Half-Kin (3)
Sorry for the delay! There have been elections in my country, and the past two weeks have been hectic. But things have finally calmed down now. Well, at least for me.
Well, just to keep up the tradition. If anyone wants to read 3/7/15 chapters ahead or simply support me, you can do so on my (P)(A)(T). If not, I still appreciate all your support from the bottom of my heart!
This arc will wrap up in 1/2 chapters on (P)(A)(T).
With that said, have a wonderful night, everyone, and enjoy the read!
(P)(A)(T)/CalleumArtori.
[...]
[...]---[...]
The inside of Castle Stormveil was... basically a giant enclosed labyrinth. I don't think I've ever been inside a castle that wasn't this kind of bullshit, but whatever.
The place wasn't exactly pleasant either. Dust, rotting wood, and the constant smell of mildew mixed with old blood and decay.
After passing through the massive gates, we made our way into a series of corridors and smaller inner courtyards that looked like they'd been designed by someone with severe paranoia. There were wooden barricades reinforced with crude stakes, sandbags, and stacks of crates arranged in a way that was, frankly, tactically idiotic.
If someone tossed a single spark into a few of those barrels lying around, the entire area would explode, sealing the passage from both sides.
Still, considering it all looked improvised, I could understand why they'd done it.
We hadn't even been walking for a full minute before we ran into our first enemies. I'd been keeping an eye on things through the Minimap. The area was crawling with them, though they were scattered all over the place.
There were three soldiers, dressed much like the ones I'd encountered before.
They wore tattered red hoods and cloaks over rusted plate armor that looked far too heavy for them. Two carried longswords and battered shields, while the third stood a little farther back, cocking a heavy crossbow made of wood and iron.
I was about to talk to them, since they didn't seem nearly as insane as the others, but Alice stepped forward, drew the greatsword from her back, and charged straight at them.
"I've got these," she said without looking back, already settling into a fighting stance as if she were protecting me.
I... didn't really argue. Mostly because her actions caught me completely off guard.
The soldiers shouted something unintelligible and rushed her. Alice didn't retreat. A massive two-handed sword wasn't exactly ideal for horizontal swings in a corridor cluttered with crates. I thought she'd switch to another weapon, but she chose to keep fighting with the sword anyway, which wasn't exactly the smartest decision.
That said, she had excellent spatial awareness.
Instead of attempting a wide slash that would've struck the walls, she used the momentum of her own body. She twisted her upper torso slightly to the right before driving forward in a thrust, rotating back with the motion. The steel blade punched straight through the first soldier's wooden shield as if it were paper and impaled him through the chest.
...That was almost the first form of Sun Breathing, wasn't it?
I had to resist the urge to sigh.
At the very least, it was something derived from it. The movement was similar, and her breathing shifted ever so slightly the moment she attacked.
While the first soldier was finishing dying, the crossbow fired.
Alice twisted her torso again, letting the bolt skim past her metal pauldron, then used the same twisting motion to yank her sword free, ripping the soldier in half. Without losing momentum, she shifted her weight into her legs and delivered a short diagonal slash from low to high, tearing open the second soldier's throat before he could even raise his sword.
The crossbowman tried to fall back to reload, but Alice didn't give him the chance. Instead, she grabbed the soldier whose throat she'd just opened by the shoulder and hurled him like a ragdoll into the retreating man.
The impact knocked him flat. Alice was right behind the body, driving the flat of her sword down onto his head with crushing force, caving in both his helmet and the skull beneath it.
The entire fight lasted just over ten seconds. Fifteen at the absolute most.
The moment she confirmed there were no enemies left, giving the surroundings a quick inspection, Alice sheathed the sword across her back and immediately crouched down. Without the slightest hint of shame, she began searching the corpses, pulling the intact bolts from the crossbow, collecting the throwing knives the soldiers carried, and grabbing anything else that looked remotely useful.
Golden runes rose from the corpses and flowed into her skin while she worked.
She was already wearing the Travel Space Bracelet on her wrist, having removed it from the Grace on her chest as soon as we'd entered, and tossed every piece of loot into it.
