Chapter 7

I’d known since my past life that a community existed among the Constellations.

I smirked, looking at the chat window that had once again sprung to life.

“Looks like yesterday’s broadcast was fun. That’s good.”

— Anonymous Constellation: …Can’t you be a little more thrilled?

— Anonymous Constellation: Don’t you say that to our Astell! She’s just naturally chic!

— Anonymous Constellation: It wouldn’t be Astell if she were grinning from ear to ear.

— Anonymous Constellation: This is the kind of content you should pay to see.

[system : An Anonymous Constellation has sponsored 10,000 points.]

‘Points!’

I gave a thumbs-up as part of my reaction.

“Thanks for the ten thousand points. Ppuiing-ppuiing! Cutie-cutie, wink!”

— Anonymous Constellation: There it is! The ppuiing-ppuiing!

— Anonymous Constellation: LMAO, her reaction is so cute LOL.

— Anonymous Constellation: I missed this so much T_T

‘Shit…’

I held two fingers up in a V-sign by my eyes before slowly lowering them.

It was so mortifying I wanted to strangle myself, but it couldn’t be helped.

‘Just think about the points. Just the points…’

Fortunately, the Constellations’ mood was very favorable. At this rate, they wouldn’t be stingy with their sponsorships.

‘It must be because of the Memory Fragment. My pitiful death was worth something, I guess.’

I stared at the 10,000 points that had arrived in my inventory and pondered.

‘What can I buy with this paltry amount…?’

My current stats were completely reset, aside from the skills my body had mastered through practice.

‘First, I need to restore my lost finishing moves.’

As I selected the shop icon, my vision went black.

On the dark screen, an endless stream of minuscule white letters appeared.

It was so chaotic that even I, who had experienced it in my past life, wanted to close it immediately.

The Sea of Words Shop.

Known to Hunters as the shop from hell, this was the place where one could purchase all sorts of items.

‘Sort. Finishing Move, Magic, Sword.’

The letters all moved at once, forming words according to my command.

Even after sorting for sword-based finishing moves that used magic, the quantity was enormous.

This was why novice Hunters had no choice but to buy whatever item they could afford from the top of the list.

They didn’t even know what they needed, and the sheer number of options made it impossible to search through them all.

‘I have the advantage. I already know which items I need.’

I scanned the items with wide eyes.

“Wow, damn… my eyes are going to fall out.”

I continued reading for a long while, wiping away the tears that streamed down my face.

“Fo-found it!”

When I selected the item named ‘Blast,’ a new window popped up.

[system : <Beginner Finishing Move — Blast (爆)> can be exchanged for 5,000 points.]

[Exchange] / [Decline]

Although I had a vast amount of magic, I couldn’t execute complex finishing moves or spells that required intricate formulas.

No matter how incredible the formula, to me, it was all just smoke and mirrors.

That was why, in my past life, I could only use five finishing moves.

Blast (爆), Fuse (融), Fire (火), Wave (波), and Annihilate (滅).

They were simple, beginner-level finishing moves that anyone with magic could use.

‘Simple is best. A realization I came to only after wasting countless points.’

“Exchange.”

[system : You have acquired <Beginner Finishing Move — Blast (爆)>.]

“Phew…”

I closed the shop and rubbed my overworked eyes.

Wiping my tears with the sleeve of my pajamas, I pulled the call rope several times, but no one came.

‘Vivian, I can understand, but Zenia should have come, right?’

Just as I thought that, I swung open the bedroom door.

“Princess.”

Zenia was kneeling outside my bedroom, a pile of dresses I’d never seen before stacked beside her.

“These are the things I’ve stolen over the years. Th-this isn’t all of it. Some things I’ve already sold… I wanted to get them back somehow, but it was impossible in my situation. I’m sorry.”

“How long have you been like that?”

“S-since dawn.”

“Do you think doing this will make me forgive you?”

“…I know. How could you easily forgive me after all the wrongs I’ve committed? I don’t expect you to.”

I cut Zenia off.

