Ever since setting foot in the Outer Lands, every day had been a succession of lessons. Najin gained new insights practically daily, and those moments of enlightenment often came without warning.

This moment was no exception.

Najin learned that, despite their enormous size, giants were remarkably agile and could run very fast. He also learned that they ran a little faster when someone stole their food.

ROOOOAR!

The giant whose food had been stolen roared. There was a distinctly aggrieved note to it. Najin sympathized wholeheartedly, but he could hardly sit down and cry with it.

'The living have to keep living.'

You did what you had to do. Sprinting at full speed, Najin glared at the person responsible for this whole mess.

TAP, TAP, TAP!

The Helmeted Knight was running flat out with a jar as large as himself on his shoulder. How he could move that fast carrying it was a mystery, but Najin put that question aside and shouted at him.

"Fuck, if you were going to run away, you should have told me beforehand!"

"Now, now. How can a knight speak of fleeing? Tsk, tsk. Clearly you still have much to learn."

"Then what do you call this?"

"A knight must always advance toward the light. There is light over there. Run toward it!"

"What kind of bullshit..."

"Or you can fight the giant."

"What are you waiting for? Keep running."

Najin and the Helmeted Knight sprinted at full speed, the giant's thunderous footsteps booming behind them.

ROOOOAR...!

The giants' sorrowful cries echoed behind him, but Najin ignored them. Well, they seemed to have plenty of food. Shouldn't they share the good stuff? Greedy bastards.

"But isn't this stealing? Are knights allowed to steal?"

"Tsk. Stealing? The giants are sponsoring us. Look over there. They're even seeing us off and wishing us a safe trip home."

"..."

Najin looked back without a word. The giants were reaching desperately toward them.

ROOOAR.

On second look, it did rather resemble a send-off. Since they were being so enthusiastic about it, Najin waved back.

The giants pursued them doggedly, but they were no match for Najin and the Helmeted Knight. Perhaps such giants had existed in the age of myth, but none in the present age knew techniques for running lightly and swiftly. Keeping up with the pair's superior footwork was therefore no easy task.

"Are you sure it wasn't easy? They were chasing us pretty fiercely."

"Having your precious food stolen tends to drive you fucking mad."

"Stolen? I thought they were sponsoring us."

"Don't worry about the little things. You'll only wear yourself out."

Back at their base, the Helmeted Knight set down the jar he had looted from the larder with a heavy thud. Then he fetched firewood and began building a fire.

"You've worked hard. I'll cook the meat."

He brought over one of the swords lying about the Outer Lands and skewered the meat. While the Helmeted Knight used the sword as a spit, Najin prepared the dishes. The fruit and honey he had gathered adorned their modest feast.

"Now that's more like it."

With a satisfied laugh, the Helmeted Knight began transferring the well-cooked meat to the dishes. As he had promised, it tasted good enough to be called a delicacy.

"Hey, this is pretty good."

"Didn't I tell you? Giants really know how to season meat. Their gourmet tastes probably helped earn them the name 'giants'—enormous humans—rather than giant trolls."

The seasoning was just right. Just sweet enough, just salty enough, and just rich enough. Perhaps giants had rather refined palates compared with trolls, which ate nothing but raw food. Their seasoned meat certainly tasted good to Najin.

"Aren't you eating?"

"It's been far too long since I last ate. Putting anything in my mouth now would definitely make me ill. Help yourself."

The Helmeted Knight merely cooked and served the meat, taking no part in the meal. There was far too much for Najin alone, so they put the leftovers in the jar and buried it.

"Oh, you don't have to be careful storing this. The jar itself is a magic item. Neat, isn't it?"

Eating fruit for dessert, Najin quietly studied the Helmeted Knight. His helmet, to be precise. They had been traveling together for quite some time, but Najin had never seen his uncovered face.

"Why do you keep wearing that helmet?"

"Because I'm ugly."

"What?"

"A handsome fellow like you is better off without a helmet, but someone like me, who isn't confident about his face, is better off wearing one. Hiding your face makes people curious, you might say. It has its advantages."