...That felt way too familiar, actually.
I watched the whole thing in silence.
She fought well. There were a few obvious openings in her guard whenever she recovered from her thrusts, and one or two movements that wasted unnecessary energy, but nothing serious enough that it couldn't be corrected. She had good instincts, too. For someone wielding a sword that large in such a confined space, she'd handled herself remarkably well.
As I analyzed her, a message flashed in the corner of my vision before floating in front of me.
[(MOD)GeniusBillionairePlayboy]She went straight for the loot without a second thought. Another lunatic just like you, DS? If she didn't look absolutely nothing like you, I'd say you two were related. Well, that and the fact that you're from different worlds.(Iron Man yawning emote.)
I raised my right hand and lazily waved the message aside.
The downside of having people watch me every single day for months was that they eventually learned all my little mannerisms, making stuff like this painfully obvious.
That, and Stark wasn't stupid.
Shaking my head, I walked over to where Alice was finishing untying a leather pouch from the dead crossbowman's belt.
"Planning to strip them, too?" I asked, amused.
"They wouldn't fit me," she replied without turning around.
...Fair enough.
"You wanted to fight just so you'd have exclusive looting rights because you were the one who killed them?"
Alice let out a short snort, tossed the pouch into the silver bracelet, then stood up and brushed the dust off her knees.
"Couldn't it just be that I wanted a little exercise?" she shot back, turning toward me with one hand on her hip. "Or maybe I wanted to show off?"
Then her expression softened just a little.
"So? What did you think?"
Looks like the part about wanting to show off might've been more than just a joke.
I'd also have to be an idiot not to notice that my opinion mattered a great deal to her. She'd been asking for it surprisingly often.
...She kind of reminded me of an oversized golden retriever.
"You're good," I said honestly, stopping my lips from twitching at the mental image of her as a giant golden retriever. "You have excellent instincts. You just need to refine them and work on how you move so you don't waste energy."
I directed the Blood Hand behind my back and took hold of the Royal Greatsword. I gripped the hilt with my right hand and the middle of the blade with my left.
"In tight spaces or narrow corridors, you can hold the sword like this," I explained. "It's called half-swording."
I wasn't exactly an expert. Ozma would've been a far better teacher than me.
Still, I wasn't an amateur either, and my instincts corrected almost every mistake I made while fighting.
At this point, I could more or less use any weapon competently.
I demonstrated a few short, quick movements in the corridor: a compact thrust, a block using the middle of the blade, and a leveraged strike with the heavy pommel.
They were simple, brutally efficient techniques built around leverage, perfect for confined spaces.
The Royal Greatsword was enormous, so even using it this way was somewhat awkward. But for a sword that wasn't quite as absurdly oversized as Alice's, it would work well.
Ideally, she'd simply switch to another weapon.
But if that wasn't an option, this was the next best thing.
I let go of the Royal Greatsword. The Blood Hand caught it instantly and carried it back behind me, settling it behind the six crimson ribs orbiting my body and beside the Teardrop Cleaver.
"Do that thrust again," I said. "Just the stance. Freeze halfway through."
Alice didn't hesitate. She looked completely focused on my words. She assumed the stance with her massive greatsword and held the position, body leaning forward.
I reached into the Voidbag and pulled out one of those plastic toys—a long stick with a tiny pointing hand on the end.
Then I started poking her with it.
"Spread your feet a little more," I said, tapping her thighs and the sides of her knees with the plastic pointer. "Lower your upper body a bit. Bring your shoulders farther forward and inward. Close your center."
She adjusted her stance with every poke, never complaining or questioning the fact that I was correcting her posture with a toy pointer.
"Is a greatsword your main weapon?" she asked as she aligned her shoulders, glancing at the two massive blades floating behind my back. "You seem to know a lot about this. Are you a master who specializes in it?"
"They're the weapons I use now," I replied. "But no. I usually fight with whatever I have on hand. Greatswords, regular swords, spears, daggers, halberds..."
I didn't mention firearms. There was no point wasting time on that right now.
