The Broken Brooch and the God Slayer’s Truth

Expressionless, Karvan’s gaze was directed behind me.

Turning around, I saw a man with dull blonde hair swept back, standing with his hands clasped behind his back.

【Carlos: Empire Scribe (Habitat: <Neutral City Midvalen>)】

He was an Empire vampire I knew, as he had been in charge of the beast-kin until I returned and we had spoken a few times during the handover.

“I heard Skollcat-nim hasn’t come out of his room for a few days. Is he feeling uncomfortable? His Majesty also seems worried.”

“Ah, I think he’s just a bit stressed. He says he dislikes crowded places.”

‘To be precise, I think he dislikes this guy.’
Swallowing the unspoken words, I poked the back that had suddenly blocked half my view.

“…….”

However, Karvan didn’t budge.

Seeing the slight tilt of his head, it was obvious he was looking at Carlos askance.

“Hmm. It seems the newly acquired s*ave isn’t listening well?”

“Haha, no, it’s just….”

“You seem quite flustered for it to be nothing. I’ve kept several beasts myself, so I know, these things give you trouble if you don’t discipline them from the start. They don’t listen. And they try to crawl all over their master whenever they get the chance.”

“I think it’s already too late for me. Oh! His self-assertion is so strong…!”

I spoke clearly as if for the ‘strong-willed s*ave’ standing next to me to hear, then soon smiled politely.

“Anyway, thank you for the advice.”

“Don’t mention it. In that sense, shall I lend you a well-trained servant for the night? For beasts, showing is easier for training than telling. If you take him and show him once, he’ll understand immediately.”

Servant?
I was flustered by the unexpected offer, but Carlos looked like he was doing me a favor.
Looking closely, there was a beast-kin in a neat tailcoat standing behind him. Brown ears twitched on his head.

“He won’t bother you. He’s certainly good at service. He’s a feline, so he’s cute too.”

“Thank you for your concern. But I….”

“Once you taste it, you won’t be able to get enough. His night service is also excellent!”

“Ah, excuse me, that’s really fine….”

Flustered, I waved my hand again, but Carlos, absorbed in his own words, was busy chattering away.

“By the way, did you know? Feline beast-kin have barbs down there. So if it hooks you with a thud!….”

Clang!

Simultaneously with a sharp sound, the golden object hanging on Carlos’s chest fell off.

“Aack! Noooo!!”

Before he could even properly realize what it was, Carlos let out a thunderous scream.
The vampire, who had an arrogant face as if he had never bent his back, began to grope the floor like a beggar.

“Oh no, no, no….”

Soon, what he picked up with trembling hands was a brooch.

Frozen and shattered, it was crushed beyond recognition of its original bat shape.

【…<Karvan Baharga> has cast <Ice Spear>.】

‘Why did that suddenly fall?’
I watched the scene with puzzled eyes, then froze on the spot.

“Wh-who is it! Huh?! Who threw the icicle! Aigoo, this was bestowed by His Majesty…. Aaron! Bring something to stick this back together! Call a dexterous dwarf artisan immediately!”

Carlos, turning pale as a sheet, seemed to have completely forgotten he was talking to me as he clutched the crumbled brooch and scurried away.

…Just now, what was that?

I moved my stiff neck to look up at Karvan.
The man also lowered his eyes smoothly to look at me.

Unable to believe what I had just seen, I opened the mini-map to check my current location.

〔Current Field: Midvalen (※ This location is designated as a ‘Neutral City’.)〕

I immediately dragged Karvan and shoved him into my room.

The man was led by me without a word, and without being told, he went into the cage and sat on his sofa.

“…You.”

With my back to him, I rubbed my forehead against the door for a while, took several deep breaths, and barely managed to open my mouth.

“What, was that?”

My voice cracked from my dry throat.
The man, staring intently at me as I coughed and cleared my throat, nodded towards the table.

“Drink some water first.”

“…Forget that! How can you use skills, you!”

Rubbing my face vigorously, I waved my hand in the air to bring up the system window.

【Status Window – Checking skill usage log.】

A ‘log’ is literally the record of a gamer’s activities.
Since everything from skills used around me to opening the inventory is recorded, the Observers even chased me based on this.

And in the log details I checked, …it was clearly recorded.

【7 minutes ago: <Karvan Baharga> cast skill ‘Ice Spear’.】
【48 minutes ago: <Karvan Baharga> cast skill ‘Threshold of Fear’.】
【2 days ago: <Karvan Baharga> cast skill ‘Frost Mist’.】

“Since when? N-no! How….”

