Ch.275Starlight (5)

A hundred words are not as fast as seeing once.

There’s a saying like that.

It meant that rather than explaining things in detail, it’s quicker to just show it once. Najin thought this situation was exactly like that. Those who have lost their qualifications and authority might try to justify themselves with long-winded explanations, but…

Those who possess both need not speak at length. They simply need to demonstrate through action.

“……”

Najin raised Excalibur. The starlight created by Excalibur illuminated the city. Though it was midnight, the city became as bright as day.

“Seize him immediately…!”

Orleans’ command to seize him immediately was drowned out by the citizens’ exclamations of wonder as they gazed at the starlight. Then, Najin thrust the Cross Star Spear he had been carrying on his back into the ground.

The symbol of the Empire’s First Horn fluttered on the spear shaft.

It signified that he stood here on behalf of the Empire’s First Horn, and was proof that he stood here as the Empire.

“Orleans, High Priest of the Sacred Host.”

Najin called out the criminal’s name.

Orleans’ face turned deathly pale.

“You conspired with demons from the Outer Continent, served the Witch of Abyss, and caused chaos throughout the Empire and beyond, across the entire continent.”

His anger was restrained. His cold, settled voice echoed throughout the city. Najin pointed the Star Sword at Orleans.

“Do you have anything to say?”

It’s slander, it’s a lie, it’s groundless, and even the Empire has no right to treat the High Priest of the Sacred Host this way… Orleans shouted with veins bulging in his neck.

But the audience had already turned away long ago.

No matter how great the Sacred Host’s authority might be, it wasn’t built by Orleans alone. It was created over hundreds of years through adoration, faith, and admiration for the starlight.

And before their eyes was Excalibur.

The star that had shone for 1000 years.

That single sword, the symbol of the brightest and greatest star, transcended all justifications. Even the High Priest of the Sacred Host was nothing but a shabby, insignificant old man before Excalibur.

Psssh.

White powder scattered from the sky. The powder, resembling both snow and starlight, was fragments of the barrier.

The barrier surrounding the Sacred Host was collapsing.

With the death of the Lighthouse Keeper and the lighthouse, the barrier collapsed, revealing the scenery outside. Surrounding the outer perimeter of the Order were the Empire’s knights. Their eyes widened the moment they confirmed what was inside the barrier.

The military flag of the Empire’s First Horn.

The cloak of a Free Knight.

And in his hand, Excalibur.

The moment they confirmed Najin’s appearance, the figure at the head of the knights knelt on one knee. He was a knight who had served the imperial family his entire life, a knight whom even the Royal Guards referred to as an elder and showed respect to.

The elder of the Royal Guards, Schranz.

A knight who need not kneel to anyone except the Emperor, who had demonstrated his integrity through nearly a century of service to the imperial family.

Clank.

Without a moment’s hesitation, he knelt before Najin. He bowed his head in respect, not caring at all about the mud staining his greaves.

“The hero of the Empire.”

It wasn’t mere formality. Even before the Empire’s First Horn, Schranz had never bowed his head so low. He was genuinely showing reverence to the being before him.

“I am honored to meet the greatest knight.”

Starting with Schranz, like a wave, all knights knelt before Najin. They had not a shred of doubt about this action.

For this was what a knight ought to do.

What stood before their eyes was not just a young hero of the Empire. Not a sacred being under the protection of the Empire’s First Horn, nor merely a Free Knight. He was an existence that transcended all of these, positioned ahead of all of them.

The successor to the great hero Arthur.

The successor to the Knight King Arthur.

If one called oneself a knight, one must pay respect to the being who stood at the starting point of all knights. As the Empire’s knights bowed their heads, Najin looked at Orleans.

The shabby old man struggled until the end.

He desperately tried to mobilize the dark branch of the Order under his control and the Holy Knights who had sided with him. In the face of such pathetic struggles, Najin simply said:

“He conspired with demons.”

Najin’s cold voice echoed.

“He joined hands with Camlann and caused chaos across the continent.”

The Empire’s knights raised their heads. They straightened their knees and drew their swords with a cackling sound.

“Kill him.”

