Blessing of the Star (3)
...Ugh. Once the mana manifestation finally ended, the sight before my eyes was the familiar scenery of my room. Thanks to the mark I'd placed in advance, I could use transfer magic to return leisurely.
"You okay?"
I first checked on Belladys's complexion.
"Yes, my Lord God."
Her monstrous stats hadn't gone anywhere—our Vera still looked perfectly fine.
What the hell just happened.
I'd only stepped out for a quick look around, and suddenly a child of the stars pops out of nowhere. A meteor crashes from the sky.
Today's horoscope, I guess.
It felt like I needed to be cautious with outdoor activities for a while.
The clamor outside the door. The meteor show that just happened seemed to have everyone in a frenzy. It wasn't strange for them to be panicking.
Heroes. Those who could rightly be called one-man armies were so few in number that they represented entire eras. And since they were the only ones capable of harming constellations, their value was priced extraordinarily high.
Thud! Thud!
"Constellation! Are you there?!"
I hadn't even answered, and some stranger barges right in. Dressed in noble attire, his face was full of flustered panic. A royal courtier and subject.
"How dare you...!"
Vera's face turned ferocious at his rudeness from the get-go. The middle-aged courtier faced her aura and went pale in an instant with a yelp.
I stroked Vera's head to calm her down and asked what was going on.
"What's the matter?"
"S-Sorry! H-His Majesty urgently requests an audience—"
"Have him come himself."
Whoa, whoa.
The courtier's face drained even whiter at Vera's menacing reply. He was old enough; this much was the least I could do. My personality wasn't so heartless as to make an elder come and go on errands.
"Understood. Shall we go now?"
"Th-Thank you...!"
I had a pretty good idea why he was summoning me.
"You've arrived, Father God..."
Edmund Carsein was far more deferential than at our first meeting. Feeling a strange disconnect, I subtly broached the topic first.
"There seems to have been quite the commotion just now."
"...! As expected of the Constellation. You've already sensed the anomaly..."
Edmund jumped in shock at my words. I hadn't done much, but his reactions were spot on.
They were advertising it outside loud enough.
I skipped the details and just chuckled mysteriously like a proper constellation.
"Heh heh heh."
"As I thought, the Lord God's prophecy was true...!"
Prophecy?
Ah, that offhand remark from before. I quickly played along with King Edmund's misunderstanding.
"Heh heh heh heh."
"Ahh, Lord God. Another blessing upon the kingdom...!"
"A star fell, and from it, I sensed tremendous power."
Holy Sword. Having seen it with my own eyes, and as a rotten gamer who'd grinded the game for years, I could confidently draw that conclusion. That horrific thing had arrived here.
"Th-the Holy Sword, you mean."
I nodded silently. Edmund, hearing this, lit up like a kid on his birthday.
"Th-Then, could it be...!"
"The Regarium Kingdom might just produce a 'Hero'."
"....!!"
Hell, I'd seen the Hero candidate with my own eyes just now. The kid seemed pretty dim; it'd be a rough road to becoming a proper Hero. Of course, it had nothing to do with me. Or rather, it shouldn't have anything to do with me.
'Hero.'
That dreadful word was etched into my mind like a nightmare from my player days.
'Argh, shit! What debuff is this?!'
I'd messed around cluelessly, eaten a Holy Sword death beam, and wandered with debuffs until reset. Only after digging up info on the community did I realize, forcing me to tearfully reset my cult for the 786th time.
For humans, it was a blessing worth celebrating. Not for me.
Starflow is felt somewhere...
So what? This thing.
It popped up every time I got bored, right in front of my eyes since the meteor fell. Annoyingly persistent. Like some window forcing me into the Holy Sword and Hero fate. Please leave me out of it.
Eek, nooo...
Thinking of the girl desperately clinging not to fall sent chills down my spine.
"With the Constellation's descent and now the Holy Sword's manifestation... The Regarium Kingdom is truly blessed this year. Heh heh."
King Edmund chuckled with a benevolent smile.
"I didn't do anything."
A bit of humility for image-building.
"A talent to fight for world peace has been born. I hope that day comes soon."
And that gave me one more reason to pull my devotees from the Regarium Kingdom. Raising a Hero required specialist help. Like, say...
'Heir of the Lost Star.'
Theirs would surely come sniffing around. Like Heroes, their scant numbers hid unsettling abilities. Heroes were all nutjobs who could bolt anywhere, so constellations selected aides to turn them into proper 'people.'
'Where the Hero treads, dancers follow.'
And the dancers were beautiful. Why did players charge Heroes only to get wrecked? Blame the Heroes and those dancers' looks. Humans blessed by constellations boasted stunning appearances.
'Holy power good for the skin or something.'
Looking at my devotees, it seemed plausible.
Starflow is felt somewhere...
Damn it.
