The Great Warrior of Tartarus
No matter how bad the rumors were, he was still a supreme-grade constellation. On the other hand, the Seeker of Supreme Knowledge, with whom she had been contracted at the time, was merely a lowest-grade constellation. Although her former constellation had done a great deal for her, Reina had assumed that all other constellations were the same. She also believed she had paid her dues by active service under the name of a lowest-grade constellation.
No, to be perfectly honest, that wasn't true. The Seeker of Supreme Knowledge had supported her wholeheartedly, both materially and spiritually, which was how she had managed to reach the rank of a B-rank adventurer. Just as she was starting to make a name for herself—right when it was time to promote her constellation's name through her activities and gather believers—an offer had come from the Great Warrior of Tartarus. After much agonizing, she had ultimately accepted the Great Warrior's proposal.
Her conscience pricked her, and she felt incredibly guilty because her original constellation had treated her so well, but what else could she do? This kind of incarnation scouting was a common occurrence. If an incarnation contracted to a lowest-grade constellation received an offer from a supreme-grade one, anyone would jump at the chance. Rationalizing it to herself in this way, Reina had ultimately terminated her contract with her previous constellation.
After becoming the new incarnation of the Great Warrior of Tartarus, things were wonderful at first. This was especially true given Reina's personality, as she cared deeply about how others perceived her. When she was a novice adventurer, the mere fact that she had contracted with a constellation—even a lowest-grade one—was impressive enough that she constantly bragged about it. But once she became a B-rank adventurer, she had started to feel embarrassed that her constellation was only lowest-grade. This was despite the fact that she had only reached B-rank thanks to that very constellation.
For someone like her, simply being able to brag to others that she was the incarnation of a supreme-grade constellation was enough to make her ecstatic. However, a month after signing the contract with the Great Warrior of Tartarus, she began to regret her decision. While she still enjoyed the envious stares of others, absolutely nothing else about the arrangement was good.
Since contracting with the Great Warrior of Tartarus, she had not received a single piece of support or grace. In fact, grace aside, she hadn't even received a single message. All she had gotten after becoming his incarnation was a weapon engraved with the emblem of the Church of Tartarus, which was distributed to all incarnations. That was it.
Back when she was contracted to her previous constellation, the Seeker of Supreme Knowledge, she had received daily messages. Her constellation had watched over her whenever anything happened, and she had frequently received minor but helpful skills and items. In truth, that was because Lee Do-hyun had paid extraordinary attention to Reina; most other constellations rarely went to such lengths, especially for novice adventurers.
Furthermore, the skills and items she had dismissed as "minor" were actually of a caliber that other lowest-grade constellations could rarely afford to provide. However, because her contract with Lee Do-hyun had been her first, and because she lived in a frontier city with few other contracted incarnations to consult, she had completely misunderstood the situation.
She had foolishly assumed that the support she received was just the standard baseline that every incarnation got, and that contracting with a supreme-grade constellation would yield far superior support at a similar frequency. That illusion shattered in less than a month.
True to the rumors, the Great Warrior of Tartarus had thousands of contracted incarnations. There was absolutely no reason for such a deity to pay attention to Reina, a thoroughly unremarkable B-rank adventurer. Moreover, while B-rank was considered quite high in her frontier guild, she was a nobody once she entered the Church of Tartarus.
Although she was still envied by the ordinary believers who hadn't secured an incarnation contract, the Great Warrior of Tartarus was a supreme-grade constellation. Among his incarnations, A-ranks were countless, S-ranks existed, and there were numerous nobles, knights, and mages whose social standing made mere adventurers look like peasants. But above all, what tormented her the most was the invisible caste system within the church.
On the surface, they claimed that all incarnations were equal believers who had received the Great Warrior's grace, but that was pure lip service. Below the ordinary non-incarnation believers, the incarnations themselves were divided into two distinct tiers: those who had received grace in the form of skills or items from the Great Warrior of Tartarus at least once, and those who had not.
Because a constellation with thousands of contracts could not possibly tend to everyone, he only selected the strong or the highly influential to support—namely, mages of a certain circle, S-rank adventurers, knights with the potential to become Sword Masters, or high-ranking nobles. Those who had received grace from the constellation even once were known within the church as the Inner Circle.
