I Start with 13 Hidden Traits Chapter-44

Ch-44

—

“Where did the head go, kaak?”

“I don’t know either.”

“Did someone sneak in and take it, kaak?”

“It’s a possibility. It disappeared exactly a year ago.”

……What were they even talking about?

This was none other than the Death King’s laboratory.

Located beneath his fortress.

A place filled wall to wall with tools and magical devices designed solely to kill intruders!

Who would dare enter such a place and even steal Andasar’s face?

“Doesn’t a Dullahan’s body instinctively search for its head, kaak?”

“I tried, but it only rampaged every time.”

“If I can stabilize that body, kaak?”

“Then I’ll gladly hand it over.”

The Death King nodded.

Of course, he wasn’t simply going to give it away.

It was a question—whether I could stabilize the body, something even he had failed to accomplish.

He seemed to think of this as some sort of duel between corpse artists.

From the hollow sockets of his skull, I could sense a strange excitement.

“My art must be performed alone, kaak.”

“You’re the solitary type?”

“That’s right, kaak.”

“A shame. I wanted to watch.”

The Death King spoke honestly.

But I couldn’t show him myself stabilizing that body.

By *not* showing him, I could elevate my fake art into something real.

“How long will you need? It’s impossible by tomorrow’s announcement, of course. Perhaps a year…”

“Ten minutes, kaak.”

The Death King stiffened at my immediate answer.

“……Ten minutes? Don’t joke with me.”

At first, he thought he misheard.

He had worked on stabilizing it for an entire year and failed. Yet this corpse crow was claiming he could finish it in barely ten minutes.

It was impossible by all common sense.

“Ten minutes is enough, kaak.”

“Hmph… I hope that confidence isn’t misplaced.”

His arrogance was beyond extreme.

But watching this corpse crow fail ten minutes later would be amusing as well.

Shrugging, the Death King left the laboratory.

*

*

 

Exactly ten minutes later.

“……How did you do it…?”

The Death King stared at the stabilized body of Andasar, utterly unable to believe what he was seeing.

Even without eyes, one could tell he was flustered.

And naturally so.

The body that had raged like a mad beast was now perfectly calm, as if it had never rampaged at all.

Even after removing the seals, it stood still without issue.

Something he had failed to accomplish after a full year.

And I did it in only ten minutes.

Truthfully, it didn’t even take the full ten.

“What magic did you use? Tell me.”

“Asking for an artist’s methods is taboo among artists, kaak.”

“Unbelievable…!”

It was difficult to accept and even harder to believe.

Like the corpse crow, the Death King also practiced corpse-based artistry.

And he was confident his skills were superior.

Even if I was a transcendent species, surpassing him in the *realm of art* should have been impossible.

In this field, he had always considered himself the best.

Yet the corpse crow casually accomplished what he could not—and in ten minutes.

The past year flashed through the Death King’s mind like a lantern slide.

‘I was planning to use it myself.’

While the Death King was reeling in shock, I felt a tinge of regret.

The reason Andasar’s body was unstable was simple.

‘It was in a Chaos state.’

The precise term was *Chaotic*.

In the game, if players accumulated enough evil deeds, they entered Chaos state.

Unable to warp, hunted by guards, NPCs refusing to give quests, and so on.

And besides external reactions, Chaos also inflicted debuffs on the character.

‘When you fall into Chaos, you enter Frenzy.’

Frenzy.

In other words, madness.

In the game it only caused slight stat drops, but this world wasn’t a game. Andasar was truly in a frenzy, rampaging uncontrollably.

There were only two methods to remove Chaos state.

Accumulating good deeds to build reputation.

Or using an indulgence.

The former took a long time; the latter was instant.

I had planned to use the indulgence Andrew the Priest gave me, but plans were meant to change.

‘Besides, I still have one more.’

Andrew’s indulgence—one still remained.

I only had to ask for it, and since I’d used it to save his daughter, he couldn’t refuse.

‘Unlike humans, monsters seem ignorant about Chaos state.’

Well, monsters accumulating evil deeds and entering Chaos would be strange anyway.

If anything, their reputation might increase.

Besides, Andasar had originally been human, so his structure was fundamentally different.

What troubled me was why she had fallen into Chaos in the first place.

‘She died already—so why Chaos?’

Andasar had become undead after turning into an Eldritch.

Even after purification, she was still a corpse.

Undead accumulating evil deeds entering Chaos was odd in many ways.

This was worth investigating later.

“As promised, I’ll be taking this piece of art, kaak.”

“……Is there truly no way you’ll tell me what you did?”

“I’ll consider it, kaak.”

“……! I hope your answer is positive!”

The Death King was a creature truly devoted to corpse artistry.

He must have felt some kinship.

I didn’t want to get friendly with this perverted hobbyist, but among the Four Pillars he was the most amicable toward me.

And he was definitely the type you never wanted as an enemy.

So outwardly, I could only maintain friendliness.

I spoke to Andasar’s body.

“Head toward where your face is, kaak.”

*

*

 

The Dullahan’s body continued moving toward the direction of its missing head.

But ultimately, it could not find it.

“That place is the hot spring where the Star Guardians gather.”

The hot spring where Star Guardians gathered.

Located at the very center of Cramdel—its largest landmark.

And that was where the Dullahan was heading.

“The Star Guardians are investigating the hot spring. Likely because of what happened a year ago, when the Goddess’s tears first began mixing into it.”

A year ago.

When winds of change began sweeping across Cramdel.

The time when the hot spring prospered and monsters stabilized.

