Roundtable Hold

"Congratulations, Mr. Kaspar. You can go home now. Please remember, you must promise not to tell your family or friends about this."

At precisely ten in the morning, Leon, moving freely again, followed the three Nighthawks out of the hospital.

Two carriages were already waiting outside. On their sides were engraved two crossed swords flanking and guarding a crown.

They showed no surprise at Leon being perfectly fine one moment after crying out in pain. Evidently, Dunn had already shared the information Leon had implanted in him with the others.

Now he was just an unlucky detective who had advanced to a Beyonder without authorization.

"Come to this address before dark." Klein handed him a slip of paper. "The captain must have explained it to you in the dream. According to protocol, citizens involved in supernatural incidents need a period of observation."

"Perhaps we'll be colleagues soon."

Second floor, 36 Zouteland Street, Blackthorn Security Company.

Leon glanced at the address on the paper and joked, "You trust me enough to let me go home on my own? Or will I walk out the door and find myself being interrogated in another dream?"

"Klein also confirmed that you were telling the truth. I'm sorry you had to go through that," Dunn replied briefly after a moment's silence.

"See you tonight." Leon shrugged indifferently, turned, and climbed into the other carriage, which carried him away.

"Where's Leonard?" Klein looked up, only to find that Leonard was nowhere to be seen.

"Sealed Artifact 2-049 and the Antigonus Family notebook will be sent to the cathedral tonight. Leonard went ahead to make preparations." Dunn fell into thought.

"The Monster whose head turned into a fireball appeared out of nowhere yesterday afternoon and let the Secret Order's Clown escape. The cathedral is worried they won't let the matter rest."

With that, he looked at Klein. "Are you going home? I can have the carriage take you along the way. Get some rest. I may need you to guard Chanis Gate for me temporarily tonight."

Dunn quickly made the arrangements, then put one foot on the carriage and asked Klein another question.

"All right." Klein yawned. "I really envy Sleepless for needing less sleep. I was up all night, and I feel like I'm falling apart."

He thought it was a good thing this wouldn't interfere with the Tarot Club's meeting at three every Monday afternoon.

Meanwhile, at 27 Besik Street, Leon's private detective agency.

"Young master! You're back! I'll make lunch right away!"

The maid, Martha, was coming out of the kitchen with a tea set as she went about her daily cleaning. A little orange cat darted out from beside her feet and slipped into the sofa.

At the sight of Leon, who had been out all night, a smile immediately bloomed on her face.

As a private detective, he often went out and stayed away for days, so she was used to it.

But before her smile could fully blossom, she saw Leon close the front door behind him, lock it unhurriedly, and then walk over to the windows and shut them tightly, one by one.

His movements were calm, as though he were performing an everyday chore.

Martha stood frozen with the tea set in her hands, her mouth opening slightly.

"Young master... what are you doing?"

Leon closed the last window, turned around, and gave her a look.

She immediately shut her mouth. Their years together had long since given her and Leon an unspoken understanding.

"Martha," Leon said, as casually as if he were telling her what to serve for afternoon tea, "go pack the valuables in your room. Clothes, jewelry, take whatever you can. We may have to live somewhere else for a while."

"Of course, you can also take a few days off. I'll pay you six months' wages in advance, and you can have a good rest in the meantime."

The tea set nearly slipped from Martha's hands.

Live somewhere else?

She had been with the young master since she was a child, from when the master was still alive until the tragedy forced them to hide in this city. Leon's words filled her with instinctive fear.

"Young master, what happened?" She put down the tea set, tension in her voice.

"Has the murderer who killed the master come after us?"

Leon had already gone into the bedroom, and his voice drifted out from inside:

"Relax, Martha. It's not that bad yet. I'm just doing what a smart person should-taking the initiative to avoid some unnecessary trouble."

He looked out through a gap in the bedroom window. Everything seemed peaceful.

But before long, the Erdtree Church would surely take action. After all, all its followers in one district had died overnight; the matter couldn't possibly be brushed aside.

Leon turned and crouched beside the bed, reaching underneath the bed boards to feel around for something.

A few seconds later, there was a faint click. One of the boards lifted, revealing a hidden compartment beneath it.

The compartment was small, half a meter square. Inside, several things were neatly arranged: a bundle of cash wrapped in oilpaper, a slip of paper bearing the key to an anonymous Backlund Bank account, and a diary.

Leon took everything from the compartment, then considered how to quickly deal with a few problems while causing as little commotion as possible.

After killing those believers, he could clearly feel that some of his power had returned.

According to the knowledge that had appeared out of nowhere in his mind, the ability of Sequence 9 of the "Tarnished" pathway was quite simple.

