The Star Knight

Deep in the violent wind gap, leaving the tuyere, thousands of atomic furnaces glowed red, Rector stood in front of the cliff, Opal stared at him quietly for a moment, his eyes were red, and there were tears in his eyes.

Rector said: "You grew up, Opal."

Opal and Rector hugged tightly, buried his face on his shoulder, sobbed, and took a long breath.

Rector sighed, Karens was counting the civilians, and Opal followed slowly behind Rector.

"How many years have we not seen each other?" Rector said.

"Four years." Opal said: "Teacher, I am twenty years old."

Rector said: "You have matured a lot."

The mentor and apprentice walked past the bright atomic furnace fire. With Rector there, Opal no longer worried about the safety of civilians. He sighed and said, "I followed your suggestion and went to the mercenary country."

Rector nodded slowly, Opal said: "But I have used the power of faith many times."

Rector looked at the fire and said, "It doesn't matter. The teacher's words are not necessarily all right. Tell me about it, what have you learned in four years?"

Opal sat down next to a stone and began to recall many things he had experienced in the Ares galaxy since he left Rector, but he did not tell him much about copying people and Raymond's life.

Raymond is dead, so take this as an eternal secret between them.

After Opal finished speaking, Rector said: "I feel your faith has become an ashes."

Opal said: "I'm too tired."

Rector said: "But in this ashes, there is a little flame that exudes residual temperature. Just following the guidance of faith, I found you out of the canyon."

He smiled gently, Opal smiled bitterly, tears rolling in his eyes, shaking his head.

"Teacher, what are you doing here?" Opal didn't mention the last time Rector appeared on the star and repelled Caroline. He didn't dare to mention Caroline in front of him. The king is the blood feud of the mercenaries and the apprentice of Rector.

"A friend asked me to look at the situation in the Saul Galaxy." Rector said: "This galaxy wants to declare independence and be suppressed by the Republic, but the people are innocent and the army cannot intervene. That friend can only invite me to come Assistance within my ability."

Opal said: "In fact, you can also use dragon rays to carry them all at once."

Rector sat down next to the stone and said in a deep voice: "I often indulge my faith until the day I lose it. I feel very unaccustomed. Although I have reignited the fire of faith, I want to try a mundane way. To solve the difficulties faced."

Opal nodded and neither of them spoke.

The migrating civilians slept in the cold night, preparing to replenish their strength, and set off again tomorrow morning. Carlos came with food and distributed it to Rector and Opal.

Rector glanced at Karens and said, "Are you from the glorious team of the Republic?"

Karens nodded: "Yes, hello."

Rector with a thoughtful look, then said: "I've seen you with Silos."

Karen's expression was slightly unnatural, saying, "I don't seem to have seen you. Are you?"

What did Opal keenly perceive, and Rector knew Karens?

Rector said: "Just looked at it from afar, why don't you continue to join the army?"

Karens nodded and was very uncomfortable in front of Rector, saying, "I'm retired and want to do my own thing."

Opal frowned slightly, and Rector added: "The Major of the Glorious Team will go to the Martyrs to become a mercenary. It can be seen that the universe is full of infinite possibilities. Didn't Li Wei keep you?"

Karens smiled and said, "No, my relationship with him is a bit bad. Do you know General Li Wei?"

Rector said: "I know him, but he doesn't know me."

The conversation between the two ends here, and Karens doesn't seem to want to stay in front of Rector, and gets up to the other side of the canyon.

"Who is he?" asked Opal.

Rector replied: "Republic soldiers, did he find you?"

Opal said: "No, I took him on the initiative."

Rector said: "Revelation star Karens, he would actually be a mercenary..."

Opal asked: "He is famous?"

Rector said: "The military of the Republic has always rated him well, but Li Wei doesn't like him very much and may not be able to mix in the army. It is obviously very good for him to be a mercenary. He is loyal Famously, all the recruits he brought up respect him very much. I think he is a trusted comrade to you."

Opal was relieved to hear Rector's words, and he also felt that Karen was not an ordinary person.

Rector stopped talking about this topic and asked, "What are your plans for the future, Opal. Do you take risks with him?"

"I didn't think about it." Opal said: "Continue to hone yourself... to be an S-class mercenary, fight for the star, looking forward to one day..."

He didn't talk about it anymore, avoiding the topic of Caroline.

