Chapter 2
Chapter 2
Boooooooong!!!
The horn announcing the departure echoed across the field.
Knights and Saints, the so-called “Flower Units,” stepped willingly into the abyss with the duty of pushing back darkness and bringing light to the world.
“Ruvel, let’s go.”
“Yeah…”
Darkness drives people insane.
At the deepest part of humanity lies fear of the unknown, and that is fear of darkness.
So humanity once separated darkness from itself.
The first circle of firelight created by a campfire divided inside and outside.
It defined you and me, them and us, and illuminated the fear of the unknown.
Right now, I was inside that circle.
The blue light created by Adela protected us from the unknown darkness beyond.
“There’s something ahead.”
“Yeah, I see it.”
A creature wearing a rusted, crumbling suit of armor stepped out of the darkness, swinging a broken sword.
Between the gaps of the armor, something like tree roots grew in a grotesque shape.
“Haah…”
I swung my sword a few times and cut down what might have once been a comrade.
This is what happens when someone steps outside the Saint’s light.
They lose their way in the darkness, slowly go mad, and eventually become lost wanderers.
If I stepped outside this circle I cling to, I would quickly end up like that too.
That is why, for half a year, I had stayed inside the circle protected by Adela.
“Good work, Ruvel.”
“I’m sorry I’m so weak… it’s always because of me…”
“No, it’s okay—”
Adela always worried about me, someone so useless, and comforted me.
But even then, blood was dripping from her mouth again.
I could not even count how much blood she had shed because of me over these six months.
“If you weren’t here, I would’ve died long ago…”
“Why do you say it like that? We’re protecting each other.”
Knights protect Saints who bring light, and Saints bear the pain and death of knights in return to keep that light burning.
Most knights see their Saints as their purpose.
But I was different.
Every time I saw Adela’s blood, nausea rose inside me as if I needed to vomit out my guilt.
It was unbearable.
All I felt toward Adela was apology.
For being so useless and still being her knight.
As we walked deeper into the darkness, a faint light flickered far ahead.
“Is someone there?”
“Yeah. If it’s a red light like that, it’s probably the Saint of Flame.”
“Then that must be Cassius…”
From the pitch-black void, a red light approached.
Inside it stood a tall knight with neatly tied reddish-brown hair, and a Saint dressed in a spotless black robe.
Cassius Banein… and Phlia.
“Ah, Sir Ruvel. Meeting in the darkness makes it feel even more pleasant.”
Cassius smiled gently as he approached. Then his gaze lowered and unpleasantly swept over Adela.
“Lady Adela looks… paler than usual. I assume she has taken on quite a bit of your pain.”
Then he looked back at me and curled his lips into a faint smile.
“Sir Ruvel, a knight should properly protect his Saint. To constantly survive by borrowing your life… as a fellow knight, I find it quite unfortunate.”
His words were wrapped in politeness, but underneath was clear contempt.
Still, Cassius was not like me, who deserved nothing.
Confidence. Honor. I thought a true knight should be like that.
“Don’t listen to him.”
Adela stepped in front of me and grabbed my collar gently.
“Sir Ruvel, Sir Cassius has been staying too long in the darkness lately…”
Phlia, standing beside him, also pulled lightly at Cassius, looking uneasy.
But even her hand was trembling.
“Hmm, Phlia. I was only worried about you both. As a fellow Saint, wouldn’t you agree?”
“Th-that’s…”
“Sir Ruvel, you should also stop pushing yourself. Perhaps removing that Keystone from your chest and freeing your Saint would be an act of mercy as a knight.”
Ha…
He wasn’t wrong. Not a single word.
“Sir Cassius, Lady Phlia, maybe you should mind your own business.”
Adela cut him off on my behalf.
“Heh… very well, Lady Adela. Phlia, let us move on.”
Step… step…
Their red light slowly faded back into the darkness.
The Keystone embedded in my chest.
The object that linked knights and Saints, transferring pain and death.
That was what pierced my heart.
Remove the Keystone…
Maybe that would be better for Adela too.
“Let’s go, Ruvel. You’re not actually taking his words seriously, right? Don’t be shaken by something like that.”
“Ah… yeah. Of course.”
I wasn’t shaken at all.
Because there was nothing in me left to shake.
A trash who survives by using others. Someone who passes on death without responsibility. A life that simply drags on without purpose.
All of it was true.
I wanted to do something for Adela, who always protected me, but I was afraid of failing if I tried.
Afraid that if I tried my best and failed, I would break the expectations someone had placed on me.
“It’s okay, Ruvel. You’re doing fine. Just like always.”
“That’s right. We’re almost at the temporary base.”
Yeah, we’re almost there.
If I could just rest there, maybe I would be fine again.
Maybe thinking like this was happening because I had stayed in the darkness too long.
Haa—
I took a deep breath and stepped forward again.
After separating from Cassius’s group, we walked for a while longer.
We passed through a damp, silent field, and soon traces of humanity swallowed by darkness appeared.
