Chapter 4
I think I need to hand back my veteran title.
[The Great Constellation of the Sword invites you to the sanctuary!]
I’m the guy who poured 9,000 hours into 《Soden》, so why do unprecedented situations keep happening to me one after another?
“What did I even do to get invited?”
I clearly remembered touching the stele because my head was throbbing after seeing the memorial for the six heroes.
After that, I vaguely recall hearing a voice that felt both unfamiliar and strangely familiar… but that’s it.
Pushing it further wasn’t going to give me any answers, so I decided to just move forward for now.
‘The sanctuary, huh…’
Just moments ago I had been standing in the central square of <Roadale>, and now I had somehow been transported to a place that felt like heaven itself.
Golden clouds stretched endlessly toward the horizon on both sides, and right in the center was a grand staircase leading upward.
At the top of those stairs floated a structure resembling a temple from Greek mythology, suspended in midair.
The sanctuary—home of the Constellations—could indeed be called heaven without exaggeration.
However.
‘Humans can never set foot in the sanctuary.’
That was the absolute setting. No exceptions.
Even when a game character achieved the monumental feat of defeating the Demon King, there had never once been an event inviting them to the sanctuary.
Which meant the situation I was currently in was that exceptional—
< Halt! >
A thunderous roar slammed into my ears like a shockwave.
The sheer volume made my eardrums ring painfully; I grimaced and turned toward the source of the voice.
There—
< Why is someone reeking of mortality present in the sanctuary? Who the hell are you?! >
A wild-haired oni in golden armor was charging toward me through the clouds, gripping a crescent glaive.
Pure white wings that clashed completely with his ferocious appearance.
With such distinctive features, I recognized his identity in an instant.
‘Damn it. A Watcher.’
If Constellations were the residents of the sanctuary, Watchers were essentially its guards.
Beings who mercilessly punished any who dared trespass.
In short: I was in deep shit.
Thud—!
The moment the Watcher landed, it felt as though a mountain had planted itself right in front of me.
< Answer me! How does a mere mortal set foot in the sacred land of the great ones?! >
“I am…”
< No! Regardless of the method, the mere fact that a lower being has dared step into the holy sanctuary is already a capital crime deserving of death! >
At least let me finish speaking, you bastard.
Just as the Watcher’s face flushed with bulging veins and he raised his glaive high—
“I was invited here by one of the great Constellations of this sanctuary.”
< …! >
The Watcher—who had been fully prepared to cleave me in half without a second thought—froze mid-motion.
Of course he did. When the homeowner invites someone, what can a mere guard even do…?
< KHAHAHA! Is that the best pathetic lie you could come up with in a rush?! >
“…….”
< A wretched, pitiful thing like you—invited by one of the exalted ones? Even a passing beast wouldn’t laugh at such a joke! >
“What if it’s true? How would you handle it then?”
< Since it can’t possibly be true, there’s nothing to handle. Would you invite a worthless insect into your home? Same principle. >
Insect, huh. Extreme, sure—but not exactly wrong.
That was the scale of the gap between Constellations and humans in this world.
< You made me laugh, so I’ll show special mercy. Tell me how you got here, and I’ll grant you a painless death. >
“I already told you. I was invited.”
< You’re going to keep up the act to the end? Fine. Now you’ve got my pride involved. >
Rumble rumble……!
Golden energy surged over the Watcher’s shoulders like a raging storm.
“……!”
An overwhelming pressure suddenly crushed down on my entire body, as if gravity had multiplied dozens of times.
This Watcher bastard really seemed determined to torment me.
‘Even so—using divine power against a human?’
Watchers were still transcendent beings who lived in the sanctuary.
The very quality of their souls existed on a completely different plane.
I recalled the setting: the aura they emitted—“divine power”—could crumple the mind of any mere mortal like a sheet of paper.
But.
[ <Iron-Blood Heart> resists the divine power of the Watcher, ‘Gakgwi’! ]
[The status ailment ‘Fear’ has been reduced by 90% due to the ‘Authority of Resistance’! ]
That setting didn’t apply to me right now.
Thanks to the powerful mental barrier combined with the overlaid authority of a Constellation, the tragedy of having my soul crushed simply didn’t occur.
