As the old retainer who had looked after Ranni throughout her childhood and beyond, Iji was someone she could genuinely regard as family, an elder who had practically watched her grow up.
In a way, Iji's heartfelt words were also an elder formally entrusting Ranni to Lucian's care.
Faced with Iji's earnest and emotional request, Lucian seemed a little awkward.
Strictly speaking, this was the first time Lucian had ever had to face someone's parents.
Although his brother-in-law Messmer was considerably older than him, they were still technically of the same generation.
And with Queen Rennala not yet recovered, while Rellana wasn't particularly familiar with Ranni, she could only be considered an elder in name.
Lucian nodded repeatedly and solemnly assured Iji.
"Please rest assured. I will treat Ranni well."
"At the very least, Ranni will certainly be safe by my side. I won't allow her to suffer even the slightest harm again."
"Even the Two Fingers, Ranni's mortal enemy, have already become corpses beneath my blade."
"I may encounter even more powerful opponents in the future, but I have the determination to protect everyone."
"I made up my mind long ago to take responsibility for the lives of others."
Iji was momentarily stunned. Wasn't this the sort of occasion when one was supposed to say something sweet, or make some grand promise of eternal love?
Well... it didn't really matter. It wasn't as though he had only just met Lucian.
At least he understood Lucian's feelings and attitude.
Besides, in a world where strength determined everything, there truly was nothing more reassuring than this.
Iji also knew about Lucian's ambitions and aspirations. They certainly weren't limited to taking responsibility for the lives of just a few people.
It didn't matter how many lives Lucian would have to bear. After all, the burden on his shoulders was that of the entire world.
A hearty laugh came from beneath Iji's Mirrorhelm.
"Haha! There is certainly no need to doubt your strength, Lord Lucian."
"It seems I won't have to worry about Lady Ranni anymore."
After finishing gathering all his belongings, Iji spoke.
"Come. It's time to start forging equipment."
"I'm already looking forward to forging an unparalleled suit of armor."
"Being able to forge something for you is an honor for this old man."
—
It didn't take long for Lucian to bring Old Man Iji to the underground world.
After meeting up with Selinsax and Sif at the Siofra River, Lucian led them through the passage connecting the two regions and into the Land of Shadow.
After a brief moment of disorientation, the group appeared on that familiar cliffside.
As soon as they arrived in the Land of Shadow, Sif was the first to dash off, racing toward the Graveyard Plain beyond the cliff.
Looking at the spirit gravestones spread across the hills like waves of rippling wheat, Sif happily sprinted among them, chasing after the gravestones floating ahead.
However, the moment Sif approached one of those spectral stone markers, it immediately vanished. No matter how hard Sif chased them, it couldn't catch a single one.
But Sif didn't mind. Once it realized how these spirit gravestones behaved, it quickly shifted its attention elsewhere.
Faced with this brand-new territory where it could run to its heart's content, Sif was delighted.
Meanwhile, Lucian and the others emerged from the passage one after another, gazing toward the distant horizon shrouded in shadow.
Iji silently observed the Land of Shadow, feeling somewhat nostalgic.
He still remembered the events that had taken place on this land.
They had happened long before he began serving the Carian royal family. In the blink of an eye, so many years had passed...
Standing on the Graveyard Plain, Selinsax was also astonished. She looked around in every direction.
After matching the surrounding landscape with the memories in her mind, she spoke to Lucian with deep nostalgia.
"Yes, this is the place."
"Although quite a few things are different from what I remember, there are still many things that have been preserved."
"Especially that Jagged Peak over there..."
"I never imagined that such a vast piece of land could actually be separated from the Lands Between."
Lucian deeply agreed. It really was an absurd feat.
No matter how much raw power one possessed, accomplishing something like this through strength alone was simply impossible.
Without the intervention of laws, there was no way to isolate the Land of Shadow from the Lands Between.
Perhaps pure physical force could make the Lands Between sink a few meters, or even completely submerge an entire landmass.
But separating a region from the Lands Between in the same way as the Land of Shadow was simply unimaginable.
The stronger Lucian became, the more clearly he understood this.
The only possibility was that Queen Marika had used the power of the Elden Ring.
Only through the manifestation of the world's laws could someone possess the ability to accomplish something like this.
That portion of its power was still unfamiliar territory to Lucian, but he believed he would come into contact with it before long.