Carefully built stone walls, neatly painted fences, and paved stone paths.
This was the trace of the temporary base marked on the map.
“Wait, be careful.”
The ground felt sticky, and the smell of iron filled the air.
Squelch, squelch.
There was blood everywhere.
“Looks like something fought here.”
“How far is the base? We should’ve arrived already.”
“Uh… it’s right here.”
Adela pulled out a crumpled map and held it up to her light.
Just seeing her pointing at it made the Keystone in my chest ache.
That faint smile of hers made me decide again.
I could not keep living like this, feeding on others in this half-hearted way.
When we return from this expedition, I will remove the Keystone.
I will stop using others just to survive.
I’ll just go find some mine and live as a labor slave if I have to.
These thoughts kept circling in my mind.
But I never had the courage to act on them.
Maybe this is just what I am.
Not a hero, not someone special.
Just a coward who avoids loss and fears responsibility.
Someone who hides behind others and survives, nothing more.
“Hey, Adela. When we get back this time…”
“Hm? When we get back? Want to eat something good?”
“Ah… yeah, let’s do that.”
I swallowed my words again, not ready for whatever answer might come.
Step… step…
What if I had talent? What if I worked harder?
I had thought about it many times in my past life.
But as always, I never even tried.
I only envied those who were better than me.
Cassius was one of them.
The day I first woke up here, he had been there too.
Always confident, always perfect.
“Sir Ruvel, you should strive harder. A knight should be honorable.”
Even during training.
“Sir Ruvel, don’t take it for granted that Saints bear pain for you. You go too far.”
Even after missions.
He was not always this way toward me.
It was only natural that someone like me would earn his disappointment.
I wanted to be like him, but I couldn’t.
Because I never truly tried.
Step.
Before long, the temporary base was right in front of us.
“This should be the place… huh?”
But the Saint’s guiding light was nowhere to be seen.
It should have been visible from far away.
Why did I only notice now?
“This is bad.”
As we approached, the smell of blood grew stronger.
Beyond the broken walls, bodies were piled like a mountain.
These uniforms…
I know them.
“Adela—!!”
The fallen bodies were the soldiers stationed here.
Something had happened just moments ago.
“Be careful. Something was here.”
Adela nodded behind me.
A woman with her legs torn off crawled across the ground in the distance.
A faint red light surrounded her.
“Phlia!!”
It was Phlia, Cassius’s Saint.
She had been fine just a short while ago.
So what happened here?
If a Saint was like this, then Cassius must have also fallen.
“Sir Cassius was… suddenly dragged outside the light—”
Phlia’s voice was faint, trembling as she spoke.
“Ruvel, we need to run—”
Adela grabbed my wrist, ready to pull me away.
“No. That’s not it.”
This time, I will cut it off.
The parasite thought so.
“…wandering everywhere, still alive or not—”
Behind Phlia, something staggered forward.
Cassius.
His limbs were twisted, his body broken, dragging a massive corrupted greatsword wrapped in roots.
Even someone like him… can lose his way in the darkness?
“Hurry!! Ruvel!!”
Even Cassius could lose himself and be swallowed here.
What guarantee did I have?
If I end up like that, I would surely kill Adela with my own hands.
I did not want that.
“Adela, I’ll buy time. Leave me and run. Find a better knight.”
I placed my hand on the Keystone.
My heart pounded violently.
“…Hey!! Ruvel, are you insane?”
Adela grabbed my wrist and stopped me.
“You’re saying you’re going to die, aren’t you? I can’t leave you.”
Why do you go that far for me?
I don’t understand.
“…Fine. I won’t pull it out. Let’s just focus on getting back alive.”
I forced a small laugh.
“Yeah. Don’t ever do that again.”
Right. Focus on now.
Cassius staggered toward us.
My stomach churned.
If I hesitate here, we won’t make it back.
Adela will die carrying even my pain.
If I had known it would come to this, maybe I should have tried harder.
Tried to live properly.
Only now, facing death for the second time, did regret come.
My trembling legs moved forward.
Maybe I’ve improved a little.
If I had one more chance to live…
Then I would not live like this.
Splatter… splatter…
Blood soaked my boots.
Then something strange happened.
Memories began to seep from the blood.
Fragments of the past flashed before my eyes.
Screams.
Broken limbs.
Cassius losing control and slaughtering people.
‘What… is this…’
These were the memories of the dead.
Like some kind of psychometry.
My mind was being torn apart by the memories of the dead.
And within them… I saw it.
Cassius’s movements. His sword.
Like glimpses of the future, the memories of the dead showed me paths I could take.
“Ru… Ruvel… pull it… you foolish… pathetic parasite…”
My mind slowly settled.
I placed my trembling hand on the sword hilt.
I was stepping over the dead.
But maybe I could change something.
“Yeah… Cassius. I’ll learn from you.”
My reflection in Cassius’s blade stared back at me.
This time, I won’t disappoint.
Not myself.
Not Adela.