Once upon a time.

In a time not so long ago… rather, quite recently.

In an ordinary village, there was a very discontented young man.

One day, the young man lamented, “Ah! If only I had been born a noble. Then everyone would have revered me even if I did nothing.”

A wise sage passing by advised, “A noble who doesn’t work can’t receive any respect. Even if you were born a noble, with that mindset, it would be hard to become a heir, and even if you did become one, you’d soon ruin the family.”

The young man closed his ears and ignored the sage’s words. The sage shook his head and left.

On another day, the young man lamented, “Ah! If only I had been born rich. Then I could have lived without doing anything.”

A diligent merchant passing by advised, “Foolish talk! No matter how much they have, the greed of those who possess always wants more, and they never stand by and watch a child who wastes money and time meaninglessly! They’d soon kick someone like you out of the house!”

The young man closed his ears and ignored the merchant’s words. The merchant clicked his tongue and left.

On yet another day, the young man lamented, “Ah! If only I had been born handsome. Then everyone would have loved me even if I did nothing.”

A beautiful maiden passing by advised, “Beauty is like a flower that’s difficult to maintain. If you don’t consistently cultivate it and put in careful effort, it easily withers. As long as you don’t abandon such thoughts, your appearance will soon become ugly, even if it was once beautiful.”

The young man closed his ears and ignored the maiden’s words. The maiden left with a deep sigh.

Many people offered advice, but the young man still didn’t think he was wrong.

He continued to lament and complain about his life, not having been born with many things.

If he complained so much, he should have at least acted to change something, but the young man didn’t even bother to do that.

The young man just voiced complaints and dissatisfaction, wishing the surrounding situation would flow in the direction he wanted on its own.

It truly couldn’t be anything but a bandit-like mindset.

However, one day, a turning point came to such a young man.

As he was napping at home, he heard the sound of a beautiful flute near his ear.

The young man, as if enchanted by something, followed the flute sound and walked into the forest.

How long did he follow the flute sound like that?

In a very deep place where no human shadow could be seen, the young man discovered a flute making sound on its own.

When the young man unconsciously picked up the flute, the sound resonating from the flute suddenly stopped.

But the young man wasn’t flustered.

Although there was no more sound coming to his ears, the flute’s will was still being conveyed in his mind.

[Hello, new master. If you act according to my advice, I’ll give you gifts.]

After that, the young man’s life changed.

[Tell the villagers you saw wolves targeting the village. You’ll be ignored twice, but the third time, a pack of wolves will really come. If you play me then, you can drive away the wolf pack.]

When he acted as the flute told him, the villagers who had ignored him praised him as a hero and apologized for ignoring him. He became happy.

[If possible, please lose money every day in a foolish way. You can drop it while crossing a river, or keep money in a pocket with holes. You’ll become a laughingstock, but thanks to that, you can make a rich man’s daughter who doesn’t laugh smile. The rich man will surely reward you generously.]

When he acted as the flute told him, the young man was able to obtain a lot of gold coins he had never even seen in his life. He became happy.

[Go to the city and ask the city’s children to sing a song about you marrying the mayor’s daughter. The children might get scared or soldiers might run around looking for you, but then you just need to play me. Then you’ll be able to get the beautiful mayor’s daughter.]

When he acted as the flute told him, the young man was able to be loved by a beautiful woman he wouldn’t have even been able to look at before. He became happy.

As such things repeated several times, the young man no longer doubted the flute’s words.

No matter how bizarre the process seemed, even if it seemed incomprehensible and unreasonable at first glance, he came to know that it ultimately returned to him as happiness.

Sometimes there were those who annoyingly bound him or bothered him, but using the flute’s power, he could freely make them listen or erase their memories.

Thus, one day as he was enjoying the flute’s power, fishing with an unbent needle as advised by the flute.

The lord of a huge territory came to find him and made a request.

The request was to somehow make Marquis William Hemming and the party of the Witch of the East’s apprentice split up and fight each other, leaving the detailed method up to him.

It was a dangerous request, but the young man didn’t hesitate.

He had confidence that he could do anything with the magic flute.

The young man gathered mice from various places according to the flute’s advice and guided them to Marquis Hemming’s territory.

The Marquis’ territory was turned upside down, and the young man shamelessly instigated the Marquis, saying he could solve this problem.

After that, everything went smoothly.

Toying at will with Marquis Hemming, a renowned figure of the kingdom and a powerful person he wouldn’t have dared to look at straight in the past, even gave him a sense of exhilaration.

The Witch of the East’s apprentice and her party arriving before he could get his hands on the wife of Friedel’s former lord was somewhat unexpected, but he wasn’t too worried.

If it was really going to be a problematic situation, the flute would have advised him in advance.

No, in some sense, he even thought it was an opportunity.

The lord of the nearby territory, who had entrusted this task to him, seemed to be very uncomfortable with that group, so if he dealt with them, he would surely receive gratitude and massive rewards.

It was quite a self-serving way of thinking, but his mind, already steeped in the flute’s convenience, didn’t realize the problem.

No matter how strong they are, their number is just four. On this side, there are hundreds, no, over a thousand allies. Moreover, if they’re heroes, they’ll try to avoid innocent people getting hurt as much as possible!

Indeed, he was blissfully unaware.

Dorothea’s party were people who had caused havoc even on battlefields where tens of thousands clashed, let alone thousands.

He was blissfully unaware.

The information about Dorothea’s party spread to the kingdom side was largely “heroically edited” due to the Empress’ propaganda, and that their essence was far from lawful good—being more like chaotic good or neutral.

