Going viral across the internet was not something that made Sona happy right now.
The little squirrel had a lively and cheerful personality, giving off an energetic vibe. Naturally, she wasn't shy and wasn't afraid of the spotlight or cameras. If the Knight Major was as she had always yearned for and imagined it to be—an embodiment of the tenacious character of knights, a legacy of the knightly spirit—then Sona might have been very happy to accept such interviews, and even felt proud of herself.
But now.
Sona only felt it was ironic. This level of popularity was like going viral for some meaningless meme. She had no real talent or substance, yet she was being lauded by the entire internet, treated like the most dazzling star, an internet celebrity. As for making money, that was a given.
As soon as Sona got home, her phone received countless calls from various brands. Some hoped Sona could join the knightly order under their brand.
Some hoped she could print the brand's name on her knight's armor for her next match, for promotional purposes. The prices they offered were not low. Just for printing the name, they offered five million. For every match won after that, there would be an additional bonus of 500,000. To be honest, five million... an ordinary person might not even earn five million in their entire life, even if they didn't eat or drink. Let alone have that much.
For Sona right now, this was a very high offer. However, Sona just shook her head and ignored it. This was an insult to the knightly spirit. A knight should be clad in armor, fighting in the arena, not have their breastplate plastered with all kinds of advertisements.
However.
If one thought about it carefully, they would realize.
None of these brands that were the first to call and invite her were super-corporations. They were small companies with some reputation, but not that famous, or small companies that had only emerged in recent years. It was questionable whether they had even joined the Chamber of Commerce.
As for the reporters who were at the hospital when she was discharged, Sona took a little detour and easily avoided them. She only let out a sigh of relief after returning home.
Because Sona was simply too enthusiastic, Justyna was also "enthusiastically" invited back to her home. The whole family had a lively dinner together in the evening.
Nighttime.
"I should be heading back... Thank you for your hospitality today."
Justyna walked out the door, once again thanking Sona for her warm reception. Although, Sona had also suggested she sleep here tonight, this time Justyna had refused with absolute firmness.
"Come and visit me more often in the future, Justyna!"
Sona saw Justyna out the door.
"Mhm...."
Justyna was a woman of few words, perhaps even cold, but she very easily gave off the impression of keeping others at arm's length, as if she wasn't interested in anything. Her delicate and cute face rarely showed any extra expression. It was lucky that Sona had a naturally warm heart and was a chatterbox. If anyone with a normal personality were to stay with Justyna, it would easily lead to an awkward silence where there was nothing to say.
Lucas Reeve also understood girls with personalities like Justyna's quite well.
In fact, Lucas Reeve's personality in his past life wasn't much different from Justyna's.
Rather than calling them cold and taciturn, it was more like they were purely introverted and didn't know what to say. This type of person often had very few friends. During school or work, they were like little invisible figures sitting in the corner of the classroom or at their workstation, easily ignored. These people weren't truly cold; they just weren't good with words.
In reality, their hearts also longed for friendship, longed to have a friend. If she were truly cold, Justyna wouldn't have gone to the hospital to see Sona in the first place, much less half-heartedly agreed to have dinner with her under Sona's invitation.
In fact, this kind of person was the easiest to get along with and the best choice for a friend. Because they had so few friends, they cherished every single one they made.
During the idle chat at the dinner table, Sona and Lucas Reeve also learned the general gist.
Justyna came from a remote village in Kazimierz, one whose name couldn't even be pinpointed. It was debatable whether this village even existed on the official maps of Kazimierz. Due to the mountainous and isolated nature of the village, information was cut off, so Justyna naturally didn't know that the Knight Major in recent years had become severely capitalized. But in the young Justyna's heart, knights were great. She longed to put on the shining armor of a knight and charge onto the battlefield, full of valor.
Later, the news of the Radiant Knight's victory spread throughout all of Kazimierz, including the remote village where Justyna lived. It was then that Justyna came to regard the Radiant Knight as the greatest knight in modern Kazimierz, bar none. With this as her goal, she set off from her hometown.
