Gerd, Sword Master of the Empire.

The old man who had served the Empire loyally for nearly two hundred years was more knight than bureaucrat, and more soldier than knight. He put rules first, exercising perfect restraint over his emotions and actions.

No one had ever seen Gerd shaken. Not even when his own relatives, including his daughter and son, joined the rebels. Not even when he executed them with his own hands.

He had merely swung his sword, expressionless.

That was the kind of man Gerd was.

Where the Lighthouse Keeper of the Order of Star Radiance was unmoving, Gerd was unyielding. Never wavering, never shaken, he had held his place for countless years. It had always been so, and he had believed it always would be.

But he could not remain so even now. A sight capable of shaking his entire life had unfolded before his eyes.

Gerd's eyes wavered. His lips opened and closed repeatedly. The Empire's foremost warrior, its unshakable pillar, was shaken. The old man gazing at the single sword mark carved into the ground raised his eyes to Najin.

"This... this..."

Only fragments escaped him, never forming a proper sentence. The Empire's foremost warrior, who always spoke with unwavering confidence, was nowhere to be found. Only an aged swordsman stood there, witnessing a sight he had yearned for through long years.

"How do you... know this?"

It took little time for the anger and suspicion Gerd had felt when Najin spoke Alderan's name to turn to astonishment. No elaborate proof was needed, nor any lengthy explanation.

Gerd and Najin were both swordsmen.

A swordsman proved himself with his sword.

By demonstrating the Triumphant Sword, Najin had proven his right to speak of the First Pillar. Only then did he speak.

"In the Outer Lands, I served a knight who wore a helmet. He told me he was Alderan Basaglia, the previous foremost warrior of the Empire..."

Najin unfastened the spear he carried on his back and drove it into the ground. The banner of the Order of the Golden Horn was tied to its shaft.

"He also told me he was the commander of the Order of the Golden Horn. I am his squire and his disciple. He taught me the Triumphant Sword."

This spear, this banner, and the Triumphant Sword he had demonstrated were the proof. The expression Gerd wore at that moment defied description.

Only after an instant—brief to Najin, but like half a day to a Sword Master—did Gerd finally manage to speak.

"He... was alive? And you are saying he passed his swordsmanship on to you?"

"Yes."

"That is impossible to believe. His stars fell long ago. Moreover, every memory and record of him was erased. No Constellation can preserve itself under such conditions. Even if he were alive, he would have been one of the Lost."

Gerd tried to judge the matter rationally.

Viewed rationally, what he had just said was correct. No human, no Constellation, could survive under those conditions. That was the conclusion he had reached long ago.

Yet the evidence against it stood before his eyes.

A boy who possessed complete, undistorted knowledge of Alderan Basaglia. That boy was living proof that Gerd's conclusion was wrong.

"But if that were true, it would make no sense for you to retain memories of him or wield the Triumphant Sword. Just..."

Just how?

Najin gave a brief answer to Gerd's question.

"He was not one of the Lost."

Najin smiled bitterly.

"He remained a knight to the very end."

He would tell him.

He would tell him how Alderan had met his end.

2.

Seated on a rock, Najin struck a spark and kindled a small campfire in the meadow. Across the fire, he told Gerd his story.

How he had met the Helmeted Knight.

What conversations they had shared.

What he had learned from him, and what he had experienced.

As the story continued, Gerd's gaze grew calmer. That did not mean he was no longer moved. At Najin's story, he sometimes laughed, sometimes marveled, and sometimes fell silent.

"He..."

"Yes?"

"He was surprised to hear that I had earned seven stars? He said, 'So that whelp has come that far'?"

"Yes, he did. He was delighted."

He had seemed proud, too.

At those words, Gerd silently raised a hand to cover his face. Drawing it down over his face, he murmured, "So he was."

Until now, Gerd had believed Alderan dead.

He had despaired, believing that his master and mentor had met his death after departing for the Outer Lands, and that there had been neither honor nor pride in that death.

'No one remembered him.'

No one remembered him.

He had been a great hero of the Empire, yet some had even dared speculate that he was a traitor. The world knew Gerd as the hero of the Dawn War, but Gerd knew that was wrong.

The hero of the Dawn War was Alderan Basaglia.

He himself had merely dealt with the remnants.

For a hundred and fifty years, Gerd had lived consumed by guilt over stealing his master's achievements and by the promise his master had left him. He had spent those long years with the memory of an imperial hero no one else remembered engraved in his heart.

His master's stars could no longer be found in the sky, nor could any record of him be found anywhere.

He had commanded a knightly order, but Gerd could not remember which one. All he remembered was that Alderan Basaglia had been a hero, and that he had wielded the Triumphant Sword.

That was why Gerd had devoted his life to the Triumphant Sword. He believed that beautiful swordsmanship must never be forgotten.

「I'll show you just once, whelp.」

「Watch closely.」

「This is the ultimate technique of the Triumphant Sword.」

To imitate the ultimate technique he had seen in his youth, to reproduce it even if only in his own way, Gerd had willingly given his life to the pursuit. He had lived that way for a hundred and fifty years.

"One thing."

Now, a hundred and fifty years later, a boy sat before him.

"I have one favor to ask."

Gerd made a request of that boy.

"Will you watch me wield my sword? And I want you to speak without reservation. Tell me whether my swordsmanship is correct. Whether it resembles his."

A Sword Master was asking a Sword Seeker for instruction. Yet Gerd felt no shame in that. Rather, he welcomed the situation. At last, he could compare his work against the correct answer.

