Knights & Magic Volume 1 Chapter 1

All names are guesses because names
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A place he did not belong to, a different world.

This world has no name, the people have not explored it completely. They think the continent they live in encompass the whole world, and one such continent is Arkland.

Arkland continent is split into the eastern and western region by the Obine mountain range. Divided by the mountain range, each region has its own unique environment. The west is ruled by several countries ruled by humans, known collectively as the Western Union; the east is the Brokiosk sea of forest ruled by powerful Demonic creature -- the nest of Demonic beast.

The eastern region of Arkland is not totally devoid of all human. There lies a solitary human nation, known as the kingdom of Fremara. Because this country shares the same border with the sea of forest, it is also the first line of defence in the war against the Demon beast. To counter the roaming Demon beast, the nation raises legions of knights. They take pride in their role as the shield of humanity and the Western Union, known to their citizen as the 'nation of knights'.

C.E. 1268, the story with this continent as its background begins.

The steep slopes of Obine were covered in clouds. The capital of Fremara, Kanquin, is situated at its base. You can reach a plain by traveling to the east of Kanquin by horse carriage for half a day, which leads to a large town. The scenery of the town is unique, with more than half its space taken up by a single facility. It is a fortified building made with bricks and stone, but doesn't feel intimidating and is not meant for military use. This is the education institute for children, known as 'Lacilia pilot academy'.

Knights are the defender of the people against Demon beast attacks. As part of the glorious nation of knights, they are popular in Fremara and are a respectable occupation. As a country prone to attacks due to its geographic location, they need the support of a large army of knights. Training knights is a priority task for the nation, leading to the expansion of the education organization for knights, Lacilia pilot academy.


A low thud reverberates within the building crafted through stone masonry.

This place has wide flooring made from stone, surrounded by stone walls and seats. This oval shaped training ground is situated in a corner of the academy.

In the centre of the grounds are 2 knights facing off with their swords. They are both heavily armoured, one with a sword and shield, the other wielding a 2-handed sword. The training ground is used for mock battles, the 2 knights are going through all sorts of drills, and the swords they are using are not sharpened.

The 2 knights took the exercise seriously even though the swords are blunt. They point the sword at each other, carefully gauging the distance. A gust of wind blew the sand into the air. The breath taking stare down didn't ends and both of them launch their attack simultaneously, closing their gap in an instance. They move into combat range so nimbly it seems unbelievable that they are in full battle armour.

But there is something off with this scene, the ground is shaking with each step they took, emitting sounds akin to low thud into the air. Normal human can't make such heavy sounds from their footsteps even if they are in full armour.

The answer lies in their surroundings.

There are people on the audience seats watching the duel of the knights, but their figures are much smaller than the knights. No, the opposite is true; it is the knights that are too big. If you compare the size of the knights and the audience side by side, they are at least 6 times larger. It is only natural for them to be heavy, and it is not an exaggeration to call them giants.

These giant knights are not humans. They are actually Silhouette Knights, around 10 metres in height with metallic frame known as 'Inner Skeleton' and 'crystal tissue' acting as muscles. Fuelled by magic energy, it is a hybrid robot of magic and machinery, a giant knight. They are weapons made to fight against magic beast, the strongest fighting unit of mankind.

A short distance away from the battling Silhouette Knights, several figures are watching the fight, one of them have exceptionally sharp gaze.

He is one of the battle instructors, In other words, his duty is to instruct the pilots handling the battling Silhouette Knights. He took in every single move of the battling trainees, giving off a serious air.

"It's ... Robots..."

A cute voice came from behind. The man turned and saw a beautiful lady walking towards him with a child in her arms. The lady has smooth flowing silver hair with a hint of purple that reaches her waist. Her hair sways in the wind as she walks, leaving bright silver trail behind her. She has gentle blue eyes, pale white skin and looks very young, between 15 to 20 of age. But she is already married with child.

