Soldiers, mercenaries, knights, adventurers, and so on.
There were many who made a living through rough work, including fighting.
However, among them, those who professionally learned underwater combat were extremely rare.
Pirates and sailors, who were inseparable from water, were somewhat accustomed to fighting in water, but even they were skilled at fighting “on a rocking ship” rather than wielding swords “underwater”.
Some master-level experts might perform such practices for training, but it wasn’t something to be assigned to a beginner who hadn’t even experienced real combat for half a year.
If proper instructors had seen this, they would have criticized such behavior, asking if they were crazy or in their right mind.
It was truly a spot-on statement. The Tin Knight was a madman.
[The ‘Tin Knight’ says to use elasticity and recoil rather than simple strength!]
[The ‘Tin Knight’ says it shouldn’t be multiple straight lines doing their own thing, but all should become one continuous curve!]
And Adelaide had no idea she was currently treading an advanced course out of the blue.
Originally, hardship was also a kind of experience.
One needed to experience both hardships and comforts to properly recognize their situation, thinking, “Ah, I really struggled back then,” or “This is much better compared to that time.” If one only experienced tough, tougher, and even tougher things, one’s standards would inevitably warp.
Adelaide had long since adapted to the Tin Knight’s super-super-super intense training method.
Curve, curve, attacks shouldn’t be disconnected, but continuously connected... Ah, so that’s how it is!
Her movements, which had been merely floundering without proper footing, gradually increased in sharpness.
At first, her blade couldn’t even touch the fish, and even if it did, it couldn’t even remove a single scale, but gradually it began to sink deeper.
It was a drastic change—as if she had moved from climbing a cliff to ascending stairs.
Although one might shrink back from the sharp teeth of the man-eating fish, Adelaide’s movements were unhindered.
It wasn’t that she couldn’t feel fear.
Although Adelaide herself wasn’t aware of it, it was courage stemming from the trust that the Tin Knight or her other companions would somehow intervene when it was really dangerous.
It was a situation similar to a bicycle beginner riding while believing someone was holding them from behind.
[The ‘Tin Knight’ gives a thumbs up!]
[The ‘Tin Knight’ marvels, saying that’s exactly it!]
The Tin Knight felt satisfied.
If they continued for a bit longer, it seemed it would be appropriate to start teaching Adelaide how to handle mana.
After learning how to handle mana, physical growth would relatively slow down, but the calculation was that they compensate for that by pushing her even harder.
It was truly a blessed training plan.
If the world’s diligent and conscientious teachers had seen the Tin Knight, they would have lamented how well he was doing with his reckless teaching methods after finding one good disciple.
However, the Tin Knight wasn’t just idly watching.
He also controlled the number of fish in the vicinity to prevent an overwhelming quantity that Adelaide couldn’t physically handle, and sliced through fish swarming around Dorothea or Sophia.
With an autonomous ultra-large mana supply station right nearby, there was plenty of leeway to fire off sword energy.
***Dorothea became increasingly immersed in the vision shown by Sophia’s mana, that was, the “Chalice of Tuberose”.
The fissures scattered all over the lake and the mirage leaking out between those fissures.
As Dorothea touched a fissure and manipulated mana, the fissure widened and the surroundings were covered in illusions.
“Hey, come to your senses. Are you thinking of throwing your entire future into the gutter?”
“It’s just a magic beast at best. It may resemble humans in form, but that’s all. Don’t make the wrong choice out of shallow sympathy.”
“You know well what fate awaits those who defy the taboos set by heaven, don’t you?”
Several people were trying to persuade Dorothea, no—they were trying to persuade “someone” whose vision Dorothea had borrowed.
“Someone” opened their mouth.
“I don’t want to hear it.”
It was a short but firm answer.
Just as it was impossible for a person to see their own face, Dorothea, borrowing the vision of “someone”, couldn’t see the face of “someone”, either.
But Dorothea somehow felt certain that “someone” was glaring at their surroundings.
“It’s still a child who doesn’t even properly understand the ways of the world. A child who needs teaching and care, who should be treated with affection and attention. And what? You say to kill it because its very existence deviates from providence? Are you scholars who pursue wisdom? Are you proper adults?”
At “someone’s” words, some people blushed as if ashamed.
But there were more who remained firm.
“You foolish friend. That’s not the issue!”
“No one would say anything about raising a mere dog at home. But we can’t allow raising a wolf to go unchecked. When that wolf grows up, it will make all the surrounding people its prey. ‘That thing’ you’re keeping is such an existence.”
“Dogs were once wolves too. With sufficient education and environment, they can live in harmony with humans.”
“That’s why we call it taboo!”
“What’s taboo! What’s heaven’s law! If that’s heaven’s will, I’ll gladly defy heaven!”
“Oh my, this person!!”
With a crack, the illusion shattered.
Looking at the scenery of the calm lake bottom, Dorothea fell into thought.
She focused more on the phenomenon itself rather than the content of the illusion.
...It’s a sensation similar to peeking at the residual thoughts of an earthbound spirit. But for that, there’s no trace of a soul. In the first place, mere thoughts wouldn’t create such a clear illusion.
