The battle did not end until early morning.

They had broken through the countless addicts Hakan had prepared, the many traps Horse had laid, and the labyrinth of mine tunnels, and succeeded in cutting off Horse’s head. But it had taken far too long.

“I’m dying here.”

Offen groaned. Rotating an arm left stiff from swinging his sword so much, he glanced at Ivan. Ivan’s expression was rigid.

Well, that was understandable.

During the battle, they had both seen a star rise in the underground city’s sky. They did not know the full story, but they knew Najin had done something—and that it was more than enough to draw the attention of the world above.

In other words, things had gone as wrong as they possibly could.

The two returned to the center of the underground city in silence. Addicts’ corpses littered the streets, and the stench of blood mixed with drugs hung thick in the air. No one could call the atmosphere peaceful, even out of politeness.

Gang members stood on edge. Residents whispered among themselves, hiding inside buildings.

At Ivan’s return, their gazes briefly shot toward him. Then he saw their attention shift to the center of the square, where a lone figure stood, seemingly sent from above.

The figure was not dressed like an ordinary soldier. Dark leather concealed both face and body.

“... One of the order’s covert operatives,” Offen murmured quietly.

Ivan’s expression tightened further. When he stepped forward, the operative raised their head. The moment their eyes met, the operative spoke.

“Hear me, sinner Ivan.”

It was a proclamation.

“Sir Berlo, knight of the Order of Star Radiance, wishes to see you. Sinner Ivan, answer his summons.”

The knight, Berlo.

At that name, Ivan’s face went rigid.

“Follow me.”

Ivan followed the operative away.

Offen watched without moving, then let out a long sigh once Ivan was out of sight. He sensed that things had become thoroughly tangled.

... Offen was a mercenary.

Surviving as a mercenary meant always making quick judgments. He assessed the situation and made a decision—one he had put off for a long time.

“So it comes to this after all.”

With a sigh, Offen headed off somewhere.

2.

An alley beyond the reach of even the dim ore lamps.

Sitting against a wall in the secluded alley, Najin slowly steadied his breathing. Having only just grown accustomed to mana, he was now suffering the backlash of fighting while drawing out sword aura.

Weakness and fatigue dragged at his body. Combined with the injuries he had suffered fighting Hakan, they made even standing an ordeal.

'At least one thing’s gone right... '

Najin glanced at his arm—the one that had taken the explosion head-on. It had hung limp afterward, but now it had recovered enough to move. Swinging a sword would be difficult, but it would not hinder him as he moved about.

An abnormal rate of recovery.

It was not hard to guess where it came from. It must be thanks to Excalibur’s blessing. In the heroic tales, King Arthur would recover in an instant even with a broken arm or a hole through his body, then charge at his enemies again.

Najin did not yet possess such superhuman healing, but the holy sword’s restorative power was an enormous help. It was probably only thanks to the sword that he could move at all.

“...”

Najin silently looked at his right wrist. When he narrowed his eyes and focused on the flow, a constellation-shaped pattern appeared on it. This change had occurred when he thought of hiding Excalibur.

The Sword of Stars had turned into starlight and settled within his body.

By focusing on the flow and grasping empty air, he could draw the sword again. After staring at the constellation inscribed on his wrist for a long while, he let out a hollow laugh.

'I can’t believe it.'

It still did not feel real.

But Najin knew he would now have to pay the price for drawing the sword. Ivan had told him he could cross the line, but there were limits even to that.

This was far, far beyond the line.

Far too many people had witnessed him draw the holy sword. Soldiers sent from above had been among them, so naturally the news must have reached the surface.

How would they respond?

'Probably... '

Wouldn’t they try to bury him?

Najin always assumed the worst. He never even hoped for the remote chance that things might turn out well. The world had always been cruel to the boy.

There was a good chance Ivan and Offen would turn against him. They were human too, and people valued their own safety above all else. Until he understood the situation, escaping would have to be his priority.

'... But where?'

There was no way out of the underground city.

The only route upward was the access point in the city center. Even if he went up that way, he would only end up impaled on the guards’ and knights’ swords and spears.

