The Sword Wraith of the Abyss could only be cut down with Excalibur.

Mulling over Merlin's words, Najin asked another question.

"Is he something like a demon? You said only Excalibur could put an end to a demon for good."

-That's not what I meant. The Sword Wraith of the Abyss has neither immortality nor the traits of a demon. The reason I said you needed Excalibur...

Merlin added,

-Is that he wields a holy sword himself.

"A holy sword..."

-Gram. A sword that can be either holy or demonic, depending on its wielder. Excalibur is the only weapon that can withstand a clash with his sword.

In short, he needed a weapon that could withstand it. But Najin couldn't quite understand. If an ordinary sword wouldn't work, weren't there plenty of other options—magic, arrows...? There was no reason he had to fight him with a sword.

-You can only say that because you don't know the man.

Reading Najin's thoughts, Merlin gave a bitter smile.

The Sword Wraith of the Abyss defied common sense. He had stood shoulder to shoulder with Arthur and, despite not being a knight of the Round Table, had accompanied him to the very end of his journey.

The final destination the first Sword Saint had reached at that journey's end.

Recalling it, Merlin heaved a long sigh. It wasn't a memory she wanted to revisit. After letting out that long breath, she lightened the mood. Returning to her usual tone, she changed the subject.

-You don't need to know about the Sword Wraith of the Abyss right now. You can forget about him for the time being. He's an enemy you'll meet later—much, much later.

That aside.

Murmuring those words, Merlin smiled.

-You've found yourself a proper swordsmanship teacher, haven't you? No need to keep looking for one now. You can learn swordsmanship from the Sword Saint and magic from me.

Najin was about to nod, but tilted his head instead. One word had caught his attention.

"... Magic?"

-Yes. Magic.

"I can use magic, too?"

-Why wouldn't you be able to?

"But it's common knowledge that swordsmen can't use magic..."

-That's only true of ordinary people.

Merlin grinned.

-Besides, knowing at least a little magic is part of being educated. It can't hurt to learn, can it? It makes fighting mages easier.

How to fight mages.

True, he had never fought one yet. Rubbing his chin, Najin let out a long breath.

"I still have a long way to go."

-Listen to you. You do realize it's only been two or three months since you drew Excalibur, don't you?

Najin chuckled, letting Merlin's incredulous voice wash over him. The Sword Saint and Volkman had left long ago. Alone now, he lay spread-eagled in the field.

"You're right about that."

At most, two or three months had passed since he left the underground city.

Recalling everything he'd experienced in those months, Najin looked up at the sky. The rain had stopped, and the dark clouds were parting to reveal clear blue. It felt like only yesterday that he'd struggled so desperately just to see that sky once...

Now that blue sky was familiar.

So was the sun high overhead.

Even the starlight in the night sky had become familiar.

He had befriended a wealthy merchant of the city, made a good impression on an adventurer who stood at its pinnacle, and forged a connection with the knights of Atanga by defeating the Demon Knight. And now he would be learning swordsmanship from the Sword Saint.

"It feels like time is passing so quickly."

Things he could never have imagined while living in the underground city kept happening, one after another. Everything was so new that he thought it would take ages to adjust, yet before he knew it, he would find himself accustomed to it all.

-Time isn't the only thing moving quickly.

-You're growing at an absurd pace, too.

Merlin laughed in disbelief.

Letting her now-familiar voice wash over him, Najin got to his feet. The Sword Saint might have swept through like a storm, but there was still some time left before the day was over.

It was about time he went back and looked for a new commission.

With light steps, Najin set off toward Cambria, the City of Opportunity.

2.

Noon, the day after his spar with the Sword Saint.

Najin stood in the square, waiting for someone he had arranged to meet. As he waited beneath the clock tower, he drew quite a few looks.

That was only natural.

Beginning with his achievements in the Dochenberg Forest suppression campaign, Najin had earned a two-rank promotion and taken a leading role in slaying the Demon Knight. At this point, it would have been strange if he hadn't attracted public attention.

The most talked-about adventurer in Cambria.

A super rookie whom all sorts of merchants and small-to-medium guilds had marked as their top recruitment target, whose stock wasn't merely soaring but shooting clean off the charts.

That was Najin's current standing in Cambria, the City of Opportunity. Naturally, standing in the middle of the square drew eyes his way. Yet people only stole glances; no one readily approached him.

... After all, they knew who had already set her sights on him.

Just then, Najin turned toward one corner of the square. Those watching him turned to follow his gaze. A girl had entered the square with a single knight escort.

The Snake That Swallows Gold, Dieta Arbenia.

Her light brown hair gleamed as it fell as softly as silk, and the bright yellow eyes glimpsed between her fine lashes possessed a curious magnetism.