It seemed that <Iron-Blood Heart> and the ‘Authority of Resistance’ were far more broken skills than I had even imagined.
<Wh-What…!>
Even after facing ‘divine power’ head-on, I stood there with a perfectly calm expression. The Watcher’s eyes widened in shock as he faltered.
Sensing something was terribly wrong, he tried to amplify the intensity of his divine power even further—but the result was exactly the same.
<Y-You… what the hell are you?! How can a mere mortal resist divine power?!>
“That ‘mortal’ this, ‘mortal’ that. My ears are about to grow calluses. How about you stop struggling and just back off already.”
<Th-This… this…?>
Perhaps because I was displaying behavior so far beyond common sense, the Watcher finally started to show signs of genuine panic.
He seemed to be wondering—maybe I really had been invited by a Constellation after all.
The divine power rapidly fading from him suggested he’d finally realized something was seriously off.
<W-Wait. Yes. Let’s talk—>
Schlick—!!
Right at that moment.
A streak of blue sword energy flew from somewhere and severed the Watcher’s right arm in a single clean stroke.
<GYAAAAAAAAAAH!!>
In the blink of an eye, the Watcher lost an arm and writhed in agony.
I was just as stunned.
Narrowing my eyes, I turned toward the direction the sword energy had come from.
Flap—!
The one who had unleashed it—the ‘Great Constellation of the Sword’—was approaching with his radiant wings of light fully spread.
But…
「I rushed here myself to greet you in person, and it seems I arrived just in time.」
The instant I saw him, I doubted my own eyes.
For a moment, even <Iron-Blood Heart>—which hadn’t so much as flinched against divine power—felt like it was wavering.
「A mere Watcher dares threaten my father. A hundred deaths would not be enough.」
Because the one growling while stepping on the fallen Watcher…
Was the exact appearance of the Swordsman character I had raised myself: ‘Demian Abel.’
***
The reason I was certain this wasn’t just some Demian from the 《Soden》 lore, but my playable character Demian that I had personally raised and geared, was simple.
「Do you perhaps recognize me, Father?」
“…It’d be weirder if I didn’t.”
Because right now, he was wearing the exact same equipment set I had painstakingly put together for him back then.
The white lion helmet that completely covered his face. The cloak perpetually wreathed in blue flames. The platinum armor gleaming with brilliant radiance as if it had absorbed the light of the sun itself.
‘The <White Night Set>.’
There was zero chance of a mistake.
In all of 《Soden》, I was the only player who had ever completed the full <White Night Set>—a gear set infamous for its nightmarish crafting difficulty.
Normal people would quit the game long before finishing it, usually after grinding materials and starting to wonder about the crafters’ parents’ well-being.
「To recognize me at a glance…! Truly, the bond between father and son! This son is simply overwhelmed with emotion, Father!」
Even through the helmet, I could clearly tell Demian’s face was blooming with joy.
If I didn’t recognize him after seeing all this, I’d be the idiot.
No—more than that. The entire situation was so absurd that my brain couldn’t even process it properly.
‘The Great Constellation of the Sword… is the Demian Abel that I raised?’
…Why?
While my mind twisted itself into knots and I stayed silent,
「Let’s finish dealing with this one’s punishment first before we talk.」
<Hi-Hiiiiik…!>
Demian instantly shifted the mood and began radiating murderous killing intent.
As he brought the shadowed, menacing white lion visage close to the Watcher’s face, the guard’s complexion drained of all color in an instant.
「You are a Watcher tasked with guarding the sanctuary, yet not only did you show disrespect toward the father of a Constellation—you even threatened him with divine power. I feel that a single life is far too cheap a price to pay for such crimes. What do you think?」
<P-Please… please have mercy…>
「Mercy is something you should beg from him, not me.」
At Demian’s words, the Watcher turned to look at me with an expression more pitiful and servile than anything I’d ever seen.
A complete 180 from the arrogant, domineering attitude he’d shown earlier when he thought he held the upper hand.
Before I could even open my mouth to say anything—
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
He dropped to his knees on his own and began slamming his forehead against the ground repeatedly.
Even though one arm had been cleanly severed and he was clearly in excruciating pain.
