Player Who Became A Constellation [EN]: Chapter 212

212

The inns were always fully booked, no matter where you went.

Especially in the Ner region, you had to book months in advance to secure accommodation.

However, the more astute innkeepers had a contingency plan…

“Here you go.”

They kept one or two luxurious rooms vacant for wealthy individuals who could casually spend large sums of money.

The innkeeper looked surprised at the leather pouch the purple-haired woman handed over.

“We’d like to dine here.”

The innkeeper smiled and said,

“Of course. But are you perhaps students from Valhalla…?”

At first, he thought they were noble young ladies or daughters of famous merchants.

But their attire was that of Valhalla Academy.

Moreover, all three had an air of nobility, clearly scions of prestigious families.

“That’s right.”

“Ah! I see.”

They were frequently seen in the Ner region these days.

The academy in Asgard had summoned talents from all over the continent. They must have come to gain practical experience due to the unstable security in the Ner region.

However, having only seen the stalwart Norse warriors, the innkeeper couldn’t help but see the three before him as mere fledglings.

‘Cute kids.’

“…That’s not a very nice look.”

Sharin frowned at the innkeeper’s fond gaze, and the innkeeper immediately adopted a serious expression, as if nothing had happened.

“Ah, my apologies. Will there be three for dinner? Then I’ll prepare the outdoor balcony on the second floor.”

“Prepare the most expensive and delicious dishes this inn has to offer.”

“Of course!”

Befriending wealthy nobles always led to good fortune.

Knowing this rule, the innkeeper treated Sharin and her party with utmost care.

Sharin, Loki, and the cleric Egil took their seats on the second-floor balcony.

“It’s been so long! Rumors were rife that you had disappeared. What happened?”

Sharin asked Loki, her eyes sparkling.

Loki sat down and shrugged.

“I just did some traveling.”

“Traveling? Where to?”

“……”

Sitting between the two, Egil wore a deeply nervous expression.

He felt like his mind was fading.

Initially, he had come as a hostage on a pilgrimage.

There, he had a harrowing experience being attacked by angels, and later, he trained at the academy as a student.

In the process, he became acquainted with Sharin and Loki before him.

Egil, who had thought Loki was just an ordinary Norseman, was shocked after Pope Zaus’s grand announcement.

The one before his eyes was none other than…

‘A Constellation.’

The Constellation of the End.

Recalling that fact, Egil staggered and gripped the table with his hand.

Otherwise, he felt like he would lose his balance and fall to the floor.

However…

“…What are you doing, you idiot?”

“……”

Whether she knew his feelings or not, Sharin was as inconsiderate as ever.

“Princess Crone… Even if you’re free-spirited, don’t speak carelessly in front of a Constellation.”

Was she overexcited? Her words were harsher than usual.

She was like a runaway horse, her mouth running wild.

She paused, startled, and glanced at Loki before clearing her throat.

“I apologize. Constellation-nim [term of respect]….”

“Just call me Loki.”

“Ah, then Loki-nim. Does Loki-nim being here mean… are you here to catch the escaped test subject in the Ner region?”

“Yes, I came at Hans’s request. He suggested that if the incident in the Ner region wasn’t resolved even after I arrived, I should step in.”

“I see. Did you come alone?”

“I came with three companions. They must be searching right now.”

Helga knows how to handle evil spirits.

Spreading evil spirits in this city will help gather information.

Sælót was agile and had good hearing.

He’ll be speeding through the city, collecting news.

Karen also has a good sense of smell, making her perfect for tracking things other than humans.

“I see. Then, how about searching with us? We’ve also narrowed down specific individuals for investigation.”

“Specific individuals?”

“Yes, merchants and nobles in the Ner region. If angels haven’t been discovered until now, it means someone must be hiding them.”

“Oh ho.”

“We’ve asked the soldiers to search the surrounding people, but it’s not as good as seeing it for ourselves. So, tomorrow, let’s go around together.”

Loki nodded.

“How many suspected individuals are there?”

Sharin smiled and said,

“26 people!”

***

Sharin shared her thoughts with her peers, and they split up to begin their search.

However, in the Ner region, where trade was active, the number of merchant groups and nobles visiting each day was at least several dozen.

If you include small-scale individual merchants, peddlers, and nobles who came for travel purposes, it would reach hundreds.

Among them, the number of organizations large enough to secretly smuggle angels was 26.

Loki, Sharin, and Egil began searching them.

Most of the nobles were fine.

The merchants seemed displeased with having their goods inspected one by one, but they readily complied, knowing that disrupting trade with Asgard would result in enormous losses.

“Nothing suspicious.”

Egil checked the goods.

He looked at the pottery surrounded by straw and shook his head from side to side.

Next to him, as if proving they were slave traders, there were iron bars and demi-humans [human-like creatures] imprisoned throughout the warehouse.

Sharin’s confident expression gradually turned anxious, and she began to glance at Loki next to her.

She thought her judgment was quite realistic, and she spent half a day visiting merchant groups and noble families, searching.

But… she couldn’t find any trace of angels.

“There aren’t many noble families and merchant groups left.”

At Loki’s words, Sharin nodded and bit her nails.

She thought it was an opportunity to showcase her abilities.

Showing it directly to Asgard’s Constellation and top authority figure would earn her considerable recognition.

If that happened, she thought it would be a good opportunity to give her brother, who had abandoned her, a proper blow.

Things weren’t going well.

Loki looked around the warehouse. His eyes turned blue.

Using search magic, footprints appeared around the warehouse.

Loki’s eyes turned, examining the traces of the footprints.

There were footprints of various sizes, but there were also animal footprints presumed to be from ‘inhuman things.’

‘This is…?’

