Chapter 45: Footsteps of the Ancient Sages

A child’s voice is heard.

And there is someone answering that child’s question.

[Me? I am a knight.]

[A knight? What is a knight?]

In response to the child’s innocent question, a triumphant voice rings out.

[One who overcomes the impossible.

One who can die for a noble ideal.

One who endures even the most unbearable pain.

One who knows how to reflect upon and correct their own mistakes.

One who loves righteousness and goodness more than anyone else.

One who resolutely strikes down evil enemies.

And one who possesses the courage to run to the ends of the earth with dreams, love, hope, and faith.

That is what a knight is.]

“…….”

Kariel, having let go of the sword, focused for a while on chewing over the voice that had flashed through his mind.

‘What was that?’

What did I just hear?

-Why? Did you see something strange, just as I expected?

The Golden Girl thrust her large eyes right in front of his face.

He let out a startled gasp, but fortunately, he managed to compose himself quickly enough to avoid any further unsightly behavior.

She knew perfectly well that even if he asked now, he was in no position to answer.

“Ruel? What’s wrong?”

Perhaps his behavior had somehow instilled a sense of anxiety in those who had been watching him.

Kariel answered Alessia, who was approaching, in a hesitant tone.

“Ah, well… I heard a voice.”

“A voice? What? You heard a voice after touching the sword?”

“Ah, yes. Something like that.”

She nodded without suspicion.

Then, Philbar, who was nearby, let out an exclamation.

“Can you read the will imbued within an object? No, in this case, since you heard it, did you eavesdrop? That would be the appropriate way to put it! Oh! Inspiration! Paper! Pen! Quickly!”

Philbar’s servants rushed to bring pens and scrolls of paper.

They even brought a wooden board to serve as a desk, holding it up with both arms, and upon it, he spread the scroll and began to move his pen with practiced ease.

Alessia asked softly.

“What did you hear? Did you hear anything bad by any chance?”

Now, not only her, but Baronen and his son had also gathered around.

“So…”

Kariel told them about the dialogue between the young boy and the mysterious man.

“Could it be that you somehow overheard the moment Saint Kariel personally taught a child the mindset of a knight? That is truly remarkable.”

At Baron Roia’s words, Rudhi raised a doubt with a slightly troubled expression.

“But isn’t it somewhat different from the contents of the oath?”

“No. For a child, this kind of explanation might actually be more appropriate because it’s more romantic. Words phrased like that are cooler, aren’t they?”

Luke actively asserted his opinion, suggesting that it was entirely possible.

“Romance! Yes! Very good! In the era when the profession of a knight was first emerging in human history, a knight blooming with romance, intending to awaken emotion rather than reason! To plant a dream in a child! To recite such a romantic knightly mindset! It’s a picture! A perfect picture!”

The pen in Philbar’s hand danced as if possessed, tirelessly crossing the blank spaces of the scroll.

“The answer was in a place I never expected.”

Somehow.

As if by appointment, everyone’s gaze shifted toward Kariel.

“…….”

Kariel, wearing a bewildered expression, suddenly—

“……?”

He witnessed a vision of children playing.

Two boys and one girl.

Three little ones were running somewhere.

“What do you see now?”

“Uh, well…”

At Philbar’s question, Kariel raised his hand and pointed in one direction.

“I see something, I see children.”

“What are they doing?”

“They’re running somewhere.”

“Th-then, how about we follow them?”

As soon as Philbar boarded the carriage and the canopy was folded.

Kariel followed the vision of the figures standing with their backs turned, as if they had been waiting for him.

“This place is…”

Kariella.

It was right at the entrance of the city.

“Wait a moment!”

The carriage pulled into the shade of a building near the entrance.

Getting out, he took out the cloth with the magic circle again and began trying various things.

Then, he expressed his disappointment.

“…There is a reaction, but it’s not here either.”

“This is becoming a headache,” Baron Roia complained.

“Still, isn’t it a blessing that we’ve found a clue like this?”

“That is true.”

“It’s thanks to me, right?”

When Luke spoke with a smirk.

“It’s not thanks to you; it’s just a stroke of luck,” Alessia countered.

