act12mini

I suppose the whole scandal is no longer taboo, now that the dust has settled.

...The old captain didn't approve when I was first elected captain, remember?

That was because he knew I wasn't willing to give up my life to defend my house's schemes. Instead, I asked for help in trying to stop them.

As he put it, putting justice above loyalty was a fatal flaw for a campaign knight.

So... what do you think?

I only know about the incident from what you guys told me.

When the kid brought his friends, the boys were muttering that the noble brat had a trick or two up his sleeves.

We even made a bet.

If the rumors that you foiled the Leithanian plot were true, then how about the rumors that the second son of House Nearl was expelled from his house by the war hero Kirill because of gambling debts?

Oh, don't get me wrong, we also bet on when Czcibor would finally put together a flower crown for his Kuranta redhead.

...Or when you'd fix that bad habit of always seeing the best in people.

What kind of person he used to be doesn't matter.

If the contract you obtained is true, then his plot has cost the lives of countless innocents.

It's from that little lawyer lady from the Grand Knight Territory. Probably legit.

To tell the truth, her handing over the documents on her own was an unexpected stroke of luck.

We were planning to spook her a little bit to get the evidence... and you almost threw a wrench into things.

As for the documents themselves, I don't think anyone realized their importance.

According to the sender, she was probably just playing a little legal prank. Just like how we only stopped by because we got a request for help from the village of Twierdza.

But Czcibor was really interested in it, even going as far as to use the investigation as an excuse to take bounty hunters into custody, just to stop me from questioning her.

Which means that contract, signed by Marek Jr., has nothing to do with his house. It's all the knightclub behind him.

...And Gale Industries recruited the Infected as requested, manipulating the media to publicize the attacks.

The Infected riots are the result of their machinations.

Man, I thought I was close enough to the kid that he'd at least come talk to me first. After all, my buddies definitely have surer hands than those Infected he found.

Do you think those businessmen ever stopped to think about what the campaign knights would have to gain when they're advertising their affiliates?

...This is more about more than just causing a panic. They're trying to recreate how the Silverlance Pegasi entered the Grand Knight Territory not too long ago.

A simple show of force is of no value.

And given Dzwonek's traditions, the campaign knights don't even have to go so far to find an excuse to enter the city.

Yeah, he wouldn't need to take your sword just for something like that.

But he did talk about wanting to take revenge for Celina.

...I don't owe him an explanation.

Sure, and you're not the only one he's aiming at. But I think there's a reason he set a particular time to return it.

There's a ribbon-cutting ceremony tomorrow.

Great minds think alike.

Either everything will be over by then, and this keeps you out of it, or that's when it begins, and he wants you there for whatever reason.

Worst case scenario, it's both. Like... making you watch the Leithanian delegate die, right in front of the sculpture representing peace between the two nations.

Enough... he shouldn't be doing this.

Wait, where are you going?

He shouldn't let these things get to his head, nor should he resort to these underhanded means.

I'll talk to him.

...Sorry, I suppose that was a difficult question.

I only thought that if the target happened to show up in the slums tonight, perhaps out of the naive logic we've heard from him...

I believe that people still capable onto such ideals should not die, even if they are often the first to fall into the maws of fate.

Heh... So why did you sign up for this operation?

Everyone in the knightclub is of one mind about this.

We agree that it's time for those who are dreaming away in the safe cocoons of the cities to wake up and face the reality of our struggles and the impending threat.

Leithanien's ambitions are obvious. Their war preparations have never halted. We should not remain idle while they're preparing to tear away the facade of peace.

Even if this incident doesn't reignite the flames of war between Kazimierz and Leithanien, the people will remember this time of turmoil.

They'll understand who it is that truly protects them.

Ah, that's what I said in my rallying speech, wasn't it?

Sorry... but we all think the same way.

If I had to come up with something else... the battlefield is the only place knights can truly find glory.

We're an unremarkable knightclub stationed on the outskirts, with neither military exploits or a venerable tradition to call our own.

Most of us come from branches or retainers of the great houses, without the prestigious bloodlines needed to make it into the great knightclubs.

But as long as we get the chance to set foot on the battlefield, I know we will prove our mettle. We will not allow mere merchants to sell our victory, nor will we cower before the enemy's guns.

...If only all of Kazimierz shared our conviction.

Don't say that... it's our job as knights to go to war.

Let them be weak or fearful. We fight so that they don't have to, and in so doing convince them to put faith in us.

*cough*...

Is the wind blowing the smoke into your eyes? Perhaps you should move over here?

I'm fine.

Is that... Captain Celina's diary that you're burning?

Yes. I've read it enough times to have it memorized.

But many of its records are no longer relevant. I wanted to dispose of it, lest it become our shackles in the future.

...You're right. We still miss her.

You know, of course, how that conflict between the nobles disillusioned us with the Adeptus Sprawiedliwi Kazimierz.

Hard to believe that we lost her to what began as a property dispute in a small village.

No, it was no complicated political conflict.

Of course, I won't forget those responsible for her death either.

They simply found an opportunity to exact revenge on us, after many years of waiting.

We ticked off a lot of people in high places before we joined the campaign knights. They took her life as a warning to me.

Sorry, I didn't mean to pry...

No, it was never something that should be left unsaid.

We wanted to help those struggling to make ends meet under crippling taxes. Those who lost their homes to the G.C.C.'s bulldozers...

It's only human to feel sympathy for them.

We've done nothing to be ashamed of. It was the nobles and merchants who colluded with the media to keep the silence, covering up their crimes.

It was a silence that should not exist, at least not among knights.

No knight should ever bow down to wealth and power, but there is no shame in kneeling before suffering.

...I'll try to keep that in mind, if I ever get a chance.

It's easier said than done, given the current state of Kazimierz.

Most who pursue their ideals here find themselves walking not on wide roads and flat terrain, but rather stumbling along the edge of a cliff.

Those who throw themselves bravely into the abyss don't even make a sound.

...That's why I'm trying to bring the thunder of war to this land, and carve out a path amidst despair.

You're going to go find him? Where? The campaign knight camp?

Where else?

I wrote to him, you know. Anything there is to say, I already did. I don't know if we can still convince him to turn back.

...Sitting around and watching this unfold is not an option, Toland.

I can't stand idly by while he puts all his hopes on war. That's akin to admitting failure.

...Disillusionment leads to extreme solutions. It's <i>because</i> we understand that we're angry.

Not at him, though... at the Kazimierz that's driven us all to desperation.

But even if you wanted to pit yourselves against the entire knightclub, and had the ability to do so... that's why he took your sword.

There's nothing stopping me from trying to dissuade him.

—Why do you think the hunters were so willing to follow you back then?

You don't have to make enemies of the campaign knights.

And you don't have to be so reckless.

I know what you're concerned about, of course.

It's certainly harder for us to make a move when our brothers are still in their hands, and we could hardly expect to go head-to-head with campaign knights.

But it's sad enough for Czcibor to have gone rogue on us. Can't you at least give me the hope that not all knights are like that?

I didn't like how my father saw things. Who decides who's the farmer, and who are the crops?

Who decides they could push crops into the earth to make it more fertile?

...No, I won't write this in the letter. A knight should not question endlessly, not without finding an answer into which he can place his trust.