"Wow..."

Watching the knights charge on horseback, Shan grasped the reality of the “spirit” Roden had described for the first time. Destructive power utterly impossible for their size and speed had erupted from the tips of their lances.

This power belonged to an entirely different realm from Shan’s peculiar mastery of his body. Where his technique used his muscles efficiently to push his physical abilities to their limits, this went beyond even that, coming closer to distorting reality itself.

Before long, infantry poured through the breach the knights had made, bringing the shield wall down completely. The sight of a battle between hundreds of men turning on the strength of just four was nothing short of magnificent.

But Shan’s thrill lasted only a moment before his eyes darted about, reading the changing tide. Their vantage point made those changes easy to discern, as though they were gods gazing down on humans from the heavens.

"They’re surrounded."

"What?"

"Those knights are in trouble."

Roden, who had been watching through narrowed eyes for fear of all the blades below, only realized it belatedly when Shan spoke. As the knights who had so spectacularly broken through the shield wall tried to return to their own lines, an enemy unit armed with pikes blocked their path. From the opposite direction, the enemy knights charged with their lances leveled.

There were five of them, one more than their opponents. While the knights who had charged first wore red plumes on their helmets, these men wore blue.

Outnumbered, their lances broken in their first charge and their momentum lost, the outcome was obvious. Two somehow caught the lances on their shields and got clear, but one could not withstand the blow and was unhorsed. The last pitched forward with a lance through his chest.

One of the surviving knights saw the two fall and cried out urgently.

"Dorian! Solem!"

"It’s too late! We have to get ourselves out!"

"Damn it!"

The two red-plumed knights who had weathered the attack split up, taking up a sword and a hammer in place of their broken lances and cutting a path through the enemy ranks to escape. While the blue-plumed knights pursued them, the unhorsed knight recovered his senses and rose, only to find himself surrounded by infantry.

"Surrender!"

"Y-you commoner scum dare...!"

The last remaining knight drew the longsword at his waist, clearly unwilling to be taken without a fight. His skill was certainly worthy of his title. Every swing of his sword sliced cleanly through the soldiers around him, armor and all, while he angled his plate armor to deflect incoming attacks and minimize the damage. He fought with such ferocity that, left unchecked, he seemed capable of defeating a hundred men or even a thousand single-handedly.

But his valiant resistance did not last. As his movements abruptly slowed with apparent exhaustion, several nearby soldiers threw nets. He managed to cut through two or so, but a strand he failed to spot caught his leg and sent him sprawling.

"Gah!"

"Got him! Pull!"

As Shan watched the knight struggle beneath several layers of netting, Roden tapped his shoulder from behind.

"Let’s get out of here."

"Why?"

"It’s nearly over. Count Valik’s side has won. If we stay and they find us, they’ll use any excuse to mistreat us—call us Duke Morayen’s spies or whatever else they can think of. Victorious armies are always like that."

Shan took in the wider battlefield again and realized that the army Roden called Count Valik’s was the side with the blue-plumed knights. Having lost the fleeing red-plumed knights, they had struck the infantry pressing into their own lines from behind, cutting them off. Sensing defeat, the soldiers began to flee, ignoring their commander’s shouts.

Shan and Roden immediately descended the hill and ran east. Fortunately, they had been far enough away that they never encountered Count Valik’s troops pursuing the defeated soldiers. After tens of minutes moving at a near run, Roden was the first to stop, breathing hard.

"Whew. We should be safe this far out... I went to help because I thought it would be a monster or bandit attack at worst. I never imagined they’d be fighting a war."

"But you can’t fight anyone holding a blade."

"I had you with me. I’d have been too scared to go alone."

Shan did not understand why they had to go out of their way to help people being attacked by bandits, but let it pass with a tilt of his head. What interested him more just then was the prowess the knights had displayed in battle.

"Knights are more impressive than I thought, but weaker too."

When they first shattered the infantry’s shield wall with their mounted charge, they had seemed like the mightiest beings in the world. The spirit they unleashed as one was so potent that they looked capable of impaling even a dragon and killing it.

Yet once surrounded, deprived of his speed and horse, and knocked to the ground, the knight had not been as strong as Shan expected. Shan felt he could take a sword and beat someone at that level in single combat even now.

Roden smiled at Shan’s somewhat disappointed expression.

"The world is put together more intricately than you’d think. If a knight could mow down hundreds of ordinary soldiers alone like bundles of straw, no one would bother raising an army. And knights would have no reason to obey kings and nobles."

"Oh."

"Besides, it was the knights who finished the battle in the end, wasn’t it?"

True enough. Count Valik had ultimately overwhelmed Duke Morayen because his knights attacked the infantry from the rear. In the end, the battle had been decided by which side used its knights more effectively.

