SSS-Knight in a Hero World-Chapter 92: Last tears shed

Never has he seen or felt essence like this before.

The essence felt almost invigorating, as if it was going up through his nose and hitting all the weird spots in a good way. But even still, Felix struggled to solve the puzzle of interacting with such energies.

He stomped his feet over and over again, but he didn’t step onto something physical that he could stand on.

Seeing his pathetic struggle amused Eos. She laughed a little, but not in a disrespectful manner. To her, it was more like teaching someone’s baby how to walk for the first time.

"Essence is not a physical thing. Hear this, a solid object can only make proper contact with another solid.

It’s the same thing for essence," she told him.

I feel like you could explain that easier... Felix thought, but he wouldn’t say it outright to her. "Got any other advice?"

. . .

Eos thought about it carefully, then smiled. "Throughout my life, I’ve noticed that humans work well under pressure."

"Under pressure?"

Drop.

Did she just drop me?

Eos dropped Felix without warning, and almost instantly his incredible sense of essence disappeared.

Humans die under pressure too!

Even the rigorous tutoring under his teachers didn’t compare to what this was, and even with his physical attributes as a trained knight, a drop from this height would lead to instantly morphing into a fine paste.

No... I should get this done with. Felix curled into a ball and clenched his teeth.

Felix was born talentless at the start. He was never destined to be a knight, and nobody told him to become one, and yet here he was trying to learn a secret technique from royalty.

Felix blocked the howling winds reaching into his ears, and the wind piercing his skin like needles as he fell at terminal velocity.

He silenced even the deepest parts of his mind to experience absolute darkness within him. All of his being’s purpose was now directed into detecting essence.

But nothing changed. The essence around him felt no different than it usually was, and that wonderful feeling of essence that he felt with the help of Eos was already forgotten.

In his mind, perhaps he couldn’t do it, and he should accept it humbly regardless. The mere fact of being offered this technique was enough... right?

No, it isn’t right. Another part of him thought that this was the most repulsive thing ever.

You’ll never reach that elf’s level.

Even talentless has its limits.

Eos will simply come down and save you,

because you can’t master the technique she has so generously given you.

"Man..." Felix said, so shamefully, so disappointed.

Slowly, he relaxed his body and returned his mind to the howling winds that screamed at him, but there was one voice that called out to him.

"You? Giving up? I can’t believe this."

"!!!" Felix turned his head to see his friend falling beside him, and in their human form no less!

Another voice appeared beside him. "I knew it... you’re super insecure!"

Without warning, the two touched his back and gave him that wonderful feeling again, and almost as suddenly, they became those glowing leaves that ascended up.

That wonderful feeling began to fade away, leaving Felix in a mix of daze and shock.

"Don’t daze off, moron," another said.

They patted his back and renewed his senses again.

And again, and again. One by one, they kept that wonderful feeling alive enough for Felix to feel.

"Catch us if you can, Sir Felix."

The leaves in the sky quickly ascended, as Felix quickly descended.

But would he let it be this way?

Without even thinking, he began clawing the air in desperation. It didn’t matter if his friends were so far away. It didn’t matter if they stopped patting him. It didn’t matter if that feeling began to disappear.

In that moment, everything no longer mattered except his friends. He clung onto that thin thread. Even if that thread didn’t exist, he clung on as hard as he could.

His vision began to blur at that moment, but he continued on. His sole reason for living now was to catch up to those twirling leaves he knew as his friends.

. . .

"...That’s enough. Let them rest with the others," Eos softly said.

She tightly gripped Felix’s hand as he mindlessly screamed at the dots of light that attached themselves to the ever-growing tree.

Eos sighed and smacked some sense into Felix.

Fortunately, slapping his head did the trick, as Felix collapsed to the floor... if he could even call it that, since he was in the air.

"Congratulations, you’ve learned how to fly."

It took a while for the knight to settle himself down, but he recovered quickly from his distress.

"That was... a bit embarrassing," Felix admitted, though he didn’t dismiss that his feelings there were faked to achieve results. "Now what?"

Eos pointed at the tree. "You’re gonna see something pretty."

Not questioning her words, Felix stood beside her and watched the mysterious tree keep growing and growing, then suddenly stop growing.

As it reached the ends of heaven, the tree’s branches flowed, stretched, and twisted like coral underwater.

