The Great Retreat from Castle Morne

Night fell, and Castle Morne, which had been in an uproar all day, finally settled into silence in the darkness.

I sat on the Isle of Wailing behind the castle, lit a campfire, and counted the sky-blue jellyfish drifting nearby, bored and helpless.

Apparently, these jellyfish had once been people who still had unfulfilled wishes after death and could not return to the Erdtree.

And if I didn't find a way out of here soon, I would probably become one of them before long!

That's right. I was trapped on the Isle of Wailing!

In the Elden Ring game, once you stepped into the area behind Castle Morne, there was no direct route back;

and in this reality, just as Edgar, the castle's commander, had said, the passages inside had all been occupied by Misbegotten. After finally finding a passage in the prison that hadn't existed in the game, I had barely taken a few steps before coming across several Misbegotten hacking soldiers' corpses to pieces.

Luckily, I slipped away in time. If they'd spotted me, a swarm of Misbegotten would probably have treated me like a boss and ganged up on me on the Isle of Wailing.

Huh? You asked where Edgar and his men had gone?

Heh...

"With that, the Grafted Blade Greatsword has been recovered." After watching Lion, the Leonine Misbegotten, fade away, Edgar picked up Castle Morne's supposed treasure from the ground. With a light wave of his hand, the greatsword turned into the light of grace and vanished.

That was clearly the same move I used to store my equipment.

But it made sense. Such a convenient storage method must have long since spread throughout the Lands Between as one of the blessings of grace. It wasn't exclusive to Tarnished.

Still, although I hadn't wanted the Grafted Blade Greatsword, working for free yet again made me sigh a little.

Just then, Edgar walked over and held out his hand with a smile. "Brother Zero, I owe you a great deal for helping me fulfill this final duty... Please accept this small gift."

Huh?

That golden twig was a Sacrificial Twig, a single-use item in the game that kept Tarnished from dropping runes upon death.

He even gave me three thousand runes on top of that. Wasn't that more than I'd earned for defeating the Leonine Misbegotten?

What a generous commander!

"Thank you, Commander." I accepted without any hesitation. "But what do you plan to do now?"

Edgar raised his head to gaze at the sky. "I intend to go to Stormveil Castle first and present the Grafted Blade Greatsword to Lord Godrick, along with my apologies... My daughter, Irina, has already set off there ahead of me. I hope her journey is a safe one."

At that, I hesitated over whether to tell him the terrible news about Irina.

Edgar continued, "Brother Zero, if you have the time, you're welcome to visit me at Stormveil Castle. I'll introduce you to His Majesty Godrick and have you knighted."

Hahaha, thanks for the kind offer.

If little Godrick sees me, I'll count my blessings if he doesn't chop my hands off.

Huh?

What were you doing, Edgar?

As he spoke, the guy actually started taking off his armor and clothes!

And he wasn't the only p-pervert. The other soldiers had all started stripping too.

Hey, hey, hey! Is this some weird Castle Morne ritual to celebrate defeating a powerful enemy? Don't look at me. I'm not joining in. Meme would hate me.

"Then farewell, Brother Zero!" With that, Edgar leaped into the sea.

His soldiers jumped in after him.

These guys could actually swim?! Well, that made sense. Castle Morne was right by the sea, after all. Having managed this place for so long, they were bound to know a little about swimming.

And Edgar, the doting father, didn't forget to shout as he swam, "Irina, wait for me! Daddy's coming!"

Uh, what about me? Tarnished can't swim!

And that brought us back to the opening scene.

Heh. It really was an isle of wailing.

Listen, you jellyfish, stop crowding around me! And don't poke my face with your tentacles to comfort me! I'm not kicking the bucket that easily!

"Good evening, Lord Zero. You seem to be in trouble."

Ah, that familiar voice. Had Meme come to rescue me?

"Meme, listen to me!" I shook off the jellyfish and happily moved in for a hug.

But Meme simply planted one hand against my forehead and kept me at arm's length. "Lord Zero, calm down. Otherwise, I'll leave."