The knights charged forward with a battle cry. Though there were quite a number of forces remaining in the Sacred Host, they were helplessly swept away before the Empire’s knights.

Najin alone would have been more than enough to subdue them.

But Najin deliberately mobilized the knights to crush Orleans’ forces. As if to say, everything you did was wrong. Najin walked in a straight line toward Orleans.

“I am Klaus Aten.”

As he walked, Najin listened to the voice that reached his ears. A familiar voice rang out across the city.

“I am Klaus Aten, commander of the Blue Wing Cavalry.”

One by one, the knights who had participated in this operation as mercenaries supported by Dieta Company revealed their names. As if they no longer needed to hide their identities.

“Even though you branded us as heretics and trampled our honor and pride in the mud.”

Klaus Aten shouted.

“I did not sink. I am the Blue Wing, and our honor has not sunk either.”

As Klaus Aten passed by Najin, he mouthed the words: Just, thank you. Thank you for allowing him to be part of this revenge.

Led by Klaus Aten, numerous knights passed by. Demon Hunter Jerold, Soldier Basaus Malek, Heresy Inquisitor Baschen Korte… Those who had been hiding in Dieta Company, waiting for this day, wielded their blades of vengeance.

And Najin…

Clack.

He walked toward Orleans, who was trembling and grinding his teeth at the center. No one could block Najin’s path. Who could block the steps of a transcendent being?

Tap.

Najin stopped in front of Orleans.

“Orleans.”

“Huk, heuk……”

Orleans gasped for breath. As Najin took a step forward, Orleans stumbled backward, tripped on a stone, and fell face-first onto the ground. Sitting on the ground, he looked up at Najin.

His pupils trembled. His teeth chattered incessantly. Najin looked down at Orleans, who was shaking with fear.

“Do you know Ivan, the Knight of Atanga?”

Najin asked.

“Do you know the mercenary, Offen?”

Orleans tried his best to find an answer by mobilizing all his memory. Despite knowing the names of numerous powerful figures and wealthy individuals, and even their children’s names, Orleans had no memory of the names Offen and Ivan.

From Orleans’ perspective, they were names not worth remembering. Even if he had remembered them once, they would have been names he’d forget.

A little time passed.

Orleans couldn’t answer. As if he had expected this, Najin let out a hollow laugh. Najin brought down the raised sword. One of Orleans’ eyes was slashed.

“Hu, huaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

Though he wanted to cut Orleans into pieces right there as the old man screamed and writhed, Najin held back. It wasn’t out of mercy.

This old man’s crimes were too numerous to kill him with a single strike here. Najin knew well that for some, death could be a mercy.

At Najin’s signal, soldiers bound Orleans.

He would be judged according to imperial law, and his punishment would be carried out before all people. A punishment that would make death seem gentle awaited Orleans.

2.

After Najin revealed himself at the Sacred Host, the situation was quickly resolved. The leaders of each country, realizing they had been abandoned by the Empress of Bliss, gave up command, and soldiers and knights who had lost the will to fight surrendered.

In the midst of war, some achieved merit, some became heroes, but recording this was the job of historians.

The flames of war, swift but intense, died down.

“Do not punish those who surrendered. They were merely following orders. Just don’t let those who must take responsibility escape.”

Under the Emperor’s orders, the pillars of the Empire moved.

They visited each country through the front gates with dignity. With armies in disarray, no one could stop the steps of transcendent beings, so the leaders of each country had to properly receive the Empire’s envoys.

They were envoys, but also reapers. Those who had consorted with demons met their end that day.

The Empire did not demand further accountability. They simply concluded matters with a warning that they would oversee the process of selecting new kings. Internal strife was exactly what demons desired, and the Empire was both the center of the continent and the focal point of humanity.

The Empire quickly suppressed the chaos.

Time passes.

The forces of the Empress of Bliss that had been rampaging at the border of the Outer Continent silently disappeared, and her star that had painted the sky settled down quietly.

Some say:

That the Empress of Bliss’s long-prepared plan had collapsed, and that having lost three of her court jesters, she was as good as cornered. While some constellations mocked her thus, the constellation of the Empress of Bliss was in turmoil.

Half of her plan had failed.

But the other half had succeeded.