No... by that time, it was uncertain whether the Elden Ring would even still exist.
Perhaps the laws of the world didn't need to take any predetermined form. Nor did they necessarily have to be confined to those rigidly defined possibilities.
Lucian watched Sif racing around and smiled. Then he gave a whistle, calling it back.
Hearing the whistle, Sif immediately skidded to a stop, kicking up a large spray of dirt before racing back at full speed.
Lucian rubbed Sif's head and led everyone onward.
Next, he intended to take Sif to the places where Miquella had discarded parts of his body, then dig out what remained inside.
If it were something like grave robbing, Lucian certainly wouldn't stoop to such a despicable act.
But Miquella wasn't dead yet, was he?
Once they found the pieces, they could simply bury them again, together with his main body.
Lucian thought about it for a moment. To locate Miquella, all he needed was a trace of his aura. The discarded pieces of his body would be more than sufficient.
And he didn't need to find too many. The three locations near Belurat should be enough.
They were the First-Discarded Body, the Discarded Arm of the Body, and the Left Arm.
—
The group arrived at the Cross in the Three-Path Crossroads area, the location of the first Miquella's Cross.
The broken gravestones resembled discarded ribs scattered across the land in the twilight. Around the piece of Miquella's body, the soil had been stained with faint golden specks of light.
Under the nourishment of this Empyrean's blood, countless plants known as Scadutree Fragments' saplings... no, Sacramental Buds, were growing vigorously in clusters all around the area.
Lucian looked at the Sacramental Buds and rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
Hadn't there been fewer of these plants the last time he came here?
Could they have drained all of Miquella's flesh and blood?
At the thought, Lucian hurriedly began digging.
He didn't want to end up excavating nothing but useless chunks of flesh. If that happened, he really would have no choice but to give them to Sif as something to chew on.
Lucian lightly tapped his fingertip, and gravity parted the cracked earth.
Beneath the Miquella's Cross, a strangely sweet, bloody scent rose into the air, accompanied by golden specks of light.
Yet underground, the body was anything but sacred or dignified.
Within the blood-soaked soil, countless plant roots coiled around a piece of flesh.
After peeling away the red clay wrapped around the roots of the Sacramental Buds, Miquella's semi-transparent remains were revealed, buried deep beneath the earth.
Strange, grapevine-like blood vessels pulsed across the surface of the flesh. These vessels were extraordinarily thick, and each one connected at its end to a Sacramental Bud growing vigorously aboveground.
Seeing this bizarre sight, Iji's mouth fell open in astonishment beneath his helmet.
"I was already a little puzzled when I heard you explain your plan earlier, but now that I've actually seen this... Well..."
"I thought... it was something metaphorical, something that existed only on a conceptual level."
"But I never imagined that Miquella had literally discarded his body in a physical sense!"
Lucian nodded, deeply agreeing.
"Yeah. I had the same reaction when I first found out."
"I wonder if Miquella came up with this method of discarding his body by imitating Ranni's actions?"
"Regardless, thanks to his unusual method, we have a trail we can follow."
Lucian reached out and pulled away the roots wrapped around the flesh, revealing the true appearance of the remains before them.
The part of the body in front of them was half a rib cage, excluding the chest.
After the roots were removed, the remains slowly returned to their original state, and the skin became incredibly smooth and delicate.
Sif curiously approached, stuck out its tongue, and licked its nose. Its eyes revealed an unmistakable longing.
Lucian paid no attention to Sif's yearning. He simply picked up the piece of rib cage in silence.
He wasn't going to let Sif chew on the bones just yet. He wanted to avoid any unexpected complications.
One of the ingredients used to craft Bewitching Branches was Sacramental Buds.
And those Sacramental Buds had merely inherited the power of the Haligtree, which had been nourished by Miquella's blood, yet they already possessed the ability to bewitch others.
The power of these pieces of flesh to bewitch others would undoubtedly be even stronger.
This was where Selinsax's role as a companion became apparent.
With her keeping watch as a guardian, Lucian wouldn't have to worry about Sif giving in to temptation and taking a bite out of these body parts.
Lucian stored the piece of Miquella's body away. He didn't even spare the Sacramental Buds growing nearby, stuffing every last one of them into his spatial storage disk as well.
After that, Lucian repeated the same procedure and visited the two remaining locations in turn.
