A tower that observed the stars and recorded the constellations.

The scholars of the Gray Tower were famous for being laid-back and lazy.

They followed a routine of waking late in the evening, yawning as they observed a few constellations, then going to bed early in the morning. Not only did this throw their sleep schedules out of alignment, but the lack of any major changes in their work made their lives exceedingly quiet, even dull.

That was simply the nature of stars and constellations. Nothing much changed in a day or two; it took at least a year of observation to see any changes. In other words, forgetting to observe them for a day or two hardly affected their work, and there was not much work to begin with.

“A bunch of money pits.”

“Couldn't we slash their budget without any problems?”

“If you'd like a taste of Meteor from Nayuta, master of the Gray Tower, you're welcome to try.”

“Work less, earn more.”

“I want a job at the Gray Tower, too.”

“How to coast through life.”

Thus, the Gray Tower was not particularly well regarded within the Empire. A place where lazy geniuses found employment. The perfect workplace for doing little and earning a fortune. Such opinions had dominated its reputation...

Until about two years ago, when all that changed.

Someone had drawn Excalibur. Arthur's and Merlin's constellations had convulsed in the night sky, causing the celestial bodies to realign, and amid that chaos, even the baleful star had moved.

Major events that should have occurred centuries apart came one after another in rapid succession, leaving the Gray Tower's scholars screaming. On top of that, the youngest-ever bearer of two stars was born, obtaining both stars simultaneously. Their workload did not merely pile up—it overflowed.

The scholars who had applied to the Gray Tower to coast through life and earn easy money spent their days frantically busy. Just as they finally finished recording the realigned celestial bodies...

“Huh?”

A gift arrived for them.

It was a gift from Najin in the Outer Lands.

“Uhhhh...”

“Th-that, th-th-that star—why is it falling?”

“Huh?”

“Um, sir? Four stars are suddenly falling.”

“They're worn-down stars, but... they've still held their positions for over a hundred and fifty years. Why so suddenly?”

One month after Najin departed for the Outer Lands, four stars fell.

They belonged to Schlein of the Order of the Starfire Guardians.

“Uh, uhhhhhh!”

“Here! Here!”

“A star's falling here!”

“No, it's rising.”

“What is that star? I've never seen it... There's no record...”

In the second month, six stars that had fallen long ago suddenly rose, shone brilliantly one last time, then scattered as though exploding.

“Oh.”

“...”

“Good heavens.”

A single star rose among them.

It was the third star Najin had placed in the sky.

The moment they confirmed that the star belonged to Najin, the Gray Tower's scholars clutched their heads. When they realized his star was connected to the earlier stars' fall, they screamed, still clutching their heads.

The fall and birth of stars wreaked havoc on the celestial bodies. Their governing laws had to be recalculated, their positions measured anew. In other words, the sky they had spent the past year painstakingly observing had to be observed “all over again, from the beginning.”

They screamed not so much over the birth of the youngest-ever bearer of three stars as over the fact that an entire year of their lives had gone to waste. As the Gray Tower earned praise for providing value for its budget almost for the first time since the Empire's founding... they once again began sacrificing sleep to work.

Then came the fourth month after Najin's departure.

“Ha ha ha!”

A scholar of the Gray Tower burst out laughing as he looked up at the sky. It was such hearty laughter that, had the Emperor of Revelry been beside him, she might have applauded without thinking.

The other scholars, who had been looking at him as if to ask, “What's wrong with him?” peered into their telescopes one by one. Before long, they too began laughing.

Eight stars falling. The appearance of the ten-star Emperor of Revelry. Intervention by the eight-star patron deity of the Order of Starblood. The resulting Descent of dozens of Constellations. Constellations thrown into disarray, falling stars, the Battlefield of Stars, and a rising star.

Observing the utter chaos in the heavens, the scholars let out hollow laughs and muttered, “Fuck.”

Then, a glimmer.

On a battlefield where countless stars were falling, Najin obtained his fourth star. Beside it, a fifth was already shining, seemingly on the verge of completion.

“...”

The first to receive the records published by the Gray Tower were the imperial family and the chroniclers who recorded history.

The emperor burst out laughing.

The chroniclers quietly pinched the space between their brows. They no longer had the strength to scream, nor any hair left to clutch.

Four months after Najin departed for the Outer Lands, the Empire was facing yet another upheaval—no one could say how many that made.

