Royal Gossip

Patches left, but before he went, he offered Tarnished a personal suggestion.

"Those deserters are just a bunch of cowards. They'd make excellent slaves. A little food each day is all it takes to keep them alive-great value for money. Think about it."

"Stormveil has no slaves, and Stormveil won't treat human lives as disposable," Tarnished said earnestly. "They'll receive fair sentences, serve their time, and work. Once their sentences are over, they'll become part of our community."

Patches froze for a moment, then burst out laughing. With his greatshield and spear slung over his shoulder, he sauntered away.

The deserters desperately shouted "Boss!" after him, but he never looked back.

Tarnished knew Patches wasn't being heartless. He was simply leaving without a care now that he knew they were safe.

"Even a silver-tongued scoundrel can command such respect?" Laurendi found it puzzling. He asked the deserters, "Does he treat you well?"

"Very well!" The deserters nodded repeatedly.

"How so?"

"The boss gives us food!" The deserters pulled a large handful of dried mushrooms from a chest in the corner of Murkwater Cave and said excitedly, "We work for him, and he gives us mushrooms to eat. We get to eat once a day!"

Laurendi was at a loss for words. He had escorted Godrick all the way from the Royal Capital of Leyndell to Stormveil. Although his own standard of living had plummeted, he had never fallen so low that he had to worry about his next meal.

Only when he saw a few mushrooms win the deserters' loyalty and affection did he understand just how desperate the world had become.

"What happened during the years I was imprisoned?" Laurendi lamented. "How did the glorious Golden Dynasty end up like this?"

"The Night of the Black Knives, the shattering of the Elden Ring, the Goddess's disappearance, the Shattering... far too much happened. But in the end, it all comes down to the powerful fighting among themselves and making ordinary people's lives unbearable. Nothing new there." Tarnished sighed softly.

"This isn't about whether it's new! Only by understanding the causes can we avoid repeating the same mistakes!"

"As Patches said, history repeats itself, over and over. Understanding the causes lets us avoid repeating our mistakes..." Tarnished shrugged. "You were Godfrey's knight, so you must know the Golden Dynasty's leading figures well. Which of those blue-blooded nobles wasn't well versed in both history and current affairs? And what came of it? They still turned the Lands Between into this mess. The only lesson humanity learns from history is that humanity never learns. Who doesn't know right from wrong? Who doesn't understand that treating people well is better than bleeding them dry? Studying history is just a nice extra once everyone has enough to eat and drink. What we need to do now is solve the problems in front of us and steadily build a path toward the future!"

They had to live within their means. Right now, staying alive mattered more than investigating this or analyzing that. Past grudges had nothing to do with Stormveil, and Tarnished wouldn't waste their limited productive capacity on something with no practical value.

The two Crucible Knights understood what Tarnished meant. Laurendi frowned. "How crude."

Rodini, however, smiled. "But practical enough. I don't dislike it."

Exactly. Practicality was the guiding principle behind Tarnished's current actions.

What conspiracy lay behind the Night of the Black Knives, what purpose the Prince of Death's existence served, why Goddess Marika had shattered the Elden Ring, what had sparked the Shattering, where the various gods of the Lands Between came from and how far their influence extended, what the Greater Will actually was... Tarnished cared about none of it.

He merely wanted to bring everyone's strength together, become stronger than he had been last time, and protect the people he wanted to protect.

His business dealings with Patches were no different.

Although the Nomadic Merchants represented by Kale had promised to buy everything Stormveil produced, they offered only "market prices." The advantage was a stable, reliable arrangement. The disadvantage was that it wasn't particularly profitable.

To make up for that shortcoming, Tarnished had set his sights on Volcano Manor.

Like the Royal Capital of Leyndell, Volcano Manor stood on the Altus Plateau, within the capital region, and possessed considerable economic strength. Its master, Rykard, was both a Demigod and the Golden Dynasty's Inquisitor. He had status and real power, prestige and substance alike. His potential spending power was immeasurable.

But when the Two Fingers urged the Demigods to seize the Elden Ring and stirred up conflict, Rykard saw it as the gods toying with people's hearts. In his eyes, gods so vile were unworthy of human worship. He had therefore openly raised the banner of rebellion against the Erdtree, called himself a "Recusant" who had betrayed the Golden Order, and declared independence.

The Royal Capital of Leyndell could hardly permit that and immediately sent troops to crush the rebellion. Volcano Manor fought valiantly but still suffered defeat. Leyndell's punitive army pushed deep into its territory, intending to capture Rykard in one stroke. Then the Shattering broke out, and a coalition of Demigods besieged the capital. With Leyndell unable to fend for itself, the expeditionary force was abandoned. Both it and Volcano Manor suffered devastating losses, leaving both sides barely hanging on. Rykard vanished as well, leading people to believe Volcano Manor had been completely destroyed.

