Player Who Became A Constellation [EN]: Chapter 187

Player Who Became a Constellation – Episode 187

“Please accept these.”

Paul handed Loki two robes.

“What are these?”

Salad, who was next to him, asked curiously.

They were robes made of an unknown leather.

Salad sniffed and frowned at the worse-than-expected stench.

“Those alive are dangerous here. As they are spirits of the Underworld, many hate the living.”

“Are you saying we’ll be attacked?”

Paul nodded at Loki’s words.

“Dead souls are always hungry. And to satisfy that hunger… the vitality of the living is the best.”

“The characteristic of attacking the living remains the same in both the mortal realm and the Underworld.”

Salad tilted his head, looking at the robe.

“What… what kind of leather is this made of?”

“Hu….”

“No, don’t tell me.”

Salad frowned and put on the robe.

“This is all I can do to help. I can’t delay the ferryman’s work any longer….”

“What changes when you do the ferryman’s work?”

Paul took out a small bottle from his pocket.

It contained clean water.

“This has the effect of purifying the souls of the spirits and restoring the decayed flesh. Spirits who wish for reincarnation would want this no matter what.”

Reincarnation….

The Azellan Constellation created reincarnation for the cycle of souls.

Of course, it was only possible if the soul was purified beforehand.

“To obtain this, you need one of two things. One is gold. The other is fingernails. Gold is used as a special currency only by ferrymen or nobles of the Underworld. Otherwise, everything is traded with fingernails.”

“Is it a problem if we use gold?”

Paul nodded.

“Yes, especially the nobles of the Underworld won’t stand still. Friction with the nobles is a clash with the army… so please trade with fingernails as much as possible.”

“Thanks for the advice.”

Paul bowed his head.

“I hope you obtain the information of those you seek here. Then, I’ll be on my way….”

Paul trudged away, showing his back, and Lapilta and Alber followed him.

Loki and Salad turned their gaze.

The city of spirits.

Arata.

That was the first destination in the Underworld.

***

Just as people living in the world are similar, so was the city of Arata in the Underworld.

There was a market, there were spirits, and they lived as they did in their previous lives.

Slap-!

“Move it! Move it!”

A hunchbacked ghoul with gray, gaunt skin, wearing a mask, wielded a whip.

The zombies hit by his whip staggered, carrying materials.

Slave zombies with only their vital parts covered.

Loki looked at them and felt a strange familiarity.

‘…Reminds me of the slaves of Kron.’

There were quite a few masked trainers in the Kron Empire as well.

Since it’s a place where the dead gather, the cultures must be mixed.

It was quite a mysterious sight for Loki and Salad.

Most of the undead spirits were leisurely strolling around the streets, and except for the foul stench of decay, they reflected the same 모습 [appearance] as humans living.

It was, in a way, natural.

They were once living humans….

“Ugh….”

Salad looked at the food in the market, covered his nose, and made a disgusted expression.

Rotten chunks of meat were being grilled, and they were even selling eyeball candies, with real eyeballs skewered on skewers.

Salad looked around the market street and followed Loki.

“Where are we going now?”

“The place to go is obvious.”

The lifestyles of humans and spirits were not that different.

And if they were acting as they did in their previous lives, wouldn’t the place where the most information gathers be obvious?

Clang-!

A bell rings.

The interior was filled with spirits occupying each table.

Spirits with maggots on their jerky, holding cards in their hands.

Spirits chatting.

Even spirits drinking alcohol made of unknown ingredients.

At the sound of the ringing bell, they turned their heads and looked towards the entrance.

Seeing Loki and Salad wearing robes, they lost interest and went back to what they were doing.

The place they came to was an inn.

Loki headed to the counter, and Salad followed behind, scanning the surroundings.

He watched the spirits drinking alcohol and saw a bulletin board in the corner of the inn.

‘Ah! There’s something like that too.’

It was something that was often seen in inns in the mortal realm.

In connection with the Adventurer’s Guild, quest lists were placed on the bulletin board in the inn.

Salad curiously examined the bulletin board.

[Subjugation of Thieves].

‘There are thieves in the Underworld too?’

It seems that thieves, unable to break their habits, die, become spirits, and then steal again.

Salad turned his gaze to another request.

[Subjugation of Rebels]

Rebellion?

There are rebels in this Underworld too?

Well, that lich named Paul said that there were nobles.

So there could be rebels.

Salad carefully examined the rebel subjugation request and soon tilted his head.

The request also had an illustration, which showed a woman wearing a mask. It seemed to be an elf with long ears through the mask.

‘That 모습 [appearance] looks familiar somehow.’

But the reason Salad was tilting his head was nothing special. The name of the elf spirit in the request was familiar.

“Yu…ra?”

A maid and bodyguard who assisted his father.

The name of the dark elf who was Salad’s nanny when he was young.

But… she couldn’t be a rebel in the Underworld.

‘It, it must be a mistake….’

Salad turned his gaze and looked at another request.

[Subjugation of Hydra]

There were also monster subjugation requests.

However, the difference was that it was a legendary monster.

“…….”

Meanwhile, Loki was troubled as he looked at the innkeeper at the counter.

There is no head.

Only the body is silently wiping the dishes.

…Should I talk to this guy?

