Inside the carriage following the response of the next sacred treasure—the golden lizard.

Sitting on a rather gaudy sofa for carriage furnishings, Dorothea thought:

…Somehow, the atmosphere seems to have changed recently.

During their journey together.

If we were to expand on this short phrase, it would be as follows:

Eating together, sleeping together, naturally rubbing shoulders in daily life, facing each other or conversing morning, noon, and night every day.

In short, it was a structure where one couldn’t help but immediately notice if someone changed.

Unless one were the type who didn’t care much about others, but Dorothea, despite her grumbling, was the type who secretly paid a lot of attention to her surroundings, so this was even more so for her.

The most noticeable change was in Adelaide’s atmosphere.

First of all, she was bright.

Extremely bright.

Every move, every breath seemed to exude sunlight energy from her whole body.

The reason for this could also be sufficiently guessed.

She’s put down all her burdens. She must feel unburdened.

The pressure of having to become the heir to the domain, the sense of duty to revive the family, the desire for revenge to avenge her enemies, the worry and concern for her mother who wouldn’t wake up.

All the heavy burdens that had been troubling Adelaide were either resolved or lost their meaning.

Of course, there were many new burdens she had to shoulder as the new head of the Lion Duke’s bloodline, but the mindset between burdens that had to be shouldered inevitably and burdens shouldered voluntarily couldn’t help but be different.

To begin with, even those “new burdens” were currently just Adelaide lending her name, while the Lion Duke’s bloodline members, including Maris, were handling all the practical matters.

Saying it like this might make it seem like the Lion Duke’s bloodline members were being treated unfairly, but in fact, they were benefiting from having Adelaide as an outstanding figurehead, receiving minimal checks from the Empire that they should have received originally, so it was mutually beneficial.

From Adelaide’s perspective, now that all the troublesome worries were resolved, and she could purely enjoy the journey, it was understandable that she was in a good mood.

It was understandable, however…

Even so, isn’t that degree a bit extreme?

The Tin Knight’s training was, honestly speaking, quite harsh.

A method of accurately grasping the trainee’s limit and pushing them to the brink of that limit.

In other words, no matter how much the trainee’s ability increased, from their perspective, they would continue to experience extreme fatigue and physical pain.

Humans weren’t inherently very rational creatures, so they tended to avoid actions that were beneficial to them if they were immediately physically and mentally taxing.

How many people in the world didn’t know that exercise is good for the body, or that studying was helpful for life? They knew, but they didn’t do it because it was hard.

The Adelaide that Dorothea saw was the same.

She diligently followed the Tin Knight’s training out of a sense of duty and determination, but that didn’t mean she didn’t find the training itself difficult.

At the beginning of the journey, there were screams and wails every time, and as they passed the middle stage, she reached a point where she felt mentally anxious if there was no training. If there had been a psychiatrist in this era, they would have chosen their words carefully with a serious face at these symptoms.

But now?

“Sir Knight, Sir Knight. I succeeded in juggling leaves with just sword pressure. I didn’t even need the leaves to touch the blade like you mentioned before! What should I do next?”

She had reached a level where she was actively approaching the Tin Knight and demanding the next task.

And with a very excited demeanor at that.

It was similar to but different from getting used to training, and it was somewhat different from enjoying getting stronger.

From Dorothea’s perspective, the current Adelaide seemed to enjoy anything as long as it was with the Tin Knight.

It was as if training was just the most suitable “joint activity with the Tin Knight”, and she was clinging to it, but she would be satisfied with anything that allowed her to associate with the Tin Knight besides training.

“She’s not just a dog that’s happy to be with its owner… No, since she’s the representative of the Lion Duke’s bloodline, she’s a feline, so a cat-dog?”

Above all, Adelaide wasn’t the only one who had changed.

After experiencing the incident with the flute-playing man, Sophia’s appearance had also changed somewhat.

It wasn’t an easy-to-understand and blatant change like Adelaide’s.

To begin with, Sophia wasn’t the type to easily reveal her emotions.

However, there were clear changes in small aspects.

For example, there was this incident.

While Sophia was deeply engrossed in a new book, the Tin Knight attempted to converse with her.

The content of the conversation was, frankly speaking, trivial.

It was about whether to pour sauce on fried food beforehand and eat it in a moist state, or to keep the sauce separate from the fried food to enjoy the crispy texture.

