"Mmm, for a beginner, your technique wasn't bad. Of course, there is still much room for practice."
"Er... is this really something I need to learn? I feel like something is very wrong here."
Gawain carried Master Sellen, now dressed in her new sorcerer's robes, on his back. He walked slowly through the corridors of Stormveil Castle. Sellen was still in a state of physical stiffness after the body swap and needed time to adjust.
As they walked, he pulled a letter from his person and handed it back to her.
"By the way, before Ranni left, she found a possible way to cure 'him.' It's a task that only you can personally handle, Master."
"Blaidd? Very well. Once I've regained my mobility, I shall study the matter closely. I believe he is currently in a state of temporary unconsciousness, correct?"
"Mmm. That was the agreement between him and Iji. He's currently locked in the Evergaol near the gatehouse. It should buy us as much time as possible."
Gawain pushed open a door, carried Sellen into the room, and settled her into a chair. She opened the letter and began to read, her brow furrowing occasionally before smoothing out in relief.
"I understand the general situation. Although there may be some unexpected side effects, I am confident I can excise the part of him that influences his mind."
"Then I'll leave it to you. It's about time I checked on the losses we sustained; I just hope they aren't too severe."
Leaving Sellen's room in Stormveil, Gawain felt a figure rapidly approaching from above. He looked up to see Agheel.
Elsa leaped down from the dragon's back. It was clear she had rushed back from Caelid. Seeing that the person she was looking for had already returned to the castle, she let out a sigh of relief. Had Agheel not needed to recount the details personally, she would have gone straight to the Academy to find him.
"You're back? Hmm, you look a bit off. Nothing happened, I hope?"
Gawain gave a tired smile. To be honest, after such high-intensity combat, even with the Life King's Soul constantly restoring him, mental fatigue was unavoidable. After this non-stop rotation of crises, he just wanted to rest for a bit before considering his next move. However, it seemed there was another piece of vital intelligence he needed to hear.
"Nothing's wrong for now. You look like you're in a hurry; what happened?"
"I'll let Agheel tell you personally. This time, she brought a whole host of drakes from the Dragonbarrow to aid us. But in exchange, the Dragon Mother has a very specific request."
Gawain looked at Agheel, who had shifted into her human form. He could see a trace of complex emotion in her eyes.
"Alright. Follow me."
Inside his office, Agheel recounted the Dragon Mother's request in full. This included the ancient history between the Ancient Dragons and the drakes, as well as the true origin of Dragon Communion.
"You're saying there's a powerful drake named Bayle who launched a sneak attack and heavily wounded the Dragon Lord? And in retaliation, the Dragon Lord created Dragon Communion to entice human warriors to devour Bayle's heart? And your mother, Greyoll, wants me to achieve this goal so that the drakes and Ancient Dragons can reconcile?"
Agheel nodded. To be honest, she was still in a bit of a daze herself.
"In Mother's eyes, Bayle's bloated ambition was the final blow that destroyed the glorious era of dragons. After the heavily wounded Dragon Lord sent out his kin to spread the method of Dragon Communion, he vanished. As long as the culprit remains alive, the hatred between the Ancient Dragons and drakes will never fade, and the twisted ritual of Dragon Communion will continue to exist."
Gawain had always felt that Dragon Communion—a ritual that benefitted neither humans nor drakes—was fundamentally warped. It was a dangerous practice that clearly led people into obsession and madness.
He hadn't expected it to be the work of the Dragon Lord hiding in a rift in time. Looking at it this way, it made sense why the previous Storm King, who had a cooperative relationship with the Ancient Dragons, had Storm Knights who knew Dragon Communion Incantations. Simply put, the Ancient Dragons themselves encouraged human warriors to engage in this behavior.
Ultimately, if this drake named Bayle truly used the opportunity of the Dragon God's departure to launch a sneak attack and leave the Dragon Lord in such a state, it truly was the last straw for the age of dragons. It was only natural that Greyoll would want to end this pathetic fratricide.