Dieta's beauty, which had stood out even at balls crowded with noble ladies, had lost none of its luster despite her abandonment by the ducal House Arbenia. If anything, walking proudly with her shoulders straight made her shine even more.

Her clothes, however, were different from usual.

Neither the Dieta Trading Company's uniform nor a noble lady's lavish attire, she wore a comfortable-looking dress. With a shawl about her shoulders and only a parasol in hand to shade her from the sun, she was an utterly unfamiliar sight to Cambria's adventurers.

She looked dressed to meet a friend she felt at ease with.

Dieta came to a stop in front of Najin beneath the clock tower.

"Am I a little late?"

"I haven't been waiting long myself."

The merchants watching clicked their tongues.

She was really staking her claim on him. I'm close enough to the adventurer Ivan to dress casually and meet him in private. To the merchants, that was what Dieta's actions inevitably suggested.

But her knight escort, Pasion, saw it differently.

He had served Dieta closely for longer than anyone, and to him, her smile didn't look like mere acting. She probably did intend to show off their friendship, but...

"Shall we go, then?"

His mistress was smiling easily now.

Her body was a little more relaxed, and she looked genuinely happy rather than simply putting on an act.

'Above all...'

Pasion distinctly remembered how she'd been scowling while contacting business partners since early morning, only to break into a radiant smile the moment it was time to meet Ivan. It was a deeply unfamiliar side of his mistress.

'What on earth did they get up to on that last outing...?'

He'd heard rumors that they'd utterly wrecked some noble, but clearly there had been more to their interaction than that.

Pasion shot Najin a needless sidelong glare and clicked his tongue. Unconcerned, Dieta hummed as she strolled through the square with Najin. Seeing that his mistress looked happy, Pasion soon averted his gaze.

It truly was rare for Dieta to smile so freely.

* * *

After their meal, Dieta was sipping her tea when she happened to look across the table. Najin sat there sipping coffee with his head tilted.

His expression said he couldn't understand why anyone drank something so bitter.

Dieta smiled faintly at the sight. Hadn't he been like this last time, too? Resting her chin in her hand, she asked,

"Would you like me to order you something sweet instead?"

"No, thank you. It's not so bad once you get used to it."

"You didn't have to order the same thing as me."

"I was just curious," Najin said, setting down his cup.

"I wondered why people drank it. Someone I knew was always drinking coffee."

"Really?"

"Yes, well... It was a place where luxuries like this were hard to come by. I wondered what was so good about it that he'd grind it up and drink something this bitter. I'm just trying it out of curiosity."

Najin spoke while picking at the refreshments they'd ordered. Listening, Dieta idly ran her fingers over her cup. She had been somewhat interested in the man before her from the start, but that had been her interest as the Snake That Swallows Gold.

Someone who looked profitable. An adventurer whose friendship could benefit her trading company down the line.

To Dieta, who viewed everything in terms of gold coins, Najin had been an untapped gold mine. A rich seam that would spill gold with a few swings of a pickaxe. That was why he'd interested her as a merchant, but...

"You slew the Demon Knight recently, didn't you? Could you tell me about it? I'm curious."

Since their last outing—since the day she'd faced him without her mask—Dieta had become interested in Najin himself.

His personality. His habits. His mannerisms. The way he behaved, and more.

She simply wanted to know a little more about the man before her. She couldn't tell whether that desire belonged to her as a merchant or merely to her as a person named Dieta.

"You mean why I didn't wait for Atanga's knights? It wasn't anything grand. I just didn't like it."

"Didn't like what?"

"What he said about knights. What Berheigen, the Demon Knight, said..."

Listening to Najin's account, Dieta nodded and occasionally smiled. She felt she was beginning to understand how he thought and acted.

'He was like this last time, too...'

He was a remarkably impulsive person.

At times he seemed to have no plan, and sometimes he simply charged ahead. As though the consequences could be dealt with later, and what mattered most was his conviction.

This battle against the Demon Knight was no different.

Waiting for Atanga's knights and joining forces with them would have given him far better odds. So why had he attacked alone? Had he wanted all the credit for himself? His answer to questions like those was simply: because.

Because he hadn't liked it.

Watching him leap into action for such an emotional reason felt both refreshing and foolish. But either way, it was something Dieta could never have.

"I see."

Dieta smiled as she listened. Then, in the midst of smiling, she suddenly grew curious. What was the goal of the man before her? After toying with her cup for a moment, she spoke.

"Tell me."

"Yes?"

"What's your goal?"

"To inscribe a star."

Najin answered her question without the slightest hesitation. His goal was to inscribe a star in the sky. The immediate answer left Dieta momentarily speechless.

