WeTried Translations

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ I Pulled Out Excalibur

Chapter 466

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Age of Man (3)

For a Transcendent, for a Constellation who has staked a star in the heavens, what matters most?

The answers would vary depending on who you asked. Najin had always given the same one.

"Making yourself certain."

When confidence in oneself wavers, the self wavers too. There is even a saying that a sturdy body and a sound mind are the secrets to a long life. Constellations are no different. Solidify who you are, and you live longer.

And so.

After a long while, Najin recited "that line."

"Who am I?"

"...Again with that?"

Merlin made a face, as expected. Her affection for Najin had long since blown past any reasonable ceiling, but even a thousand years of love cannot bury embarrassment. She let out a sigh and, one by one, went through the whole list.

"Free Knight, hero of the Empire, captain of the Golden Horn Knights, youngest Sword Seeker, Sword Master, youngest to reach the first through eleventh stars, heir of the greatest knight..."

"......"

"What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"You actually memorized all of it."

"Because you've drilled it into my ears so many times!"

Leaving Merlin shrieking behind him, Najin shrugged. There was no grand reason he had asked the question after so long. A new line had simply been added to that sprawling list of titles recently.

"I received my investiture as a Free Knight from the Atanga Knights, who carry on the will of the First Free Knight, and my investiture as a Guardian Knight from the Knight King, Arthur Pendragon."

"That is worth boasting about."

"And that's not all."

Najin smiled and pointed at himself.

"I defeated Lancelot, the Strongest Knight of the Round Table, and Mordred, who was the equal of the entire Round Table combined."

Which proved he was stronger than every Knight of the Round Table put together.

"I defeated Siegfried head-on in a straight fight. Siegfried, who was said to stand equal to Arthur and had grown even sharper over the past thousand years."

By surpassing Siegfried, by smashing his techniques in a direct contest, Najin had proven himself Arthur's equal in skill, or perhaps beyond.

"I want to say you're overdoing the boasting, but it is worth boasting about."

Merlin looked up at the sky, exasperated.

At the Boundary Line between the Outland and Camlann, Najin's star shone at nearly the same height as Arthur's. The light the two of them produced was almost indistinguishable.

"You and Arthur only differ in number now. The intensity of your light is about the same, even compared to Arthur at her peak. I didn't think you'd get here this fast."

Eleven stars. Thirteen stars.

The count was different, but star for star, the light from Najin's burned brighter. He had strengthened each one through every method he could find.

"Two left."

"Not exactly two. Arthur's thirteenth star was completed while still incomplete."

Completed while still incomplete. A contradiction. But Najin understood what Merlin meant. He had seen for himself, through Arthur's memories, how that thirteenth star had taken shape.

"She grasped the form to hold the thirteenth star, but she never filled it. Do you remember when you got your fifth star? When you received the Star of the Funeral March."

Najin nodded. He remembered.

It was right after his duel with Alderaan, who had removed his helm.

At that time, Najin had grasped the shape of his fifth star. He had sensed its concept too. But the Star of the Funeral March had not been completed. The feat that needed to fill it had not been fully achieved. The Carnival King had interfered, and the funeral rite for the Helmeted Knight had failed.

"I completed the Star of the Funeral March later."

"Right. Arthur's situation was similar. The concept and foundation for the thirteenth star were there, but she never finished it. I can't explain it precisely, but... the thirteenth star is a little different."

"Different how?"

"I reached the twelfth star too, didn't I? Even if it ended up becoming a Blight Star."

In the past, both Merlin and Siegfried had managed to obtain the twelfth star. But neither had ever reached the thirteenth. When Najin asked why, Merlin worked her lips as if struggling to put it into words.

"How do I put it? The category itself is different. The moment you obtain the twelfth star, you feel it right away. Ah, beyond this point, what I've been doing won't work anymore. I need something different. That sort of feeling."

"That's vague."

"Because it actually is vague. The only one who could explain it properly would be Arthur, who went all the way to the edge of completing the thirteenth star, and even she didn't fully understand it."

