The first man was a knight. From beginning to end, he had always been a knight.
All his life, he protected a nation. He stood beyond its walls, using his own body as its gate, shielding that glorious kingdom from countless blows.
In the end, he stood atop a towering mountain of enemy corpses and proclaimed to the world:
"This nation is the nation under my protection."
Yet he always seemed unhappy. Even though he was strong—very strong—the power of time would triumph over all things.
The once-invincible knight eventually grew old, grew sluggish, and became... unable to dictate the course of a war any longer.
Over his lifetime, he won countless wars, but the very last one—he lost.
Did he lose?
He did. The knights were all but wiped out, the kingdom's royal family was annihilated, and the island once more descended into chaos.
But he had not lost, either.
Because in the end, he had not allowed the foreign races to occupy his home. That island had always belonged to humanity.
This was the story of the first man: the story of a knight defeated by time.
The second man was a physician, but before studying medicine, he had been an artist.
He spent the first half of his life pursuing the pinnacle of beauty with every ounce of his strength.
He studied across multiple disciplines and achieved success in every field. After founding a new school of painting, he even became the most successful and most esteemed artist in that city of that era. The city's ruler treated him as an honored guest and trusted confidant.
But fate always loved to toy with people.
The uncle who had adopted him died of illness.
After his grief, he brought his aunt back to his city. At the same