When the illusion shattered, Don Quixote, who was kneeling before Iver, did not shatter with it.
In the pitch-black surroundings, transparent white ripples spread around Don Quixote.
He raised his head and looked at Iver.
His jet-black hair hung loose and tangled like seaweed, while his emerald eyes resembled a wolf's.
Compared to the original "Knight Balin," he had become much thinner. His face, which bore a thirty-to-forty-percent resemblance to Yulia's, no longer looked particularly handsome because of his excessive thinness. Instead, it had the cold, sharp edge of a serial killer.
"Great savior... your loyal knight has finally awaited your arrival."
Don Quixote's voice was feverish and delirious, yet his eyes appeared rational and sorrowful.
For a moment, it was impossible to tell which was the real him... or whether his madness was merely an act.
"...Don Quixote..."
Iver murmured his name, then, as if possessed, added the suffix of the name Don Quixote had given himself beneath his expectant gaze: "...de la Mancha."
Don Quixote's name could be understood as "the guardian of the La Mancha region, the honorable Lord Quixote," or simply "Lord Quixote." But the La Mancha Territory had disappeared long before the Land Partition War... in fact, it had already ceased to exist by the middle period of the Herasul Empire.
It had been the name of a fertile and peaceful rural region in the central area during the early days of the Herasul Empire's founding. Its meaning was probably similar to "Peach Blossom Village" or "Apricot Blossom Village."
As for the name "Quixote," it referred to a type of thigh armor worn by knights. Beneath it came the knee guards and greaves.
This armor was extremely important to mounted knights—for infantrymen, their thighs were not particularly vulnerable. But a knight's thighs were exposed, and