Fallen Knights - Refers to those knights who are disturbed and tempted by external factors in the pursuit of knightly truth, thus turning their backs on their beliefs. Out of a desperate desire for power and immortality, high-ranking fallen knights will abandon their ** and become skeleton-only, semi-undead beings. Since the Fallen Knights are not tolerated by any of the forces in Navia, they mostly wear black capes and hoods to hide their appearance. For this reason, the Fallen Knight is also known as the "Black Knight".

- Fallen Faith, Black Knight

Kaye and his party arrived at the temporary camp of the Knights' squadron while the sun was still setting. According to Robert, the captain of the knight squadron, they reached the rendezvous point already yesterday.

After a brief dinner in the camp, Gad gathered the cadres of the knights' squadron into his tent.

"As I think you're all aware, our mission this time is to wipe out a bandit group led by the Black Knights. Several caravans have been sacked lately, and each time they have not survived. Dante's local garrison tried to eliminate them, but because Dante's garrison was understaffed and there was no one who could compete with the opposing black knights, they all returned in vain. ”

"According to the intelligence, the number of the other party is about 5 or 6 hundred, but they are basically some original ruffians and hooligans, and it became the climate after being gathered by the black knights, and it is not clear how many black knights are in the lead, but it is currently determined that there are 2. ”

"Our operation this time will be launched from the front and rear at the same time, and after a round of charge, each squad will fight independently, and the squad leaders here will be responsible for commanding their own teams. I ask you to break up the bandit bandits' defenses in the first charge, and then the squads quickly separate the enemy. The other side is not well trained in military affairs, and is nothing more than a rabble when they cannot gather together to fight on their own. ”

"The battle will begin at the second o'clock tomorrow morning, with the attack at the front under the command of Robert and me, and the attack at the rear under the responsibility of His Highness Kaye. Not a single enemy must be spared, whose hands are stained with the blood of innocent Empire subjects. They must be sanctioned!"

......

Hearing Gade's combat deployment, Kaye couldn't help but feel a little surprised, he never thought that Gad would let himself command the attack on one side alone, and he didn't ask himself to follow him as usual.

Hearing Gade's "disband", Kaye immediately turned around and walked out quietly, for fear that Gade just misassigned the wrong task by mistake.

Watching Kaye's back disappear outside the tent, Gad shook his head a little angrily and amusedly. Although Kaye was neither humble nor arrogant on the surface, and did not have any mood swings, the frequency of walking faster and faster under his feet clearly betrayed his heart.

"Can you rest assured that Your Highness will be in command alone? After Kaye left, Robert asked Gad with a slight frown.

"On the way here, I listened to some of the words of His Highness and was very touched. No matter how beautiful the flowers grown in the greenhouse are, how can they resist the harsh frost. If we blindly let His Highness hide behind us and prevent him from facing those difficulties on his own, how can he lead his people to overcome obstacles in the future, so that the glory of the Land of Lions will continue to shine in Navia?"

Gad paused and patted Robert on the shoulder.

"Don't worry, Your Highness's strength has grown a lot recently, the coming-of-age ceremony is coming, the talent in Lane's bloodline will become more and more obvious, and with Augustine by His Highness's side, there will definitely be no problems. ”

............

At the second o'clock in the morning, the sky was like a scoop of water poured on a scroll covered with ancient ink, and the deep black was evened out, and it became a little gray.

Kaye, Augustine, and the knights lay in ambush in a small forest, and in the distance you could see the sporadic glow of a fire flickering in the bandits' cottage.

Kaye turned on the mana timer, and in a dozen minutes it was time to attack. He took a few deep breaths, trying to calm himself. Although this kind of skirmishing was not new to him at all, the children of the Lane family participated in some military missions more or less every year after the age of 12. However, it was the first time for Kaye to be in an independent command.

In previous battles, he spent most of his time just staying at the commander's side, learning how to arrange operations according to the characteristics of the enemy and deal with various unexpected situations. Even when he went into battle to kill the enemy, he was surrounded by Gad and other soldiers, and there was basically no worries, and all Kaye needed to do was put into practice what he usually trained.