"I can agree to this request, but I've never heard of such a powerful drake hiding anywhere in the Lands Between. Are you certain of his location?"
Agheel looked at Elsa, who nodded slightly before walking over to the general map of the Lands Between hanging in the room. She pointed to a blank, empty space near the Dragonbarrow—an area that, theoretically, was just open ocean.
"This is something I haven't had the chance to mention to you before. Compared to my memories, the current Lands Between has had a massive region artificially excised from it. Although I followed Godfrey on his southern campaign from the Mountaintops to Limgrave, I never personally visited most of those areas. After being released from my prison, those places only exist in my memories."
"You aren't talking about the Land of Shadow, are you?" Gawain asked.
Elsa's eyebrows shot up. She clearly hadn't expected Gawain to know the term. "So you already knew? That saves some trouble."
"I only know of the place through Ranni. I don't know the specifics. Do you think Bayle is hiding in the Land of Shadow?"
"It's not just a possibility; it's a certainty." Her mind flashed back to the mountains she had seen from afar. Her finger traced a specific area on the map. "There was once a region here known as the Jagged Peak. It was perpetually covered in red lightning. Legend says that countless drakes and even Ancient Dragons are buried there. In my time, the occasional practitioners of Dragon Communion I met would enter those mountains as if on a pilgrimage, never to return. If Bayle is indeed alive, that is the only possible location. However..."
Gawain and Elsa shared a helpless look. Even if he knew Bayle's location, he had no way to enter the Land of Shadow. Simply put, such a divine feat of veiling could only be performed by Queen Marika herself.
Just how much is hidden in the Land of Shadow? Gawain wondered. From what he already knew, it likely contained the Mother of All Fingers, an entire crusade force and the enemies they were fighting, and their leader Messmer, who had taken the Full Moon Queen's sister. Now, there was Bayle as well. What else was hidden there that he didn't know about?
"Agheel, go back and tell your mother that I am deeply grateful for her assistance in this war. As for the matter of Bayle, I accept. If there is a way to find him, I will not allow such an ambitious and dangerous drake to continue existing in this world."
Agheel nodded solemnly. Now she could bring the answer back to her mother. If Bayle's death could truly bring about reconciliation between the drakes and the Ancient Dragons, it would be a blessing for all dragonkind remaining in the Lands Between.
After watching her shift back into her dragon form and fly off to deliver the message, Gawain slumped onto his desk with a wry smile. If it weren't for this "Land of Shadow," he would have unified half the Lands Between after cleaning up Liurnia.
The major factions on the Altus Plateau and above were at odds with each other and could be dismantled one by one. But the future, which had seemed so clear, was now veiled by the shadows of the unknown.
Seeing Gawain acting like a "salted fish," Elsa smiled and walked behind him. She gently placed her hands on his shoulders and began to knead them, resulting in a series of satisfying "cracks" from his bones.
"Mmm... a little lower. That's the spot."
"You really know how to enjoy yourself. Hmph. Considering how hard you've worked this time, I won't hold it against you."
"Sigh, it's not hard work, it's just a hard life. I was born to be a workhorse. No sooner do I clean up one mess than a whole mountain of others appears in front of me."
"So, my King, what is your next plan? While I'd love to march on Leyndell and send those nobles of the Golden Order to the heavens as soon as possible, I must remind you that we can't organize another large-scale military campaign for a while. We've mostly exhausted the stockpiles Stormveil built up during its long period of war-readiness."
"Don't worry. The enemies I have to face next can't be defeated by numbers alone. In fact, if the individual strength isn't high enough, more people just means more of a disadvantage. I'll have to handle them personally. But before that... just let me rest for a while."
A few days later, Gawain sat in a chair inside a secluded room within Stormveil. Beside him lay Blaidd, still unconscious. A large patch of wolf fur on his head had been shaved clean, revealing a wound that was still healing.
