Miraculously, or, as expected, the horses were safe.
Conversely, everything else wasn’t quite so fortunate.
The high-end carriage had sunk to the bottom of the lake in pieces, and the cargo in the compartment had also met its demise.
In truth, from Dorothea’s perspective, these weren’t such significant losses.
The compensation wrested from Franka and the advance payment received from the Halder Company had mostly been spent in Tik-Tok anyway, and the rest were minor items like spare clothes, blankets, and feed for the horses.
The real problem was elsewhere.
“Aack,” a lament escaped from Dorothea’s mouth.
It wasn’t a particularly ladylike display, but none in the party could point that out.
Not only the Tin Knight kneeling in the corner with his hands up—guilty of forcibly continuing Adelaide’s training in such a treacherous place, deliberately ignoring Dorothea’s advice—and Sophia—guilty of being useless below the shoulders—but even Adelaide, who alone had avoided being stung, couldn’t say anything.
Dorothea used to carry multipurpose pouches or leather bags attached to her belt, which were full of catalysts she used for magic.
But now the pouches were empty.
The contents had flowed out during the process of falling into the lake and getting out.
This was the consequence of not perfectly sealing the entrance for easy access, and most of the catalysts being in powder form.
All that was left was a wooden staff for defensive magic and a chain ring for soul negotiation.
[The ‘Tin Knight’ says not to be so discouraged, since they came here to get catalysts anyway!]
[The ‘Tin Knight’ argues that it’s good to clean out your inventory before putting in new items!]
“Shut up if you can’t say anything useful!!”
After screaming at the Tin Knight, Dorothea slumped to the ground.
It seemed she lacked even the energy to beat him up as usual.
“Miss Witch. Please eat this and, um, cheer up. It’s a bit wet, but still edible.”
As if to comfort Dorothea, Adelaide held out some candy she had rummaged out of her bag.
Unlike Dorothea, who had lost her assets(?), Adelaide’s damage was somewhat manageable.
It was the result of the Tin Knight’s abuse—no, foresight shining through, making her run while carrying a backpack to increase training load.
“...You, didn’t the bees go even more crazy because you were running with that thing on your back?”
It seemed like it was indeed abuse, after all.
“Anyway, shouldn’t we do something about our clothes first? It might be fine for me and Sir Tin, but you two might catch a cold if you stay ,” Sophia said to Dorothea and Adelaide.
Perhaps due to her weak constitution, her raised arms were trembling slightly, but her face remained calm, creating a truly unbalanced appearance.
As Sophia pointed out, the group’s appearance was truly fitting of the phrase “like drowned rats.”
In Sophia’s case, her wet clothes clung to her body, fully displaying her alluring curves, and in Adelaide’s case, although slightly better thanks to her leather armor, she was still quite exposed in various places.
Among the three, Dorothea had the least external change.
Since her female executive fashion was already striking to begin with, getting additionally wet didn’t significantly increase its toxicity. Although some men’s evaluations might beg to differ, that wasn’t important right now.
Normally, Dorothea would have used magic to blow away the moisture or do something, but now that the catalysts had dissolved, there was no way other than drying physically.
It was truly infuriating to hear such words from one of the culprits, but since Sophia’s point itself wasn’t wrong, Dorothea begrudgingly agreed with a sour expression.
Gathering firewood to make a bonfire and various beauties starting to take off their clothes.
And so, a service time pleasing to the viewer’s eyes began... not.
“Tin can. You said you saw the carriage wreckage. Go retrieve usable things like blankets.”
[The ‘Tin Knight’ says someone needs to guard the surroundings!]
“Just go. If things get dicey, we can sacrifice Sophia and escape.”
[The ‘Tin Knight’ points out that excessive self-consciousness is not good!]
[The ‘Tin Knight’ argues that usually when the guard is sent away , something always happens in the meantime!]
“That could be true.”
Dorothea readily agreed.
“But you yourself are an incident waiting to happen. If an incident is going to happen anyway, isn’t one better than two?”
[The ‘Tin Knight’ is shocked!]
As if she had said all she needed to say, Dorothea waved her hand and shooed away the Tin Knight.
Feeling wronged by the witch who was mistreating him despite having done nothing particularly wrong—let’s just ignore the fact that others might disagree—the Tin Knight trudged into the lake.
[The ‘Tin Knight’ rejoices at finding a large fish!]
[The ‘Tin Knight’ announces underwater battle season two!]
[The ‘Tin Knight’ declares tonight’s dinner to be grilled fish!]
Of course, it didn’t take even three minutes for that resentment to disappear.
He was truly a madman not worth worrying about.
***A few hours later.
The party, having somewhat reorganized, gathered around the bonfire.
While the fish caught by the Tin Knight was being nicely grilled, the biggest topic of conversation was, of course, the strange phenomenon experienced by the Tin Knight and Sophia at the bottom of the lake.
Dorothea glanced at the Tin Knight, who was enthusiastically spinning a skewer, and said, “So, when this guy used your mana, a vision appeared?”
“It’s unclear whether the vision unfolded like a mirage in the surrounding area, or if it was just visible to Sir Tin and myself.”
Dorothea seemed to fall into thought for a moment, then frowned.
“...The Chalice of Tuberose. It grants the power of prophetic dreams to those who drink its contents when filled. Sophia, you absorbed the entire cup, but you said you’ve never had anything like a prophetic dream, right?”