The demonic instructor who has a scary face feared by all smiled. People who know him might be shocked, but it is not a surprise if you are in the warm presence of the lady.

"Tina, why are you? It's really rare to see you visit the academy."

"I just want to let Eru see his father's workplace, so I make a detour for our stroll."

"I see. Eru, what do you think about dad’s job?"

The man asked the child held by his wife, but was ignored. The child keeps waving his short limbs about, staring intently at the Silhouette Knight sparring on the training ground.

"Eh, he doesn't seem to be listening..."

The man smiles as he pat his 3 year old son's head. The son inherited his mother's adorable features -- silver hair with a touch of purple, an oval face just like his mother when she was young and a pair of bright blue eyes. His sharp gaze shows a hint of his paternal heritage.

"Ara, Eru, you are paying more attention to the Silhouette Knight than your father, just like a boy. Do you really like Silhouette Knights so much?"

"I heard that lots of kid dream of being a knight, Eru seems to think so too."

Both parent smiles as they watch Eru display his curiosity for this boyish interest, he is so cute. The little boy watch the scene excitedly while waving his arms and legs, unfazed with being the centre of attention. He focus on the training ground without blinking, displaying his exceptional concentration level. The man rubs his son's soft hair for a while, and gave up after getting no reaction.

"You really like it huh. How is it? Eru, that is a Silhouette Knight, gigantic warriors that defends our kingdom."

"Silhouette... Knight..."

The child seems to acknowledge the words of the man for the first time, repeating his words with a slur unique to toddlers and fall into deep thought. The man smiles bitterly when he see the child behaving this way, and return to his post after conversing with his wife for a while. On the training ground, the gigantic knights finish their match and are preparing to leave.

"Right, let's return home. Prepare dinner and wait for daddy to come home."

The lady coaxes the child who kept looking back and is reluctant to go. They are going home.

"Silhouette Knight..."

The child in her arms watches the gigantic knights on the training ground until they are out of sight.

The child referred to as Eru has the full name is Ernesti Echevalier. He is the son of Martis Echevalier, instructor of Lacilia Pilot Academy, borne by his wife Christina.

It has been 3 years since his birth. This is the age when a child forms his sense of self, a period when they become playful. But Eru is very sensible, understand his parents at an early age and is well behaved. Everyone feels that he is a bright kid, but his intelligence came from another source.

Ever since he formed a sense of self, developing his own character, he is aware of memories he have never experienced before -- the memory of a past he lived in another place. A place called Japan, civilization of computers, and the name Kurata Tsubasa.

A theory known as reincarnation.


Reincarnation means the spirits of those who have died in this world reborn into this world over and over again. It is mentioned in Buddhism, all Japanese would have heard about this theory whether they believe it or not. Kurata knows about this, but he didn't believe it back then, and didn't expect to experience it himself. And he retains his experience from his previous life, a successful reincarnation.

But himself included, no one knows what happened. The only thing he is sure of is that he is Ernesti in this world, and was Kurata Tsubasa in the previous world. That's why compared to children around his age, he has a literal 'experience' mind and a calm and matured analytical ability.

Because of the whim of his mother, he visited his father's workplace. The impact of this visit inspired him to devote his 2nd chance at life in this.

When the sun starts to set in the west, a lady and a child walks along the street of Lacilia academy.

The boy kept asking about the gigantic knights he saw, and his mother answered him gently and patiently. Looking at her excited son, the mother cheerfully replied:

"You really like Silhouette Knights don't you; do Eru want to be a knight in the future?"

"Knight... Okay! I want to be a knight!"

"Ara, such a dependable child. Let's ask daddy to teach you when you get a little older alright?"

"Okay!"

No one knows what will happen because of this dimension travel. But he is certain that his 2nd life as Ernesti Echevalier is developing beyond his control.


The Echevalier residence is situated near the Lacilia academy.