Rector stared at Opal's eyes and said, "Don't fill your heart with hatred, Opal."

Opal did not answer.

"I am a sinner." Rector said: "I personally cultivated the King of Meteorites."

"No." Opal placed Rector's shoulder on one hand and whispered: "No, everyone must be responsible for themselves, and only you can be responsible for yourself. You have done your best, teacher."

Rector said: "Ledgerson accused me more than once. If Nolan is still alive, I think he will discover Colleen's dark personality earlier than me."

The topic has already begun, and Opal no longer cares about this, asking: "Teacher, why did he do this?"

"I don't know." Rector said: "In fact, I can't understand Colleen's heart, nor his motivation to do all this."

Opal said: "Don't he ask you anything before he wants to be the king of the meteorite?"

Rector said: "There may be, but I can't remember which sentence."

Opal said: "Well, I will find a way to defeat him."

Rector smiled.

"I have seen Nolan's relics." Opal said: "He is actually a phantom star! You never mentioned it to me."

Rector frowned slightly, and said, "Nolan's relic? Where did you find it? How could you know that Ignoran exists?"

Opal said: "A blood-red knife is about this long, have you seen it?"

Rector was unable to say a word for a long time.

Opal asked: "What is that? It was robbed by Caroline, just in the battle you came to."

Rector twisted his eyebrows into a knot and said, "That's the True Fire Phoenix, Nolan's mech."

Opal: "!!!"

Opal dared not speak, and Rector looked dignified, and the two fell into a long silence.

After a long time Opal sat down next to the cliff, his legs stretched out, and fell asleep like a child.

When the sun was rising, Sol's light came across the horizon and shone between his eyebrows. Opal opened his eyes, and there was a Karens coat on his body.

The civilians began to leave, and Rector sat all night, following the migratory team out of the gust of wind and heading north.

Opal took the lead. After the Temple of Karens, this time there were another 10,000 people. The team of more than 20,000 people traveled very slowly and very difficult.Rector walked in the middle of the team and never said a word, but with him there, Opal hardly needs to worry about danger. He is his patron saint.

"Brother." A boy came over and said, "My name is Aka. I want to ask you something."

"Akka." Opal said, "What's wrong?"

There was acid rain in the sky, Opal untied his belt of the Uniform Suit, tied it to Aka’s waist, opened the button, and formed a rain diaphragm, so as not to get too much acid rain, he touched his head and asked: "You how old are you?"

"Thirteen years old." Akka's eyes showed unhealthy red, dry lips, finger skin, and cracked skin on his body. He handed out a small box and said, "This is for you, my mother said thank you yesterday Saved us at night."

Opal opened the box and glanced at it, which contained a beautiful diamond ring.

He noticed that he limped a little while walking, his heel was scratched by a light flare, and his bare torn shoes were soaked in a rain pit with nitric acid.

"I carry you." Opal said, "Come up."

"Return this to your mother." Opal handed the box to his shoulder and said, "Thank her, I don't want this."

Aka said: "You came back last night to save us, we are all left behind, if not you, we are now dead."

Opal, with Aka on his back, walked deep and shallow in the mud and said, "This is what I should do, what do you want to ask me?"

Akado said: "Are you a mercenary? I want to be a mercenary. I want to go to the star, right?"

Opal said: "No, you are too young, at least a few years later."

The rain rustled, and civilian migration teams shuttled through the red rain while avoiding the blazing light from the zenith.

"You want to be a mercenary. If you grow up, you can go to the star." Opal whispered: "When you arrive, ask someone, and someone will tell you what to do, follow the instructions of the predecessors, and go step by step. , Not difficult."

Aka said, "How old will I be?"

Opal replied: "When you can afford the weapon."

Aka said, "How old are you a mercenary?"

Opal said: "At sixteen and seventeen."

Aka asked: "How old are you now?"

Opal said: "Twenty, I have been a mercenary for four years."

Aka asked again: "Is it dangerous?"

Opal nodded thoughtfully and said, "Yes, you will experience many dangers, wars, emergencies, and comrades with you... I have almost lost my life several times. If you want to live longer, It’s best not to choose this profession. There are many ways to support your family. You have parents, family members, and mercenaries. The profession is for homeless people. Many mercenaries have nothing and are not afraid of losing anything."

Aka said, "I will go."