Words wouldn’t come out anymore, so I just shouted.

“Leviathan!”

【The current location <Neutral City Midvalen> is a place where weapons cannot be summoned. Please move to another field and try again.】

“Warm Heater!”

【The current location <Neutral City Midvalen> is a place where skills cannot be cast. Please move to another field and try again.】

Right. This is normal.
No one can use skills inside the Neutral City of Midvalen.

Even Baalzeph, the ruler and governor of this city, can barely cast protective buffs on Awakeners; attack skills are absolutely impossible to use.

‘You can’t use magic in Midvalen.’
‘Hmph! That’s a story for you ordinary folks.’

…But there was one exception.

‘Such rules don’t apply to me, the Cat God, nya.’

Leaving aside the talk about gods, other dimensions, and whatnot, since I still can’t accept it.

Guessing systematically based on the ‘Legacyth Chronicle’ I’m familiar with, it seemed the rules of the Neutral City didn’t apply to the Skollcat.
After all, the very existence of a boss monster, who should be in its exclusive field, the shrine, in this ‘Neutral City’ is something not supposed to happen, an error and a bug.

…Then don’t tell me, is Karvan also such a being?

If so, it made sense that he could use broken OP skills I had never seen in my life as he pleased.

But why this man? He’s not even a boss mob?

He’s just a monster whose existence was deleted long ago, so why on earth?

Unable to stand the overheating thoughts, I shouted his name.

“Karvan!”

“It’s nice to hear you call me loudly, but you’ll hurt your throat.”

“Is this the time for jokes? You, you, just how….”

“Why, does your mate finally look a bit useful?”

The man, with one arm resting on the sofa’s backrest, speaks slowly.

Seeing that arrogant, upturned face, I suddenly remembered the white smoke wafting from his mouth on the first day.
And him tossing and catching a piece of ice from an unknown origin out of the blue.

…I thought I saw wrong and dismissed it, but then, could he use skills from the beginning?

Is that why he was consistently relaxed, saying he would take care of it even when I asked what the plan was?

Pieces fitting together one by one made the back of my neck ache.

“You, you, how could you, not say a word about something so important to me….”

“Is that so important.”

“Of course it is!”

“Then I shall tell you. The Varg were originally beings who monitored the absurdity of the gods. Those who could kill gods. Called ‘God Slayers’.”

…Before, I would have joked that he sounded like a tutorial NPC or a narration.
But seeing the man’s serious eyes, such words didn’t come out.

“The gods feared the Varg. Because we could make them mortal at any time, they always wanted to seal our power, and incited you Awakeners to brand us as sinners and cast us out. That is the ‘Doom’ of the Varg.”

“…….”

“After the Doom, the Varg were stripped of the authority of the God Slayer. Except for one mutant who possessed a divine relic.”

Before I could ask who that was, Karvan pulled something out of thin air.

【<Karvan Baharga> has summoned <God-Slaying Sword>.】

The moment I saw that, I froze on the spot.

As if cut by the cold-flowing sword he pulled out, I stared at the weapon that felt both familiar and unfamiliar without blinking an eye.

• 【Are you sure you want to lend the <God-Slaying Sword (SL)> to the <Nameless Varg>?】

A scene from long ago, completely forgotten, came back to mind.

• Whoa! You’re just giving that expensive thing to a monster? An SL weapon?!

• It’s not even upgraded anyway. And I’m not giving it, I’m lending it. It’ll come back when he dies.

• Well, he looks like a mob, so he’ll probably die soon anyway.

When I first saw Karvan’s God-Slaying Sword, I once thought, ‘Could that be mine?’
Because I also thought, who would give a top-grade weapon to a monster deleted long ago.

• Shinbi-nim, aren’t you going to kill it? It has a debuff.

• If he chases me later, I’ll kill him then. Here, take this and don’t follow me. Got it?

But what he had was fully upgraded and plastered with cheat passives, so I couldn’t imagine it.

But to think that was really the weapon I gave him.

“Then, you….”

I covered my mouth for a while, then spoke with difficulty.

“Did you know from the beginning… that I was the one who gave you that God-Slaying Sword?”

“No. I had forgotten. Since all memories of Awakeners turned to hatred after the Doom.”

The man continues with a face without a hint of agitation, as always.

“But when you closed your eyes in front of me, I remembered everything.”