Alone, she embarked on a pilgrimage to the Grand Knight Territory. However, it was only after arriving in the Grand Knight Territory that Justyna learned that the Radiant Knight had been exiled from Kazimierz because she had contracted Oripathy. It was also at that time that Justyna accidentally contracted Oripathy herself.
Moreover, at that time, the Infected were not allowed to become official knights, and naturally could not participate in the knight competitions.
So Justyna left the Grand Knight Territory and came to this city to try and make a living.
As Justyna turned to leave, her feet, which had taken two steps forward, suddenly stopped. She didn't turn her head, but kept her back to Sona.
"Sona...."
"Hmm?"
Sona tilted her head, looking very cute.
"What do you think of the Knight Major now?"
Sona answered without hesitation: "Disappointed."
"Me too..."
Seeing that Sona also felt this way, Justyna let out a sigh of relief. In truth, Justyna had already begun to feel disappointed when she participated in today's Knight Major. The audience was reveling in it, and the vast majority of knights had already grown numb. Perhaps, most of these veteran knights had also been disappointed when they were young, at Sona's and Justyna's age. But, at the end of the day, they had to eat. In the end, their so-called knightly spirit was defeated by the reality of daily necessities.
Justyna turned around, her pale golden eyes meeting Sona's.
"Do you want to withdraw from the competition? Sona... The Knight Major today is no longer like it was in the Radiant Knight's time...."
Justyna asked.
"Of course.... not!!"
Sona even added a deliberate pause.
"Hmm?"
Sona's answer surprised Justyna.
"If you ask me why, I just want to say, if we only ever retreat, if everyone retreats when they encounter difficulties, then the Knight Major of the future will only be worse than it is now. And the knightly spirit will only disintegrate further."
Sona looked up at the starry sky, somewhat melancholic, yet filled with determination.
Of the ten Infected who participated in the Knight Major today.
Only Sona and Justyna had won. Four died on the spot, two were crippled, and two were severely injured.
No one cared about the Infected who died, were crippled, or severely injured. They only felt happy, finding it a thrilling spectacle.
To be honest.
The most heartbreaking part of all this wasn't the bigwigs at the Chamber of Commerce who treated the lives of the Infected, and indeed all knights, as objects. It was the common people cheering and shouting in excitement in front of their screens and at the venue.
No one truly cared about the living conditions of the Infected. Or perhaps, not everyone was indifferent, but the current situation forced everyone to become indifferent.
Having witnessed it all and experienced it firsthand, Sona finally understood what Lucas Reeve had told her earlier.
Kazimierz was currently lacking a sun strong enough to disperse the dark clouds.
"I want to keep competing. I want to do something for all the Infected in Kazimierz. I know my light can't shine as brightly as the Radiant Knight's, but... the light of a firefly... is still light. Even if it's just a tiny spark, and it could be extinguished at any moment, for the low-level Infected who have fallen into endless darkness, perhaps this is hope..."
Justyna stared at Sona, stunned for a long time. She, too, raised her head to look at the sky.
At this moment, the moon in the sky was obscured by dark clouds, just like the Kazimierz of today.
"I'll keep competing too..."
"Mhm!!"
——————————
Two months later
"Mr. Reeve, Miss Jessica, the newest Oripathy suppression medication has passed all tests. The results are almost identical to the initial hypotheses. This should be the world's first medication that can alleviate Oripathy."
In the Raythean Medica laboratory, Silence, as the project's general manager, was reporting the initial finished product to Jessica.
Lucas Reeve floated out of Jessica's necklace, his materialized hands picking up the syringe in front of him. Inside it lay a crimson liquid.
Jessica smiled faintly. "Mr. Reeve, why don't you give this new reagent a name?"
"Let's call it... [Purification]."
"Representing that this medicine will truly bring the Infected into a new world, purifying all their past suffering."
"Mhm!!"
Lucas Reeve's total Prayer Power was now one and a half million. He was only 500,000 away from condensing a physical body. Lucas Reeve had a premonition that he was not far from condensing a physical body.
"Jessica, I have a hunch. I'll probably be able to condense a physical body this year."
Lucas Reeve suddenly mentioned.
Jessica, who had been hopping around like a child on the different colored floor tiles, froze when she heard this. Then, her exquisite and lovely face flushed with surprise and joy.
