Roundtable Hold

As his vision blurred, he found himself inside a rather elegant building when his senses returned. An immense Grace floated above a large, round table.

So this is Roundtable Hold... The layout seems to imitate Leyndell architecture, but I have to admit, the Grace here feels like it did in the old days. Compared to the feeble Graces he had seen outside, the one before him was enormous, though in the past, this would have been perfectly ordinary.

"Oh, a new Tarnished has come to Roundtable Hold. It has been a long time since we last had a newcomer." While the Tarnished was still studying the hall's layout, a man in porcelain-white armor approached, leaning on a staff adorned with the image of a five-fingered hand.

His attire was curious. Countless ears covered both sides of his helmet, while the abdomen of his armor resembled a giant eye.

"You seem quite curious about this place... Allow me to give you a brief introduction, then... as your senior," the man said, looking at the Tarnished.

"My name is Gideon Ofnir. As your senior, I welcome those who come after me." The man named Gideon nodded with some satisfaction as he studied the Tarnished. With his vast knowledge, he could tell at a glance that this Tarnished had extraordinary potential.

"I have no name. Just call me Tarnished." The Tarnished nodded in greeting.

"Heh. Once you have accomplished something, someone will naturally give you a suitable name. Until then, there is no harm in remaining as you are." Everything about Gideon's manner suggested that he was less a warrior than a scholar.

"True." The Tarnished wholeheartedly agreed. He had been given many titles in the past, and even the name Godfrey, the first Elden Lord, had been bestowed upon him by Marika.

"Roundtable Hold is safe. You can rest easy here... Still, as your senior, I would like to offer a word of warning."

"For now, you merely have a means of coming here. Put plainly, you are only a visitor, so it would be best not to overstep your bounds." Gideon's words were not directed at the Tarnished personally. Some people with no sense of boundaries behaved as they pleased in the Hold. Its only rule forbade fighting here, with nothing stipulated beyond that, which led certain people to linger far too long and consume its resources.

"Then how does one become a proper member?" There was a condition like that? Melina had not told him.

"You truly seem unaware. In that case, I will tell you." Gideon paused before continuing.

"Kill a Demigod and claim their Great Rune. That will serve as proof."

"A Great Rune? What is that?" In the past, Demigods merely possessed more Golden Grace and far greater strength than ordinary people because they carried the blood of their parents, Marika and Godfrey. There had been nothing called a Great Rune.

"They are fragments of the shattered Elden Ring. After Queen Marika broke the Elden Ring, her children-the Demigods-obtained its fragments. Those fragments are the Great Runes," Gideon explained.

"Oh, so that is how it works. Does every Demigod have one?"

"Indeed. Marika has many children and descendants, but without exception, each obtained a Great Rune of some measure. That alone illustrates how thoroughly the Elden Ring was shattered."

"Among them, Radahn, Rykard, Miquella, and Malenia possess the greatest strength, as do their Great Runes. Oh, yes, there is also that disgrace, Godrick, and the mysterious Grace-Given Lord. Incidentally, a Demigod named Ranni discarded her Great Rune."

None of those names sound familiar. Are they descendants of Marika's children...?

"That is all I have to say. Feel free to look around, but do not overstep your bounds." Gideon said no more and walked deeper into the room with his staff.

Demigods... Great Runes. In that case, killing Godrick would accomplish two things at once. But had the fragments of the shattered Elden Ring been distributed among the Demigods to select a new representative? The Tarnished knew well enough what the Erdtree was like.

It would never offer benefits without a reason.

Just as the Tarnished turned his head, he saw a somewhat dejected man in splendid armor emerge from another corner of the hall.

What is this fellow's problem? Even from far away, the Tarnished could sense the despondency radiating from him.

"Ah, you are... I have not seen you before. Are you new?" The man noticed the Tarnished as well and approached him.

"Hello, my name is... Never mind. Just call me Diallos. Even the grandest name is of no use in the Lands Between." After introducing himself, the man lowered his head, as though troubled by something.

"Call me Tarnished."

"How do you not even have a name... Never mind. It does not matter. In that case, that is what I shall call you... Oh, right. Have you seen a girl named Lanya?"

"No, I have not." The Tarnished shook his head.

"She is my attendant... We grew up together."

Oh~ Childhood sweethearts.

"But she does as she pleases. I take my eyes off her for a moment, and she disappears somewhere. I have lost count of how many times I have had to look for her. That scatterbrained girl really is too much." Diallos sighed, resting a hand on his hip.

"The Lands Between are so dangerous. How does she dare wander around? She must be awfully headstrong."

"I do not know either. It is not as though I have never warned her." Diallos looked utterly exasperated. "Ah... This feels even more troublesome now." His already dejected air grew more dispirited.

"Pull yourself together. She is your attendant, right... No, from what you just said, you sound more like a father and daughter... But that is all the more reason to find her, whether as her childhood friend or as her employer."

"That may be true, but where am I supposed to look...?"

"I do not know how long you have been separated, but judging by you, it cannot have been that long. In that case, I can rule out Limgrave and the Weeping Peninsula for you. I have spent quite a while roaming those areas and never saw the person you described, unless she entered a cave or a tomb. Aside from those, that leaves Liurnia and Caelid."

"Liurnia... Caelid..." Diallos lowered his head in thought, then seemed to realize something.

"Looks like you have an idea now."

