A free knight.

A knight bound by nothing.

Najin had succeeded in earning the title of free knight, once reserved for the knights who had accompanied Arthur a thousand years ago. Now, wherever he went, he could straighten his shoulders and proudly introduce himself as a free knight—not an apprentice knight or someone else's squire.

'Who am I?'

Najin posed the question to himself as he tended his sword. Then he studied his reflection in the blade he had polished to a gleaming shine, grinned, and thought,

'The youngest free knight.'

It would have been mortifying to say that to someone else, but so what? Who could overhear something he muttered inside his head? Unless he had an inner Constellation sitting in his mental image, no one could possibly hear that monologue.

"Aaaaaaagh!"

Of course, Najin did have an inner Constellation.

Merlin, who dwelled within him, screamed and shook him by the collar. This was already the tenth time today she had watched him use his sword as a mirror and ask, 'Who am I?' She was dying of embarrassment.

"Stop! Just stop!"

'Who am I?'

"You're doing this on purpose. You are, aren't you?!"

'The youngest Sword Seeker, the youngest to earn one star, two stars, three stars, and four stars. And the youngest free...'

Merlin's face went scarlet with secondhand embarrassment. Truthfully, Najin had started repeating the monologue just to tease her about halfway through.

"What? It's true, isn't it?"

"..."

Merlin cursed him with her eyes. Najin shrugged and rose. Argo had long since returned to the continent, and Najin was now traveling through the Outer Lands alone.

He did have one companion who kept heaving sighs and fanning her face, but anyway.

"Who am I?"

"You, stop..."

As Merlin glared at him, Najin pointed to a stone monument before him.

"It's written right there, isn't it?"

There was a sentence inscribed on the stone, which appeared to be a gravestone.

Najin read it aloud.

"Who... am I?"

2.

Najin looked around.

The ruins were overgrown with vegetation. Trees grew wild all around, and foliage covered buildings that had collapsed or still bore scorch marks.

Even at a glance, the ruins looked as though they had been abandoned for at least several hundred years.

The Outer Lands were full of fallen kingdoms and cities, so discovering ruins like these was hardly unusual. He had often come across them while traveling with the Helmeted Knight.

"..."

Ruins were not common, but neither were they rare.

What had stopped Najin here was the stone monument standing at their center. It looked like a gravestone, and, as gravestones usually did, it bore a brief description of the deceased.

Viola Ordina, hero of the Kingdom of Kassel.

Who defended the nation against an evil dragon.

A knight who fought valiantly to the very end.

Three lines engraved in ornate lettering. But it was the sentence that followed them that caught Najin's eye.

'Who... am I?'

The lettering was neither neat nor ornate.

It was crudely written. There was no answer to the question. Only that single line asking, 'Who am I?' was inscribed there.

"It's a grave."

'I can see that.'

"Ah, I didn't explain enough. It's a star's grave."

Merlin spoke as she studied the gravestone. Najin tilted his head.

"A star's grave? This feels a little different from the place where I dueled the Star of the Horn."

"That was a grave for stars too, but this is a star's grave in a more literal sense."

Merlin pointed to the gravestone.

"I told you that sometimes a stellar domain remains even after its star dies, didn't I?"

'You did.'

"It isn't common, but sometimes the stellar domain itself becomes the star's grave. There are several reasons, though usually it's because the star wants it that way..."

She swept her finger downward, as though tracing a falling star.

"Instead of hanging their stars in the sky, they bury them in their own stellar domain. Then they dream forever, inside the domain they created—their own paradise."

"They dream?"

"Yes. They're essentially dead. It's a little better than being a fallen Constellation, but, hmm..."

Merlin trailed off and glanced at Najin.

"Curious?"

"A little."

"Then go inside."

"What?"

Najin blinked.

Go inside? How? He might be versatile, but entering someone else's dreams was beyond him. He looked at Merlin, wondering what she meant, but she merely pointed at the gravestone.

"It's just like entering someone else's stellar domain. That gravestone is the entrance. Try it if you want. It varies from grave to grave, but this one doesn't seem to bar visitors."

"It looks extremely dangerous."

"It probably is. Judging by the stars buried in that grave, there seem to be about six."

"Still," Merlin added,

"Your next destination is a star's grave too. Wouldn't hurt to get a little experience beforehand, would it?"

Najin considered it for a moment.

As he deliberated, his gaze settled on the blank space on the gravestone—the space beneath the question, 'Who am I?' For some reason, it particularly troubled him.

"What do you think, Merlin?"

"Me? I think trying it once wouldn't be a bad idea. Besides, the owner of this gravestone seems fairly mild-mannered."

When Najin asked how she knew that, Merlin explained as though it were nothing special.

"Truly dangerous stars don't leave things unattended like this. They drag you into their dreams the moment you set foot nearby, or bar entry altogether. Quite a few won't let you leave once you've entered, either."

So what did it mean that this one had been left unattended?

Merlin waved a finger as she spoke.

"It feels like they don't care who comes. It doesn't matter to them. The conditions for entering and leaving the dream are both ridiculously simple. All you have to do is put your hand on that gravestone."

