I Pull Out Excalibur

22 – The Wand of Selection (1)

The boy faced the sky for the first time in his life.

What he faced wasn’t just the sky. Jinjin listened intently to the sound that reached his ears. The sound of insects crying. The sound of flowing water. The sound of grass rustling in the blowing wind. All of it was unfamiliar to Jinjin.

The cool wind brushing against his hair.

The vast landscape in front of him.

The clear air that wasn’t stuffy or suffocating.

But above all, the vast night sky and the stars.

Everything he saw with his eyes, felt with his skin, and heard with his ears was new. Because it was new, it felt unfamiliar, and because it was unfamiliar, it felt mysterious. Jinjin took a deep breath. For the first time, breathing in the outside world’s air, Jinjin opened his eyes wide.

He could see. So much.

His line of sight stretched out without anything obstructing it. Looking up at the sky, what he saw wasn’t the ceiling adorned with familiar gemstones. It was the stars that decorated the vast night sky, too expansive to fit within his field of view.

The night sky. And the stars.

The things the boy had longed for so much.

Counting the countless stars, Jinjin looked at the center of the sky. There, he found the constellation he had been searching for.

Hanging at the highest point of the night sky.

The Largest Constellation.

A constellation in the shape of a black sword, connected by 13 stars.

“The Throne, Sword of Selection.”

The constellation of the great hero King Arthur.

Today, for the first time, I faced the constellation that I had seen in illustrations in fairy tales countless times. When I confronted the constellation, the world of the boy who had been trapped underground suddenly expanded in an instant.

Thump.

Najin felt his heart pounding.

The distance between that constellation and himself was vast, but he knew where he should be headed. The stars were no longer a vague goal that the boy couldn’t see.

He could see them with his own two eyes.

A goal he could gauge the distance to.

Najin’s pupils, as children do when they dream, were shining with longing. It was the light that Najin had long lost.

“Phew…”

In the expanded world, Najin let out a long breath. He had let go of many things with resignation. But now, he would no longer let go of anything. Even if he hung high up, he would reach out and hold on.

Half of it told him so.

Climb to the highest point.

Najin reached out towards the star hanging in the highest place in the night sky. As he estimated where he needed to go, Najin muttered to himself.

“Someday, for sure…”

Still such a far-fetched wish.

That’s why Najin buried that hope deep in his heart without uttering a sound. It wasn’t a hope worth sharing with anyone yet.

However.

“Remember.”

That voice.

“The stars are always looking at you.”

Because it wasn’t voiced, because he held it inside, Najin’s voice that no one should hear.

“When you look at the stars and pray, the stars listen to that voice.”

It reached a star.

Thud.

Najin’s senses sharply heightened for a moment.

However, even if he heightened his senses, he couldn’t move. Najin realized that his body had stiffened. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t even move a finger, let alone breathe.

But not long after, Najin realized that he wasn’t the only one who had stopped. The wind that had been blowing lessened. The grass that had been swaying in the wind stopped. The sound of flowing water, whooshing, ceased. Moving things began to stop one by one.

The moment everything came to a halt.

[I found it.]

A voice echoed in Najin’s ears.

The constellation of Arthur Wang, which Najin had been gazing at, and the serene lake-like constellation beside it erupted in an instant. The stars sparkled and Najin’s vision flickered.

Najin’s pupils turned pale white.

A sensation as if something was capturing her body. Along with the sensation of being pulled underwater, Najin’s vision shook.

“Ugh!”

Numerous landscapes passed by in front of her eyes.

When the rapidly passing landscapes came to a halt, Najin was finally able to breathe. The view was hazy as if covered in fog. After blinking several times, the surrounding scenery finally came into Najin’s sight.

What she saw was a lake in the forest.

Until just now, she had been lying by the clear riverside, but what appeared in Najin’s eyes now was a lake surrounded by dense forest. It was the moment the scenery changed in an instant, causing Najin to startle and rise to her feet.

“Finally.”

A voice was heard.

The same voice as before. The voice that resonated in her ears was clear and gentle, but within it, uncontrolled anger could be felt.

“I finally found it.”

