A Princess's Desperate Bargain

I tilted my head in confusion.

'Incarnation?'

Well, I suppose I do need one.

Even back when I was a lowest-rank constellation, I had three incarnations. Now I only have one.

Besides, while Aisha is undeniably a genius, without any weapons her raw combat ability isn't all that helpful.

And honestly, I'd like to have one more normal incarnation for myself.

Lately I'd been receiving so many messages from other constellations that I'd stopped reading anything that wasn't from the 72 Demons faction. It seemed I'd ended up bothering the Princess of Frost because of it.

Still, to jump straight from asking if I needed another incarnation to mentioning the Underworld nebula... it made me a little uneasy.

I sent her a reply.

I frowned.

I was grateful that she cared enough to offer, but kidnapping incarnations from another nebula was no small matter. I could easily imagine how difficult it would be and how many casualties it might cause.

Most importantly...

'Why would ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I want them back?'

If we're talking about the two former incarnations taken by the Underworld nebula, that would be Violet and Reina Cloud. They hadn't been kidnapped and forced into service; they'd simply chosen to accept the other side's offer and go with them.

From my perspective, I felt a bit disappointed at most. I had no intention of demanding their return or asking the Underworld to hand them back.

Now, if they were to apologize and offer to return them freely, that would be different. But the Great Warrior of Tartarus had proposed a trade in exchange for giving them back.

I wasn't some pushover. I had zero interest in handing over anything extra just to get back incarnations who had already left me.

I'd been a little concerned about Violet since she was my first incarnation, but after seeing that her younger sister had been properly healed, I'd let that go. As for the rumors about the Great Warrior's incarnations... well, Reina was clever. She would have handled it.

Above all, their attitude rubbed me the wrong way.

I could understand them taking someone else's incarnations. After all, they could offer those girls better support than I could. Setting my personal feelings aside, it was probably better for my former incarnations.

But to take them and then try to negotiate their return? That was completely unacceptable.

'Treating incarnations like trading cards...'

Even if we were talking about objects, wouldn't anyone get angry if someone took their stuff and then tried to bargain with it?

I really couldn't understand what the Great Warrior of Tartarus was thinking.

Ah, right. That was what she'd been leading up to.

But what exactly did she need?

The Princess of Frost's story went like this.

Because it was a world where constellations were deeply involved, many families formed contracts with and served a single constellation. It was like a hereditary faith—the constellation one would contract with was decided from birth.

Of course, to claim an entire family as incarnations, one needed to be at least a high-rank constellation, usually supreme.

The Princess of Frost, being a supreme constellation with a long history, had taken one such necromancer family under her wing.

The problem was that the family's youngest daughter had contracted an illness of unknown origin.

The Princess of Frost had naturally tried every method available. She'd fed her the highest-grade potions, and had even somehow obtained a bit of elixir for her to drink.

But the improvement was only temporary. The girl would soon fall ill again. The Princess had even swallowed her pride and asked a constellation from the rival nebula Celestial Wings—the Saintess of Mercy—for help.

Yet none of their famed healing magic, healing spells, or divine power had been able to cure her. In fact, the attempt had only worsened relations with Celestial Wings, with accusations of quackery and fraud flying back and forth.

At that point, the Princess of Frost had more or less given up hope.

That was when I appeared.

After seeing what I'd done during the Pantheon terrorist incident, she'd wondered if I might have some solution and had come to ask for my help.

The problem was...

'I don't know anything about this!'

I didn't have any magical knowledge, nor did I possess medical expertise.

Earth's advanced technology?

Unfortunately, this world seemed far superior to Earth when it came to treatment. Sure, the prices were outrageous, but a single top-grade ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠potion could regenerate severed limbs.

Whether it was stab wounds, poisoning, or even infectious diseases with a ninety-percent fatality rate, most things could be cured with a click of divine power or a sip of elixir.

The only catch was that they were so expensive almost no one could afford them.

In a world where even those things could be cured, she wanted me to heal someone diagnosed with an incurable disease?

This was absolutely impossible.

I was racking my brain for a way to politely decline without looking completely incompetent when—

Just from the messages she'd written in the communication window before, I could tell how deeply attached she was to each and every one of her incarnations.

Her words made me pause.

She was offering to hand over the youngest daughter of the family that served her—to make her my incarnation.

This was no ordinary proposal.

Unprecedented necromantic talent? That didn't matter.

What mattered was that a constellation was allowing a member of her own incarnation family to form a contract with another constellation.

This carried one of two meanings.

The first was a public declaration that she stood with that constellation.

In other words, it was the same as the Princess of Frost posting in the communication window: 'From now on, the Explorer and I are one. Attacking the Explorer shall be considered an attack on me.'

Handing over a member of one's own incarnation family carried that much weight.

The second possibility was that the constellation was offering a family member as a spouse or lover—but that was clearly not the case here. The Princess of Frost had offered this as compensation for healing Edelyn, and there was no way she harbored such feelings toward me. I could safely ignore that idea.

Even though I'd been ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠trying to come up with an excuse...

“Tsk...”

Faced with the Princess of Frost's outrageous offer, I found myself sending a message before I could stop myself.