Interlude: The Queen's Summons
The day after Nephthea left, I was still lingering in Ostonmond Village.
“Here you go, the smoked tort you ordered and three mugs of beer.”
“Whoa, thanks, ma’am.”
What had just been set on the table was a perfectly roasted smoked hind leg and mugs overflowing with foamy beer. Ah. I couldn’t hold back any longer. I snatched up a mug and poured it straight down my throat until it felt like my esophagus would tear.
“~~~! Aaaah! This is it!! I almost died waiting!!!”
I roughly wiped the foam from my mouth. There was only one reason I was still in this village. My injured body hadn’t fully healed yet.
…Or so I told myself. The real reason was that this business venture had been a complete disaster. Thanks to that lunatic Eunhwa, every last bit of the gray moss had burned away. It was literally a ‘business failure: bad ending.’
If I went back to the village looking like this, I could already picture the uncles jumping at the chance to mock me mercilessly. They already gave me grief for pretending to be a merchant when I had no real intention of becoming one. This time, they’d be absolutely brutal.
“No matter where you go, there’s always someone ready to bully the newbie.”
Anyway, there was no rush, so I figured I’d stay a few more days to let my body recover. While I was at it, I’d also secured a generous supply of the caramel pudding I’d promised Dohesi. And of course, the fact that this village’s beer was insanely good couldn’t be ignored.
“Noriel, what happened to that young lady who was with you? You didn’t break up already, did you?”
Someone poked me in the side. It was the innkeeper auntie, squinting at me.
“…I told you, there was nothing between us. She just went off to do her own thing.”
“Hehe. She had such a pretty face. Guess she was still too much for you to handle, huh?”
“Hey, I said there was really nothing going on?!”
This auntie has a serious weakness for romance gossip. Next time I come, I’m definitely coming alone. Sigh. Whatever. Time for another toast.
I grabbed the mug again and poured the golden liquid down my throat.
“Krrgh—!”
I wondered how Nephthea was doing now that she’d probably reached the village. I’d asked her to look after Dohesi, but I wasn’t sure if that prickly girl had even met her safely. No matter how kind-hearted Nephthea was, she was probably having a rough time.
…
Actually, there was something else that really bothered me.
Dohesi. Even if she had the talent, whether she would walk that path or not was entirely her choice. From a young age, she had hated outsiders and was extremely reluctant to leave the village. Would she seize this opportunity? Or would she choose to stay the same as always?
“Hmm, knowing her personality, she’d probably just keep living like she—.”
“!?”
The inn door suddenly burst open with a deafening crash. Startled by the noise, I whipped my head toward the entrance.
“Haa… haa…!”
?? It was Nephthea.
Nephthea was panting heavily, shoulders heaving. Her hair was a mess, her forehead drenched in sweat. She was clinging to the door handle, even dry-heaving. Her face was in such desperate disarray that it was painful to look at.
“Wait, why are you back here…?”
“Oh my, oh my goodness!! Heavens! Did she come back because she couldn’t forget you?”
I decided to ignore the auntie’s over-the-top reaction, as if she were watching a morning drama. Nephthea swept the inn with unfocused eyes—then her gaze locked directly onto me where I sat at the corner table.
Thud!
She shot forward like a bullet and flew straight to me.
“Aaaah! Noriel!! I finally found you!!!”
“W-wait, what’s going on!? Weren’t you supposed to be heading to Olpia Village???”
Whether she heard me or not, Nephthea grabbed both my hands.
“N-Noriel!! Don’t be surprised and listen carefully…!!”
“Huh?? You’re the one who looks most surprised here, so what are you—.”
“H-H-Her Majesty…!! Her Majesty has personally summoned you!!! You must head to the capital right now to have an audience with Her Majesty!!!”
“?”
That day, I learned with my entire body what it felt like for your heart to drop to the floor.
A stone ruin that looked as if it had endured the full weight of time’s storms. Two shadows stretched across the collapsed debris.
…
Eunhwa extended her right arm toward the girl kneeling beside her. The mangled limb was so wretched that the word ‘horrible’ wasn’t enough to describe it. The child flinched at her gaze. Then, understanding the meaning, she reached out with both hands.
“H-Harmony’s promise… healing…!”
A miracle bloomed at the child’s fingertips. Fresh flesh immediately sprouted over Eunhwa’s crushed right arm, and color returned to it. Healing magic. A sacred realm that ordinary people could only reach by pouring out half their lifespan. For this young girl to have already reached that level undoubtedly meant she possessed genius talent.