Luke, naturally, played it off, claiming it was his merit after all.

Observing this scene from a slight distance, as if watching from across a river, Kariel.

Everything was simply confusing.

While he was confused by everything that had happened to him.

On the other hand, he was… slightly moved by this situation where he could immerse himself in something.

The fact that he could get along with many people without any particular burden or tension.

…He felt that the meaning of it was quite special.

Then, suddenly.

Inside the city.

He spotted someone standing amidst the crowd.

The person, standing silently.

Was simply, consistently, keeping their gaze fixed straight ahead.

====

-Most humans. No, regardless of race, intelligent beings, rational beings have little interest in others.

Unless it provides a level of curiosity beyond imagination.

-A child opening a fairy tale to find interest will have sparkling eyes at the story of the Hero, the protagonist, but they will never give any attention to an unremarkable dwarf who is neither the protagonist nor a key helper, someone who might just pass by.

But what if the dwarf is the Hero, the protagonist?

-At that point, I’d just close the book.

Because it’s not my interest!

Because it’s not the story I wanted.

Because it’s not the character I wanted!

-Truly a frustrating matter.

Kariel briefly glanced at the Demon King, who was grumbling as if talking to herself above his head.

Kariel couldn’t help but be somewhat puzzled as to what she was talking about.

-In that sense, was that fellow over there lucky or unlucky?

Eventually.

Among the passing crowds.

He approached someone standing there.

However, that person had no physical substance.

Right now, several people were passing right through his shoulder, no, his entire torso.

For example, this was something visible only to him.

-What do you think?

“…That is not for me to judge.”

Kariel stared at the silently standing vision.

A man who stood firmly, yet looked as if he might collapse or crumble at any moment.

His recently grown hair was messily disheveled, and his clothing was a wreck.

Torn, and cluttered with dust and mud.

Nevertheless, he seemed unconcerned, simply staring straight ahead.

The sword held in his hand.

“…….”

Kariel knows what this is.

He didn’t know until yesterday.

No, until a moment ago, it was something he knew nothing about.

But now he knows.

“This man…”

His body seemed sturdy, though his current appearance looked utterly pathetic.

This man is.

…The man from 300 years ago.

His name.

Its origin.

“…….”

Kariel reached out his hand.

He felt a premonition that something was about to happen.

However, he honestly didn’t know what omen or conclusion it would bring.

But.

For some unknown reason, he felt that he had to do it.

Eventually, as Kariel’s hand touched the man’s body.

Many things passed by rapidly.

A boy collapsing.

A knight clad in jet-black iron armor, continuing to give various instructions and guidance to him.

Following the knight’s movements, the boy also gripped a clumsy wooden stick and imitated him.

Even after the knight departed.

The boy did not rest.

Running through the plains to build basic physical strength, climbing up and down hills.

Climbing trees and descending, swimming as if against the river.

Again, he swung the stick.

And that sight felt more familiar than expected.

The jet-black knight, returning once more, occasionally corrected his posture.

Then he left without a word.

The boy, perhaps reaching the age, grew in physique, and his face became quite mature.

Also, the boy and girl he associated with became a proper young man and woman.

…And he watched them get married in a modest ceremony.

The young man.

Ignoring it, he swung the stick again—no, an iron sword, which had been changed at some point.

Chopping wood to provide for the village in exchange for some food.

Catching fish with his bare hands in the river, and even hunting.

While being self-sufficient, he devoted half of every single day to sword training.

He had no parents; all he had were his friends.

However, aside from his friends, he was somewhat alienated.

But he didn’t care.

When the knight returned again, he gifted him a fairly decent iron sword.

“At this level, you could find success anywhere you go.”

“I didn’t swing the sword for the sake of success. I did it because I wanted to be like you, mister.”

The boy had now become a man.

For over ten years, he had swung the sword steadfastly, like a fool.

He trained his body and even learned to read and write, just in case.

“Was there a reason you had to work so hard?”

When the jet-black knight asked.

The man did not hesitate.

“My parents told me to live a life without regrets.”

It was their last will.

Please look only forward.

Do not weep while thinking of them.

“But I regret every single day. Because I was weak, I couldn’t protect the two of them.”