But, Merlin said.

"She used the phrase 'completion of existence.'"

"...Completion?"

"Right. I don't know what that completion means exactly, but right after Arthur died, the thirteenth star was completed. Empty inside, but completed."

Merlin breathed out.

"Why do you think the Witch of the Abyss stopped at thirteen stars? It's only a guess, but that must be the end. Once it's completed, you can't go any further."

The thirteenth star. Completion of existence.

Turning that phrase over in his mind, Najin began to loosen up his body.

"Well, that's that."

"Right."

"First things first, I need to get the twelfth star."

Stretching, Najin looked ahead. Beyond, a mountain range was moving. That was not a figure of speech. The mountain range wrapping the far edge of Camlann was stirring. Such movement naturally sent enormous tremors rolling outward.

The earth rumbled. From far away, clouds of dust rose into the air. The cursed ones screamed and fled, only to be crushed under the mountain range and vanish without a trace, as if swallowed into it. They almost looked like part of the mountain range itself, moving as one.

"The twelfth star is coming to me."

A mountain range coated in black scales.

A vast beast draped in death.

The oldest death, Leviathan, was marching toward the Outland.

2.

"It truly does look like a mountain range on the move."

At the border between the Abyss and the Outland.

Stars had gathered in the surrounding area, each preparing for the decisive battle in their own way, when Razian spoke. Najin nodded at her observation.

"It's about as close to a mountain range as anything gets. More like the mountain ranges of the Outland than the ones on the Continent, but either way."

"Even from this distance, it won't fit within a single glance. The old scripture's line, 'even the greatest nation in this land is nothing beside that creature,' turns out not to be an exaggeration."

It was large enough to circle the entire Empire with room to spare. Calculating its exact size would be pointless. Nothing in the world could serve as a meaningful measure. Only a single impression remained: vast.

"And we're supposed to kill that? Whoever thought of this must be out of their mind. Half of me is asking, what in the world are we even fighting? I will ask the same myself. Are you out of your mind, Najin?"

It seemed the other half was rubbing off on her. Under Yuel's thoroughly suspicious gaze, Najin shrugged.

"I'm perfectly sane. And I have a plan."

"Whether that plan will actually work is another question."

"You never know until you try. If it doesn't work, well, what can you do? Keep throwing yourself at it until something sticks."

"There is no contingency."

"No contingency is my contingency."

At Najin's wordplay, Razian smiled. Still a little stiff, but slightly more natural than before. She rested a hand on her chest and spoke in a soft voice.

"No. Having no contingency is not your contingency. The fact that I am here is your contingency."

"......"

"Well? Is that appealing? Does your heart race? Strange. According to my other half, there should be a dramatic reaction right about now. Hmm."

Inside Razian, Yuel was screaming, "Why would you say that out loud! It's obvious he just took a hit, he's making that exact face, you just wasted the whole opening!" But regardless of all that, Najin nodded.

"Yeah. That landed."

"Then it worked. I'll go on ahead."

Leviathan was still some time away.

In that time, the stars found their positions and turned their focus inward, each steadying themselves. A taut stillness hung in the air, and Najin moved through it, wandering among them and trading small talk.

"Well, if it isn't Sir Najin!"

"It's been a while. No trouble in the meantime?"

"Ha! Trouble? Since that cursed demon the Carnival King died, the Outland's been livable enough!"

Many of the Constellations who had helped during the campaign against the Carnival King were here. They had answered this call just as swiftly, arriving at the battlefield without hesitation, and Najin recognized them and smiled back.

"I got to tell my apostles I had a place in that legendary battle, that I marched with the Dawning Star! Couldn't have been more pleased. The way my apostles look at me completely changed after that."

"Looks like you'll have another thing to brag about today."

"Of course. Maybe I'll even gain another star. Honor and profit at once. What a fine battlefield this is."

He kept walking, talking with them as he went.

"Oarsman. How have you been?"

"You're the only one who calls me that, Captain."

"And you're the only one who calls me Captain."

Anton Quijano, the greatest romanticist in the Outland, shook his hand.

