A devil made of knights’ corpses.

Orgis, the Knight Devil.

As Najin listened to the account of the devil, he thought that, no matter how he looked at it, this hardly seemed like a commission one or two “ordinary” Sword Seekers could handle.

A devil, a Masterpiece, dark mages, a monster that had grown by swallowing dozens of knights. Even a list of the key details sounded ominous. Did they have enough people for this hunt? Najin gave Argo a doubtful look.

-I don’t think you’re in any position to talk, considering you charge straight at transcendent beings with nothing but a sword...

Merlin gave Najin an equally doubtful look, but he ignored it.

“This is only my personal opinion, but...”

“Hmm? What is it? Go ahead.”

“This devil, Orgis, doesn’t sound like something one or two Sword Seekers could take on... Are we the only two participating in the hunt?”

“Ah, that.”

Argo scratched the back of his neck sheepishly.

“There are a few people on-site, but you and I will be the only ones actually fighting. Are you worried?”

“I’m fine with it, but aren’t you a member of the Atanga Knight Order, Sir Argo? And a fairly high-ranking one at that.”

“I see what you’re asking. Well, I could have obtained support if I’d wanted to. If you hadn’t accepted my proposal, that’s what I would have done.”

“But,” he added, “that would be something worthy of criticism—not just as a member of Atanga, but as someone who belongs to any organization.”

“Pardon? Why is that?”

“Knight orders, mercenary companies, guild associations... Any organization that grows beyond a certain size has an unwritten rule: it’s best to abandon the pursuit of a target who has fled to the Outer Lands.”

“The reason isn’t particularly complicated.”

As he spoke, Argo spread his arms wide.

“The Outer Lands are vast. Far too vast. The terrain is treacherous, and there are no proper maps. No bases, either. And the place is crawling with the Lost, monsters from the age of myth, transcendent beings, and devils. It’s a veritable hell.”

Having experienced the Outer Lands himself, Najin nodded emphatically.

“To operate in a place like that, you need at least a star or two. How many people like that are there? They’re talented enough to hold key positions in their organizations. What happens if people of that caliber head into the Outer Lands just to hunt something down and kill it?”

“It would seriously destabilize the organization itself.”

“Exactly. The burden is too great. That’s why we don’t extend operations into the Outer Lands unless it’s something truly important.”

It made perfect sense when he thought about it.

The Outer Lands were vast and treacherous. There were far too many risks and variables to contend with, and the chances of success were low to begin with. It was understandable that people regarded operations there with skepticism.

“So even if traces of it have been found in the Outer Lands, launching a hunt immediately... Frankly, it isn’t a sound decision. Nor is it a decision I should be making as someone who holds a key position in the order.”

“I see.”

“That’s how it is. Of course, if I raised my voice about avenging our old comrades and granting them rest, plenty of people would follow me... But that wouldn’t sit right, would it?”

It was the wrong decision for a knight belonging to a knight order.

“But,” Argo said with a bitter smile, “how could I just sit still? The devil that gobbled up my seniors and fellow knights is roaming around as though nothing happened. I can’t stomach that.”

“That’s understandable, too.”

“Ah, I almost forgot the most important part.”

Argo snapped his fingers.

“As I said, I’d struggle on my own, but with you here, it’s a different story. We have a chance.”

With that, Argo began explaining the plan. Najin listened closely, then nodded emphatically in understanding.

“That would certainly give us a chance. How did you come up with this approach?”

“I’d like to tell you I’m rather clever, but taking credit for someone else’s work wouldn’t be knightly.”

Argo shrugged.

“A fellow knight of my cohort came up with it during the pursuit back then. Neither of us was skilled enough to carry it out at the time, but things are different now, aren’t they?”

2.

Many different eras coexisted in the Outer Lands.

This was because the heroes who had lived in those eras remained alive “in one way or another,” and because Constellations’ stellar domains stood throughout the region.

-A stellar domain sounds grand, but it’s just your mental image brought into reality. You know the holy domains the religious orders have on the continent? It’s similar to those.

Merlin said there was little difference between a Constellation’s stellar domain and a religious order’s holy domain. A domain, she explained, was one’s mental image—a kind of stage upon which one could be certain of oneself.

-If you made a stellar domain, it would be the underground city.

‘Do all Constellations have stellar domains?’

-Some don’t make one. Usually, it’s the Constellations who settle somewhere that create them.

A stellar domain was a mental image brought into reality.

And a person’s mental image was inevitably influenced by the era in which they had lived. Just as Najin’s mental image was the underground city, many Constellations had taken specific landscapes—cities, towers, or royal palaces—as their mental images.

The stellar domains that brought those mental images into reality did not vanish when their owners died or fell. Even if they lost their value as stellar domains, the landscapes remained. Abandoned cities and buildings were examples of this.

A stellar domain that had lost its master.

That was the sort of place Najin and Argo were heading toward. Their carriage stopped at the Boundary of the Outer Lands, and they continued on foot. Along the way, they encountered the Lost and monsters of the Outer Lands, but...

“Oh dear, they’ve spotted us. You take that side. I’ll handle this...?”

Before Argo could finish, Najin had dealt with them all. He rushed in and pierced the hearts of the Lost. Those who protected their hearts had their legs cut out from under them, after which he smashed their hearts with downward strikes, as though wielding a pickaxe.

SHLAAASH!

Much the same thing happened whenever a monster appeared. Najin’s elongated sword aura swept across its legs, severing its tendons and sending it crashing to the ground. Then he climbed onto its back and swung his sword a few times, making blood spurt like a fountain.

“Good heavens.”

Argo was impressed at first, but after seeing this happen over and over, he looked at Najin in disbelief.