Apart from this family, the people in this nation wake up early. As the sun is rising in the east, the young mother Christina got up to prepare breakfast. When she is done, the whole family is up and they ate together just like usual.

The only child of the family Ernesti got up the latest.

"Silhouette Knight!"

Eru seems to have dreamt of something as he kicks off his blanket and leapt up from bed. He is unaware of his mother laughing because of his yell. Eru looks around him, realize he is in the bedroom and climb back into bed.

He was too excited last night and couldn't sleep. He is still in a dreamlike state, smiling in his bed.

(Those are robots, and humanoid in shape, gigantic humanoid robots...!)

Ernesti -- or rather the Japanese Kurata Tsubasa shed a tear of joy in his heart for this unexpected blessing and can't stop smiling. Retaining the memories of Kurata Tsubasa means he inherited similar interest and hobbies from his previous life. In Eru's previous life he was Kurata Tsubasa, a heavily addicted robot nerd.

As a working adult, he spent almost all his income on his hobby, browsing modelling magazines and games, even searching for visual works at times. He put in double the effort in his hobby than others, it is not wrong to say that he is obsessed. But despite his obsession, he is still an ordinary man. He doesn't have the passion to join the self-defence force just for the chance to operate a tank. But the situation is different in this life. That's right, gigantic humanoid robots -- Silhouette Knights actually exist here.

When he 'awakened', he was disappointed to find himself in a world with no models or computers in this 2nd life. But he is grateful from the bottom of his heart for this miracle, be it by chance or the will of a mysterious force allowing him to reincarnate in this world with Silhouette Knights. This is not a joke, gigantic humanoid weapons 10 metres in height actually exist. For a robot nerd like him, seeing the Silhouette Knights has enough impact to change his life. In other words, he think the reason for coming to this world was to pilot these gigantic robots. He has no basis for it, but he has still believed this strongly.

He has the resolve, but his tiny body lost to his sleepiness, and he nap for a while more before breakfast is ready.


It is almost noon, Christina and Eru is in Martis' study room.

The study room is filled with simple but practical wooden furniture that is kept clean and tidy. Martis is primarily a sword instructor, but he is involved in other fields too. The shelves in the study room are filled with all sorts of literature, including picture books for children.

Tina sat on the couch in the room, resting the tinny Eru on her lap, reading the picture book slowly for him. She spoke clearly and calmly. Eru who was enjoying this yesterday listened for a while and started to fidget. He called out to his mother:

"Mom, mom."

"What is it Eru? You don't like this book?"

Tina tilts her head, but Eru's next words dispelled her confusion.

"I like books... But, I want to know more about Silhouette Knights!"

Tina set the book aside and studied Eru's expression. Looking at his bright eyes filled with curiosity and joy, she can't turn him down.

"Ara ara, I see. Although it is still early for you Eru, if you want to pilot the Silhouette Knights, you have to first become a knight."

"Knight... how do I become a knight?"

Eru have fixed his goal in mind, but he is still a 3 year old toddler in body. Even with the intellect of a grown man, he is still restricted in his actions, including the crucial part of information searching. How does a toddler with limited access obtains information? They have to rely on their parents.

"Let's see, you need to read many books and practice swordsmanship. Right, let your daddy teach you about swords. Your father teaches swords in the academy anyway. How about reading your favourite book where Silhouette Knights make an appearance okay?"

"Okay!"

Eru finally focus back on the book again. Tina rubs his head, took out a book related to Silhouette Knights and read it to him slowly. Eru listen to the story simple enough for a child to understand excitedly.

He imagined himself piloting the gigantic knight, standing before humongous demon beast in order to protect everyone. He made up his mind once again. He wants to pilot a Silhouette Knight no matter what, the sooner the better. To achieve this, he wants to use his matured mind set and do all he can within his power. He prepared a schedule for the future in his mind, but for now, he listens quietly to the story.


"Dad, do you have a minute?"

