Chapter 65 Hiltina, You Do Not Understand the Human Heart
The scenery outside the car window passed by rapidly.
Hiltina and Rast stood side by side as spiritual embodiments, gazing at the memory fragment before them, where a bewildered and anxious little girl with chestnut hair appeared.
And before her, a wave-like light screen spread out like ripples on water.
Until at some moment, the hazy scene within the water curtain gradually became clear.
It was a mountain shrouded in flames, seemingly burning eternally.
The forest covering the entire mountain was consumed by raging fire, and the towering black smoke covered the azure sky, leaving only a gloomy and oppressive atmosphere.
The grass and trees were burned to ashes, leaving only the white remnants after being scorched.
This was a world of deathly silence, where even the light in the air was distorted and deformed by the high temperature.
Boom——
In a certain moment, a black griffin descended from the sky, accompanied by a deafening storm, stirring up countless plumes of dust and fine ash.
Thud.
A long-tube knight’s boot landed on the dry, cracked earth.
Cecilia dropped to the ground, turned back, and stroked the head of the giant griffin: “Go back; it’s a fire element demon of at least the sixth rank. You won’t help me here; you’ll only become a burden.”
Whimper~
The giant griffin whined a few times, rubbing against Cecilia, its bright yellow beast eyes showing evident reluctance.
“Stop being so childish.”
“Go back and watch over Hiltina for me.”
“Aaron said he wants to take Hiltina to the Imperial Capital for training; I have no objections.”
“But she’s so little; she needs me to accompany her to sleep at night…”
Cecilia’s stern words softened slightly: “I don’t doubt that Aaron can win the royal selection and inherit the throne; he was born to be king. However, as soon as he takes office, he will have to consolidate power and balance other nobles, leaving him little time to care for Hiltina.”
“And we’ve spoiled Hiltina too much since childhood; she has not faced many hardships and does not know the dangers of the Imperial Capital.”
“She is still too young and in a strange environment, facing much kindness or malice from outsiders… I can’t rest easy if you’re not by her side.”
Whimper~
Upon hearing this, the giant griffin looked at Cecilia reluctantly one last time before flapping its wings and flying into the sky.
After circling a few times in the air, it flew off into the distance, disappearing from sight.
After looking up at the giant griffin’s disappearance, the knight turned around and directed her gaze back to the almost endless sea of flames before her.
Her steps crossed the scorched, cracked earth.
And on the path that Cecilia walked, at the edge of the distant fire scene, one could vaguely see a group of silver-gray figures, wrapped in human-shaped bundles.
“Fireproof bags?” Rast said softly.
He recognized those silver-gray human-shaped bundles.
They were a type of protective equipment used by firefighters to handle emergencies in fire scenes, made of multilayer high-temperature resistant materials, including aluminum foil and glass fibers.
When the fire is severe and evacuation is impossible, covering oneself with a fireproof bag becomes the final life shield for firefighters.
“Mm.”
Hiltina’s light brown eyes were also locked tightly on the water curtain projection.
“As the border province of the empire, the Autumn Leaf Territory has much of its land covered by mountains and forests.”
“Therefore, the Rangers, who watch over the mountains and prevent forest fires, are a unique profession in the Autumn Leaf Territory, and my family is called the ‘Ranger’ family, stemming from this.”
“The population of the Autumn Leaf Territory is small, only a few tens of thousands… The Ranger team visited my home when I was little; I knew each of them.”
Her gaze swept over the human-shaped silver-gray fireproof covers one by one.
“Tyler, fifty-nine, the captain of the Ranger team. He was supposed to retire and enjoy life after this year.”
“Russell, twenty-nine, a former smoker and addict, but for the sake of his child, he wanted to secure a stable job. He passed Captain Tyler’s rigorous tests and became a reserve member of the Ranger team, but faced an accident on his first patrol.”
“Aunt Susan, she was responsible for logistics and was originally not required to join in, yet she came anyway… Aunt Susan held me when I was little.”
“And Angie, Carl…”
Hiltina calmly narrated.