"All right, I know I was wrong. Please don't leave."

"Sit down."

"Okay."

Perhaps because Melina had arrived, the jellyfish stopped pestering me and drifted away.

Melina settled down beside me and asked gently, "Now, Lord Zero, what trouble have you run into?"

I scratched my cheek sheepishly. "W-well, my biggest problem right now is that I can't leave... I'm stranded on this island, and the Misbegotten are rioting inside Castle Morne. I can't deal with them alone, and I can't swim, so..."

"Then you need only teleport through a Site of Grace," Melina said casually.

Huh? Teleport?

So teleportation was possible in the real Elden Ring world too!

I'd thought it was completely impossible! After all, even in the high-tech society of the twenty-first century, teleportation was still a distant dream.

Wait!

When that bastard Patches tricked me, didn't I get teleported deep into Mistwood?

So had I simply been unable to teleport because I hadn't known how many functions grace actually had?

"Please take my hand, Lord Zero." Melina held out her hand to me.

Hehehe, teleporting while holding hands is a wonderful invention.

A big thumbs-up for our esteemed Queen Marika!

Without hesitation, I gently took Melina's hand. It was a little cool, but so soft. It felt wonderful.

I want to hold it forever.

"Close your eyes, then recall the Site of Grace you wish to visit, Lord Zero." Melina paused briefly, then warned me, "Do not let your thoughts wander during the journey, or we will both become lost on the other side."

Holy crap! It's that serious?!

I quickly calmed myself. The Site of Grace I want to visit, the Site of Grace I want to visit... Let's go there, then. The one beyond the Bridge of Sacrifice.

A golden glow lit up the darkness inside my mind. Gradually, the scenery surrounding the Site of Grace filled itself in like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.

The winding stone-paved road, the Bridge of Sacrifice, the rock where Irina had died...

Urgh...

N-no, something's wrong. I'm so dizzy. Why does this feel like I've spent an entire day on a bus? One that keeps getting stuck in traffic and stopping, at that.

The air felt thin and stagnant, leaving me unable to catch my breath;

my stomach churned and rolled until acid rose into my throat;

and whenever I closed my eyes, wave after wave of dizziness swirled through my head.

Wait, my eyes were already closed.

I-I can't hold it in!

"Bleurgh-"

I abruptly dropped to my knees and spewed a rainbow from my mouth.

N-no wonder the game doesn't let you teleport during combat.

I had to close my eyes before starting, then suffer intense dizziness afterward. If someone happened to be waiting beside the Site of Grace to ambush me, I'd be done for.

"Lord Zero, are you all right?" Melina hurriedly asked, her voice full of concern.

I managed to raise a thumb. "I-I'm fine... Just a little motion sickness. Bleurgh-"

"I-I'm sorry. This must be your first time teleporting. I should have told you to choose a closer Site of Grace first, so the journey wouldn't take so long." Melina gently stroked my back.

"Don't worry, Melina. I'm really fine... Besides, I feel much better now that I've thrown everything up." I turned my head, wiped my mouth, and did my best to smile.

For some reason, Melina stared at me for quite a while, guilt and a trace of something I couldn't identify in her eyes.

Then she looked away. "Is this... the Bridge of Sacrifice?"

"That's right." I pushed myself to my feet and walked over to where Blaidd the Half-Wolf and I had buried Irina.

The earth showed no signs of having been disturbed.

Edgar probably hadn't discovered that his daughter was actually here either. There was no sign of him nearby.

...Of course, it was also possible he simply hadn't arrived yet.

I dug another small hole nearby, placed Irina's handkerchief inside, and buried it. Then I prayed, "I've finished what you needed me to do, Miss Irina. Your father, Edgar, should still be safe and sound. So please, rest in peace."

Melina joined me in offering a final blessing before we left. "May your soul return safely to the Erdtree, and may grace guide you ever after, Miss Irina."

"All right." I stood and turned to Melina. "Let's go somewhere else and talk for a bit, Melina."