Becoming Their Guiding Spirit

Justyna came from a remote village in Kazimierz, one whose name couldn’t even be pinpointed. It was debatable whether this village even existed on the official maps of Kazimierz. Due to the mountainous and isolated nature of the village, information was cut off, so Justyna naturally didn’t know that the Knight Major in recent years had become severely capitalized. But in the young Justyna’s heart, knights were great. She longed to put on the shining armor of a knight and charge onto the battlefield, full of valor.

Later, the news of the Radiant Knight’s victory spread throughout all of Kazimierz, including the remote village where Justyna lived. It was then that Justyna came to regard the Radiant Knight as the greatest knight in modern Kazimierz, bar none. With this as her goal, she set off from her hometown.

Alone, she embarked on a pilgrimage to the Grand Knight Territory. However, it was only after arriving in the Grand Knight Territory that Justyna learned that the Radiant Knight had been exiled from Kazimierz because she had contracted Oripathy. It was also at that time that Justyna accidentally contracted Oripathy herself.

Moreover, at that time, the Infected were not allowed to become official knights, and naturally could not participate in the knight competitions.

So Justyna left the Grand Knight Territory and came to this city to try and make a living.

As Justyna turned to leave, her feet, which had taken two steps forward, suddenly stopped. She didn’t turn her head, but kept her back to Sona.

”Sona....”

”Hmm?”

Sona tilted her head, looking very cute.

”What do you think of the Knight Major now?”

Sona answered without hesitation: ”Disappointed.”

”Me too...”

Seeing that Sona also felt this way, Justyna let out a sigh of relief. In truth, Justyna had already begun to feel disappointed when she participated in today’s Knight Major. The audience was reveling in it, and the vast majority of knights had already grown numb. Perhaps, most of these veteran knights had also been disappointed when they were young, at Sona’s and Justyna’s age. But, at the end of the day, they had to eat. In the end, their so-called knightly spirit was defeated by the reality of daily necessities.

Justyna turned around, her pale golden eyes meeting Sona’s.

”Do you want to withdraw from the competition? Sona... The Knight Major today is no longer like it was in the Radiant Knight’s time....”

Justyna asked.

”Of course.... not!!”

Sona even added a deliberate pause.

”Hmm?”

Sona’s answer surprised Justyna.

”If you ask me why, I just want to say, if we only ever retreat, if everyone retreats when they encounter difficulties, then the Knight Major of the future will only be worse than it is now. And the knightly spirit will only disintegrate further.”

Sona looked up at the starry sky, somewhat melancholic, yet filled with determination.

Of the ten Infected who participated in the Knight Major today.

Only Sona and Justyna had won. Four died on the spot, two were crippled, and two were severely injured.

No one cared about the Infected who died, were crippled, or severely injured. They only felt happy, finding it a thrilling spectacle.

To be honest.

The most heartbreaking part of all this wasn’t the bigwigs at the Chamber of Commerce who treated the lives of the Infected, and indeed all knights, as objects. It was the common people cheering and shouting in excitement in front of their screens and at the venue.

No one truly cared about the living conditions of the Infected. Or perhaps, not everyone was indifferent, but the current situation forced everyone to become indifferent.

Having witnessed it all and experienced it firsthand, Sona finally understood what Lucas Reeve had told her earlier.

Kazimierz was currently lacking a sun strong enough to disperse the dark clouds.

”I want to keep competing. I want to do something for all the Infected in Kazimierz. I know my light can’t shine as brightly as the Radiant Knight’s, but... the light of a firefly... is still light. Even if it’s just a tiny spark, and it could be extinguished at any moment, for the low-level Infected who have fallen into endless darkness, perhaps this is hope...”

Justyna stared at Sona, stunned for a long time. She, too, raised her head to look at the sky.

At this moment, the moon in the sky was obscured by dark clouds, just like the Kazimierz of today.

”I’ll keep competing too...”

”Mhm!!”

——————————

Two months later