"Still, you came all the way out here. This is going to be extremely dangerous. I wonder how you got Lady Lapis's permission."

"Permission? Lapis suggested it herself. She said we should go, that they're gathering representatives from every field across the Outland and the Continent, and that as romanticists who had pulled off a forbidden love, who were blind enough with love to see it through, we ought to be there as representatives."

Lapis was still keeping a little distance from Merlin, apparently still wary. Najin gave her a thumbs up. Rena and Roselin were visible nearby as well. He walked past the assembled romanticists and moved on.

"Ha, really. We're supposed to cut that thing down? It doesn't look like something made to be cut. It hits me all over again that the Grand Master is a sword-crazed lunatic."

"Is it all right to call the Grand Master that?"

"In our circles, that's high praise. There's no greater compliment than being sword-crazed."

Karon, the Sword Saint and representative of the swordsmen, was honing his blade.

"Even if you drive the Aurora into it a hundred times, I wonder if we can even leave a scratch. Ahh, I really should just retire. If it weren't for that old man asking a favor, I wouldn't have come anywhere near this place!"

Enia, representative of the Sacred Body Church, was grumbling while she stretched, fixing Najin with a glare.

"First Horn of the Empire, Gerd Isabalt. A pleasure to meet an old knight of Londinel."

"The Blue Spear of Londinel, Kirchhoff. I watched your work clearly in the campaign against the Carnival King. We've stood on the same battlefield how many times now. That's more than enough to call each other comrades."

The Empire's representative, First Horn Gerd.

Londinel's representative, Blue Spear Kirchhoff.

One was the Empire's field commander, the other the commander responsible for holding the Boundary Line of Camlann. The two were discussing the operation, and gave Najin a brief nod as he passed.

"You're going to fight that thing."

"Yes."

"That massive thing? The one that won't even fit in one glance? Good heavens, how do you even plan to fight it? Do you just go around splitting mountains with your sword?"

"I can split them."

"You can actually split them......"

Dieta, the Morning Star and Duchess of the Gold Eye, representative of the merchants, looked like she had swallowed something unpleasant. At any rate, it seemed he had become even more remarkable in the time she hadn't seen him.

Protected by the Constellations contracted to her, Dieta fished around inside her coat and pulled something out.

"What's this?"

"A familiar little decoration, isn't it? As the representative of merchants, the one who has accumulated more wealth than anyone across the Continent and Outland combined, this is my blessing to you. The so-called Blessing of the Gold Coin."

It was the badge bearing the emblem of the Dieta Trading Company.

The same badge Najin had worn when he worked as a mercenary in Cambria. Dieta pinned it to his chest, then grabbed his collar and grumbled.

"Is this the sort of thing you've been going around fighting all along?"

"The things I've fought were a bit smaller than that."

"Honestly... I want to tell you not to get hurt, but you're clearly going to come back in pieces. Still, I believe you'll come back. I can't fight beside you, but I'll be watching."

She waved him off, and Najin walked away. He moved through the crowd of stars, looking back over the ones he had met across the Continent and the Outland throughout his travels.

Doesn't seem like I wasted my time after all.

Even on a battlefield this terrifyingly dangerous, they had come. Some to help the Najin who had once helped them, some drawn here by his star. They had arrived.

"The stars answer the call of the Round Table."

Bedivere watched it all and smiled. With the air of someone moved beyond words, or of someone remembering a past that had shone too brightly to forget, he nodded.

"Countless stars follow without hesitation at the call of the hero who pulls an age forward. It looks like the past. It may even outshine the past. Much time has passed, and many stars have risen."

"That's because it's the Age of Man."

"The Age of Man. A fine ring to it."

Najin crossed through the stars and stepped to the front.

At the very head of everything.

Facing the death drawing near, he drove the Lance of Crossed Star, its flag wound around the shaft, into the earth. The flag rippled in the rising wind, and Najin gripped the horn pipe. The Horn Star's relic. A bugle that announced the start of battle.

Najin sounded the bugle.

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