"And as I told you before, a knight’s true duty is to defeat monsters. That’s what we’ll be doing in Pendia too."

"Hunting monsters, right?"

"Yes. I can put up a decent fight against them myself. If we travel around the east defeating monsters together, we can build a reputation. In time, a fairly prominent noble might even knight us."

Roden hesitated briefly, then added,

"Well, I don’t want to make it all sound too rosy. It won’t be as easy as I’m making it sound. Less discrimination against Altoans in Pendia certainly doesn’t mean they’ll treat you like an ordinary Westerner. You understand what I mean, right?"

"I do."

"Still, you can do it. Don’t lose confidence."

Shan thought that sort of discrimination was nothing to worry about. Surely, if he cut off a hand whenever someone picked a fight, they would quiet down.

Had Roden been able to read his thoughts, he would have sighed deeply.

* * *

Half a day after leaving the battlefield, the two finally found an ordinary farming village. The farmers who hurried over at word of an armed man’s arrival quickly bowed their heads at Roden’s imposing appearance.

"So we just follow that road?"

"Yes, Sir Knight. If you leave now, you should have plenty of time to get into the city before sundown."

"I told you, there’s no need to call me Sir Knight. Here, for the directions."

Roden flicked a cut half-silver coin with his thumb. With a startled exclamation, the farmer hastily scooped it off the ground. As they walked past him, Shan asked Roden a question.

"You really make a point of saying you’re not a knight."

"It could cause trouble if someone decided to make an issue of it. Impersonating a knight is a serious crime. It challenges the authority of the kings and nobles who appoint them."

Denying it too vehemently, however, would cheapen his image. Roden’s own strategy for getting by was to act like a knight pretending not to be one for reasons of his own.

Just as the farmer had said, the city soon came into view. Seeing stone walls for the first time in his life, Shan gave a small cry of wonder.

"Impressed?"

"Very!"

The city of Vito was a fortified city surrounded by walls two or three grown men high—about four meters, in the units Roden had recently taught him. For some reason, though, its gates were firmly shut, and tents, wagons, and makeshift buildings crowded the ground beneath the walls. These seemed to belong to people who had come to the city but been unable to enter.

"The gates are closed."

"Probably because of the war. They were fighting not far from here... If we’re unlucky, we might have to stay outside too."

Roden sounded disappointed, but Shan, secretly reluctant to enter the city, felt relieved instead. It looked obvious that if they were trapped inside when a fight broke out, escaping would be difficult.

Shan had only been looking around curiously for a moment when he spotted an unusual-looking man whose hair was half black and half blond.

"Step right up! Look this way! A special performance, today only! We have a toad man who breathes fire like a dragon, a dwarf with trees growing from his body, and a flying fairy maiden! Come to the red tent! Admission is just two silver coins!"

He was advertising none other than a traveling troupe. Such performers earned their living charging admission to displays of curious talents and wonders from distant lands. Apparently, they intended to do business with the people stranded outside the city.

Groups like that had passed through Willow Village anywhere from once every few months to once every few years when Shan lived there. Of course, he had never been allowed inside a tent to watch a performance, but he remembered being utterly fascinated simply watching a puppeteer toy with his puppets outside to pass the time.

"Roden, can we watch that?"

"Hmm? I’d rather not... They often do knife throwing at places like that."

"Oh."

"Well, you’re hardly likely to get hurt wandering around on your own. Here’s some money. Don’t lose it. I’ll look for somewhere we can stay tonight, so meet me in front of the gates when it’s over."

"All right!"

With a few silver coins in hand, Shan eagerly headed straight for the red tent. Then he spotted the large doorkeeper stationed out front and stopped, his eyes widening.

"Uh..."

The doorkeeper was a young man with shaggy brown hair and a thoroughly unassuming face, the sort one might see anywhere. What startled Shan was that feathered horns grew where his ears should have been.

Seeing Shan freeze, the doorkeeper grinned and spoke with easy friendliness.

"It’s all right, young guest! Not every Altoan is a man-eating monster! Did you come alone?"

After the initial shock of meeting one of his own people for the first time in his life, Shan calmed himself and cautiously held out his silver coins. The doorkeeper apparently thought Shan had frozen in fear at the strange appearance peculiar to Altoans.

Fortunately, the red tent had a large opening in its roof, so he did not have to worry about his eyes glowing. Whenever his shoulder brushed someone else’s, he wanted to draw his sword, but he tried to calm himself with deep breaths. After a few minutes among the audience, the show began. The man who had been advertising outside announced the coming performance in a clear voice.

"Now, our first act is the fire-eating man! With Altoan magic, our friend here can breathe an enormous blaze!"

"Wow!"

