Player Who Became A Constellation [EN]: Chapter 171

171

Guided by the patrolmen, Johan traversed the forest shrouded in pitch-black darkness, eventually reaching a valley where a waterfall cascaded down.

There stood a cabin, seemingly a shelter for hunters to rest.

Behind the cabin, past the waterfall, was the small entrance to a cave.

Numerous people holding torches were gathered there.

All were wearing hoods, some with sacks over their faces, resisting as they were led by soldiers into the cave.

Johan was among them.

It seemed many were being brought in, captured by the Black Arbiters.

Most were dragged, but some must have succumbed to their temptations.

‘Understandable.’

In despair, they would scramble to find hope.

Johan, too, had sought hope….

The cave was like an ant nest, branching out into dozens of paths.

Food storage, weapon storage, shelters, and… even cages holding Wight [undead creatures].

It was quite extensive.

‘I heard there were quite a few Black Arbiters hiding in the Kartal Kingdom, but….’

…I never imagined it would be this many.

The corners of Johan’s lips twitched upward.

When a soldier noticed Johan, Johan wore a frightened expression.

“……?”

What was that? I just felt a chill down my spine?

The soldier shook off the unease and placed a hand on Johan’s shoulder.

“Do not be too nervous.”

“…….”

“His Highness has made the right choice. His Highness has not abandoned his people, and those people will now be saved under the grace of the Preacher.”

The Preacher?

Just as Johan was puzzled, they reached the deepest part of the cave.

There was a large hall, and at its center was a platform, surrounded by numerous people.

On the platform was a large bonfire, where a cow was being burned alive, its skin peeled off.

Around it, people cheered at the sight.

“Food, it’s food!”

“There’s food!”

Starving, they swallowed hard, eyes fixed on the roasting meat.

“Everyone, come quickly!”

An old man in ornate sacred robes stood on the platform, arms outstretched.

“I welcome you all!”

Looking at the old man, the followers shouted.

“Preacher!”

“Give us food, poor as we are!”

It was a frenzied cry.

Numerous arms flailed in the air.

The old man nodded repeatedly at the sight.

He seemed moved by the fact that there were followers who desired him, his eyes closing tightly.

Tears streamed down his face.

“Ah, so many true followers to rebuild the fallen sacred nation. His Holiness the Emperor will be truly pleased.”

Johan was dumbfounded at the sight.

Is he… genuinely moved?

The old man turned to the armored Black Arbiters and said.

“Proceed with the ritual.”

The Black Arbiters lifted the well-cooked cow and placed it on the platform.

They drew their swords and began to cut the meat.

Slices of meat were placed one by one on plates.

“Cut it into small pieces so the followers can eat easily.”

At the old man’s words, the Black Arbiters nodded and took out a bottle filled with wriggling Worm Fest [a type of parasitic worm].

They sprinkled it over the meat.

The Worm Fest burrowed into the beef, hiding in every crevice.

“It is complete.”

“Good.”

At that moment, the patrolman who had brought Johan shouted to the old man.

“Preacher!”

“Hm?”

“We have brought His Highness, Johan.”

The hall instantly erupted into chaos at those words.

“Johan? Johan Kartal?”

“The King of the Kartal Kingdom!?”

“H-His Highness is here!?”

The followers revealed astonished expressions.

“Oh! Is that so? Finally, the King of Kartal has decided to serve His Holiness the Emperor? Perhaps it is because he inherited the blood of the former king that he made such a wise decision!”

The old man gestured.

“Come this way-! Bring something to drink!”

A Black Arbiter brought two glasses of wine and handed them to the old man.

Johan was led onto the platform by the patrolman.

Even so, his gaze flickered towards the followers.

Among them were some noticeable figures.

Nobles who had fled to Kanta Fortress were here.

“Here, take this, Your Highness.”

Johan glanced indifferently at the nobles before turning his head.

The old man was kneeling, offering a glass of wine.

Johan quietly accepted the glass.

“Thank you for coming. With Your Highness’s wise choice, we will be able to rebuild the sacred nation. No, we will reign as a nation even more powerful than before!”

“…….”