The successful completion of the mission and the praise of the generals made him even think that war was nothing more than that.

However, when it really came time for him to command half of the squadron independently, he suddenly realized that it was not as simple as he thought.

Although Kaye was in charge of only 50 knights, the thought of casualties caused by his own command mistakes made Kaye's heart welled up with a huge pressure.

Although Kaye was well aware that casualties in battle were inevitable, when he had to bear these responsibilities and take responsibility for the lives of those who followed him and trusted him, Kaye felt a little overwhelmed by the burden on his body.

Just when Kaye began to waver, constantly questioning himself. Augustine's voice suddenly sounded in his head.

"Kaye, what's wrong with you? ”

"I just suddenly felt very lost, for those who have placed hope, trust, and even life in me, can I really do a good job, can make them not disappointed, can lead them out of the predicament. My uncle always told me that those who achieve great things are not informal, and those who are bound by delicate feelings cannot become qualified kings.

But now, like now, I always wonder how sad their friends and family must be if there were any casualties among the knights who followed me. Originally, I was overjoyed that I could finally command the battle alone and have a chance to prove myself. But at this moment, I just want to drop everything and go back to study with Uncle Bairns, with my father and mother. ”

"Out of sight is not the solution, if you choose to avoid this time, you will choose to avoid what you don't want to face again and again in the future. If you were just an ordinary person, you would be called a coward at best, but you are the prince of Bledsoe, the future king of the land.

My father once said that with great power comes great responsibility. The gods are fair, we were born into a family that is superior to ordinary people, we are born with better talents than ordinary people, so we are born with more responsibilities, if you evade these responsibilities, then you will live up to the expectations of the gods, and your power will eventually leave you.

In the same way, if you really care about the people around you, you should use your talents and talents to make yourself strong and protect those you care about. Just like now, how can you guarantee that someone else will do a better job than you do? Don't be presumptuous, Kaye, I'm sure no one of your peers can do it better than you. Don't forget, you're my Augustine's contractual partner. ”

Kaye fell silent, recalling Augustine's words over and over again—with great power comes great responsibility. For some reason, Kaye suddenly remembered a passage he had seen in the literature about King Darren.

King Darren once said, "Many people think that I was born to be a leader. But that's not the case. While my people were still living in a bleak and barren land, I led them on a journey to find their homeland with trepidation.

Before I entered the Plains of Lane, almost every day and night, I was worried about whether I had made the right decision. I was afraid, afraid that my people would suffer even more because of my decisions.

However, it was precisely because of this fear of losing my people that it became my motivation and pushed me to keep moving forward, and eventually became a qualified leader.

Worry, fear, in fact, such emotions are not terrible. When you have something you want to protect, what you want to fight for, you become unstoppable.

At this moment, Kaye seemed to vaguely understand King Darren's mood. He slowly drew the saber from his waist, held the sword in his right hand and placed the hilt on his chest, closed his eyes and whispered.

"My sword is here. I will remember the virtues of humility, mercy, justice, honor, sacrifice, valor, spirituality, honesty. I will dedicate my soul and my life at the feet of the God of Justice. My blood will be sprinkled on the battlefield with honor. My sword is here, and God bless it to be sharp forever. Unless its owner bows his head, it will never break. ”

The knights behind him heard the familiar knightly declaration, and they all bowed their heads and recited silently with Kaye.

The silent early morning, the starry sky, the muffled whispers of the knights. The three are intertwined to create a solemn and sacred picture.

As the last byte of the knight's declaration came to an end, Kaye looked up, his eyes filled with determination. He turned, his gaze glancing over each knight's face in turn, and he vaguely noticed that the knights' eyes seemed to have the same glint in them.

Byzantium had told him that such a light was called faith.

Kaye straightened his right arm forward, the tip of his sword tilting slightly upwards and pointing into the distance. Then he rode his horse slowly forward.

The knights behind him did not say a word, and silently followed the young king. They all read his movements.

For the knights, Kaye's actions meant only one thing - where the sword goes, where I go.

......