Talking about melee weapons made me feel a pang of nostalgia for using Houtengeki. My halberd had become incredibly fragile some time ago—to the point that I'd avoided using it in combat ever since Remnant.
I'd have to see if I could forge another one, find a replacement, or repair the original... maybe once I met the blacksmith Ranni had mentioned. As much as I already had the design for a spear in mind, going back to using a halberd wouldn't be a bad idea at all.
"And I'm not a master of anything," I finished with a shrug. "After a while, improvising and trusting your instincts becomes better than any style. But don't try to copy that."
I poked the middle of her back with the plastic pointer. I had to channel a bit of mana through it so she'd actually feel the touch through her armor.
"Now do the full thrust."
Alice nodded and executed the movement. Right in the middle of the attack, when her force was transitioning, I smacked the side of her waist with the little plastic hand, using more mana than before.
The sudden disruption in her flow almost made her stumble.
"You're relying too much on your upper body," I corrected. "You're a woman. Even though the runes you've absorbed make you ridiculously strong, and your sex doesn't really affect your physical limits when magic is involved, anatomically speaking, your legs are larger."
That wasn't true for every woman, obviously, but it was definitely true for Alice. She was a pale wall of muscle standing well over two meters tall, and her legs accounted for a good portion of that height. They were noticeably thicker and denser than her torso, especially her thighs and ass.
... Come to think of it, I think she's the first albino I've ever actually talked to.
"It's far more efficient to generate your power from your legs," I continued, pushing the random thought aside. "Instead of relying mostly on twisting your upper body for momentum, focus primarily on your lower body. That doesn't mean you shouldn't use your upper body the way you already are. The goal is to use both together."
I summoned the Royal Greatsword back into my right hand to give her a visual demonstration.
I assumed the stance of Sun Breathing's First Form, Solar Flare. I wasn't going to use the breathing technique or put any real force behind it—I was only reproducing the movement.
I rotated my lower body slightly to the left, planting my feet firmly on the ground, while twisting my upper body slightly to the right. Then I drove the sword forward in a single thrust, unwinding my entire body and releasing the accumulated rotational force all at once.
The blade tore through the corridor with a deep hum that echoed off the walls.
Even without activating Sun Breathing or using any real strength, the air around the blade erupted, sending a gust through the corridor that scattered everything nearby.
I generated traction with both halves of my body simultaneously, but I was literally the creator of the breathing style I used.
At least, my version of it.
Alice, on the other hand, was mostly throwing her arms and torso into the attack. Having her focus primarily on her legs would be a much better starting point, and it wasn't the kind of habit that would be difficult to correct later.
I sent the sword back behind my back and tossed the toy into the Voidbag.
"See? Use your legs as your anchor and let the force of the strike begin there. Then transfer it into your shoulders and your arms. Of course, not every time—it always depends on the situation—but that's the general idea," I said, taking a step back. "Give it a try."
Alice closed her eyes and stood silently for about ten seconds.
When she opened them, she settled into her stance.
I watched her chest rise slightly as she inhaled, drawing in air in a way that accelerated the flow of blood beneath her pale skin, almost perfectly mirroring the basic rhythm of my breathing.
Not active Sun Breathing, just the passive cadence of the technique—the way I normally breathed.
Then she sank her heels into the stone floor, rotated her hips, generating torque through her legs, and drove her torso forward, transferring all the accumulated force into her shoulders and then into her arms.
The sword sliced through the corridor with a sharp crack, creating a small directional shockwave that kicked up the dust in front of her.
It was, quite literally, a miniature version of what I'd just done.
...She was kind of monstrous, wasn't she?
I'd expected her to learn quickly, especially since it seemed to be something she'd somehow "inherited" from me.
Even so, reproducing it that easily—including the breathing rhythm after seeing it only once and getting poked a few times with a plastic toy hand—still caught me by surprise.
Alice relaxed her stance and lowered the sword.
A wide, deeply satisfied smile spread across her face.