The old man rose from his seat and clinked his glass against Johan’s.

Then, he spread his arms towards the followers and said.

“I am so glad that you have gathered here! You will abandon this old, corrupt body and be reborn with a new body in a new era!”

The Sacred Order had fallen.

But now, its revival was near.

As long as there was war, there would be those in despair, and their persuasion would be even easier.

“To give wandering lambs a warm nest and food to eat their fill, what a merciful salvation this is! Hail His Holiness the Emperor!”

At the old man’s cry, the surrounding followers spread their arms and shouted.

“Hail His Holiness the Emperor!”

“Hail Palas, the Savior!”

Cultists.

That’s what Johan thought.

“Today, it is not just you who have come. Behold! The master of this country, His Highness the King of Kartal, has also arrived!”

The old man looked at Johan with a deep smile.

It was none other than royalty.

The fact that a royal, not a commoner or a noble, had come here was significant.

If the king of a country became a Black Arbiter, most of the refugees from the Kartal Kingdom could be drawn in.

The thousands of refugees Johan had brought.

They would become an immortal legion.

Even if it took time, they could be brainwashed and converted one by one.

“Give them also the food of salvation from His Holiness the Emperor-!”

At the old man’s words, the Black Arbiters began to distribute the beef infused with Worm Fest to the followers.

Johan also received a plate.

Johan stared wide-eyed at the meat crawling with worms.

It was utterly repulsive.

Eat this? Indeed, they were cultists.

“The Worm Fest you will eat is no ordinary Worm Fest! It contains a very special blessing that allows you to become immortal.”

The old man approached Johan and placed his hand on his shoulder.

“Behold. The sight of this man becoming immortal! His Highness will soon be reborn as an apostle of God!”

The old man looked at Johan and said.

“Now, shout! Your Highness. Judgment upon the heretics…!”

Johan finally opened his mouth.

“Judgment upon the heretics.”

A deep voice, unlike that of a child, flowed out.

“Hm?”

The old man looked at Johan.

Johan opened his mouth and said.

“All of you.”

He tilted his head with a deep smile.

“Will die here.”

Thump-!

A roar echoed, and the cave trembled.

The old man staggered and looked up at the cave ceiling.

Dust fell.

“W-What’s going on…?”

“Preacher!”

The old man turned his head.

A Black Arbiter ran from the entrance of the hall.

“A-An attack!”

“What?”

“The N-Nordics… are attacking-!”

The N-Nordics?!

The old man was terrified.

Were they not a clan of professional hunters who hunted Black Arbiters!?

Why were they here…?!

The old man paused in surprise and turned to look at Johan.

“You.”

“Hahaha!”

Johan laughed.

The veins on the old man’s forehead bulged, and he glared at Johan with anger-filled eyes.

“You betrayed us!”

The old man stepped back and pointed.

“Execute that traitor!”

The Black Arbiters charged at his cry.

In response, a black afterimage swirled.

Kwaaaack-!

The body of the charging Black Arbiter was split in two and floated into the air.

The Black Arbiters, their bodies severed, stared at Johan with disbelief.

A massive greatsword, impossible for a small body to wield, was gripped in his hand.

‘What…!?’

The bisected Black Arbiter rolled on the floor.

Blood splattered everywhere.

The old man’s eyes widened.

“You, who, who are you!?”

It wasn’t Johan.

There was no way that young king possessed such power!

The old man retreated, and Johan turned his head to meet the old man’s eyes.

“Me, you ask?”

Johan walked towards the old man.

With each step, black currents and liquids gushed out from his entire body, undulating. His appearance began to change gradually.

The old man’s cheeks began to tremble in fear as he watched Johan grow larger.

“Who am I?”

A man wearing a crow mask.

Seeing that figure, the old man opened his mouth.

“…T-The King of the Nords.”

“Correct.”

Loki brought down the greatsword.

***

“Uwaaaaaaack!”

The greatsword was swung.

The bodies of the Black Arbiters were split in two and fell to the floor.

“Ugh-!”

Loki passed by and crushed with his foot a Black Arbiter who, even after being cut, was still alive and crawling.

