"Ah-"
Flugel opened his eyes again, returning to the moment he first met the two strange travelers.
The sun had only just risen above the valley, and the morning light had yet to fully dispel the thin mountain mist. The two travelers were passing in front of him-if he did nothing, just like last time, they would pass each other by again.
Flugel stood in the middle of the road and clenched his fists hard.
No, not again.
His fingertips still held some lingering sensation from the previous loop-as though he had grasped something only to be forced to let go.
It was the expression on Vigel's face as he broke down before him, the astrolabe that smashed into his head, the weight of the two of them tumbling onto the sand together in those final moments, and then the shadow of a mabeast swallowing everything. He
didn't want to experience it again.
So he stepped forward and went straight up to them.
"Excuse me, gentlemen, where are you headed-"
"Hey! Small fry, what's the idea, suddenly blocking our way?"
The red-haired man cracked his knuckles, intent on beating up anything blocking his path, but when he met Flugel's eyes, his expression turned more surprised instead.
"Don't be like that, Reid. This young man doesn't seem to mean any harm."
The blond, red-eyed man stopped him gently, then turned to Flugel with a smile.
"Hello, I'm a roy... merchant from the Kingdom of Lugunica! Yes, a merchant purchasing supplies for the royal family! We're on our way to the newly established Kararagi City."
Flugel noticed an exquisitely decorated sword hanging at his waist. Its scabbard was engraved with intricate patterns, hardly something an ordinary merchant could own.
Vigel caught up just then. Hearing their voices, he forgot all about the gloom on his face. In particular, upon seeing the blond, red-eyed man, his face actually lit up with a smile, showing none of his earlier dejection.
"Oh my, such a distinguished gentleman! You're from the Kingdom of Lugunica?"
Flugel took a deep breath and spoke directly.
"We're also heading to Kararagi to make a living. Would it be possible for us to travel with you?"
"Ah, well, I'm afraid we must apologize to you both. We're only..."
"Don't be so quick to turn us down."
Vigel cut in, his voice carrying that habitual slickness of his that sounded less than reliable.
"My name is Vigel, and I possess the Divine Protection of Prophecy. This is Flugel. He's from another world, and no configuration of the stars can predict anything about him. He's a true 'person of the starry sky.' And his ability is even more terrifying-it's called Return by Death!"
"A prophet and someone from another world who can Return by Death?"
The blond, red-eyed man fell into thought.
"You two aren't trying to make a fool of me, are you? Prophecy's one thing, but what the hell is Return by Death? At least come up with a better excuse if you're trying to scam someone these days!"
Hearing the words Return by Death, Reid called it a scam out loud, but inwardly, a ripple stirred-that matched... the look in this man's eyes.
"Hey, buddy, hurry up and take that thing of yours out!"
"Oh, right, right."
Flugel took out his flip phone as he spoke.
"Does either of you possess the Divine Protection of Appraisal?"
He hadn't held out much hope. After all, even royalty wouldn't necessarily have that many Divine Protections.
"Let me take a look."
The blond, red-eyed man spoke. Taking the phone, he fiddled with it a few times and turned it over and over to examine it before returning it to Flugel shortly afterward.
"Fascinating indeed. Something from another world? Since you come from another world, might you happen to know the first hero?"
"The first hero?"
Flugel and Vigel looked at each other.
"The hero was also from another world. After defeating the Demon King four hundred years ago, the hero vanished, leaving behind one mirror fragment in each of the four nations. They should all be in the possession of their respective royal families now. We truly have no idea what they are, but they do look remarkably similar to your... phone, was it?"
Flugel stared at him and finally asked the question he had wanted to ask all along.
"May I ask who you really are..."
"I am Farsale, the thirty-fifth king of the Kingdom of Lugunica-but I'm traveling incognito this time, so I hope you two will keep that a secret."
He smiled faintly.
"This is Reid Astrea, my guard on this journey... though most of the time, he's the one who needs watching."