It was impossible to tell whether he was joking or serious. He continued glibly.

"Why do knights wear helmets in the first place? Once your opponent is a Sword Expert—in other words, once they can produce sword aura—a helmet loses its advantages. What use is armor that sword aura cuts through like paper?"

Of course, high-grade artifacts and expensive metal might stop sword aura... but even those became meaningless against a Sword Seeker.

"Armor, helmets—none of it really means anything. They're just cumbersome and irritating."

He tapped his helmet.

"It weighs your head down. Narrows your vision. And if your helmet or armor has an emblem on it, aren't you just announcing who you belong to? Giving your opponent more information puts you at a disadvantage in combat. If that emblem matters to you... you'll try to protect it, giving yourself another weakness."

He spoke as he rubbed the horn on his helmet.

"That's all those things amount to in the end. Useless, uncomfortable nuisances. Something to make you look impressive, to put on a convincing appearance. That's all."

"Then why do knights wear armor?"

"Didn't I tell you? It makes them look convincing."

He laughed.

"Being a knight is no easy thing. You become one proclaiming honor and pride, but reality isn't so accommodating. It's filthy. It's shitty. The more you face it, the more you realize how futile your ideals are."

His voice sounded somewhere between a sigh and a grumble.

"Why am I doing this? Do I have to? Why did I become a knight again? Must I take such a difficult path? Honor, pride—what are they worth? Do I gain anything by upholding them?"

"..."

"You ask yourself those questions countless times. Every time you do, you waver. That's probably why older knights become attached to armor and helmets... to outward appearances."

He knocked on his helmet with the back of his hand, making it ring hollowly.

"They hide what's festering inside and pretend to be knights on the outside, at least. They polish their armor, put on ornaments, and make a point of loudly proclaiming romance and chivalry. They no longer know what any of it really means, but while they act that way, they can think of themselves as knights."

He let out a long sigh and smiled bitterly.

"Those who truly consider themselves knights don't need armor or helmets. They can call themselves knights without any of that."

He raised a finger and pointed at Najin.

"People like you, I mean. People with ideals, who find beauty in honor and pride. They don't need to fixate on appearances. If you're already a knight inside, what does the outside matter?"

A little envy. A little admiration.

The Helmeted Knight lowered his finger with a bitter smile.

"You know how Kirchhoff goes about with his face uncovered too? He's confident in himself. Though maybe it's just because you and he are both so damned handsome."

"Do you really..."

"Hm?"

"Do you really need to do that?"

"... What?"

Najin interrupted as the Helmeted Knight tried to end the conversation with a light joke. Adding wood to the blazing campfire, he spoke matter-of-factly.

"I asked whether you really need to do that."

"What do you mean?"

"Clinging to appearances, saying you have to do that to consider yourself a knight—is it really so important?"

"That's because you don't know enough of the world yet..."

"Yes, I don't."

Najin shrugged.

"I haven't lived nearly as long as you. I have less experience, I don't know much about the Outer Lands, and I don't know what you've been through."

"But," Najin continued, "even I know one thing."

"..."

"It doesn't matter how you regard honor and pride. It's all right to doubt them. Everyone struggles and agonizes over things. That isn't what matters."

"Then what does matter?"

"What you wish to be."

Najin looked at the Helmeted Knight. His eyes were platinum-colored. Those eyes, the color of starlight, met the knight's gaze directly.

"Whether you wish to be a knight."

Those words appeared in the autobiography of Arthur, the Knight King.

You may agonize. You may hesitate. You need not always behave as a knight should. But in the final moment, I will ask you:

Are you a knight?

At the very least, do you wish to be one?

Najin held those words in his heart. They were also words that a certain knight, who had inspired him to dream, had proven with his life. Remembering that blue knight, who had held the brightest star in the lowest place, Najin spoke.

"Even if you fall and lose your honor, even if you're stained with filth, even if your pride is broken, even if you question those things... if, in the end, you cannot let them go."

