Chapter 64: Shiltina, You Don’t Understand the Human Heart
The scenery outside the car window flew by rapidly.
Shiltina and Rast’s spiritual projections stood side by side, watching the fragment of memory before them—a chestnut-haired little girl with a face full of confusion and unease.
And in front of her, a light screen rippling outward like water.
Until, at a certain moment, the hazy water screen began to reveal a clearer scene.
A mountain range engulfed in flames, seemingly burning for eternity.
The forest covering the mountain had been entirely devoured by crimson fire, and the billowing black smoke reaching skyward obscured the once azure firmament, leaving only a heavy, oppressive sky.
All vegetation had been incinerated by the intense heat, leaving behind only white ash.
It was a world of silence—even the light in the air was distorted by the heat.
Boom—
In that instant, a jet-black griffin descended from the sky amidst a roaring storm, kicking up clouds of smoke and ash.
Tap.
A pair of tall knight’s boots stepped onto the scorched and cracked ground.
Cecilia landed on the ground and reached back to stroke the massive griffin’s head. “Go back. That’s a fire-element demon of at least tier six upper rank. You won’t help me here—only drag me down.”
Oooo~
The enormous griffin whimpered, rubbing against Cecilia. Its bright yellow beast eyes clearly showed reluctance.
“Stop acting like a child.”
“Go back and guard Shiltina for me.”
“Allen wants to bring Shiltina from Autumn Leaf Territory to the imperial capital for training—I don’t object.”
“But she’s still so little. At night, she still needs me by her side to fall asleep…”
Cecilia’s stern tone softened slightly. “I don’t doubt that Allen will win the royal selection and inherit the throne. He was born to be a king. But right after he ascends, he’ll have to consolidate power and balance the other great nobles. He’ll be too busy to take care of Shiltina.”
“And we’ve protected Shiltina too well since she was young. She’s never really suffered, nor does she understand the sinister hearts of people in the capital.”
“She’s still too young and in a completely unfamiliar environment. When she’s faced with the goodwill or malice of outsiders… if you’re not by her side, I won’t feel at ease.”
Oooo~
At her words, the massive griffin looked at Cecilia one last time with longing, then finally flapped its wings and soared into the sky.
After circling a few times high above, it flew off into the distance and vanished.
Watching the griffin disappear into the sky, the female knight finally turned around and once again focused her gaze on the seemingly endless sea of fire before her.
Her steps moved across the scorched, cracked earth.
And on the path ahead of Cecilia, near the edge of the blaze in the distance, there were faintly visible shapes wrapped in silver-gray—resembling humanoid figures.
“Fireproof bags?” Rast murmured.
He recognized those silver-gray humanoid bundles.
They were a type of emergency firefighting protection used by forest rangers, made from multi-layered heat-resistant materials including aluminum foil and fine glass fibers.
When the flames became too severe to escape, firefighters would cover themselves with these fireproof bags—they were the last line of defense for survival.
“Mm.”
Shiltina’s light brown eyes were also fixed on the projection in the water screen.
“Autumn Leaf Territory, as a border province of the Kingdom, is mostly covered by mountains and forests.”
“Because of that, forest rangers who watch over and prevent forest fires are a unique profession there. My family is even called a ‘Ranger Family’ because of it.”
“Autumn Leaf Territory has a very small population—only a few tens of thousands… When I was little, the patrol team had visited our house before. I knew each and every one of them.”
Her gaze swept over those silver-gray humanoid fireproof bags one by one.
“Taylor, fifty-nine years old, captain of the patrol. He was supposed to retire and live out his life peacefully after this year.”
“Russell, twenty-nine years old, used to be a chain smoker and drug addict, but for the sake of his child, he sought a stable job. He endured Captain Taylor’s harsh tests and passed, becoming a probationary member of the patrol… but encountered an accident on his very first patrol.”
“Aunt Susan—she was in charge of logistics, and by duty didn’t need to come, but she still came anyway… She used to hold me when I was a kid.”