"Hey! Your Majesty-"
"You already let it slip yourself just now. I haven't even had a chance to reprimand you."
Reid shut his mouth sheepishly and shook his messy red hair.
Farsale turned his gaze back to Flugel.
"Has something gone wrong with this young man's prophetic ability? Otherwise, I imagine you wouldn't have sought us out."
"I'm ashamed to say that it has. My prophecy failed today because there are still too many dark clouds... All I could determine was that both roads were dangerous, but the left would be relatively safer..."
"Huh? Do you really have prophetic powers? I only just convinced His Majesty to go right, and now you suddenly come out with that prophecy. Feels like you're deliberately trying to undermine me!"
"Enough, Reid! Everyone knows you only wanted to go right so you could kill a few more mabeasts in pursuit of your so-called trials. I've been turning a blind eye to the things you do to reach the level of the Heavenly Sword, but why can't you keep that mouth of yours under control?"
"All right, all right, your subject admits his mistake. But haven't you already punished me? You confiscated the sword those old men gave me, didn't you?"
"That's because I was afraid you'd cause trouble! The moment I look away, you might blow apart some mountain. Besides, we haven't even reached Kararagi yet. That sword has already acknowledged you as its master. I'm merely keeping it for you..."
"Are we going to get beheaded for hearing all this?"
Flugel asked Vigel quietly.
"Don't worry, small fry. This guy's kindhearted. Otherwise, with his strength, he wouldn't need my protection-"
Reid cut in, and then his gaze and figure vanished in an instant.
"Don't just go calling people small fry..."
"-Everyone, stop for a moment."
Farsale suddenly raised a hand.
"There's a powerful fluctuation of mana up ahead."
"Is it a mabeast?"
"Definitely, and there must be a lot of them."
Flugel swallowed.
"Should we go around?"
"It's too late."
No sooner had he spoken than black shapes came flying out from around a bend in the valley, slamming heavily into the mountainside with deafening crashes.
Those mabeasts were larger than any Flugel had ever seen, their bodies covered in dark red scales. But great swaths of those scales were now shattered, as though something had hammered them repeatedly.
Then someone walked around the bend-it was Reid.
"Wait, when did this guy disappear? And he took down monsters that big in the time it took us to exchange a couple of sentences?"
Flugel and Vigel were astonished by the unkempt man's strength.
What he had just used to smash that mabeast seemed to be nothing more than a wooden stick he had casually picked up!
He walked over to the mabeast, looked down at it, then raised his foot and nudged its head.
"Not dead yet?"
The mabeast gave a faint whimper. Reid sighed, looking somewhat disappointed.
"How boring."
His tone was casual, as though he were asking, "How's the weather today?"
But Flugel noticed his eyes then-they were bright, excessively bright, as though they held a fire that would never go out.
"That man has repeated the act of 'swinging a sword' far too many times. His pursuit of the Heavenly Sword has been honed to the utmost!"
Even Farsale sounded moved.
"Your Majesty, behind you!"
A smaller scorpion mabeast had silently crawled behind the group and fired a dazzling white beam from the tip of its tail.
Farsale immediately spun around with extraordinary speed, blocking the attack with perfect accuracy using the sword at his side. Then he followed with a powerful slash-under his successive sword strikes, the monster was instantly cut into several pieces and lost its life.
Strangely, however, the scorpion's two pincers remained completely intact amid the wreckage on the ground.
Vigel knew that certain monster materials could fetch a considerable sum, so he worked up the courage to collect the pincers.
"Don't go over there, Master Prophet! Those pincers are a tra-"
A dark figure lunged forward.
An explosion followed, and flames engulfed the spot where Vigel stood.
When the black smoke from the explosion cleared, Flugel and Vigel lay on the ground together.
Flugel lay on top of Vigel with his back exposed. His clothes had been completely scorched, revealing the burned, reddened skin beneath.
