Chapter 28: Twilight (2)
Chapter 28: Twilight (2)
「The Path」 and 「The Path」 entwined and collided.
Straight lines tangled, curved into arcs, scattered chaotically, and then converged once more. Meken walked forward slowly, sword in hand.
It was not I who stood against him.
In this moment, the one wielding 「Twilight」 was not the boy Arhan Caravan, but the sword’s original master—the honorable knight, Sir Petel. With his hair neatly slicked back and his mouth stubbornly set, he stood in his characteristically stiff, formal posture, silently facing his foe like the noble knight he was.
My hands became Petel’s hands; my arms became Petel’s arms. The complete Sir Petel, unconsumed by disease, was a sturdier man than I had ever known.
『Young Master Arhan.』
This was not the "Line" of the Caravans.
At this moment, a different kind of 「Path」 was unfolding within my heart.
『I wished to leave a few more of my traces upon this world.』
『I suppose that, too, is a form of greed.』
To my eyes, it was a strange sight.
I could not tell if that path was a technique created by a 「Sword Walker」 scattering mana, or if it was the literal footprint of the life a man named Petel had walked.
『Even if the world forgets, I hope that you, Young Master, will remember.』
One thing was certain.
『That a certain knight struggled against this harsh world until the very end of his life.』
That path was every bit as solid as that of a Caravan.
Simultaneously, a surge of memories filled my head.
Petel’s final memories.
『I emerged victorious in seventeen duels of honor. I protected you on battlefields where fire arrows and mage bombardments rained down. When five hundred starving refugees came, I alone held the castle gate.』
『I devoted myself to you.』
『And as a reward for that devotion, the world granted me an incurable disease.』
*
I barely managed to win the duel of honor I started purely for your sake. Even after that, several knights challenged me, claiming they would make me pay for my "sins." I won all seventeen of those duels. Everyone called me a stubborn bastard.
"Do you really think you can protect that fallen noble bitch like that? You’ll regret this."
"……."
"The powerhouses of the continent call knights 'dogs' and despise them in secret. They’re half right. We’re nothing more than dogs who turn into mere thugs the moment we lose the shelter and food our masters provide."
"……."
"Change your course now. Why are you clinging to a master who can’t even feed or house you? Find a new master, you ignorant fool."
They were thorny words, but hard to refute.
I ate meager food and stayed in a corner of a shabby inn. When money ran low, I wore a mask and took on mercenary requests to cover our living expenses.
It was a far cry from the glamorous life of a knight I had dreamed of.
But I couldn't leave.
"Sir Petel. Leave, please."
Even when she was forcibly conscripted and thrown onto the battlefield during the bloody struggle for the throne between the princes of the Iron Kingdom, I could not leave.
"Why won't you leave? Why?"
A battlefield where fire arrows and mage bombardments poured down. Even in that wilderness where the spears and blades of trained soldiers clashed and lives crumbled amidst screams and shrieks, I protected you.
In the middle of that chaotic battlefield, even while atop a swaying horse, you pushed me away and spoke.
Leave, Petel. You can live.
Even if I die here, you are already an honorable knight. There are many knight orders that would take you in, and your life would be far more valuable than dying a dog's death in a place like this.
Abandon me.
And live your own life.
"Petel, please……."
I still remember you crying in front of the flickering stables in the silent wilderness camp after the war ended. Looking at me, covered in blood and scorched by the mages' bombardment, you cried like a child.
Just like a long time ago, when you fell while learning to ride a horse and wailed.
"Why... why do you stay by my side?"
The war destroyed your family. Your father, my employer, died in the conflict, his head impaled on an enemy banner, eyes wide in death. Your mother took her own life after being taken prisoner, and your brothers died buried in the dirt.
You could no longer be called a noble.
You could no longer be called beautiful.
You no longer had any rights left to exercise as my master.
The contract your father held when he hired me long ago had already been burned, and it had been a long time since you were able to pay me my wages.
