Beyond the world, where irregularity itself was the rule.

Even the Outer Lands saw nightfall.

Late at night, Najin sat outside his tent, gazing up at the sky. By day, its bizarre mixture of blue and black had looked grotesque, but now that night had made it uniformly black, it looked reasonably ordinary.

'Apart from the hundreds of stars studded across it, anyway.'

The stars were remarkably clear in the Outer Lands.

In the Inner Lands, looking up at the sky revealed only the large constellations—the ones belonging to famous heroes. Only in exceptionally fine weather, with a clear sky, could one barely make out the smaller constellations.

Not here, though.

Whenever he looked up in the Outer Lands, countless constellations filled his vision. Not only those of renowned heroes, but tiny constellations whose owners he could not identify.

"..."

Najin let out a long breath as he gazed at the star-embroidered sky. To anyone else, he would have appeared to be looking up at it alone.

'Merlin.'

"Yes? Go ahead."

But he was not alone. A Constellation visible only to his eyes sat right beside him. Merlin smoothed down her blue hair, swinging her legs.

'Ermina, the Witch of Flickering Flames... She was strong, wasn't she?'

"Of course she was. That bitch was once a transcendent being of the Eighth Circle with five stars. She may have fallen, but her experience and knowledge haven't gone anywhere."

Merlin smiled bitterly.

"If Ermina had recognized you as an enemy from the start, if she'd fought you intending to kill you from the beginning... you'd have had a hard time surviving. You know that, don't you?"

Of course he knew.

He had felt it the moment he faced Flicker, the spell Ermina had cast at the end. She was on a different level. In a different dimension altogether.

"Still, you fought well. Better than I expected."

'...'

"You don't look very satisfied."

Najin released a long sigh.

'I just feel like a frog in a well. I had no idea how big the world was.'

To be honest, he had grown conceited.

Claiming otherwise would be a lie. The youngest Sword Seeker. A once-in-a-generation genius who had turned the entire Empire upside down. Weren't all those descriptions of him?

He tried to be careful... but he had nonetheless thought he had firmly joined the ranks of the strong. By any objective measure, a Sword Seeker was indeed powerful.

Yet the Outer Lands were not bound by ordinary standards. They teemed with powerful beings who could reduce a Sword Seeker to a mere nobody. Najin had been forced to feel that truth keenly when he faced the witch. He had known it from Merlin's explanations, but experiencing it for himself was another matter.

'There must be plenty of enemies as powerful as Ermina, right?'

"That goes without saying."

Sitting on a rock, Merlin swung her legs and pointed at the sky. Countless stars shone there.

"Heroes of earlier generations. Heroes of the age of myth. And many among them have fallen. But is corruption the only danger? Plenty obtained bodies capable of enduring eternity, only for their minds to fail to bear it, turning them into the living dead."

Beings who had been called heroes centuries ago, now wandering the Outer Lands in a broken, lifeless state.

"The highest-ranking demons with epithets of their own. The rulers of the Demon Realm who command those demons. The Demon Kings sitting above those rulers. Witches, dragons..."

Extraordinarily powerful beings dwelling in the Demon Realm.

"Fallen stars. Broken stars. Traitors to humanity who collude with Camlann... The list never ends. There are as many fucking bastards in this world as there are heroes. There were some at the Round Table, too."

Muttering those last words, Merlin looked at Najin. His somewhat dispirited face made her chuckle.

'What? Why are you laughing?'

"It's funny seeing you so downcast. Where's the fellow who shouted at the witch, 'It took me a mere eighteen years to hold your thousand years at bay for fifteen minutes'? How did he turn into this miserable little thing?"

'I was worked up then. People say all sorts of things when they're excited.'

At his muttered reply, Merlin tilted her head, a faint smile on her lips.

"Really? I don't think you were wrong," she said.

"The Outer Lands are crawling with powerful things. Transcendent beings, Demon Kings, demons... Everywhere you look, you'll find someone strong. But are any of them special?"

Merlin grinned.

It was an easy smile from an archmage who could dismiss the powerful beings scattered throughout the Outer Lands as nobodies. Still smiling, she leaned her face toward Najin.

"They've lived for centuries, for nearly a thousand years, and that's all they amount to. They've stagnated. Stopped moving forward. There's nothing special about them. Nothing at all."

Those words were directed at Najin, but also at Merlin herself. Her time had stopped a thousand years ago, leaving her unable to move forward.

"Don't be afraid, or feel overwhelmed. You're doing more than well enou—"

'Well, I appreciate the reassurance.'

Najin, who had been listening closely, gave a small laugh.

'But I wasn't feeling overwhelmed or afraid.'

"What? That's how you looked."

'I was just thinking there really are a lot of monsters in this world. Why would I be afraid?'