Where should he flee, how, and how far?

He did not know. He would have to figure that out now.

He blinked.

His eyelids kept falling shut. Along with the exhaustion from using mana came the mysterious weakness that had accumulated as he wielded Excalibur. Thinking he would close his eyes for just a little while, Najin rested his head against the alley wall.

How much time passed like that?

STEP.

Najin’s eyes snapped open at the sound of a footstep. He heard footsteps in the alley, along with something being dragged. The sounds were drawing closer.

“...”

He held his breath and concealed his presence. As he watched a figure emerge from the darkness, his eyes widened.

“Who wouldn’t notice you leaving a trail of blood like this, you stupid brat? I know you’re there. Come out already.”

It was Offen, his swordsmanship teacher. Delighted to see him, Najin was about to get up, but stopped. He had no way of knowing how much time had passed—or what Offen had chosen.

“Tsk. They say raising a pupil is a waste of time. First thing you do is fucking suspect me.”

Offen clicked his tongue. Then he pulled a bag from inside his clothing and tossed it toward Najin’s hiding place.

“Come out. I’m not going to kill you.”

“...”

Najin cautiously stood up. When he picked up the bag Offen had thrown, he found it filled with bandages for treating wounds, basic potions, and plenty of jerky.

“Wrap your wounds with those. Nothing’s easier to track than someone dripping blood everywhere.”

Muttering that, Offen gestured for Najin to move aside. Once Najin stepped away, Offen threw the addict’s corpse he had dragged here onto the spot where Najin had been sitting.

Then he plunged a knife into the corpse, covering Najin’s blood with the addict’s.

“You’d better move without leaving footprints from now on. You’ll have trackers on your trail soon.”

“... What is this?”

“What do you think? Can’t you see I’m helping you escape?”

Offen glanced at him. Najin stared back in silence. Under that gaze, Offen let out a long sigh and spoke.

“A knight and a covert operative came down from above. Looks to me like they were sent to put you in the ground. Ivan was summoned. By now, they’ve probably talked and reached a decision.”

Offen tousled his own hair as though irritated by the situation.

“Ivan’s a practical man. He’s become one. He’ll know what the best option is here. His plan to nurture you has gone wrong, and now he probably has only one move left.”

He mimed slitting his own throat.

“Killing you. If he doesn’t, he’ll end up dead too. Before he’s a knight, he’s human. You know people value their own lives above everything else.”

“... I know.”

“Right. So don’t hate him too much.”

Offen exhaled slowly.

“But I don’t particularly want to watch that happen. It’s too cruel a thing to do. So I’d rather you ran.”

He did not want to see them turn their swords on each other, intent on killing. Nor did he want to see either of them die.

“But where?” Najin replied.

“There’s nowhere to run. I have to leave this underground city eventually, and the only way out is the access point...”

“There’s one more.”

Offen interrupted him, pointing at Najin’s bag.

“There should be a map in there. On the lowest level of the underground city, there’s a place where the trash is flushed into the landfill. Go a little farther, and you’ll find a cliff where the water drops.”

It was somewhere ordinary people could not descend.

The cliff was so steep that even someone like Ivan or Offen would have to risk their life to climb down. Once down, they could never climb back up.

“If you climb down and follow the water, you should be able to get out of the underground city. You’ll have to risk your life, but you’ll have to accept that much. There’s no other way.”

The only way to leave this city alive.

Najin had no way of knowing, but Offen had prepared this bag and map long ago. He had begun preparing the very day he confirmed Najin’s talent, so he could get Najin out of the city if things ever went wrong.

Offen was a mercenary—a renowned mercenary who had survived for many years.

Back when he made a name for himself above ground, he had been meticulous in his preparations. Always assuming the worst, he had an uncanny knack for finding a way to save his own skin. That talent had gone unused since he was cast into the underground city. Now, he used it for the boy he had taught.

Offen shrugged at Najin, who was staring at him with wavering eyes.

“What are you looking at me like that for? What, are you touched?”

“... What about you and Ivan?”

“Running won’t do us any good.”

Offen grinned.