As a result, the young man had to face a very terrifying existence—a full-armored knight approaching him while cracking the legs of dozens right before his eyes.

“Gah!”

“Aaargh!”

[The ‘Tin Knight’ says breaking just the bones as cleanly as possible makes them heal faster when treated!]

Tap, tap, tap.

Every time the Tin Knight lightly touched near people’s shins, the territory’s residents, who had been selflessly trying to protect the “good young man”, rolled on the ground screaming.

He wasn’t even using much force, just touching them with his sword like a stick.

What was more terrifying was that despite clearly touching people with a sword with a sharp blade, there wasn’t a single cut wound.

And another one.

The response of the golden-haired, violet-eyed girl, Adelaide, was gentler.

While it might be different when facing her family’s enemy, crushing the bones of innocent people who were just being controlled, saying, “We can fix them later,” didn’t suit her personality.

Therefore, she acted very calmly and composedly.

She grasped people’s forearms and weapons with both hands, snatched away the weapons and threw them where people couldn’t pick them up again, then threw the people high into the sky.

That was, about high enough to look down on the roof of the Marquis’ mansion from above.

Whoosh!

Thud!

Since Adelaide caught them nimbly from below as if doing some tumbling, the people who soared into the sky didn’t turn into tomatoes on the ground.

It was the result of Adelaide herself taking all the shock that the fallen person should have endured, but it was a simple feat for her.

When people who experienced an attraction somewhat early for this era fell into an out-of-body state, Adelaide politely sat them on the ground.

Fortunately, there were many places to sit thanks to the customers in the waiting line fleeing backwards after seeing the customers ahead of them.

Unlike other people who fell into shock and fear, the witch who directed this situation was calm.

Having been teased repeatedly under the Tin Knight’s “Dorothea Common Sense Restoration Project”, she was refraining from using necromancy in front of others again.

In some sense, it was a more serious problem that she created this disaster with just one word without using necromancy, but that was neither here nor there.

“Uh, uh.”

Just like a deer before headlights, the young man could only freeze before the sight before him.

The behavior of the teacher-pupil pair coming to catch him was something so beyond common sense that he seemed to forget even the obvious fact that he should flee, just gaping.

────!!!

Then, the flute sounded softly.

Only then did the startled young man quickly bring the flute to his mouth.

～♩♪♫♬～

As the mysterious flute sound resonated, those who heard it all got dreamy faces and rushed towards the Tin Knight’s party.

Even Marquis William Hemming and his subordinates watching the situation from inside the mansion were the same.

Dorothea momentarily made an alarmed expression, but her staff emitted light and soon created a powerful barrier covering the entire mansion.

“Huh.”

“Ugh!”

The Marquis and soldiers reacted as if dizzy, clutching their heads, but unlike just before, they didn’t show signs of being controlled.

Dorothea looked at her staff with fresh eyes.

The effect of the staff she had made herself using special materials and which the Witch of the North Orin had personally enhanced seemed excellent even in mental defense.

What remained were her companions outside the barrier, but this wasn’t a problem either.

The Tin Knight didn’t even budge, either not affected in the first place or immune, and Adelaide also just flinched slightly but didn’t show signs of being controlled. There was a reason why the citizens of the Magic State cursed at the cheat-like bloodline that was Lennart.

The young man was flustered.

Although the procedure was a bit troublesome, the flute had always shown formidable power.

It was the first time in his life that the flute’s power didn’t work.

He desperately continued blowing the flute, but the Tin Knight had already approached right in front of him.

Tap, tap, tap, tap.

Tap, tap, tap, tap.

Four times each on the two legs, on the shins and thighs.

Four times each on the two arms, on the upper arms and forearms.

After a total of eight touches ended, the young man foamed at the mouth and collapsed on the ground.

It was the vain end of one who had been swayed by an excessive ability for his level.

The flute sound stopped, and soon a deep silence fell.

The residents who should have caused an uproar all rolled their eyes and fainted at once.

Around the lord’s mansion.

Four-digit numbers of unconscious patients appeared.

Adelaide said in bewilderment, “Uh, what should we do about this?”

[The ‘Tin Knight’ says since this flute seems to be the cause, we should investigate it!]

The Tin Knight took the flute from the young man, then returned to where Dorothea was, holding the young man’s nape in one hand and the flute in the other.

The witch also seemed to understand his intention and reached out to receive the flute.

However, at that moment.

Whoosh!

“Huh, hey, what are you doing?” Dorothea asked with a bewildered look as an enormous surge of crimson mana suddenly gushed from Sophia’s body.

“Oh my…?”

The problem was that Sophia herself was included in those who gave a bewildered look.

Like wine—or perhaps like blood—the crimson mana was sucked into the flute.

The flute shuddered, then suddenly rushed towards Sophia with a terrifying momentum.

The Tin Knight reflexively tried to restrain the flute by applying force, but the pulling force was so intense that even his incredibly heavy body moved entirely.

Thud!

The magic flute pierced through Sophia’s heart.

But no blood flowed.

Instead, a red cup-shaped mark or symbol appeared floating over Sophia’s clothing.

Seeing that pattern, as if understanding something in that brief moment, Sophia muttered, “…It was a setup.”

Before Dorothea could ask what that meant, Sophia lost consciousness and collapsed.

The Tin Knight, who had been holding the flute, suddenly extinguished the will-o’-wisp shining through his slit, and went limp like an ordinary decorative armor.

The witch and the lion called their names in bewilderment, but they didn’t wake up.

***

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