Player Who Became A Constellation [EN]: Chapter 58

58. The Player Who Became a Constellation

Chapter 58

Asgard is a newly formed nation. Moreover, Loki is the de facto ruler of the Norse.

To disregard such an entity is akin to laughing and pointing fingers at the king’s face, diplomatically equivalent to declaring ‘war.’

Even a minor, weak nation would find it a sufficient cause for war.

‘Trampling on key figures of Lonia, right in their main base, subduing them easily with only 100 men!’

That would serve as a warning to other countries as well.

‘Don’t underestimate us, or you’ll get hurt.’

Aum smiled and bowed slightly. The gesture seemed exaggerated and mocking, but Ash mistook it for Aum’s clumsy reaction to being flustered.

“Thank you. I am honored by your words. It seems our Berserker warriors are tired and in need of proper rest. A feast would be good for morale.”

Aum was openly saying, ‘Prepare a feast!’

‘We should receive some fine food at least.’

Aum wanted to treat the Berserker warriors to proper continental cuisine.

Ash was secretly pleased.

Requesting a feast meant they wanted ‘diplomacy.’

Clearly, they wanted something from him.

“Good! Let’s do that!”

“Then we will finish preparations to leave by tonight.”

“Please do. I also want to let my subjects know that I am alive and about you!”

Ash smiled and nodded. Aum, satisfied, called the Berserker warriors and Kudan.

The Berserker warriors looked at Aum, then glanced at Ash.

Ash, meeting their gaze through the helmet, flinched but stiffened his neck, belatedly regaining his pride.

“Escort him with respect.”

At Aum’s words, one of the Berserker warriors nodded and led Ash away.

Aum turned to Kudan, who remained, and spoke.

“We’re going to the Roden territory now.”

“Aren’t we returning to our homeland?”

“Weren’t you tired of being dragged along with my whims? If we’re going to do this, we might as well have some fun.”

“Fun?”

Aum nodded.

“Tell the Berserker warriors that there will be a feast in the territory we’re going to. Tell them they can enjoy themselves as much as they want when I give the signal.”

“…You’re planning something big.”

Kudan chuckled wryly.

Unlike the Norse, he didn’t particularly enjoy using force, so he understood to some extent what Aum meant.

“Yes, we’ll capture that prince at the feast. As for the rest… there’s no need to keep them alive. Kill them all. But if that prince resists, it’s okay to cut off his limbs. As long as he doesn’t die, that is.”

Aum smiled. It was the cruel smile of a beast preparing for a pleasant hunt.

Kudan scratched his head, looking at Aum.

***

The sun set, and night fell.

Darkness covered the Harma territory, and only the carts carrying the Berserker warriors were brightly lit by torches.

“Going to Roden?”

Loki sat cross-armed in the cart Aum had brought.

The eyes within the crow mask glared sharply at Aum.

Aum, realizing how uncomfortable Loki was, flinched and smiled awkwardly.

“Didn’t the King tell you to do as you see fit?”

‘No, before that, the expression ‘King’ has become attached to him.’

“I was hoping you’d choose to torture him, though.”

“That would be good too, but… a connection to the underworld is better alive. It’s better than him going crazy, isn’t it?”

Loki, intrigued by the possibility of him going crazy, asked.

“What kind of torture were you planning?”

“I don’t know how to do it, but the Berserker warriors do. They said they feed them something….”

At Aum’s words, the Berserker warriors flinched.

They had good hearing and could hear their conversation, and cold sweat ran down their backs.

They were talking about Aum’s food.

To them, it was an unfamiliar food, as red as blood, tough, and elastic.

Above all, it had a pungent, spicy smell, so anyone who saw it would think it was an ominous, hellish dish.

It was a joke, but half of it was genuine.

“I don’t know what it is either. I wanted to see it, but they refused. They refused so strongly that I didn’t even try to check.”

“A food that tortures? It could be something like a truth serum.”

Kudan smacked his lips at Loki and Aum’s words.

‘They wouldn’t believe me if I said that the food Aum Linnea makes is hellish in itself.’

Loki had unofficially appointed him as a court chef, saying that Aum’s food was delicious.

There was no such thing as ‘spicy’ food on the continent. Naturally, there was no tolerance for spicy flavors either. Even the Berserker warriors, who were accustomed to pain, avoided it, so ordinary people would lose consciousness the moment they tasted it.

“T, thank you! I won’t forget this favor!”

“Be careful….”

Cancun was seeing off the refugees.

They were those who had requested asylum on the frozen land.

They would go to the frozen land without any escorts, and they would face any dangers that arose in the process.

Cancun wished the refugees good luck.

All that remained were the refugees going to the Roden territory.

“Is this all there is…? What about the carriages?”

Aum said with a bitter pretense at Ash’s words.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t prepare those.”

In fact, he could make carriages in an instant. But he deliberately didn’t.

If he wanted to induce ridicule from the nobles, ‘appearance’ was the most important thing.

“…Is this the time to be picky?”

Serut, who was standing a short distance away, leaned against the cart where Loki was.

Her small voice was clearly audible to Ash.

“…Serut. Are you talking to me?”

“Who else would I be talking to?”

Ash looked bewildered at Serut’s rebuke.

He felt that the distance between them had grown even further lately.

“Are you saying that even after knowing about me?”

Serut scoffed at Ash’s words.

“How amusing. What’s so great about a human prince….”

Serut had once been a princess, an empress.

What was so important about a prince from a small kingdom?

Moreover, in her eyes, Ash didn’t have the qualifications to be royalty.

“Don’t you know that what you just said could harm others?”

