"Constellation? What are you talking about?" the sergeant asked, speaking to Ashton though her eyes were stuck to Perry.

  "What, you think he'd get this insane if a constellation weren't involved somehow?" Ashton asked with a long sigh. "This guy attacked me while I had my back turned."

  "... Didn't you say that was him getting antsy about the spar?"

  "You bought that?" Ashton scoffed. "I arrived like five minutes before that happened, when would we have spoken about that? No, he had a constellation spurning him on. Just which one?"

  The constable silently stared at Ashton. His eyes unfocused for a moment, moving over to something else.

  "They say... if you can guess it, they will show themself." Perry explained, in a weirdly meek voice. There must have been something else they said.

  "... Fine. Any of you three, care to help me out?" Ashton turned his head to the side, and some messages popped up in front of him.

  [[Executor of the End] points out that they cannot say]

  [[Daughter of the Scarlet Heart] laughs at your boldness]

  [[Observer in the Veil] asks you to show your experience, and adds that you should know]

  Ashton's eyes widened as shivers ran down his back. What did they mean? Why would he know? And why did the Observer think that he would know? There had to be something that they weren't telling him.

  But... the Observer wouldn't lie to him. Folk like them were seekers of truth, so they put high value in telling it how it was. At least, this shouldn't be important enough for them to consider lying to him.

  But what other constellation could it be? It couldn't be one that he met here on earth. The 'Shadow behind the Throne' wasn't that sort of constellation. Yeah, they liked to meddle and mess things up, but it wasn't like Perry was some sort of master manipulator. The Shadow enjoyed it when people stuck to the background and blended in, and that earlier was the opposite of that.

  The 'Eight-Legged Queen' could be it, but that also seemed... wrong. For one, at the end of the day, Perry was still on the side of the people here. The Queen, however, seemed to be more interested in what the monsters were up to. There was a reason why she sponsored a Marked. Of course, it was still possible that it was her, but it still didn't sound quite right.

  Instead, what about constellations that he encountered in Lumia? There were a few that should hit this modus operandi.

  Constellations that love violence and death. Ones that slowly manipulate people to gain their trust, just to ask for more and more in return. And... ones that like seeing the ones they sponsor go against overwhelmingly stronger opponents. They would need to be rich enough to not care for the people they sponsor to die or get crippled, and powerful enough to provide some higher level of interference even without fully sponsoring someone. People that had been sponsored were branded in a symbol representing their constellation, and that did not apply to Perry, at least not yet.

  There were a few constellations that came to mind... But there was one that Ashton had particular experience with.

  "Is it... 'Snake in the Tall Grass'?" he asked, and Perry almost let out a sigh of relief. Though, it wasn't like Ashton just had been given one guess. "That didn't feel quite right anyway... it fits you trying to stab me in the back, but not the rest of your more straightforward behaviour, leading people and all that. In that case..."

  Ashton thought back on everything that he knew about constellations. And then, he grimaced, nervous. He was worried that this would be the one. Not just because they were relentless and dangerous, but also... because they were just incredibly annoying.

  "Just don't tell me that it's the 'Knight of Blood and Bone'..."

  "Wait, what?" Perry let out, grimacing as his eyes focused on something in the air.

  [[Knight of Blood and Bone] asks how you know about them]

  [[Knight of Blood and Bone] demands you identify yourself]

  "Urgh... You're the one that told me to guess, don't get upset now that I got it right." Ashton's face twisted in disgust as he looked at the messages in front of him. He quickly turned to Perry. "You didn't let this freak sponsor you, right?"

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  "... Freak?" Perry asked, obviously nervous. "What do you mean, 'freak'?"

  "Even as far as constellations go, this guy has some weird tastes. He doesn't just get people into dangerous situations that will get them killed, but he actively gets off on it," Ashton sighed, massaging the bridge of his nose. This was one of the constellations that Ashton had to deal with very actively in the past.

  Not only were they at the forefront of tons of annoying events where people went absolutely crazy, but all of their high-class sponsees were complete maniacs, too. The more a constellation invested in someone, the more they could influence their thoughts and emotions. This was just so that they could essentially turn the product they just bought into the perfect tool for their means.

  Most of the time, it led to the person just fundamentally aligning with their sponsoring constellation's values, even if they didn't fully agree just a few months earlier. Looking at a sponsee was one of the best ways to figure out the personality and goals of a constellation. And the folk sponsored by the Knight of Blood and Bone? Not only were they complete sadists, but their love of hurting others could only be triumphed by their love of hurting themselves.

