Najin showed his attackers mercy.

Jerold, who regained consciousness later, also accepted Najin's offer, as did most of the Experts. Despite their ambush, despite their defeat in the duel, their opponent had shown them mercy.

None of them failed to understand what that meant. But understanding and agreement were different things.

“Only death.”

Not everyone accepted Najin's offer. One of them took his own life the moment he realized his mission had failed. With the person held hostage now dead, he could find no reason to keep living.

Klaus closed the man's eyes with a bitter expression, then rose. These were not all the attackers; others were still holding Roselin back.

“One of them should agree. I haven't spoken at length with the other two, so I can't say...”

With that, Klaus, Jerold, and Najin headed to where Roselin would be, intending to extend the offer. But the moment they arrived, Najin realized there was no longer any need.

“...”

Blood was splattered everywhere.

Roselin was idly flicking her dagger as she ground the mage's finely dismembered corpse beneath her foot.

“Oh, you're here?”

Roselin glanced back and smiled.

Najin surveyed her surroundings. Right beside her stood Basaus Malek, gritting his teeth as he staunched the bleeding from his severed arm.

“Looks like you crushed them. And talked them around while you were at it?”

“That's how it turned out. How did things go on your end, Lady Roselin?”

“Well, as we fought, I decided I didn't really need to kill them. I was going to let them off with an arm each, but...”

Roselin Ascalo was powerful, and the powerful had plenty of ways to defeat an opponent without killing them. Yet at her feet lay a corpse chopped into tiny pieces.

Cirkel Cravelin, a Fifth Circle mage.

Roselin looked deeply displeased as she gazed down at the corpse. Clicking her tongue, she kicked its head with the toe of her boot.

“That bitch and that bastard weren't getting off so easily. There's a limit to how fucking rude you can be.”

There was more than one corpse.

A closer look revealed another head lying on the ground. Basaus Malek had survived at the cost of an arm, but Cirkel the mage and Tyler the archer had not.

“I suppose they didn't know what happened to the bastards who mentioned witches in front of me—who called me a witch. So I taught them.”

Muttering those words, Roselin Ascalo turned her head. Her swirling red eyes fixed on Najin. Then she grinned.

“Congratulations on becoming a Sword Seeker.”

Smiling in satisfaction, she patted Najin on the shoulder. Telling him to buy her a drink sometime, she walked away. Beside Najin, Klaus stared after her, looking somewhat dazed.

“What a frightening woman.”

Jerold nodded emphatically in agreement.

2.

The incident was settled for the time being.

Returning to the city late that night, Najin received only basic treatment from a physician before heading straight to his lodgings. The physician tried to stop him, insisting that his injuries required more than first aid, but Najin had little choice.

'Nothing good will come of anyone discovering my abnormal healing ability.'

Najin dragged his heavy body back to his lodgings. He was exhausted both physically and mentally. He downed one of the potions he had stocked beforehand, then poured more over his wounds with a long exhalation.

He really couldn't go a day without getting hurt.

A hole or two in his body was practically guaranteed every time he fought, with scars all over as a bonus. Of course, those scars would disappear in a week or so...

'But this one won't go away.'

Najin ran a hand over his shoulder.

It was the scar Ivan had left him. Since he had received it before acquiring Excalibur, it never healed away. Najin smiled bitterly.

“Honestly...”

Perching on a chair, he let out a long breath.

Sword Seeker. A seeker of the sword.

Now that he had reached the goal Ivan had once told him about, Najin felt a tangle of emotions. Until yesterday, he had been a Sword Expert, just like Ivan. Of course, it had been quite some time since he had surpassed Ivan as he was back then...

'But now...'

He had entered a realm Ivan had never reached—a wholly new realm. At that thought, Najin gave a smile that was both bitter and relieved. Though he had grown far stronger than Ivan, the man remained an immense presence within him.

How would Ivan react if he learned that Najin had become a Sword Seeker? Perhaps he would burst out laughing, curse him as a crazy bastard while clapping him on the shoulder, or raise a toast at their usual tavern.

Imagining it, Najin exhaled at length. He missed the underground city a little—no, terribly. He had never imagined he would miss that city. Its scenery passed through his mind.

Ivan's office, the square, the clearing where he had trained with Offen, old Hogel's smithy...

As he pictured them, Najin chuckled. There was no need to rely on imagination alone. Closing his eyes, he focused inward. That was all it took to step into the mental image formed within him.

* * *

A blink.

Najin opened his eyes.

His eyes remained closed in reality, but within himself, they were open. Looking around, he could see the vast underground city spread before him.

The scenery had grown far more expansive.

The space that had once measured barely ten paces now stretched beyond the reach of his sight. And...

Someone gave his shoulder a light tap. Turning, Najin found Merlin standing there, her blue hair hanging loose. Her presence was clearer and more distinct now. She gave him a playful smile.

“Well? Everything's sharper now, isn't it?”

Najin nodded. Certainly.