He could absorb any creature with supernatural properties after killing it, converting a certain proportion into Runes to permanently strengthen himself.

The amount he could convert was quite limited, however. Even after killing the Oracle, Leon hadn't felt much improvement.

But casting a few simple spells in succession shouldn't be a problem.

He simply hadn't had the space to test whether the sorceries and incantations of the Lands Between could be used here in the same way.

Fortunately, aside from an unavoidable direct confrontation, the things in his storage bag were enough to deal with most problems.

So everything was clear: try to find Roselle Gustav, who might be a fellow transmigrator. Although Dunn's memories clearly indicated that he was dead, Leon had faith in transmigrators' ability to stir up trouble.

He didn't believe for a moment that his fellow transmigrator had died just like that. It definitely wasn't that simple.

Then he needed to find a way to figure out exactly what that barrier blocking him was.

As for those followers he'd acquired so easily, it would be best if he could use them. If not, he could trick them into coming to him and kill them one by one. They'd make decent consumables for strengthening himself.

That was right. He had never intended to go to any security company, even if the being who might be the Evernight Goddess had helped him.

But in his many years of experience, there was no such thing as a free lunch. Who knew what tricks those local gods might pull?

The gods of this world probably couldn't walk around as they pleased, so the right move was to seize this chance to contact Ranni.

At that thought, Leon's movements slowly came to a halt as an idea suddenly occurred to him.

There was one thing he could apparently do right now.

Ranni had contacted him in the dream, which meant this world wasn't completely cut off from the stars.

That meant he could contact Ranni in turn.

Judging by the way he had been summoned, the best way to do that was to perform a ritual, using something like the prayer that had pointed to him.

In other words, as long as a prayer accurately pointed to a particular being, contact could be established with the aid of ritual magic and some offerings.

Leon stood up and looked at Martha, who was dutifully packing.

"Martha, stop for a moment."

"Young master?" Martha looked up, her eyes full of confusion.

"Keep watch by the door for me. Don't let anyone disturb me until I come out."

With that, Leon walked into the washroom and shut the door.

He composed a prayer, then took a ring and the Moonlight Greatsword, its entire length radiating cold, from his storage bag.

He placed the ring against the inner edge of the dressing mirror's base and stood the greatsword on top of the cabinet, leaning it against the wall.

The Dark Moon Ring and the Dark Moon Greatsword.

They were symbols of his union, at the end of the stars, with the princess who served the dark moon.

Leon couldn't think of anything that would point to Ranni more clearly.

But just in case, he took quite a few things from his storage bag in case some other being answered.

Taking a deep breath, Leon went to the center of the room. After calming himself for a few minutes, he slowly recited in Ancient Hermes:

"Eternal dark moon;

"You are the princess who travels with the stars;

"The truth that keeps the Golden Order at bay;

"The Demoness who once stole death;

"I beseech you to cast your gaze upon me;

"I beseech the light of the dark moon;

"Bring freedom beyond the Order."

When he finished, he closed his eyes and waited.

I hope nothing goes wrong.

Just then, the air around him suddenly grew thick and strange, as though it had stopped flowing.

It worked!

Immediately afterward, indistinct whispers sounded in his ears, and then Ranni's voice slowly emerged.

But what she said made Leon's eyes widen.

"My lord, beware the other gods of the Lands Between. They seek to find you before the Lands Between arrives."

"Who? What do those guys have to do with this?"

"Roundtable Hold has already set out ahead of time. We shall meet very soon, my lord."

"Roundtable Hold? What does Roundtable Hold have to do with this?"

Leon froze. He wanted to ask more, but discovered that this was only a one-way communication. His words couldn't reach Ranni.

In the next second, the voice vanished as though the signal had been lost.

When he opened his eyes again, everything around him had changed.

He was now sitting in a familiar hall. No, it was more than familiar.

Even his present form had returned to the body he'd had in the Lands Between.

The great hall was circular, with a towering dome. Its light was dim and warm, as though candles that would never go out flickered between the stone pillars.

A huge round table stood in the center of the hall. At its very center, a golden grace burned quietly, its flame flickering as though alive and casting warmth throughout the hall.

Roundtable Hold, the stronghold suspended in a rift between space and time, had once been a place only Tarnished summoned by grace could enter.

Countless Tarnished who sought to become Elden Lord had once gathered here.

But after he ascended to godhood, he had been the only one left here.

Just as Leon was thinking it would be nice if a few more people came, the enormous burning grace suddenly flickered rapidly. Two figures then emerged from it at one side of the round table.

Leon stared at the two who had suddenly appeared, stunned and somewhat incredulous. Only Tarnished could appear in Roundtable Hold.

No new Tarnished had appeared after him, and the fact that the two had emerged from the grace meant they were new Tarnished.