A charcoal fire that had been burned red, and the golden red flames jumped on the black wood, bringing a little sad warmth.

Grisenda knew exactly what she had done wrong—she had been timid at the pinch, though she had expected it—and she had been engraved with an unforgettable fear from the very beginning of her understanding.

She fears all tiny creatures, including insects and mice, and she fears amplified versions of these terrifying monsters.

When she saw the body of the huge ant, she felt that it was dark in front of her, and she staggered as if she was about to fall backwards. Had it not been for the last shred of faith and Nisol's shouts, she would have been unconscious. She shuddered at the disgusting fluff and tentacles of the giant ants, as well as the foul-smelling slime.

Grisenda had never felt the slightest fear in a battle with a man or humanoid, and even the rivers of blood had made her take a step back. But these seemingly harmless tiny lives of humans and animals easily defeated the mountains that could never be crossed in the eyes of ordinary people. In terms of the strength of the knights, it was difficult for Grisenda to find a suitable opponent in the whole of Vasilia and even in the exiled kingdom. But when it comes to the weakness of knights, there is no one more fatal than Grisenda's.

Nisol silently observed the dancing flames, his eyes flashing with fire. He was in a mixed mood, both glad that he had escaped death, but also doubts and worries caused by Glicenta's inaction.

It was late at night.

"The giant ants won't come to them, they're afraid of fire and light. After the two of them were silent for an unknown amount of time, Nisol was the first to break the silence. "You can sleep in peace, there is no danger. But it's better to have someone here to keep watch, and I won't sleep, and I'll help you watch the wind. ”

Grisenda sat next to her with her hands on her knees. Hearing what she had just said, she moved her eyebrows slightly, narrowed her eyes, and then said in a trembling voice: "It's okay, I can't sleep......"

Time stopped at this moment again. The two of them seemed to be frozen, not saying a word and not moving. Grisenda longed for the other to speak, so that she could find an excuse to vent the bitterness in her heart. Nisol also longed for Grisenda to explain his affairs first, as he never spoke to comfort others first.

The flame gradually went out, and Nisol came back to his senses in a trance. He picked up a twig, picked at the lump of wood, and then leaned in and blew on it, and the fire burned again vigorously.

"You know what? Grisenda, I don't really care much about your past. He said. "I know you're a very good knight, and I know that you must have had a hard time pulling out your weapon to attack. ”

"It's fine. You can blame me for it, it's all my fault. Grisenda turned her head to the right, unwilling to look at Nisol.

"Why should I blame you?" said Nisol grinned.

"Why don't you blame me, isn't it because of me that you're in this predicament?" Glicenta shrunk her legs over her body. "I'm sorry for you. I could have beheaded a Momike with a wave of my hand, but I can't even remember what they looked like. ”

"Didn't we survive? What are we talking about now? Trying to get through the night is what we need to talk about now. Nisol shook his head. "You'd better go to bed and don't waste time here. ”

Grisenda felt her tears flow again.

"I'm sorry for you, I'm really sorry......" Grisenda choked up. "I'm really not suitable to be an adventurer, I don't even dare to enter that kind of dungeon, I don't even dare to kill this kind of ant, what's the use of such an adventurer?"

"Nonsense, I believe you are the best knight. You are more noble than an adventurer, so you can't say anything more useless. Nisol looked up at her. "You're in tears. ”

"I know!" said Glicenta scribbling with her hand. "I don't want to come here again, we'll go back tomorrow. When I arrived at the colony, I set off for Stormfort. I'm just going to be a drag bottle here...... I can only be a drag oil bottle anywhere......"

Nisol was silent for a moment.

"Glicenta," he said, rising from the ground and slowly walking over to hers. Grisenda turned her head again and buried the tears in her hands. "Can I sit here?"

She sniffled.

"Oh......"

Nisol sat down. Grisenda shifted in the other direction.

"As I said, I don't care about your past, I don't know what you've been through. Because none of that matters, Grisenda, the point is what do you want right now?"

"Hmph, I can't do anything anyway. ”

"Tell me, what did you do wrong?"

"Are you a fool?!" Grisenda suddenly looked at him and smacked Nisol on the shoulder with her right hand. "If it weren't for me, you'd probably be able to leave that place soon. With me, you're almost going to be gnawed to pieces by those big ants. What's the use of me, you say? It was a mistake for me to want to retrieve my grandfather's relics, it was a mistake for me to aspire to be an adventurer, and it was a mistake for me to swear to solve the problems of the colonies. I've lived with mistakes all my life, and nothing can change me!"