* * *

Najin spread open the newspaper he had been handed.

「Najin: Who Exactly Is He?」

「Nineteen-Year-Old Sword Seeker Obtains One Star Two Months After Entering the Outer Lands, Then Another Just Two Months Later.」

「Records for Youngest Bearer of One, Two, Three, and Four Stars Shattered by Wide Margins.」

「Age Is Just a Number.」

「Gray Tower Scholar Declares, ‘This Is Inhumane. Working Conditions Must Improve.’」

「Imperial Chronicler Durek Causes Stir with Drunken Outburst: ‘What the Fuck Is That Bastard Doing, Going Around Dueling Sword Masters? Does He Have Ten Lives?’」

「Gray Tower Calls Events Entirely Unprecedented.」

「Mass Descent of Constellations Observed; Connection to Dawnstar Also Confirmed...」

Confronted with row after row of sensational headlines, Najin read the newspaper with a somewhat overwhelmed look. Why all the fuss? Every article was packed with extravagant words like historic, unbelievable, astonishing, and wondrous.

'Do they really have to go this far...?'

As the subject of those articles, he found their wording rather uncomfortable. Watching him from beside the bed, Merlin gave him an incredulous sideways look.

“Do you know how long you spent in the Outer Lands?”

'About four months, right?'

“And what did you do in those four months?”

'I obtained two stars.'

“Right. Then how do you think that looks to the people on the continent?”

Najin gave it some serious thought.

Even his two stars had thrown the Empire into an uproar. It was common knowledge that the more stars one had, the harder it became to obtain another. In his case, however, he was picking up speed instead.

Two stars in just four months.

With a thoughtful hum, he nodded.

'I can see why they're surprised.'

“It goes well beyond surprise.”

As Najin continued reading the newspaper, Yuel spoke in her usual impassive manner.

“Your current standing within the Empire is equal to mine, if not higher.”

“Pardon?”

“Wherever I go, the citizens scream and cheer, do they not? You will likely receive a similar reception. Your face is not as widely known as mine, but quite a few people will recognize you.”

Citizens did scream wherever she went, but that seemed rather far removed from cheering. For now, Najin slowly nodded.

“If you enjoy a commotion, I will not stop you, but I suggest exercising caution when you go outside.”

“Thank you for the advice.”

“Yes. Rest comfortably, then. I still have some matters to attend to.”

Yuel rose from her seat.

She turned to leave the room, but abruptly stopped and looked back at Najin.

“I have given it some thought.”

She stroked her chin with her remaining hand.

“As I have no subjective opinions, I view the world very objectively. Based on that objective perspective, I appear to have saved your life. It would be entirely reasonable to call me your ‘lifesaver.’”

Najin slowly nodded.

She was not wrong.

Yuel had not saved him single-handedly, but it was true that he had escaped that situation thanks to her.

“To save you, I sacrificed a great deal of starlight and even one of my arms. Oh dear, my arm hurts. It aches. This is terribly inconvenient.”

She looked neither pained nor inconvenienced in the slightest. Without making even an effort to act, Yuel spoke in a dry monotone, as though reading from a school textbook.

She cast him a quick glance.

Najin thought he knew what she was getting at and reluctantly spoke.

“Thank you. I will be sure to repay this debt.”

“I recommend repayment in a tangible manner, rather than a spiritual or ideological one. A duel or a sparring match, for instance.”

“... I'll consider it.”

“Yes. I will be waiting.”

2.

About a week later, Najin was able to get out of bed. He had not fully healed, but he had recovered enough to move. Once on his feet, he went to the storeroom where his belongings were being kept.

The belongings retrieved by the Order of Starblood's combat priests lay there.

His longsword, the cross-star spear, and the military banner he had been clutching when he collapsed. For a while, Najin stood there gazing at the banner emblazoned with the emblem of the Order of the Golden Horn.

[“I am Najin. Pupil of Alderan Basaglia, the Empire's foremost warrior... and an apprentice knight of the Order of the Golden Horn.”]

That was what he had said before Alderan.

Now that Alderan Basaglia had become a jester, Najin was the sole remaining member of the Order of the Golden Horn. He remained silent as he gazed at the military banner Alderan had bound most securely to the place closest to his heart.

An expressionless face. Silence. Stillness.