“Is it because the cup itself has integrated with Sophia, so the effect of the sacred treasure has changed? A power that allows the one who receives the mana to glimpse scenes of the future?”
“I agree that mana is a condition, but I doubt whether it was a scene of the future. To me, it felt more like something from the past. The appearance of this forest before it grew so large.”
“The act of pouring a drink into the cup and drinking it has been transformed into receiving mana, and the future has changed to the past? Isn’t that a bit of a stretch, no matter how you look at it?”
“Not being trapped by fixed ideas is also important in scholarship!”
“You need to be trapped a bit. Why did you absorb that thing in the first place, really?”
While complaining, Dorothea suddenly held out her hand to Sophia.
Sophia tilted her head, then clapped her hands.
“...Ah, is this about necromancy catalysts? I don’t mind giving you a few bones, but they’ll disappear soon after detaching from my body, so you won’t be able to store them, you know?”
[The ‘Tin Knight’ marvels at the wicked idea of using a companion as a resource!]
“What nonsense are you spouting!? I’m telling you to hand over your mana! Adelaide, why are you panicking and distancing yourself too!?”
Grumbling things like, “Why did I have to meet a necromancer as a teacher,” and “No wonder she didn’t let me learn about other schools until I grew up,” Dorothea said again in an irritated voice.
“We need to experiment to see if your mana really has special power, Sophia. So hand over your mana.”
Nodding calmly, as if saying, “I understand,” Sophia grasped Dorothea’s hand and began transferring her mana.
A blood-red energy shimmered, covering one of Dorothea’s finger joints.
And then it stopped with a plop.
“What, why did you stop halfway?”
“I gave you all of it though?”
“...No, what am I supposed to do with such a tiny amount?”
Dorothea tried to somehow move the pitiful amount of mana towards her eyes, but before it could even reach her wrist, the red light disappeared without a trace. It was like adding a spoonful of ink to an enormous lake.
Dorothea muttered as if dumbfounded, “Is this really all?”
“Because I gave everything to Sir Tin earlier.”
“But several hours have passed already?”
“Hahaha. To recover the same amount of mana I gave to Sir Tin Knight, it takes me at least a week. Perhaps the amount of mana Dorothea recovers in 1 hour is more than the maximum mana of Adelaide or me? Rather, I find Dorothea’s constitution fascinating.”
“Enough with the nonsense. Anyway, does this mean we have to do the experiment in a few days?”
At that moment, the Tin Knight said.
[The ‘Tin Knight’ suggests that they could just put Dorothea’s mana into Sophia!]
Dorothea’s eyebrow twitched for a moment, but soon her expression softened as if she thought it wasn’t a bad idea.
“That’s not bad. Originally, mana changes its nature depending on where it stays. If we put mana into Sophia, it should be dyed with Sophia’s own color.”
As Dorothea grasped Sophia’s hand and blew in a lot of mana, mana began to surge around Sophia’s body.
Seeing the obsidian-like black mana gradually taking on a reddish hue, even if just a little, Dorothea showed a satisfied reaction.
At this rate, in about a day, they could conduct a satisfactory experiment.
“Hey, the mana is leaking. Aren’t you going to hold it in?”
“I’ve never handled this much mana before, you know? My specialty is more on the holy magic side to begin with.”
“Specialty or not, you’ll self-destruct if you use it...”
Dorothea sighed with her hand covering her eyes.
Judging by the appearance, if left alone , more than half of the inserted mana would evaporate, but even so, it would be faster than waiting for Sophia’s natural recovery, so Dorothea tried to console herself with that thought.
At that moment, Adelaide, who had been quietly listening to the conversation, raised her hand.
“Then, let’s say we wait for the vision, but what should we do in the meantime?”
“We need to gather catalysts as originally planned. First of all, hey, stop bringing the fish so close to the fire! If you don’t maintain some distance, only the outside will burn and the inside will remain raw!”
[The ‘Tin Knight’ argues that a proper char enhances the flavor of the dish!]
“Flavor or whatever, I have a way to never let you touch cooking again.”
[The ‘Tin Knight’ humbly acknowledges that it’s right to follow an expert’s advice!]
After confirming that the Tin Knight was subtly correcting his posture, Dorothea opened her mouth again, “First, we need to secure a base. Originally, I was planning to set up a barrier centered on the carriage, but since it turned out , it might not be bad to make a completely new one.”
“Having a water source nearby isn’t bad, but it’s too close even so. It would be better to be a bit further away.”
Dorothea grasped her staff and gave instructions efficiently.
“First, I’ll prepare essential magic for forest life, like insect repellent and moisture removal. Sophia, you come with me. You should at least be able to pull weeds... You can pull weeds, right? Please, tell me you can.”
“And Adelaide. You stay by my side until we finish the base. We’ll need someone who can use a sword. After it’s complete, you’ll go around with that guy to secure materials.”
[The ‘Tin Knight’ waits for the quest with a pounding heart!]
The Tin Knight’s eyes lit up.
He seemed utterly thrilled at the prospect of a new battle, perhaps because he had quite enjoyed the underwater battle at the bottom of the lake.
A capable leader assigned tasks that suited the aptitude and motivation of the members.
And Dorothea was undoubtedly on the capable side.
“Catch what looks like boss-level creatures around here and bring back their corpses.”
It was the moment a calamity was unleashed upon the peaceful Garden.