Dorothea opened her mouth and spoke to Sophia, “Did you see that too just now?”
It was a somewhat abrupt question, but Sophia quickly grasped the point and answered, “It felt like borrowing the perspective of some scholar. However, from the middle, I could also view it from a slightly detached point of view looking down from above.”
Surprise filled Dorothea’s voice.
Naturally, no human could look down at themselves from above.
If this illusion was based on someone’s “memory”, an action like Sophia’s would have been impossible.
Dorothea tried to look at what she had just seen again, but the fissure had already disappeared.
Sophia opened her mouth, “Isn’t it too early to be disappointed? There are still many fissures left, after all.”
The man-eating fish threatening the group were being cut into pieces, becoming training dummies for Adelaide, and the sturdy air bubbles allowed the group to breathe freely. There was nothing hindering the exploration.
Dorothea moved on to the next fissure and touched it.
Once again, the surrounding scenery changed, and Dorothea’s vision changed as well.
Dorothea intentionally tried to objectify herself.
She failed at first, but after several similar attempts, she was able to escape from “someone’s” body.
Looking around, she saw a semi-transparent Sophia waving her hand.
The people around couldn’t perceive Dorothea and Sophia.
It felt like they had become ghosts.
[How far can we get away with this?]
[It seems the illusion is implemented in a dome shape of a certain size centered on the ‘narrator’ of the story. If you get too far away, the scenery becomes blurry and you can’t see anything.]
Even as the two repeated experiments, the illusion continued to play like a rolling film reel without stopping.
This illusion was set in a fairly neat mansion.
At the front door of the mansion. Men who looked like soldiers were knocking on the door and calling for someone.
“Alejandre! We’ve received complaints from the neighbors that you’re raising a monster! Submit to inspection immediately!”
The soldiers’ tone barely maintained politeness, but their voices leaked undisguisable irritation and hostility.
[It feels like they want to barge in right away but are barely holding back.]
[Judging by the luxurious mansion, he must have been a nobleman, or at least someone of quite high status.]
The one called Alejandre was a middle-aged man who looked to be in his 30s or 40s.
He was gently stroking the head of a child, as if protecting them from the soldiers’ violent voices.
“It’s alright. It’s okay. No one will harm you.”
The child burrowed into Alejandre’s arms, as if seeking comfort.
Its skin was too deep a green to be called human.
Once again, the illusion shattered.
Dorothea covered her mouth with her left hand.
To Dorothea, who seemed lost in thought, Sophia asked, “Is something bothering you?”
“The illusion that you and that tin can first saw. The illusions that you and I just saw in succession. They all had the same individuals as the main characters, right?”
“How is that possible?”
Dorothea frowned as if she couldn’t understand.
“Even in necromancy, there’s magic to read residual thoughts. But it’s usually not very useful. Even a complete soul, if the environment isn’t good, often can’t last even a hundred years before its existence dissipates or loses reason by being tainted with impurities, let alone mere fragments of thoughts. But the scenes we just saw, although fragmentary, are too clear and even contain content that the soul itself wouldn’t normally be able to perceive.
“So then, ‘who’ observed and recorded these scenes? Why are they scattered at the bottom of this lake? If this is due to the power contained in the Chalice of Tuberose, why is it showing the story of that man and child among various past scenes?”
At Dorothea’s words, Sophia gave a bitter smile.
She thought it was so like Dorothea to try to understand the cause and structure of the phenomenon itself rather than reacting to the content of the illusions or the stories of the characters.
She answered simply, “Isn’t it because it’s a dream?”
“Are you trying to play word games now?”
“No. I’m being serious. After all, isn’t that what prophetic dreams are like?”
Like teaching a clever but inexperienced student, Sophia continued her explanation in a gentle voice, “First of all, it’s meaningless to consider the viewpoint in a ‘dream’. In dreams, people can become anyone else, and can also view themselves objectively. If this phenomenon is derived from the dream power possessed by the Chalice of Tuberose, it wouldn’t be strange for it to have similar characteristics.”
Dorothea was silent for a moment, but soon nodded as if understanding.
“And prophecy originally can only know about oneself or things related to oneself. There’s no seeing the future of strangers who have no connection to oneself. One’s own future. A huge event that will affect oneself. Or the future of someone who has come into contact with oneself. These are the kinds of things one can see. In other words, you could say, ‘You see it because it’s worth seeing.’”
Dorothea fell into thought.
After about ten seconds, she said, “...So, you’re saying we’re seeing these illusions because they’re related to us, or will be related to us in the future?”
“I haven’t known about this phenomenon for long, so I’m not certain. After all, the kingdom’s sacred treasures are mysterious objects in many ways.”
If the Tin Knight had seen this, he might have evaluated it as “Isn’t it like a cutscene to help guide the player? If unrelated content suddenly pops up, wouldn’t it be a bug?”
Of course, the realistic Dorothea would have preferred Sophia’s theory over the Tin Knight’s ravings.
The two moved towards a new fissure once again.