Chapter 28 : Chapter 28

Chapter 28 — Twilight (2)

The Paths collided and tangled together.

Straight lines twisted into curves, scattering into chaos before gathering once more.

Meken walked forward slowly, sword in hand.

But it wasn’t me standing against him now. The one holding Twilight in this moment was not the boy, Arhan Karavan — it was the sword’s true master: the honorable knight, Fetel.

Hair slicked neatly back, lips pressed tight, posture stiff and earnest — the noble knight who stood against his enemy in dignified silence.

My hands became Fetel’s hands.

My arms became his arms.

The complete knight unclaimed by disease — Fetel as he once was — stood firm, far harder than the man I had known.

『Lord Arhan.』

This wasn’t the Karavan Line. In that moment, a different Path spread within my heart.

『I simply wished to leave more of myself behind in this world.』

『Perhaps that too is greed.』

To my eyes, the Path shimmered strangely. I couldn’t tell whether it was the mana of a Sword Walker… or the footprints of a man named Fetel, engraved by his life’s journey.

『Even if the world forgets me, I hope you remember.』

One thing was certain.

『That one knight struggled against this cruel world until the very end.』

That Path was every bit as firm as the Karavan’s — unyielding and solid. And then, a flood of memories surged into my mind. Fetel’s final memories.

『I won seventeen honor duels. I protected you amidst flaming arrows and the bombardments of mages. When five hundred starving refugees stormed the gates, I defended them alone.』

『I devoted myself to you.』

『And the world rewarded my devotion with an incurable disease.』

***

I barely won that first honor duel — the one I began solely for your sake. Even after, other knights came to challenge me, saying I had sinned. Seventeen duels in total. I won them all.

Everyone called me a fanatic.

“Do you really think you can protect that fallen noblewoman? You’ll regret it.”

“……”

“The great powers of the continent call us knights ‘dogs.’ And they’re half right. Without masters to give us food and shelter, we’re nothing but sword-wielding strays.”

“……”

“Change your allegiance. Why cling to a master who can’t feed or house you? Find a new one, you stupid bastard.”

The words were barbed, yet hard to deny.

I ate meager food, lived in a shabby inn, and when funds ran low, I took mercenary jobs behind a mask.

It wasn’t the glorious life of a knight I once dreamed of. But I couldn’t leave.

“Sir Fetel, please. Leave.”

Even when she was dragged into the blood feud between the Iron Kingdom’s princes — forced into war — I couldn’t abandon her.

“Why won’t you leave me? Why?”

Flaming arrows, mage bombardments — chaos and screams filled the battlefield. Amidst it all, I protected her. Even atop her trembling horse, she shouted over the din:

Leave, Fetel. You can live. Even if I die here, you’re already an honorable knight. Many orders would take you in. Living that way would be worth far more than dying pointlessly here.

Leave me.

Live your own life.

“Fetel, please…”

I still remember her tears outside the silent war tent, beside the restless horses.

She looked at my bloodied, burnt face — struck by spells and explosions — and wept like a child.

Just like back then, when she’d fallen learning to ride for the first time.

“Why… why are you still here…”

The war destroyed her family.

My employer — her father — died in the chaos, his head mounted on an enemy banner.

Her mother took her own life as a prisoner.

Her brothers were buried in the mud.

She was no longer a nobility.

No longer beautiful.

No longer my master.

The contract her father had once held — the one hiring me — had long since burned.

She hadn’t been able to pay my wages in years.

But I didn’t leave. Before her, crying softly outside the stable, I spoke.

“Because I am Fetel the Loyal.”

She survived the war. Her once-delicate beauty — worthy of her name, Daisy — faded under its cruelty. Her laughter vanished, her skin roughened, her hair tangled, and small scars marred her once-fair face. But she regained her noble rights.

Through the second prince’s purge, meant to secure his throne, she was made Countess Daisy.

She became a Countess — yet she didn’t seem happy. Burdened with duty, she bore the anger of a nation. When starving peasants rioted, hammering on the gates of her estate, I stood before them alone.

I didn’t kill them.

I endured the stones, fists, and insults hurled my way, armor dented and bloodied — thinking, if this will soothe their rage, it’s worth it.