"I can feel it," she murmured, opening and closing her hands around the hilt. "The strike was much stronger. And the traction felt much more... right. It's like the power flowed instead of being forced."
Then she turned to me and simply stared.
I have to admit, it took me almost a full second to realize she wanted my opinion. Or, more likely, a compliment.
"That was an excellent strike," I said with a nod. "Your muscle memory is outstanding. Keep focusing on your legs, and the movement will become second nature before long. Good work."
Her smile almost seemed to glow. She nodded enthusiastically before resting the sword across her shoulder, gripping the hilt with both hands.
At that moment, another message appeared in front of me.
[AdvocateOfGenderEquality]Okay... I feel like something's going on here. I just can't figure out what. These interactions are weird, and it's a different kind of weird. Not our usual kind of weird.(Emote of an ordinary guy scratching his chin.)
Being the wise man that I was, I ignored the message.
We resumed our walk.
With the Minimap displaying the castle's layout, navigating the place was easy enough, even if it looked like it had been designed by a complete maniac. I was also using Glimpse of Light in the Abyss to avoid wasting time, following the golden threads and pathways that crisscrossed the halls before disappearing into the walls and floor.
Most of them were thin, fragile strands of fate connected to enemies or obvious traps.
But a handful of thicker, brighter lines pointed toward things I actually wanted. Namely, loot.
I used the threads like a radar, guiding us through the castle's stairways and side courtyards, ignoring everything worthless and heading straight for whatever was glowing.
Whenever we encountered guards, Alice took the lead and cleared the way. None of the enemies we came across gave her any trouble, and after every fight, besides absorbing the runes from the fallen, she dutifully looted every corpse.
She also kept asking for advice on what she'd done wrong during each fight, and I found myself giving her short lessons, making small adjustments to her posture.
Most of the time, all I had to do was point out one or two things.
She corrected the rest herself—and came back even better than before.
While wandering through the castle, following the threads of Glimpse of Light in the Abyss, we picked up a respectable amount of loot from corners, rooftops, rooms, and just about everywhere else.
There were "paths" that I could tell were more significant, ones that would eventually lead to better opportunities or more valuable rewards. But since I had no intention of wandering around this place forever, I built a rough mental map and simply worked my way from the closest points of interest to the farthest.
In the first dark corridors, near half-extinguished torches and campfires, I found more Smoldering Butterflies and placed them into a terrarium, just like I'd done with the others. I shaped two Blood Hands using the crimson ribs and had them carry the container floating behind me.
In the damp corners, I gathered several Arteria Leaves—broad, dark-red leaves that seemed to pulse ever so slightly, their veins visible across the entire surface. They were crafting materials for things I couldn't make yet, so I didn't pay them much attention and simply tossed them into the Voidbag.
Near one corpse, I found something called a Stonesword Key.
It was basically a short sword—almost a dagger—carved entirely from stone. It looked ornamental or, more likely, exactly what its name implied: a key meant to unlock something.
It was one of the items—or perhaps the item—that carried the greatest sense of "importance" within Glimpse of Light in the Abyss. Numerous threads connected the key to other places. Some were nearby, some were halfway across the damn world, and one was here in the castle itself.
That particular thread led toward a "path" that I could instinctively tell concealed something extremely useful. Looking over the Stonesword Key's description, it was straightforward enough: an object created to open Imp Statue Seals, thirty-seven of which were scattered throughout the world, with several located here inside the castle.
I decided to save the Stonesword Key for later. I wanted to see what was behind the seal, but it lay completely opposite the route we were following.
So I continued leading the way.
The next thing that caught my attention was a partially ruined watchtower outside.
We had to climb over sandbags and rotting wooden ladders to reach it. I could've just jumped up there with Alice, but I wasn't in any hurry. My injuries were stabilizing, and they were healing faster and faster by the minute.
Once we reached the top, we were attacked by a flock of giant birds that were annoying as hell, each with razor-sharp blades tied to its talons.
I ended up crushing every single one of them with blood. They kept flying outside Alice's reach, and she didn't have a decent ranged weapon yet, nor did she want to risk throwing her daggers and missing.