Serut was startled by Aum’s words.

Serut wasn’t stupid. She knew something about human organizational relationships, and she also knew that a member of a royal family of a country should maintain at least a minimum level of courtesy.

If she had done something wrong, it could harm Loki.

Serut looked at Loki with a worried expression.

Serut, who looked up at Loki sitting on the cart, froze.

He was glaring. Specifically, at Ash.

He wasn’t emitting killing intent, but his eyes were so fierce that it wouldn’t be strange if he killed him at any moment.

Ash probably couldn’t see it because of the crow mask.

“N, now… calm down!”

Aum, sensing Loki’s condition, was sweating profusely.

He knew very well that if Ash continued to babble, he would be reduced to ashes without leaving a single body.

Aum seated Ash in a cart different from Loki’s and conveyed his intentions to Loki with sign language.

‘Please be patient! It’s almost time anyway! You can do whatever you want later!’

“…I’m going to kill that bastard in a very painful way.”

“Yes, yes, please do. Kudan, let’s go.”

Aum spoke to Kudan, and Kudan nodded and gave instructions to the Berserker warriors.

They headed to the Roden territory.

***

Another group of refugees left the Harma territory.

They were being chased.

“Hieeek!”

“I told you this wouldn’t work!”

“We should have followed that prince!”

The refugees scattered in confusion.

They threw away their belongings and ran at full speed, but the feet of the starving monsters visible in the distance were even faster.

“Ugh!”

In too much of a hurry, a man stumbled and fell.

Blood flowed from his forehead where he hit the hard ground, but he couldn’t afford to worry about such minor injuries.

He had to run away with all his might now.

“Dad!”

The father gritted his teeth at his child’s cry.

As he tried to get up again, his leg was grabbed by something.

“……!”

The man flinched and his body stiffened.

He heard a rattling sound and rough breathing from behind.

The man trembled as if he didn’t want to admit it and slowly turned around. At that moment, he felt great pain in his leg.

With a ‘crunch’ sound, the man’s scream echoed across the land.

It was a Wight [undead creature].

Its long hand was gripping the man’s ankle and twisting it.

Not satisfied with that, the Wight smiled rottenly and pulled the man away.

“Aaaargh!”

“Dad!”

As the child tried to approach, the man shouted.

“Go! Run away! Hurry! Quickly…!”

“N, no…! I don’t want to…!”

“Please… please, someone help me!”

The man’s cries echoed, but no one listened. The other refugees were only looking ahead and running for their lives to survive.

“Please, someone…!”

Suddenly, the man felt something pierce through his body.

His pounding heart was grabbed by something. It was… torn out and eaten by the Wight.

“…….”

The man’s head collapsed and hit the ground. He died instantly.

The child backed away, looking at the Wight.

He had to run away. But… his dad was right in front of him.

The child tried to move his feet, but he couldn’t because of the great fear.

Perhaps realizing that the child couldn’t run away, the Wight, who had torn out the man’s heart, slowly approached the child.

All humans were good, but especially children were like a special treat to the Wights.

The relatively tender flesh, the untainted blood, and even the screams were like sweet music to the Wights.

As the Wight opened its mouth wide towards the child, the child closed his eyes tightly.

A popping sound echoed.

Blood splattered everywhere, and the Wight’s body collapsed.

The child opened his eyes slightly.

And the child could see.

“…D…ad?”

His father was standing tall, killing the Wight with his hand.

Dad… was alive?

Even though his heart had been eaten?

The man also looked down at his hand with a bewildered expression.

He had killed the Wight with one blow.

Moreover, the body that had been pierced through had been filled.

No, it had been ‘healed.’

This was a ‘miracle’ that couldn’t exist in common sense.

“Dad!”

The child cried and clung to his father.

The man also hugged the child, putting aside the unfamiliar feeling. He felt the blood and Worm Pest [a parasitic infection] on him and kept his arms away from the child.

“I, it’s okay. It’s okay. Are you hurt?”

“Yes, I’m okay. Dad!”

“Yes. That’s good. I’m glad you’re safe….”

At that moment, the man felt a presence. Startled, he turned around, and he could see a woman.

She was carrying a 2m long jet-black greatsword on her back, wearing crimson armor over a pure white dress.

Her long hair, which reached her hips, was half white and the other half jet black.

Her face was as pale as a patient, and a horned helmet covered the area around her eyes.

The clear, transparent golden eyes visible between the helmets were staring straight at the man.

“Ah…!”

The man, looking at the woman, knelt down without realizing it. Not only that, but he also bowed his head.

It was a woman he had never seen before. Moreover, she had cold and indifferent eyes that were frightening.

He didn’t understand why he was kneeling and bowing his head.

Also, why! Why! He couldn’t understand why he recognized the woman in front of him as his ‘master.’

But even that question disappeared the more he thought about it, leaving only loyalty to this woman.

“D, dad?”

“…Bow to the great one. Quickly!”

The child, startled by his father’s heavy words, followed his father’s actions.

The man said to the woman in a trembling voice.

“Your humble servant greets you.”

There were many Wights around. But they were being hunted by other humans.

They were all wearing unique armor that was half white and half black.

The swordsmen, who had killed the last one, returned to the woman like the man and bowed their heads.

The man smiled. His heart was pounding with a feeling that made his whole body tremble. It was joy.

It was the joy of a humble human being able to bow to a great being and swear allegiance.

The man shouted at the top of his lungs.

“Great being! Queen who rules over the living and the dead…!”

The man raised his head. He smiled with joy and looked at the woman with hazy eyes.

“I behold Helga!”