But I did not leave.
In front of the quiet barracks, I spoke to you as you sobbed.
"Because I am the loyal Petel."
You survived the war. Your pure, delicate appearance that suited the name Daisy had faded in the harshness of the conflict. Your laughter vanished, your soft skin grew rough, your hair became a tangled mess from lack of washing, and small scars remained on your face.
In exchange, you regained your noble rights. By a stroke of luck, you became a Countess during the purges the Second Prince of Iron carried out to bolster his authority. You were no longer a fallen noble, but Daisy of the Count’s House.
Even after rising to the rank of Countess, you did not seem happy.
You were burdened by your duties and had to shoulder the resentment caused by the princes' war. Some of the residents of the territory Daisy had been granted pounded on the castle gates, threatening to raid the granaries.
I stood alone against five hundred refugees and held the gate. Because I could not slaughter the starving, I stood there silently in my armor, enduring the stones, fists, and insults they threw. I thought it was fine, as long as it eased their anger.
Only after being beaten nearly to death did I limp back to face you. You looked exhausted after finishing your duties, and I, who had not knelt even before five hundred men, willingly knelt before you.
"Petel."
You no longer needed to call me 'Sir Petel.'
You were a legitimate noble again, you had regained the wealth to pay my wages, and you were a Countess with a proper territory and castle.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry... Petel."
But why did you still cry like a child?
I could not hate you as you hugged my hard armor, getting covered in my dust and blood. I watched you as you sobbed and stroked my back.
Like you, who buried your face in me, I wanted to open my arms and hold you tight. I raised my hand for a moment, then stopped. Instead, I simply spoke bluntly, as I always did.
"……I am so very glad to have become your escort knight."
Using your newfound wealth and connections, you treated my scars and repaired my battered equipment. Then, you even introduced me to a position in a prestigious knight order.
Peaceful days continued.
But my sword realm would not rise.
The steps of a 「Sword Runner」 were far too high. While those who became knights at the same time as me, or even those who started later, grew wings and soared, I remained in the same place.
The number of knights protecting you grew. Those knights were all proven experts, all 「Sword Runners」. Yet, you kept me closest to you.
"They're sleeping together."
Malicious rumors about you began to spread.
Even so, you did not distance yourself from me. You were becoming a more wonderful person every day, while I remained stuck in the same spot, failing to improve. I was simply growing old.
It was likely from then.
The moment the inferiority complex began to bloom, eating away at my heart.
"I don't know why that woman keeps that useless dog by her side."
I was no longer the protagonist of your story. By your side were many knights worthy of being called protagonists, individuals born with brilliant talent.
Having overcome adversity, you became the protagonist, and I, who had stood by through that process, was merely an ugly spectator who refused to leave the stage. Someone who ruined the atmosphere, deserved to be jeered at, and had no right to stand on the stage.
The only thing I could give you was my loyalty.
That was all I had. And so, I felt so small and pathetic.
"……."
That is likely why I became even more obsessed with the sword and the wings.
At the same time, I devoted myself with a desperate struggle, driven by the foolish and inferior thought that you might abandon me, all to ensure I wouldn't be cast aside.
Perhaps the God I serve thought that struggle was too hideous and decided to take my life.
That’s enough, Petel.
Like that.
Translated into human language, those words sounded like this:
"I honestly don't know what this disease is. All I can tell you is that your time is short. The spots will gradually consume your body, and there is no way to stop it."
"……."
"I'm sorry. I don't think there's any help I can give you."
The world sentenced me to death.
It wasn't a death at the end of a knightly duel, nor a glorious end met while protecting you. It was a death caused by a very pathetic and horrific disease.
For three days, I didn't sleep a wink or eat a single meal, spending the time in a daze. The knight order expelled me, treating me like a leper, and high priests and healers banned me from entering, fearing I might be contagious.
Even the villagers I had helped were the same.