I claimed the corpses for myself and tossed them into my inventory.
At the open rooftop, inside a nest made from dry branches and stacked bones perched along the edge of the tower, there weren't any eggs, unfortunately.
There was, however, another talisman.
-//-
[Claw Talisman]
Type: AccessoryRarity: GreenPrefix: None
Durability: 50000/50000
[...]
Ability — [Raptor's Strike]:
Amplifies the power, momentum, and weight of attacks performed while the user is airborne.
The talisman's latent energy stabilizes the body's center of gravity during jumps, concentrating kinetic force and gravity into a single directional impact.
[...]
Description: A talisman depicting a bird of prey and its vicious talons. Enhances jump attacks.
The assassins of Ravenmount are killers by trade, and they assail their victims from the darkness of the skies.
[...]
~"Death comes from above."~
-//-
I looked at the talisman for a moment before tossing it to Alice, who caught it on instinct.
"Use it. It'll come in handy." After briefly explaining what it did, I added, "It'll help whenever you need to jump to break the guard of something bigger than you."
She nodded and muttered a quick "Thanks," before slipping the talisman between her armor and her clothes at the small of her back.
With that done, I walked to the edge of the roof and looked down into the castle's central courtyard.
Then I jumped. Alice landed beside me a moment later, wincing slightly as her knees bent to absorb the impact.
"...Bad idea," I heard her mutter.
I laughed.
She wasn't hurt, from what I could tell, she'd simply felt the impact.
Resuming our exploration, we entered a vast, gloomy dining hall filled with long banquet tables shoved against the walls and severed arms hanging from the ceiling.
That was where we ran into our first real problem. The thing dropped from above with a bizarre screech. Not that I didn't already know it was there.
The Minimap had shown it, and the creature carried a faint scent of divinity beneath the overwhelming stench of rot and decay. The trace of divinity was what caught my attention the most, weak as it was.
Still, seeing Alice jump slightly made me think it had been the right call not to warn her.
It was a monstrous abomination—a miniature version of Godrick, more or less. A grotesque mass of flesh stitched together with countless grafted arms, wielding two thin, twisted swords alongside a bizarre shield made from barbed wood.
"One of these things again...?" she said, readying herself for battle.
"You've met one before?"
"...Not exactly."
She kept staring at the hideous creature as she spoke.
"But I ran into something similar when I first woke up. It almost killed me, and I barely managed to bring it down with nothing but the broken sword I had..."
She looked embarrassed for a moment before adding,
"And I didn't even get to take its swords before I fell off the cliff..."
"That's impressive," I said. "I mean killing that thing with a broken sword. Not tripping and falling to your death."
She turned a shade redder. It was kind of cute.
"But leave this one to me. I'm starting to feel a little guilty making you handle everything."
The creature barely had time to charge at us, splitting the massive dining table in half and smashing chairs to pieces, before I grabbed the Royal Greatsword and hurled it like a spear.
The blade slammed into it, launching the creature backward and pinning it to the far wall of the dining hall.
Its death was confirmed when golden rune dust drifted toward my forehead.
"...What a shame," I muttered, pulling the shattered table, the broken chairs, and the ugly corpse into the Voidbag.
"A single strike..." Alice stared at the spot where the corpse had been before looking at the empty space where the table used to stand. "Are you going to do that in every room?"
"Define that," I replied as I resumed walking.
"Taking every piece of furniture, every rock, and everything else you come across." She sounded mildly exasperated as she followed behind me. "You're even collecting rubble and corpses. And then you tease me for looting one or two bodies..."
"I'm not looting," I said. "I'm defending my property from trespassers and cleaning it up."
"I don't remember you buying this castle."
"Right of conquest," I said. "I killed Godrick, the lord and rightful owner of this place. That makes it mine now, and that includes everything in it—even the dust on the floor."
"And everyone still here is a trespasser?"
"Only the ones who attack me. Otherwise, they're free to live here. I won't even charge rent. I'm a fair guy, aren't I?"
Alice merely snorted in response and fell silent.