A dream too loosely guarded to be a trap, one he could freely enter and leave.

"Why not give it a try...?"

Merlin gently urged him on.

Her behavior made Najin a little suspicious, but he trusted that she wouldn't do anything to harm him. In the end, he reached toward the stone.

As she had said, experiencing it once might not be a bad idea.

TAP.

The moment Najin's fingers touched the gravestone,

time began to run backward.

Time rewound through the overgrown forest. The branches of ancient trees that had reached high into the sky shrank. Thick trunks grew thin. The trees dwindled in height and width, reverted to tiny shoots, then vanished beneath the ground altogether.

CLATTER-CLATTER-CLATTER.

Tiles spread across the ground where the trees and undergrowth had disappeared. Pure white marble. Fallen pillars returned to their places, and collapsed buildings regained their original forms. Amid the swiftly rewinding time, Najin slowly closed his eyes and opened them again.

A blink.

When he opened his eyes—

"Did you see the fish that came into the market today?"

"Bloody huge, and bloody expensive. Eating a fish that expensive for a single meal? I couldn't dream of it."

"Fresh bread! Warm bread, straight from the oven! One copper coin apiece!"

"Hey, wasn't it two for a coin yesterday?"

"Flour prices have gone up. What can I do?"

"Hah! Apparently flour prices have doubled only at your shop!"

Najin stood in the middle of a street bustling with people.

3.

Najin blinked blankly.

What was this? People were walking all around him. They were ordinary people who looked as though they had never even swung a sword, let alone become Sword Seekers. The sight left him thoroughly bewildered.

Wasn't this the middle of the Outer Lands?

But that thought did not last long. Warm sunlight shone down on him. When he raised his head, he saw neither a pitch-black night sky nor stars. Above him were a blue sky and the sun.

'Merlin, what in the world...?'

He spoke inwardly, but no answer came. Najin frowned. He couldn't sense Merlin, who should have been inside him.

"... Merlin?"

"Yes? Why are you calling me?"

The voice came from nearby.

It was not the clear, pure voice that normally reached him directly, unobstructed by anything. Now Merlin's voice sounded naturally among the conversations of the people walking along the street.

Najin looked toward its source.

Merlin stood there. Slightly shorter than he was, she looked up at him and blinked.

"... Merlin?"

"I asked why you're calling me."

Merlin grinned mischievously.

Then she took his hand, as though proving she was no illusion. Najin's eyes widened at the warmth he felt.

"How? Merlin, don't tell me you used Descent..."

"You think I would? If I had, this whole dream would have shattered."

"Then how?"

"Stepping into a dream is essentially the same as entering a Constellation's inner world. Doesn't that sound familiar?"

It did. From very close to home, at that.

"It's similar to how I've taken up residence inside you, isn't it? That means I can walk around this dream with you. With an actual body, no less!"

She seemed oddly—no, openly—excited. After repeatedly drawing in deep breaths and letting them out, she lifted her feet and pressed them firmly against the ground for no particular reason.

"Moving my body for the first time in ages makes me feel alive again. So this is what walking on the ground felt like, huh? The air's nice and clean, too."

She took another long breath, then glanced at Najin. Her blue eyes shone especially brightly.

"Well? Feeling reassured? Doesn't feel dangerous at all now, does it?"

"So you had a reason for recommending it. You told me to try it because you figured nothing we did could be dangerous?"

"Well, not exactly. I'm bound to you, so I can only wield power on your level."

"Still," Merlin said with a shrug,

"A great archmage's knowledge doesn't just disappear, does it? You can rely on me for this journey."

Merlin thumped her chest with a confident expression, displaying not the slightest trace of a Constellation's dignity. Najin couldn't help bursting into laughter.

"What? Why are you laughing? Think I'm a pushover?"

"I didn't say that."

"I'm in a good mood, so I'll let it slide just this once. All right, shall we start by gathering information?"

An excited Merlin pulled Najin along by the arm.

As Merlin led him down the street, Najin suddenly looked toward the city's heights. He had felt someone watching him from there.

A grand temple built on a cliff.

A woman perched on its railing.

Long, flowing black hair. In stark contrast, a face so white it was pale. Eyes as black as her hair stared fixedly at Najin.

A gloomy-looking woman.

She watched him for a while, then turned her gaze away as though he were of no consequence. Najin instinctively knew.

That woman was the owner of this dream.

Having looked away from him, she slowly rose. Her black hair rippled with her movements. But her hair was not the only thing that stirred. The moment she moved, the grand temple's bell began to swing.

DONG, DONG, DONG...

The bells rang throughout the city. The citizens' eyes naturally turned toward the woman standing at the edge of the grand temple. Some offered prayers as they gazed at her, some bowed their heads, and others voiced their praise.

"Honor to the hero."

"Glory to Ordina."

An outpouring of praise. Respect. Salutes.

Yet the woman receiving it all wore an utterly desolate expression. Without sparing the citizens so much as a glance, she disappeared into the grand temple.

As though she couldn't stand the sight of any of it.

As though she was so sick of it all that she could bear it no longer.