"Really? Mr. Reeve!!"
Jessica grinned, revealing neat teeth, her watery eyes curving into crescents. She had been waiting for this news for over two years. Originally, Jessica had thought she might never get to hear this news in her lifetime. Because, Lucas Reeve wasn't human. To him, a few decades or a hundred years could be just "a little while."
Jessica was even prepared to stay with Lucas Reeve in this state forever. Besides, there was still the Doctor's body at Rhodes Island that could be used as a backup. However, the Doctor's appearance was still somewhat different from Lucas Reeve's actual soul's appearance.
"I believe so."
Asked this by Jessica, Lucas Reeve nodded, but he didn't make it sound too definite, because he didn't know the specific timing himself.
"That's great!!"
Jessica jumped up in excitement. Jessica was twenty years old now. Since taking over as the chairman of Raythean Medica, Jessica had matured considerably compared to two years ago. This maturity wasn't just psychological, but also... physical. Two years ago, Jessica's figure was still a bit flat. At such a young age, her family home had an 'airport.'
But now, after being conditioned by the Nine-Colored Deer, Jessica's figure had gradually become curvy. Her height had also increased from the initial 147cm to 160cm. The 'airport' at home had been sold off and replaced with two 'mountain peaks.'
Lucas Reeve suddenly chuckled, asking deliberately.
"Why are you so happy about me getting a physical body? Even without a body, am I not still here with you?"
And Lucas Reeve's words made Jessica blush.
"Well, that... uh.... I don't know either..."
Jessica's heart was pounding. As for why she was happy, how could she possibly say the reason out loud!! It was... too embarrassing!!
Suddenly, Lucas Reeve called out to Jessica.
"It seems like something's come up on the Kazimierz side. I'm going to make a trip over."
"Mhm!"
Jessica nodded obediently, hopping and skipping as she headed outside.
·
"We meet again, Miss Sona. Oh, no, I should now address you as the esteemed Flametail Knight."
Sona's expression was incredibly grave.
Ever since comprehending complete Total Concentration Breathing two months ago, coupled with Lucas Reeve's dedicated training—plus, Lucas Reeve would occasionally inject Prayer Power to help Sona reduce the time needed for physical training—it could be said that Sona's current strength was a qualitative leap compared to before.
In addition.
There weren't many people who signed up for today's Spring Regular Season, and hardly any of them were strong. This led to her matches being basically crushing victories, as long as the organizers didn't deliberately arrange for powerful opponents. These ordinary knights were no longer a match for Sona. She successfully entered the playoffs with the number one spot in points in D-District, and tied for first in the overall Spring Season leaderboard for this city-state. This made the name "Flametail Knight" exceptionally famous in the Mobile City she was in. Of course, the other city-districts also had their own undefeated knights.
For example, in the main district, the Grand Knight Territory's Blood Knight had entered the playoffs with a posture of complete and utter domination, his reputation even exceeding Sona's.
And during the rest period between the regular season and the playoffs.
A familiar person suddenly appeared at Sona's doorstep.
Sona recognized this steward. It was the same steward from the private deathmatch Sona had participated in before. He seemed to be the chairman's secretary from Apperton Arsenal in Kazimierz. His sudden visit today put Sona on high alert.
The handsome, slightly squinty-eyed steward stood bolt upright at the door and said.
"There's no need to be so tense, Lady Flametail Knight. Two months have passed, and your status and position are entirely different. You are now the top celebrity in Wordsworth City. Even our current chairman admires you greatly."
As for the former chairman Taylor, who was long dead and cold, he had long since been forgotten.
"Our chairman plans to establish a new knightly order under the name of Apperton Arsenal, and would like to invite you to join us. From now on, you will represent Apperton Arsenal in battle. In the future, all your equipment will be the best in Kazimierz."
"You will have vast amounts of funding. I believe you know by now that for a knight to improve, it's not just about training. More importantly, it's about nutritional supplements and various scientific training methods. These are all extremely expensive projects. And beyond that, you will also receive a transfer fee of sixty million. For every match you win representing Apperton Industries, you'll receive a bonus of one million, and winning the championship will award ten million."