The healer who took my money and gave me the diagnosis blabbered that Sir Petel was sick, and those who heard him treated me like a plague victim. Overnight, the world changed, and my life was ruined.
That evening, Daisy came to find me.
For the first time, you said:
"Don't leave, Petel."
Don't leave, Petel.
Even if you die like this, you are the greatest knight to me. I will use everything I have to find a way to cure you, and even if you die, I will give you the highest honors. So please, don't leave alone. Stay by my side until the end.
Don't leave me.
Decorate your life together with me.
You, who had always told me to leave, asked me to stay with you when I was at my most pathetic. Not with the eyes of Countess Daisy, but with the eyes of the girl Daisy I remembered.
"I love you, Petel."
Perhaps that was a feeling both you and I already knew. Perhaps they were the words I had waited my whole life to hear. Something so dishonorable that a knight should never harbor, yet something I had buried in a corner of my heart nonetheless.
Perhaps, if I hadn't fallen ill, I might have kissed you.
I might have thrown everything away and spent this night with you.
But I must not.
You are shining so brightly, and I have now been swallowed by the darkness.
My role is now completely over.
To stay here any longer would only dim your light, the protagonist. A character who has served their purpose must exit the stage. That is the most beautiful ending.
I still remember you looking at me with affection.
And I remember the sunset behind you, beautifully staining the world in vermilion. The twilight I saw in the city that day seemed to represent my life.
I cannot drag you, the rising sun, into my twilight.
For after twilight, only the dark night remains.
And so, I decided to leave.
Because I am the loyal Petel.
Because I wanted to be remembered by you as a protagonist forever.
After you returned to the mansion, I left quietly.
Muttering to myself where no one could hear.
"I loved you too, Daisy."
I left the territory and wandered through the most remote villages of the Iron Kingdom. I sought out places where there were no people, wandering in search of total isolation. Because you were brilliant, news of you reached me occasionally.
"They say Countess Daisy is getting married. To the White family of the North, no less."
"But did you hear the rumor? They say Countess Daisy is spending a fortune, desperately searching for a certain knight……."
I had to find a place where no one was.
Lonelily, without causing trouble to anyone.
I didn't want anyone to see my corpse.
It didn't matter if I was buried in the dirt or became food for animals. I didn't want you to see my pathetic state and have that be the last memory you had of me.
During that long journey, I tried to forget you.
The only time I allowed myself to think of you during my daily routine was in the evening. When the vermilion sunset stained the world, for just that brief moment, I would recall your affectionate gaze.
Then, I arrived at a certain village.
There was a peculiar boy there.
"I don't ever want to... give up before I even fight... because I lost to fear... ever again."
For some reason, it was hard to take my eyes off that boy.
The boy's sword and his sturdy heart were remarkable, but the most striking thing was the determined will held within his eyes. A shining will that suited the word 'protagonist' far better than someone like me.
And so, I became a neighbor in that village.
Time passed quickly.
The spots slowly gnawed away at my life, clouded my clear mind, and ruined my body wretchedly. While I was crumbling and falling apart, I saw a certain knight visit.
I saw the boy in danger, and I decided to take his crime upon myself.
"I killed him."
In truth, it wasn't so much an act of goodwill to protect the boy as it was my own personal greed.
"Didn't you hear? 'Loyal Petel,' formerly of the 「Green Deer」 Knights, winner of seventeen duels of honor, a man who always upheld his honor. I'm the one who killed him. Your runaway knight."
Because I thought it would be a good way to decorate my end.
Because looking at that knight's wings, I fell into a sense of inferiority once more. Because I thought it wouldn't be bad if the pathetic end of this life was decided by the sword of one who possessed the wings I had yearned for my entire life.
Because it was ridiculous that I was still thinking of you, Daisy, while looking at those wings. Because I thought that if I had wings, it wouldn't have been ugly even if I had stayed by your side longer. Because it felt like all this misery was caused by my own inadequacy—by my failure to obtain wings.
