Chapter 211. The Road to the Summit (6)
“Welcome! Your Majesty!”
The moment I stepped into the throne, the A-rank Constellation ‘Handsomest Knight,’ Astolfo, spread both arms wide to greet me.
“Come on, over here! You can sit here!”
“Uh, sure...”
I sat down where Astolfo guided me.
Looking around, his throne was more ordinary than I had expected.
Considering the narcissism it took to choose ‘Handsomest Knight’ as his Constellation title, along with his habit of blurting out anything that came to mind, I had assumed his throne would be decorated in some bizarrely distinctive way.
But it had a surprisingly modest atmosphere.
There was a ‘BR-93’ Observer, the same model I used to own, with an office chair in front of it.
Beside that stood a pretty little table with two chairs.
Then again, maybe Arjuna, Yang Jian, and Sun Wukong are the strange ones for decorating their thrones so extravagantly.
While I waited with that thought, Astolfo brought out coffee.
Canned coffee.
“Your Majesty, do you drink coffee? I’ve been really into this stuff lately. I bring it up from the Material Realm.”
“Thanks. I’ll have some.”
I never thought I’d drink canned coffee in the Spirit Realm.
Bringing things up from the Material Realm should consume a fair amount of Origin Power, so I should at least appreciate it.
“Ugh...”
But the moment I took a sip, I frowned.
It was unbelievably bitter.
Black coffee? No, even then...
I tried checking what was written on the can.
But maybe it had been damaged while being brought up from the Material Realm, because the surface was covered in scratches and I couldn’t read anything.
I couldn’t even see the expiration date properly.
Surely it hadn’t gone bad?
“Ah, delicious. This bitterness really gets addictive.”
Astolfo, however, was happily drinking his coffee with a bright smile.
Maybe his can tasted normal?
Not that I had any way to check.
“So... what was it you wanted to show me?”
“Ah, right.”
Astolfo had invited me because he said there was something he wanted me to see.
What exactly was it?
“Your Majesty, I know this sounds strange coming from me, but I’m ridiculously lucky.”
“Really?”
“Yes. I barely do anything, yet all sorts of incredible items somehow end up in my hands.”
In the epics, Astolfo acquired countless items.
A spear that would always knock enemies off their horses.
A book containing methods to nullify all sorts of magic.
A horn that could force opponents to retreat.
He acquired all kinds of treasures and used them to accomplish great feats.
Astolfo was not the classic sort of hero who defeated enemies through overwhelming martial prowess.
He was a humorous, almost comic hero.
That was why many of his adventures unfolded this way.
“Because of that, I have a Constellation Skill called [Abundant Fortuitous Encounters].”
“Abundant Fortuitous Encounters?”
“It randomly makes me acquire good items for no reason at all. It’s EX-rank.”
“EX-rank...”
So it artificially generated the kind of thing people called a ‘fortuitous encounter.’
An EX-rank Constellation Skill couldn’t possibly have a trivial effect.
“I usually cast it on my Contractors whenever I feel like it.”
“But one day I was bored, so I tried using it on myself.”
“Because you were bored...”
“And then I got this.”
Astolfo pulled out a box.
“What is it?”
“Take a look first.”
Inside the box...
was a small piece of metal.
“What is this?”
“Hehe. Time for an Astolfo Quiz!”
Astolfo suddenly raised a finger and shouted.
“If you guess correctly, I’ll give this item to you, Your Majesty!”
"..."
I suddenly wanted to leave.
I had always known he was a restless idiot...
but not to this extent.
I miss the serious personalities of the Knights of the Round Table and Bradamante...
Thinking that, I examined the metal fragment from different angles.
No matter how I looked at it, it was just a piece of metal.
It looked as if it had broken off from some larger iron object.
“Can I touch it?”
“Of course!”
With Astolfo’s permission, I reached out and touched the fragment.
“Ugh.”
I immediately dropped it.
An unknown, overwhelming energy washed over me so suddenly that my vision nearly spun.
“A-Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, but...”
I felt a strange sensation near my waist.
There was nothing wrong with my body.
This feeling was coming from...
the sword hanging at my side.
“Wait...”
Joyeuse.
The sword Marbas had been carrying.
The weapon I had taken as spoils of war was resonating with the metal fragment.
“Oh, that’s His Majesty’s old sword.”
Astolfo’s eyes widened when he saw Joyeuse.
After all, Joyeuse had belonged to Charlemagne, the king Astolfo had served in life.
“Why is it resonating with this piece of metal?”
I looked back and forth between Joyeuse and the fragment.
At first, I wondered if it was a piece that had broken off from Joyeuse’s blade.
But that didn’t seem right.
“Ah!”
Looking more closely, I realized the resonance wasn’t coming from the blade.
It was coming from the pommel.
In that case...
“Astolfo, this is... part of the Holy Spear?”
“Ding ding ding! Correct! Long live Your Majesty!”
The Holy Spear.
The spear said to have pierced the side of the ‘Son of God’ to confirm his death after the crucifixion.
The so-called Spear of Longinus.
Alongside the Holy Grail, it was one of the greatest sacred relics in Christian legend.
It appeared in countless stories, including the legends of King Arthur.
Even real historical figures had sought the Holy Spear.
According to one story, even Hitler had been obsessed with possessing it.
Several different spears throughout history had been called the Holy Spear, and some were still preserved in museums.
Of course, whether any of them had really pierced the ‘Son of God’ two thousand years ago was impossible to know.
There were even theories in the Material Realm that while the Holy Spear itself no longer survived, fragments of it did.
There was a legend that a fragment of the Holy Spear was sealed inside the pommel of the Joyeuse I currently carried.
I obviously couldn’t break the sword apart to check.
But considering the way it resonated with this fragment...
it seemed reasonable to believe the legend was true.