"You can change a lot ......"

"How do I change, you tell me!" large tears flowed down her cheeks, pooled on her chin, and dripped down her trembling hands. "I could have left the Storm Fortress a long time ago, but I was afraid of the unknown life outside, so I gave up, and all I got was endless worry and fear. I was terrified, so I left the person I loved most in my life and let her spend the rest of her life with that horrible old man in Storm Fortress. I didn't want to see that pale face again, so I fled, vowing never to set foot in the Storm Fortress again, but it cost my family face! Why do I have to take on all this stuff when I'm so timid? Why ......?"

"What are you afraid of?"

"I'm afraid ......," Grisenda froze, for she couldn't remember what she was afraid of.

Nisol looked up at the pure sky. In that dark night, even an extremely dim star was beautiful. The night of wonder and purity did not allow for a sinister light, so Nisol stretched out his foot and kicked out the burning, rather violent, flames.

"You ......"

"We don't need light. Glicenta, now face your fears and tell me what exactly you're afraid of?"

"I ......" Grisenda stammered as if someone had choked her throat.

"Are you scared of these bugs, of the dark dungeon, of vampires and of Storm Fortress?" said Nisol coldly. "Look at your heart and see what the softest part is hidden there. ”

"I don't know...... Woo-woo......" Glicenta buried her face in her knees and wept loudly. "You light the fire...... Otherwise they'll come back......"

"I'm just going to get them back, Glicenta! Bring your fears back, then rip off their faces and look at them one by one to see if it's these creatures or memories that once haunted you!"

Grisenda was still crying, and the night was not shaken. The small white flower on her head still exudes a faint fragrance with the evening breeze.

"Are you afraid of that creature?" he said. "I don't think so, what you're really afraid of is that when you see those things, they will cause bad memories. I don't know what happened to you at Storm Fortress, but I do know that all fear is a cloak to disguise your cowardice. ”

He stood up.

"I'm not lying, I've related. At that time, I was even afraid of anything with a handle, even if it wasn't a hammer, but a tool like a sickle or an axe. Because I'm afraid that when I look at something like this, I'll think of the night when the bears destroyed my village. He said as he stared at the bright moon. "The moon was so round that night, and I was accompanied by this bright moonlight, watching a bear man holding a hundred-pound hammer and smashing my three-year-old sister into a red mark. I was laughing and playing with her the day before, and this night she turned into a puddle of viscous liquid. ”

Glicenta's right hand trembled and she stopped crying, but there was a surge of anger inside.

"For the next 10 years, I would have nightmares like this every night. In every dream, all the people I knew or loved died, and I always stood by and watched with trepidation, unable to do anything. He stretched out his hand and pointed to the round moon. "Even the moon is scared of me—no, even the darkness of the moon is afraid of me. I went crazy and tried desperately to keep myself from trying to remember, but there is one of the biggest drawbacks of human beings - the more I try to leave hope, the more deeply I remember. ”

"I ......," Grisenda said before stopping.

Nisol laughed again, not responding to him.

"But when you find your way in the night, any fear will dissipate. I know what my life means," he said, raising his bow and arrows. "From then on, I swore to guard, not to retreat. Grisenda, memories are a journey of no return, what was gone yesterday, can you still feel it now? All you can feel is the definition imposed on you by your own heart - no one tells you that you are living a mistake, and no one says that none of what you have done is right. The creator of this not-so-nice reputation is yourself. ”

He turned his head.

"You want to run away from the past, so you give yourself a definition of cowardice. Now bring all your fears together, you look at them, you look at them!"

Grisenda looked up and looked at Nisso, who was talking to her in the moonlight, with tears in her eyes.

"They, those fears, are giant ants, dark dungeons, pale vampires, formidable storm fortresses, or your own ......"

Grisenda's pupils shrank, and she vaguely seemed to see something. But the only thing she could feel now was Niso's hand crouching in front of her.

"Don't cry, if you cry, this little white flower in your hair won't look good. He stroked Glicenta's long, orange-red hair with his right hand. "Defeating your own definition of yourself is the only way to get rid of cowardice. ”