Najin rose to his feet.

"They're all stepping stones I'll climb over."

"Wow. Listen to this kid."

Merlin drew back as though appalled, yet she was smiling, as if she liked that way of thinking. Just as Najin was about to return to his tent...

TAP.

Someone arrived at his tent.

The footsteps were light, but the presence behind them was anything but. Drawn by that distinctive footfall, Najin looked toward its source.

"Oh, I was wondering whether I'd have to wake you."

The Sword Master of the Forgotten Kingdom.

"It seems you haven't gone to sleep yet. Have a moment to spare? Even if you don't, I'd appreciate it if you made one. I may not look it, but I'm rather busy."

Londinel's last knight.

Kirchhoff stood there.

2.

Kirchhoff, the Sword Master of the Forgotten Kingdom.

A warrior who had lived at least four hundred years, having already attained transcendence by the time Londinel fell. A hero who had spent most of those years on the battlefields of the Outer Lands.

["He doesn't belong to the imperial army, a kingdom's army, or the allied forces, but he always stays on the battlefield. Whenever something unexpected happens, he comes running straightaway. As for the lives he's saved... well, counting them would be pointless."]

That was how Gillette had answered when Najin asked about him.

["He's a man worthy of being called a hero. Even his reason for remaining on the battlefield is worthy of one."]

["What is that reason, you ask? Well, you'd best hear that from him yourself."]

A man worthy of being called a hero.

Najin looked at Kirchhoff, who had turned up at his tent without warning. His clothes were covered in soot and dirt, as though he had been roaming the battlefield until moments ago.

"Ermina is a fiery woman, no matter how many times I meet her. I thought the heat would kill me! Look at this. My skin's all burned."

Laughing lightly, he pointed to his arm. Soot and traces of burns remained on it, but that was all. Beyond those shallow burns, Najin could see no injuries.

He had returned with only that much damage after facing a witch intent on killing him.

"What happened to the witch?"

"She ran away, as always. Chasing her would never end, so I let her go. I'd like to settle things, but she's always the one who backs out. It seems she doesn't want to stake her star on a fight."

Kirchhoff shrugged.

'What does it mean to stake your star on a fight?'

"It's a thing. I'll explain later."

As he spoke with Merlin, Najin glanced at Kirchhoff. Like any transcendent being unaffected by age, Kirchhoff looked like a young man. His easygoing appearance conveyed none of the weight of four hundred years.

"You bought time until I arrived, didn't you? I heard about it from Gillette."

"It just worked out that way, yes."

"'It just worked out that way,' eh? You speak far too lightly of an achievement you risked your life for. You could stand to take a little more pride in it."

Kirchhoff smiled ruefully.

"Many soldiers survived thanks to you. You have my gratitude for buying time until I arrived. And thanks to you, I got to arrive at a truly dramatic moment."

A dramatic moment?

When Najin tilted his head, Kirchhoff shrugged and spoke as if sharing a secret.

"What did you think of my sword? A lone swordsman swinging his blade beneath a falling crimson sky. What a magnificent sight! Damn it, my liege should have seen it."

Najin blinked as Kirchhoff clenched his fist in regret. The man was rather more frivolous than he had expected.

"A strike that tears the crimson sky apart! Every blow cleaving the witch's flames and driving back the heat! Bards would go wild for a tale like that. And I'm not exactly lacking in looks, am I? It was the perfect opportunity to capture ladies' hearts, but unfortunately, only you and a handful of soldiers witnessed my exploits."

In the midst of his grand speech, Kirchhoff chuckled, having noticed Najin's bewildered stare.

"Well, there you have it. I came to thank you and make myself known to the much-talked-about youngest Sword Seeker."

"You knew about me?"

"Anyone with a star couldn't fail to know. The moment you set foot in the Outer Lands, all sorts of stars looked your way and began whispering."

Kirchhoff gave a knowing smile.

"It's hardly strange to pay attention to a Nova about to rise. It seems a place for you is already being prepared in that night sky."

"... Pardon?"

"Oh? You didn't know?"

Najin blinked.

A place for him was being prepared in the night sky? He shifted his gaze to his side. Merlin was looking away, pretending ignorance.

"I was going to surprise you later," she muttered quietly. Leaving her to it, Najin looked back at Kirchhoff, who was still speaking.

"You've already accumulated accomplishments worthy of being hailed as great feats. All that remains is for them to bear fruit. Holding off the witch will be part of that, too."

"Even something like that... counts as a great feat?"

"Of course it does. A human who has yet to attain transcendence lasted fifteen minutes against a transcendent being. That's not enough to form a star on its own, but it's more than enough to become part of one. Such things pile up and eventually become a star. It doesn't have to come from one enormous achievement."