She is a schemer and strategist. Such people never invest everything in a single plan, and always dig second and third pits.

Flash.

The Empress of Bliss gained a new star. No one knows what she obtained, but she got what she wanted.

The constellation of Bliss with 11 stars.

The largest constellation in the Outer Continent shone.

…Time passes.

About a month had passed.

The flames of war had died down, and the winds of conflict had subsided. Although officials were busy with post-war cleanup, peace had returned to the continent. While most were returning to their daily lives… some couldn’t.

“So.”

Warm sunshine, a lazy afternoon breeze.

On a day when everyone was catching their breath.

“So, if I didn’t hear wrong. That fu—I mean, the honorable Lord Najin has gained a new star? Two of them in that short time?”

“Yes, he was updated to the youngest 6-star just before the war.”

“And shortly after the war broke out, he became a 7-star?”

“That’s right.”

“…Alright, I can understand that. He must have done something great in the war again. But.”

At a gathering of the Empire’s historians.

“Two of the Empire’s pillars, the Seal of Applaud and the Seal of Annihilation, fell? And along with them, the star of Carpediem, the Demon Lord of Mourning…”

“That’s correct.”

“The lighthouse that illuminates all things, actually there was one more hidden star so we need to revise it to ‘the lighthouse that illuminates the abyss,’ a special star, and the star of Eurypylus, the Lighthouse Keeper, also fell.”

“That’s right.”

“And since one transcendent being from each country fell, that’s four more transcendent stars that fell. That’s how it adds up.”

“That’s the calculation.”

At minimum.

At minimum, 9 constellations had fallen.

Not 9 stars, but 9 constellations.

And the ‘honorable’ Lord Najin had gained two stars. The historians who had to record this fact quietly paid their respects to the Grey Tower.

And also.

Looking in the mirror, they paid respects to themselves.

“It would be nice if it ended here.”

A historian, whose scalp had been full of hair until just two years ago (now smooth), smiled while stroking it. Until now, they had been postponing an issue, saying it was a wartime situation and there were more urgent matters to handle.

They could no longer postpone it.

They had to address the issue they had been putting off.

Before them was a newspaper with a short, bold sentence: Lord Najin revealed to be the owner of Excalibur. Looking at that single line, the historians burst into hollow laughter as if they had lost their minds.

“So it was the great and honorable Lord Najin who pulled out Excalibur. My prophecy was right? I didn’t know it myself, but it seems I had the gift of prophecy!”

Historian Durec wailed.

Remembering how he had joked at a drinking party, “That bastard, did he fucking pull out Excalibur too?” Durec screamed.

“My goodness, my goodness! This is surprising. It’s so surprising I can hardly breathe!”

Truly unable to breathe, Durec collapsed making choking sounds. Though they should have helped him up, thinking it might be better for him to faint, the other historians couldn’t wake him.

The honorable and great Lord Najin.

Now, among the historians, “honorable” and “great” had roughly been replaced with the meaning of “fucking,” as they tapped their foreheads. Though the war had ended, a new war was about to break out for the historians and the Grey Tower.

3.

Basking in the warm sunshine, Dieta elegantly raised her teacup. It was a graceful and dignified movement. After taking a sip of the rippling black tea in her cup, Dieta smiled. She was now sitting in the garden of the Albania ducal family.

This place now belonged to her.

The owner of the Albania ducal family.

The Golden-Eyed Duchess, Dieta Albania.

She was sipping her tea with her usual smile while reading the newspaper. However, if one looked closely, tea was dripping from the corners of her mouth.

Tremble tremble tremble…

Her fingers holding the teacup were also shaking.

“Najin?”

“Yes, Dieta.”

She looked at the man sitting across from her. The man, Najin, was casually eating snacks with his usual relaxed expression, as if nothing was unusual. Dieta’s pupils vibrated intensely as she looked back and forth between him and the newspaper.

“W-w-w-what is this?”

“Oh, it’s nothing.”

Najin reached out into the air.

With a grip, he clutched at the empty space.

Excalibur appeared.

“Hiccup, hic. Hic…cup.”

Dieta’s breath caught as she stared at Excalibur. With a gulp sound, Dieta fainted.