I walked over to the wall ahead, right beside where I'd impaled the creature.
Mounted on it was a massive painting depicting what looked like an ancient warrior king. Beneath it hung an axe that, after a quick use of Analyze: Item, revealed its name:
[Highland Axe]
It was a broad, heavy, single-bladed battle axe with a long leather-wrapped haft.
"Want the axe?" I offered Alice.
It was a good weapon. I'd say it was a bit weaker than Houtengeki, which made it essentially useless to me.
She shook her head, her short white hair swaying slightly.
"I'm not really an axe person, but thank you." She smiled as she said it.
I tossed the axe into my inventory. Maybe Beldin would want to buy it later. Or someone else.
Then I turned my attention to the enormous painting that covered much of the stone wall.
It portrayed a gigantic, absurdly muscular man standing on a shoreline beneath a gray sky.
Wild white hair spilled over heavy armor adorned with gold and blackened steel. Upon his head rested a simple crown, and in one hand he held an enormous battle axe whose design vaguely resembled Godrick's, only far larger and far more brutal.
But the coolest part of the painting was the beast behind him.
A colossal lion, almost translucent and ghostly, clung to the man's back, its massive jaws wrapped around his shoulder as though biting him—or embracing him from behind.
Even as a weathered painting, it radiated an overwhelming presence of war and savagery.
I reached out, pressed my fingers against the dusty canvas, and activated Analyze: Item.
[Portrait of Godfrey]
There wasn't any useful information beyond a brief story explaining that the artist had been inspired by visions and tales of Godfrey.
It was nothing more than an ordinary painting with no active magical properties. But the name alone was enough.
I turned toward Alice, who had also stopped to study the painting with a curious, slightly puzzled expression.
"Godfrey." I nodded toward the portrait. "That's his name... know who he is?"
She blinked, as if snapping out of a trance, and frowned slightly.
Her violet eyes traced the giant man's features, moving from the crown to the painted axe before she slowly shook her head.
"I... have this vague feeling that I should," she murmured, sounding frustrated. "But I have no idea who he is. Another lost memory..."
Interesting...
My eye shifted to the right, focusing on empty air a few steps away near the dining hall's exit, where both the Minimap and my instincts told me our spiritual hitchhiker was standing.
"And you?" I asked the empty space.
Nothing happened for about two seconds.
Then golden particles shimmered and swirled through the air, condensing until Melina's feet touched the stone floor.
The moment she appeared, she pressed her fingers against her temple, massaging her forehead with a faint grimace.
"It doth weary me to assume a corporeal form whilst mine own Grace lieth afar..." she muttered, repeating what she'd told me before, her tone bordering on a complaint, as though asking me to stop calling her out.
Which, in my case, wasn't going to happen.
She sighed before following my gaze to the enormous painting.
Her one open eye settled upon the white-haired warrior, and the pain in her expression faded into its usual reverent calm.
"That is Godfrey," Melina explained, turning toward us. "He was the First Elden Lord of the Golden Order. A man of peerless renown. The mightiest warrior ever to tread the Lands Between, and the first consort of Queen Marika the Eternal."
I let out a quiet hum through my nose. The first husband of the local supreme goddess?... And probably Ranni's and Melina's father?
I glanced sideways at Melina.
Judging by her reaction, probably not hers. Maybe only Ranni's. Melina didn't resemble him in the slightest, either. Then again, gods and demigods having a complicated and fucked up family tree wouldn't exactly be surprising.
"Yet his legend endeth not there," she continued, turning her gaze toward Alice. "When the long campaign of conquest had reached its end, and Queen Marika's mightiest foes had fallen before Godfrey, the light departed from Godfrey's eyes. For reasons known to none, Queen Marika bereft Godfrey of Grace, and bade the First Elden Lord wander afar."
Melina paused, silently looking back at the painting.
"Thus became Godfrey the first of the Tarnished. Bereft of the Erdtree's Grace, Godfrey was cast forth from these lands, together with the warriors sworn unto him, fated to wage war and meet death upon the Long March beyond the great sea of fog... that they might one day return."