As the daughter of a ruined baronial family and a mere B-rank adventurer, Reina belonged to neither category. She had attended the church's temple frequently at first, but her visits gradually dwindled. To the outside world, she was an adventurer contracted to a supreme-grade constellation, but inside the temple, she was nothing but a low-tier incarnation who had never received a single drop of divine grace.
Furthermore, the members of the Inner Circle openly mocked and ignored her, inflicting wounds on her pride that were difficult to bear. The only reason she had managed to hold on was thanks to a female senior she had befriended in the church. This senior was an elite member of the Inner Circle who had received an A-rank skill directly from the Great Warrior. If she hadn't looked after Reina every time she visited the temple, Reina might have terminated her contract long ago.
But even Reina was reaching her limit. Only after betraying her former constellation and contracting with the Great Warrior of Tartarus did she realize just how well the Seeker of Supreme Knowledge had treated her. She frequently found herself missing her old constellation, thinking that she wouldn't even care if he was lowest-grade.
If I'm not going to get any support anyway, is there even any point in keeping this contract with the Great Warrior? she wondered. And how do the other incarnations endure this kind of treatment? She herself clung to the title of being contracted to a supreme-grade constellation because she cared so much about appearances, and she had a senior who looked after her. But what about the others? Were they just idiots for staying?
While she was lost in these thoughts, the female senior who had been looking after her called her over one day. She led Reina to an empty storehouse deep inside the temple.
"Senior, what brings us here...?"
"It's been tough lately, hasn't it, Reina?"
"Huh? I'm not sure what you mean..."
"Ahaha, you don't have to pretend with me. You had high hopes when you contracted with the Great Warrior, but you haven't received any support. The senior incarnations ignore you, and even the juniors who made it into the Inner Circle look down on you. It's hard, isn't it?"
"Ah! N-no, it's not! More importantly, Senior, our constellation might be watching, so saying things like that is a bit..."
Flustered by her senior's bluntness, Reina waved her hands in denial and looked around nervously. The words had pierced right to the heart of her feelings, but she wondered if it was really safe to speak so openly. Despite Reina's panic, the female senior spoke gently.
"It's alright, Reina. I understand. I had a time like that too."
"Y-you did, Senior?"
"Haha, of course. Do you think I was always like this?"
"I never would have guessed..."
"Don't worry, Reina. You'll be just like me soon."
"Me? But Senior, I'm not in the Inner Circle, nor am I some high noble. Everyone else says B-rank is my absolute limit..."
As she poured her heart out to her senior, tears of frustration welled in Reina's eyes. Her senior patted her head affectionately and spoke.
"They really are too cruel to our pretty junior. But you know, Reina..."
Her tone shifted slightly, a subtle edge creeping into her voice.
"Actually, the ones mocking and ignoring you? I was the one who told them to do that."
"...What?"
To the bewildered Reina, her senior continued in a low, suggestive voice.
"Well, it's not just you. Every newly contracted incarnation goes through this. Think of it as... a test."
"Senior, I don't understand what you're saying..."
"Haven't you ever found it strange, Reina? You became the incarnation of a supreme-grade constellation, yet you received zero support. And yet, why does no one else complain about it?"
"Well... I did think it was a bit odd."
"That's because the incarnations who serve the Great Warrior do receive their rightful grace. But you see, the constellation's grace can't just be handed out to anyone, can it? We had to verify whether you would harbor discontent, and whether you were a believer worthy of receiving our deity's grace."
"Does that mean..."
"Congratulations, Reina! You've passed our test. You've proven yourself worthy of receiving our deity's grace."
Smiling brightly, the senior handed Reina a small glass vial. Inside were a few black pills.
"What is this, Senior?"
"What else? It's our deity's 'grace.' It's an elixir that will instantly elevate our Reina to an A-rank, no, eventually an S-rank adventurer."
"An elixir..."
"Take one right before you head out on your next mission. You'll understand exactly what I mean."
"T-thank you, Senior! I... I'll work incredibly hard!"
"Oh, don't mention it. We're close, aren't we? Haha!"
As she patted the deeply moved Reina on the back and stepped out of the storehouse, a chilling smile played on the senior's lips.
For that 'grace' was the very engine that kept unsupported incarnations bound to the church by force, and the secret behind how the influence of the Great Warrior of Tartarus had grown so massive.