Yet the child who had performed the miracle looked deathly pale. Her eyes, terrified as if she had seen a ghost, desperately watched Eunhwa’s expression.
“I-It’s done. It’s not completely healed, but by tomorrow it should be good as new…!”
“Mm.”
The child slowly rose on trembling legs, believing her task was finished. She had been dragged here without knowing why—surely because of this ability. How many times today had the girl cursed her own talent?
“Then… I-I’ll be going now….”
Eunhwa did not respond to the child’s anxious words. She simply gazed down at her tattered wounds, quietly retracing the past. A short silence followed.
Her twilight-colored eyes slowly turned toward the child.
“I am grateful that you have exercised the talent bestowed upon you by your god.”
“Huh…? I-It was nothing….”
“However. It is a regrettable but necessary task to not let live those who have witnessed our orbit.”
“That… means… ah…!”
Those who had seen the orbit of the Creation Society. Whether they were good or evil made no difference. Everyone who encountered them always felt the same emotions. They cursed the two feet that had led them to this moment, resented the two eyes that had seen it, and the mouth that had dared to insult them soon lost its strength and crumbled. There could not be even the slightest deviation in the heaven they sought to create.
“The Star of Blood Fire will not forget your orbit.”
Eunhwa whispered softly. At some point, a blood-red sword had appeared in her hand. The shadow of the blade rose.
The child realized. From the moment she had been brought here, hope had already been extinguished. She wasn’t even allowed time to grieve. Sensing what was to come, the child squeezed her eyes shut.
—Clang!
The descending sword stopped in midair. Something had grabbed her blade from behind.
…
What her gaze met was a grotesque, ash-gray hand rising from the shadow of the ruins. The enormous, wavering arm held Eunhwa’s sword and refused to let go.
“There’s no need to kill her, sister.”
A delicate voice. Its owner was a girl wearing a pure white dress, with long light-green hair. She was not alone. A massive, grotesque shadow stretched behind her. The figure of a woman in a pitch-black dress. Twisted demonic horns curved from her head. The two eyes on her face gazed at the girl she held, while the third eye on her forehead stared directly at Eunhwa.
Its size was far beyond anything human. The grotesque being gently set the girl down on the ground and remained right by her side without moving an inch.
“Haaaa…! Aaaah, aaaaaah!!”
A piercing scream rang out. It was the child’s. She had witnessed two nightmares at once. Overwhelming terror that stole even her breath. The small being could not control her instincts. She frantically moved her desperate legs and fled beyond the ruins.
Srrrng—.
The blade rose once more. That life could not be spared.
—Thud.
At the same time, the enormous grotesque arm blocked Eunhwa’s path.
“…Velvet.”
Eunhwa glared murderously at the two figures blocking her.
“Sister. A child is always a vessel holding countless possibilities. It’s not good to snatch that away recklessly.”
“That is precisely why they must be eliminated. They could become the entity that scatters the constellation of the Five Stars.”
“It’s fine. Neither I nor sister—our path will never be shaken by mere pebbles on the roadside.”
The girl took a step forward, her light-green hair fluttering. The black grotesque woman followed closely behind her. Like a parent protecting a precious child.
“Or has sister’s orbit become so shaken that you feel wary of such a small, insignificant speck?”
…
Eunhwa’s face hardened for a brief moment. It was likely because the great mistake she had recently made had flashed through her mind. The girl did not miss that change.
“Sister. Uncle was sad. He said sister had engraved remnants that defiled heaven.”
“…I know. This record of sin will soon pay its proper price.”
“No, you don’t have to. The orbit sister has embroidered so far can easily cover over such tremors. Uncle didn’t say he would do anything in particular.”
Eunhwa’s brow furrowed. It was disgust at having her own path judged arbitrarily.
“How much of this past did Bermolt read?”
“Who knows. He said something about the arrogant queen of the east, and how being entangled with her pillar must have been difficult even for sister.”
…
“Uncle seemed more concerned about Gluttony disappearing too early.”
The extinction of Gluttony. She too had sensed that dissonance and had been wandering nearby. ‘Observer, this must be your doing.’ The day she had encountered that man and the time of that clan’s extinction had almost perfectly overlapped.
Eunhwa fell silent, trapped in suspicion. The girl quietly observed her, then turned on her heel.
“…Then I’ll be going now, sister.”
Velvet stepped back from Eunhwa and took the hand the grotesque woman offered.
“Didn’t you have business with me?”
“I only came to tell you this. You don’t visit the nest very often.”