Kirchhoff smiled as he spoke.

"May you obtain a shining star, boy."

Kirchhoff stood up.

"Sorry to interrupt your rest. Get some sleep. I've said everything I came to say, and I have somewhere to go today, so this seems a good place to leave things."

Watching the back of the man who had appeared in a flash, said his piece, and was now about to leave, Najin spoke. There was something he wanted to know.

"If you don't mind, may I ask you a question?"

"Of course. One question won't hurt."

"Why do you remain on the battlefield, sir?"

The question Gillette had told him to ask the man himself. Kirchhoff fell silent for a moment, then burst into laughter.

He turned back to Najin and tapped the hilt at his waist with the back of his hand. Engraved there was the emblem of Londinel, now destroyed and forgotten.

"Do you know a country called Londinel?"

"I've heard of it."

"Yes. I'm its last survivor, as well as its last knight. Perhaps I'm also Londinel's last sword."

Londinel, the Forgotten Kingdom.

Its last knight smiled.

"Though my homeland has fallen, Londinel lives and breathes at the tip of my blade. And my liege, Londinel's last king, wished for its sword to shine on the battlefields fought for humanity. As magnificently, brilliantly, and beautifully as possible."

As he spoke, Kirchhoff flourished his cloak.

"I remain on the battlefield and wield my sword to fulfill my liege's final wish. I have other reasons, too, but that's the first."

"Does that answer your question?" Kirchhoff asked, and Najin nodded. His manner was light. His appearance was lighthearted. Yet the weight carried by his sword was anything but light.

"A reason worthy of a knight."

"Indeed. A reason worthy of a knight."

Najin and Kirchhoff smiled at each other. One was a fully realized knight, the other a boy who dreamed of becoming one.

"I'll see you again."

With those words, Kirchhoff left.

As Kirchhoff left the tent, and Najin remained inside it, both sensed the same thing. The same thought crossed their minds at once.

They would be seeing each other often, and their paths would become intertwined frequently, in many different ways.

It was an intuition—perhaps even a certainty.

For some inexplicable reason, both thought so. Meanwhile, Merlin's expression twisted as she mulled over the name Londinel. A nation destroyed by a fallen star. She remembered the constellations involved in its destruction.

Three stars in all had played a part in Londinel's fall. One of them was a star Merlin knew all too well, one she could never forget.

One of the traitors of the Round Table.

A filthy traitor who had sullied the name of knight, forever forfeiting the right to call himself one.

'Lancelot.'

Formerly the strongest knight of the Round Table.

Merlin's eyes grew cold as she recalled the onetime companion who had once occupied a seat at the Round Table.

3.

His business in the Outer Lands was finished.

It was time to return. Gillette came to see Najin off as he prepared to head back to the Inner Lands. Normally, a commander could not leave his post, but...

"I've lost an arm, and I've passed command to a junior. I'll rest a little before returning to the battlefield."

That was all Gillette said.

With Gillette guiding him, Najin arrived at the Last Drink, the stable nearest the Boundary of the Outer Lands. They summoned a carriage and shared a light meal while waiting.

"Ah, the owner here knows how to cook. Is it because we're in the Inner Lands? Even the air's different. Tastes good, I tell you."

Gillette took a sip of his drink.

"Anyway, Najin."

Ever since the incident with the witch, Gillette had called him by his name rather than 'greenhorn.' When Najin nodded, Gillette set down his cup and pointed at him.

"Didn't you come here to hunt wyverns?"

"I did."

"And you said you were practicing against something that flies..."

"I did say that, too."

"So what are you planning to hunt that you needed to practice on something as formidable as wyverns?"

Najin answered with a small laugh.

"A dragon."

"What?"

"A dragon. That's what I mean."

Gillette stared blankly for a moment, then burst into laughter. A dragon. A dragon, of all things. Had anyone else said they intended to hunt one, he would have scoffed and dismissed it, but...

"Are you serious?"

"Why would I lie about something like this?"

"Fair point."

Coming from the boy before him, it wasn't something he could laugh off. Certainly, if he intended to hunt a dragon, wyverns would have been ideal prey to practice on.

"So, do you think you got some useful practice?"

"I've got a feel for it now."

"Glad it helped."

While they talked, the carriage arrived—a carriage bound for the Inner Lands. Watching Najin rise and walk toward it, Gillette called out.

"Hey, Najin."

The moment Najin turned, Gillette tossed something to him. Catching it reflexively, Najin looked at what lay in his hand.

"A gift. Take it with you."

It was a chain stake, the symbol of the chain unit.

"When you bring down that dragon, I'd appreciate it if you spread the word that our chain unit's chains were pretty useful."

"I'll do that."

Najin chuckled and climbed into the carriage.

Now it was time to bring down a dragon.