Merlin had once told him that she could not teach him how to use his stars. It was the same reason she could not teach him how to wield his mental image.

"As I told you before, you have to supply the fundamentals yourself. That hasn't changed. But just as I couldn't teach you how to wield your mental image, yet could teach you how to give it concrete form..."

Merlin flicked a finger. A blue constellation shone at her fingertips.

"I can tell you what stars are, and how I wield this power. You have to supply the foundation, but I can point you in the right direction."

Najin listened closely. Merlin might usually talk a great deal of nonsense, boast incessantly, and sometimes seem rather pathetic, but...

"I think you just had a very rude thought."

"Not at all."

In any case, Merlin was a Constellation with eleven stars. Aside from Arthur and the Witch of the Abyss, no Constellation had more.

What such a great Constellation had to say about stars was certainly worth hearing. (Merlin herself insisted on that designation. With more than ten stars, she maintained that she was a great Constellation, distinct from ordinary Constellations.)

"The feats you accomplish become stars. Your story dwells within them. So drawing power from a star also means reenacting the feat you accomplished."

"Reenacting?"

"Yes. Reenacting. Like this, for example."

One of the eleven stars shone.

"I've drowned countless demons. Several times, I've unleashed enormous floods and submerged entire demonic fortresses. This is the star I earned in the process. And when this star shone, the demons said this."

["A wave. A wave is coming."]

"To them, I was a wave—an irresistible disaster."

"In the same way," Merlin continued, "the story within a star, the scene someone pictures when they see it, and above all, the mental image you yourself envision when you look at your star—all of those mingle until the star becomes a single story."

"What happens when it becomes a story?"

"Imagine this world is a novel written out in prose. The conversation we're having would be recorded inside quotation marks, and when we finish speaking, a sentence describing the situation would follow. 'Merlin said.' Something like that, you know?"

Merlin said.

"And wielding stars means inserting your story between those lines of prose. Inscribing your own unwavering self, one that won't be swayed by dozens or hundreds of words and sentences."

She gestured. Stars shone at her fingertips. Eleven stars flashed, scattering vivid blue light.

"——————."

Amid the flashing light, Merlin spoke. She spoke, but her voice was not pronounced aloud.

It was merely written.

『A wave is coming. A wave that will sweep away everything.』

And then.

The wave surged.

An enormous shadow fell over the underground city. Only belatedly did Najin realize it was cast by a vast wave reaching to the sky. The wave blotted out the city's sky. Concealing the stars, it crashed over the underground city.

The wave broke. Torrents swept through the city.

Buildings caught in the wave collapsed. Nothing could retain its shape before that enormous torrent. Everything in sight crumbled. The wave submerged an entire city. It was both a flood and a watery grave.

Caught in the wave, Najin was forcibly flung out of his mental image. Opening his eyes in reality, he released the breath he had been holding.

"That's roughly what it feels like."

Beside him, Merlin was flicking her finger. For the first time in a very long while, awe filled Najin's eyes as he looked at her. He often forgot, but she really was an incredible person.

"Of course, not every Constellation can cause enormous phenomena like I can. Most use their stars to define themselves more clearly, along the lines of 'I am an eternally burning fire,' or 'I am an unbreakable sword.' But I'm rather exceptional, aren't I?"

Merlin grinned as she murmured that last remark.

"A great Constellation of my caliber doesn't use only the story contained in a single star. We don't stop at strengthening ourselves. We cause enormous phenomena."

She shrugged as she spoke.

"The star I earned by drowning countless demons, the one I earned by submerging an entire city, the one I earned when I raised a wave to sweep away the witch's forces, and so on. By linking the stories contained in several stars..."

After boasting for another long while, Merlin noticed the interest rapidly fading from Najin's eyes and wrapped up her explanation.

"Anyway. Remember what stars you've earned, and what stories they contain."

Najin looked at his stars. One was the star of challenge, the other the star of dragonslaying.

