Ch.123Two Stars (3)

Najin pointed to the title with her fingertip.

Morning Star.

A title combining the word “dawn,” which refers to the dim light of early morning, with the character for “star.” The Master of Gray Tower had added a note saying “too plain, not great,” but Najin actually liked this simplicity.

‘Much better than something like “The Death Slayer.”‘

Of course, that wasn’t all.

Najin quite liked the title “Morning Star.” She particularly appreciated the description written beneath it.

Morning Star, the star that signals the end of night.

The word “dawn” doesn’t just mean early morning. It signifies the end of a long night, the break of day, and depending on context, can represent hope or the beginning of a new era.

-It’s similar to Arthur’s title.

Merlin whispered in Najin’s ear.

-These days he’s better known as the Sword of Selection, Knight King, or Great Hero, but it wasn’t always so. Arthur’s first title had the feeling of a beacon, of hope.

This was a story not found in fairy tales.

-The time when Arthur and I traveled was humanity’s dark age, wasn’t it? Called the era of chaos… Arthur was the first to place a star in that night sky. So from humanity’s perspective, Arthur was a symbol of hope, a beacon of counterattack.

A light to drive away the long darkness.

A beacon signaling counterattack. Considering the era, it was a fitting title for Arthur.

-Morning Star has a similar meaning. But I wonder why this name emerged? It doesn’t seem related to the achievement that earned you your star.

‘I wonder too?’

Najin looked up at the Master of Gray Tower.

The Master of Gray Tower, Nayuta, was looking at the title Najin had pointed to with obvious disapproval. Her expression seemed to ask if she really had to choose that one.

“Lady Nayuta?”

“Hmm? Yes. What? Do you have something to ask?”

“Could I hear about the origin of this title, Morning Star?”

“I could tell you, but it’s a name I came up with rather carelessly compared to the others, so I’m reluctant to explain. Do you really like that name? Aren’t the other titles better? For instance, The Death—”

“I like this one.”

Nayuta clicked her tongue in dissatisfaction.

With a displeased expression, she began her explanation.

“You know that a malevolent star appeared on the day you subjugated the Red Dragon, right?”

Najin nodded.

The malevolent star, the constellation of the Abyss.

Najin remembered that the black and red star possessed by the Witch of Abyss had risen in the night sky that day.

“It was a malevolent star that appeared after a thousand years, and the night sky trembled at the appearance of that terrible star. The stars dimmed their own light and hid in darkness.”

The Witch of Abyss hunts stars.

She swallows, drops, and ruins countless stars. Before her constellation was sealed in the Abyss, the witch had caused innumerable stars to fall.

As if recalling a nightmare from the past, Nayuta explained that when the malevolent star appeared, countless constellations dimmed their light and fell silent.

“The night sky with its stars extinguished was dark. A dark and cold night sky. But then, out of nowhere, two stars appeared.”

Nayuta spread both hands wide.

As if expressing the brilliance of stars.

“They were none other than the stars you possess. While even those massive constellations dimmed their light in fear of the witch, two small stars that hadn’t even formed a constellation yet… just two small stars were shining.”

Stars shining brightly in the darkness.

Tender stars that couldn’t even be called a constellation yet.

“As those small stars burned white-hot as if defying the malevolent star, perhaps the larger ones felt ashamed of their silence? Only then did the other constellations begin to emit light again.”

Najin had been too focused on battling the Red Dragon to notice, but countless stars had begun to shine again, starting with Najin’s stars. As if drawn to the light of Najin’s stars, or as if stimulated by them.

“The stars that began to shine again drove away the darkness cast by the malevolent star. It was truly a magnificent sight.”

“Was it?”

“Yes. To my eyes, it looked exactly like the dawn breaking and morning coming. Seeing that, the word ‘dawn’ came to mind, and I reflexively named it that, but…”

Nayuta fidgeted with her fingers mid-explanation, as if slightly embarrassed.

“Honestly, isn’t it a bit lacking? As a rule, star names should be grand and splendid, but this is too plain. Should I say it lacks philosophical depth in its title?”

Najin, who had been inwardly impressed thinking “the position of Master of Gray Tower isn’t given for nothing” while Nayuta explained the origin of the title Morning Star, now wore a regretful expression at her subsequent words.

-Hmm… she’s not completely lacking in naming skills, but her sensibilities are a bit off. Why is she so fixated on grandeur?

Najin deeply agreed with Merlin’s comment.

“I’ll go with this one. Morning Star. I like it.”

In any case, Najin didn’t change her decision despite the Gray Tower Master’s objections.

