Hello, I’m Yusaku Sakaishi.
The Holy Knight’s Dark Road is a story about a protagonist who, though perfectly capable of easy-moding his way through life with his holy powers, chooses to abandon them and instead strives to become something he has no affinity for — the dark knight. In this second volume, said protagonist finds a mentor who can teach him dark magic. By apprenticing himself to her, he takes another step toward his goal. I hope you find it enjoyable.
And I’ve already run out of things to say. That’s no good. What do I do now?
I remember having this same problem for the first volume, wondering what I’m supposed to write for the afterword, so I’m going to take a look at the afterwords of some other works for reference.
...I see. It looks like taking the contents of the story and comparing them to the author’s own life is a nice, simple option.
This story’s protagonist, Sain, has peerless power, but despite that, he chooses to hide his powers and walk a road for which he has no affinity. As a result, he ends up being made fun of in all sorts of places and called a loser by all sorts of people. Still, he continues to plow forward through sheer will and hard work.
There’s something about his tenacity that I resonate with. As a matter of fact, I played tennis when I was in elementary school, and I kept playing through middle school and all the way into high school. Gradually, however, I realized that the reason I kept playing tennis wasn’t because I liked it; it was out of habit. Considering my persistence was the result of inertia, willpower doesn’t really come into play. Whenever I screwed up a serve, I’d be criticized, but I never played seriously enough for thoughts like I need to improve my control! to cross my mind. Finally, when I was in high school, I quit tennis.
Quitting tennis did, in fact, bring about some significant changes to my life. A lifelong — up to that point in my life, anyway — association with tennis comes with consequences, and one of them was having a lot of friends whom I had met through tennis. By quitting the sport, I also ended up distancing myself from them. Up until then, I’d spent my days off playing with friends from the tennis clubs of other schools. Once I stopped playing, that obviously stopped, as well.
For someone like me, who had been playing tennis from elementary to high school, the tennis club felt like home. Tennis was both a place where I belonged and a tool with which to create that sense of belonging. By abandoning that, I left myself with nothing, and for a time, I lived as an empty husk of a human being.
Actually, I should rephrase. It wasn’t so much inertia that kept me playing tennis as it was the only thing I was good at, so I had no choice but to cling to it. I was never a particularly charismatic person, but so long as I kept playing tennis, I could at least keep joining tennis clubs. And through the clubs, I could make friends. This logic, however, had been functioning unconsciously, and it wasn’t until I quit tennis that I realized I’d been following it. After relinquishing my forte, I had no choice but to confront the reality that, compared to others, I now had no strengths to speak of, and no hobbies to take pride in. I had become a bland, meaningless person.
On the flip side, not having to take part in club activities meant I had a ton of free time to myself. At first, I spent it on things like anime and games — the usual otaku stuff — but at some point, I happened upon the existence of web novels. For some inexplicable reason, this triggered something in me, and I started writing my own novel.
Equally inexplicable was the fact that no matter how much I wrote, novel writing never felt like a chore. Furthermore, it was something I could always apply myself to — something I could play seriously, so to speak. I kept writing through university and even after joining the workforce, and as a result, I can now deliver a work of my own to the world as a professional author.
For my high school self, tennis was the thing I was best at and the only hobby I could take pride in. That’s why I was left feeling so empty after giving it up. At some point, though, I realized that void had been filled by something else. And I’d become even better at that something else than I’d ever been at tennis. Never would I have imagined during my tennis days that such a future would be lying in wait.
I chose my path in life not according to what I can do but rather what I want to do. As I walk it, I’ve come to think that — for me, at least — it’s a path with fewer regrets.
The protagonist of this story, Sain, also prioritized what he wanted to do over what he could do. He is troubled by how empty it leaves him, but even so, he keeps at it with dogged determination and tries hard to remake himself anew. Go for it, Sain... As one who has walked this path before, I’m rooting for you.
Oh wait, but unlike me, Sain has lots of female friends, doesn’t he? He’s even got a cute maid. I take that back. He doesn’t need my rooting.
You’re blessed enough as is, Sain. Heh.
That’s a self-deprecating heh, in case you’re wondering.
✦ ✦ ✦
Special Thanks
In writing this work, I received generous help from my editors, proofreaders, and a number of other individuals involved in its creation. Thank you. Also, I am once again grateful for Heiro’s beautiful illustrations. Finally, to everyone who took this book into your hands, you have my endless gratitude.