That was what public histories and reports said. But Tarnished had once fought his way through Volcano Manor alone, so he naturally knew otherwise.

This time, though, he couldn't be bothered with those lingering historical problems. Rykard devouring the Great Serpent only to be devoured in turn-trying to act badass and getting fucked instead-was none of his business. He was after Volcano Manor's wealth.

As a power capable of trading blows with the Royal Capital of Leyndell at its height, Volcano Manor had unquestionably ranked among the strongest. It had lost in the end, but both sides had been badly hurt. In fact, Leyndell hadn't taken so much as a needle or thread from the manor. Its losses had been in personnel and troops; its wealth remained almost entirely intact.

Rykard had gone off to fuck a snake... to devour the Great Serpent, leaving Volcano Manor in the hands of his concubine, Tanith. Tanith wanted to rebuild it, but the manor's reputation had become so rotten that no other power dared trade with it. Meanwhile, the Shattering had smashed the entire Lands Between to pieces, utterly destroying its economic foundations. With no one producing anything, Tanith couldn't buy goods even with money in hand, and the whole grand superstructure had come crashing down.

Even now, corpses littered the ground outside Volcano Manor, and flies filled the air.

Was it because Tanith didn't want the place cleaned up? Of course not. There was simply no one to do it for her. She couldn't hire help even if she paid.

The war's survivors were busy scavenging food from piles of corpses. Even if she offered them runes, runes couldn't be eaten or drunk, so they couldn't be bothered to take them.

That was the state of the Lands Between. Commoners wanted only enough food to survive, while the nobles had nothing to offer but money. Hence Patches could win deserters' loyalty with a handful of mushrooms, while Tanith couldn't hire cleaners despite having money.

The Shattering had severed the Lands Between's old system of production and daily life at the waist, effectively cleaving its economic foundations from its superstructure. At a time like this, Tarnished had appeared out of nowhere and reorganized production and everyday life. That was why the Nomadic Merchants represented by Kale had regarded him as a priceless treasure, immediately extending an olive branch and proposing an alliance.

He had to admit that those merchants had a sharp eye. They had undoubtedly made a tidy sum from Stormveil's goods over the past few months. Tarnished had only worked out the key to it afterward.

He was grateful that the Nomadic Merchants had helped him in his hour of need, but letting middlemen keep pocketing the difference wasn't a long-term solution. That was why he had contacted Patches: he intended to sell directly from the source. It might upset the Nomadic Merchants, but business was a battlefield. If someone else offered more, he would naturally sell to them. If the merchants wanted stock, they could raise their purchase prices too. In recognition of their alliance, Stormveil could even give them a two-percent discount.

Of course, that was all for later. The details would depend on Volcano Manor's reply. Still, Patches had already paid a deposit, so there probably wouldn't be much trouble. Tarnished trusted that with Patches's silver tongue, a little sweet talk would be enough to have that little housewife Tanith eating out of his hand.

"Let's head back to the castle," Tarnished told the two Crucible Knights. "We've landed a big order. Time to restructure our industries."

The two Crucible Knights were experts at cutting people down, but utterly clueless about economics. All they could do was follow his lead.

The three returned to Stormveil together. Tarnished summoned Kenneth Haight and Rogier, but instead of opening with Volcano Manor, he lowered his voice and asked, "Do many of the workers curse me behind my back?"

Kenneth Haight and Rogier exchanged a bewildered glance. "Everyone respects you. Why would they curse you?"

"Because I don't even pay them wages, obviously." Tarnished sounded increasingly guilty.

But Rogier asked, "What are wages?"

"Uh... regular payment for work."

"Oh, you mean a salary." Young and quick-witted, Rogier was the first to catch on. He shook his head. "Only the nobility receives salaries. Generally speaking, lords only pay salaries to the knightly class. Workers don't get wages."

"No wages? Then how do workers live?"

Rogier replied as though it were obvious, "Don't you provide them with food and lodging?"

Tarnished was astounded. "They're satisfied with just food and lodging?"

"What else would they want?" Rogier was thoroughly puzzled. "That's how it's always been. Is there a problem?"

"No, no problem." Tarnished fought to suppress the corners of his mouth, which were harder to control than the recovery animation of Giant Hunt, and said from the heart, "The barbaric Middle Ages are fucking wonderful!"

Rogier & Kenneth Haight: ???

"Never mind that." Tarnished brushed the matter aside. "Tell the canteen to add some minced meat to the rice porridge from now on. Let's discuss something more important."