Hooves?

It was also a cow.

Loki looked around.

Sure enough, outside the warehouse, a cow was waiting to carry the load.

Around it, demi-human slaves were busily moving.

However, the cow didn’t seem to enter this warehouse.

Loki’s gaze followed the hooves, but they had disappeared somewhere.

It was as if they had evaporated into thin air.

“……”

Loki turned his gaze.

Dusk was falling outside the warehouse.

The time to end the search was approaching.

“Um… excuse me. Great warriors of Asgard.”

At that moment, a man who appeared to be the owner of the merchant group cautiously approached, looking around.

He was a man with chubby cheeks and a plump physique.

Dressed in luxurious red robes and adorned with gold and jewels, he wrung his hands and sweated profusely.

“We, we operate legally and are confident that there’s nothing wrong. If we delay any longer, we might not make our appointment time….”

“No. There are many problems.”

Sharin looked at the list in her hand.

“There are many items not listed.”

“Yes?”

“The items in the boxes we looked through. All of them were excluded from the list. What’s going on?”

“Ah… that’s… that….”

“The number of traded goods doesn’t match either. In this case, there will be a difference from the taxes to be paid to Asgard, right?”

Sharin glared at the merchant and pressed the list against his chest as if to interrogate him.

“What’s going on?”

“I, I’m sorry! I was momentarily blinded by money! I’ll properly, properly rewrite it and submit it again!”

The merchant group owner trembled and bowed his head.

Sharin sighed at the sight.

A terrified appearance.

Judging from his appearance, this merchant didn’t seem to have much guts.

There was no way such a person would do something as daring as smuggling angels.

Helping angels meant beheading.

‘But he did deceive us.’

They went around the merchant groups, but in many cases, they had different lists for the purpose of evading taxes.

It meant that corrupt merchant groups were gradually flowing into Asgard.

Giving the merchant groups a sense of awareness in that regard was a good thing, but…

‘I couldn’t find it after all.’

Sharin said to Loki with regret.

“…It seems there’s nothing wrong here either…. Loki-nim?”

Loki felt a strange gaze.

He turned his head to the side and looked at the place where the demi-human slaves were working.

Among them, two slaves were staring blankly at Loki.

One was a beautiful woman, and the other was a young boy.

They were demi-human slaves who appeared to be mother and son.

The one who appeared to be the mother mouthed.

-Please save my son!

No sound was heard.

Only a stifled voice was heard.

It was just the work of a slave. It was impossible to save them all one by one.

But Loki noticed something unusual.

The inside of the demi-human’s mouth as she mouthed.

“She has no tongue.”

All the demi-humans had their tongues and vocal cords cut and damaged.

At Loki’s words, the merchant group owner said with an awkward expression.

“Yes, aren’t they slaves? Especially the slaves working in the merchant groups mostly have their tongues cut.”

It was a pretext to prevent them from complaining about the merchant group… but in reality,

It was used to prevent the demi-humans from harboring resentment and running away to reveal the merchant group’s weaknesses elsewhere.

The more corrupt the merchant group, the more often they would blind or deafen them, not just their mouths.

“I’ll buy those slaves.”

“Yes?”

The merchant group owner wore an awkward expression.

“I’m sorry. We don’t sell our slaves.”

It was related to the merchant group’s secrets.

Labor slaves were items that must be secured.

Above all, the demi-human woman was a slave that the merchant group owner liked.

“I’ll pay money.”

“No, no matter how much you give….”

“How about gold?”

Sharin, who was quick-witted, took out a pouch filled with gold from her bosom.

The merchant group owner blinked.

‘…It’ll be okay.’

He had to rewrite the trade list anyway, so he was about to incur a huge fine.

With the gold to cover it right in front of his eyes, it felt like an irresistible temptation for the merchant group owner.

They were slaves with their tongues cut anyway. They probably didn’t know how to read either….

It was difficult to interrogate those slaves, and most of the problems could be resolved with a fine….

“Then…. I’ll sell them.”

As Loki and his party disappeared with the two slaves, the merchant group owner sighed in relief.

“Hoo…. What on earth is going on…. Damn it, I’m going to have to pay taxes and fines!”

The merchant group owner hurriedly shouted at the demi-human slaves.

“Work faster! Why are you so slow!”

At the merchant group owner’s words, the demi-humans moved busily.

“What’s wrong with those guys these days?”

The demi-humans were terrified.

“Why are their movements so sluggish these days….”

“Merchant group owner-nim [term of respect].”

“Oh, Geric!”

A slender middle-aged man approached the merchant group owner.

It was the vice-merchant group owner, Geric.

“Where are you wandering around when I’m busy!”

“I’m sorry. Haha… I was on my way back from sending a letter…, I heard the Asgardian army came.”

“Yeah, three continental people like fledglings came and rummaged through this warehouse.”

“Is that so? Perhaps… was anything problematic discovered…?”

“Yeah!”

“……”

“They checked our goods list. Damn it, I’m going to have to pay a huge fine thanks to them. I didn’t expect them to do a surprise inspection like this… but it’s strange.”

The merchant group owner tilted his head.

“I also cheated on the number of slaves quite a bit. About 7 or 8 of them were missing, but the numbers matched perfectly. Damn it, did the slaves run away somewhere without me knowing!? Geric, find out quickly. If they ran away, you’ll have to take responsibility!”

“I, I’m sorry! I’ll check it out!”

“It’s a relief though. The number of slaves matched perfectly. And the money to pay the fine to Asgard was resolved well.”

Geric was relieved at those words.

“I see. That-.”

Geric’s gaze turned, and the slave demi-humans working trembled at his gaze.

“That’s very fortunate.”