“And Angie, Carl…”
Shiltina spoke calmly, without fluctuation.
“When the Twilight Calamity struck and the mountain fires broke out, the patrol team immediately mobilized and began establishing firebreaks to halt the spread of combustibles.”
“It was thanks to their efforts that the fire was briefly contained, allowing a large number of Autumn Leaf residents to safely evacuate.”
“But… in the end, those were just conventional firefighting methods.”
“And the mountain fire that descended upon Autumn Leaf wasn’t an ordinary blaze. It was a domain created by a tier six fire-element demon lord. How could a mere firebreak stop it?”
At that moment, Shiltina’s gaze and actions aligned completely with Cecilia’s within the water screen.
They stared at those silver-gray humanoid fireproof bags with calm expressions tinged with quiet sorrow.
“The so-called fireproof bags only prevent combustion—they can’t block heat.”
“Especially against a blaze born from a high-tier fire-element demon’s power…”
“Hiding in those fireproof bags, all they could do was ensure their corpses stayed intact.”
After a moment of silence, Shiltina’s voice sounded again.
But this time, there was no confusion or sorrow in her tone.
Only resolve remained.
And at the same time, Cecilia within the water screen withdrew her gaze.
With a flick of her wrist, a gleaming knight’s sword silently appeared.
The silver light of the blade briefly illuminated the sky obscured by thick smoke.
From afar, within the flames and smoke, came a roar like thundering lightning.
It was the terrifying howl of the fire-element demon lord.
And that dignified female knight gripped her silver sword, her chestnut hair billowing in the hot wind.
Then.
She walked step by step past Rast and Shiltina.
As she passed by, Shiltina, seeing that slender, delicate yet awe-inspiring back, instinctively reached out.
But in the end, her hand passed through the illusory image—she touched nothing.
All they could do was watch as the female knight walked further and further away.
Until her back disappeared into the towering wall of flame, no longer visible.
…
The image within the light screen became distorted and blurry.
It seemed the battle taking place within exceeded the detection limits of Tuck’s Nightblade.
But the burning red flames, and that lone female knight’s back as she stepped into them—
Had already been deeply imprinted in the eyes of the little girl in a dress clutching a teddy bear on the other side of the light screen.
“My father… at that time, ordered Teacher Tuck to project this scene before me with the Nightblade.”
“Then, to the ignorant, clueless me of that time…”
“Let me personally witness the end of my mother.”
“Not as the Queen of the Kingdom.”
“But as the head of House Ingrit, as a ‘Ranger’… she sacrificed her life to slay the fire-element demon lord that was the source of the Twilight Calamity.”
Shiltina whispered beside Rast’s ear.
“When I was little, I was just a normal girl—I loved to be spoiled, I was afraid of the dark, and I wanted my mother by my side to sleep at night.”
“But that day, everything I saw with my own eyes, that back walking into the flames—I’ll never forget it for the rest of my life.”
She paused slightly.
“So even if others call it madness, obsession, or say it’s all pretense or melodrama… it doesn’t matter.”
“I understand my father’s choice very well. Autumn Leaf is a trivial region within the Kingdom of Granwell. In terms of the bigger picture and benefits, even if all of Autumn Leaf were destroyed, it wouldn’t compare to Winterhold Fortress.”
“But no matter what, I refuse to accept my father’s ideology.”
“If to become the First Princess, to become the so-called successor, I must become a cold, heartless machine that places the interests of the state above all else—then I would rather forsake those titles and status.”
“So.”
“My name is Shiltina Ingrit—not Shiltina von Fresberg.”
As Shiltina finished speaking,
The train car before them, the rippling light screen, and the timid little girl…
All of Shiltina’s memories shattered, cracking into countless fissures before vanishing.
In their place, a new memory scene appeared before Rast and Shiltina—
A shattered ruin.
Surrounded by people, all wearing the emblem of Starfall University.
But at that moment, nearly all of these elite students were wounded.