Since the Tin Knight had said this while sitting in the coachman’s seat and blankly looking at the sky, Dorothea guessed that he had probably seen a cloud shaped like fried food and blurted it out. It was an everyday occurrence for the Tin Knight to spout nonsense out of nowhere.

If it had been the previous Sophia, she would have answered after completely finishing the book, or she would have agreed with the Tin Knight’s words without taking her eyes off the book.

To begin with, Sophia read books very quickly, and once she read something, she didn’t forget it, so the fact that she was reading a book intently meant that she was extremely engrossed in that book.

But Sophia immediately put down the book as soon as the Tin Knight spoke to her, laughed and went along with his trivial story, and only picked up the book again after it was over.

There was also this incident.

During their journey, there was a time when a swamp area blocked their path and they had to walk without using the carriage, and the Tin Knight thoughtlessly slung Sophia over his shoulder like a sack of luggage.

It wasn’t something one would normally do to a grown woman, but the Tin Knight wasn’t the type to care about such things in the first place, and Sophia, for her part, tended to be indifferent to physical pain or discomfort, so in the past, it would have been overlooked.

“Sir Tin. If possible, could I ask for a different position?”

After several posture adjustments, what was finally settled on was the princess carry position.

The Tin Knight initially showed some reluctance, saying he couldn’t swing his sword if necessary in this position, but when Sophia said it was a “sub-quest to cross the swamp without getting dirty in the muddy water using only two legs,” he happily entered into the princess carry.

Dorothea, who found this behavior strangely concerning, later called Sophia aside to talk.

“Have you perhaps become sensitive to pain or discomfort after the recent incident? If there’s a problem with your body, tell me in advance.”

“No, it’s not particularly that. To be honest, I don’t feel dissatisfied or distressed even if I’m treated like a sack of luggage. It’s just…”

“Just?”

“Sometimes, the act of ‘caring’ itself has meaning.”

Dorothea found it difficult to understand the exact meaning of those words.

She could only tell that some doubt or hesitation that had remained as a final obstacle for Sophia had been resolved.

Adelaide, who actively approached the Tin Knight, wanting to have as much interaction as possible.

Sophia, who never approached first but responded with kindness when the Tin Knight approached.

Dorothea clearly sensed the change in atmosphere between the two.

To reiterate, she was far from dull, rather, she was quite sensitive and attentive.

However, whether she could do anything after sensing it was another matter entirely.

If this caused any discord within the party, she would take appropriate measures as a leader, but neither Adelaide nor Sophia showed any signs of their relationship becoming strained.

If anything, they remained on good terms as ever.

So what could she do? There was nothing to do but just accept it as it was.

By the way, does that tin can have any self-awareness? Or not?

Considering his usual tasteless behavior, it wouldn’t be strange if he was completely clueless in this area.

But considering the aspects where he sometimes seemed to penetrate the essence of things, there was also a sufficient possibility that he had already noticed but just wasn’t reacting.

Even the perceptive Dorothea found it difficult to say anything definitive about this.

Anyway, Dorothea thought he was a troublesome fellow in various ways.

Stupid, eccentric, showing crazy behavior even in situations that should be serious, he was clearly the first target to avoid for anyone who preferred peace or comfort.

While wondering what was so good about such a guy, when she thought about the process he had gone through, she could also understand, thinking, “Well, maybe that’s possible.”

Anyway, it was Dorothea who had started the Tin Knight’s adventure, and it was Dorothea who had continued to accompany him throughout his adventure stories.

She knew better than anyone what he had gained in this world, and what he had achieved.

While complaining about the Tin Knight, calling him a tin can or an idiot, she didn’t deny one thing.

“…Haa, whatever. As long as it doesn’t interfere with the journey, it’s fine.”

After shaking her head, Dorothea concluded her thoughts and ceased thinking all together.

As if on cue, she heard that idiot’s message in her head.

[The ‘Tin Knight’ informs his contractor that the next destination is in sight!]

[The ‘Tin Knight’ is excited, wondering what kind of mess awaits them this time!]

[The ‘Tin Knight’ requests permission to attack in advance, saying they’ll probably fight soon, anyway!]

“Forget it, you idiot. Don’t cause unnecessary commotion and stay quiet.”

With a light rebuke and advice, the witch grasped her staff and stood up.

It was time to start another adventure.

***

https://ko-fi.com/genesisforsaken