No one scolded him.

It was inevitable.

Because he was a child.

But.

If he had possessed strength, he might still be living with his parents.

He might have had a younger sibling.

The neighbor uncle, the grandfather, the grandmother… who all became corpses overnight due to bandits and robbers.

They all might have lived.

“I couldn’t help it.”

But.

“I hope other children do not harbor the same regret and sadness that I did. For that, I want to become strong like you, mister.”

“…….”

The jet-black knight let out a deep sigh.

“Usually, one is left disappointed, but the ways of the world are indeed unpredictable. After wandering through so many places, to find a person with such pure will in a place where I expected nothing.”

The man could not know what the knight’s words meant or what weight they carried.

Perhaps he would never understand it in his lifetime.

“Perhaps this too is part of the arrangement,” the jet-black knight said.

“You say you want to protect someone, to guard them so they have no regrets, and to defend them. Is that what you said?”

“Yes.”

“Why? Is not oneself more important than others? With that strength, you could achieve success, find a good spouse, have children, and live a prosperous life.”

“Would that make the tragedies disappear? The world is a hell. Even my living well would be nothing more than closing my eyes and ignoring that sight, wouldn’t it?”

“I do not know if you can change the world with youthful passion, but it is a futile effort.”

The jet-black knight knew it very well.

That a mere individual.

The moment they decide they want to change the world by their own will.

That person inevitably faces it.

Under this vast world.

Under this hideous yet glittering world.

Just how powerless the strength of an individual is.

How miserably weak the strength of a single person is.

“But if no one does it, shouldn’t I at least try?”

“…….”

“Isn’t that why you, too, went here and there, hoping for someone who could change the world, mister?”

“That is…”

It was strange.

The time they had spent together was extremely short.

Why.

How.

Is this child.

Seeing right through my heart?

“I simply wanted to be someone wonderful.”

That was how it started.

As he gradually understood the structure of the tragedies that made the world suffer.

As he drew closer to its true nature.

He realized that it was the enemy that must absolutely be defeated.

But it has no form.

Therefore, it cannot even be defeated.

How lamentable and resentful a thing this is.

“Isn’t that enough?”

“That is enough? Why?”

“If not the me of today, then the me of tomorrow can just do it, can’t they? If I cannot, then another me of tomorrow, my descendant, my offspring, can do it.”

“It is not such an easy task.”

“We won’t know unless we try, will we?”

Back when he first gripped the wooden stick.

Back when he kept the training methods the knight told him to follow in his head.

The boy thought.

Will I actually be able to do this?

That was his only question.

“If it didn’t work, it couldn’t be helped. But that isn’t a reason not to do it, or a reason why I shouldn’t do it, is it?”

“Stop. If you go any further, you will surely come to regret it.”

The walls of the world are truly high.

The moment one realizes that the height eventually reaches the heavens.

It becomes a barrier that can absolutely never be overcome.

A mere city wall becomes nothing.

Yet, in reality, even such a wall is something an individual cannot even dare to dream of.

“However, your words make sense.”

So, show me.

“From now on, engrave my words deep within your soul.”

Surely, surely.

“Live so that you have no shame when looking up at the sky. You may fall, and you may weep. You may collapse and lie down because it is too hard. But do not forget one thing.”

Please, live without shame.

“If you can keep this, some of the things you spoke of will be protected.”

Perhaps.

“A tomorrow better than what you expected may follow.”

Eventually, as the knight turned his back.

“Will I not be able to see you anymore?”

The man had such a feeling.

“I intend to return to my hometown.”

“Your hometown?”

“Yes.”

Because I’ve done all I can here.

The jet-black knight muttered softly.

When he first saw him, he had looked so strong and immense.

That figure was so vast and so dazzling.

He had been busy simply chasing that figure.

“What should I call you, Master?”

“Master. That is an overestimation.”

The jet-black knight remained silent for a long time.

Then, he answered like this.

“Grandeus. Call me that.”

And, I shall remember your name for a long time.

“Kariel. I appoint you as the successor who will inherit the will I cast aside. Therefore, in the Middle Realm, you are my Agent of the Divine.”