  They wore minimal armour, used reckless tactics, and always got in close and personal. And most importantly, they always went for opponents that should be far too strong for them. The ones that were lucky enough to come out on the other side were given more boons by their constellation; not so that they could get stronger and survive for longer, but so that they would become overly confident and more easily go for powerful enemies.

  Obviously, a place like this, where a monster like the crimson wyvern just popped up out of nowhere and the difficulty was cranked up to the max, would obviously be a prime location for this guy to pop up.

  The only good thing was that this guy never picks more than two or three people in one larger area at a time. Maybe he'd have five folk all over England that he's aiming for.

  After all, constellations did receive some penalties when their sponsee died. They weren't major, but it was just to make sure that certain constellations didn't absolutely monopolize everyone. And since the Knight was the sort who wanted their sponsees to be killed in the most gruesome ways imaginable... well, they couldn't exactly afford to go too crazy with the amount of people they sponsored.

  "Just tell me, are you sponsored by the Knight of Blood and Bone?"

  Perry swallowed nervously. "And... what if I were?"

  Ashton's expression immediately dropped into a loud groan.

  [[Knight of Blood and Bone] asks if you had wished to become their subject]

  "Ew, don't even joke about that. I've already got three weirdos following me around, I don't need a perverted psycho as well."

  [[Daughter of the Scarlet Heart] grins and waves at the Knight]

  [[Knight of Blood and Bone] drops to their knee to greet the Scarlet Daughter]

  Hm? Was the Knight of Blood and Bone a demon as well? That would explain things, at least. There were a lot of demons with ridiculous relationships to pain and suffering. It did fit their image quite well. Though, to think that the Knight was lesser in stature than the Daughter of the Scarlet Heart... Ashton really was running around with some bigshots, wasn't he?

  "You two just talk about whatever you want, I guess. The important part is, Percy..."

  With a click of his tongue, the constable stared back at Ashton. "It's Perry, man, get it right already!"

  "Sure. Anyway, just... Don't do anything stupid. Do not get yourself killed. The Knight won't have any immense power over you, so be smart about it and take advantage of everything they give you."

  The only good part about this constellation was that their terms were pretty free. They didn't really care about how people fought when they sponsored them, within some limits. There just had to be lots of blood; that was the only part of any real note.

  "But I literally have to go and kill increasingly powerful opponents every week, what the hell am I supposed to do? I basically have to go after that wyvern, the constellation literally said so."

  Ashton sighed. "Constellations can't add more terms to the agreement after the fact unless they offer up something in return. Did they give you something when they said to go kill the wyvern?"

  "... No."

  "Then shut up and stop. Just make sure to kill slightly stronger monsters every week, which isn't even that strong since monsters are still getting much stronger almost every day. Just regularly go out to hunt and you'll be fine. Just don't drag the people of Market Street into any bullshit and you're fine." Ashton turned and looked at the sergeant next. "And you, just please, seriously think about who you're going to side with in the future. The people, or the police force. I seriously have to get going now."

  Ashton looked down at his watch. Technically he was only slightly behind schedule, which he should be able to fix relatively easily if he just sped up a tiny bit, but he really wanted to get away from the Knight of Blood and Bone. Just being around them made Ashton feel weird.

  "Albert, real quick," he said, waving over the older man as the two police officers stood there, really deeply thinking about Ashton's words to them. Quickly, Ashton whispered to Albert. "Just keep an eye on him, okay? If something seems off, make a post in the community, or leave a comment where you think I'd be able to see. Commenting under any post by the user 'Pendragon' should do the trick."

  Though it was clear that Albert was a bit confused about everything that was just spoken about in here, Ashton didn't feel like lingering longer to explain the issues in depth. The Knight of Blood and Bone was a psycho, but he wasn't the worst constellation in the world. They were just really, really annoying. Not just his sponsees, but even he himself was just really bothersome and annoying. They always tried to get in the way and used their influence in the dumbest of ways.

  If at all possible at this point in time, he wanted to not draw in their attention any further. Though it was probably far too late for that at this point. Not only had Ashton guessed who he was from minimal clues, but he was also followed by the 'Daughter of the Scarlet Heart', who the Knight clearly knew.

  "So, uhm... Where will you be going next? Is there anything we can do to help?" Albert asked, before Ashton could step out of the warehouse. He turned around and thought for a moment.

  "Hm... is there anyone who has family at Drakewood Primary School here?"