<I-I, a worthless piece of trash, failed to recognize the noble one’s august presence and committed grave disrespect… If only you would show mercy, I swear I will never forget this grace for the rest of my life…>
“Mercy begged with words alone—how much sincerity can there be in that?”
When you were spinning your eyes in rage and about to smash my skull with that glaive, where was all this humility?
“If you want mercy, you should at least show sincerity befitting the price of your life.”
<S-Sincerity…? Wh-What kind of…?>
“Hmm. I’d think that’s something the person in question should figure out for themselves.”
My words carried the clear implication: figure out how to behave properly.
The Watcher’s face fell into utter despair.
I simply watched in silence as he trembled, teeth chattering, lost in panicked thought.
If he offers satisfactory sincerity, he lives. Otherwise… well.
Even if I told him not to, the Demian standing right next to me would probably just rip his head off anyway.
A heavy silence hung in the air for a moment.
<I-I will offer… my horn… in exchange for my life…>
The Watcher spoke in a voice stained with humiliation and grief, clutching the single horn protruding from the crown of his head.
I let out a dumbfounded laugh.
Was he seriously trying to buy his life with just a horn?
No—actually, it was the complete opposite.
‘For oni-type Watchers, the horn is nothing less than the symbol of their racial identity and sense of self.’
Have you ever seen a human without eyes, nose, or mouth?
To them, the ‘horn’ carried that level of existential significance.
And yet he was offering to give it up—meaning he was voluntarily castrating his own racial identity.
An oni with its horn cut off.
What kind of gaze would the other oni turn on him? Even if he survived, it wouldn’t be living.
Of course, identity and self were issues exclusive to their kind.
To a human like me, an oni’s horn held a slightly different meaning.
‘I’m getting this item this way, huh.’
And not just any item—a legendary-grade one that normally required insane amounts of grinding and suffering to obtain even one.
Soon after.
Crack—!!
<Guuuuuh…!!>
With a tearing scream, the Watcher ripped out his own horn with his remaining hand.
How excruciating must the pain have been for someone who only screamed when his arm was severed to now be streaming tears?
<P-Please… forgive me with this…>
The moment the Watcher tremblingly extended the horn toward me with both hands—
—just like in a game, an item appraisal window automatically appeared before my eyes.
【Watcher Oni’s Single Horn】
Grade: Legendary
Effect: The horn of a mystical oni being. Once only, extract the energy contained within the horn to trigger a near-miraculous stroke of great fortune.
Exactly as I remembered. Not a single detail different.
A genuine lucky charm. There would come a moment when I’d need to use it someday.
I did feel a tiny pang of pity for the Watcher… but if I wanted to survive, there was no helping it.
***
After the brief commotion was settled, I finally faced Demian properly.
The interior of the temple at the top of the stairs was stark and empty. A vast space finished in marble, with nothing in it except one large round table placed in the center.
‘Six chairs in total.’
I sat down directly across from Demian and scanned the table.
Six chairs weren’t a coincidence.
It was almost certain that the other five playable characters besides Demian had also become Constellations.
「I’m truly sorry for not being able to offer you even the barest hospitality, Father.」
“I’m… fine.”
I couldn’t get a grip.
The game character I had raised was now standing right in front of me in the flesh, calling me “Father.”
What kind of expression should I make? What stance should I take?
For now, I decided to keep my emotions hidden as much as possible and maintain a dry tone.
“By the way, you keep calling me Father… Demian, do you actually recognize who I am?”
「How could I not recognize the one who created me and raised me?」
“…Do you even know what an ‘RPG game’ is?”
「Ar-pee-gee…? An unusual-sounding word. What does it mean?」
“…….”
What the hell.
I thought since he mentioned me creating and raising him, he must have realized he was a game character—but apparently not?
There was no way the Ruth Fried I possessed was actually Demian’s blood relative. That would be too ridiculous.
My confusion must have shown plainly on my face, because Demian broke the silence first.
「I know that you, Father, are a being who came from the ‘outer world.’ The ‘RPG game’ you just mentioned must be a word related to the boundary that separates the two of us.」
“Wait—outer world? Are you talking about Earth?”
「It seems your world was called ‘Earth.’」
I opened my mouth slightly, momentarily speechless, and yet at the same time I realized something.