“When the catastrophe fell at dusk, and the wildfire erupted, the Ranger team immediately mobilized to establish isolation belts to block flammable materials.”
“And it was because of their brave battle that they briefly halted the spread of the flames, allowing a considerable number of residents in the Autumn Leaf Territory to escape to safety.”
“But… that was merely standard firefighting measures.”
“And the wildfire that descended upon the Autumn Leaf Territory was not an ordinary fire but a domain created by a sixth-rank fire element demon lord. How could it be stopped by just an isolation belt?”
At this moment, Hiltina’s gaze and actions perfectly aligned with Cecilia in the water curtain.
They both watched the silver-gray human-shaped fireproof covers, their faces calm yet tinged with faint sadness.
“And the so-called fireproof bags can only resist flames but cannot insulate heat.”
“Moreover, it is not an ordinary wildfire, but the power of a high-ranking fire element demon…”
“They hid inside the fireproof bags; their only function was to leave behind an intact corpse.”
After a brief pause, Hiltina’s voice resounded once more.
However, this time her words held no trace of the previous bewilderment or sorrow.
What remained was only resoluteness.
At that same moment, Cecilia in the water curtain also withdrew her gaze.
Her wrist lightly moved, and a clear knightly sword quietly appeared.
The silvery sword light briefly illuminated the smoke-covered, grayish sky.
In the distance, among the flames and black smoke, a rumbling sound reminiscent of thunder could be faintly heard.
It was the hideous roar of the fire element demon lord.
And that stern knight, thus held the silver sword, her chestnut hair billowing under the hot wind.
Then.
Step by step, she walked past Rast and Hiltina.
Watching the fragile yet dignified figure brush past her, Hiltina instinctively reached her hand out.
But in the end, her hand passed through that illusory shadow, touching nothing.
In the end, they could only watch as the knight walked further away.
Until her back stepped into the overwhelming sea of fire before them, disappearing from sight.
…
The scene in the light curtain became distorted and blurred.
It seemed that the level of the battle that erupted within was so high that even Tuck’s Night Blade could not fully detect it.
However, the burning crimson flames and the figure of the knight stepping into the flames had already left a deep imprint in the light curtain across from the little girl in a dress, hugging a teddy bear, whose light brown eyes reflected everything.
“My father commanded Teacher Tuck to manifest the projection screen with Night Blade in front of me at that time.”
“And let the me, who was still naïve and ignorant back then…”
“Witness my mother’s end.”
“Not as the queen of the empire.”
“But as the head of the Ingersoll family, using her life as the price… killed that fire element demon lord, the source of the dusk disaster.”
Hiltina whispered in Rast’s ear.
“Actually, I was very ordinary when I was little; just a girl who loved to act cute and was afraid of the dark, wanting her mother to accompany her to sleep at night.”
“But that day, what I witnessed, that figure stepping into the flames, I will never forget in this lifetime.”
Her words slightly paused.
“So whether others describe it as madness and obsession, or as pretentious and affected… it doesn’t matter.”
“I can understand my father’s choice. The Autumn Leaf Territory is merely an insignificant region in the Granwill Empire; regarding the overall interests and trade-offs, even if the entire Autumn Leaf Territory were to be destroyed, it would not compare to Winter Fortress.”
“However, I will never agree with my father’s ideology.”
“If I want to become the first princess, to be the so-called heir… I must become a cold, nation-benefit-centered machine, and abandon what belongs to the Rangers. In that case, I would rather not have those identities and positions.”
“So.”
“My name is Hiltina Ingersoll, not Hiltina von Freisberg.”
As Hiltina’s words fell.
The carriage in front of her, the water-like light curtain, and that timid little girl…
All of these fragmented memories of Hiltina shattered, cracking into mottled fragments, then disappearing completely.
In their place, the memory scene that reappeared before Rast and Hiltina was a place of shattered ruins.
Figures surrounded them, all adorned with the emblem of Starry University.
Yet at this moment, these elite members of Starry University were almost all injured.
In the further distance, one could still see dozens of human forms covered with white cloth, the sacrifices from the battle not long ago, nearly equal in number to those still alive.