"Ah, thank you. If I had been on my own, I might not have..." The man looked ashamed.

"Enough. Hurry up and find her. Stop dithering." The man seemed rather lacking in confidence.

"Oh, yes, of course... Then I shall be going. Once I find Lanya, I will repay you." With that, Diallos hurriedly activated the Grace in Roundtable Hold and left.

"Not just lacking confidence, but a bit careless, too." The Tarnished watched Diallos leave, but he had no intention of meddling further. He was no saint. The man could deal with his own affairs.

The Tarnished was very familiar with Roundtable Hold's layout. It was exactly like a certain place in Leyndell. Evidently, the fellow who had borrowed his name had been to Leyndell as well. Following his old memories of Leyndell architecture, the Tarnished continued exploring the Hold, until the sound of hammering caught his attention.

"Oh? A blacksmith." He had been searching for a highly skilled blacksmith and wondered if this one would fit the bill. Following the sound, he found a Misbegotten holding a hammer. His body was larger than that of an ordinary Misbegotten, and chains bound his feet.

"I have not seen you before..." The Misbegotten blacksmith merely glanced at the newcomer before resuming his work, hammering the sword on his anvil.

"Never mind. If you want a weapon forged, take it out. I will forge it for you." The Misbegotten plainly had little desire to talk. Only the steady ring of his hammer continued.

The Tarnished took no offense. The Misbegotten's hatred of humans was nothing new, and this one was imprisoned here besides. It was enough that he was willing to forge weapons for the Tarnished who came and went.

"I do have something I need you to forge."

"Oh? Then hand it over." The blacksmith stopped working and fixed his weathered eyes on the Tarnished.

"Wait a moment." Leaving those words behind, the Tarnished vanished.

When he returned, he carried a massive suit of golden armor.

"Oh... You have brought something interesting." Though the blacksmith called the Tree Sentinel's armor interesting, he was utterly unperturbed. Whatever it was, he only needed to hammer it.

"What do you want done?"

"Fuse this golden armor with this curved sword. Can you do it?" The Tarnished brought the Samar curved sword from his back and held it before the blacksmith.

"?" The blacksmith's gaze immediately turned strange. "Where did you learn of that method?" Fusing equipment with weapons was something few people in the entire Lands Between knew about. People knew that strengthening weapons required smithing stones, but they did not know that forged weapons and equipment could be fused through a particular technique.

But it was forbidden. Such fusion had not been permitted in those days. Anyone who knew of this method and dared use it could not be an ordinary person.

"You do not need to know too much. I can tell... you know that technique." The Tarnished stared straight at the blacksmith.

"...You." A chill ran down the blacksmith's spine. He knew this feeling all too well. "What is your relationship with that lord... How dare you use this method?"

"I will leave that question for you to ponder. So, will you do it or not? Surely you will not turn down a chance to test your craft."

"All right... I will do it... There are not many people here right now, anyway." The blacksmith steeled himself and made his decision. Was his duty not to forge the Godslaying weapon? There was no need to overthink it.

"Good." The Tarnished nodded slightly and leaned against the wall to watch the blacksmith.

The blacksmith raised his great hammer. In an instant, a hazy gray glow tinged with orange-red spread across it. Clang! The Tree Sentinel's golden armor was pulverized in a single blow.

"Hmph!" The blacksmith exerted himself again and brought down another blow. Golden energy streamed from the powder like silk, while the powder itself gradually dulled. He flipped the hammer and used its other end to carry the golden silk into the Samar curved sword.

In an instant, the power of frost slumbering within the curved sword awakened. Its icy radiance clashed with the gold, and the energy swelled. The blacksmith stared intently at the sight before him, as though searching for the perfect moment.

At last, both powers reached their peak. At that instant, the blacksmith struck at them with the top of his hammer, its central surface. The impact smashed the two powers together. Another blow drove the energy into the curved sword, and then his hammering grew faster and faster, until the sword's original silver turned a pale blend of gold and blue, marking the fusion of the two powers.

"..." Drenched in sweat, the blacksmith let out a heavy breath.

"It is done..." The blacksmith set down his hammer and gestured for the Tarnished to pick it up and inspect it.

"That is it... Exactly what I wanted." As soon as the Tarnished touched the curved sword, the mingled aura of gold and blue emerged again, carrying both the blessing of gold and the power of frost.

"You really are a bold one..." In all his life, the old blacksmith had never seen anyone dare forge such a weapon.

"You have some nerve yourself. You should know what this weapon means."

"I do not care. My duty is to forge weapons for you lot here. As you can see, I am imprisoned here and cannot leave. I cannot even die if I want to."

"I am not complaining, either. In truth, I bear you no ill will. You are not the reason I became a prisoner. There is simply no need for us to get too involved. I forge for you. That is all there is to it."

"I do not dislike forging weapons. Whatever my status may be, I can make weapons stronger. My craft and my time will not betray me," the blacksmith said with a quiet chuckle.

"You are quite single-minded."

"I have little choice... But you... could you be..." The blacksmith seemed to have realized something.

"I think it would be best not to say that aloud here in Roundtable Hold." The Tarnished immediately cut him off.

"Never mind. It makes no difference... My name is Hewg. Whenever you need a weapon forged, come to me." At last, the blacksmith gave his name.

"I will." The Tarnished smiled and nodded, then bid Hewg farewell and left with his newly fused weapon.