“What on earth did you spend those four months doing?”

“Didn’t I tell you in the carriage? I spent them traveling quite extensively through the Outer Lands.”

These were the details that had been omitted when he condensed his account.

Seeing the fighting methods and little tricks Najin had learned in the Outer Lands, Argo could only laugh incredulously. His movements were extraordinarily efficient and swift. It wasn’t simply that his technique or strength was exceptional; the time it took him to recognize a situation and make a decision was absurdly short.

Perception, reaction, response.

All three took place in less than a second. The instant Argo sensed something targeting them, Najin would already have rushed out, cut its throat, and returned. Argo never even got a proper chance to swing his sword before they reached their destination.

“Honestly. At this rate, I feel as though I’m being escorted.”

“I’ll see you safely to your destination.”

Argo burst out laughing at Najin’s joke. After a long walk, they finally arrived. Their destination was an abandoned stellar domain belonging to a Constellation who had fallen roughly three hundred years ago. It resembled a city that had once actually existed.

The free city of Pavane.

A free city that had stood near a harbor centuries ago. It had since vanished after being annexed by the Allied Nations, but Pavane still existed in the distant Outer Lands. There was no vast harbor or blue sea here, of course, but the bell tower that had symbolized Pavane remained intact.

DONG, DONG, DOOONG...

Najin and Argo entered the city as the bells rang through it. At the entrance stood several of the people Argo had mentioned were waiting on-site.

“A pleasure to meet you. I’m Schmitz, the one who sent the letter.”

Schmitz was a priest of the Order of the Starbody and a man known as a pilgrim. He led the priests who followed him on pilgrimages through the Outer Lands. He was also their guardian, sharing his starlight with the faithful who traveled alongside him to protect them.

Indeed, apart from Schmitz, the faithful gathered at Pavane’s entrance were ordinary people who had not even reached the level of Sword Expert, much less Sword Seeker. They sat clustered beside him, chatting quietly.

“Good to meet you, Father Schmitz. I read the message you sent through the Order of the Starbody. You say the Knight Devil is here?”

“Yes. It’s beyond the line I’ve drawn over there.”

“Could you explain exactly what happened?”

“Of course.”

Schmitz explained that the free city of Pavane was a holy site, being a stellar domain left behind by a Constellation who had belonged to the Order of the Starbody. He and his party had entered the city on pilgrimage as usual, only to find a devil waiting for them.

“That devil took the lives of two priests. It happened before I could do anything. When I observed it from a distance... what should I find but that it resembled the Knight Devil I’d heard rumors about?”

“I see. So it’s beyond that line?”

Schmitz nodded.

His abilities focused on protection and barriers. The devil could not cross the line he had drawn, though all he had managed to secure was a tiny area at the city’s entrance.

“May the stars’ blessing be with you.”

Schmitz briefly made the sign of the cross.

Argo tapped the translucent barrier. They could not pass through it unless it was dispelled.

“Would you lower the barrier for a moment?”

“Of course. Step back, children.”

Schmitz dispelled the barrier. As the assembled faithful stepped back, Najin and Argo drew their swords.

A glint.

The instant the barrier vanished in a cluster of light, something flashed deep within the city. It was a tiny, fleeting glimmer, but Najin did not miss it.

FWHEEEESH!

A single arrow. It was aimed not at Najin, but at Schmitz and the faithful behind him. Though it was moving quite fast, it looked slow to Najin. There was no need to swing his sword.

He reached out and caught it firmly. Breaking the arrowhead with his thumb, he tossed it to the ground and looked ahead. A rain of arrows was falling.

“Here it comes.”

While Schmitz erected another barrier, Argo and Najin took a step forward. As they deflected the shower of arrows, something changed in the city.

DONG, DONG, DOOONG...

The gently ringing bells...

...

Abruptly fell silent. A moment of stillness followed. Then the bells that had been ringing so gently began pealing madly.

SCREEEECH!

A noise like scraping metal rang out, and the entire city stirred.

Then came a crack.

The city began to “fold.”

3.

Weapons imbued with Mystery: Masterpieces.

The blacksmith who had forged them gave each a name, allowing its abilities to be inferred, however vaguely, from that name.

For example, one could infer the ability of Masterpiece No. 34, Flameshadow, from the fact that heat haze produced by fire was a metaphor for fire’s shadow. In fact, it was a Masterpiece that used heat haze to disrupt vision.

The same was true of Masterpiece No. 21, Echo.

An echo was a sound that struck something and resounded back. By focusing on that quality of resounding—of “sounding again”—one could understand Echo’s ability as well. It made not only sound, but impacts and even mana reverberate back.

What, then, of Masterpiece No. 4, Bookmark?

What was its ability?

A bookmark was ordinarily placed between pages to mark how far one had read. In other words, to use a bookmark, one had to place it between something, one way or another.

Masterpieces, and Mystery itself, were extensions of concepts.

There was no need to close it between actual pages. As long as its user thought of something as “pages,” it did not matter what closed over it.

“Honestly,” Najin murmured as he looked at the scene before him, “devils really do think differently.”

Orgis, the Knight Devil.

True to a devil whose way of thinking was utterly unlike a human’s, it seemed to regard the entire city as a single book. Watching the buildings and bricks surge toward him like a wave, Najin thought that, considering Bookmark’s ability, the battle would become somewhat troublesome the moment it “closed” over them.

First, he needed to open a path.

And Najin knew a technique perfectly suited to doing just that. He tossed his sword into the air and, at the same time, drew the cross-star spear from his back.

A technique that opened a path by smashing whatever stood in the way.

Battering Ram.

A tempest raged.