Najin turned her head towards where the voice was coming from. There stood a woman with flowing hair resembling the color of flowing water and eyes as blue as the lake. Their gazes met as the woman sat on a rock by the lake.

Gradually, she descended from the rock.

Stepping softly on the ground, she approached Najin. With each step, Najin narrowed her eyes, watching the woman approaching her.

‘A sense of unease.’

Najin felt a strange sensation.

Even when she tried to meet her gaze, her vision kept shaking. It was as if seeing itself was not allowed. Within the continuously shaking vision, Najin caught a glimpse of the woman’s attire.

It was like a sorcerer’s robe.

Or like the formal attire of a knight.

On a corner of the fluttering garment that followed her footsteps, there was an engraved pattern. And Najin knew that pattern. She had seen it in a fairytale.

‘A pattern symbolizing the lake and a staff.’

It was a pattern that only one person in this world could engrave, the symbol of a certain seat of power.

The sorceress of the lake.

Or the Staff of Selection.

Najin unconsciously tried to utter the well-known truth of that seat of power. But in an instant, a hand that reached out stopped her. It was a slender finger, but the moment it grabbed her, Najin couldn’t move a muscle.

“Where do you dare speak my name with your filthy mouth?”

Merlin opened his eyes.

“You, what on earth?”

2.

“You, what on earth?”

While usually adept at maintaining composure, Merlin was currently thoroughly bewildered. Even she couldn’t comprehend the current situation.

The voice that had echoed in her ears a moment ago.

It matched the deranged voice of the one who had insulted Arthur as the “whim of the times” not long ago, and Merlin instinctively reached out to seize the owner of the voice. It was an act of snatching someone’s consciousness.

Honestly, Merlin hadn’t expected this to be possible.

Merlin had ascended to the throne centuries ago.

A being not remaining in the present with a star, but one who had concluded her own story and ascended to the sky, a “completed” existence. The places where such a being could intervene were extremely limited, and there were constraints even on her movements.

‘Of course, if I were to ignore that and forcibly bring someone here.’

There would undoubtedly be resistance. So, with the intention of letting go if there was any backlash, she tried with a light-hearted mind to just confirm the location.

‘Why is this happening?’

Merlin looked at the boy in front of her.

The boy, blinking his eyes in apparent confusion while being held by her, was vividly clear. It meant he had been brought here without any resistance.

But the boy seemed as bewildered as well.

“What are you?”

Merlin, holding onto the boy, blinked, and the boy, as if in confusion, reached out and pointed to Merlin’s finger. His gaze seemed to say, ‘Can’t you let me go so we can talk?’

Although his stance was quite audacious, it wasn’t entirely incorrect. Merlin released her grip as if pushing him away.

“Speak.”

“I’m Najin.”

“What?”

“You asked, didn’t you? Najin. That’s my name.”

Najin said, stroking the chin that Merlin had held. After awkwardly spitting out his name, Najin quickly rolled his head.

Najin was convinced that the person in front of him was Merlin. It matched the description from the fairy tales.

Arthur’s advisor and the constellation that accompanied the beginning and end of King Arthur’s journey. His heart raced at the fact that he was seeing a character from a fairy tale up close, but…

‘Let’s put that aside for now.’

Najin understood the situation.

Why Merlin brought him here and why she might be hostile towards him. Did she pull him here to draw Excalibur? Najin was deep in thought as he urgently rolled his head.

“Quite the amusing fellow. When did I ever ask for your name?”

Merlin chuckled as if bewildered.

“Arthur, you’re truly a fortunate one born in the right era. Is that what you said?”

…Born in the right era?

What nonsense. Not grasping the words immediately, Najin slowly tilted her head. However, soon Najin’s body stiffened.

“Arthur, a fortunate one born in the right era.”

“If you were born in this era, you’d be nothing.”

It came back to her.

“Upset? Unpleasant feeling?”

“Then come down and face the punishment.”

Now that she recalled the insult she had uttered, Najin’s pupils shook briefly. Cold sweat ran down her spine.

‘No, did that really get through?’

Najin felt a bit unjust.

Voices without seeing stars are a bit too much. Anyway, leaving that aside, Najin now understood the hostility Merlin held towards her.

