act13side

卡西米尔2 4-2

Viviana Droste. That's your name.

You are the shame of the family. If other nobles find out about you, you will become their weapon, used to attack your father.

You should have been exiled in secret or killed outright. The spire should never have heard your cries.

Yet you were brought here to Kazimierz. You were entrusted to a Kazimierz campaign knight to raise.

Your identity should have stayed hidden, but there is nobody here to hide your identity.

It's as though everyone wanted you to live out in the open, unconcealed.

How respectable yet sorrowful... Your noble father... Your nameless mother... They both love you so.

Ngh...

Candle-flame... and shadows.

What a surprise... You seem to have a good inductive reasoning of Arts phenomena.

When a room is illuminated by only a single candle, the candlelight will naturally draw our attention more so than anything else. Yet it is the shadows of everything around that truly engulf us.

Impressive techniques, Viviana... Not even my light... can shine upon you.

Please allow me to apologize.

What...?

Out of courtesy, I should call you by your name too, Miss Margaret.

Is... Is this really the a knight competition?!

It looks like neither of the knights are in a rush to slaughter her opponent for a win. On the contrary, you could say this scene is like an elegant aristocratic social gathering!

B-But even so—Did you see those Arts?! The Candle Knight's lightning-quick swordhand! Did it just engulf all that light?!

Is the Radiant Knight's endless radiance starting to wear thin?!

Just a small candle-flame—That's right, it's just a tiny candlelight, but check out its surroundings! The flame is engulfed by the darkness around, and it's that unlit darkness, not the candle's light, that's drawing our attention!

Rather than that tiny glow, you could say the Candle Knight is controlling the shadows underneath that light!

Gotta hand it to them! This isn't something you often see in our matches, not even the finals!

Their Arts are calm and elegant, but there's no mistake that these Arts are of the highest caliber!

That's the Radiant Knight, Margaret Nearl, and the Candle Knight, Viviana Droste, we know and love!

Maria? Maria!

Where is she...? She's not at the bar, and she's not home...

No...

Nnf... nnf...!

Why am I...?

You...? You're that...

The Armorless Union.

Oh, calm down.

As long as you promise you won't make a fuss, we won't do anything to you.

After all, if the Nearl family's precious little baby got hurt... the Radiant Knight and Młynar wouldn't just sit around and not do anything.

You want to... make Margaret forfeit?

Something like that.

Do you know what happened to Brassrust? The Infected are the talk of the town right now.

Could you imagine what would happen if, under these circumstances, the Radiant Knight ends up taking the crown?

Your sister just has to be a good girl and let the Candle Knight win. That will save us all the headache. Pretty simple, don't you agree?

Margaret isn't going to forfeit.

Did you know, Maria Nearl?

Kazimierz... is like a tower. If you stand at its base and look up at the top of the spiraling staircase, you will never, ever see its end.

V! Kowal! Marcin!

Maria might've been—

What happened to Maria?!

I have wondered for a long, long time.

What are we suffering for?

Compared to the farmers of Ursus's barren soil, the refugees escaping Bolívar's flames of war, and the merchants making their way across Sargon's endless golden sands...

Are we not enjoying our lives?

No.

Ursus has nobles living their high lives, Bolívar has war profiteers swimming in money, and Sargon's golden city must be one of the most prosperous metropolises the world has ever seen.

In that case, what is the source of Kazimierz's sufferings? As 'knights,' as Kazimierzian knights, how are we to handle these tragedies hidden from view?

No.

To start, am I really a knight of Kazimierz?

Should I have stayed in Leithania, writing poems and songs amid flowers and accordion melodies?

Why don't you try your hand at writing a few poems? With how popular you are, I can get in touch with a few publishers. Your fame and talent will...

Me...? I'm afraid... I can't.

You're being humble again.

No, this isn't humility, McKee.

I...

I might have gone numb.

I thought I had left Leithanien and left that spire behind. It wasn't until afterwards that I realized this. The spire is still there. It has always been there.

It has always stood above all suffering and tribulation.

...Margaret.

When you set a tall, magnificent spire ablaze, how far away can the masses see the smoke?

Flames cannot burn away the contradictions in their hearts.

The masses can see the black smoke from far, far away, but it may once have been their homes, the lands on which they survived.

In that case... I truly don't understand.

How does a knight like you return to Kazimierz, if not for a change of heart? What is your objective?

It's just as you said, Viviana.

The times are changing, but that does not mean what we once considered virtuous and righteous must change.

I came back because I must remind the knights of Kazimierz... as well as all those who are here in this country—

—I'm here to remind them of their long forgotten glory.

Remind? How will you... remind Kazimierz of anything, given its current state?

You want an answer from me... but I'm afraid I don't necessarily have that right. This isn't something that can be done through simple conversation.

My... You can read minds with your Arts?

I'm only grasping more and more of your honesty by the minute.

Also, you asked me what I saw in my years of exile.

I've witnessed... the greatest tragedy this world has seen.

I've seen the Infected's struggles at death's door, I've seen great cities crumble and fall as Catastrophes rained down upon them.

Is that the suffering you've seen...? In this world that you pity...?

I have excellent companions.

No... excellent doesn't adequately describe them anymore. They... possess a brilliant shine, a testament to their ideals.

It's true. I was once lost, Viviana.

Anyone would be lost if they had taken the crown and been exiled at your age.

But things are different now. At the end of my long journey, I found friends whom I can trust. I realized where my beliefs lie.

I'm alone no longer.

Margaret lodges her longsword into the ground.

Without a sound, the knight's radiance emanates throughout the arena, with gold seemingly flowing through her eyes.

She will be the lighthouse and foundation of everything here.

She will stand solemnly in this place till she ceases, perhaps even till the end of times.

Even if no one has walked the path she alone illuminates—

—There is nothing to fear any more.

Report. Platinum, ma'am... We've already informed the Knights Association.

However, the match is still ongoing.

I sure wish the Knights Association would get on with this already. Otherwise, her sister's going to have to suffer.

I told you. Margaret isn't going to forfeit.

No biggie. I'm sure she won't be in any mood for her next match when she sees your fingers laid out side by side at your family's front door.

Look at your eyes... So defiant. You're a weird one. No, both you and your sister are weird.