Having soothed his conscience a little, Tarnished told Rogier and Kenneth Haight about Patches and Volcano Manor.

"Lord Rykard, the Inquisitor, was always renowned for his integrity and fairness. His personal reputation was among the finest of all the powerful nobles and Demigods. But after he rebelled and lost to the Royal Capital of Leyndell, he vanished, leaving a concubine in charge of Volcano Manor..." Kenneth Haight briefly explained Rykard's circumstances, then asked hesitantly, "Under those conditions, can we still trust Volcano Manor's promises?"

"Patches paid a deposit." Tarnished showed them [Margit's Shackle] and told them that Margit was a projection of Morgott.

"Morgott?" Kenneth Haight frowned. "I've never heard that name. The man who defended Leyndell and defeated the Demigod coalition has only ever been called the 'Grace-Given King.'"

Rogier raised a question as well. "His name isn't important. What matters is where this Morgott stands. He controls the Royal Capital of Leyndell now and has driven back the Demigod coalition, so logically, he should be loyal to the Erdtree. But why hasn't he invited Godrick, a true descendant of the golden lineage, back to the capital? Has he turned traitor and decided to crown himself king? But if so, why send a projection to help Godrick defend his castle? From what he said at the time, he deeply despised our act of 'rebelling against our betters.' That makes it even less likely he would do such a thing himself."

"Contradictory!" Kenneth Haight concluded. "It's utterly contradictory!"

Seeing the two rack their brains, Tarnished decided they should stop pulling guesses out of their asses and simply revealed the answer. "Because Morgott is the biological son of Goddess Marika and Godfrey, the First Elden Lord."

"What?!"

At those words, Rogier and Kenneth Haight jumped straight out of their chairs in shock.

"That's impossible!" Roger was so shocked he began to stammer. "M-Margit is an Omen Child! If he's a projection, then Morgott must be an Omen Child too. How could the Goddess, blessed by the Erdtree, give birth to an Omen Child who defiles it? That's absurd!"

"Oh, right." Tarnished slapped his forehead. "I remembered wrong. Goddess Marika didn't give birth to one Omen Child."

Rogier and Kenneth Haight had just breathed sighs of relief when Tarnished continued, "Goddess Marika gave birth to two Omen Children."

The two: "..."

"The older twin is Morgott, and the younger is Mohg. Since their existence defiled the Erdtree, the Goddess threw them into Leyndell's sewers as soon as they were born. After Godfrey was banished from the Lands Between and the Goddess disappeared, the Demigod coalition attacked the Royal Capital of Leyndell. At that critical moment, Morgott emerged from the sewers and fought a brilliant counteroffensive. But his identity was too sensitive, so Leyndell only called him the 'Grace-Given King.'"

Stormveil's top two administrators were left speechless by the revelation and were still slowly digesting it when Tarnished continued, "All right, that little matter hardly needs more than a passing mention. Let's get back to restructuring our industries. Volcano Manor has a big order for us, and we have to secure it..."

"This is not a little matter!" Kenneth Haight suddenly shouted. "This is a royal secret, and it concerns the Goddess herself! If it gets out and people learn that the Goddess gave birth to Omen twins who defiled the Erdtree, their faith will collapse. The whole world will fall into chaos!"

"Hasn't the world already fallen into chaos?" Tarnished said indifferently. "Royal secrets aren't worth a penny in this day and age. If you don't believe me, go ask the people outside whether they'd rather hear a royal secret or get more orders so they can fix up their shacks."

Kenneth Haight froze. Rogier gave a wry smile and reassured him, "Lord Haight, Tarnished is right. These secrets are too far removed from us. They have nothing to do with us."

"Too far removed...?" Kenneth Haight repeated. Seeming to understand at last, he heaved a deep sigh and dropped back into his seat. Returning to reality, he once again became Stormveil's impeccable chief administrator.

"Volcano Manor needs clothing and food. Food goes without saying. Our livestock sector is developing well and can easily meet export demand. Clothing, however, will require us to reorganize our production lines. First, we need to address the raw materials. As far as I know, fiber crops require ample water. Our existing growing area cannot meet that requirement, so we'll need to establish a new one."

Tarnished nodded. "Any suitable locations you'd recommend?"

"Yes." Kenneth Haight took out a map of Limgrave. "Summonwater Village. But Those Who Live in Death have overrun it, and it has been abandoned for a long time."

"If Those Who Live in Death have overrun it, we'll clear them out. Notify Edgar. Have the troops and Holy Water Pots ready. Our target is Summonwater Village." Tarnished rose to his feet. "No one can stop us from revitalizing our wallets... the Lands Between. Not the living, and not the dead!"