He curled around Vigel, shielding his head against his chest like a wild beast protecting its young beneath its belly. He had been the dark figure that lunged forward.
The instant he rushed over and knocked Vigel aside, the blast's heat had caught up with him, scorching his exposed nape and shoulders. Blue-gray smoke rose from those areas now, with embers still glowing at the edges.
Ash and sand coated his back, mingling with blood until the original color of his skin was impossible to make out.
Vigel lay beneath him, unhurt, but his star-blue eyes stared straight upward, his mouth hanging open in utter shock.
"...Wh-why..."
His voice was hoarse, as though it had struggled all the way up from the depths of his throat.
"Why was it you... when just now you were-Flugel, you knew I just-"
He didn't finish. He couldn't.
Because the instant he was tackled to the ground, in a daze, memories that should never have existed suddenly appeared in his mind-the stars had given him a chance after all.
He remembered the vicious force with which he had raised his astrolabe and smashed it into the other man's head at the end of another deadly road, and the weight of the hand that had refused to release his ankle even as its owner bled from his battered head.
Those memories that should not have existed, revealed to him by the stars, stabbed at him and left him afraid to continue.
Flugel rolled over, sucking in a sharp breath the instant his back touched the sand. Still, he turned his head toward Vigel and managed a strained smile.
"Maybe... because I've already died once."
"..."
Vigel was silent for several seconds.
"Then I'm sorry. I know what sort of person I am, after all. Without my prophetic ability, I'm just a greedy little scoundrel. Not much of a proper boss, either..."
"Then don't be a boss."
"What?"
"Just be my friend."
Flugel propped himself up on his elbows. The burns covering his back made his movements look as though they were in slow motion, but he persisted until he was sitting upright.
"You, Vigel, are my... Flugel's first friend. If I hadn't met you in that 'Pauper Town,' I might still be starving, with no idea where to go. Even this name-you gave it to me, didn't you?"
"It's White Sand Town..."
Vigel's voice grew quieter.
"But thank you, Flugel. Let's be friends, then. From now on, whenever you need me, Vigel, I'll be counting on you!"
"And I'll be counting on you!"
And so, the two boys lying flat beside a host of mabeast corpses became friends.
Wind swept through the mouth of the valley, scattering the lingering ash and dust from their bodies.
Flugel lay on his back. The searing pain of his wounds washed over him in waves, but the corners of his mouth remained lifted, as though he had finally laid something down.
"The dark clouds have finally cleared,"
Vigel said softly, the first glimmers of starlight reflected in his eyes.
"I can hear the stars again. For the first time, I actually think that's a good thing."
Flugel followed his gaze. That starry sky was unfamiliar, but he felt as though the place of one star had been waiting for him all along.
He didn't know why he thought that, but he felt it wasn't a bad thought.
"You two seem to be all right. Shall we set off together, then-for Kararagi City?"
Farsale extended his hand with a smile.
"You two young men certainly value your bonds."
"Do we? Well, we're true friends now, after all."
Flugel answered.
Perhaps changes in fate were just that sudden-last time, it had brought death, yet this time, an extraordinary change had occurred.
The night breeze blew from deep within the valley, stirring Flugel's clothes, ruined in protecting his friend-he would change into something else once they reached a town.
Farsale walked with his arm around this newcomer from another world, chatting and laughing without the slightest air of importance.
Reid walked at the front, his steps firm and casual.
Vigel walked beside him, the astrolabe in his hand glowing faintly silver-blue, like a small piece of the night sky clasped in his palm.
Flugel still wasn't sure what sort of person he ought to become.
But at least now, he had a name, and a story unfolding-a story filled together by a "star from beyond the heavens," a "fraud who watched the stars," a "king traveling incognito," and a "warrior seeking the Heavenly Sword."
He raised his head and looked at that unfamiliar starry sky. The star that ought to appear had yet to arrive. But he felt it was already on its way.