She lowered her gaze from the portrait. "That was in an age long past..."
...So he really was a legendary figure.
The man wasn't just Marika's ex-husband who'd gotten divinely dumped. Though, admittedly, it kind of sounded that way. He was literally the ancestor—or at least the original predecessor—of Alice's entire people.
Was that why she'd felt she recognized him? Because of that connection, as the first of her kind? Or had she actually been one of the warriors banished alongside Godfrey to die in a foreign land...?
Considering Alice was "only" seventeen hundred years old, the first possibility seemed far more likely. Then again, there was the whole fight and die part. It was entirely possible she'd died at seventeen hundred... thousands of years ago.
I glanced at Alice.
She remained quiet, still looking confused, but from what I could tell with my perception, she wasn't especially shaken.
I turned back to Melina.
"So... he was someone important." I tilted my head slightly. "Is he still alive?"
She shook her head.
"I cannot say. With the return of the Tarnished, Godfrey likewise ought to have returned. Yet neither sight nor word of the First Elden Lord hath reached me since the Tarnished first set foot once more upon the Lands Between."
She gave a small, confident shake of her head.
"Believe me... were Godfrey returned, all the Lands Between would know of it."
"...He was the first Tarnished and the first to be banished," Alice said, blinking a few times as she gathered her thoughts. "Maybe he'll be the last one to return? Like... the order is reversed?"
She looked toward Melina. "Did all the Tarnished return at once?"
"Nay." Melina frowned thoughtfully.
"The Tarnished did not return as one. They came in waves... and even now, they continue to return." She considered the idea for another moment. "Thy conjecture may yet prove true, Tarnished Alice."
A faint smile touched her lips.
"Mayhaps... Godfrey shall be the last to return."
"That's assuming he actually died," I said, tapping the frame of the painting. "If he's still out there somewhere, alive, without the whole 'dying' part, then there won't be any 'returning' either."
The guy looked badass enough for something like that.
I mean, fucking a goddess despite being human, being hailed as the greatest warrior in the Lands Between, becoming the First Elden Lord, and defeating Queen Marika's greatest enemies... that was one hell of a list of accomplishments.
Which was also pretty bad news, because I had a feeling this guy would end up being an enemy someday. Not because of some magical instinct or anything like that—just simple logic. Common sense, really.
... Well, that was a problem for the future.
At my theory, Melina's eyes widened slightly before she gave a small, instinctive nod.
"Mayhaps... that too is within the realm of possibility." She cast one last look at the painting before speaking, her body already dissolving into golden motes. "Yet it mattereth not. Whatever the truth may be, it is not ours to pursue at present. There are other purposes that must needs take precedence."
I stared at the empty space where she'd been.
Well, where she still was. Just invisible.
I had a feeling that we wasn't referring only to her and Alice anymore. At some point, she'd quietly decided to include me in that group. Not that it was hard to notice—her marker on the Minimap had turned green quite a while ago.
Shouldn't anything divine be supposed to hate me? Or at least dislike me on sight? Why the hell were all these demigods I kept running into so reasonable and easy to get along with?
Well... except Margit. But I understood his reasons.
Wasn't Melina supposed to be looking for the perfect opportunity to stab me in the back? If this kept up, wasn't I going to be the idiot?
Shaking my head, I waved a hand and pulled Godfrey's portrait into the Voidbag. Ignoring Alice's exasperated look, I resumed walking, continuing our exploration.
Fuck it.
That painting was way too cool to just leave behind. It was definitely going in the future gallery aboard the Proto-A.
Right next to that abominable eye painting.
[...]---[...]
For the parts of Elden Ring's lore that were never explained—or were intentionally left open to interpretation—I'll be taking a bit of creative liberty in deciding what happened in those cases.
With that said, the exploration of the castle continues. I'm using this section to provide both Devas and readers who aren't familiar with Elden Ring a better understanding of the world, while also developing the interactions between Devas, Alice, and, to a lesser extent, Melina.
I won't keep this too long. As always, have a great day, and enjoy the chapter!