"Uncle John, why do you think the Knight didn't retreat after chasing the cultists for an entire week? He was alone! There were no reinforcements and no supplies. He should have retreated immediately or informed the Church in Baron White Deer's territory."
Beside the bonfire, Parr flipped through the diary of the dead Knight and asked the question lingering in his heart. This was the most puzzling point. Even though the sacrifice of the Knight had allowed Parr and Haystack Village to survive, Parr had the thought that he would definitely retreat and find help if he was in the Knight's shoes. There was no need to sacrifice his life for an unfamiliar village, especially when he was still a Bronze-level Knight.
The life of a Bronze-level Knight was more precious than the lives of everyone in an ordinary small village.
"You dare to ask this?"
John picked up a piece of hardwood and threw it into the fire. After a long silence, he said in a slightly emotional voice,
"Little boy, you've just walked out of your house and have never come into contact with the people of the Church. If you communicated with them a few more times, you'd understand that most people in the Church of Neutral Light are the same as that dead Knight. They're just as stubborn and stupid.
"Although it's annoying that they would often arrive late, they won't watch helplessly as the cultists harm others. Even if they can't beat the cultists, they won't retreat. There's a saying in the Church that goes like this— there is no retreat when facing a cultist. Even if we can't beat them, we must die during our charge. With the light of life, we shall dispel the eternal darkness."
"But isn't that suicide?"
Parr fiddled with the fire with a long tree branch. He was even more confused. What was the difference between this action and suicide?
"Sometimes, it is indeed suicide."
John nodded. He did not deny this. This was also the reason why he did not join the Church. His goal was to kill all the cultists, and he would spend his whole life doing this. Therefore, he would not throw his life away in vain. He knew that there was still room for his strength to improve. When his strength increased, it would be easier to achieve his goal.
However, this did not mean that John looked down on the people of the Church. Because of the Church's existence, the endless army of cultists did not already destroy this world.
Thinking of this, John reached out his hand and patted Parr's head. He instructed, "Little boy, you have to remember this. Even when death is inevitable, you must continue to press forward. This is the greatest courage and glory of us Knights."
"Oh!"
John then told Parr a story, answering Parr's heart question. A story about why the members of the Church were not afraid of death.
…
After the Great Disaster a thousand years ago, the four kingdoms of the continent were established, and there was still much to be done. Cultists sprouted like mushrooms after a rain, and the Evil Gods who were on the verge of death also intended to return to their throne. The peace that the various races of the continent had sacrificed countless lives to obtain was about to be destroyed.
At that time, a group of Knights with pure white light shining from their bodies appeared. They established the Church of Neutral Light under the leadership of the Holy Knight named Radiant Holy Dragon. Then, they began to hunt down the cultists who had appeared all over the continent and search for the places where the various Evil Gods were struggling to survive.
This was destined to be a prolonged war. At first, the number of Knights was tiny. Facing the vast number of cultists was like a weak light facing the overwhelming darkness. If it were not for the presence of the Radiant Holy Dragon, one of the seven Holy Knights of Salvation, the Church would have been destroyed long ago.
However, Radiant Holy Dragon's real opponents were not the cultists, but their leader, the Evil Gods, who had survived the Great Disaster.
Many times, when faced with cultists who were far more numerous than them, the Knights of the Church could only rely on themselves, their comrades, the weapons in their hands, the armor on their bodies, and the faith in their hearts. They would shout slogans loudly and launch a decisive charge towards the cultists.
"With the light of life, we shall dispel the eternal darkness!"
After every battle, the Knights would naturally suffer heavy casualties, and it was even common for them to be completely wiped out. However, their reckless actions shocked the cultists and all the races on the continent. It made all the races who were immersed in the hard-won peace rise up. All the races realized that the catastrophe might be over, but the battle was not won yet!
Thus, a purging operation that swept across the continent began. People of all races and countries picked up their discarded weapons again and swung them heavily at the cultists.
In the end, with the combined efforts of the Knights and all the races on the continent, the rampant momentum of the cultists was suppressed. Although the cultists were not eliminated, it did not affect the overall situation. The people put down their weapons again, and they began to recuperate while the Church continued to pursue the cultists.
…
"The Knights of the later generations inherited the faith of their predecessors. They did not back down in the face of the cultists and lived up to their slogan, to use the light of life in dispelling eternal darkness."
At the end of John's speech, the doubts in Parr's heart were finally dispelled. However, new doubts emerged.