If I talk to a guy without a head, will I be able to hear the story?

As he was thinking that, a voice came from behind the headless body.

“What will you order?”

When Loki raised his head, he saw a head placed on the shelf.

The innkeeper was a Dullahan [a headless horseman in Irish folklore].

“Is there anything you want?”

“…I want to get information.”

It was a sight that would horrify humans, but it seemed common here.

“Information… If you pay the price, I can give you as much as you want.”

Loki opened a leather pouch, showed the fingernails inside, and held it out.

“Is this enough?”

“…That’s a lot. Judging by your appearance, you seem to be a newbie who just came to this Underworld.”

The innkeeper gave a look of pity.

“Half of this is enough.”

The innkeeper grabbed the fingernails in the pouch and put them in a jar, as if storing them.

“What do you want?”

“Do you know about a blacksmith named Canus?”

“Hmm, Canus… I don’t know. What kind of spirit is he?”

“He is 3m tall. Red skin. He has horns on his head.”

“He doesn’t seem to be human. With those characteristics, he should be widely known, but I don’t know.”

“Is that so? Then… do you know a guy named Calibre? He is a dark elf and a man.”

As the topic shifted to his interests, Salad scurried over and sat next to Loki.

The innkeeper looked at Salad and moved his hand to fetch water from the jar and placed it in front of Salad.

Of course, it wasn’t clean water, so Salad just stared at it.

“Calibre? A dark elf with the name Calibre…. Hmm… Hmm… Huh? I feel like I remember, but I don’t. Wait a moment….”

The body lifted the head on the shelf and brought it to the neck.

The innkeeper, with his body and head connected, stroked his neck and tilted his head.

“If I feel like I remember something this much, it means he’s a considerable big shot….”

“Do you know something!?”

When Salad asked urgently, the innkeeper clapped his hands as if he remembered something.

“I remember. He is the leader of the rebels who rebelled against Natos, the Constellation of Death, the king of the Underworld.”

Salad showed a surprised look.

“As far as I know, the Spirit Palace is chasing him.”

“Spirit Palace?”

The innkeeper turned his gaze to Loki and said.

“It is the royal palace where Natos, the Constellation of Death, resides. There is an army directly under that palace, and they are chasing the rebels.”

Zaus said that the Constellation of Death was holding Canus, so it might be faster to go to the royal palace of the Underworld, the ‘Spirit Palace.’

“Judging by your appearance, you seem to be aiming for something big… but you won’t be able to catch the leader of the rebels. If my memory is vague, it means it’s a story that happened at least decades or hundreds of years ago.”

Loki nodded.

“Even a little information is good. Tell me what you know.”

“Hmm, then there is a rumor that the rebels have thieves under their command, so you can get information by subjugating the thieves. Recently, they moved their base to the Hydra’s nest, so the Spirit Palace seems to be having difficulties in many ways. Well, you can get information there.”

Even while speaking, the innkeeper looked around.

And he whispered softly to the two.

“By the way, there is a rumor that the Hydra’s nest is full of gold, so the nobles seem to be preparing to subjugate it as well. If you want to make a fortune, try participating.”

“…I’ll keep that in mind. Ah, do you happen to sell maps too?”

At Loki’s words, the innkeeper nodded.

He handed over a map, and Loki took the pouch of fingernails he had.

Loki received the map.

“The Hydra’s flames melt the flesh and burn the soul, so if you want to reincarnate, you should be careful.”

At those words, Loki nodded.

From the innkeeper’s words, he was able to learn some of the characteristics of the Underworld.

It seems that the dead in the Underworld restore their bodies as long as their souls are not damaged.

Here, damage to the soul is complete death.

It means that as long as the soul is safe, it’s okay.

“Thanks for the good information. I’ll stay for a day. Do you have accommodation too?”

The first goal has been set.

It was the subjugation of thieves and Hydra.

***

The next day, the thief and Hydra subjugation forces gathered in the square of Arata.

They were commanded by a Death Knight.

As he led the way, riding a skeletal horse, countless skeleton and zombie soldiers moved behind him, followed by adventurer spirits.

Loki and Salad also followed behind them.

The Hydra was the most hideous monster in this Underworld.

Because it spewed out a breath that burned even the soul, it was a target that had to be subjugated periodically.

Each head had excellent regenerative power, and it could give eternal ‘silence’ to the spirits who avoided death, so they always had to be nervous when subjugating it.

But what they faced was not the monstrous Hydra.

“Kieeeeeeeek!”

The nine heads of the giant Hydra fell into the swamp stained with blood and flesh.

Thud-!

Flames were erupting from the place where the head was cut off.

They set fire to prevent it from regenerating again.

“Hoo….”

There was a being standing tall on the fallen back of such a Hydra.

In one hand, he held a bone spear, and in the other, he held a torch.

A giant body well over 3m.

An old general holding a spear suitable for his height in his hand.

‘…One Hydra was too boring….’

The light in his helmet flashed.

The spirits staggered and their faces turned pale.

The spirits knew who the person in front of them was.

“Good prey has come.”

This is the one who is said to have hunted the Demon King on the continent.

One of the 12 heroes.

“Will you entertain me?”

Turam the Destroyer.

He flashed his eyes as he looked at the subjugation force where Loki and Salad were.