Chapter 29
Chapter 29
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 29
Chapter Title: Assessing Merits and Awarding Prizes (1)
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It was all too sudden.
In the midst of a tense, ongoing battle.
A situation where a single opening was hard to find even with one’s full focus.
The Elegant Left-Hander wore an expression of great anticipation.
The Emperor Who Abandoned His Country sat on a chair and gestured with his chin.
The Curious Sloth narrowed his eyes.
My mind was a mess because of the thoughts echoing inside my head.
And the most chaotic of them all…
The Faceless Witch snarled at the multitude of stars.
The Faceless Witch shrieked and shoved the other stars away.
…was the witch’s thoughts.
Her spiteful thoughts screamed as if they were being shouted directly into my mind.
The Elegant Left-Hander guiltily looked away from the Faceless Witch.
The Emperor Who Abandoned His Country snorted arrogantly.
The Curious Sloth didn’t even glance at the Faceless Witch.
The other stars replied with their own thoughts.
The Faceless Witch insisted on having priority.
Then the witch got angry again.
“What the…”
How much had I wished for and anticipated this, from my past life until now?
I had imagined it countless times.
Every day, I pictured the moment the stars would look down on me and speak.
In my imagination, the stars were magnificent and noble, and I stood before them, solemn.
Like a scene from a myth.
The Faceless Witch hurled insults at the other stars.
The Elegant Left-Hander feigned ignorance, pretending not to hear.
The Emperor Who Abandoned His Country shot to his feet, pointing an accusatory finger.
The Curious Sloth quietly moved to find a more peaceful spot.
Magnificent and noble, my ass.
A damn myth? What a joke.
The Faceless Witch spat.
The Emperor Who Abandoned His Country mumbled something before spitting as well.
The Elegant Left-Hander recoiled in disgust.
The Curious Sloth moved even farther away.
My head throbbed from the stars’ bickering, which was worse than that of snot-nosed six-year-olds.
I felt as if I’d been plucked from the middle of a tense battlefield and suddenly surrounded by a bunch of toddlers.
Dizzy.
The chatter being poured directly into my head was enough to make me feel faint.
In the end, I had no choice but to plead with them.
“If you’re not going to help right now, could you please be quiet?”
The Elegant Left-Hander fell silent with an embarrassed look.
The Emperor Who Abandoned His Country bellowed that I was being impudent.
The Curious Sloth quietly returned to his original spot.
Only after a wave of thoughts swept through my mind did I finally regain my composure.
At least, until someone tactless spoke up again.
*What if I help?*
The witch asked in a suggestive voice.
“Dream on. I have no intention of becoming a Madosa.”
This was the attention from the stars I had so desperately wanted.
Although it was quite different from what I’d imagined, it wasn’t enough to change my path in life.
For now…
“No ‘later’ either.”
*…Just one favor later.*
“How can I agree when I don’t even know what it is?”
*It’s not an unreasonable request.*
Her persuasive words continued.
The other stars booed and jeered.
But the witch was persistent.
*You can hear me out and still say no.*
An offer so favorable to me it would be strange to refuse.
But considering who was making it, I couldn’t readily agree.
In truth, it was a problem that required no deliberation from the start.
*Shudder.*
Goosebumps rose on my skin.
The back of my neck grew stiff.
I couldn’t breathe, as if an unseen hand had seized my heart.
*Dart.*
My eyes darted around.
“Ah?”
The Star-Eating Madosa was looking this way.
Her lips moved.
*You. Look delicious.*
That’s what it seemed like she said.
I could see Gunther standing behind her.
His face was deathly pale.
…!
His mouth moved, agape.
His lips, blue from the poison, moved sluggishly.
I couldn’t hear a sound.
…!
Gunther turned his body toward me.
He was still moving as slowly as a turtle.
*Ah. Is he that slow because he’s a holy knight?*
The thought crossed my mind, and I let out a small chuckle.
A turtle and a holy knight—somehow, the combination seemed fitting.
…!
Grita, who was beside him, thrust her sword forward.
The tip of her blade wavered.