Then there was another buildup of essence, but with this newfound understanding of it, it felt even stronger than it looked.

Such a buildup of essence, if it were an explosion, it would easily flatten entire kingdoms to ash.

Flash!

It was only a brief moment to Felix, but the sight of the tree was gone. What remained was a thin veil of blue dust stretching around the horizon with no end in sight, and thousands upon thousands of twinkling stars floating above the veil.

"Each of those stars are the complete data sets of those who died. They will soon join with the rest of the souls resting under the safety of the World Tree network."

Data?

Felix recalled the meaning of that word. Is this really the afterlife then? But it doesn’t explain why my friends couldn’t answer what dying was like?

For now, he avoided asking that question to Eos. "The World Trees? I thought they were just... big trees."

"You’re not wrong," Eos answered, her gaze focused on the twiglights.

Before the empty conversation could continue, Eos decided to speak up in a hurry. "Do you remember how my family died due to a land dispute?"

Felix nodded in silence.

"The land that the City of Burials is erected upon used to be my family’s kingdom, and the tree you saw used to be our World Tree.

But even if it’s dead, the roots are still alive, which is why it can still help store data by connecting with the living World Trees."

"Uh-huh." This used to be an elven kingdom? How old is she?!

Felix sighed in helplessness. "Did you need me to make this happen?"

The elf stared into the distance before speaking. "...I’m too tired to explain."

That was something even Felix didn’t expect.

She must have waited for this for so long. Might as well let her enjoy the fruits of her efforts.

"Felix, when I said those were tears of joy, I didn’t mean it in a bad way," Eos suddenly added.

She faced Felix and curtsied gracefully.

Being bowed to was something a knight wasn’t used to, but maybe it wasn’t so bad when a princess did it to him.

***

"Urgh..."

Felix’s heart pounded heavily under the scorching sun, sweat continuing to drench him. His stomach grumbled in agony.

It felt exactly like waking up after swinging swords all day, a terrible yet fulfilling feeling.

"Hah!"

Felix shot up and screamed, unintentionally making everyone around the graveyard uncomfortable.

It wasn’t this crowded before... where’s Eos?

Ignoring the gazes directed at him, Felix stood up and walked toward the entrance. Along the way, he paid his last visit to his friends.

He didn’t expect their family members to be there, which startled him, but after everything that had happened, nothing could really stop him anymore.

When he greeted them, there were no hard feelings toward Felix. In fact, the families were quite open to him, which only made him regret not participating in the actual burial ceremony.

After that, he instinctively made his way to Eos’ bakery.

It’s a day after the festival after all. Everyone’s back to their busy lives, so Eos had to man the shop.

But she could’ve at least woken me up... Felix grumbled, taking the last turn toward her shop.

Hmm? It’s rather quiet, even though it’s noon.

The street looks so clean and new too.

In the distance, he saw a gathering of rather wealthy-looking individuals.

Felix laughed inside and hurried his steps. Even nobles eat her stale bread and brown water? I can’t believe this.

But as he drew closer to the shop, something began to feel wrong.

Where’s the shop? Am I in the wrong street?

"You there! Go away before I call the guards!" someone yelled.

At first, Felix was confused, but he quickly realized his unbecoming appearance. Smelly, unkempt, dirty. Worse, he was dressed like this on a street clearly meant for the upper class.

As befitting of a knight, he quickly apologized. "Excuse me, but I was looking for a bakery around these streets."

One of the aristocratic ladies intervened. "Bakeries? Goodness, we only have cafes here, young man. Bakeries are for the working class."

"Are you certain, my lady?" Felix asked to make sure.

"Gosh! How dare you call me my lady when you look like a rat!"

Seriously, why can’t people look past outward appearances... Felix lampooned.

"Wait, I think I might know the answer."

Felix turned toward the new voice. It was an elf.

They wasted no time answering. "It’s a family story from my great-grandmother’s mother who frequented this place."

"?" Felix could only stare in confusion.

"This is the place where elves become carnivorous beasts. The bakery that used to be here sold such stale bread and muddy coffee that even an elf would devour meat to forget it, ahaha!"

"Who sold the bread?" Felix asked, clearly not amused.

His expression made the elf uneasy. "I-I’m sorry sir, but I don’t know."