While she understood that the Gray Tower Master had her own philosophy and beliefs in her naming method, empathizing with it was another matter. After all, it was her own title. If someone were to call her “The Death Slayer, Cutter of Death!” Najin wouldn’t have the confidence to hold her head up.

“Well, if that’s what you want…”

Nayuta clicked her tongue one last time in regret before circling the title Morning Star.

“Then, Najin?”

Before packing up to leave, she turned to Najin. As if there was something important she still needed to say.

“This may not be something to tell someone who just obtained stars, but do you know that many stars fall?”

“You mean the falling of stars?”

“Yes. As many stars as shine in the night sky, perhaps even more, have fallen. Some people point to stars as symbols of eternity and immutability, but is anything in this world truly eternal?”

The magician whose profession was counting stars.

Nayuta, the master of the Gray Tower, said:

“Many stars fall without forming constellations. Sometimes they corrupt, sometimes they degrade, sometimes they break. That’s the nature of the battlefield of stars.”

She smiled bitterly.

“Even your stars that shine now may someday lose their light and fall. The probability is high. I’ve seen many new stars that shone brilliantly disappear.”

Nayuta exhaled briefly.

As she exhaled, she closed and opened her eyes. Nothing had changed from when Najin first saw her. Her gloomy impression remained the same, as did her disheveled hair, but.

“However, I hope you won’t be like that.”

Only her eyes were different.

Nayuta had spent most of her life observing stars. Counting the movements of stars was both her life and profession. In the eyes of this magician who had counted countless stars, stars dwelled.

Whether those were her own stars.

Or the stars she had been observing.

Najin couldn’t tell which, but he thought those eyes were beautiful.

“I hope you gain more stars. I hope you don’t lose your light. I hope you connect star to star and become a constellation.”

And at the end, she said:

“I hope you become a constellation and come find me.”

Nayuta smiled.

It was the kind of smile a mother might give to a child.

“When that day comes, I’ll name your constellation again.”

“Something grand and magnificent, I suppose?”

“Of course. You can look forward to it, okay? I’ll be thinking about what name to give your stars in the meantime.”

Najin smiled bitterly.

I’ll pass on that, really.

2.

Quite some time had passed since Najin’s title was decided.

This meant the news had spread throughout the Empire, and as a result, the Empire had to face yet another period of turmoil, who knows how many this year. Major events that might occur once every few decades or centuries were happening repeatedly.

Someone had pulled out Excalibur.

Arthur’s constellation had stirred.

The youngest Sword Seeker had appeared.

The Witch of Abyss had moved.

Someone who obtained two stars at once had appeared.

These were just the events that had occurred on the continent, not the Outer Continent. With major incidents happening almost daily, newspaper companies were printing papers while screaming in distress, but there were also those screaming for entirely different reasons.

“What curse has befallen this year?”

“How many revisions is this already? How much of the history books must we tear apart and rewrite? Who am I and where am I?”

“Youngest! Youngest! Youngest! That damned ‘youngest’!”

“Is the world a joke? Perhaps the heavens don’t understand the meaning of the word ‘unprecedented’? Unprecedented! It means something so special it rarely appears in the world!”

These were the Empire’s historians.

For those who had to compile historical records and sometimes revise them whenever historical events occurred, it was enough to drive them mad. Each clutching their hair, they screamed.

“A Sword Seeker at just 18 years of age.”

If a novel were written this way, it would likely be criticized with comments like, “Listen here, author. Do you think this makes any sense?” and used as kindling. But reality always surpasses fiction.

“18 years old, the youngest Sword Seeker.”

“At 18, obtaining two stars simultaneously.”

The historians laughed hollowly.

One historian joked, “Why not say he pulled out Excalibur too?” but then fell silent, realizing it wasn’t entirely impossible. If that were the case, he’d face double the workload he was currently handling.

“Is this record-breaking youngster planning to break the historians’ baldness records too? What was the record for the youngest complete baldness among historians?”

“26 years old. And that record is likely to be broken soon. Our department’s youngest member’s hairline has retreated ten steps in just a few months…”

“How old is he?”

“Twenty-one.”

“……”

“……”

The historians observed a moment of silence.

Of course, this was just the historians’ situation, and most of the Empire’s citizens cheered at the news of Najin.

Morning Star, the star that signals the end of night.

Looking at the new star in the night sky, the Empire’s citizens were ecstatic. In any era, the masses cheer at the birth of a hero. Although Najin had not yet achieved feats worthy of being called a hero, his progress so far was enough to raise expectations for his future.

Public interest in Najin grew day by day.

And at this point, one question naturally arose.

The series of events that had occurred this year and the boy, Najin, who seemed to be at the center of these events.