"Because in the Outer Lands, where everything about you is denied, only the stars you've earned will affirm you."

2.

Najin arrived at the Boundary of the Outer Lands.

It was a different location from his previous visit. Not a front where imperial troops were stationed, but a path leading into rugged terrain of no strategic value. It was also the closest point to the Battlefield of Stars.

Najin stepped toward the opaque veil.

Beyond the Boundary. The instant he took a step across the line, the air changed. The flow of mana reversed. So far, it was the same as his last visit to the Outer Lands, but...

"..."

His senses did not scream. His heart did not pound wildly. The mana inside him did not surge, nor did his eyes become bloodshot or his senses strain to their limits. Silently, Najin raised a hand.

Back then, his skin had split and his body had crumbled unless he cloaked himself in mana. Now, his body was unharmed even without that protection.

"Whew..."

Najin let out a short breath. Breathing was no difficulty either. Possessing stars meant earning the right to enter the Outer Lands. He now understood what that meant.

'I can't feel anyone watching me, either.'

When he had stepped into the Outer Lands before, countless stars had turned their gazes upon him. Now, he felt none of them. Back then, he had been a conspicuous outsider. Not anymore.

The sky was shattered into pieces and stained black.

Among the countless stars shining overhead, Najin's own stars shone as well. They felt closer than they had on the continent. Sensing his stars, he walked on.

"The Outer Lands are broadly divided into three regions. You know that, right?"

'Yes. You explained it to me.'

"Right. Put simply, the outskirts, the middle region, and the depths. You're heading for the middle region now."

At the outskirts of the Outer Lands, near the Boundary, lay the front where the Demon King's army clashed with the imperial army. It was in those outskirts that Najin had previously fought as part of the wyvern unit. Merlin had told him that the Constellations' influence was weak there.

"But things are different from the middle region onward."

The middle region. Deeper in, beyond the front lines.

That was where the so-called Battlefield of Stars began. A place where countless stars were born and set. A place where the Constellations' influence grew stronger, and transcendent beings were occasionally sighted.

That was Najin's destination.

The time it took to reach the middle region varied depending on which direction one entered the Outer Lands from. The route Najin now walked was called the Ascetic's Path. It allowed travelers to bypass the outskirts and proceed directly to the Battlefield of Stars.

Countless heroes had walked this path in the past.

As he followed it, Najin could feel the scenery gradually changing. The sky that had retained its blue, with only scattered cracks exposing the night beyond, was coming to an end. The sky was pitch-black. An unbroken night stretched all the way to the distant horizon.

The sun did not rise. There was no blue sky. But the stars filling that place took the sun's place.

Stars burned in every color, their intense light illuminating the ground. Najin kept walking. How long had he walked like that? A sound reached him across the land that had held nothing but silence.

CLANG. CLANG!

Metal striking metal. A sound humans might make. Najin turned his gaze toward it. There stood a knight wearing old armor, fighting surrounded by other people.

"I am Graf. Graf, knight of Kurtan!"

The shouting knight's sword flashed. Blue sword aura. It was a color familiar to Najin: Ivan's sword aura had been exactly that shade.

The blue sword aura flared like fire. Sword aura with a defined shape—the mark of a Sword Seeker. The knight who had proclaimed himself Graf swung his blazing blue sword, killing those surrounding him one by one.

His opponents were powerful as well, but Graf was on another level. Even to Najin, he was formidable.

Before long, the battle ended in Graf's victory. Burned bodies lay strewn across the ground. Najin watched from a distance, but Graf, panting for breath, abruptly turned his head toward him.

"Stop watching from afar and fight me fair and square. One more opponent is no trouble at all."

He pointed his sword at Najin. Najin raised both arms.

"You've misunderstood, sir. I have no intention of attacking you."

"You're not with them?"

"No. I've only just entered the Outer Lands. I have no connection to them."

"... This is your first time in the Outer Lands?"

Graf narrowed his eyes. He quickly examined Najin's appearance. Equipment free of rust. Clothes that looked new. Slowly, Graf lowered his sword.