"Uncle John, it's been a thousand years. Yet, the Knights of every generation continue not to be afraid of death? Is there a reason for this?"
"Huh?"
Hearing the question, John looked at Parr in surprise, then laughed loudly and messed up Parr's hair.
"Hahaha, you little brat. Sometimes you're stupid, but sometimes you're quite smart."
"Don't mess up my hair!"
Parr covered his hair. His hair was not long, but it was not as short as John's. However, his hair in his previous life is almost similar to John's hair. In the two days before he set off, besides wandering around Haystack Village, Parr also spent half a day tidying up his hair as a memento of his previous life.
"Okay."
John stopped laughing and withdrew his hand. Then, he added two more pieces of wood to the fire.
"You're right. The reason why the Knights are not afraid of death is not only because of the beliefs of their predecessors but also because of their origins."
"Their origins?"
As Parr fixed his hair, he thought, is there anything special about the origins of the Knights. Then, he had an idea. Without waiting for Parr to confirm the vague answer in his heart, John told him the reason.
"Most of the members of the Church are orphans. They grew up in the Church since they were young. They don't have much contact with the outside world, nor do they have the heart to deal with the trivial matters that the outside world brings.
"In their eyes, their life is meant only to pursue cultists and protect the safety of the people. You might think that they are making things difficult for you, but that's not the case. It's just that their personalities are like that, and they can't be changed."
"There are so many orphans..."
Parr suddenly stopped talking. He remembered that the original owner of his body was also an orphan. He had no parents and was brought up by Old Jack.
"..."
John had asked about Parr in Haystack Village a long time ago. He could guess what Parr was thinking, so he did not say anything more.
This continent was not peaceful. Hence there were quite many orphans.
…
In the deep forest, both men and child sank into silence beside the bonfire. After a long time, John stretched his back.
Yawn!
Rubbing his eyes and yawning, John got up and took out two blankets made of fur from Parr's big package. He kept one for himself and threw the other one to Parr.
"Alright, little boy, don't let your imagination run wild. I've finished telling my bedtime story. It's time to go to sleep. We still have to continue on our journey tomorrow!"
John found a place not far from the fire and wrapped himself in the blanket to sleep.
"Oh!"
Parr recovered from his reverie and answered perfunctorily. He took the blanket but did not go to sleep immediately. Instead, he picked up the diary of the dead Knight and continued to flip through it. He urgently needed to understand the various aspects of this world.
…
Snore!
"..."
While John was snoring, Parr flipped to the last page of the diary. Then, a helpless expression appeared on his face.
The diary was quite full, but most of it was about the Knight studying and training in the Church and hunting cultists outside. There were too many repetitions, and there was no factual information. It was perfunctorily written as if writing a diary was a daily task. However, there was a part about a little girl named Edith.
"Is this twelve-year-old girl named Edith the adopted daughter of the Knight?" After reading for a long time, Parr came up with this vague information. However, there was nothing else to be found. The name of that dead Knight was also not written anywhere.
After talking about him for so long, Parr and John did not even know the name of that dead Knight. The Knight's badge, which should record his name, was not found among the pile of relics. Was it lost in the battle? Therefore, Parr and John could only call him the dead Knight as John Doe.
…
Crash!
After flipping through the last page of the diary, only blank pages were left. These blank pages would never have the chance to be recorded again.
Sigh!
Thinking of this encounter, Parr sighed. He closed the diary and was about to put it into the small package containing the dead Knight's other relics. However, at this moment, Parr let out a soft exclamation.
"Huh? What's this?"
There seemed to be a piece of paper in the last few pages of the diary, hidden in a small corner. Curious, Parr decided to open it.
"Is this..."
He carefully unfolded the white paper, obviously made of extraordinary material.
"Beep, learnable skill is detected. Do you want to spend 10 Spiritual Energy Points to learn it?"
"Huh?"
A notification popped up on the data panel before Parr could clearly see the white paper's contents. Parr was stunned. Then, his face revealed an ecstatic expression, and he almost jumped up. He quickly turned around and covered his mouth to prevent himself from laughing out loud and waking John up. John would think that he was crazy.
Huff!
"Calm down. I need to calm down..."
Parr took a few deep breaths and finally suppressed the excitement in his heart. Then, he raised the thin piece of white paper in front of his eyes and activated Bright Eyes to sift through it.
"Let me see what kind of skill this is."