“Everyone cast down into this city has been branded by the Order of Star Radiance. The moment we step somewhere starlight reaches, pursuers will be on us. But you’re different.”

Najin had not been cast into the city for committing a crime. He had not been judged at the Order of Star Radiance’s tribunal. He had merely been born here, and bore no brand.

“So you can escape.”

“... Why are you doing all this for me?”

“Who knows?”

Offen smiled bitterly.

“Truth is, unlike Ivan, I’m not all that attached to life. I was the captain of a successful mercenary company up above, you know.”

It was a story he had never told before.

“I’ve been treated well, done everything there was to do, and seen everything worth seeing—and plenty that wasn’t. I’ve enjoyed just about everything life has to offer. But there’s one thing I never managed.”

Offen spoke of his life above ground.

“A star.”

He looked at Najin.

“Having a star of my own. The first step toward becoming a Constellation in that night sky. Accomplishing a feat the heavens would recognize, and inscribing a star up there. That’s the one thing I never did. Though, to be precise, trying to do it is what got me cast down here.”

He grinned as he murmured those last words.

“I failed.”

Offen raised a hand.

“But you’re different.”

You.

“You have talent. You’re not meant to rot here. Letting you waste away in a place like this without even getting a chance to try would be too much of a shame.”

You have talent, Najin. You have a light that must not be left to rot in a city like this.

Perhaps, that day, Offen had glimpsed in the boy the dream he himself had abandoned.

“That star that lit up the underground city last night. That was your doing, wasn’t it? The gang’s been saying you drew the holy sword. Is the rumor true?”

Najin nodded silently. Then, focusing on his wrist, he grasped empty air. Even though he did so as lightly as possible, the blossoming starlight softly illuminated the alley.

Despite having heard the rumors, Offen’s eyes widened the moment he saw the Sword of Stars.

With a dazed gaze, he unconsciously reached toward the star Najin held in his hand. But the instant his hand touched it, the starlight scattered, as though telling him he was unworthy.

“... Honestly.”

A star he could reach for but never grasp. Gazing at that star, shining all the more brilliantly for it, Offen burst into laughter for the first time in ages—like the young man he had been when he still dreamed.

“You really are something else.”

Concealing his bitterness, Offen reached to his waist.

“That thing shines too much to be much use while you’re on the run. So...”

A sword hung there. Before Offen came here, old Hogel had unexpectedly shown up in the city center and handed it to him.

[“Give this to that brat.”]

[“Tell him to take care of it. If he breaks this one, I’m not repairing it.”]

The sword old Hogel had forged for the boy.

Offen handed it to Najin.

“Old Hogel said he’d kill you if you broke it.”

At that, Najin could not help laughing.

“Get going.”

He had handed over everything he needed to, and said everything he needed to say. Offen slowly stood, turned his back on the boy, and walked away. After only a few steps, a voice came from behind him.

“Offen.”

Offen looked back. Najin was slowly lowering his head in a bow.

“Thank you, Master.”

So he calls me his master at the very end. Looking at the boy with his head bowed deeply, Offen gave a quiet chuckle.

3.

“I’ll get straight to the point.”

Berlo, knight of the Order of Star Radiance, looked at Ivan, who knelt surrounded by the order’s hounds.

“Cooperate with the search, Ivan,” he said in a low voice.

“Find the boy who drew the holy sword and kill him. If you fail to bring me his corpse, I’ll kill you. But...”

His junior had once belonged to the same knight order as him, long ago. Looking at that junior, who had lost his honor and could no longer be called a knight of Atanga, Berlo smiled.

“If you bring it to me, I’ll restore the honor you lost.”

He pointed at Ivan’s empty eye socket as he spoke.

“I mean I’ll write a letter of recommendation in the name of the Order of Star Radiance so you can be reinstated as a knight of Atanga.”

Unlike High Priest Orlan, Berlo knew how to compromise with reality, and how to handle people. Humans were no different from beasts. With a carrot and a stick, even the wisest sage could be made to obey like an animal.

“Choose, Ivan.”

Berlo offered Ivan a bargain—and a threat.