At this point, it felt like targeted advertising at my devotees. Way too blatant. Flirting or what? First, prepare for contingencies—pull back my knights and devotees. Holy Sword power was poison to holy power users. Pure poison.
The deadly kind.
The era of permanent penalties was long past, but I couldn't bear seeing my devotee kids hurt.
"Father God."
"Yes?"
As I pondered, King Edmund called me in a hoarse voice.
"I know that even a constellation's very existence can be threatened by the Holy Sword's power."
"Correct."
"Then, what if we used it on the 'Black Sun' constellation you've sealed...?"
....?!
The Avatar of the Black Sun, listening quietly, freaked out. I didn't need to see her face to know she looked like the world was ending.
...N-No way...?
What do you mean 'no way.'
You can't mean to kill me with that vile weapon...!
Hmm. I pondered briefly. Smashing the Black Sun with the Holy Sword was a clean option. But tossing a decent sandbag I'd just acquired didn't sit right. Had possessiveness kicked in already?
Y-You saw me that way...?
How else should I see you?
Did she think I'd just take her in and we'd live happily ever after? This was business. She'd ditched her image; I'd built a new one on it. Black Sun evil, me good. What a profound contrast.
But recalculating, still...
Handing over the Avatar now seemed like a loss. So.
"That's not possible."
"I-Is that so."
"If it wiped out a constellation in one go, it'd be fortunate. But we must beware the odds it doesn't."
I stopped there, smiling at the king to signal not to meddle in constellation affairs.
"If the Lord God says so, then it must be true."
Edmund neatly dropped the suggestion without doubt. The trust from skyrocketing favorability felt nice.
"Then... let's watch the Holy Sword and Hero situation a bit more before deciding."
"Understood fully, Father God."
"Very well..."
"...Now, the real reason I've invited the Constellation."
This old codger.
Today's buildup was dragging. What bombshell now? Last time dragons, this time backflips?
Troublesome.
I'd rather head back to play with Vera or return to that white space to fiddle with my status window.
"Isella."
But the name from his mouth dredged up unpleasant memories. We were on good terms now, but the PTSD etched in my bones lingered. My DNA had already slotted her as "Pingchang," enemy fodder.
"Y-Yes...!"
Click-clack. Click-clack.
An elegant voice accompanied the clear shoe sounds echoing in the hall. But the figure revealed was...
"...Pardon?"
A pink-haired woman in our cult's priestess robes, gazing at me with captivating poise.
Twitch. Calm down. That's the infamous community demon, Pingchang.
Twitch twitch. But she's wearing our cult robes? The ones I custom-ordered with care. My favorite uniform, same as Lisia and Vera's. She knows it's my fave and came targeting that.
A princess donning cult priestess robes to appeal to me?
How am I supposed to resist this.
The top-ranked beauty in community polls synergized perfectly with it—a fantasy combo.
Ah.
"F-Father God. Father forbade it until now, but things are different."
Like a girl with her first crush, her shy gaze slid my way.
...That bitch.
I tabled the venomous mutter from the side for now.
"Please... accept me."
"King of Regarium, this is—"
"The Lord God forgave all our sins and opened our eyes anew. What is there to hesitate?"
Heh heh.
Edmund Carsein smiled affably, then properly called forth the princess to stand before me.
"My daughter insisted on showing herself to the Lord God, so I had her prepare. Is this alright?"
More than alright.
Collection-worthy quality.
"I can no longer ignore my daughter's wish, Father God."
Edmund glanced at his daughter's beauty, then back to me.
"If it's not too late, will you embrace my daughter?"
Regarium Kingdom's princess, 'Isella Carsein', wishes to join your cult.
Will you allow 'Isella Carsein' to join your cult?
Despite the bad blood built up...
In-game and now in this reality, she'd thrown crises my way multiple times.
Think carefully.
Regarium's princess, 'Isella Carsein', joins your cult!
"Welcome, Isella."
"Ahh, Lord God...!"
Snapping to, I'd accepted her into the cult. I just couldn't hold back anymore.
Good call, me.
Trait 'Child Blessed by the Stars (S)' is always active.
Faith Value gained from cult devotees increases!
Some constellations grow wary of your actions!
Wary? What're you gonna do about it.
All the pretty, talented devotees in this world are mine. Because I decided so.
Starflow is felt somewhere...
#
"...Is this the place."
A figure in a deeply hooded robe arrived at the Regarium Kingdom. Cloaked head to toe to hide their identity, but their innate body shape and unique hair color were impossible to conceal.
As if embodying immense holy power. An awe-inspiring presence dwelled within the robe, commanding reverence from onlookers.
According to the revelation she received last night, a child with Hero qualities had been born right here. Innate talents stood out, making the search easy.
Sky-blue hair.
The woman, now passing the checkpoint and entering in earnest, had hair just like that.
'Bring true justice to the world from evil gods.'
The Sword Saintess, Herien, had arrived to aid the new Hero.