Martis Echevalier who is resting in the study room heard the sound behind him. He turned around and saw his son Ernesti Echevalier run towards him. Eru who is 5 years old has a bowl cut, with his hair just above his brows. He has bright silvery purple hair just like his mother; the resemblance to her cute appearance remains the same. Even the strict Martis with his merciless face smiles often in front of Eru.

"Oh, I have time. What is it Eru?"

"I want to ask for a favour, dad."

Eru is young, but he speaks clearly. His slightly slurred speech when he was 3 is now smooth at the age of 5. This child has always been polite to everyone since he was young. As his speech grows smoother, this becomes more obvious. But this doesn't feel weird, and actually complement his cute and small appearance. Martis smiles happily as he look at Eru's pleading face. His 'piety' towards his son is getting worse over time.

"Dad, I want to be a knight, please teach me swordsmanship."

It's finally time. Martis was troubled, but he didn't show it on his face. He knew his son was keen on being a knight when he was really young. There is no problem with his goal, if he has the motivation, that will be great. But Eru is only 5 years old, it is still too early to teach him swordsmanship. If they rush it before Eru's body develops, it will be detrimental to him. Also, Eru looks more similar to his wife with every passing year, and is smaller in stature than children in his age group. To be honest, Martis wonders if his son can handle a sword.

But Martis still face his son firmly. Since Eru is showing his resolve, he can't ignore this as an instructor or a father. Martis advise his son not to rush, and start from building his physical strength. He also informs him that aside from swordsmanship, knowledge of magic will also help him in his quest to be a knight, encouraging him to take it up.

"Magic... I understand dad, I will seek your advice on swordsmanship in the future.

Looking at the unwavering face of his son, Martis nods, promising to teach him swordsmanship one day.


".. That's what happened mom, please teach me magic!"

After making the promise with Martis, Eru immediately went to Tina and ask her. Why is he asking his mother? Because Tina's father, who is Eru's grandfather is the current dean of Lalicia pilot school -- Lowry Bloodwarrior. Tina answers gladly, gathering the necessary teaching materials within her means.

-- Magic.

It goes without saying that in Eru's previous life -- back on earth, magic does not exist, it appears only in stories. Most people only heard about magic when playing role playing games like dungeons and dragons. But this powerful force exists in this world, and knights use magic often to support their fights.

Under the guidance of his mother who is doubling as a teacher, Eru reads textbooks related to magic.

From the moment Eru decided to pilot a Silhouette Knight, Eru has started taking action. What he has been doing is the basics of the basics, simply learning to read. For a 3 year old, this is a very early start, even the privileged class of this country -- the aristocrats won't start so early. Because of this, Eru can handle materials that are quite advanced.

It is natural for kids to detest studying, but Eru is not a normal kid. All his effort is for the goal of becoming a knight. When he think about piloting a Silhouette Knight, studying is no hassle for him, he can even read through all the textbooks from cover to cover. Because the contents are stiff, it is better to treat it like a game and enjoy it instead of thinking of it as studying. With the fast learning pace unique to children, Eru learns the contents at an incredible speed.

Tina is not a teacher by profession, but she is managing it smoothly. She is the daughter of a school dean and wife of an instructor after all. She satisfies the wishes of Eru, teaching him magic patiently.

-- In simple terms, magic in this world refers to the skill in manipulating mana to perform physical phenomenon.

All living things in this world have the ability to convert the 'ether' in the air into mana, and store a certain amount of it within its body.

"Mana is something like fuel, magic will be used in accordance to the content of the magic script to do things in the physical world through a catalyst."

Tina explains to Eru who is sitting down obediently.

There are 2 types of living beings in the world, divided to those who can use magic independently and those who can't. The difference lies in the existence of a catalyst within their body. For beings that can use magic, they have a crystal within their body that acts as a catalyst. For example, the strongest creature known as dragon possesses a catalyst, and their dragon breathes is made from this.

"Humans don't have catalyst inside us, so we are a race that can't use magic."