Opal smiled and put him on his back a little, saying, "I believe you will succeed."

Another day, 20,000 people stopped in front of the refuge base.

The underground garage was opened, and a large spaceship that could hold 50,000 people slowly opened the doors, and civilians boarded the ships one by one.

"Now." Rector said: "Let me assist you, extradite this spacecraft to the base of the ship, alpha variable stars, there is the territory of the Imperial Holy See, these civilians will be properly placed."

Opal nodded.

Karens said: "What will happen to the follow-up? This civil war was imperially mandated?"

Rector didn't answer. He pondered for a moment and said: "Perhaps, this is no longer what I can manage. The Youth Promotion Association has already contacted there, ready to go, everyone."

The three stopped in the hangar. Opal sighed and said, "Teacher, it's time to separate again."

Rector said: "Opal, would you like to follow the teacher?"

Opal's eyes suddenly showed surprise and anticipation.

"Old...Teacher, you mean...you mean..." Opal stuttered a little, as if very helpless, and returned to what he was like a child on B-11.

Karens avoided the two and walked to the side of the hangar, pulling out the cigarette and holding it in his mouth.

The top of the hangar opened slowly, and light spilled in.

"I need to find a way to deal with Caroline." Rector looked up at the fuchsia sky outside the hangar and said, "In the four years apart from you, I have walked through many places in the universe. I even fell into A cycle of time in a reincarnation, repeated many times in a day with Caroline, I found that I could not defeat his belief, because I do not know where his belief came from."

"And from the day when I officially duel with him and finally lost." Rector stared at Opal's eyes and slowly said: "I lost all the power of my belief until I forced to land on the B-11 star. , I have known you, and the source of faith has returned to my spiritual world bit by bit."

Opal Road: "Because of me?"

Rector said: "Yes, I once again found the feeling of just knowing Caroline. When I met him on the planet Saks thousands of years ago, he was younger than you, only so tall. "

Rector made a gesture, only reaching Opal's waist.

"Finally when he fell into darkness." Rector said: "My conviction was also completely shaken and crushed in front of his betrayal. But I met you and granted you the fire of faith, trying to find Korolin on you The reason for falling into the dark world...I believe we will one day destroy him completely."

Opal said: "I also believe, what do I need to do?"

Rector said: "You can explain everything and come to the planet of the muse, I will teach you like teaching Caroline. We fight with him again, you are not just on the B-11 star. I met Opal, my student. I believe you can do it."

Opal said: "Okay, I will definitely come."

Rick nodded characteristically and said, "Thank you for your help, Opal, and thank you for not hating me because of Caroline..."

Opal shook his head: "No, you will always be my teacher, there are many things we can't go... You taught me, we can't change the past, but we can decide our own future."

Opal and Rector salute each other, Opal pays the mercenary salute, and Rector pays a star knight salute. The two say goodbye in front of the hangar. When the dragon appeared, Karen could not help squinting. His eyes seemed to be greatly shocked.

It spread its wings and flew out of the atmosphere, through the thunder released by the Sol star, and halved the entire crimson sky into the vast universe.

The spacecraft followed the liftoff and left behind the dragon rays. Karens and Opal looked up at the zenith.

"Are you going?" Karens said.

Opal nodded, Karens said: "It is a pity that I have only been with you for such a short period of time, I think you will be a good comrade."

"No." Opal said: "This is not a farewell. I will come back. After I have solved everything, I will come back and continue to be a mercenary."

Karens said: "Go back to the spaceship and talk."

They found a small near-Earth vehicle in the parking garage, drove to the highest speed, and went back to the nodule forest. The rebel army’s camp had been burned down. The blazing fire burned the entire forest. The taste of nitrate.

"All dead?" Karens said.

Opal said nothing, boarded the spacecraft, put away the mercenary diary, and returned to the star.

After returning to Sunshine City a few days later, Opal took Karens to go to the second floor of the union to go through the procedures for leaving the group. He transferred the entire team account to Karens, promoted him to the head of the group, and changed to leave the group.

They stood in front of the mercenary trade union in Sun City, and Opal looked up. The sunlight here was so familiar, and it was so splendid that it made me cry.

"My mother gave me the spaceship for you to use." Opal said.

Karen said: "You keep it."

Opal said: "I don't need it. I'm serious. With it, it's much more convenient for you to commission. And Time-VI is still mine, right? You just use it temporarily."