“That’s a slight misunderstanding…”

“Misunderstanding? Don’t give me that. What I really want to know is that. By any chance, what courage drove you to say such words? No, why is your voice so clear from the start?”

Merlin took a step closer.

“It’s strange. The fact that your voice is this clear, being pulled right in front of me as if lured, maintaining form and consciousness fully in my sacred space…”

She narrowed her eyes.

Her thin blue pupils stared at Najin.

“It’s all strange. Did you, by any chance, make a contract with that damn Modred? Otherwise, it doesn’t make sense, right? Even if it is, it doesn’t make sense.”

Thud. Merlin stood right in front of Najin.

Breaths almost touching, Merlin stared directly at Najin. Najin’s dusk-colored eyes reflected in Merlin’s blue eyes.

“What are you exactly?”

Repeated questions.

But Najin couldn’t answer them immediately. Merlin sighed deeply and opened her mouth.

“Enough. Honestly, whatever you are, it’s not that important.”

What’s important is.

“The fact that you insulted Arthur. And I don’t intend to let that insult slide.”

It was you who asked for punishment.

Merlin flicked his finger absentmindedly. This place was her domain, and once someone came here, everything was under her control.

Therefore, from the moment she flicked her finger.

Every movement, every blink of the boy in front of her, even breathing required her permission. Merlin reached out her hand towards Azurian, contemplating how she would punish him in her mind.

Snap.

Merlin’s wrist was caught by Azurian.

Of course, Merlin had the ability to easily dismiss such a touch, and she could disassemble the finger holding her wrist into tiny grains of sand.

She had the ability, but Merlin couldn’t do it.

With wide eyes, Merlin looked at the hand that was holding onto her. The surprise and curiosity she felt towards the boy who could move without her permission vanished in an instant when she looked at the hand gripping her wrist.

Replacing those evanescent emotions was astonishment.

Merlin saw it. The constellation pattern engraved on Azurian’s wrist. This was a pattern that could originally only be seen in Azurian’s iris. No matter how exceptional a strong individual was or if they were the throne of the night sky, they couldn’t see the pattern engraved on Azurian’s wrist.

But Merlin was an exception, just like her.

Because Merlin herself had designed the circuit that contained Excalibur’s constellation. She couldn’t help but know the meaning behind that pattern.

Merlin lifted her head.

From the hand holding onto her wrist, Merlin shifted her gaze to the boy’s eyes. The boy’s eyes, once a sunset hue, were now tinged with platinum. The amazement that filled Merlin’s eyes soon turned into anger.

Firmly.

Merlin gritted her teeth.

She pushed away Azurian’s touch and tightly clenched his wrist in reverse. When she exerted force in her grip, the platinum starlight escaped from Azurian.

Swiftly, Merlin caught the escaping starlight.

The gathering of starlight formed the platinum holy sword. Merlin, who had taken Excalibur from Azurian, long, very long sigh escaped her lips.

“Of all things.”

She pressed down on her temple.

“Of all things!”

Excalibur was drawn and three days passed.

During that time, she, of course, and the owner of the legendary sword that no one among the numerous thrones of the night sky could find. Even though the owner was standing in front of her, Merlin couldn’t accept the fact.

Standing before her was not a Swordmaster.

Nor was it someone close to a Swordmaster.

Nor was it a special being with their own star.

Arthur was nothing special, except for the claim that he was born with great fortune in his era. Merlin couldn’t possibly accept the fact that this ordinary boy was the owner of the holy sword.

“That.”

However, the Chosen One had chosen the Black Knight.

It’s an unchanging fact.

“It seems like mine.”

Najin clenched the air tightly.

Excalibur, previously held in Merlin’s hand, shimmered in the starlight. The shattered starlight returned to Najin’s hand, reforming into the shape of a sword.

“It’s troublesome for you to snatch it away like that.”

Unlike when Merlin held it, the sword in the boy’s hand was shining brightly. As if this side were the true owner. Veins popped on Merlin’s forehead as he looked at that sight.

“Wow.”

Merlin exclaimed.

As if purely astonished, she sighed.

“What’s this kid doing?”