“The space is much larger, too.”

“And the stars are shining brighter.”

“Both of them, at that.”

One star hung in the sky, the other upon the ground. Both still shone in their respective places. After looking around, Najin let out a long breath.

“Anyway, what are we going to do about this?”

“About what?”

Merlin tilted her head, and Najin chuckled.

“When I first came to this city, you said something, remember?”

He held up two fingers.

“You said we should aim for Sword Seeker and White Horn rank in two years. That it had taken King Arthur about that long.”

“I... did, didn't I?”

“And I said, why two years? One would be enough.”

Merlin's expression began to stiffen.

She discreetly averted her gaze, but Najin wouldn't let her escape. He moved to follow the direction in which she turned her head.

“Well, would you look at that? It only took me half a year.”

“Hold on, what do you mean, half a year? Seven months. Seven months and precisely twelve days!”

“Hmm, you're right. There's a big difference between half a year and seven months and twelve days.”

Najin nodded, suppressing a laugh.

“But I think there's also a big gap between seven months and a year. Not to mention two years.”

“...”

“I won. Our bet.”

Merlin let out a drawn-out groan.

“Fine, I lost. Honestly...”

Grumbling, she glanced at Najin as though something seemed off.

“Were you always like this? You feel a little different.”

“This is closer to how I normally am.”

Najin shrugged.

He thought he understood what Merlin meant. His lighter air. His playful tone. And his cheeky behavior. In truth, this was closer to the real Najin.

“I've just been too stiff all this time. Really, how serious could a brat who grew up hanging around thugs in an underground city possibly be?”

“That's... fair enough.”

“So you don't like it?”

“No?”

Merlin grinned.

“I like this version better, too. People don't have to be serious all the time.”

“I feel much the same. I just need to be serious when it matters.”

He had reached the level of Sword Seeker.

That meant more than growth in his body and combat prowess. His mind and soul had matured another step as well. A faint smile settled on Merlin's lips as she looked at him.

“On another note...”

Najin spoke as he looked up at the sky.

“I think I've accomplished all my goals in this city. What should we do next?”

His goal in Cambria had been to become a Sword Seeker. Now that he had achieved it, he was asking what came next. He had not the slightest intention of simply rejoicing in his achievement and resting on his laurels.

He still had a long way to go.

He had merely arrived at another starting point.

“What are you talking about? All your goals?”

Merlin shrugged at his words.

“There's still one left.”

“One?”

“Have you forgotten this city's legend?”

She continued.

“The place where two dragons lie buried. The Dragons' Grave.”

Cambria's other name.

Long ago, Arthur had begun his journey in this city and accomplished a great feat. Hundreds of years later, that feat was still spoken of, for it was embroidered across the night sky as a constellation.

“In Cambria, Arthur and I brought down two dragons. We sealed them beneath this city.”

The First Seat: The Human Who Brought Down Dragons.

The first star Arthur had set into the night sky.

“Dragons are immortal by nature. Until Excalibur is driven into the reverse scale of the Dragon of the Abyss, the first and last dragon, dragons cannot die. They may be sealed, but they never meet their deaths. They will always rise again someday.”

Merlin whispered to Najin.

“You know what I'm getting at, don't you?”

Najin's heart pounded, for he understood what Merlin meant.

“Isn't it about time you earned a star of your own?”

The star he had longed for so desperately. Merlin was telling him that the time to claim it was approaching.

3.

“What happens from here is crucial.”

Several days had passed since the incident.

During that time, Najin had recovered from his injuries, while Dieta had obtained the identities of those who had joined him and arranged false identities for them.

With the incident thus settled, Najin visited her office to decide their next course of action. Dieta addressed him.

“Until now, the order has only used hounds with no ties to it—people it could deploy without repercussions. But that won't be the case anymore. The situation has changed.”

She continued.

“The order may intervene directly. I don't know why they're so obsessed with you, but if, as you say, they have good reason...”

Dieta clicked her tongue.

“They'll act even if it means accepting losses. We're past the point where they can handle this cleanly. That's why what happens from here is crucial.”

“I've already given that some thought.”

“I suspect we're thinking along similar lines?”

Najin nodded.

He had discussed this with Dieta once before they carried out the operation. And even earlier than that, he had discussed it with Ivan.

Become someone too important for the order to dispose of easily.

That was what Ivan had told him, setting Sword Seeker as the benchmark. Najin hadn't fully understood those words then, but he did now. He had learned just how much weight a Sword Seeker carried.

“Anyone as powerful as a Sword Seeker must be reported to the Empire...”

“And receives a status befitting their abilities. Being a Sword Seeker is a guarantee in itself.”

“Exactly.”

Dieta held out a sheet of paper to Najin. The document bore the emblems of the Dieta Trading Company and the Cambria Foundation.

“It's time to cast off your false identity.”

A document that would be sent into the heart of the Empire.

The time had come to make his two-syllable name, Najin, known to the world—not the false name Ivan.