"Okay." Karens took a deep breath and said, "I will use it well."

Opal said: "There is still a part of the funds in the team account, which is reserved for you to use. You are now an E mercenary, and you can be promoted to D with a few more commissions..."

Karens said: "I promise you with the glory of the soldiers that I will guard this mercenary regiment and will not recruit new recruits..."

"No," Opal said: "You can recruit members, I mean seriously, my teacher has a high opinion of you, he believes in you, so I also believe in you, the mercenary regiment does not accept any more than three cosmic years Entrusted, it will be automatically cancelled by the union. I don’t know when I will be back, so as long as you trust the person, you can be absorbed into the group."

Karen said: "I see."

Opal smiled self-deprecatingly, and said, "The Smoke and Sword Mercenary Corps, who can meet comrades who love smoking every time, is also a guide in the dark."

Karens took Opal's shoulder and walked slowly along the long street, just as Raymond walked with him.

As the sun sets in the sunset, Karens says: "When will I see you off, when will you leave? Are you looking for a friend to say goodbye to?"

"No." Opal said: "Farewell, I will definitely come back. Please help me keep it secret, including all of mine."

Karens nodded, and the two got into a maglev car. The evening wind blew their coats. Karens smiled, "You are like Silos. When he made the decision, I sent him to the city of silver and grey Of the apron..."

"Oh, comrade, I will come back alive." Opal reminded.

Karens laughed: "Sorry, I didn't pay attention to this unlucky, but anyway, you found your goal, which is obviously very good."

Opal's mouth twitched slightly, the sun shone on his handsome face, and the once immature and longing eyes had turned into mature, refined perseverance and expectation.

They went back to the apron, Opal set things up, set the flight path, and replaced the star map obtained from the pirate, saying, "This star map will be used for you in the future. I have to take the star map that the teacher gave me. There are many people who don’t understand and want to ask him."

Karens hummed, and Opal showed him the warehouse, bedroom, bathroom, and finally plugged the E7 into a charger, saying: "This is my little friend my mother gave me, I have to take it away."

Karens said: "I've always been strange. This little thing seems very rare. It is different from all robots. Is your mother a scientist?"

"She...may be a navigator." Opal always wanted to figure out her life, but she never had a chance.

Karens said: "There is no manufacturer batch number, just like manual assembly, only a few institutions in the universe have such advanced technology."

Opal Road: "Where will there be? Do you know?"

Karens thought about it and said, "Maybe Pope Drummond in the Holy See has this skill. If you have the opportunity in the future, you may wish to ask him."

"Forget it." Opal couldn't help crying: "I wouldn't have such an honor to meet that great man."

Karens said: "Opal, from the first sight I saw you, I think you will also be a big man."

Opal said: "Thanks for praise... I hope I can do something meaningful."

Epoch-VI gallops toward the variable star of South Aquarius, stopping in the middle of the road in front of the temple.

The hatch opened, and Opal stood quietly in the spaceship without going out.

He could vaguely see that long ago, he was dragging the minecart here, carrying the scarred Raymond, and entered the temple.

As always, the golden wheat field, the moonlight flowers after the morning and evening lines release thousands of light spots and fly to the sky.

Karens said, "Opal?"

"It's nothing." Opal said: "Thinking of some past events."

He walked out of the spacecraft and said, "Karens, you can come here to see me in the future, but please don't bring anyone, please keep it confidential for me."

"I will." Karens said: "Swear by my life."

Karen's gloved left hand extended from the door. Opal stood in the middle of the wheat field and reached out to him. The two held a heavy hand. Opal walked back a few steps. The door of the era-VI closed , A propelling flame erupted into the air, turned around and flew out of the atmosphere.

Opal carried a sackcloth bag commonly used by miners on his left shoulder, followed by E7, standing alone on the endless masonry avenue, as if he had recovered himself from the time when he first emerged from B-11-he was still nothing, no longer Fear of losing.

He walked up the steps, a golden light through the door crack, followed by a dull rumbling loud noise, the piano sound clanging powerfully, as if to greet the young star knight.

Many years ago, after the entrance of the last star knight Caroline, the Hall of Stars opened its main entrance to Opal again.

"Welcome to the sanctuary of the stars, Opal." Ledgerson's voice came, and the piano stopped.