A blue window flickered in front of my eyes.Everyone in this world had a system. Every child received one at the age of ten, and a knight's whole life was measured by the numbers inside it. I looked at mine and almost laughed.[Name: Chase Ardent][Class: Knight][Level: 9]HP: 140/310 MP: 12/12Body Str-21 Dex-18 Agi-17 Vit-19Skills Basic Slash Lv.3 Shield Guard Lv.2"So this is what I have to work with," I muttered. "A knight barely above a recruit."But I remembered another window. A different one, which I had carried through a whole lifetime of war. The title had been written at the very top in letters of gold.Hero.I did not think about it. I only spoke one line to the system, the way I had done ten thousand times before."Override. Restore the Hero's Record."The window froze. Then it shook violently, and the blue light turned gold.[Previous record detected: Hero Chase.][Override accepted.]The old skills poured in one after another, and my heart began to race. [Radiant Swo

The ridge became very quiet after Lyssara left. The only sounds were the wind and the cracking of the fires from the burned cliff. I stood there for a while, looking at the empty sky, and I began to wonder how many more surprises this world still had for me."Are you going to keep staring at the sky, human?" Vexa said that as she sat beside the boulder with her wrists still bound in golden light."Sorry... I was just thinking," I said to her."About what?""About that woman, Lyssara. Are you two close?" I asked, even though I already knew the answer.Vexa turned her face away. "She is my rival, not my friend. I always knew that she hated me, but I never thought she would leave me like that."I could see that her words were hurting her more than she wanted to show. I decided not to ask any more questions about it.Instead, I said, "I want to try something. Chains of Oath, release."The golden rings broke into small sparks and faded away. Vexa stood up immediately and rubbed her wrists.

The cell in the lower camp was small, cold, and smelled of old straw. There was only one window with iron bars, one wooden bench, and one bucket of water. Commander Hale had said that he did not have a second cell for Vexa, and I knew that was only half true. The other half was that we could not be separated, and he had seen that with his own eyes.Vexa sat on the bench with her knees pulled up, and I sat on the floor on the other side of the cell. We did not talk for a long time. The only sound was the guards walking outside in the corridor.A guard opened the small window of the door and pushed two bowls of soup inside. He did not say anything and walked away quickly, as if he was afraid to look at Vexa for too long.I picked up my bowl and started eating. The soup was thin and the bread was hard, but I was hungry, so I did not complain. Vexa only stared at hers."Are you not going to eat?" I asked."Humans put poison in the food of prisoners," she said that with a suspicious look.

I did not think. I pulled Vexa behind me and raised my left hand toward the spear."Chains of Oath!"Golden chains burst from the ground and wrapped around Lyssara's spear and both of her arms. She screamed in anger and pulled with all her strength, but the chains did not break. At the same time, I called out another skill with the last of my strength."Sacred Judgment!"A pillar of light came down from the sky and hit the ground a few steps away from her, right in front of the demon soldiers. It did not touch her, but the shockwave threw dozens of them to the ground, and the burning flames around the camp went out at once.Lyssara fell to one knee, breathing heavily. The chains slowly faded, because I had no more power to hold them. I fell to my knees too, with Vexa bleeding in my arms."You... human..." Lyssara looked up at me, and her eyes were full of anger and confusion. "What are you? Why does my chest hurt like this?"I did not know how to answer her. Behind me, Commander Hale

The whole Great Hall went silent after Saint Elara said that. Nobody moved, and nobody said a word. I think even the banners on the walls stopped swaying.I tried to speak, but my throat was too tight. My mind was still full of her voice, the one that had sung me to sleep so many times in my first life. It was the same voice. I was sure of it, no matter how many times I told myself to be careful."Saint Elara," the Grand Master said slowly as he leaned forward on his white stone seat. "What do you mean by that? Do you know this knight?""I do not know him," Elara said. Tears were still running down her cheeks, and she wiped them with her sleeve like a child. "I have never seen him before today. But I have dreamed of him for as long as I can remember."The nobles began to whisper loudly. Duke Marren stood up again and shouted, "This is a trick! The demon has bewitched the Saint as well!""Silence, Your Grace," the Grand Master said coldly. Then he raised one hand. "This trial is suspen