After being beaten nearly to death, I staggered back to her. She’d returned from her duties, exhausted. And though I had not kneeled before five hundred men, I knelt before her.

“Fetel…”

She no longer needed to call me Sir.

She was noble again, wealthy again, mistress of a domain and castle.

“I’m sorry, Fetel. I’m so sorry.”

Why did she still weep like a child? I couldn’t hate her.

I could only watch as she clung to me, sobbing, staining her gown with my blood and dust.

I wanted to embrace her — but didn’t. Instead, I spoke, clumsy as ever.

“…It has been my greatest honor to serve as your knight.”

She used her wealth and connections to heal my scars, repair my armor, and even recommended me to a reputable knight order.

Peace followed. But my realm did not rise.

The step to become a Sword Runner was too high.

Those who began later than I, even some who’d started with me, sprouted wings — but I stayed grounded.

More knights joined her service, all tested Sword Runners.

Yet she kept me closest.

“Sleeping with him, perhaps?” they whispered.

The rumors turned vile. Still, she never pushed me away.

She grew greater — brighter — while I stayed the same, aging and stagnant.

Perhaps it was then… that the seed of inferiority began to rot within me.

“I don’t know why that useless dog still stays by her side.”

I was no longer her sole protagonist.

Now she stood among true heroes — knights of brilliance and prestige.

She became the protagonist of her story. And I… I was a pathetic extra, refusing to leave the stage. All I could offer her was loyalty — to never betray her.

And that made me feel smaller than ever.

“……”

So I clung to my sword and to my wings. Desperate not to be discarded — afraid she might one day cast me aside — I devoted myself even more blindly.

Maybe the gods thought my struggle was too pitiful, and so they decided to take me.

Enough, Fetel, they said. This is how it ends.

In human words, that meant:

“We don’t know what disease it is. The only thing I can tell you is that you don’t have long. The marks will spread across your body, and nothing can stop them.”

“……”

“I’m sorry. There’s nothing more I can do.”

The world sentenced me to death.

Not by a knight’s duel.

Not protecting her in glory.

But by a pitiful, wretched illness.

I spent three days awake — no food, no sleep — in a haze.

The Knight Order exiled me.

Priests and healers barred me from temples, fearing contagion.

Even villagers I’d once protected shunned me.

The healer who diagnosed me for pay gossiped that Knight Fetel was diseased, and soon everyone treated me like a leper. In one night, everything fell apart.

That evening, Daisy came.

“Don’t go, Fetel.”

Don’t go, Fetel.

Even if you die, you’ll always be my greatest knight.

I’ll spend everything to find a cure. And if you still die, I’ll honor you with the grandest funeral.

So please — don’t leave me.

Stay by my side. Until the end.

Don’t leave me. Let’s finish our stories together.

She, who had always told me to leave — now begged me to stay, eyes the same as when she was still a young girl.

“I love you, Fetel.”

Perhaps we had always known.

Perhaps I had waited my whole life to hear it.

It was a forbidden, disgraceful love for a knight — but it had always lingered in the corner of my heart.

If I hadn’t been ill… maybe I would’ve kissed her.

Maybe we would’ve shared that night, ignoring everything else.

But that couldn’t be.

She was radiant. And I had already fallen into shadow.

My role was done. If I stayed, I’d only tarnish her light.

Once a character serves his purpose, he must leave the stage. That’s the most beautiful ending.

I still remember her face — her tearful eyes — and the sunset behind her, painting the world crimson. That twilight felt like my own life.

I could not drag her — my rising sun — into my twilight.

For after twilight, only darkness follows.

So I left. Because I was Fetel the Loyal. And I wanted her to remember me forever as her knight — her protagonist.

After she returned home, I slipped away quietly, whispering to the empty air.

“I loved you too, Daisy.”

I wandered the remote villages of the Iron Kingdom.

Avoiding people.

Seeking isolation.

I wanted no one to see my corpse.

Even if beasts devoured me, it was fine — as long as you didn’t see what I’d become.

I tried to forget you. But every evening, as the sky turned red, I couldn’t help but remember your gentle gaze.

One day, I arrived at a village. There, I met a strange boy.

“I don’t ever want to give up out of fear again — not before I’ve fought.”