It moved listlessly, like a drunken snake.
Watching her, a thought suddenly occurred to me.
*Why is everyone so slow?*
No, not everyone was slow.
In a world where everything flowed at a crawl, only the Star-Eating Madosa moved at her normal speed.
She waved her hand.
Blue orbs struck Gunther in the stomach and Grita in the shoulder.
…!
…!
Gunther’s mouth fell wide open.
Grita, her shoulder stiffening, staggered.
The scene felt unreal, like watching a cheap pantomime.
As Gunther doubled over, vomiting blood, his eyes met mine.
Regret, despair, anger.
A storm of emotions swirled in his gaze.
The hem of a gray-blue cloak suddenly appeared between us.
Ingna was already rushing toward me.
*Where’s your head at?*
Just then, I heard the witch’s whisper in my mind.
It was so sharp and clear that it made me jump.
“Ah.”
In that instant, the slowed world sped up.
Simultaneously, the silent world erupted into chaos.
“Yan! Run!”
“You fiend! We are your opponents!”
Gunther’s scream and Grita’s roar.
“What a curious one you are.”
Ingna was already in front of me.
*Click.*
I reflexively raised the Knight Killer.
The Star-Eating Madosa reached out her hand.
I pulled the trigger.
*Clank.*
A low metallic sound emerged.
But the bolt didn’t fire.
*Smirk.*
The Madosa’s fingers were playfully plucking the bowstring.
Just then.
*Anyway, you agreed to the favor.*
A voice, tinged with a sigh, echoed in my head.
At the same time, a way to escape this crisis flashed through my mind.
I reached my left hand back.
The legacy left by an unlucky Madosa, a medium connecting the witch to the world.
The anomalous bow stuck to my fingertips.
“…?”
The Madosa’s eyes widened.
Ignoring her, I gripped the anomalous bow and laid it over the Knight Killer.
*Crack.*
The bow limb, painstakingly crafted by the old blacksmith, shattered.
The anomalous bow took its place.
Upside down, just as Grendel had once done.
It bit down on the bolt.
*Fwip.*
And spat it out.
*Whoooosh!*
*Thwack.*
A sound that tore through the air.
The noise of something sharp piercing flesh.
“…?”
The Madosa looked at her hand.
An arrow was quivering pathetically between her clenched fingers.
*Drip.*
Red blood trickled down between her fingers.
The Madosa opened her fist.
*Poke.*
The arrowhead had pierced her palm and was peeking out from the back of her hand.
The area around it was turning black.
It was the effect of the potent venom I’d applied to the tip.
“…?”
The Madosa examined her hand as if fascinated.
All the while, her skin was rapidly discoloring.
Her gaze, which had been inspecting the wound, lingered for a moment on what used to be the Knight Killer before returning to me.
“A Madosa…?”
Before I could even refute her question.
“Yan!”
“You fiend!”
Gunther and Grita charged in.
*Step.*
The Madosa, whose face had turned black in an instant, retreated.
Even as she fended off the two knights’ fierce assault, her eyes remained fixed on me.
An unknown sense of dread made me tremble.
*I’ve seen that expression somewhere before.*
As I was racking my brain, trying to remember.
“Aah?”
Suddenly, the world began to spin.
A moment later, all the strength drained from my body.
*Barisada.*
The witch whispered.
*That is the child’s name.*
Barisada, Barisada.
I found myself repeating the name.
Over and over, until the world turned black.
Again and again.
“Gack.”
I finally lost consciousness.
***
“Most of the enemies who attacked Komlat have been repelled, and the remaining forces are being mopped up with the Komlat guard. Young Lord Klail and the subjugation forces have joined, so it shouldn't take long to clean up.”
Grita, who was sitting on a pile of rubble and bandaging her wounds, paused for a moment.
“…Casualties?”
The Yuhyeolmogi knight squeezed his eyes shut. His face said he knew this was coming.
“The losses among the squires are severe. All the children who left the estate to support the guard were killed in action, and not many of those who stayed behind to defend survived either. In effect, aside from the pages under ten, most of the squires have been wiped out.”