Since human don't have crystal catalyst, they can't use magic. From the laws of this world, this is a natural and undeniable fact. But people have learnt a way to use magic. This is the result of them using their weapon called wisdom. As a living being of this world, humans can make use of mana and develop scripts gradually to use magic, and uses external catalyst to overcome their weakness.

With this breakthrough, humans who were always the weakest in the world, develop gigantic magic powered weapons after years of research - the Silhouette Knight. This makes the humans one of the most powerful races.

"Mom, since the Silhouette Knights are so powerful, and we have such a huge army of knights, we can build a bigger country right?"

"Maybe it can be done, but it is difficult."

Silhouette Knight might be powerful weapons, but it is a tactical weapon that requires large amount of resources to build and maintain. It is practically impossible to prepare the forces capable of dominating the land. Humanity uses the Obine mountain range as the border to maintain peace on the west of the continent. Fremara remains behind as a screen to protect their foothold in the east. The stalemate has been going on for centuries.

"I will leave the details for history class. There are more things to remember when you start schooling."

Tina is talking about practical application of magic. As mentioned before, magic has to be done through scripts, and the construction and usage of scripts is performed by a virtual organ in the brain known as magic circuits. In this world, all beings that are self-aware have the potential to use it.

"And Eru, scripts are sigils that perform specific phenomenon. First is the 'Architect'<TL: Kanji ==> Fundamental> sigil that perform basic phenomenon, followed by the Control sigils that coordinate and uses Architect sigils."

By combining Architect sigils and Control sigils, the picture created will be something similar to magic summoning circles on earth.

For magic beginners, the part they will stumble on is the construction of the script. Most people can manipulate Architect sigils immediately, but using powerful spells by using more complex scripts requires much practice. As humans can't use magic by nature, creating high level magic requires the accumulation of experience. Apart from perseverance, this also requires natural talent.

(Architect sigils that determine the phenomenon and the control sigils that maximize its effects. Both of them combining by a set of fixed laws... Right, I have seen this before, this is just like...)

Eru's occupation in his past life -- software engineer, helps him in understanding this part. In simple terms, the sigils and their interaction in the form of a script follows similar logic to program coding. The operation of the script by the magic circuit is similar to a virtual computer. Since the magic circuit is in built within the brain, activating it doesn't take time, which performs better than computers in his previous life.

After Eru grasp the logic behind it, he 'extract' the architect sigil and control sigil from the text book and start using his magic circuit -- which is the human brain to start coding. With such a big amount of codes, even a veteran software engineer won't be able to organize it within their head; they need the help of software editors. To counter this, Eru uses the magic circuit domain as a software editor to plan and compile the scripts.

Because he is a beginner, he has no idea how much magic the people in this world can use. He didn't think much about his ease of building and controlling the complicated programming language to be special.

Eru held a tiny wooden wand and focus with his eyes closed.

A faint crystal was fixed onto the tip of the wand. That is the crystal catalyst, a miraculous item which allows human to use magic. For humans using magic, they prefer wielding wands with crystal catalyst fixed onto its tip. The wand in Eru's hand made a gentle 'Pashu' sound, and a line of fire shoots out, leaving a scorched mark on the middle of the target board. He just activated the fire architect sigil with beginner magic -- 'Fire ball'.

"Wow Eru, that's great. Although it is just the architect sigil, but I never imagined that you can use magic so fast."

"But mom, the textbook says that this is the basics of the basics, anyone can use it immediately."

"It is true that anyone can activate it, but to hit the target so accurately requires practice. Eru has pretty magic."

No matter how good Eru is in programming, it is useless if he only study the theory without putting it in practice. A simple target board at the backyard, and Tina accompanied Eru for practical training. They practice all types of architect sigils one by one, allowing Eru to get use to the feeling of using magic. After casting spells repeatedly, Eru starts to feel weird... it feels like energy is gradually draining from his body. It is like the fatigue you feel after exercise, but different at the same time. This unique experience confused him, but this is natural when you expend mana. He pants heavily and breathes in the ether in the air around him, attempting to replenish his mana.