There was nothing to gain by upholding them. No one would reproach you if you didn't. Yet some people could not let them go.

"If you still dream of being a knight, unable to let go—if you at least strive to be one..."

Najin knew what such people were called.

"Isn't that person already knight enough?"

The Helmeted Knight fell silent at Najin's words.

For a long time, he could say nothing. He could not lighten the heavy atmosphere with a joke as he usually did, nor offer some empty claim that Najin simply hadn't lived long enough. Unable to say anything at all, he kept his mouth shut.

CRACKLE, CRACKLE.

With only the crackling of the campfire breaking the silence, the Helmeted Knight finally managed to speak. A faint laugh escaped with his long exhalation.

"Even without clinging to helmets, armor, banners, and all that?"

"Yes. Even without them."

"What matters is what you think of yourself, then."

Najin tossed a log into the campfire. With fresh wood to feed it, the dying flames blazed fiercely once more. Watching them, the Helmeted Knight mulled over Najin's words.

"I can't deny it. Not when those words come from none other than the Knight King."

"Exactly. If you want to dispute them, you'll have to draw Excalibur first."

"What an underhanded trick. How am I supposed to argue when you quote the Knight King? That's cheating in a discussion of chivalry."

"Don't like it? Go draw Excalibur."

"Ha! You don't have it either, but you certainly have a mouth on you. In my day, I 'almost' drew Excalibur. The sword even shone when I grasped it."

The Helmeted Knight pointed at Najin and shouted.

"You little greenhorn, I bet you've never even touched Excalibur! Tsk!"

Najin merely smiled without a word.

As a bonus, Merlin was clutching her stomach beside him, roaring with laughter.

"Do you know about fallen stars?"

"To some extent."

Najin nodded at the Helmeted Knight's question.

Stars that had fallen. Stars cast down. Fallen Constellations.

Merlin had told him about them, and he had seen some records of such stars while leafing through history books.

"I've heard about Moon in Full Bloom. And about the fallen Constellations that stood in King Arthur's path."

"Moon in Full Bloom? Ah, you mean the Star of Ten Thousand Moons? I heard the continent's Sword Masters slew it. Yes, that one's a fallen star too."

The Helmeted Knight nodded, then interrupted himself with a "But."

"What you're talking about are defiant stars. Corrupted stars that defied the natural order, turned upside down, and became black. They're called fallen stars too, but the fall I'm talking about is more literal."

"Literal?"

"Yes. A Constellation that has literally lost all its stars and fallen."

He swept his finger downward.

"A fallen star, or a forgotten star."

A star that had fallen.

Or a star that had forgotten itself.

"Constellations lose stars when they deny themselves, or when their feats are denied. With every star they lose, their minds deteriorate and their erosion grows severe. Doesn't that process sound familiar?"

"It's exactly how the Lost erode."

"Yes. Being a Constellation doesn't make you immune to erosion. If anything, you need to be more careful. When a Constellation loses all its stars, things become truly horrifying."

Merlin groaned beside Najin. She sounded as though she agreed.

"It gets a little horrifying. No, not a little. A lot," she muttered. Just how bad could it be? As Najin blinked, the Helmeted Knight explained.

"A fallen star can no longer maintain a human form. After all, becoming a Constellation is essentially becoming a transcendent being that has surpassed humanity."

"What do you mean by no longer being human?"

"I mean they acquire a very distinctive appearance."

"Well, you'll understand when you see one."

With those words, the Helmeted Knight stood.

"Najin. This is my second demand."

The victor's right to make three demands of the defeated. The Helmeted Knight declared that he would use the second of them.

"We're going to slay a fallen star. Help me. There's one star that must be put down."

Which star?

The Helmeted Knight answered that question.

"Krünbel, the Knight of Silence."

He spread his fingers. The five fingers of his left hand weren't enough, so he added one from his right to indicate six.

"A Constellation that once had six stars. Its Constellation name is the Hornblower, the Star of the Horn."