Outwardly, Najin appeared untroubled, but Merlin, who shared his inner world, could feel it seething. His anger was quiet. Its fierce flames and murderous intent were directed at the Emperor of Revelry.

Without fail. Without fail, he would kill her.

He had another goal to accomplish. Dwelling on it, Najin exhaled at length. He did not let his anger consume him. He suppressed his emotions, awaiting the day he would unleash that rage.

'Come to think of it, Merlin.'

A question suddenly occurred to him.

'Why do I still remember Alderan Basaglia, my master? All information related to him seems to be distorted.'

Even Yuel Razian, a transcendent being, had been unable to escape that distortion. So why was he unaffected? Had Merlin intervened as she had in the Outer Lands? That was what Najin thought, but Merlin shook her head.

“I intervened back then, but I haven't done anything since we returned to the continent. You're simply remembering him yourself.”

'How, then?'

“I don't know exactly how it works... but my guess is that it's related to the stars you obtained.”

The stars of Breakthrough and Indomitable.

Those two stars were deeply connected to Krünbel, Alderan Basaglia, and the Order of the Golden Horn. Pointing to them, Merlin said,

“A star is yours alone, something no one else can interfere with. And your stars are also you. Their stories are contained in your stars, so that must be why they aren't forgotten.”

Krünbel, Alderan Basaglia, the Order of the Golden Horn, the Empire's foremost warrior, Battering Ram, the Triumphant Sword, and more.

Their traits and stories were woven into Najin's stars. They belonged to him alone, beyond anything's interference. Najin firmly clasped the star hovering over his palm together with the Order of the Golden Horn's military banner.

Commander of the Order of the Golden Horn.

The Empire's foremost warrior, Alderan Basaglia.

Recalling the time he had spent with the Helmeted Knight, Najin swore that, no matter what happened, he would kill the Emperor of Revelry and restore his master's honor.

“...”

Najin gathered his belongings and rose.

There was someone he had to meet.

Someone who remembered Alderan Basaglia. There was exactly one such person on this continent, too.

'Gerd, the Empire's foremost warrior.'

He needed to meet that old Sword Master.

3.

Najin did not immediately head back to the Outer Lands.

He needed time to recover fully, and there was someone he had to meet on the continent.

With his robe's hood pulled low, he walked through the city, looking for a carriage bound for the imperial capital.

'This feels a little excessive...'

Hadn't he been warned to be careful because someone might recognize him? Truthfully, it still had not quite sunk in, but Merlin had recommended keeping his face covered for now, so that was what he did.

While walking around the city, he suddenly looked down at his hand. He was fingering the ring he had drawn out from beneath his clothes, where it hung around his neck. It was a habit he had developed recently.

The artifact Dieta had given him before he left for the Outer Lands. Holding it gave him a pleasant warmth, so he often found himself touching it unconsciously. He was doing so now, and looking at the ring brought a brown-haired girl to mind.

Since he was back on the continent, it might be nice to visit her.

As Najin entertained that thought, blue hair swayed at the edge of his vision.

“Hmmm. Hmm...”

Merlin was staring at the ring in his hand with a thoroughly displeased expression. When he asked what was wrong, she merely muttered sulkily, “Nothing. It's nothing, but...”

This was far from the first time she had acted that way, so Najin thought little of it. As he continued searching for a carriage bound for the capital, a familiar emblem caught his eye.

The emblem of the Dieta Trading Company.

A building displayed that emblem. What was the Dieta Trading Company's emblem doing in a frontier city like this, so close to the Outer Lands? Tilting his head, Najin entered.

CLACK.

Najin opened the door and stepped inside. There were few employees for a building of its size, and even those few were too busy with their work to react to a customer coming in.

“Excuse me.”

He tapped an employee's desk with the back of his hand. Only then did the employee look up and reply listlessly.

“Pick up your orders at that counter. If you want to place an order, use counter three. Requests are handled in the building next door.”

He waved his hand dismissively, as though annoyed.

Najin suddenly remembered the insignia Dieta had given him, saying, [“If you ever need to come see me, just show this to an employee.”] He took it out from inside his robe.

An insignia engraved with a brilliant golden-yellow flower.

He set it down in front of the employee, who glanced indifferently at it...

“...!”

Then sprang to his feet with a clatter.

His gaze darted between the insignia and Najin. Once he caught sight of Najin's face beneath the hood, his eyes went wide.