And so, I took up my sword.
Of course, as I had always known, the world was harsh.
"I like the twilight."
I died without even seeing the end of the duel.
"I thought it was beautiful how it stains the entire continent in vermilion after the day ends and before the dark night arrives. It felt like us humans, trying to leave our traces before our brilliant youth ends and dark death approaches."
In truth, the reason I like the twilight is because it reminds me of you.
I smiled at the boy. I felt sorry that I couldn't tell him the whole story. But I couldn't bring myself to speak honestly of your story and my feelings to another.
For I was fundamentally a stiff, frustrating, and foolish man who did not talk about himself. It was fine if the boy remembered me as a wandering knight abandoned due to an incurable disease.
However, if I were to have one final bit of greed, it would be for someone to remember my struggle.
Surely that much is alright.
"Please... take my sword."
I saw my complete death.
Looking at the sunset in the distance, at the world being dyed in vermilion, I still thought of you. The warmth I felt from your hand, the scent of flowers, your fresh smile and voice, your sobbing face as you told me to leave, and your affectionate eyes as you held onto me, begging me not to go.
Your blushing face as you whispered of love.
Foolishly, as I died, I laughed with relief while thinking of you.
Perhaps, just as you still had the face of a girl even at that age, a part of my heart had remained in my youth as well.
I—the boy Petel—dreamed of becoming a protagonist.
But having passed through youth to become a young man, I failed to become one. At the end of a pathetic death, I saw the light. The sunset was beautiful, after all.
Just like you.
That was.
The end of a certain knight, Petel.
.
.
.
"……."
Countless 「Paths」 entwine and entwine again.
The sword brought by Petel’s memories was as solid as it was honest. My 「Twilight」 did not let itself be deceived by the myriad of paths; it unfolded its own.
Meken’s paths were destroyed one by one.
It looked less like a sword fight and more like a proof of a life lived.
Like the times he won seventeen duels of honor, like when he protected his master amidst the war, like when he held the gate alone while being beaten nearly to death by refugees.
It looked like the will of a man, now departed from this world, who fought for what he had to protect without breaking. The 「Path」 stretched out and out. The paths stretched in all directions eventually merged into one. As if many branching roads ultimately lead to a single destination.
The many winding paths turned into a thin thread the moment they became one.
The moment I saw that thread, which looked like a ray of light, I inhaled with all my might.
"Whew—"
I inherited the 「Path」 taught by Petel’s life.
The inherited path took on the properties of Steel through the Caravan blood, hardening more solidly than anything else, and soon became a single Line.
Following that line, I gripped Petel’s sword, took a step, and charged as if flying through the sky, swinging the sword with heavy force. Not like swinging a blade, but like swinging a massive axe, in a blunt and ignorant posture.
And then, for a very brief moment, my consciousness went blank.
"Ha—"
When I came to, I was standing behind Meken.
Red blood was splattered across the dirt ground.
With a thud, Meken’s sword rolled on the ground, snapped into pieces. Above the broken sword lay two severed arms.
"Aaaah, aaaaaagh!"
Meken had lost both arms.
I steadied my ragged breathing and looked at the screaming Meken.
Then, I faced the knights surrounding the arena, staring at me with eyes full of disbelief. I raised the sword I held high and drove it into the dirt.
Thump. The ground shook.
Squeezing out what little strength I had left, I spoke.
"Announce the winner of the duel of honor."
I saw an apprentice knight standing with his mouth agape. Above him, I saw Liam’s face floating. Liam had a wide smirk on his face.
「Splendid.」
I had proven that my kind neighbor’s life was right.
Yes.
"Hurry."
In the Caravan way.
*
「Name: Twilight」
「A long, sharp sword used by the knight Petel.」
「A typical longsword used by knights.」
「Digestion complete.」
.
.
.
「The Steel Blood is hungry.」
「Please consume a new sword.」