“What happened with the plague’s calamity?”
“That clown woman will take care of it. It’s probably already over.”
“…I see. Understood. I will continue to pray for your orbit.”
“Yeah. See you later.”
With those final words, the girl walked toward the other side of the ruins. Eunhwa also turned in the opposite direction, as if her business here was finished.
—Was it really over?
“..Did you have more to say?”
“Sister.”
Whoosh. The grotesque hand descended over Eunhwa’s nape. Velvet, who had approached in an instant from directly behind, was now looking down at her from within the woman’s embrace. Eunhwa’s eyes immediately grew cold. She radiated quiet killing intent toward the pair appraising her.
“Actually, I… I overheard it faintly near you that time.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You know. The name of the Faceless God came up, didn’t it?”
“—!”
Her pupils shook violently.
“The worms that follow us, the fools who pretend to read the stars—none of them can ever know that name. It is the first language known only to the Five Stars.”
…
“So why, in front of a mere speck of a human like that, did ‘that name’ come out of your mouth? Why?? Don’t tell me, sister—.”
“—Do not make hasty judgments with your baseless delusions, Velvet.”
She stared directly at Velvet’s head. The emotion in her eyes was extreme. It was not an emotion that should be directed at someone who walked the same path. Immediately, the pitch-black woman let out a bizarre sound. Her enormous body began to writhe wildly, as if about to unleash something.
—Whoosh, crackle.
Authority. Crimson flames erupted from beneath the grotesque being’s feet and devoured its flesh. The burned flesh turned to black ash and scattered into the air—but at the same time, as if thick ink were spreading across the vanished surface, a black form overlaid it and regenerated.
“Do not be shaken by the nonsense that insignificant beings spew so carelessly. It was nothing more than bravado they picked up somewhere.”
“No. That name is not a milestone that can be casually spoken or lightly tossed around. Knowing it or not changes one’s very understanding of the world.”
“Even if you give a monkey the Tome of Omnipotence, can it comprehend its providence? The miracles we engrave are not a realm that can be so easily trespassed upon.”
“…Then. At the very least, you should have taken its life.”
Eunhwa slowly shifted her gaze.
“…Do not worry. I do not know about the Queen’s pillar, but I have severed that one’s orbit there.”
“Is that true?”
At Velvet’s question, she quietly closed her eyes and nodded. However, the hand gripping her sword hilt was clenched with great force. If necessary, right here—.
“…Okay. Sister doesn’t lie.”
Drop. The thick killing intent vanished. It was because the woman and Velvet had stepped back on their own. The flames burning at the grotesque being’s feet had already died down as well. A faint emotion surfaced in Eunhwa’s narrowed eyes. Was it sorrow?
“…I am ashamed. To have shown you a side of me that is unlike myself.”
“No, sister. When I think of the times you embraced me, I actually like seeing you shaken like this.”
Shhhk—. From behind the grotesque being, the massive head of a black snake stretched out. At the same time, the grotesque woman embraced the girl and floated gently into the air.
“I’ll be going. See you later, sister.”
“…Yes.”
As soon as the words ended, Velvet’s form receded into the distance beyond the sky. Eunhwa, who had been staring at her back for a long time, soon turned away as well.
…
Twilight-colored eyes staring into empty space. They seemed to hold indelible regret for the past. The Faceless God. The first time she had realized that name was in a past when she possessed nothing. It was also the sole salvation that had allowed her to stand in this place now. Even if this body were to burn from soul to flesh alongside the fall of the stars, the longing to stand before that existence would remain clearer and deeper than any oath.
A sky dyed gray. At a speed difficult for human eyes to follow, a grotesque form was flying. It was the pitch-black grotesque being carrying the girl.
…
The girl’s deep golden eyes sank heavily. Velvet felt incredibly sad about this situation. It was because the third person she cherished most in the world had just become distant in a way that felt utterly alien.
“Mom. Do you think the same as me?”
The black grotesque being looked down at the girl, then quietly nodded. It was a truly benevolent smile. It looked like the form of a parent who would embrace anything.
“…You’re right. Sister is hiding something.”
The girl’s gaze turned toward the distant sky. She didn’t really understand the grand cause or whatever it was that the group she belonged to proclaimed. The only thing that weighed on her mind was the unfamiliar change she had felt from the person she sincerely followed.
“I’m sorry, sister. I’ll confirm it with my own eyes.”
The pitch-black grotesque being and the girl cut across the sky without hesitation. The direction of their orbit was east.