"Ugh, a ghost."
Lorraine's voice trembled.
She wasn't used to being surprised by anything, but Sebastian's request was outrageous enough to make her panic.
"I can see why you didn't want to tell us about it here."
Ronan smiled sheepishly.
"Because you wouldn't believe me even if I told you the truth. I might as well have gotten a 'don't mess with me' response."
Sebastian's expression darkened.
He hadn't said anything for fear of this reaction.
Ronan watched him and muttered to himself.
‘He's well-educated, but I can see where he's stupid.’Normally, he would have gotten away with being a little more brazen in this situation, since they, the client, were the boss.
But Sebastian just took a poke at them and blew off what was going on.
He didn't know much about the industry.
'Still, the fact that he came to us directly, even though information about Mr. Osian is still not well known, suggests that he has his own connections.’
He has a good ear for such things, but he doesn't know how to make a request in the brokerage industry.
It was an inexperience in the details.
But what could I do, I couldn't accept their request in good faith just because I felt sorry for them.
Their inexperience could be used to our advantage.
Most important of all was Osian's will.
No matter how well-paid the commission was, it was meaningless if he was unwilling.
‘Based on his behavior so far, I don't think he'll take it.’
On top of that, he had just finished a big case.
Ronan knew it well, if not the others.
He knew how much Osian had suffered this time.
‘He's well paid, so I can't blame him for taking a few long weeks off.’
That was Ronan's tentative conclusion, however Osian turned to Sebastian.
"Why do you need a fixer to catch a ghost? Wouldn't it be much more efficient to call a priest for that?"
Osian's response was not as bad as he had expected.
Ronan waited for Sebastian's response, though he was surprised.
Osian's question was reasonable.
Calling in a fixer to capture a ghost? That was the absurdity of it all.
Ghost-type monsters were best handled by priests.
Just because they were priests didn't mean they didn't take requests for money.
"That was......the first thing we tried."
"And it didn't work? Was the priest not good enough?"
"We had a priest of some repute, and his holy powers were actually quite impressive, even by the standards of experts, but it didn't work."
"The priest failed to exorcise the ghost?"
"Then there's a chance it's not a ghost."
"......."
Sebastian nodded with a heavy expression.
‘The worst thing that could happen is that someone would deliberately try to assassinate the patriarch, Dyke.’
And that the person responsible for the assassination might be his own son, eager to claim his legacy.
"But until we have hard evidence, that's just speculation."
"And yet you came to see me?"
"I heard something about Mr. Osian. My master told me about you, to be precise."
This was another surprise. This was the kind of thing someone like Sebastian was supposed to do himself.
"What was he talking about?"
"He said you use holy power differently than a priest."
By holy power, he meant starlight.
Osian lightly curled and uncurled his fingers.
He'd used the Starlight Sword a few times in his career, so it wasn't strange that someone else knew about it.
If anything, the searing white blade had become a symbol of Osian's skill.
It was not unreasonable to think of it as a holy power.
There was something about the Starlight Sword that struck a chord somewhere in the heart of the beholder.
All that aside.
'You've never seen me, and you want to call me on rumors you've heard?’
It turns out that Sebastian's master, Delan Goldiron, is one of two kinds of people.
Either he’s a man with ears as thin as a farmer's field who believes everything he hears.
The other, on the other hand, is a man with an extraordinary instinct for reading between the lines.
Usually the former, but for some reason, Osian had a feeling he was the latter.
He doesn't know why. Maybe it was just a knight's sense.
'Besides, when I heard the word ghost, I got a strange feeling.’
A pull of fate, perhaps.
Osian sensed something similar in Sebastian's words.
‘There's definitely something there.’
Osian remembered the last time he'd felt something similar to this.
It hadn't been that long ago, so he could recall it quickly.
'When I drew the Starlight Sword? No, it was a bit later than that. Right, it was when I first unfurled the Nebula Silk.'
The first time he had used the Nebula Silk was in his quest to rescue Ena, fighting Martinez.
It was then that Osian felt the spark within him crackle and pop.
Like lighting a firecracker, it ignited and transformed into a complete skill.
The next time he felt a similar sensation was, of course, when he put on the Starlight Armor.
Even then, Osian felt a spark of something burning within him.
'It's the power of the starlight.’
The power of the stars sometimes manifested itself in the physical form of a holy sword, but sometimes it existed in abstract forms, such as the beliefs and courage in one's heart.
And while this starlight was usually subdued, once ignited and expanded, it would unleash new techniques, as if a seal had been broken.
So what are the conditions for starlight to ignite?
Obviously, there are psychological factors at play, but they are not necessarily Osian's.
‘The starlight exists in someone other than me.’
Or more precisely, the seeds that could ignite the starlight.