Several people cried out in wonder, while others grumbled that anyone could pretend to breathe fire with strong liquor. A moment later, an Altoan with red shell-like growths on both cheeks waved a small torch about and drew a sharp breath. His armored-looking cheeks swelled to several times their size in an instant, and when he blew into the flame, fire shot up as though to pierce the sky.

"Whoa!"

"I’ve never seen fire reach that far..."

"And he didn’t even use liquor!"

"The priest was right. Altoans really are all monsters."

The acts that followed were full of wonders too. A dwarf even shorter than Shan had three small trees growing on his back, while a young woman with shimmering butterfly-like wings on hers flitted between several ropes as though flying. When a woman with a mouth full of fangs as sharp as a wild beast’s opened wide and roared at the audience, several children burst into tears.

When all the performances ended amid astonished cries and cheers, the host bowed extravagantly to the audience.

"Thank you all for watching! We plan to perform again tomorrow, so once the gates open, please spread the word about our Alto Monster Circus!"

Even as the audience dispersed, Shan remained staring blankly at the empty stage. The feather-horned doorkeeper came in to tidy up after guarding the entrance and spotted him.

"Young guest? We need to clean up now... Oh! Are you one of us?"

Only at the welcoming tone in his voice did Shan realize that the setting sun had left the tent darker than before. Thanks to his unusual night vision, he sometimes lost track of whether his surroundings were bright or dark when he was distracted.

"Yes."

"It’s been a while since we met another Altoan. Are your parents nearby?"

"No... But I have someone sort of like that."

"I see! That’s good. Uncle Roxy! Did you know this boy’s an Altoan too?"

The man called Uncle Roxy was the one with two-colored hair who had advertised the troupe outside and hosted the show within. Tidying up the stage, he looked at Shan with interest and replied,

"Hmm? No, not at all."

"His eyes must glow at night. I didn’t notice a thing when I saw him earlier."

"Sometimes you get children whose differences don’t show much. Like me."

Shan looked at him in some surprise. Apart from his unusual hair color, Roxy looked like an ordinary Westerner in every way.

"You’re an Altoan too, sir?"

"This is my natural hair color. When I have to pretend I’m not an Altoan, I lie and say it’s dyed."

Roxy grinned and smoothed his hair. While they talked, the other Altoan performers resting in the adjoining tent emerged one by one, apparently wondering what was happening. Before Shan knew it, they had surrounded him and were asking all sorts of questions.

"Who gave you that sword at your waist? It looks really good."

"I sort of came by it."

"What brings you here? I hear there’s a war nearby. You’re not here because of that, are you? You’re too young to be a mercenary."

"Wow, your eyes are beautiful... Could you look this way? Yes, just like that. They’re just like emeralds."

Every answer brought two or three more questions, leaving him quite at a loss. Still, the attention did not feel unpleasant. Talking with people who regarded him as one of their own made his chest tingle in a way different from being with Roden.

As they talked, he learned that every member of this Altoan circus belonged to the same family. Fen, the doorkeeper, was the older brother of Debbie, the girl with butterfly wings. Their father, the dwarf Voldot, was the troupe leader Roxy’s older brother. The sharp-toothed Kete was the siblings’ mother and Voldot’s wife, and Hosue, the fire breather, was her younger brother.

"But none of you look very much alike for a family."

"Altoan traits don’t usually pass from parent to child. It does happen, they say, but very rarely."

"Oh."

For the first time, Shan learned that his vague assumption that he had inherited his glowing green eyes from his parents was wrong. If that was true, finding them would probably be impossible after all. Not that he had much desire to look for them anyway.

When Shan’s goal came up in the conversation, everyone’s eyes widened in surprise.

"You’re going to become a knight?"

"That’s impossible!"

"Roden said I could. He said I had more than enough ability to become a knight in Pendia."

"Well, I’ve never been to Pendia, but I find that very hard to believe..."

Roxy, the Alto circus’s leader, frowned and spoke cautiously.

"I don’t want to speak ill of your guardian, but frankly, it sounds a little suspicious. Supporting an Altoan child who isn’t even family to that extent is hardly something you’d expect. In your place, I’d assume he meant to sell me off in some distant country. Would you consider traveling with us instead? We earn a fairly decent living, believe it or not. And since we don’t take ordinary people, we’re rather short-handed."

Roxy’s offer sounded rather appealing. The first community of Altoans Shan had ever met was very kind, and they seemed like good people.

But meeting Roden had already given Shan a dream—an ambition. Watching the knights that afternoon had made it grow a little stronger, because he had become certain he could do even better than they had.

When Shan declined, they nodded, though they looked disappointed.

"I hope it all goes well for you."

"Why not become a lord someday and give us a home?"

"That won’t be hard."

After a little joking and laughter, the troupe offered him encouragement, saying they truly hoped he would fulfill his ambition and become a splendid knight. Their goodwill alone seemed to warm his heart.