For some reason, I couldn’t look away from him. His sword, his hardened heart — but most of all, the will burning in his eyes.

A will that suited the word protagonist far more than mine ever did.

So I became his neighbor.

Time passed quickly.

The marks spread, rotting my body and clouding my mind. And then one day, I saw a knight arrive.

The boy was in danger — and I took his crime upon myself.

“I killed him.”

It wasn’t pure selflessness. It was also selfishness.

“Didn’t you hear? A knight from the Green Deer Order — victorious in seventeen honor duels, the ever-honorable ‘Fetel the Loyal.’ I killed your deserter knight.”

It seemed like a fitting end for me.

Looking at that knight’s wings, jealousy burned again.

To die by the sword of someone who possessed what I’d always longed for — wings — wasn’t a bad fate.

And perhaps I was laughing at myself, still thinking of Daisy even as I stared at those wings.

If only I had wings, I thought, I could have stayed by her side without shame.

That my misery came from that — from being a man without wings.

So I drew my sword. And, as always, the world was merciless.

“I’ve always loved twilight.”

I died before the duel even ended.

“When the day ends and the dark night begins, that red glow that covers the world — I find it beautiful. It reminds me of us humans, leaving traces before the darkness takes us.”

The truth was, I loved twilight because it reminded me of you.

I smiled at the boy before me, though I couldn’t tell him all this.

I couldn’t confess my story or my love — not to anyone.

I was always a stubborn, foolish man — not good with words.

If that boy remembered me as a wandering knight dying of disease, that was fine.

But I hoped — just once — that someone would remember my struggle.

That much was enough.

“Take my sword.”

And I saw my true death.

As the distant sunset painted the world crimson, I thought of you again — the warmth of your hand, the scent of flowers, your gentle smile and voice, your tear-streaked face begging me to stay, your flushed cheeks whispering love.

Even dying, I smiled. Perhaps, like you, some part of my heart had remained a boy’s — forever dreaming.

I — Fetel, the boy — had dreamed of being the protagonist. But when I grew into a man, I could not be one. At my pitiful end, I finally saw the light. The twilight was beautiful — just like you.

And that… was the end of one knight named Fetel.

***

“……”

Countless Paths intertwined again.

The sword born of Fetel’s memory was honest — and unbreakable.

My Twilight did not falter, nor get lost among the countless Paths.

It walked on its own.

Meken’s Paths shattered one by one.

It wasn’t swordfighting anymore — it was proof of life itself.

Like when he’d won seventeen honor duels, like when he’d protected his master amid war, like when he’d endured the fists of starving refugees to defend a gate alone —He fought to protect what mattered, without bending —like the will of a man who’d long since left this world.

The Paths spread, stretching in every direction, then converging — many roads returning to one destination.

When all those winding paths became one, it turned thin as thread —a shimmering filament of light.

I drew a deep breath.

“Haa—”

I inherited Fetel’s Path. And through the Karavan blood, it turned to Steel — hardening into a single shining Line.

Following that Line, I gripped Fetel’s sword —stepped forward, and charged, heavy and fierce, swinging down like a giant axe.

Crude. Brutal. Perfect.

And for a heartbeat, my mind went blank.

“Ha—”

When I came to, I was standing behind Meken.

Red blood spattered the dirt.

With a dull sound, Meken’s sword fell — broken.

Two severed arms rolled across the ground.

“Gaaaah—!!”

Meken screamed — both arms gone.

I steadied my ragged breath, staring down at him. Around us, the surrounding knights looked on in stunned silence.

I lifted my sword high, then drove it into the earth.

Thunk.

The ground trembled.

I squeezed out the last of my strength.

“Announce the winner of the honor duel.”

The dumbfounded squire’s mouth hung open.

Above him, I saw Liam’s face floating serenely — smiling.

『Splendid.』

I had proven my kind neighbor’s life was not in vain.

Yes.

“Go on,” I whispered.

The Karavan way.

***

『Designation: Twilight』

『A long, sharp sword once wielded by Knight Fetel.』

『A traditional longsword, typical of knights.』

『Ingestion complete.』

.

.

.

『The Steel Blood is hungry.』

『Ingest a new sword.』