And further away lay dozens of human forms covered with white cloth—the casualties of a recent battle, nearly equal in number to those still alive.
“Shiltina, are you satisfied now?”
A calm female voice rang in their ears.
“We suffered such heavy losses. More than half our team dead or wounded. We finally conquered this historical remnant—is this the result you wanted?”
At those words, the Shiltina in the memory scene lifted her head slightly.
“I’m very sorry, Flan.”
“I knew this historical remnant was dangerous, so I wanted to enter alone. You all could’ve stayed behind…”
“You know that’s impossible! We’re a team, and you’re our captain. If we let you go in alone, how could we still call ourselves your teammates?”
That female voice was no longer calm—it now carried a tinge of anger.
And when Rast looked toward the source of the voice, he found her face familiar.
Flan.
She had been lost in Frostwater Town, her soul erased. One of the scouts possessing the Nightblade “Plant Whisper.”
She was also Shiltina’s former vice-captain in first year—part of a once-briefly-united team that later fractured.
“But the Nightworld must be conquered. If not, the Twilight Calamity will descend…”
“I’m from the Relics Institute myself—I know that kind of truth!”
Flan in the memory scene interrupted Shiltina loudly.
“We all joined Starfall University and the raiding team because we understood the risks and accepted this mission to conquer the Nightworld and stop the Twilight Calamity. You don’t need to repeat it!”
“I admit, your strength and ideals shine brightly, Shiltina—so bright that many are willing to follow you and join your team.”
“But your decisions are too idealistic. You’re the protagonist of a fairy tale, an epic legend—a flawless knight. But you’re not someone who belongs in reality.”
“We all want to conquer the Nightworld, to prevent the Twilight Calamity. That’s why we’re here. But we’re also human—we get tired, we get scared, we waver. After long battles, we want to retreat. We want to run. That’s human nature.”
“We can’t be like you—facing death time and time again without hesitation, without faltering.”
“You truly are the ideal knight. But precisely because you’re too ideal, your ideals and obsession have unconsciously burdened your comrades—never once considering the fragility of the human heart.”
“To keep up with you, to avoid dragging you down… everyone in the team has been exhausted for a long time. We’ve just been enduring and forcing ourselves to continue—like a tightly stretched string, destined to snap.”
As if releasing emotions long pent up, Flan gazed at Shiltina before her.
“You might be a perfect knight, a perfect traveler in the night—but you’re not a qualified leader.”
“Your brilliance is too blinding… so much so that even standing near you is unbearable for us ordinary people.”
“Shiltina, you don’t understand the human heart.”
She stared at Shiltina, and in her eyes flickered a trace of hope.
Around them, more than a dozen gazes also turned to Shiltina, filled with the same hope.
Shiltina understood what her team members were hoping for.
They hoped she could let go of her pride and stubbornness—learn to adapt and compromise, dim her brilliance.
To slowly become a leader who could understand the weakness of people’s hearts, who knew how to retreat and compromise, who could choose what was best for the group in the face of danger.
If Shiltina could change like that, then their strongest team wouldn’t have to fall apart.
And Shiltina would still be their captain and leader.
But in the end—
At the center of those hopeful gazes, Shiltina slowly closed her eyes.
“Sorry, Flan.”
“Maybe I really am not a qualified leader. Maybe I really don’t understand the weakness of the human heart.”
“But before all that—”
“I am me first.”
Boom—
The moment those words were spoken—
The illusory world formed by fragments of Shiltina’s memories shattered in an instant.
And then, all of it faded into nothing.
In that fractured light, Rast saw a line of azure-blue text quietly appear in his mind.
【Your ‘bond’ with Shiltina Ingrit has deepened. The ‘The Fool’s Library’ has gained new power.】
【The bond level of 『Chariot』·Shiltina has increased from 2 to 3.】
【You have unlocked a new Original Text.】
【Sequence Ability—「Chariot · Gale Steps」 has been unlocked.】