"By a star, you mean..."

"The stars the Constellations have. My goal is to inscribe a star in that sky."

It wasn't the sort of goal one voiced in front of others.

It was far too grand and absurd.

What did possessing a star mean? It meant accomplishing great feats and walking the path to becoming a Constellation. It was closer to a childish fantasy than a goal.

"... Are you serious?"

"Yes. There's no reason to lie about something like this, is there?"

Yet the man before her meant every word, as though he couldn't care less what anyone thought of him. Then he added,

"Besides, I promised."

As he said those words, Najin wore a bitter smile. A smile that seemed to hold a long story. While Dieta was looking at it, he asked,

"What about you? What's your goal?"

The same question came back to her.

Dieta took a sip of coffee and answered. Her goal was simple enough.

"To gather gold coins. Expand my trading company and bring in even more gold. That's my goal."

"Aren't gold coins a means to an end?"

"You're sharp."

Dieta set down her cup.

Through narrowed eyes, she looked at the coffee grounds stuck to its bottom. Yes, the man before her was right. Gold coins were only a means, not an end.

Then what was her end?

Dieta turned her surname over in her mind. Dieta Arbenia. The ducal House Arbenia. Recalling the cold mansion where she'd spent her childhood, she spoke.

"Because that's how I increase my worth."

Swordsmen increased their worth by wielding swords and reaching greater heights. Sword Expert, Sword Seeker... The way they were treated and the privileges they received changed with their level.

It wasn't just swordsmen.

The same went for mages, Rangers, and knights.

They gained worth by honing themselves. They proved it through the very straightforward measure of individual fighting strength. But not everyone was born with martial talent. How, then, did those people prove their worth?

For some, it would be politics.

For others, knowledge.

For still others, the power they had amassed.

And Dieta knew there was a more precise measure than those vague things. Something whose value was second only to fighting strength in its clarity.

"Gold coins. Money. Wealth. Assets. What could be a more straightforward measure of worth? The more you have, the more valuable you become."

The starting point of all value.

Whether one wanted to engage in politics, accumulate knowledge, or seize power, money was indispensable. Scatter the gold coins clutched in your hands, and the rest would follow on its own.

That was why Dieta swallowed gold.

She swallowed and swallowed, increasing her worth. Increased it again and again, until she became someone no one could ignore. That was the purpose for which the Snake That Swallows Gold lived.

"To me, gold coins are worth. Just as you'll inscribe a star to increase your worth... for me, gold coins are my stars."

Increasing her worth.

It sounded like a plausible purpose in life. But as Najin listened, his eyes narrowed. He sensed that Dieta had something beyond that.

Gathering gold.

Increasing her worth.

He felt that both were merely means to an end. He didn't ask what that ultimate end was. She didn't seem to want any more questions. Perhaps it concerned a deeply sensitive subject for her.

"Well, that's all it is."

Dieta shrugged and let out a long breath.

But before she released that breath, Najin had seen it: the venomous resolve in her eyes and breath as she spoke of her goal.

The fierce resolve so often found in people who had crawled along rock bottom.

Dieta harbored it, too. What lay behind it, Najin had no way of knowing.

3.

"I'll see you again, then."

As the sun began to set, Dieta waved warmly to Najin and walked away. Pasion, who had been keeping his distance, fell into step beside her.

"You seem to have taken a liking to that young man."

"Of course. You have no idea how entertaining his stories are. It's like looking at the protagonist of a novel."

Dieta laughed.

"When something rubs him the wrong way, he goes for it. He boldly aims for first place. If he doesn't like something, he charges in without a second thought. He's refreshingly decisive, and there's something romantic about him."

She sighed as she walked.

"I thought we had something in common, but perhaps it's only our childhoods. He's my complete opposite."

Someone like her, yet different.

Their childhoods might have been similar, but his way of living was nothing like hers. Listening to Najin's stories had stirred a feeling Dieta couldn't identify.

Someone living in an entirely different world from her own.

She couldn't tell whether what she felt toward such a person was admiration, envy, or simple interest. But having her emotions stirred for the first time in ages wasn't unpleasant. At least when she met him... she could be simply Dieta, rather than Dieta Arbenia.

Someone who knew her unmasked self.

Dieta enjoyed talking to such a person.

Returning to her office with a slight spring in her step, Dieta found her secretary breaking out in a cold sweat. With an unsteady gaze, the secretary handed her a letter. The paper, embossed with an elaborate crest, was clearly expensive.

"..."

The moment Dieta took the letter, the smile vanished from her face. The mask loosened by her conversation with Najin clicked back into place. Her eyes turned utterly cold.

The ducal House Arbenia.

It was a letter from the family she had fled.