“That’s not it. I have no intention of forgiving you whatsoever. Because I don’t resent or hate you. It wouldn’t matter what you’ve done. You are nothing to me.”

“…”

“Caring about something meaningless to me is a fool’s errand. You don’t get angry at an insect for biting you, nor do you forgive it.”

“…”

“You just crush it.”

At my merciless words, Zenia bit her lip hard.

But she didn’t leave her spot. Her brown eyes were filled with firm resolve.

“Yesterday, I saw you defeat the monsters with my own two eyes. And at dawn, the Temple announced a divine revelation. That the trials of God have begun in this world.”

A divine revelation.

It sounded grand, but when you got down to it, it was nothing special.

Just a plausible name slapped onto the apocalypse.

“And?”

“I thought about it all night, and I came to one conclusion. That if I stay by your side, Princess, I might be able to survive the trials of God.”

“So you decided you needed to get on my good side?”

“You can call me an opportunist, but I can’t help it. I’ll gladly accept it if you curse me and beat me for being shameless. Just let me live. Princess, I want to live.”

“And why should I do that? I told you. You’re nothing to me.”

“Then please tell me what I must do to become someone meaningful to you. I’ll do anything you ask.”

In my past life, countless people had clung to me, begging me to save them.

But she was the first to cling to me while baring her very soul.

She was so brazen about it that instead of feeling repulsed, I was starting to find her rather appealing.

‘Not bad.’

I studied Zenia carefully.

The cleverness to deduce the right conclusion from limited information.

The drive to act immediately once she was certain.

And the sharp instinct to recognize a person’s true nature.

Zenia was someone who wouldn’t be so bad to have by my side.

‘And she was, for a time, the only person who was ever kind to Astell…’

“Prove your worth. Kneeling and waiting for me to wake up isn’t proving your worth; it’s just foolish.”

“Yes…? Ah! I understand!”

She stood up with a look of elation, then grimaced. It seemed her legs had cramped from kneeling for so long.

I simply watched as Zenia staggered, not offering to help.

After steadying herself, Zenia bowed her head deeply.

“Thank you for accepting me, Princess.”

“Don’t get the wrong idea. The moment I deem you useless, you’ll be thrown away.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. Shall you bathe now?”

“No, a walk first.”

“…A walk?”

“I’m going to look around the estate. Why?”

“It’s just that I’ve never in my life heard of a noble lady taking a walk first thing in the morning.”

“Well, I’m going to.”

“Ah… then you’ll need some comfortable clothes.”

“Not comfortable clothes. Prepare something I can throw away.”

“Pardon? Ah, I understand. You’ll bathe after that, correct?”

“Yes, and breakfast too.”

“Yes! Please wait just a moment!”

A short while later, I stepped outside wearing a dress that might as well have been thrown out already.

As befitting a family that had been with the Empire since its inception, the Ruthius Duchy was incredibly wealthy. The estate was so vast that one needed a horse or a carriage to get around inside.

Besides the main residence and the annex where I stayed, there were twelve guest houses.

There were walking paths and riding trails scattered about, and more than three large gardens.

It would take more than a day to see it all.

I abandoned my original goal of mapping out the estate and headed toward the main residence.

As I neared the main building, I saw a pile of monster corpses stacked to one side of the road. It seemed they had cleared them out of the way, unsure of how to dispose of them.

The warm weather was already causing them to decompose, and a foul stench filled the air.

I drew my sword.

“Hey everyone, how about a little horror movie?”

— Anonymous Constellation: Horror in the morning is the best.

— Anonymous Constellation: Oh, are you going to harvest them?

— Anonymous Constellation: Aww, our Astell can do whatever she wants.

— Anonymous Constellation: Your tool is pretty shabby, though.

— Anonymous Constellation: To the shop?

“What kind of sword can I buy with a measly 5,000 points? I’ll just use what I have. Let’s begin.”

I grabbed one of the monster corpses and began to carve into the area below its ribs.

A black orb rolled out from between the precisely excised flesh.

It was half-cracked, but the damage wasn’t serious. It was usable with just a little bit of magic.

I placed the core into my inventory and pulled over the next monster.