The return trip was mostly silent, filled with the odd grunting and cursing, but none of the Kusanagis dared to drop their backpacks. For one, these backpacks were stuffed with gold, and more importantly, whatever everyone carried was what their family branch would use. Dropping them…would have odious results on that person’s standing within their family, to say the least.

Gaius could feel a dozen envious eyes trained on him, Nakama and Isabelle, who weren’t carrying any backpacks stuffed with gold. Isabelle had finally made her choice about what rapier she wanted — the Knight was practicing in the air with her new weapon under everyone’s eyes.

The lotus on the rapier’s guard would light up whenever Isabelle pressed a switch, and for the next few dozen strikes, the blade would leave afterimages where it went. It complemented her direct fighting style by adding illusory elements to her moves, and once again, Gaius couldn’t help but think that she had some sort of fate with her new weapon.

As for Nakama…well, Stone, the sentient knife, had apparently made friends with the azure crystal she’d selected. She’d called it Lightning, and for some reason, Gaius felt that the name was a good one. Even now, the two were sitting on Gaius’ head — Isabelle wanted to practice while flying, and it was his turn to give Nakama a piggy-back ride anyway.

He probably looked somewhat odd in the eyes of the others, but if he did, no one dared to say a thing.

The journey was smoother than expected, and after a few hours of flying, the small group arrived at the ferry once more. The elders were already waiting for their arrival, and as Kenouji touched down on the deck, applause rang out, loud enough for unrelated people to hear.

A few bystanders, attracted by the commotion, turned to look, only to see everyone on the boat enter the cabin. Gaius and company, however, chose to remain outside. Whatever happened next inside was inside business; Gaius had fulfilled his promises perfectly. Now, what was left was to tour the North and look for a school there.

It made more sense to settle down in the Mortal Light Dynasty, where the entire continent was aligned against the great gods. Militarily speaking, Gaius had heard enough rumours that it was strong enough to suppress the other three continents — even if there was really some malign fate haunting him, nothing on the scale of being hunted down and plotted against by Demigods should occur.

“Some food, I guess,” said Gaius. “You two have to be hungry too.”

Isabelle blushed, and then nodded.

“Yay!” Nakama smiled. “Can we order more? I saw something called mushroom julienne in the menu, and it looked nice!”

Gaius smiled. “Sure, sure.”

The three of them got off the ferry and made their way into the inn that they had eaten at earlier. With night falling, many people were bringing their families out to eat, and it had taken Gaius nearly fifteen minutes to find a place to sit. A thick aroma continued to assail their senses, and the boy found himself closing his eyes.

A tingle of delight ran down his spine, and Gaius found himself grinning. The afternoon meal, though excellent, had been too rushed for his liking. Now, with his promises fulfilled, the boy could now relax and truly enjoy his meal.

Isabelle and Nakama had made a beeline to the counter to order their food, leaving Gaius to occupy the table. It was, all things considered, a good time to listen in to gossip.

“Did you hear? The Butcher of Gods apparently arrived in the North today,” said a woman with an eye-patch. “The Pinnacle’s Oracle predicted it! He might be here, ya know!”

“Quit dreamin’,” said her partner, a man holding on to what looked like a bow with his left hand. Qi gushed out of his right hand, manipulating his fork and spoon masterfully. “Why would he land here of all places?”

“Hah! You’re right. This place ‘ere is a hellhole.”

“Glad chu know, buddy,” replied the man. “And its not the Butcher of Gods no more. That naming thing now calls him the 'Lost Star'. Word on dem streets is that he’s an ex-Constellation!”

Gaius opened his mouth, and then shut it again, lost for words. Putting aside the fact that the current Pinnacle had someone able to predict his arrival here, the thing about being a Constellation was news to him. It was, in fact, so ludicrous that anyone who knew an inch of the truth would probably laugh madly, like Isabelle, who was walking over to him right now.

“You heard that too?” Gaius asked.

“You, a Constellation…” Isabelle placed the tray down and covered her mouth. The boy’s eyelid twitched madly for a few moments, before he grabbed a plate of grilled meat and tore into it madly.

“Constellation, eh?” Gaius sliced off a thin strip. “Me?”

He stuffed it into his mouth, annoyed. “Where’s my cheat, huh? No unique skills, nothing!”

Gaius tore off another slice. “Here I am, going up against bloody Demigods, and there isn’t even a Status Window for me! I just fight and fight and do my best, and now they call me a bloody cheater.”

The boy reined his annoyance in as Nakama approached, the grip on his knife weakening. Isabelle stifled another smile as she watched Gaius control his emotions, and then started a round of small talk to smooth things over. Isabelle was quite the master at reading the situation and acting accordingly — but the world of Orb had many individuals who were just this talented.

Either that, or the boy had the fortune of meeting these people. Although whether ‘fortune’ was the right word was right up in the air — where Gaius went, turmoil seemed to follow. Rather than the Conferment Committee’s 'Lost Star', 'Star of Misfortune' seemed to be far more accurate, but there wasn’t anything he could do about it.

His new…alias was better than 'Butcher of Gods' though, so the boy didn’t really have that much of a beef with them now. Shaking his head, Gaius stabbed another slice of meat viciously and shoved it in his mouth.