“Hiltina, are you satisfied now?”
A calm female voice echoed in their ears.
“Having paid such a heavy price, with our team suffering over half of the casualties, finally conquering this historical resonance, is this the ending you desired?”
Upon hearing this, Hiltina in the memory scene slightly raised her head.
“I’m sorry, Fran.”
“I knew this historical resonance raid would be dangerous, so I wanted to enter alone from the beginning, and you all could stay outside…”
“You know that’s impossible! We are a team, and you are our captain. If we let you go in alone, do we still have the right to call ourselves your teammates?”
The female voice no longer remained calm; instead, it carried a hint of anger.
When Rast looked toward the source of that voice, he found the other party somewhat familiar.
Fran.
Previously lost in Frozen Water Town, erased of her soul, one of the scout team members with Night Blade’s “Plant Dialogue”.
At the same time, Fran was also Hiltina’s vice-captain during her first year, a member who briefly joined yet later fell apart.
“But the Night World must be cleared; if not, the dusk disaster will descend…”
“I am from the Ruins Institute; I naturally know that common knowledge!”
In the memory scene, Fran interrupted Hiltina’s words loudly.
“To clear the Night World and prevent the dusk disaster from becoming reality, we chose to join Starry University and become part of the clearing team with that awareness; you don’t need to repeat it!”
“I admit, Hiltina, your strength and your ideals are remarkable, remarkable enough that many people are willing to follow you and be part of your team.”
“But your decisions are too idealistic. You are the protagonist in fairy tales and epic legends, the flawless knight, but not the person reality should have.”
“We all want to clear the Night World and prevent the dusk disaster from descending; if not, we wouldn’t have joined Starry University. But we are also flesh-and-bl**d individuals; we get tired, we feel fear and dread, and after prolonged battles, we want to retreat and may have dark thoughts of being deserters—this is human nature.”
“We cannot be like you, marching forward without hesitation, steadfastly facing life-and-d*ath dangers time after time.”
“You truly are the ideal knight, but precisely because of that, your idealism and obsession also subtly burden your companions, never considering the weakness of the human heart.”
“All along, to keep pace with you, to ensure we do not become a burden to you… everyone in the team has long since grown exhausted, merely enduring and holding on, like a tightly stretched string that will eventually snap one day.”
As if a long-suppressed emotion finally burst forth at this moment, Fran gazed at Hiltina before her.
“You may be a perfect knight, a perfect Night Traveler, but you are certainly not a qualified leader.”
“Your brilliance is too blinding… to the point that we ordinary people, even just following behind you, find it unbearably painful.”
“Hiltina, you do not understand the human heart.”
She looked at Hiltina with a glimmer of expectation in her eyes.
Around them, several other gazes turned to Hiltina, equally filled with eager anticipation.
Hiltina understood very well what her team members were hoping for.
They hoped Hiltina could let go of her pride and obsession, learn to adapt and be flexible, and temper her brilliance.
Gradually, she would become a leader capable of understanding human weakness, knowing to navigate and make trade-offs, aware of benefits and harms, willing to choose to give up for the team’s interests when facing danger and difficulties… a qualified leader.
If Hiltina could make such a change, their strongest team would not have to fall apart but could continue to be maintained.
And Hiltina would still be their captain and leader.
Yet, ultimately.
In the focus of those eager gazes, Hiltina gently closed her eyes.
“I’m sorry, Fran.”
“I may indeed not be a qualified leader, and I truly do not understand the weakness of the human heart.”
“But before all of this—”
“I am first and foremost, myself.”
Boom——
At the moment those words were spoken.
The illusory world woven from Hiltina’s memories shattered in an instant.
Then, it all returned to the void.
In that shattered light and shadow, Rast saw a line of deep blue text quietly appear in his mind.
[Your bond with Hiltina Ingersoll has deepened, the “Library of Fools” has gained new power.]
[『Chariot』·Hiltina’s current bond level has risen from 2 to 3.]
[You have unlocked a new original text.]
[Sequence ability——”Chariot·Gale Steps” has been unlocked.]
…
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(End of chapter)