(... I didn't know it was this tiring. If I used advance spells, I will probably faint because of shortness of breath.)

Tina who has been supervising him walked over with a gentle smile and rubs his head.

"This is how it feels when you expend mana. If you don't experience it now, it will be troubling in the future."

"... I can't catch my breath, it feels painful. My mana is empty with just a little magic use, so depressing."

"Don't be discouraged. You are still young, lacking mana is normal."

"Will I have more mana when I grow up?"

"Hmm -- Let me think. It's a bit different, but just thinks of it as something like stamina. The growth of mana is not solely dependent on your body growth. It will also get stronger as you train your psyche."

"I understand. Mom, since that's the case, I will be doing special training to increase my mana pool!"

Tina gives a bitter smile, rubbing the head of the spirited Eru.

"Ara, what a hardworking child. Don't be too impatient, going too fast might be bad too."

Eru reflect on this, and feels that he is being too rash. Tina is right, rushing won't be good for him, and he doesn’t want his mother who is accompanying him to worry too.

"Yes mom. I will take it slow and steady."

Eru promised his mother with a straight face. Tina nods and hugs him tightly.


Eru started his special training the following day.

With the promise with Tina and the future in mind, he will need to improve his physical and magical abilities steadily. Constructing script is Eru's strength, he will find a way if he make use of his previous life's ability. The rest will depend on the mana he needs to use the magic. He persists in his routine of jogging, physical exercise, depleting his mana and recovering it. As he go through his fundamental training, he found an interesting magic in the textbook.

He was looking up physical boast spells. Physical boast means literally strengthening the capability of your body, including strength, stamina and speed. Eru's plan was to incorporate this spell in his physical exercise, training both mind and body at the same time for efficiency.

The spell physical boast is a high level magic which is difficult to use. The effects of the magic is dependent on the script, the simpler the structure, the closer it will be to the architect sigil and the easier it is to control; the more target there are, the more complex and difficult it will be.

The high level complex spell physical boast has the ability of enhancing 'every muscle fibre', strengthening 'all the bones' to absorb the impact, and the improvement in durability of the skin. There is a need to control the target of the spell which changes rapidly with every movement. To use the effect, the script needs to be activated constantly. This is why boasting spell is on a higher level than big spectacular spells which does not require constant upkeep to maintain.

Normally, Eru would have given up at this stage and will choose a more practical spell. But he knew how to solve the issue because of his unique skills -- programming concept. He has experience in designing and coding software to handle multiple variables. That's why he skips the beginner magic phase, and jump straight into the 'modified magic' phase. Reviewing the structure of the physical boast script, Eru compress the structure to minimize the number of variables, creating sub scripts that will automatically extract the status of the body. After compiling it, he just needs to design the user interface to make it easier to control so as to lessen the burden.

For complicated projects like the improvement of scripts is not something that can be easily done by anyone. But Eru was not aware of this, completing the improvement shortly, and the patch was a big enhancement. But even so, it is still a hard to control magic that strains the mind heavily. But with his extraordinary processing ability, it is not much. No one realize that a historical revolution has occurred, but for Eru, this is just a small step in his journey.

Everything is ready. Eru holds a wand in his hand, activated the improved physical boast spell and begun his daily training regime excitedly. But his high spirited trip ended in tragedy, he didn't even have time to feel moved by his enhanced physical attributes before collapsing a few hundred metres away because of mana depletion.

As expected of a high level magic, the controls are complicated and the mana cost is tremendous. Eru was feels down because of this basic mistake and returned to his normal training regime for quite a while.

Even with the efforts he put in, he still needed 3 years before he can activate his physical boast magic for a sustainable amount of time. Eru is fuelled by his passion, moving towards his goal day by day.


End