Grita let out a sigh.
She had just been told about the monstrous men whose bodies were so tough that swords couldn’t even pierce them.
They were overwhelming opponents for the squires, even if the knights could handle them.
“Haaah.”
Grita sighed.
Driven by the sole desire for independence from the main family, she had trained the squires harshly. This meant she had never taught them how to retreat.
At the time, she believed it was the right thing to do. But looking back now, her stubbornness had only magnified the casualties.
A wave of regret washed over her as she thought of the innocent children who had lost their lives without ever having a chance to truly live.
It was a realization that came only after everything had crumbled and been lost.
“Also, Marian and Kenter, who went to intercept the enemy, have not returned.”
In a situation like this, not returning was tantamount to being killed in action.
Her only comfort was that the timely intervention of the attendants had prevented civilian casualties from escalating.
“My lady. You should tend to your wounds first…”
“Leave it. Countless lives have been lost in vain. What is this mere flesh wound in comparison?”
The knight fell silent, seemingly at a loss for words at Grita’s uncharacteristically emotional reply.
After lingering by her side for a while longer, the knight also took his leave.
“Hmm.”
Grita looked at an old man and a young boy sitting not far away.
The master of the Relief Knights, with whom she had once been at odds, was there with his squire.
The knight held the squire in his arms, continuously pouring his energy into the boy.
He was tending only to the squire’s well-being, even when the poison seeping into his own body remained unresolved.
It was understandable.
The child deserved such treatment.
The enemy had been a foe that even two knights together struggled to face.
The Madosa was so powerful that her very presence and aura oppressed her surroundings.
Yet, against such a Madosa, the child did not flee.
Grita had seen it clearly.
She had distinctly seen the child, positioned nearby, aiming the crossbow she had seen once before, waiting for an opportunity.
Even as the Madosa charged, the child had chosen to aim the crossbow instead of running.
It was not at all strange that he was being cared for so devotedly.
Besides.
“He actually hit her.”
The Madosa’s retreat was, in effect, the child’s achievement.
For some reason, the arrow the child had fired was imbued with her power.
Perhaps he had dropped his quiver in his rush to get there.
Come to think of it, the boy looked as if he had been rolling on the ground, covered in dust.
It was the luckiest of lucky breaks.
An enemy she couldn’t reach despite countless strikes.
It was as if she had borrowed the child’s hand to drive away a powerful foe.
Stealing an opponent’s power—she had never even heard of such a thing.
She never wanted to face that opponent again.
“I owe a debt, but the means to repay it are uncertain.”
Grita sighed.
She had already promised him a Starseeker.
But in her current situation, having suffered such extreme losses from the sudden attack, it was a promise that would be difficult to fulfill.
However, she had no intention of going back on her word.
“In the end, there’s only one way.”
Grita took out a small box from her tunic.
It was an item she had painstakingly acquired with the sole intention of gaining independence from the main family.
She suspected that this sudden attack was not unrelated to this item.
No. She was certain.
A Madosa that even she, a 5-star knight on the verge of becoming a 6-star, could not handle.
She must be one of the highest-ranking members of the Blue Tower.
It made no sense for such a person to come all the way to this remote frontier.
At least, not for anything less than the item in this wooden box.
“It was something I couldn’t handle from the beginning.”
Her voice was part empty, part relieved.
“So I suppose I’ll have to feed it away.”
Grita looked at the child cradled in her superior’s arms.
***
Atop the highest spire in Komlat.
Ingna, perched on the pointed roof, repeatedly examined her hand.
The potent venom that had spread throughout her body had already been expelled.
All that remained was a faint trace of poison encircling her finger like a ring.
Of course, even that could be driven out whenever she wished.
“That child, he was surrounded by countless stars.”
But she had no intention of doing so.
“Though he didn’t seem to realize it himself.”
It was a memento to remember today’s events.
*Swish, swish.*
As she admired her blackened finger, she suddenly let out a lament.
“But what was it the Tower Master told me to bring back?”
Ingna tilted her head.
She felt like she was supposed to bring back something important, but she couldn’t remember what it was.