Gerd swung his sword.

After performing the strokes in sequence, he unleashed the ultimate technique of the Triumphant Sword. His blade swept over the single sword mark Najin had carved into the ground.

First Horn: Triumphant Return.

The meadow split with a great cracking sound. Having swung his sword, Gerd looked at Najin, his gaze demanding an answer. But Najin only smiled silently in response. The meaning of that smile was simple.

'You already know without having to ask me, don't you?'

Gerd looked at the sword mark he had left. The single stroke he had carved into the meadow matched Najin's exactly, without the slightest deviation.

"Ah..."

Only then did the old man, who had devoted a hundred and fifty years to reproducing an ultimate technique he had seen once in his youth, understand. His hundred and fifty years had not been meaningless. After all that time, he could finally compare his solution against the answer. Realizing that he had not been wrong, the old man smiled.

「Well, whelp?」

「Isn't it magnificent?」

Remembering his master smiling at him, Gerd laughed. He laughed aloud. He could not even remember the last time he had laughed so freely.

'Only after a hundred and fifty years do you give me my answer.'

Realizing that his swordsmanship was not wrong, he realized that he had accomplished a great feat long ago. Understanding led to certainty, and certainty to confidence.

"... Ah."

Najin looked up at the sky without thinking.

Beside the seven stars hanging above the tower of the Empire's foremost warrior, a new star was rising.

The eighth star.

Gerd's newly earned star shone in the heavens.

3.

"I owe you a great debt. Truly, a debt so great I could never repay it."

"Wasn't it an understanding you reached yourself?"

Gerd shook his head.

"You have my gratitude. For giving me that understanding, for granting him an honorable duel, for ensuring that the Triumphant Sword was passed on rather than forgotten. I thank you for all you have accomplished."

He offered Najin a sword salute.

The First Pillar of the Empire, who did not bow his head even before the emperor, willingly bowed to Najin in respect.

"Though... he could not find rest, I dare to believe that he was satisfied with his end."

Having paid his respects, Gerd ground his teeth.

"Then what remains is for his disciples to do."

Gerd had heard from Najin who was responsible for reducing his master to that state, and who had denied him his rest.

"Until now, I had suspected that the one who made him forgotten was a Constellation wielding the authorities of Oblivion and erasure. I spent many years investigating that Constellation, but I could not find it. It was a star that erased even the records of itself."

A Constellation wielding the authorities of Oblivion and erasure.

The only surviving records of that Constellation concerned Londinel. Neither its constellation, its stellar domain, nor even the appearance of its true form could be determined.

"I had anger, and the will to wield my sword in that anger, but I did not know where to direct it."

It was difficult to vent anger against something unknown. With nowhere to find release, Gerd's anger had pooled deep within him for countless years.

"But no longer."

The pent-up flames spilled over.

The old man's eyes were no longer dry and lifeless. Roiling fire filled them.

"The Emperor of Revelry."

Gerd spat out the name as though grinding it between his teeth.

The flames seething in his eyes burned fiercely enough to consume him and drive his body into motion at any moment, yet Gerd did not let anger swallow him.

Having stood at the pinnacle of the Empire for so long, Gerd was skilled in politics. He was seasoned, cunning, and meticulous. He knew that revenge required not blazing anger, but cold reason.

"You came to me to ask for help in slaying the Emperor of Revelry. Is my guess correct?"

"Yes, it is."

"And depending on my response, you intended to exercise your right."

"I did, but it seems that won't be necessary."

"Of course not. This is a duty I must fulfill myself, even without anyone compelling me. I swear it upon my name and my position as the Empire's foremost warrior."

The Empire's foremost warrior spoke.

"From this day forth, you are under the Empire's protection. And by the Empire, I mean its foremost warrior—myself."

The Empire's foremost warrior was the Empire itself.

To equate himself with the Empire might seem an arrogant declaration, yet no one could call Gerd arrogant. The power and weight possessed by this single man truly rivaled those of the entire Empire.

"So long as your blade points toward the Emperor of Revelry, I will spare no support. Even if you choose a course that harms the Empire, I will cooperate with you if it is for the sake of killing her."

Gerd, who had devoted everything to the Empire, had promised to cooperate even if Najin chose to act against it. Najin was not foolish enough to miss the weight of that declaration.

"It does not matter what you conceal or what you possess. The First Pillar of the Empire does not forget a kindness. He does not forget a promise. Remember this: the doors of my tower are always open to you."

That was enough on the subject.

Saying so, Gerd let out a short breath.

"Now we must discuss how to kill the Emperor of Revelry. Gathering information will be our first priority."

"I've given that some thought as well, but finding material has proven difficult. Not only have the relevant records been erased, they've also been distorted..."

"You need not worry about that."

"Pardon?"

"You stand before the Empire's foremost warrior."

The Empire's foremost warrior spoke.

"At a gesture of my hand, at a single word from me, the entire Empire moves. You say she erases records? Conceals and distorts them? Let her."

He snorted.

"Starting today, the Empire's seven mage towers, its pillars, and every scholar and mage in the Empire will dig into everything connected to the Emperor of Revelry. I will make it so."

The Emperor of Revelry had remained out of sight, hiding behind a black curtain and subtly manipulating information. But Gerd declared that now, starting this very day, he would drag her from behind that curtain and set her upon the stage.

"Our master will surely be pleased when I cut off her head and display it on the First Pillar's tower. I look forward to that day immensely."