"Honey! Look! That's the festival the merchants talked about!" (Wife)

I peek between the dozens of shopping bags that I'm still somewhat able to carry with my former knight's physique. 

The entire main road that houses most of the noble's in the capital is dressed up in all sorts of festive decorations.

When the main road is dressed up like this, it means the knights are about to march off to battle somewhere.
I've always been part of the troops being sent out for combat, so I've never experienced this celebration from the other side. 

"We should go to the plaza! The queen should be making an announcement soon!" (Wife)

My wife excitedly walked towards the plaza whilst dragging me along. Seems like she's memorised her plans for today.
We've been in and out of every popular shop in the capital...

◇◆◇

 

"Look honey! There she is! The queen!" (Wife)

Several explosive magic spells are set off in celebration.

Dozens of trumpets are played as loud cheering erupts from the enormous crowd in the main street as the Queen steps onto a luxurious platform overseeing the entire plaza.

"My dear citizens! Today we finally take a step forward in discovering the mysteries that still plague the assassination of my daughter and disappearance of our proud royal army!" (Queen)

Oh... it's been so long since I've seen one of her speeches, I almost forgot, but the queen truly has an awe-inspiring presence.

"As you all know, there was only one brave knight that made his way back from that slaughter." (Queen)

H- huh? A knight survived? A- are they talking about me?

A tear welled up in the Queen's eye.
"The pour soul that lost his memories and suffered a severe trauma that day." (Queen)

"Today we will strive to set things right and find the one who's responsible for committing all these atrocities!" (Queen)

"Leading this mission will be someone you're all quite familiar with I'm sure!" (Queen)

More cheering erupted from the crowd as a giant stern-looking mountain of muscles stepped onto the stage next to the queen.

"The newly appointed knight army captain and former delver guild master Sir Ben!" (Queen)

Ben skillfully knelt on the ground towards the Queen. 

"Sir Ben I pray your expedition goes well." (Queen)

◇◆◇

 

Sigh...

"She was gorgeous!" (Wife)

"Her hair was so shiny! And her dress..." (Wife)
My fantastic wife continued gushing about how amazing the Queen was whilst I was lost in thought.

We took a break at a nice cafe near the outskirts of the main street.
It's nice and fairly quiet, despite the jubilant festivities nearby.
An expertly picked dining spot picked by my wife.

Despite the relaxing atmosphere, I can't help but feel conflicted.
Who was the queen talking about? Did somebody else survive after all?

Sigh...

Fortunately, in the end nobody recognised me.
Despite the fact that I've been trying to hide my face all day, I almost feel slightly frustrated at the fact that nobody did recognise me.

"...And that manner of speaking was so eloquent!" (Wife)

"Oh! Let's go visit the famous overnight grave sight in the forest next!" (Wife)
She suddenly clapped her hands together with an idea for our next destination.

Grave sight? Could it be?

◇◆◇

 

"How beautiful..." (Wife)
My wife, who coincidentally is also beautiful, commented on the large life-size stone statue in the shape of the former princess.
It's adorned with a replica of the armour she used the wear. I guess the old one that was partly melted and missing it's signature gemstones was removed at some point.

I look at the surroundings.

There are various families visiting the graves of my former comrades.
Copious widows can be seen trying to keep their composure in front of their children.

The graves that I dug have all been cleaned up and given proper graves stones. Fencing has been set up surrounding the entire area as well, it now looks like a proper graveyard.

I feel relieved that this place got the proper treatment it deserved.

"..."

There's one place I'm tempted to go visit.

"I'm going to have a look around." (Random (former) knight)

My wife nods absentmindedly whilst she continues to read the writing on the base of the princess statue.

 

I easily find my way to my destination, after all, I painstakingly dug each of these graves myself.

The one grave I'd never forget the location of would be this one.

"..." (Random (former) knight)

It's an ordinary-looking gravestone with my name on it.

There are some withered flowers that look like a year has passed since they were put there.

I rest my hand on the gravestone and began to wonder if I did the right thing.

Whilst I'm contemplating my life's decisions, a hand touched my shoulder.

In a slight fright, I turned around.

This is the worst place for me to be if I'm trying to hide! What am I doing?!

"What's wrong? Is this somebody you used to know honey?" (Wife)
Thankfully it's my wife.

"Ah... no... just... another random knight..." (Random (former) knight)

My wife gave me a warm smile.
"I'm sure he was a brave knight." (Wife)

"Yeah..." (Random (former) knight)
She inspected the expression on my face for a moment and seemed to decide something.

"I got these to add to the pile at the princess her grave, but it feels like they'll be more meaningful here. I wonder why?" (Wife)
She cleaned the withered flowers from my fake grave and put a fresh bouquet of white and red flowers onto it.

"...Thank you." (Random (former) knight)

She quietly giggled.
"What are you thanking me for silly?" (Wife)

"Hmph, I wonder why indeed." (Random (former) knight)

"...Want to go home?" (Random (former) knight)

"Yes!" (Wife)