“S-Save me!”

The followers were busy hiding.

Even so, they covered their ears at the screams of the Black Arbiters.

They had hoped for salvation.

But what was this!

In the end, the Black Arbiters were just like them.

They were just beings fleeing from the same despair as themselves.

Yes, to the man in the crow mask before them, they were weak beings fleeing.

“Shoot!”

Arrows and bolts flew.

Loki neither dodged nor blocked.

The arrows and bolts hit the crow mask and bounced off.

“……!”

‘A-No attack is working!’

In a way, it was obvious.

The opponent was the one who had purged the giant who had destroyed the capital of the sacred nation.

There was no way that a few dozen Black Arbiters could stop such a person.

“R-Run away!”

“Abandon this base!”

The Black Arbiters turned to head towards the cave entrance.

Bang-!

The waterfall exploded, water splashing everywhere.

Thud-!

The Black Arbiters heading for the entrance were cleanly cut in half or burned black and collapsed to the floor.

The surviving Black Arbiters looked ahead and saw a bear wielding a warhammer, the same man, and a female warrior following behind him.

Between the two, a young boy trembled in fear.

Johan Kartal.

He swallowed hard and said quietly.

“…I, I told you the truth. I-Is it done now?”

“No.”

The Black Arbiters turned around.

Loki in the crow mask was visible.

“You still haven’t told me the location of His Holiness Palas.”

Loki ignored the Black Arbiters and approached Johan.

Kankun and Kudan brushed past Loki, hunting down the remaining Black Arbiters.

“Where is His Holiness Palas?”

“…I’ll tell you. But….”

There was something to be resolved before that.

“The Veled Kingdom army is heading to Kanta Fortress. They will now… covet Asgard’s ‘possessions.’ So….”

Johan said to Loki.

“Please eliminate them.”

***

“His Highness Johan’s whereabouts are unknown.”

“Are you even saying that right now!?”

The nobles of Kartal shouted angrily.

They had barely escaped the invasion of Asgard and come to this Kanta Fortress.

But Kanta Fortress had already been occupied by an unidentified mercenary group.

However, they did not trample on them like the Asgardian army.

Rather, after talking with His Highness Johan, they distributed supplies, so they were only wary, taking a breather and preparing to leave with Johan to another country.

But now, the situation had changed.

Johan had disappeared, and the Veled Kingdom army was coming to Kanta Fortress.

A steep path in the mountain range far from Kanta Fortress.

Torches were visible there.

Clang-! Clang-!

The sound of armor echoed loudly from the mountain path.

The glitter of countless weapons.

“Now everything is over!”

The nobles and refugees lamented.

The Veled Kingdom army descended the path.

Among them was a knight with a splendid sword and shield.

The vanguard of the Veled army.

A royal who had received a weapon from the Constellation of Light.

Daliat Veled.

Veled’s hero had arrived at Kanta Fortress.

The nobles said urgently.

“What about the other paths?”

A soldier raised his head and looked at the sky.

In the distance, flames were rising from each of the other paths.

They had been instructed to raise beacons in case of emergency.

“…The remaining three paths also have the Veled Kingdom army.”

In the end, it meant that the future of Kanta Fortress was decided.

The nobles looked at each other.

“There’s no chance of winning. Prepare the ships and retreat the army to the back door. I will take a ship to the neighboring kingdoms of Nesis or Laryas.”

“…The request for asylum has not yet been accepted.”

“There’s no choice. I’d rather use force than die to those bastards.”

The nobles looked at the refugees in front of the fortress, screaming.

“Still, the young king properly threw a bait.”

Numerous refugees.

While they were being massacred, they would buy time for themselves to escape.

Just as the nobles were turning their backs.

“W-Wait, what is that guy?!”

At the soldier’s words, the nobles turned their heads to look at the soldier.

The soldier pointed to one place with a blank expression.

“Look over there!”

The nobles soon frowned.

“What is it? That crazy bastard.”

A single man was blocking the path of the Veled Kingdom army.

A black-and-white-haired man stood tall before the Veled army, carrying a greatsword.

A mercenary hired by Johan.

It was Loki.