If they came into contact with Osian, and the chemistry between them ignited the spark within them, the power of that spark would be transferred to Osian, making him stronger.
‘So if I grabbed a random person and walked around with them, they would become a star?’
That was another no.
Starlight was not something so common that it could happen to anyone.
‘Starlight is strengthened by encountering certain people who deserve it. It's like gaining skill points every time you level up in a game.’
Maybe that's why, as a knight, he didn't have all his skills fully unlocked.
'Maybe it's some kind of skill point collection in the field, and it's the only way to regain my power as a knight.’
His physical stats remained the same, but his only skill was the Starlight Sword.
However he hasn't yet mastered the Starlight Sword perfectly.
If the power is scattered throughout and if some people were in tune with it and carried the spark within them.
‘Or perhaps, conversely, there are shards somewhere else that no one has found.’
Perhaps that was why my intuition was so sensitive to the ghost Sebastian had mentioned.
Whether it was the ghost, or the fallen Dyke Goldiron, or Sebastian's master, Delan, it was clear that this had something to do with the 'power' he was supposed to have.
"Interesting."
He had already unlocked three powers of the Starlight and his senses were even sharper than before.
It was as if he knew where the next milestone was, as if something invisible was guiding him.
To use an analogy, it's like when you accept a quest in a game, a guide follows you around, marking the map.
Osian was intrigued by this.
"The request. I'll take it."
"Oh, really?!"
Sebastian asked in surprise.
Normally, only a beginner would be so happy to accept a request here, but Sebastian had no such self-consciousness.
"Mr. Osian, are you sure?"
Ronan asked, his face still glowing.
As if he'd known all along that Osian would make this decision.
"Partly because I'm curious about the ghost and partly because I need a chance to digest my newfound insights."
Now that he had the Starlight Armor, he needed to practice to use it better.
In the game, you click a button and the skill casts itself, but it's different now that it's real.
Implementing the skill and maintaining it, the whole beginning, the process, and the end of it all required careful attention to detail.
Nebula Silk, which only had a cape, was better.
However the Starlight Armor is an all- around combat form, covered in starlight from head to toe, ideal for one-on-one battles.
Naturally, it was incredibly taxing on strength and spirit.
Mayor Albert Lorenzo thought Osian had deliberately released the power to hide himself, but the truth was different.
He was simply exhausted.
‘If there's a battle, I might be able to improve my skill with the Starlight Armor in practice, so there's no harm in going.’
Moreover, one of the important things about this request was that the remuneration was not clearly specified.
It seems like they gathered a bunch of talented fixers, and then Delan himself evaluated them, and then they were paid individually.
You could get paid less than you expected, but you could also get paid more than you expected.
I've already made a lot of money, so I'm not greedy for money right now.
I don't think they realize that, but when they made the request they said they could give me something more than money.
"So when should I start making moves? Lead the way, orc."
"Uh, my name is Sebastian."
"I already know your name, orc."
"......."
Sebastian broke out in a cold sweat and his shoulders sagged.
*
The white woman sat alone at the window, watching the landscape outside the city.
Her dull eyes took in the sights of the 33rd District.
Some might find it vibrant, some might find it bustling, but not the White Lady.
In her eyes, this city of brass was more like a colorless color and the only thing shining in this world was the man.
"Ah."
A squeal of delight escaped her lips at the mere thought of it.
Even from a distance, she could recognize Osian at a glance.
As much as she wanted to talk to him right now, she had to hold back.
-Knock.
Just then, someone knocked politely on the door of her room.
She didn't say anything in response, but the person opened the door and walked in, as if that was enough to convey his intentions.
"I didn't tell you to come in, did I?"
"You barged into my office once, so let's call it even."
It was Albert, the mayor of the 33rd district.
"Besides, this is the mayor’s office. As a district mayor, I don't think there's any place I can't go around."
"Where I am is different, it's special."
"Well, I suppose it is."
"So why are you here?"
Albert asked, turning to the white woman who still hadn't taken her gaze from the window.
"I heard from Bailiff Alensia Hare that you were involved in the assassination of Princess Orlea, that you found them at the scene but didn't immediately engage them, instead watching from a distance."
"Yes. I did, and things went better than I thought they would."
"Why did you do that?"
Albert asked, not understanding.
Had the white woman painted all of this because she knew Osian would act like that?
Even if she was out of the ordinary, it wouldn't be that far-fetched.
If so, there had to be a reason.
"I'm not ready yet."
"Ready for what?"
"There is such a thing."
The white woman seemed unwilling to say more on the matter and Albert had to hold back a sigh.
Still, the conversation just now had convinced him that Osian had the potential to be a great player since the White Lady had noticed him.
‘I'll make sure to get him!’
Albert's desire for talent burned within him.