stairs to the second floor.

On the second floor, there were two rooms besides the central space with the stairs.

The leader mouse ignored these rooms and climbed up, following the sister’s presence left by the dead necromancer.

There were four rooms on the third floor. The sister’s presence was felt higher up.

There were eight rooms on the fourth floor. The sister’s presence was felt higher up.

There were sixteen rooms on the fifth floor. The sister’s presence was felt higher up.

On the sixth floor─

***

“Wait, isn’t something strange?”

At Dorothea’s words, the party watching the water mirror all nodded in unison.

“Although we haven’t opened each door, it doesn’t seem like there’s space for 16 rooms in that tower no matter how you look at it. Even if they divided the rooms ignoring practicality, in that case, the gap between doors should gradually narrow, but the gap between the doors we’ve seen so far has all been consistent. For this to be possible, the tower would have to be narrow at the bottom and wide at the top.”

“But the visible shape of the tower wasn’t structured like that.”

[The ‘Tin Knight’ points out that the number of floors doesn’t seem to match either!]

There were many other unnatural things as well.

Despite it not being late enough for sleep, not a single person was seen walking around the tower, and not even small voices could be heard from inside the doors.

Moreover, despite being a living space, the doors were made of iron, not wood.

At this point, it would be ridiculous to say it wasn’t a prison.

[The ‘Tin Knight’ suggests trying to open one of the doors!]

“…I’m not sure how thick the doors are, but even if we assume half the thickness of a castle wall, it would consume one mouse. We only have three spares, so we can’t use them carelessly.”

[The ‘Tin Knight’ says we can send additional reinforcements!]

“Then you go catch some mice.”

[The ‘Tin Knight’ shouts that it’s the turn of the feline bloodline without cat ears!]

“Your treatment is too harsh, Sir Knight…”

While the party was chattering, the mice continued to climb the tower.

6, 8, 12, 18.

As Dorothea’s expression grew grim and they started to get tired of counting floors.

– Clack.

The leader mouse, which had been only climbing stairs, suddenly started running towards a certain door as if reacting to something.

Following the leader mouse’s instructions, one of the follower mice raised its sharp claws, and the next moment, the door started to be dug through with a scratching sound.

Fortunately, the door’s thickness wasn’t too great, as the mana of one mouse was enough to create a hole large enough for the other mice to pass through.

The scenery inside the room was very shabby.

A single window blocked by an iron mesh, allowing only faint light and air to pass through.

And inside, a girl curled up covered with a blanket.

“Hmm?”

As if hearing the clattering sound of the bone mice, the girl who had been bowing her head between her knees slowly raised her face.

Soon, the girl’s eyes widened as she spotted the mice.

Seeing this, Adelaide felt a strange sense of kinship.

Yes, back then, Adelaide too had─

“Hey, you crazy bastard!!”

─cursed like that… wait a moment.

Whether Adelaide was shocked or not, the girl beyond the water mirror rushed at the mice with a terrifying momentum that belied her previously languid appearance.

Her bright golden hair fluttered like a billowing cape.

The mice tried to flee in terror, but the girl was faster in snatching the leader mouse.

“Don’t you have a brain? Has playing with corpses all the time made your intelligence corpse-level too? That’s just like a necromancer! Or are you deliberately trying to mess with me? That’s it, right? It must be! Otherwise, there’s no way you’d drop a pouch of gold coins on my head at such a maliciously timed moment! You jerk! How many times do I have to tell you to just come directly if you have something to give me!!”

The girl shook the leader mouse up and down violently, as if shaking the collar of an enemy before her, and accordingly, the image reflected in the water mirror shook violently.

The party was silent for a moment.

It seemed they had found the target properly, but somehow the girl appeared to have a grudge against her brother.

Adelaide let out a dry laugh, “Hahaha.”

Comparing her past self, who had panicked and whimpered at the sight of the bone mouse, with the tough girl before her eyes, she felt her confidence involuntarily diminishing.

“Umm, Miss Witch. I think we need to calm the other party down first to have a conversation.”

“…You’re right, should I cast a curse that gives a sensation like getting foot reflexology just by standing? That should make her behave.”

“M-Miss Witch? Are you perhaps angry because of the necromancer thing—Miss Witch, Miss Witch? No! Really, no! You two, don’t just laugh, stop her!?”

***

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