‘Could this boy be the one who pulled out Excalibur?’

Some might reasonably suspect so.

The timing overlapped subtly. Najin emerged shortly after Excalibur was pulled out. Wasn’t the timing too perfect to be coincidental?

“Are the Imperial family and those great constellations blind, that they couldn’t recognize who pulled Excalibur? Moreover, the boy isn’t even a transcendent.”

“It’s a conspiracy theory. An excessive delusion.”

“Didn’t the Seal of Eternal Beauty personally confirm it?”

“But considering the boy’s trajectory, it’s not entirely implausible.”

“We must consider the special nature of Excalibur.”

Some suspected Najin had pulled out Excalibur, while others argued it was nonsense. Though the voices of opposition were louder for now… they weren’t strong enough to completely dismiss the opposing view. There was some merit to it.

“Then who on earth pulled out Excalibur?”

No one could easily answer that question.

Several months had passed since Excalibur was pulled out, approaching a year now, yet not even a single eyewitness account had emerged.

“Surely it must be one of the three Sword Masters who were mentioned as candidates? They’re just keeping it secret.”

“I predict it was Lord Charon. He is beloved by swords. Looking back at the history of the Order of the Sword, no one has had talent like his.”

“The Empire’s Best Swordsman is the type to remain silent even if he had pulled Excalibur. So perhaps it was Lord Gerd?”

“It could unexpectedly be the Order’s executioner. If someone else had pulled Excalibur, that murderer wouldn’t have stayed quiet.”

Who on earth is the owner of Excalibur?

While the three Sword Masters who were previously mentioned as candidates were once again the subject of rumors, unlike a year ago, they weren’t the only names being discussed.

The Empire’s Sword Master, The Empire’s Best Swordsman Gerd.

The master of the Order of the Sword, Star of Sword Charon.

The executioner of the Sacred Host Order, the murderer Juel.

And… Morning Star, Najin.

Najin’s name was also mentioned alongside the three Sword Masters. Of course, the boy was lacking compared to them, but not so insignificant as to be completely dismissed.

“Najin.”

A boy born in the underground city.

A boy who was nothing had now carved his name prominently in the center of the Empire. Now, Najin was no longer a nobody. The two stars he had placed in the night sky were evidence of his existence.

It had been a year since the boy left the underground city.

All of this had happened in less than a year.

3.

While Najin’s stock was reaching new highs day by day, there were two individuals who were benefiting greatly from it. One was the owner of the Trebache domain, Marquis Eldelmar…

“Bravo, bravo! Keck, kuhuck!”

“M-Marquis!”

“Breathe, sir!”

Even as he was being carried away by knights after choking from cheering so enthusiastically that he forgot to breathe, the Marquis was smiling with his mouth corners reaching his ears.

There was a good reason for this.

About a month ago, Marquis Eldelmar had started a tourism business featuring a play based on the story of Najin and Dieta. Thanks to Najin’s fame as the youngest Sword Seeker, he was already making decent profits from tourism, and now the new title of “Twin Stars” had added fuel to the fire.

Famous nobles and numerous connoisseurs came to Trebache asking, “Is this where that youngest Sword Seeker and Twin Star had their romance?” and with their footsteps came gold coins, naturally.

As a result, Trebache was currently enjoying an unprecedented boom. As the lord of the domain, he couldn’t help but smile so broadly that he was choking.

“I must write a letter to Najin, that excellent friend. Trebache is your eternal ally, your unparalleled friend, so come visit anytime. I’ll welcome you with a feast!”

And, similar to Marquis Eldelmar…

Perhaps even more delighted than him was another person.

“You know, Passion.”

“Yes, miss. What is it?”

Snake that Swallows the Gold Coins, Dieta.

“The c-company’s stock price is strange.”

She pointed to the newspaper with trembling hands.

There was a beautifully curved graph, showing none other than the stock price of Dieta Company. Looking at the curve soaring high into the sky, the corners of Dieta’s mouth quivered.

“Isn’t it beautiful? My goodness, where else could you find such a work of art? This curve seems dozens of times more beautiful than those scraps of paintings hanging on the wall…”

Even the century’s masterpieces couldn’t provide this much emotion. Dieta stroked the newspaper with an enraptured expression, then shifted her gaze to the words written in it.

Investment genius, Dieta.

Unlike the old days when she would have been purely delighted by that phrase, now it pricked her conscience a little. Of course, she had thought Najin would succeed, but… she hadn’t expected him to rise so quickly and so spectacularly.

The company’s stock price was rising so steeply it seemed about to break through the ceiling.

By now, even Dieta herself was starting to feel a bit frightened.