One was at the entrance to Belurat, Tower Settlement, while the other was inside a small room within the settlement itself.
This time, he didn't bring the others along. He went to excavate the remains by himself.
At the entrance to Belurat, Lucian didn't see Sir Ansbach. He had no idea where the man had gone off exploring.
After digging up the Miquella's Crosses at all three locations and collecting the remains into his spatial storage disk, Lucian returned to the crossroads.
Taking the body parts out of the disk once again, he laid them out one by one.
The pieces now lying before the group were: half a rib cage, a shoulder, and a left arm.
Lucian studied the remains before him, lost in thought.
It seemed he could use these body parts to deduce Miquella's route.
The pieces could almost all be fitted together. Although some flesh was still missing around the connecting points, their overall arrangement was quite easy to understand.
First came the rib cage, followed by the shoulder above it, and then the left arm.
That was the order in which Miquella had discarded them, and it also revealed the route he had taken after devising his plan.
Lucian held the body parts out toward Sif, bringing them close to its nose so it could smell them. As he did so, he instructed:
"Sif, remember this scent."
"From now on, search this land for anything carrying the same scent."
"No matter what it is, find it first."
After carefully sniffing the remains, Sif committed the scent firmly to memory.
In Sif's eyes, faint strands of "scent" had already begun to take shape across the land.
As a powerful beast belonging to the domain of Nature, searching for something like this posed no difficulty for it.
It might even be able to track connections tied to the very concept of life and death.
Sif stuck out its tongue and shook its head, as though telling Lucian that it understood.
Lucian then turned toward Selinsax and gave her some instructions.
"Selinsax, accompany Sif and help me keep track of the places you find along the way."
"Normally, you'll probably only find Miquella's Crosses. Even that would be a worthwhile discovery."
"By following the Crosses and examining the locations of the discarded body parts, we should still be able to gather some useful information."
Lucian paused, then continued cautiously.
"But if you actually find traces of Miquella himself, do not attempt to approach him recklessly. Contact me instead."
"Wait until I receive your message and come over before proceeding."
"And under no circumstances are you to let Sif eat any of that flesh."
Hearing Lucian's prohibition, a trace of disappointment appeared in Sif's eyes.
It really wanted to taste it. The stuff looked so soft and delicious.
Selinsax bowed slightly toward Lucian and replied:
"Please rest assured. I will follow your instructions to the letter."
After thinking for a moment, Lucian took out a Death Knight's Axe.
He waved the Death Knight's Axe in front of Sif's nose a couple of times as well.
"If you find anything carrying the same scent along the way, investigate that too."
"Just like before, don't act rashly. I'll handle it myself."
"I've already spoken to the ruler of this Land of Shadow in advance."
"As long as you're here, you should be able to travel around without much trouble. Don't get into any conflicts."
"As for the uninhabited areas, I doubt they'll pose much of a challenge to you either."
After saying that, Lucian added one more thing for Selinsax.
"Oh, right. There's no need to rush things with Bayle."
"Next time I return to the Land of Shadow, I'll go take a look at Jagged Peak and see how things stand."
Selinsax was momentarily taken aback. She hadn't expected Lucian to be mindful of her feelings as well.
Smiling, she spoke to Lucian in a gentle voice.
"Master, there's no need to hurry."
"We have already waited countless years for the chance to avenge ourselves against that enemy."
"A little more time makes no difference to us. You only need to follow your own plans. There's no need to worry about me."
Lucian shook his head.
"It's fine. I want to see how strong that creature is myself."
"Besides, I'm looking forward to using the blood and bones from its body for forging."
Selinsax nodded, then followed Sif as it took the lead, quickly departing with the wolf.
Lucian turned toward Old Man Iji and spoke.
"Well, shall we go too?"
"I'm already looking forward to seeing the forging work get underway."
Iji chuckled.
"It's been a long time since I've used Ancient Meteoric Ore for forging. I hope my skills haven't deteriorated."
"In ancient times, it was a material used to forge weapons for the gods."
"Though, when we speak of gods, that was merely a respectful title given to those powerful creatures. They were still far beneath you."
"Now that we have someone like you, who surpasses the gods, I'm also looking forward to seeing whether I can forge weapons that surpass theirs."
With Iji in tow, Lucian headed toward the distant bridge.
The forging ruins where the Ancient Meteoric Ore was stored were located in the Scadu Altus, still some distance away.