“Four Pillars. We and the Star Guardians maintain a mutual non-aggression pact. Don’t do anything reckless.”

“Why, kaak?”

The Five Pillars and the White King.

Monsters of incomprehensible might—yet they cowered before the Star Guardians.

I didn’t understand why.

“If we get involved with them, nothing good ever comes of it—that’s all.”

It seemed relations weren’t exactly friendly.

Between the Star Guardians and Cramdel was an unspoken rule of non-interference.

Which made sense to some extent.

Star Guardians—ultimately beings tied to the stars and thus to humans, the stars’ owners.

Even if they didn’t aid humans, to the Five Pillars, the Guardians likely felt like traitors.

But something still didn’t add up.

“If non-aggression is so important, is it fine for Star Guardians to enter Cramdel, kaak?”

“Anything related to the stars and the Goddess is absolute to them. We have no choice but to yield in those matters.”

Yield.

Hearing the Death King use that word was almost comical.

But this confirmed something.

“I’m not officially one of the Five Pillars yet, am I, kaak?”

Which meant it had nothing to do with me.

Until the formal announcement, I wasn’t one of the Five Pillars—merely a visitor.

The Death King grimaced.

“In that case, even more reason—it cannot happen. If you get entangled with the Star Guardians and cause trouble, as a ‘visitor’ we cannot help you.”

If I were one of the Five Pillars they could help, but as an outsider, they could not.

But I hadn’t expected any help to begin with.

“I need no help, kaak.”

And truly, I didn’t.

I had a trump card.

Leaving the perplexed Death King behind, I headed to Cramdel’s largest inn.

*

*

 

Star Guardians.

They were mostly mythic or phantasmal species, but received treatment far beyond even that.

As guardians of the stars, they wielded power and authority unmatched by ordinary monsters.

But normally, they never left the star’s domain.

Gathering together happened once every several thousand years—if that.

And now, more than ten Star Guardians were soaking in Cramdel’s hot spring.

“The thirty-third star, confirmed.”

“It is not the body of the Goddess Leah. Hers was scattered into thirty-two fragments. Then whose body is it?”

“Pina…”

“The twin goddess?”

“The likelihood is high.”

“To confirm, we must see what’s ‘beyond.’”

“But it is blocked by a unique-grade mystery. Whether someone purposely sealed it with such a mystery remains to be determined.”

“It will take time.”

While the Star Guardians were deeply engaged in conversation…

Dramut quietly slipped out of the hot spring.

Though called the Ancient King, even among the Guardians gathered here, they were walls he could never climb.

Dramut was the weakest and youngest of them; joining their conversation was impossible.

Even if he wanted to join, he knew nothing.

Observe.

No one even noticed he left.

Proof that none of the Star Guardians cared about him.

Sighing, Dramut slowly returned to his room.

“……What are you doing here? Corpse Crow?”

The moment he entered, Dramut froze.

A corpse crow was in his room.

Star Guardians’ rooms should be completely isolated.

So how did it get in?

“Been a while, Dramut, kaak.”

“If you don’t want to be eaten, get out. I’m not in the mood for games.”

Kyaaah!

I opened my beak, mimicking eating.

It was Dramut’s first time seeing a corpse crow.

As if he’d know something like this.

His mood soured, but he wasn’t foolish enough to cause trouble.

If he made a mess in Cramdel, he would only get scolded.

So leave.

If it ran away screaming, he’d let it live.

But then Dramut frowned.

“Wait… how do you know my name…?”

…Strange, when he thought about it.

How could a mere corpse crow know the name of a lofty Star Guardian like him?

At that moment—

SQUELCH!

The corpse crow grabbed the core in its chest and tore it out, its entire form warping grotesquely.

Mystery Deactivate

SQUELCH!

With the core removed, its wings melted, flesh and bone collapsed, revealing a human form.

A very familiar face.

“You, you’re…!”

“My form has changed a bit, and suddenly you fail to recognize your master? And you call yourself my loyal servant?”

“H-How are you here…!”

Shock beyond shock—pure disbelief.

But the human before him was undeniably real.

Dramut shrank like a startled lizard.

The Desert Sanctuary.

Deep within lay the Mountain Where the Star Slept.

Guarding that mountain and star was Dramut’s role.

Originally, the star’s owner was Wilhelm, but after Wilhelm died, the star fell back to the mountain.

Then, a mysterious human suddenly appeared within Dramut’s domain—Randolph.

A human with nowhere near enough qualification, yet who became the star’s master.

“And just now, that appearance… you were definitely a corpse crow…”

He was surely a corpse crow.

Appearance, scent, presence—everything.

But now he had turned into Randolph.

No—Randolph had turned *into* a corpse crow.

But it made no sense.

When he was a corpse crow, there had been no trace of the star.

Yet as Randolph, Dramut could clearly sense the aura of the star he guarded.

It wasn’t simply wearing a disguise—it had become an entirely different being.

No other explanation made sense.

Meanwhile, the melted feathers and flesh were sucked into the core.

‘So reverting back means I can’t use the Corpse Crow King’s skills.’

I clicked my tongue inwardly.

Expected, but still.

Removing the core perfectly switched my form.

As the Corpse Crow King, I couldn’t equip items but could use related skills.

As Randolph, I couldn’t use crow skills but could equip items.

Like a transformation, avatar, or costume in a game.

I had expected this, so I wasn’t disappointed.

Right now, Dramut was the priority.

“Dramut. You’re here because of the Thirty-Third Star, right?”

“……Humans should not be in this place.”

“Did the form I just showed you look human to you?”

Dramut shut his mouth.

—

 

 

 

---