"It certainly looks that way. Come to think of it, this area was close to the Boundary."

Graf chuckled.

"It's been a long time since I saw anyone from outside. I'm Graf. When I was on the continent, I belonged to a knightly order called Kurtan. Do you know the name?"

"I know it as an order that was active about a hundred and seventy years ago."

"Hah. A hundred and seventy years. Has it been that long? Do you happen to know anything more about Kurtan? How they're doing these days, perhaps?"

"I know a little."

"Do you now?"

He beckoned to Najin, signaling that he could approach. Najin nodded and walked toward Graf.

"What became of Kurtan? Are they still displaying their might? I wonder who their commander is now."

"I've heard they've distinguished themselves on several battlefields. They're generally considered one of the five strongest knightly orders in the Empire."

"Hahahaha! Even after a hundred and seventy years, Kurtan hasn't changed. That's right. That's Kurtan. Valiant Kurtan. Our swords know the foes against whom they must be raised..."

He glanced at Najin. It was a maxim of the Order of Kurtan, and he was asking whether Najin knew what followed. Having read it in a book, Najin answered smoothly.

"Sing of glory, O knights of Kurtan."

"Exactly! I like you, lad."

Graf laughed heartily.

After exchanging a few words with him, Najin happened to glance at the bodies lying at his feet.

"May I ask why you were fighting them?"

"Ah. Of course," Graf said. "They insulted my pride. They mocked me, asking what right someone living in the Outer Lands had to call himself a knight, or invoke Kurtan. Naturally, they had to be punished. Kurtan's sword knows when it must be drawn."

"I see."

Najin's eyes narrowed. He looked at one of the corpses. No, it was not a corpse. Despite being burned black, the man was still twitching. His mouth moved as though he were trying to say something.

"You said you've only just entered the Outer Lands?"

"Yes, that's right."

"Then you must know nothing of the common sense of this land. Here, you see, it's very difficult to die. It's difficult to kill someone, too."

He plunged his blade into the back of the man sprawled on the ground. With his vocal cords burned, the man could not scream, but his body convulsed violently, expressing his pain.

"No matter how much you cut them, no matter how much you burn them, they won't die. Given enough time, they'll revive. So how do you kill them?"

Graf swung his sword. A heart was impaled on its tip.

"The heart. Nothing is as important as the heart in this land. Even if your limbs are severed or your head is cut off, don't lose your heart. That's common sense here."

The instant it lost its heart, the convulsing body went limp.

"Of course, some monstrous bastards can go on living and moving perfectly well even with their hearts torn out, but most die when you remove their hearts."

As he spoke, Graf pulled the heart off the tip of his sword with his hand. Then he brought it to his mouth.

CHOMP.

He bit into the heart. As though eating food. Tearing into meat. Or biting into an apple. Najin's eyes narrowed. Under that gaze, Graf blinked, his expression seeming to ask why Najin was looking at him that way.

Najin pointed at the heart in Graf's hand. Only then did Graf cry, "Ah!" as though realizing something.

"Ah, ah! I've lived in the Outer Lands so long that I'd forgotten. Of course. On the continent, this would be a horrifying act. Desecrating a corpse and eating its heart? The sort of thing only savages would do. Not something a knight should do."

Graf laughed sheepishly.

"But in the Outer Lands, it's perfectly normal. Do you know what a heart contains? Mana, nourishment, and life. A heart is likened to life itself, and taking a heart means taking that life."

Graf bit into the heart again. He chewed and swallowed. Licking his blood-slick lips, he spoke.

"Wouldn't it be a waste to throw it away? Nothing in these Outer Lands is as valuable as a heart."

His tone was calm. His expression, too, was that of someone stating the obvious. In other words, everything he did was natural.

"You can gain starlight by taking a heart, you see."

Graf swung his sword at Najin.

That movement, too, was utterly natural. So natural that it felt like part of the conversation.