Over the past few days, Sellen had personally performed the surgery. As a sorceress of the Primeval Current—someone obsessed with the modification of bodies—she had used the information provided by Ranni to determine the necessary steps for the procedure.
Shadowbound Beasts possessed a part of their anatomy remarkably similar to a Fingercreeper, which was likely the organ responsible for receiving commands and control. Under the influence of that organ, a Shadowbound Beast could not resist the mind control of the Two Fingers.
After ensuring everything was ready, Sellen handled the operation herself, aided by the Lands Between's true doctors—the Perfumers. They excised the organ from Blaidd's body. While they didn't know if there would be lasting side effects, it was the best they could do in the short term. It was certainly a better outcome than him going mad.
For Ranni's sake, Gawain had personally stayed here after the surgery, waiting for Blaidd to wake up while taking the opportunity to slack off in a quiet place.
He hadn't dared to use an Incantation to heal Blaidd directly. What if the magic simply regrew the part they had just cut out? He knew from experience—whenever he blew a chunk out of himself and used a miracle, it even restored his useless appendix. Thus, he had to let Blaidd endure being a "monk with a bald spot" for a while and heal through conservative methods.
Before long, Blaidd's steady breathing grew ragged. He suddenly snapped his bloodshot eyes open.
He instinctively reached for his weapon. Finding it gone, he lunged off the bed, trying to bite the nearest figure while muttering, "I will never betray Ranni... I will not..."
A second later, he was pinned firmly to the bed. Blaidd struggled for a moment, causing the wound on his head to split open slightly.
Only when he realized that the whispers that had long haunted him had vanished did he gradually calm down. He seemed to realize he was back in reality.
"I knew you'd wake up in a frenzy. Iji told me as much—apparently, you were muttering about not betraying her in your sleep the whole time. You must have had a long nightmare. Don't move; the wound on your head hasn't fully healed."
Blaidd felt the crushing weight holding him down vanish. He struggled to sit up, panting heavily. He knew he had finally made it through. Wiping the blood from his forehead, he spoke in a weak voice.
"Thank you... The nightmare didn't vanish even after I entered a voluntary slumber. Even with the Iji's Mirrorhelm, those mad thoughts filled my mind, preventing me from thinking straight. If it had been any later, I might have truly committed an act of betrayal. What happened while I was out? How is Lady Ranni? Wait... where did that ring on your finger come from!?"
Blaidd had been about to ask about Ranni when he spotted the familiar ring on Gawain's ring finger. He was stunned. Even though he'd had his suspicions, he hadn't expected things to progress this far so quickly.
"This ring? Ranni gave it to me, of course. Look, over there is the Dark Moon Greatsword she gave me too."
Blaidd turned to look. Sure enough, in the corner of the room sat a blue greatsword radiating frost, crossed with the Sword of Night and Flame.
His pupils dilated in shock. Just how long was I asleep? How did my Empyrean get to this stage while I was out?
Memories of his life with Ranni flashed through his mind. To him, he was not just the Shadowbound Beast serving an Empyrean; he was her closest family member, the one who would never betray her.
The thought that a future Lord had been chosen while he was sleeping made his expression shift significantly. He began to look at Gawain with the scrutinizing gaze a family member gives to an outsider.
Gawain knew Blaidd would be stunned by the news, so he patiently recounted everything that had happened during the interim, including Ranni's current whereabouts.
After hearing the whole story, Blaidd let out a long sigh. Fine, fine. As long as my Mistress is happy. He supported her decisions unconditionally. He then refused Gawain's offer to call Ranni back for a visit.
How could such a small matter interfere with Lady Ranni's exploration of her Order? That being the case, he was willing to follow Gawain's orders and work for him. However, thinking back to how they were merely allies before he lost consciousness and were now consorts... he still found it a bit difficult to adjust.
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Elden Ring: In the Name of Ash (272 chapter - Ongoing)
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