Demian Abel—this guy—might not understand the concept of an RPG game,
But he was clearly aware that he was a being from another world, customized and raised by my hand.
“…You’re right. I did create and raise you in a world called Earth. But I never imagined you would have figured that out on your own.”
「I have known since the moment I first opened my eyes and gained self-awareness in Hester Village.」
‘Hester Village’ was Demian Abel’s starting point.
In other words, the instant his character was created, he realized he was an existence inside a game.
More than that—the fact that he mentioned Hester Village meant that at least this part was still exactly the same as the 《Soden》 setting I knew.
‘…Then why the hell did Demian become a Constellation, and why was the setting changed so that the six heroes were members of the expedition force from 500 years ago?’
Some settings were exactly as I remembered them, while others completely contradicted everything I knew.
Well, if I kept talking, something would eventually click.
『There was no way I could fail to sense your presence, Father. An immense, irresistible will—an gaze—watching over me from the “outer world.”』
“When you put it like that, it almost sounds like I was the one acting as your Constellation.”
「To me, you are my Constellation. You handed me the strongest sword and taught me the secret sword arts, didn’t you?」
……So grinding endgame gear and dumping skill points for him had turned into that kind of meaning in his head.
Anyway, this would speed things up considerably.
Harboring a sliver of hope, I asked Demian directly.
“Then Demian, do you also know the reason I possessed into this world?”
「Of course. If I didn’t, how could I have the audacity to take up so much of your time?」
The confident expression on Demian’s face looked, to my eyes, like a single ray of light piercing through darkness.
Holy shit—I hadn’t really been expecting much, but he actually knows the reason for my possession?
As expected of my main character. I believed in—
Demian suddenly bowed his head deeply and clenched his fist.
「I am deeply ashamed… Father…!」
“…?”
「I… we Constellations… couldn’t even resolve the dark clouds hanging over the continent ourselves, and in the end forced you to step forward…!」
What the hell is he talking about?
「The moment I sensed that the great soul who once completed me had descended upon this continent, I understood your will.」
“Understood what…?”
「You came down to this land in person to save this world that has fallen into crisis, didn’t you?」
“…….”
「Foreseeing a dark future that even we Constellations could not see, you chose to shoulder the heavy burden alone? Even possessing a mortal body to do so!」
I have no idea what kind of fantasy he’s spinning all by himself, but I really wish he’d shut up.
Is that thing dripping from under his helmet… tears?
「……I, Demian, have lived my entire life in accordance with your will. Even if I cannot know exactly what future you have seen, I would never fail to recognize the greatness of your purpose.」
Having barely regained control of his emotions, Demian placed a hand over his heart and bowed to me in deep respect.
I couldn’t bring myself to tell him the truth.
Salvation, my ass—I’m just an unfortunate victim who got kidnapped into a shitty game…
I can’t see even five minutes into my own future, let alone some grand dark destiny.
‘If I told him the truth right now… even this guy would be disappointed, wouldn’t he?’
The atmosphere had already gone too far in that direction. Damn it.
“…….”
Regardless of Demian’s utterly ridiculous misunderstanding and this grand delusion party,
The fact that a Constellation of the sanctuary was currently showing me boundless goodwill was an opportunity I absolutely could not afford to waste.
This was the kind of unbreakable backer that even the emperor or nobles of the empire couldn’t even dream of putting on the table.
No helping it.
Even knowing full well how shameless I was being, I closed my eyes and nodded with grave dignity.
“As expected of my first son, Demian.”
「Ah!」
……I give up.
「The one who stood at the highest place has now descended to the lowest, willing to walk a path of thorns.」
“For the sake of the continent.”
「Would it not be permissible for me to accompany you on that thorny road?」
Accompany? Does he mean he’s going to descend directly onto the continent? There have to be restrictions on that.
While I looked at Demian with a puzzled gaze,
Ssk—.
Demian slowly reached up and removed the helmet that had hidden his face.
Slender black hair swayed like shadows reflected on water. The pale skin and violet eyes that would have been endlessly cold to anyone else were unmistakably those of the Demian Abel I knew.
「Father.」
In the twilight glow of the sanctuary that haloed him like an afterglow, Demian looked straight into my eyes with unwavering clarity.
「This time, I wish to become your Constellation.」